Dzyl Archipelago, Island and Town of Duruk [Southern parts of the Spire Sea], local time [1794.04.16]

  “Oh! You are awake!” a familiar voice called, bringing him back to reality. Zeph looked to the entrance of the infirmary, dismissing his Interface.

  Makani was walking unhurriedly in his direction, carrying a suspicious crate covered by a piece of cloth.

  Zeph cleared his throat before speaking. He still felt weak and dehydrated despite his previous drinking frenzy.

  “You don’t sound surprised?” he asked hoarsely.

  “The Doctor predicted you will be waking up soon. I prepared some refreshments!” the Manacaster exclaimed happily, lifting the crate a bit higher to make a point.

  “You? Cooking?” he asked with dread, flinching involuntarily.

  “Hey! I was kind enough to stay behind and feed you; have some respect for my hard work!” Makani complained while jumping onto the lazily swinging platform he was occupying.

  The contents of the crate jiggled because of the sudden movement, and a waft of fishy odor mixed with a strong, herbal scent reached Zeph, making him grimace and shuffle away from the man.

  Makani noticed that immediately.

  “Don’t worry~! It’s mostly a delicious fat that you need!”

  “Do you even know how to prepare seafood?” he asked, retreating further back on his bed.

  “What is there to prepare? Those can be consumed raw and without spice,” Makani tiled his head innocently while coming closer. “Although, the Doctor’s herbal sauce is also part of the course…” he said, stopping right before his bed and leaning forward with a ‘caring’ smile on his face.

  A smile that was widening by a second as Zeph’s complexion worsened.

