Ball of Nothing

Chapter 324 Visiting Hyacinth 2

Zero didn’t know what kind of gift Poseidon would be happy to receive but he thought that food always made great souvenirs. Everyone loved the desserts from Belles and Begonia so Zero dropped by to buy some pies and cakes. He knew that Poseidon was banished to a water planet so he made sure to enchant the desserts with anti-water spells so that they wouldn’t be ruined by the water.

After getting his gifts, Zero went to visit Steve with some lunch he bought from Finest Taste. The God of Technology was more than happy to help Zero with his upgrade. In fact, Steve got a little overly enthusiastic and changed the entire layout of Zero’s communicator. The young doctor spent a long time relearning how to use the device and wanted to cry when he lost his special connection to the reading device. Luckily, there was a backup of that in Mind’s Eye that Lily was able to transfer over when they were alone.

Zero thanked Steve and quickly left the House of Gods. Zeus was already waiting in anticipation and Zero didn’t disappoint. The teen managed to secure a bottle of good wine made from the grapes Beelzebub grew in the abyss. Although the unique cuisine received mixed reviews, everyone who visited Beelzebub’s restaurant left with high praise for its spicy wine. Zeus hasn’t been to Hell for a while now and the news only made him very cranky.

The young doctor didn’t want to be a victim of Zeus temper tantrums at not being able to savour good wine so he bought a bottle of that as a gift to appease the titan. Zeus gave Zero a bone-crushing hug that cracked a few ribs. The titan was remorseful and Zero made a mental note to never get caught in Zeus’ hugs again as he fixed his broken bones with healing magic.

Zero didn’t know if it was a good idea to be riding a lightning bolt in nothing but his swimming costume that consisted of only tiny shorts. Eventually, after much deliberation, Zero decided to use the alter shape function of the enchanted swimming trunks. Mii prepared a catalogue of common swimming suit designs for Zero to choose from and the teen thought that it would be nice to make something look like underwater pyjamas. Once Zero settled on a tight diving suit in red, he climbed onto the lightning bolt that Zeus had prepared.

\"Hold on tight,\" Zeus advised and Zero decided to simply use gravitational magic and some grappling vines to give him the extra security so that he wouldn’t fall from the lightning bolt.

Sitting and hugging a lightning bolt felt weird. Zero didn’t think that the lightning bolt would be so huge. It was the size of at least five winged carriages and felt tingly to the touch. The light was very bright so Zero had to close his eyes to avoid going blind.

Zeus carried the lightning bolt like a javelin and took aim. It has been a while since he’d sent any rain to Hyacinth because he didn’t want to disturb his brother who was resting in it. Poseidon hasn’t sent any letters in centuries so Zeus always assumed that the titan was asleep at the bottom of that watery prison. Now, he was sending Zero over and wondered if Poseidon would be angered at the unexpected guest.

\"Get ready, I’m launching in 3... 2... 1... Safe travels, Zero!\" Zeus yelled and hurled with all his might.

The lightning bolt rattled and shook at the strength that Zeus used to hurl it. Hyacinth was quite far from Heaven so Zero understood that more force had to be used to launch the lightning bolt. However, the shockwaves of the throw were enough to shatter the fragile vessel. If it wasn’t for Origin’s initiative to protect its master from the deadly force, Zero might have not survived it.

The journey was very long and sensing that there was nothing else he could do, Zero decided to take a short nap.

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\"Zero! Zero, wake up!\" Mii’s yelling woke the teen up.

\"Master, we’re about to land in fifteen minutes, your advice?\" Lily asked and monitored the situation from the map in her room. Wii was beside the flower fairy and already working on the layers of spells to cushion the impact.

Zero hummed. Fifteen minutes was still a lot of time. He wasn’t afraid of crash landing into the planet. At worst, he would simply suspend his fall and hide in the lamp for a short while before he came out again to resume his fall. More importantly, he wanted to have a general area map of his landing area.

\"Any signs of life on Hyacinth?\" he asked.

Mii scanned the area that they were going to land in and shook her head. \"It’s too far away to tell, we need to get down to the same level for the system to scan anything. You might need to use echolocation and dark vision later. I’d also suggest underwater-breathing while you’re at it. There isn’t any sign of land at all, the entire planet is underwater.\"

Zero nodded and knocked his head against the lightning bolt that became more violent and unpredictable as it was introduced to the new planet’s atmosphere. Unable to hold onto the lightning bolt any longer, Zero let go of the lightning and free-fall his way down to the ocean. With the heavy storm, it wasn’t very easy for Zero to make out the distance between him and the ocean surface.

\"Change of plans, prepare for impact!\" Zero shouted and weaved a complex spell of anti-gravity and a barrier with a pointed shape like a spear to reduce the impact of his fall.

Everyone braced themselves for impact and Zero was surprised that he didn’t feel a thing. The spear-like barrier did its job and held out until Zero was fully submerged underwater before shattering into pieces. Zero wasn’t ready for the cold but thanks to the enchantments on his swimming suit, the heat was quickly regulated. The teen already switched to using dark vision, underwater-breathing and echolocation to start mapping out the new environment. Compared to Amarania, Hyacinth was rather devoid of life signatures.

