Overpowered Wizard

Chapter 255: B3: C45: Grand Turtle Beast

Zarian realized on the first day of his journey that he and Para had to compromise their insane training method. Journeying across the Stone Sea River demanded some measure of practicality.

Spikes of atmospheric wild magic mixing with irradiated moon dust surfing on the briny winds created a host of random and nearly cataclysmic storms that flew at his face. The higher the altitude, the worse the moon-touched winds roared in his ears and assaulted the wizard with gusts that could rip apart non-rankers below Level 100.

Moon magic didn’t seem to agree with Zarian, either, since moons were sources of lonesome lights that held against the darkness. Not as strong as the suns or the stars, but they were still a little antithetical to complete darkness.

Thus, he couldn’t really gain anything from the fallen moon rocks.

Zarian kept cultivating anyway, his back shining purple from the gravity-producing webbing there. Para handled the bulk of the curse from the mythical crown, fighting it with a frenzy and some input from Zarian.

They were doing decently. But they felt wearier faster than they should. Aura Slayer was the blame. So they compromised there.

Zarian came down to the water’s surface and used Aura Mastery in another unique way. He channeled water magic through the sword. That was easier to do while surrounded by water that wasn’t all moon-touched and had some ancient magic of its own.

Like a high-powered surfboard, the legendary weapon took them on a ride over the rolling waves. Zarian kept his feet glued on its broad surface and learned to surf on the fly.

He had more than enough base Agility and physical buffs to learn in one minute. After ten minutes, he was a better surfer than all the surfing grandmasters from the old world.

Zarian curved around skyscraping stone spires jutting up from the dark surface of the Stone Sea River. He cut straight through low-sweeping walls of winds that came barreling down from the skies.

With a big broad smile on his face, he zipped quickly across the water on his sharpened wand of a sword. Para’s kilt-shaped and serpentine body parts coiled around his legs or fluttered behind him with his waving lion tail.

He ignored all the noise from moaning storms and the many creatures bellowing out above the surface of the huge salty river. There were more interesting things beneath the surface that he perceived with a limited use aura. He would’ve seen more if he wasn’t under the curse of the mythical crown.

He found some treasure chests along the way from sunken vessels or within the rib bones of dead behemoths. Instead of stopping, Zarian sent down brave spectral spider explorers to dive into the water. They quickly swam down to reach the treasure chests, wrapped it up in webbing, then performed a dance on top of them.

With the metallic and alien grimoire of Voidling in his hand, Zarian cast both Void Domain and Void Waltz to yank each spider and treasure chest to him. Para quickly stored away the lost treasures. The successful spectral spiders made themselves at home with the others on Zarian’s purple webbed back or went off to explore on their own.

They still had their little wizard hats even if Zarian wasn’t using his. Because of their hats, each spectral spider was self-sufficient. It was still dangerous out there for the little guys, but they were all capable enough of doing webbed magic on their own.

If they wanted to go, then Zarian felt proud to see them off. He gave a salute to each brave spectral spider that wanted to do their own little expeditions.

It was kind of bittersweet and awesome to see them ride their own little boards made of webbing as they went to explore where no spectral spider had explored before.

Other than that, the spectral spiders that hung around or got summoned made Zarian richer and richer. He had no idea how rich he was, honestly, but he’d collected an immense amount of treasures from Grimrock, the Harrowing Mist Isles, and now from the Stone Sea River.

It was surprising how much gold and enchanted items were lying around. It was also surprising how he easily collected the stuff with little thought. Like picking up trinkets that were mildly useful and pretty to look at. Most adventurers would go years with no big returns from their adventures, forced to scrape by here and there.

As someone who’d grown up as fostered and as a vagabond, it was bewildering to think he had so much money that he didn’t know what to do with it. It felt more natural that he had benefits for simply existing because he had to make do with his existence one way or another before the Marines, while in the Marines, and after the Marines.

Now he could see for himself the truth of having overwhelming power ... it was easier to get more and more gains. Well, sometimes.

The Star System did a decent job of making the climb upward harder for those at the top, but Zarian obviously wasn’t fair whatsoever. Hence, he made things harder on himself on purpose while doing some good deeds, regardless of alignments.

He kept a lookout for the voyage ships he’d seen from the long distance call with Hannah. He had picked up some details with Devourer of Secrets and Stories about the water-braving vessels and the people on them.

He knew enough to tell which vessels had worthy enchantments and fighters to brave these moon-touched waters and storms, and which ones were completely caught blindsided.

Many vessels had on board some decent enough paladins or striders to protect them. Some vessels had more special conditions, like mutual relationships with the ancient and friendly beasts of the Stone Sea River. Some of these beasts were even eager to help the little people against the monsters.

