Why do I put myself in these situations?

  “You’re doing good, Lukey, keep it up!”

  Bohdi was the one cheering him on from below. Meanwhile, Lukey was currently standing with one foot atop a massive wooden pole, struggling not to fall off.

  “You need to focus on your core! Find your balance!”

  “I’m trying!” Lukey shouted. “Why is this necessary anyway? Can’t this wait until were out in the ocean?”

  “Surfing starts with having a good sense of balance.” Bohdi calmly replied, adopting an unusually stern tone. “I’ve seen you fight. With every burst of movement, you end up stumbling. I can help you fix that, but not if you don’t put in the work.”

  Lukey didn’t respond to that, instead choosing to focus on his legs in a sorry attempt to keep himself steady.

  It didn’t work.

  Every time he shifted his weight, he would end up overcorrecting and be forced to shift back, only to throw himself off once again. This process continued until he eventually reached the point where he could no longer correct himself. Lukey ended up leaning too far over one side, until, finally, he tipped and feel down into the pile of sand below.

  “Not bad,” Bohdi commented. “You lasted a bit longer this time.”

  “Yeah, well,” Lukey began, wiping sand off his bodysuit. “If you’re such a master, mind showing me how it’s done?”

  Lukey meant that to be a sarcastic statement, but it was clear Bohdi had other ideas. Instead, Lukey was forced to watch as the surfer climbed up the wooden pole and propped himself up on one foot.

  To Lukey’s amazement, the surfer not only managed to stay on the pole without trembling but even began to show off. Bohdi shifted his body from side to side, veering violently forward, and even leaning dangerously back. He performed all this, and not once did he ever look like he would fall off.

  “How are you doing that?” Lukey gawked in amazement. “You don’t even have a class!”

  “Don’t need one. This is just years of experience and effort.” Bohdi replied, then jumped off the pole into the sand near Lukey. “All the attributes in the world won’t teach you how to control your body.”

  “Yeah, that’s starting to become clear to me.” Lukey replied. “But why do I have to learn it now? Can’t it wait?”

  Bohdi just scoffed and nodded to the beach full of Ogoronia.

  “You think every enemy is going to fall for the tricks you’ve been pulling? I may not know much about fighting, but at the very least I don’t want to see a kid like you die the first time those tricks stop working.”

  Lukey wanted to deny that he was a kid, but instead sheepishly shrugged the statement and got up.

  “Thanks,” Lukey replied in a mumble. “But I’ve still got work to do. Can this wait another time?”

  “I guess,” Bohdi shrugged. “How about every morning? Then, after that, you can continue to work on the beach.”

  “Deal!” Lukey answered.

  After that he quickly got back to work.

  …

  “Uh, Lukey…. Are you sure you don’t want to use the rope?” Saphina said nervously. “They may be giant snails, but they’re still really fast.”

  “I’m sure,” Lukey confirmed. “Now hang back there for a bit while I get this thing to attack me.”

  Lukey and Saphina were already hard at work dealing with the Ogoronia, and they had already taken care of a few of them before Lukey was struck by an idea.

  What Bohdi said had resonated with him. Not every enemy could be fished out of water using some rope and decent bait. Some enemies needed to be confronted directly, which was the biggest weakness of the fisherman class.

  This was his current attempt at addressing those weaknesses.

  Alright. Stay calm. If anything happens, Saphina is behind me.

  After taking a deep breath, Lukey slowly walked up to the half-buried shell in front of him. One step followed the other, and he had already made sure to use [Ripple Sense] beforehand to gauge where it was buried.

  Using the rope lure made these things seem like they were slow and stupid, but in reality, they were anything but. The Ogoronia were hulking masses of flesh that attack and eat anything that comes into range. It only takes getting tagged by its foot to get caught; then it quickly pulls the rest of its body onto you, rendering you unable to move.

  Buried nets made of hyper-aggressive muscle; that would be the best way to describe the Ogoronia.

