A heavy silence hung in the air of the dimly lit lab. Thick with moisture, tension, and a warm feeling. The sour and salty tang filled the air. Damp towels can be seen scattered on the floor. Two figures can be seen close to each other in the poorly lit section of the labs.

“Hey, put it in…slowly,” the young lady whispered, panting as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

“I am trying, okay? This is as gentle as I can get,” the guy shot back, his hands trembling as beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

The guy started to make his move again, but then…
“No… Ahh, that's too much, you idiot.” The young lady started to complain again.

“Yes, yess… that's good enough.” A smile was drawn on the guy's face.

“Too much… I said it too much. I can’t handle it anymore. Please have mercy on me,” the lady pleaded softly as she whispered. 

“This is already the third time. I can’t do this anymore.” As her eyes started to get watery.

“Can you shut up a little? You're annoying. I feed it a little more than usual, just a tiny bit.”

With painstaking care, he let a few drops of nutrient solution fall into the tank, feeding the glowing algae with as steady a hand as he could manage.

“Too much and you’ll kill them, you idiot,” Helina snapped, watching closely from behind Elric.

“I said I’m trying!” Elric groaned. “This would be a lot easier if this world had something as simple as a dropper…” thinking on his mind about his past life.

He sighed deeply, muttering under his breath while Helina inspected the sample.

“This is the third batch… but it’s the most stable so far. It’s already survived multiple cycles of changing salinity, temperature, and pH over the last few days.”

She was grinning. Now proud, almost motherly. “Our little money…No, I mean babies are thriving.” Helina looked closely at the tank.

“How did you even come up with the idea to grow these in the lake?” she asked, genuinely curious. Elric puffed out his chest dramatically.

“Well, I am a genius, you see.” But the truth was far less impressive and far more accidental. His memory recalls the scene from a few nights ago.

Elric had been pacing around the lake, deep in thought. The stars above flickered on the lake’s surface, but he barely noticed.

As he gazes at the fisherman village he passed before, “That fisherman village is doing alright... but the income isn’t great. Damn it, if only I could drain this whole lake, I could build an apartment complex like the one in that manhwa I read before I died.”

Frustrated, he picked up a rock and chucked it at the water, hoping for a satisfying series of skips.

Instead, the surface glowed.

Blue and white trails shimmered like stardust as the water rippled.

Startled, he crouched down at the water’s edge, staring in disbelief. “Whoa… that looks straight up like a magical fantasy novel.”

Eyes wide, as he crouched at the edge and dipped a finger into the lake. The water glowed briefly, then faded. He tasted it.

“Brackish? A little salty. I thought this lake was freshwater…” remembering that the fisherman mainly caught Tilapia at this lake.

His mind spiraled back, memories from his old world. Mosquito Bay, Puerto Rico. Summer nights. The warm waters were still fresh in his mind. As he paddled his kayak, the lake glowed a bright blue and white light.

"Dinoflagellates, specifically Noctiluca Scintillans, a type of bioluminescent algae that have a growth rate that increases in warm water, I even investigated a few types of it to study some of the magic trick."

He stood, awe bubbling into ambition. As he takes a deep breath. “Yes, this smell... this is money.”

“Elric!” a voice suddenly shouted, snapping him out of his reverie.

“I’ve been calling your name! How dare you ignore me!” Helina stormed up behind him, arms crossed.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve gone deaf from how much you already shout at me,” Elric replied, pulling a tragic expression like a mistreated housewife. “I can’t even hear my thoughts anymore.”

She rolled her eyes. “I said the algae are almost ready for release. Give it a few more days. It’s glowing brighter than ever, but I recommend you spread it on the opposite side of the lake, away from the fishermen…” Elric put his pointed finger on Helina's plump lips, asking her to keep quiet already.

“I know, I know…” Elric waved her off. “If we want the lake to start printing mone… I mean, supporting the estate’s economy. We need a proper tourist zone. Somewhere, fishing is forbidden.”

He grinned devilishly.
Helina gave him a matching smirk. “Just imagine it, young couples paddling their canoes across glowing water, whispering sweet nothings under the moonlight…” While her eyes were full of romantic thought or maybe passion.

“…while their coins drift silently from their pockets into our…I mean the estate’s financial.” gigling as she imagined that poor couple's reaction.

Their combined laughter echoed across the lake, a cackling duet of schemers.

In their minds, they could already hear it.

Kling kling kling…

The sound of gold and silver, raining gently into the glowing waters of their future.

The breeze that night was gentle and cool, drifting across the lake like a whisper. Though the region’s early summer warmth still clung to the air, the night wind made everything feel fresh and new, like the world was waiting to be reborn.

“You sure this batch is ready?” Elric asked, gripping the edge of their little canoe.

Helina rolled her eyes, adjusting her hair to the back of her ear with a smug grin. “Trust me, I have more brain cells than you ever have.”

“Okay, Big brain, I trust you,” Elric smirked as he leaned over and uncorked the bottle.

The moment the glowing algae touched the water, blue light burst outward in gentle waves. The surface shimmered like liquid moonlight, rippling with every paddle stroke. It wasn’t just glowing, it was like it was dancing.

Elric bent closer, his face glowing blue in the reflection. His eyes sparkled with wonder, like a kid discovering fireworks for the first time.

Helina watched him, quiet for a moment. Something stirred in her chest, an old warmth she couldn’t quite name. His excitement made her feel strangely nostalgic, like watching the stars from a childhood rooftop.

Then he ruined it.

“Oi! Stop daydreaming and keep paddling, or we’re gonna end up as fish food!”

The moment shattered.

“Why don’t you paddle, genius?” she snapped, digging her oar into the water.

“Because I told you to do it,” Elric replied with the infuriating confidence of someone who believed delegation was a leadership skill. “Wait… what’s that?”

He pointed toward the far shore.

An old structure stood half covered in ivy and time, weathered wood, worn stone, and a crooked torii gate.

“That?” Helina squinted. “That’s the old lake shrine. Been abandoned for decades. Long before your family ever owned this land.”

“A shrine?” Elric’s eyes lit up. His mental gears were already whirring.

“Some kind of guardian deity of the lake, I think. Not really a deity. My grandma used to say it was more of a spirit. But who knows? Nobody’s visited it in years.”

“So... is it cursed or not?” Elric asked, only half joking. “Just making sure I’m not gonna get haunted for this idea I’m having.”

Helina raised an eyebrow. “Depends. You planning to burn it down or something?”

“No, no, the opposite,” he said, flipping a gold coin into the air…“You wanted to make a pharmacy, right? Let’s make one. But a little different.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Different how?”

…as the gold coin fell, he caught it with a grin.

“Let’s make money.”



TO BE CONTINUED ~