Tim walked forward toward the gifted treasure and looked at Ning with shock. "Are you… are you serious?" he asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "I have no need for it, and it looks like you want it."
"I… I would love it," Tim said. He slowly reached out to take the weapon, still somewhat hesitant if the entire thing was real or not. Finally, seeing as Ning had no foul intentions, he grabbed the horn and took it to his chest.
"Thank you," Tim said with misty eyes. "Thank you so much."
"Well, congratulations on the treasure, young scholar," the captain spoke. "At least this trip wasn't a complete waste and disaster."
Tim was already lost in his thoughts, checking the golden horn that he had received. "Well, since you got the Zurin treasure, you get to name it," the Captain said. "Use it. Let us see what it can do."
Tim nodded, brought the horn to his lips, and then blew on it. A sonorous melody resounded throughout the ship and the dark sea, but nothing of notice happened at all. Tim blew the horn for all of 5 seconds before stopping.
When he put down the horn, his face had both a look of surprise and a look of sadness. "What is it?" the captain asked excitedly. "What does it do?"
"It… it can control any animal I wish to within my vicinity and make it do what I want it to do," the young man said.
"Any? How many?" the Captain asked. "Actually, no. That is your treasure, you don't have to tell me the details."
"That's alright," Tim said. "I can only control one beast at a time, but I can control that beast as long as it isn't gravely injured or if I haven't blown the horn again."
"Oh, not bad," the Captain said. "That is good. It is not too bad then. There seems to be little downside of using… your… treasure."
The Captain's words drifted along at the end as his memory of what he had sacrificed for the burst of attack power at the end surfaced in his mind. That was an extremely weird thing as he remembered the thing he had sacrificed.
That was not how the Golden Scales worked. Nothing he sacrificed could remain behind. He would know if he did, but this one… how was that possible? He had given up a significant chunk of his childhood memory to gain enough power to kill the beast in one attack. That attack hadn't worked as the monster had retaliated before he could get to it, but the sacrifice had been complete. Why did he have the memories now?
Ning was focused on the young man. "And the name? Will you decide on a name now?" he asked.
"Name?" Tim looked up. "Let's see. Horn of Capture? Horn of Control? Sound of Control?"
"How about Horn of Domination?" Ning asked.
"Domination… hmm, that works I suppose," Tim said. "Actually, that is a much better-sounding name. Horn of Domination. Yes, I like it."
"Great," Ning said.
Tim placed the horn on the right side of his hip where he tied it with his belt. Then he looked toward the captain.
"Captain Dorian, should we get some rest and prepare for more hunting tomorrow?" Tim asked. "We will need to be ready for—"
"More hunting?" the Captain sounded astounded. "Are you looking to die, boy? We have had enough hunting. Can't you see my men are distraught from the experience?"
"But, we must continue the search. We must—"
"We already found one. How many more do you want, boy?" the captain asked. "Consider it a miracle we even found it. We were all going to die just then. I am not risking my life on this hunt anymore. My men are dead. The ones alive need to live. It will take me a while before I decide to leave again."
"But, Captain Dorian—"
"I will not hear any more of this," the Captain said. "Men! We're heading home. Everyone, prepare the sails. We will go back as fast as we can."
Tim was left behind, begging but without any success. Once the Captain went around the ship, ordering people, Tim slumped onto the ground with his head in his arms. Ning walked up to the young man and sat next to him. "Is there something wrong?" he asked. "Why do you want to continue this hunt when you nearly just died?"
Tim looked up, his eyes slightly red as he held back tears. "I… I need to find a treasure quickly," the young man said. "I need… I need to save my father."
Ning's eyes narrowed. "What is wrong with your father?" he asked.
"I… I do not know," Tim said. "He's been hospitalized for the past 2 months and his health is deteriorating every single day. The doctors can't tell what is wrong and if this continues, he will die soon without anyone being able to do anything."
"And you want to find a treasure to…"
"To heal him," the young man said. "It was a last-ditch effort. I wanted to find a treasure that could help him in any way. There are records of many healing Zurin treasures that have gone missing throughout history, so I hoped to get my hands on any one of them."
"I see," Ning said as he thought for a bit. "How about this? I will heal your father, just like I did with all the sailors here. And in return, you do something for me. You fine with that?"
Tim looked up in surprise. It was only then that he realized that Ning indeed did have some sort of healing treasure. "Would you be able to heal him?" he asked. "What if the illness is not treatable?"
"I should be able to heal anything short of death," Ning said. "So, will you accept the deal?"
The young man looked up with a great bit of hope flaring up inside of him. "Yes!" he said. "Yes, yes to anything. I will do whatever you want, as long as you save my father."
Ning smiled. "Good. Now stop being sad. I need you to tell me about this place as much as you can."
"This place?" the young man asked. "Have you not been here before?"
"No, this is my first time," Ning said. "Where exactly am I?"
"You are in the Anaeric Ocean, about 400 kilometers south of the Cape of New Tremala," Tim said.
"Okay, New Tremala, I see. Tell me more," Ning said.
Tim explained a few more things. He was from the country of Oriman which had the Anaeric Ocean to the south, the Kingdom of Nineflags to the north and east, and the Country Warfort to the west. Tim was born in the cape and had lived there all of his life with his father. His father was a teacher at the University of Tremala, and that was where he now studied as well.
As one of the greatest universities on this side of the Great Reef, people from all over the world came to this place to continue their higher studies.
Ning only gave a blank expression the entire time as he had no idea about any of this.
Tim seemed to see that expression on his face as well. "You don't know any of this, do you? You must be from beyond the great reef then."
'System, what is the great reef he is talking about?' Ning asked. He didn't want to seem completely ignorant of the world in front of this kid.
<The Great Reef is a large mass of coral reef that extends out from the ocean and encircles the entire planet.>
<there are only 3 openings in the reef through which ships can pass, thus traveling from one side of the planet to another is not something that is done all the time.>
<People of this world have learned to remain separate because of it.>
"Yes, I am from beyond the great reef," Ning said.
"I had guessed that. I saw the sun through the portal you opened. It must be daytime where you are from. Are you from the Morgian empire by any chance?" Tim asked.
"Where I am from is a secret for now," Ning said. "I will tell you if I find it the right time to speak of it."
"O-okay," Tim said. "You said your name was Ning, right?" "Correct," Ning answered.
"Sir Ning, would you mind telling me what you were doing in the middle of nowhere? Did you come to save us or was that an accident?" Tim asked.
"That was a complete happenstance. I didn't mean to save anyone. I simply chose a location randomly, and you happened to be there."
"Wow!" Tim said softly. "I can't believe we were so lucky."
"That you were," Ning said.
"So, if you did not mean to come here on purpose, what are you doing here?" Tim asked. "Are you a treasure hunter too?"
"I am a hunter, but not for treasure," Ning said.
The young man frowned. "Are you hunting for a fish? Or…"
"Let's just say I am a bounty hunter, and there is a juicy bounty here, which is what I came here for," Ning said.
"What bounty? I mean, who?" Tim asked.
"I… don't know," Ning said with a soft smile. "I don't even know if it is a he or a she. The only thing I know is that they are most likely a very famous and noteworthy figure in this world."
"And I am going to kill them."
