As the temperature drops on an autumn morning, and the icy mist that lingers on the river fills the merchant ships, the sailors and members of the Chamber of Commerce who have rested for the night open their still sleepy eyes and yawn onto the deck.

When the sun had just climbed the hill, the light of dawn fell on the people through the thick fog, and they couldn't help but let out a long sigh of comfort after shivering.

"Anchor!"

The sonorous voice of the first mate passed through several layers of wood and reached the ears of the merchant ship's owner, who was still asleep and opened his misty eyes.

The merchant ship shook again, the hammock swayed with the hull, and the owner of the merchant ship was completely awakened at this time.

"Alas!"

The owner of the merchant ship screamed, was thrown onto the damp plank, and then climbed up again with a gloomy face, but did not complain anything.

This is what he asked the first mate to do last night, and he must make it to the Duchy of Sorrow within today's time, and follow this river up the river to Fortified City.

Although he is still in the 'territory' of the Kurt Kingdom, this great river separates the border of the Kurt Kingdom from the Black Forest, and even the people of the Kurt Kingdom do not consider this river to be within their territory.

From the territory of the Kingdom of Kurt, you can follow the river into the great river known as the 'Onyx River', and then swim upstream to the Duchy of Sorrow.

However, most people don't choose to do this, even if it saves a lot of time, but on the other side of the river is the Black Forest, and no one knows what the hell is hiding there, so they would rather take the land route, passing through some territory, rather than take this road.

Only the truly miserly, or the businessman who is really in a hurry, will take this waterway.

The owner of the merchant ship was not the former, he had heard the news that the Kurkut Empire had purchased a 'pharmaceutical machine' from the Duchy of Sorrowful Winds before he hurried on his way!

He had known that the Duchy of Sorrow had invented a machine that could make magic potions, and he knew that the mages were very resistant to such machines.

Just after the mage academy was built and the news broke, he guessed that the mages must have a big reaction, and now it was even worse.

However, none of this has much to do with him, because he is not a mage, he is just an 'ordinary' businessman, and he is also a member of the business alliance, so naturally there will be no resistance to the machines made by the Duchy of Sorrow.

Now he was thinking, since the Kurkut Empire was able to buy that kind of machine, did that mean that this kind of machine was actually sold to the outside world?

If it weren't for the danger of sailing at night, I'm afraid he wouldn't have let the sailors rest last night, and he would have rushed to Wende City as soon as possible.

There was nothing he could do about it, because by the time the news reached him, it had probably been several days, and there must have been many merchants stranded in Wende City when the news broke.

He was afraid that if he didn't make it, he might not even be able to buy anything!

The goods produced by the Duchy of Grief are generally in short supply, and even more so machines such as this one that can produce magic potions, and even if many people are afraid of it, there are many merchants who are not afraid of the threat of the mages.

Although the price of magic potions will definitely drop in the future, they are still precious!

Even if the price drops by two or three percent, what about the quantity? As long as the quantity is enough to fill the gap in the unit price, then they can still make a lot of money.

Magic potions are always in demand at any time, because the number of mages is scarce, and they can't always make magic potions, so the price of magic potions is naturally high.

But when that kind of machine appears all over the continent, who will buy the magic potions made by the mages?

Merchants who have sold magic materials, such as the owner of a merchant ship, know that the raw materials for magic potions are not very expensive, but magic potions are so expensive because the mages control the amount of magic materials that flow out.

Generally speaking, only a mage from an orthodox background can make a qualified magic potion, and the magic potion made by a wild mage can only be used by those who are willing to gamble their lives, so the price of a qualified magic potion will always be so expensive!

Merchant ship owners have had enough of these days, watching their money slip out of their hands in vain, but they can't do anything about it.

It is said that the machine can make perfect use of materials, unlike mages, and there is a certain chance of wear and tear when making magic potions.

That machine can go wrong, but the chances are slim, and it's much better than those mages!

What is behind the times should be discarded, and if it is still useful in this era, it means that it is not lagging behind.

But now it has been proven that the mages' pharmaceutical technology has fallen behind the times, although they are not willing to be deprived of their interests, but the reality is cruel, unless they cause a war and defeat the principality, they will not stop.

"President, there is a situation!"

While the owner of the merchant ship was sitting in the cabin eating breakfast, a member of the Chamber of Commerce ran down out of breath and hurriedly said to him: "Fish, what a big fish, a fish with tiger stripes!"

"What?"

The owner of the merchant ship had just torn off a piece of bread, but he heard the garbled description of his subordinates and looked up in a daze.

The members of the Chamber of Commerce anxiously gestured, "There are a lot of fish on our boat! They have tiger markings on their bodies, and they are very large!"

After chewing a few mouthfuls of bread in his mouth, the merchant ship's owner frowned slightly, feeling a little uneasy, so he got up, "Let's go, I'll take a look!"

The owner of the merchant ship stepped onto the deck and called out to the first mate: "Reilly, Reilly!"

The first mate lying on the side of the boat looked back, "Captain, are you calling me something?"

The owner of the merchant ship lifted the belt of his trousers, which had slid down because of the fat on his waist, and asked, "What is the situation now? Can't you solve it?"

The first mate sighed and pointed to the river, "Come and see for yourself!"

The owner of the merchant ship glanced at the first mate, approached the side of the ship, and when he looked at it, he was immediately startled.

On the side of the boat and on the river, there are all kinds of 'big fish with tiger stripes', and these schools of fish cover the surface of the river, making it look like a river made of fish.

These tiger-striped fish floated on the water, making him barely able to see the river, which scared him so much that he subconsciously gasped.

"What's going on?" the merchant shipowner turned his head to look at the first mate, his face full of horror, "They, do they eat people?"

At this time, his heart was also full of regret, if he had known that such a thing had happened, he should have taken the land route, not the water route!

"I don't know!" the first mate shook his head in despair.

He had been running on this waterway for a few years, and the reason why the owner of the merchant ship hired him was because he dared to run a merchant on this waterway.

But in the past few years, he has never seen such a situation, and he has never even heard of it!

If this had happened a long time ago, there should have been some rumors, but in fact, there were none.

In other words, this is the first time this has happened, and they are the unlucky guys who have encountered this situation for the first time.

It is close to the Black Forest......

The owner of the merchant ship, covered in a cold sweat, looked at the other side of the riverbank, which was covered with trees hundreds of feet away.

He knew that the bodies of the people of the Principality of Sorrowful Wind had undergone 'abnormal changes', because the concentration of magic power had increased, their bloodlines had awakened, and they looked different from ordinary humans.

And this is right on the edge of the Black Forest - even the Duchy of Sorrow has been affected, let alone here?

The group of tiger-striped fish under their boat and on the river were either monsters or monsters......

Why? Why did they have such bad luck?!