\"Maybe we should head deeper,\" Wii suggested after Zero had swam a good twenty kilometres towards the east. Apart from water and the storm above, there really wasn’t anything else in the vicinity.

Zero was curious. There weren’t any signs of plants anywhere. In fact, the entire ocean simply consisted of bitter and salty tasting water. How could any living creature possibly survive here? Still, Zero took his assistants’ advice and dove deeper into the ocean where he saw a chasm.

\"There are life signs within the chasm,\" Lily informed Zero who decided to stay above the underwater valley to observe the situation first. Echolocation was picking up some strange currents that weren’t normal. Something big was hiding within the chasms.

\"That’s a sea monster’s lair,\" Mii told the young doctor who nodded.

\"It’s not Poseidon, is it?\" he asked and the strawberry fairy confirmed that it wasn’t.

Perfect! Zero grinned and got ready to take down the monster. Recently, he was rather low on things in his inventory to convert into spare energy. Ever since he used up most of the seawater from Amarania to grow the Tree of Life, Zero has been looking for a substitute. He didn’t want to absorb the water from Hyacinth without permission because this was Poseidon’s planet. However, if a sea monster attacked Zero, he would have every right to defend itself against it.

None of Zero’s mindscape assistants stopped him from absorbing the huge sea serpent monster. In fact, they were more interested in analysing the sample that Zero absorbed before helping the young doctor to convert it into pure energy.

\"We’ve dismantled the corpse of the monster in your inventory and sorted out the useful items that you can sell for money when you get to Earth. This should help you with finances,\" Wii told Zero who agreed.

Currently, Zero’s worry was about finances. He might be able to convert currencies using the communicator but Zero’s funds were running very low right now. He never knew how important money was while he was with Hua Tuo because the physician had always been a very self-sufficient person. However, ever since he’d been to Hell, Zero understood the importance of money. Coux and Baal tried to shelter him from the truth of the world but Merlin’s poor living conditions made Zero realise the importance of finance.

Without money, Zero wouldn’t be able to survive that long in Arabesque. The town was full of mana but that was about it. Everything else had to be bought and shipped over using the online shopping function. Money was a powerful thing that made everything possible. It didn’t help that Merlin didn’t have a lot of money so Zero had to consult his vast mindscape library about growing his personal finances.

Now that he had something he could use to secure his finances before he went on his adventure, Zero was slightly happier.

\"Are there any other monsters we can hunt? It’ll be good to make use of this chance and secure a few more precious materials for us to sell. I think Schaf can help to trade it for a good price. I only need a small portion of the money for my travels, the rest should be used to hasten the progress of the construction works coming along.\"

Lily and Mii agreed with Zero’s idea and started searching for geographical underwater caves and ravines.

For ten days, Zero explored the deep depths of the ocean while exterminating monster nests and harvesting their bodies for materials and energy. The news about this strange activity quickly spread among the water spirits who stayed clear of this intruder. It reached the ears of Poseidon who was still busy tackling the mess of a storm on the surface.

With his olden trident, the God of Oceans raged. \"Who does he think he is disturbing the creatures of Hyacinth?!\"

\"Your majesty, he has the blessing of all the Great Gods!\" a humble servant of the enraged god replied even if he quivered underneath his shell.

Sensing the fear of his subordinate, Poseidon simmered down and apologised. \"Sorry, Carlsen. I shouldn’t have lost my temper. let’s go back to the underwater temple to make preparations for this arrogant young one. I need to hear an explanation for his actions for destroying life on this planet.\"

Carlsen the armoured turtle was a loyal subject of Poseidon, born from the god’s fingernail. He was Poseidon’s closest aide and confidant who spent his entire life serving the fallen titan who had to lose his eyesight to pay for his crimes. The loyal turtle guided his master slowly back to the dark waters while watching out for any signs of a strange boy with brown hair. It had been many years since anyone dared set foot onto this watery planet. Poseidon made it very clear that any uninvited guests will be disposed of accordingly.

Why exactly have the Great Gods decided to interrupt his days of peace again? Poseidon couldn’t help but feel like this was a terrible kind of warning that his peaceful days were numbered. He hadn’t heard about the outside world for a long time now. Hades had stopped sending letters for a long time now. Last he heard, Heaven and Hell broke apart. Athena was dead. Lucifer rebelled and many of the people he knew no longer existed.

Was this their way of telling him that they wanted to settle old scores once and for all? Going by logic, Poseidon was a loose end that should have been taken care off a long time ago. Were Heaven and Hell finally at peace now? Was this why they’d sent someone to kill him?

Many questions tossed and turned in turmoil at the back of Poseidon’s mind as he returned to his temple. However, there was only one thing he wanted to do now that his time was coming to an end. His powers have dwindled so much over the years, he knew that he was merely a shell of his former self. If this young hero was here to finish him off, Poseidon would put up a good show. Who knows, at least his loyal subordinates will be spared even if he died if he played his cards right.