  It would only take a few more steps before Lukey eventually got a reaction.

  The sand shifted beneath his feet, and Lukey quickly readied his legs with [Fisherman’s Stance]. He was tempted to jump immediately but forced himself to wait till the last second. He instead watched as the sand rose, revealing a gigantic off-white snail's foot, along with a maw filled with crushing teeth.

  A little more.

  With a speed that would be shocking for any ordinary snail, it quickly pounced on Lukey, throwing its front overhead to catch him. This terrified Lukey, but instead of panicking, he shoved it down and steadied his mind.

  Focus…. And…. Jump!

  Before the foot had a chance to touch him, Lukey quickly threw himself to the side. With the additional power stored in his legs, he managed to launch himself far away from the Ogoronia, which fell on the sand, capturing nothing.

  Lukey flew over the shallow water and landed back on the beach with a splash. As he hurriedly began correcting himself, he carefully watched the Ogoronia from his position. In addition, he made sure to assess his current condition, keeping in mind his aether usage and stance.

  Lukey landed far away from the mass of muscle, but that didn’t stop its pursuit.

  The Ogoronia quickly realized its prey escaped, and through senses Lukey couldn’t perceive, it immediately knew his current location. The mass of muscle quickly turned to the side and began a hyper-aggressive caterpillar crawl that homed in on Lukeys position.

  So, it can sense where I am too. Is it sound? Movement? Something else?

  Lukey didn’t have time to think about those things as the Ogoronia quickly closed in on him. Fortunately, Lukey began feeling a lot more confident after that first success and readied his legs once more for a second dodge.

  Just like before, Lukey waited until the Ogoronia was upon him and leaped to the side. Unfortunately, just like before, Lukey ended up landing on his side, forced to correct himself.

  Bohdi was right; I do stumble a lot. I need to learn to land on my feet; I’m going to keep fighting like this.

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  Determined to correct himself, Lukey kept dodging the Ogoronia; throwing himself to the left and right as it continued the chase. With each leap, Lukey got a little better at maneuvering his body, at the cost of becoming increasingly tired as the fight continued. Eventually, Lukey got sick of straining his muscles and decided on a different course of action.

  I can’t attack it from the front, and it can sense where I am making it difficult to go for the sides. Where…

  Lukey glanced up, and a plan quickly formed in his mind. He began by gathering aether in his legs, like usual, but instead of leaning to the side, he prepared to jump up. A look to his front revealed the lumbering flesh net heading straight towards him, and Lukey calmed his mind as he readied himself for what he was about to do.

  Once the Ogoronia was merely a few feet from his location, Lukey launched himself upwards. Once in the air, he quickly crouched to avoid spinning and began readying his spear for his decent. He aimed downwards and made sure to hug the spear tightly as gravity thrust him into the top of the Ogoronia.

  With a weighted thrust, the spear sank deep into the off-white flesh, and the monster began thrashing about. Lukey landed on his feet thanks to the spear but was quickly forced to hold on as the Ogoronia began throwing itself back and forth.

  It was at this point that Lukey finally realized he didn’t have the power to take this thing down.

  “Saphina, you can help me now!” Lukey shouted.

  “Finally!” She replied from a distance and quickly ran straight towards the hyper-aggressive mollusk. As she closed in, the aether moved, and Lukey watched with subdued anticipation as she readied another art.

  “[Torchbearer]!”

  With her command, the club ignited in a burst of flames. Then, once Saphina got right up to the Ogoronia’s body, she quickly stopped and fell into a batting stance.

  “[Primal Thrash]!”

  At last, Saphina unleashed her full might into the giant’s body, swinging the club with enough force to smash stone. Bone met flesh, and Lukey watched as the club simultaneously melted and tore through the Ogoronia’s body.

  The force alone ended up launching the snail onto its side, and Lukey was forced to jump off to avoid going down with it. Once the Ogoronia hit the ground with a splash, Lukey jumped back in to stab the top, whereas Saphina continued dealing blows into its exposed underside.

