As a small seaside town, the streets were lined with bustling seafood vendors. The salty, briny smell of the ocean clung to the air, mixing perfectly with the rich scent of roasting meat. A small barbecue stall occupied a quiet street corner, its outdoor tables crowded with small groups of people. They drank cold beer, chewed on grilled skewers, and talked loudly over the sizzle of the grill. It was impossible to tell how many of them were actual players and how many were just game NPCs.
A simple glass of water sat in the middle of Liam's slightly sticky wooden table. A single green leaf floated quietly on the calm surface. A pair of gray-feathered wings wrapped awkwardly around the sides of the glass.
Under Liam's patient guidance, Jaku strained with all its might. Its tiny body trembled with effort. Finally, the rock bird managed to squeeze out two faint streams of aura from the tips of its wings, directing the invisible energy straight into the water.
That tiny output of energy was apparently too much. Completely exhausted, the bird's head drooped. The water inside the glass had not rippled. The leaf on the surface had not moved an inch. There was no visible reaction at all.
With a soft chirp of defeat, the rock bird slumped flat onto the table. Liam wordlessly poked it with his index finger. Jaku rolled over a few times and tumbled right off the edge, hitting the ground under the table with a soft thud.
Liam ignored the fallen bird. He dipped his index finger into the water, brought it to his mouth, and touched it to his tongue.
He smacked his lips. Salty. And... a little spicy?
"What exactly does that taste like?" he muttered to himself.
Regardless of the strange flavor, the result of the Water Divination test was clear. The taste of the water had fundamentally changed. That meant little Jaku's innate Nen affinity was undoubtedly Transmutation, the exact same category as Bisky.
It was just that the water tasted so weird.
Liam smacked his lips again, trying to place the flavor. He felt like he had tasted it somewhere a long time ago. Holding the glass, he looked around the crowded stall. His eyes landed on a fat man sitting at the next table over. The guy was wearing a bizarre, pointed hat that made him look like a king from a deck of playing cards.
"Hey, brother," Liam called out, tapping the man's shoulder. "Can you help me out with something?"
The man was in the middle of chewing a piece of meat. He paused and turned around. "What do you want?"
He saw a tall, relaxed young man sitting casually with a glass of water. The young man seemed slightly surprised to see him, his eyes lingering on the pointed hat for a fraction of a second.
"The water in this glass tastes a bit strange," Liam said, holding it out. "I know I have tasted this flavor somewhere before, but I just cannot put my finger on it. Do you mind trying it for me?"
The man narrowed his eyes. Is this a player? Did he recognize me? Issei grew instantly suspicious. He used to be a notorious death row prisoner in the outside world. Even though he had been living in comfortable seclusion as an NPC on Greed Island for years, there was always the lingering paranoia that someone from his past might track him down.
Keeping his face perfectly calm, Issei took the glass from the young man's hand. He brought it to his mouth and let a single drop touch his lips.
His face twisted in disgust. "Why does this taste like kimchi?"
He immediately slammed the glass back onto the table, turned around in his chair, and yelled at the stall owner. "Hey, boss! Is there something wrong with your water supply today?!"
Liam slapped his thigh with a loud smack. "Kimchi! That is exactly what it is. Thanks a lot, man. What is your name?"
"My name is Issei," the thin man grunted. Deciding he did not want to stick around any longer, he stood up and turned to leave.
Before he could take a step, Liam reached out and grabbed his wrist. The grip was casual but firm.
"Do not be in such a hurry to leave," Liam said, a friendly smile on his face. "I just wanted to ask you one more thing. Do you happen to know where Razor is?"
Issei's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly masked his reaction. "What Razor? Never heard of him." He forcefully yanked his wrist out of Liam's grip and quickly walked away, disappearing into the evening crowd without looking back.
We really came to the right place.
Liam sat back in his creaky wooden chair, watching the man vanish down the street. If his memory served him right, that guy was Issei, one of the death row inmates Razor had hired to play the role of Footballer pirates on the island. That meant this specific town was indeed the checkpoint Razor controlled.
"Kimchi flavor," Liam muttered, shaking his head.
He turned back to his own table. Jaku had already scrambled back up from the dirt and was currently attacking a plate of leftover meat skewers. The little bird was pecking at the meat so fast its head was nothing but a gray afterimage. A passing waiter noticed the bird eating off the plates and looked horrified, reaching out to shoo it away, but Liam raised a hand to stop him.
"I did not expect you to be a Korean bird," Liam chuckled, reaching out to gently rub the top of Jaku's head. The bird ignored him, completely focused on its meal. "And a Transmuter on top of that. If I had known, I would have named you something edgy."
He smiled faintly. Transmutation was actually perfect. His own affinity in that specific category was currently sitting at ninety-three percent. While that was more than enough for most applications, it still was not completely maxed out. He could easily use the rock bird's training as a proxy to refine his own skills.
As for the guy recognizing the taste of kimchi, Liam supposed it was not that surprising. This world had a country called Jappon, after all. The map of the Hunter world was practically a scrambled mirror of Earth. It probably had its own versions of Korea. Liam himself was currently sitting at a roadside stall, drinking cold beer and eating grilled skewers. The culture was a massive hodgepodge of familiar concepts, so running into something like kimchi was completely normal.