Monsters were cruel and hideous creatures that were under heavier parameters of the Star System. The main exception was Reiki and her spiders from the Dancing Librarian Dungeon. The same could be said for Reiki Junior and the Spider Bear Dungeon at the Blood Prairie Savages’ Stronghold, but maybe less so than Reiki Senior.

Unlike monsters, beasts were creatures that were far from human or any of the adventurous races, while still being a natural part of the world. A great example of them were the intelligent wolves Zarian and Bianca met in the Bramble Wolf Forest a while ago.

Not all beasts were like that.

Aspis was truly a friendly beast who didn’t seem to understand why humans were selfish and cruel to each other. And he really looked at the Sea Captain as a friend, which was why he was doing what he was doing regardless of self-preservation.

Because of Devourer of Secrets and Stories, everything about Aspis was as open as an easy-to-read book for Zarian. The kindness of the Grand Turtle Beast made Zarian rethink his approach for when it was his time to reveal himself. It wasn’t yet time, so he waited a little longer.

“Please listen to the adventurer,” Aspis advised with a big and rumbly old voice. “Leave me behind. The Kraken Siren Monsters have grown terrible with the touch of the fallen moon drops. They also seem to be on the verge of corruption, too, because of Evil Goddess Shadowfell.”

The Water Cutlass waved around his sword. “See, even the turtle agrees with me!”

The others ignored him as the Sea Captain shouted back over the crashing waves and roaring wind. “But you’re powerful, Aspis! You’re a Master Ranker! You can’t let the damn sirens with tentacles bring you down!”

Aspis sighed with the breath of a long and enduring life. “They have many benefits under these dark times. They have more numbers than I can handle. And they, too, have Master Rankers. I’m afraid, my friend, that this will be the end of me. But please don’t let this be the end of yourselves.”

“What if you become corrupted and turned into a thing of Shadowfell?!” the Sea Captain argued. “You can’t risk it!”

“Do not fret. I will ensure that I don’t. Even if it means I must end myself first,” Aspis replied kindly.

The hard and crusty facade of the Sea Captain was on the verge of breaking. Zarian swore the man was about to shed tears, but at that point, the wizard couldn’t handle it anymore.

His parasite was getting antsy from all the drama, too. All of her snake bodies coiled tensely around his legs, cutting off some circulation.

It was time to make his move.

“Okay, I’ve heard enough. Anymore and you might have me tearing up,” Zarian said from on top of the mizzenmast, right above the squabbling Sea Captain, his crew, and the Water Cutlass. “I’ll help y’all out, okay? I’ll help.”

Before anyone could get an accurate look at him, he dropped and made a soundless landing on the stern that seemed as light as a feather.

Everyone staggered backward from the sight of him except for the Sea Captain, who clenched the enchanted helm with a tense grip that would’ve broken a weaker and less magical wheel.

Zarian was about to speak again, but the Water Cutlass cut him off with a battle cry. The Level 95 man attacked with all his years of hard earned savagery, experience, stats, and abilities.

“Die, Kraken Siren Monster! Die!”

With a strong sweep of his sword, the Water Cutlass sent forth a sharpened water crescent that was six feet wide. He followed up with a few more water crescents that were smaller but faster.

Then the Water Cutlass charged up his body with water-based enhancements before diving forward with a power stroke. The blitzing attack came with the weight of a large and condensed wave aimed at the top of Zarian’s head.

Afterward, the Water Cutlass added a series of fast melee strikes. He mixed the fluidity of water with the sharp expertise of his sword play. All the powers from his traits, skills, and stats attached to his experience made him a superior expert of his craft.

He would’ve slaughtered most adventurers. But most adventurers weren’t Zarian.

From the start, Zarian’s first action was blinking and chuckling. He had his sword held by his lion tail and didn’t bother to get it. Para’s coiling serpent bodies and thick kilt strands remained around his legs. She didn’t even bother using any magic, leaving Zarian to handle things.

The wizard used a few active buffs and some meticulous Aura Mastery. Then he reached forth and grabbed the first water crescent. With a squeeze of his hand, he broke the elemental conjuration effortlessly.

He flicked his fingers against the smaller and quicker water crescents that flew afterward. He turned those into harmless droplets of water that sprayed him and the others nearby.

With the back of his hand, he smacked aside the chopping power cut aimed for his head and dismantled the crashing water magic for the sake of the others more than himself.

Then he used the bottom edge of his hand to deflect each rapid strike from the Water Cutlass. Zarian’s Aura Mastery dampened the water magic so all the water splashing off each time they connected remained harmless for everybody else.

“I don’t think that’s a Kraken Siren Monster, everyone,” Aspis said wisely.

But the Water Cutlass’s focus was too narrow to understand the words of the grand and ancient beast. The berserk man kept up the attack against Zarian Sainte-Darkrun.