The next few days were the most relaxing days Synexus has had since he left the Branch settlement. Kumo had enforced Gene’s advice of taking it easy. She wouldn’t even let him work on Body Transmutation. He argued she was taking it a bit too far, but Gene stepped in and sided with her. The owl said even using the skill could take his healing back a few days. All he could do was spend the time enjoying the ride and get to know the rest of the crew.

  He hadn’t even talked to the non-class chosen yet and he didn’t like that. They were all close to getting their class and would likely achieve it during the return trip on the ship. The people he enjoyed talking to the most were the twins, Laiko and Layola, and then a girl named Juniper, but everyone called her June.

  The twins were only three months away from their class, and they were already working hard. They had known Vorin since they were no more than a couple years old, and this was their fourth voyage with him. Layola wanted to be a plague doctor like him, so she was always asking questions and assisting him when she could with his skill refinement. Laiko wanted to follow his own path, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted that path to be, so instead he worked on learning any and every skill he could.

  June wanted to be someone in the fight like Prith was. She often followed him around and learned from him when she could. Laiko and June were learning swordsmanship from him. Synexus was also learning quite a bit from these lessons. Gene did a good job at supplementing helpful information here in there about the various fighting styles. They also seemed knowledgeable about how classes would be offered. Everyone else assumed this was because they were smart, but Synexus knew it was because Gene was the Living System.

  Even though he didn’t enjoy the conversations as much, he still got to know everyone on board including the passengers. There was Rupert who was meeting his family overseas before getting his class, Crix short for Crixandria who was being sent overseas by her parents, Mipp who wanted to get away from her family before she got her class, Sulltt who wanted to take a couple months off work before spending all his time progressing on his class, and Yull who was taking her brother, Roth, on a trip to spend time with him before she had to leave home. He would still have two years before his class was chosen.

  He had the gift of perfect memory which was nice to remember everyone’s name. They seemed to enjoy it that he remembered because most class chosen act like they aren’t as important. Synexus enjoyed getting to know all of them and was thankful for the time to do so. These were the people he was protecting and knowing them made that even more important. It was fascinating to learn their motivations and hopes for the future. He would stop at nothing to preserve that.

  This time was also spent enjoying the voyage. The ocean was vast and filled with interesting things. Often, it was empty as far as the eye could see, but sometimes you’d see something that would surpass all expectations. With his new ability he would see creatures in the water swimming alongside the boat and be able to name them. They would jump out of the water giving the crew and passengers something to awe at.

  One thing that they saw was a floating forest. Imagine hundreds of trees floating across the water. Even though he wasn’t supposed to use skills he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. The boat slowed to not hit any of the trees which gave him a chance to reach out and start getting information from his sensors. His new skill would actually log a few percent in his Genome Library, but he still had to use his sensors to get 100%. The trees were named the castaway trees because they would use their floating roots to bind themselves to one another and then wander the entire ocean as a forest looking for other castaway trees. Synexus thought they were truly marvelous. The rest of the class chosen looked at him like they were the most common thing in Motholo.

  That was unfortunately the only new plant he had seen so far. They told him that he’d have to dive to log some of the ocean plants. The creatures, however, were abundant and there was quite a variety. They had seen a lot of monsters from seagulls with the teeth of a shark, eels the size of the boat, sharks that would slowly climb the side of the boat using sticky skin and then try to pull people overboard, and even sea turtles that would try to use their ultra hard shells to be an obstacle for the ship. Kumo volunteered to fight them all, but eventually, they did get to see the other class chosen in action.

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  Prith was unstoppable with his sword. It was like watching a hurricane of blades. His technique was flawless, and the little tips that Gene gave him were helping him get even better. The monsters didn’t stand a chance when he started using his skills. If a monster could be cut, it would lose quickly. His body became a weapon making use of all of his defined muscles. He stood taller than Synexus at six foot four inches. His reach was perfect for that of a swordmaster and his dark brown hair looked almost non-existent with how short he kept it.

  Zuls was less lethal, but her animal companions were dangerous. She had so many; however, she would only summon five at a time. It seemed as if they all fought as one. Snowfall would use ice powers of all kinds to slow enemies down, while her sky jellyfish would sneak in and bind them up. It was practically invisible. The whistling wyvern she made a bond with would almost play with its prey before finishing the final blow. It was hard to keep track of since Zuls had buffs that helped allies be faster, stronger, and gain more experience. He loved watching how she would direct the battle. She had dark brown wavy hair that cascaded down her back. It would always bounce as she moved her head in a swivel to keep an eye on her companions. She was slender with this light purple armor that complimented her green eyes.

  Vorin was the only one that was difficult to watch. It looked like he was just touching monsters, but then minutes later they would be dead. Their insides would be like water, and they were always coming out of any escape they could find. It was gruesome, and it was hard to know what was happening since his abilities weren’t flashy. He had pale skin with black eyes, jet black hair, and even blacker armor. The black metal seemed to gleam in the sun. His weapons of choice were two one-handed scythes that were connected to his bracers by a cord. This was so he could drop them to deliver his death touch, but resume fighting with the weapons seconds later.

  He learned a lot by watching how coordinated they were. Kumo and himself had worked on fighting with one another, but even on their best days they didn’t move like the perfect machine the trio had developed. Even with Zuls’ companions, they all played their parts and monsters were falling quicker than Synexus could register them. He couldn’t wait to get back up to full speed and work on some tactics with them.

  ***

  Kumo was excited on the second day of his recovery because she got two skills to go up in level. They were Breeze and Cloud Cover which was surprising. Synexus had his guins on Conjure Fog being next since she used it in almost every fight. She shared the new descriptions with him.

  Breeze: You may now produce a much stronger gust of wind. The stronger the breeze, the harder it is to sustain. Spend a steady amount of mana to sustain high winds.

  Cloud Cover: You now have a much larger personal cloud. This cloud is more solid and provides better protection against the elements. This is a passive skill once summoned, and no mana is required to sustain the cloud. You may summon your cloud at any time.

  She had never needed mana for her breeze before the level up, but with some testing she found that the breeze produced without mana was stronger than before. She could now push mana into it and make the wind much stronger, however. She was excited at the versatility and the possibility of being able to knock enemies off their feet to gain the advantage.

  Synexus was excited for her, but he wanted to get his last level to level his class. The three days Gene had recommended he rest were taking longer than he thought. She was going to level up before he could even start working on Body Transmutation again. They were now even with only one skill to go. He was sure she would get Conjure Fog at any moment.

  ***

  Day three arrived and Synexus had now got to know everyone on board. Although he would have rather worked on his skills and class, the past couple of days had been refreshing and enlightening for him. He learned from his new friends, learned about his new friends, and even learned about himself. The three days certainly hadn’t been a waste, but he would be happy when Gene cleared him to use skills the next day.

  They were certainly taking their time. That final day was the longest. He filled it with more conversations with the people he met, more lessons with Prith, and some sightseeing with Kumo. The weather had been beautiful the whole time they had been out at sea so far. They knew it wouldn’t last forever, so looking out at the sparkling water with the sun high in the vast blue sky was a priority even if only for a little each day.

  Night fell upon them, and the day was finally coming to an end. He was being replaced by Kumo on watch. The sky was clear, but there was fog in the air. He knew this was her trying to grind out her last level. He was telling her that it had been quiet while she was inside getting some rest. After a few minutes, he turned to walk inside when all a sudden he heard her yell, “YES!”.

  He instantly knew she had finally gotten the level in Conjure Fog, and the class level they were both after.