  The Ogoronia, meanwhile, could do nothing but bear the attacks until it died. In the end, it only took a few more blows until the creature was finished, leaving both Lukey and Saphina gasping for breath.

  “You’re getting better at controlling your stance.” Saphina commented. “But it could still use work. Are you sure you want to continue fighting like this?”

  “I’m sure,” Lukey confirmed without a hint of doubt. “I specialize in luck, meaning I search for opportunities and strike them. If I focus on my speed and balance, then I can avoid my enemy while looking for those opportunities.”

  “Honestly, though,” Lukey continued. “I wish I could just pump the aether into my legs and force myself to run faster. Unfortunately, [Fisherman’s Stance] only allows for short bursts. It’s impossible to make it run continuously.”

  “Hey, you did your best with what you have,” Saphina reassured. “Roman didn’t mention this earlier, but your Stance is honestly the most important art you have. It determines everything about how you fight: attacking, defending, dodging, all of it!”

  “Why is it so restrictive though?” Lukey asked. “And for that matter, why can’t I just make a new art?”

  “First off, you can’t just ‘make a new art,’ because that would require knowledge and experience way beyond what we have.” Saphina replied, laced with irritation. “And if your art could do everything, then it wouldn’t be strong. That’s the tradeoff; the more specialized an art is, the more powerful it gets.”

  “You mean like your arts?” Lukey inquired. “It seems that all you can do is hit things really hard and deal a lot of damage.”

  “Yup, and that’s what makes my class work.” Saphina proudly replied. “Meanwhile, it looks like your class gives you a lot of different arts, without focusing on any one area.”

  “Well, I can’t disagree,” Lukey said. “It’s nice having this many tools at my disposal, but it would be nicer if I could actually kill these things by myself.”

  Eventually, they both accepted the constraints Lukey had and consigned themselves to deal with the Ogoronia’s corpse. Each of them grabbed one of the slime-covered ends and lifted the creature, then began walking as they brought it to the pile of dead snails that were slated for butchering.

  …

  Lukey and Saphina threw the Ogoronia on the pile. Nearby, the group of fishermen from Bluefin village were hard at work carving and salting up the meat for preservation and tossing aside the shells into a pile beside them. Bohdi, meanwhile, was working on his latest project on the porch of his shack, a wooden dresser.

  Once they finally put the creature down, Lukey felt something strange from the Ogoronia’s shell and immediately went over to check it.

  “Something wrong?” Saphina asked, eyeing Lukey curiously.

  Meanwhile, Lukey was climbing up onto the body of the massive snail. Once he reached the top, he put his hand on the shell, trying to feel out whatever threads of aether were still inside it.

  “I can’t exactly tell, but I think there’s quite a bit of aether in there,” Lukey assessed, hand on the shell.

  “Really?” Saphina asked. “Maybe it has something to do with the Ogoronia’s traits? Do you think we can get someone to check them?”

  Lukey thought to himself, and an idea quickly surfaced in his mind.

  “I can use [Whisper] to contact Triton; he can send someone to get the shells and bring them to the chitinshaper.”

  “Perfect!” Saphina said. “Maybe he can take those traits and use them to make some aethereal items!”

  Aethereal items, arts, traits, and even titles… All of it has a basis in aether.

  “AAAAAARG!” Lukey screamed in frustration, causing everyone nearby to look in his general direction.

  “WHAT IS AETHER! EVERYONE SEEMS TO KNOW WHAT IT IS EXCEPT ME!” Lukey shouted at the sky.

  Saphina stared at him in confusion, then cautiously approached him.

  “Did… Did you never learn?” Saphina said.

  “All I ever heard was that it was the world’s, Eterna’s power source. It flows around the world and through it, but the way people talk about it makes it seem like so much more!” Lukey shouted.

