Entering the city with two guards following behind them, Shiro could see the Navuri people looking at them with curiosity.
Some of the children would point towards them and speak to their parents.
Surprisingly, they were quite hospitable.
Acting as the translator for now, Stanley informed Shiro about what they were asking about.
It was mostly the generic questions such as who they were and where they came from.
Answering them with a smile, Shiro watched as the percentage of the translator go up.
“They’re asking if you want to try some of the local delicacies.” Stanley said as Shiro thought about it for a moment.
“Well our goal is the island no? Do we have enough time to try everything out?” Shiro asked.
“We’re going to be needing their help to get to the island anyways. Taking a moment to make some connections isn’t bad either. Plus, we can do some part time work to earn some money in the process.” Stanley suggested as Shiro nodded her head.
“Sure then.”
The local delicacies were mostly seafood but the meat was quite strange as it wasn’t rich with mana. Compared to the food she had eaten in the human territories; this wasn’t as filling due to the lack of mana but it was rather tasty. There was quite a lot of shellfish as well which Shiro enjoyed quite a bit. However, a few of the dishes were quite raw which she wasn’t as enthusiastic about.
After eating some of the local delicacies, Shiro walked around to the shops that sold materials that could be found around this area.
Most of them were quite common but the mana density was abnormally low.
With a low man density, the materials weren’t as good as what she could get in a city.
Sighing softly, she could only give up on getting materials.
“Have you noticed it?” Stanley asked as Shiro nodded her head.
“Unlike Astral Horizons, this place is abnormally low in mana. From the materials to the food, I’d say it’s equivalent to probably New York.” Shiro frowned.
“Mn, I haven’t found the source of this phenomenon but I can say for sure that the closer you get to the island, the less mana there is. On the island, I found it to be almost impossible to regenerate mana.” Stanley shook his head.
“Do you think something is absorbing the mana?” Nan Tian asked as Shiro nodded her head.
“Most likely. It’s probably on the island too.” Shiro shrugged.
“Mn, we can probably find the source if we spend a bit of time on the island. Last time I wasn’t able to find the source since I had to escape while I could.” Stanley shrugged.
“This is where you got the rainbow dagger right?” Shiro asked.
“Yup. Speaking of which, did you get anything good from it? I know that it said you can have a technique used by the gods.”
“Well… I wouldn’t call it a technique. It’s more of a passive skill that I can use. It’s called Item Master and I can use everything to maximum efficiency. Which includes swords, guns and so on.” Shiro explained as Stanley halted halfway through his step and glanced towards her with confusion.
“Pardon?”
“I can use any and every item to its maximum efficiency using my pre-existing knowledge and understanding. If I don’t know how to use it, then my passive doesn’t work.” Shiro explained as Stanley took a deep breath and calmed himself.
“Seems like the item was changed. Honestly, this is probably better than any technique you can find.” Stanley chuckled as Shiro agreed.
“Yup and honestly, it’s very helpful with what I do.” Shiro admitted since she has been able to upgrade quite a few of her blueprints thanks to this passive.
Hell even her flying fortress had been upgraded.
“I see… Anyways want to go look for a place to stay for a while? We’ll need to work on gaining trust so I’d say it’ll take around a week or so for them to guide you to the island.” Stanley said as Shiro nodded her head.
Finding a place to stay, Shiro had a room to herself while Nan Tian and Stanley shared a room.
Waking up the next day, they went around looking for a bit of work. Eventually, Shiro decided to work as a chef since Item Master allowed her to make an amazing meal thanks to her being able to use the resources to their maximum efficiency.
Gaining trust through their stomachs as a chef, she worked with Nan Tian as he would be the waiter.
After a day, her translator finally finished translating everything and they were shocked that Shiro had learned their language so quickly. This only helped her gain their trust more since it showed them her sincerity in a way as they believed she had dedicated her time to study their language.
Spending a week or so here, Shiro was pretty familiar with most of the people that come to eat her food.
This morning, Stanley had just informed her that he had booked them a boat to the island so she was making some final preparations.
Writing a sign outside the restaurant that she was working in, she watched as the customers walked through the door.
“Today’s the last day?” One of the customers asked.
“Mn, yeah. I’ll be travelling to the island with my friends today so I won’t be working for a while.” Shiro replied with a chuckle.
“Ahhh that’s a real shame then. Your food is so much nicer than what we had before.”
“Pft, Mr Aldori, if you had said that in front of the chefs they would have banned you from coming here.” Shiro laughed.
“Oh I’m sure it’ll be fine. Everyone knows that your food is the best here.” Aldori smiled as the people following behind him agreed.
“Well since it’s the last time I’m going to be cooking, the boss agreed that the food will be 25% off. So tell me your orders and I’ll cook them” Shiro grinned as they cheered.
Spending the new few hours cooking food constantly, they were able to earn much more than before despite having a 25% deal since more people wanted to try her food. They were on the fence before but hearing that there was a deal as well as this being the last time she was going to cook, the ones that haven’t tried yet decided to give it a go.
But once they tried her cooking, they were feeling regretful since they didn’t come to eat sooner.
Packing up, Shiro saw Nan Tian and Stanley waiting patiently as they had both finished their prep.
“Ready?” Stanley asked with a smile.
“Mn.”
Making their way to the docks, Shiro could see a rather sizable boat with a crew of Navuri on the deck.
“Do we need such a big crew?” Shiro asked as Stanley nodded.
“Depending on what happens, the ocean could become quite rough so it’ll come in handy.” Stanley smiled as Shiro nodded her head.
“Welcome. The crew is ready and we can set off at any moment.” The captain smiled as Stanley nodded his head.
“Let’s go then. I hope to get to the island before nightfall.” Stanley replied.
“Of course. As per agreement, we shall wait on the island for a week. Afterwards, we’ll leave.” The captain reminded.
“Yeah that’s fine.” Stanley nodded.
“Are you sure a week is fine? What if we stay for longer?” Shiro asked as she wasn’t sure about how long they could take.
“Well if it takes more than a week. Then we have other ways of leaving the island. Right now a week should be fine.” Stanley replied as Shiro nodded her head.
“Fair enough.”
Getting into the boat, Shiro sat by the side with Stanley to her left and Nan Tian to her right.
Glancing out at sea, Shiro could feel her magic halt as the feeling was a little strange since she could no longer fly. But it didn’t affect her too much.
As for Nan Tian, he furrowed his brows a little but other than that he wasn’t too affected either.
Navigating through the ocean, the boat rocked back and forth as Shiro could understand how this would affect her teacher if he could no longer fly.
Their journey took a few hours but they arrived at the island before night fell.
Stepping on the island, Shiro could feel her skin tingle from the cold winds which was abnormal considering her ice resistance.
Narrowing her eyes, she took a deep breath and prepared herself.