  Saphina just scratched her head in response.

  “Honestly? That’s the explanation I originally heard too.” Saphina sighed. “But after learning Lascaux Script, I was finally taught the technical explanation. You don’t want to go down this worm burrow, Lukey; trust me when I say you’re not ready.”

  “Lascaux…Script?” Lukey repeated, then eyed her suspiciously. “You know something… Tell me!”

  “No!” Saphina cried. “That’s best left to a scholar! Even the explanation I know hurts my head!”

  “C’mon! Just a little bit! Anything!” Lukey pleaded. “Please! I’ll do anything!”

  “Anything?” Saphina inquired, giving him a side-eyed glance. “Well, if you buy me a new necklace with that newfound wealth of yours, I might let something slip.”

  “Grrr, fine! Deal!” Lukey accepted. “Now, spill!”

  “Impatient,” Saphina pouted. “Alright, how do I explain this…”

  She took a deep breath and began.

  “Think of everything in the world like one big book...”

  “…”

  “Except all the words to that book are inside us, defining what we are and how we work.”

  “….”

  “And people with classes, like us, control those words by using the power of language.”

  “…”

  “Alright, now do you get it?” Saphina confirmed.

  “…I think I’ll just send a message to Tranquil Waters telling Roman to haul his ass over here.” Lukey replied.

  “Yeah, that’s probably for the best.” Saphina relented. “Told you, you wouldn’t understand.”

  “That’s because your explanation made no sense!” Lukey shouted. “How can words create energy? And what do you mean about ‘words defining us’?”

  “Well,” Saphina pondered. “Not words per se; it could be anything. Pictures, colors, numbers, objects… Just depends on your preference, I guess?”

  “First, you tell me it’s words, now it’s pictures and colors?” Lukey questioned with tired disbelief.

  “Sure!” Saphina exclaimed, and after he said that, she took a stick and drew a doodle in the sand. It depicted some sort of club with what looked like a fire burning at its end. “For example, this is the drawing that depicts my art, [Torchbearer].”

  “A doodle that terrible… depicts such a powerful art.” Lukey murmured, his brain completely fried.

  “Exactly!” Saphina said, then drew another doodle. This one, instead, represented a person with comical-looking muscles. “And this is [Primal Muscle].”

  Lukey just absentmindedly nodded, not even bothering to make sense of it.

  “Are they all doodles?” Lukey asked.

  “No!” Saphina waved away. “My arts aren’t actual pictures; they’re just shown like that because of the Lascaux Script I use.”

  “Okay, so it’s because of the script…” Lukey thought, slowly comprehending what she was trying to say. “Are there other scripts you can use?”

  “Oh, lots!” Saphina excitedly exclaimed. “Another script my clan uses is something called Bonescryer, which apparently shows everything as a set of symbols.”

  “Ok… I think I got it. So, the script just gives you the ability to understand what the aether is saying, like a translator?” Lukey pondered.

  “Well, not exactly…” Saphina denied. “Aether doesn’t have its own language. Instead, it’s more like you’re trying to apply your own understanding to something that has no form.”

  “Interesting,” Lukey mused. “Tell me, are there differences between scripts, or can you just use any of them?”

  “There are strengths and weaknesses,” Saphina confirmed. “For example, remember what I told you about arts being well defined making them stronger? Despite being easy to understand and use, Lascaux Script is terrible at defining where the aether should go. The Bonescryer script is better for that, but it’s also a very rigid script that doesn’t allow for much creativity.”

  Lukey sat down on one of the snail carcasses and began pondering everything he had just heard.

  All that stuff about what aether is didn’t make any sense, but her explanation of scripts will give me a lot to think about for the foreseeable future. For now, I should just focus on contacting Triton to discuss our progress and maybe ask him to send Roman.

  After a short break, the day continued. Meanwhile, Lukey and Saphina continued to improve themselves as they worked their way down the beach, slaying every Ogoronia they found.