  It was a revenge. Plain and cruel revenge; one Zeph could not escape.

  ~~~

  The Willforce Morphon was on all-time duty this time. The stabilization of mind was helping with the gag reflex if he was using it constantly.

  He was lying stiffly on his bed, totally spent and gulping down his own saliva repeatedly in the hopes of diluting the foul concoction that was trying to settle down in his stomach.

  However, it wasn’t easy to keep it down.

  The fish oil wasn’t the worst of it. He expected to eat some fish, but instead, he had a close encounter with raw oyster-like meat bathed in the sourest mix of herbs he had ever encountered.

  That combination was deadly. He was quite certain that without his modified metabolism and Gru’s passive augmentation to his digestive system, the mix would be toxic at best. Hell, his modified intestinal bacteria were probably putting their best efforts right at this very moment… to survive, that is.

  It took him a few minutes after finishing ‘the course’, but he finally managed to regain partial control over his body.

  Feeling sicker than before waking up, he turned his head to send a hateful glare at the Manacaster. Makani was observing every minute of his suffering, but only now Zeph noticed how blissful his gaze was.

  “Are you satisfied?” he asked scornfully.

  “As long as you are good and alive…” the man said in a sing-song voice. At the same time, an Air Sphere snapped around them. Zeph’s Veil was still inflated, despite the ship’s systems siphoning his Mana, so he could tell immediately as Makani’s Spell expanded to cover them. The man had to prepare it in advance. “Now, what did you do?” the Manacaster’s face became more serious. “The girl is in the Shrine and, from what I have gathered, she is recovering.”

  “… She went past the threshold,” he answered succinctly. Going by his widening eyes, Makani seemed to understand what he was indicating. “I just bashed myself against her Soul fragments… they seemed partially connected, so I just had to deplete them from their residual Will...”

  Makani sucked his breath through his teeth and then quickly straightened up from his bent position. He was well aware of what that entailed. “Okay, sorry about the meal. I thought you did nothing; as was the rest of the crew.”

  “Well… that development was unexpected, to say the least,” Zeph said, turning his head to look at the ceiling. “Fragmented Soul shouldn’t look like that… Someone else intervened. But…” he glanced at the Manacaster. “Why exactly my machinations weren’t discovered?”

  Makani waved his hand before his face. “She is at the local Shrine. The System Onji informed everyone that she is going through a surgery. You think another Onji helped her?”

  So the System was covering for me? How generous. I can’t wait to see the bill… he thought sarcastically. “I am actually wondering if her parents could have helped. The Onjis aren’t known from their charity work, you see.”

  The Manacaster made a thoughtful face, pondering on that possibility. “You know… it’s not above the scope of stratum-one. I heard that at least a quarter of their population is dabbling in Soul Arts to a limited degree. It’s kind of necessary if you want a better Class evolution. But if her parents were able to transfer a whole and somewhat working Soul construct after their demise…”

  “They would have to specialize in it, I know,” Zeph interjected. “Or they have trained her. Maybe both. Anyway, they would have to be much more informed than a typical citizen.”

  Makani’s face scrunched as he noticed what Zeph was insinuating. “No way! You are not mixing the Temple of Pure Souls into it!”

  “Who knows?” Zeph shrugged lightly. He immediately regretted it. Putting his hand over his mouth, he mumbled out his reasoning. “They do seem… to have some… major backing.”

  Makani crossed his arms. “True, but I would rather believe they infiltrated all neighboring governments than that. I doubt their sect would be allowed to take root and prosper on higher strata. Their ways aren’t exactly in line with the goals of the majority, leaders included. Also, you know too little about the political landscape as is, so please spare me your conspirator theories. Anyway, if her parents were able to do that, her background isn’t simple,” he murmured at the end, once again falling into thought.

  Zeph used the pause wisely – forcefully getting rid of his newfound averse to the contents of his innards. He would allow his body to expulse the offending concoction of disgusting ingredients, but he worried that it would leave him bedridden for the rest of the day. He very much needed nutrients and had faith in Makani and the Doctor – there had to be some pros to the diet they prepared.

  Probably.

  “Nah, there is no sense thinking about it,” the Manacaster finally concluded. “The girl can explain everything herself soon enough. Anyway, I need to wash the dishes,” he said, standing up. “I will be back in a moment.”

  “The cook… is absent?” Zeph asked curiously.

  “Almost everyone left for the town. Only a few guards stayed behind to patrol the deck,” he explained, quickly packing everything back into the crate. “We are in the Town of Duruk – one of the government-ruled ports. It’s safe enough here. At least during the day. Information gathering should be easy, but we have to wait for the girl to be released from the Shrine, so the plan is to stay here for two nights at minimum… I will explain more when I’m back,” he said, lifting the crate and turning around.

  Zeph didn’t wait for him to leave the room and focused back on the old notifications in his Interface. There were still some waiting for his attention.

  A slew of levels was a nice bonus. Zeph felt—deep in his bones—that he would need the additional knowledge soon. It was one of the rare times when he used his Profession as intended, so his soon-to-be teacher of shamanism shouldn’t be disappointed in the development he had made.

  Hmmm, speaking about Professions, shouldn’t mine level up? Or is the System waiting for my report first?

  He could only shrug, ignoring the missing notification. He called the next one.

  So, it wasn’t that bad after all… he thought, nodding with content. I should be good as new in a day on that front. But, who would have thought that dealing with ‘Will clash’ is so strenuous? And I was only dealing with small pockets of foreign Will… Did I lose so much because my whole being was involved during each clash? I won’t believe that the girl actually has more Will than me. Although… it’s difficult to say. Her Will can’t be calculated like mine – it should be intangible. Maybe the strength of conviction has a role here?

  He played with that idea for a moment, but quickly shook his head.

  That wouldn’t make any sense. If that was true then calculating the amount of my Will in the context of energy would be useless. My Will-related statistics should come back when the System gathers more data about me and Gru, so it’s not like the values are random.

  Dismissing the notification, he noticed it was the last one. That meant there was only one left to do.

  Now, what should I do about this unfortunate report? It’s clear the System couldn’t see what was happening to our Wills – they wouldn’t ask for a report if they could. If I send the full memory, there is a higher chance for them to finish building their model and return the Advanced Statistics to my Interface. Not to mention, I will probably gain another shitton of Universal Points for all that data… But the fact that I can perceive and, most probably, interact with the Wills of others is a big thing and a great trump card... Then again, wouldn’t they send me more general information about the Will in exchange?

  He weighed his options for a minute, going back and forth.

  What convinced him in the end was a simple fact – he wouldn’t be able to keep this ability secret in the long run.

  The reaction of the kids to my presence was noted for sure. It’s already a strong hint that I can safely interact with foreign Will. If I ever Soul-bond with anything, that fact should become obvious. Heck, I am more surprised my Bond with Gru wasn’t a dead giveaway. He’s an alien organism, though… And stole my contamination for that matter. Hmm…

  He sighed, feeling like he just couldn’t understand what was going on anymore.

  Anyway, I am not the only Terrien on the planet. Also, the complete memory will explain why have I started interacting with her Soul so closely and why have I decided to test the ‘Will clash’ method. Going by that ‘Soul manipulation’ warning, the System is probably very, very worried about my intentions there…

  He was still a bit vexed about that part, but there wasn’t much he could do. He still had the immunity and that was the most important part, even if the System was watching any attempts at Soul manipulation closer than he would like. Not like he was trying to practice that on the girl – it was just a misunderstanding because he was causing a visible reaction in the Soulscape.

  Yeah, it’s decided. He nodded to himself and got to work.

  Using the System Shrine was becoming a second nature – he just had to power it with his Mana to activate its additional functions. It wasn’t dissimilar to paying in Mana when perusing General Skills, but the target was physical this time, making it slightly harder on him because of his meager skills in internal Mana manipulation.

  After that, the Seed was linking itself to his Interface, allowing him to navigate its internal menu.

  He quickly sent a request to open a bandwidth and started preparing himself for the transfer of Soul memories. Thankfully, because he didn’t have to redact the memory, the action didn’t require much focus.

  He was done within a minute. But, just as he was deactivating the Seed, a sudden notification startled him.

  Wow, they work fast! Did the System simulate possible cases beforehand or something?

  “Oh blessed riches, you have finally found me!” he whispered while smiling. I will be upgrading a lot of Skills soon… Most of which I didn’t even ‘read’ properly. Let’s hope my teacher can fix my path. It would be catastrophic to lose all that potential by omitting obvious usages of all that knowledge…

  He scanned the notifications one more time. The first one caught his eye.

  So ‘Will perception’ has been in construction for some time now? Interesting. Good thing I didn’t try to hide my memories, then. More curiously, it contradicted his old belief that the Skill couldn’t exist because of the nature of Will. However, as a scientist at heart, it made him happy – a new discovery shattering the old theories was a thing to be celebrated.

  There was one small problem, though.

  Shouldn’t that Skill already exist? I mean, the Ryuu species has Greater Willpower, supposedly. I am sure they are not the only ones, too. If perception through Will is physically possible, how come the Skill doesn’t exist? Or is the mentioned one a ‘human’ version? he pondered idly.

  These and similar thoughts occupied his mind as he waited for Makani to come back. The Manacaster returned a few minutes later with some snacks. It seemed that he was ready to keep him company this evening, for which Zeph was grateful. He felt too tired to do anything constructive and lying in solitude for hours on end wasn’t his favorite pastime.

  ~~~

  As time passed, Zeph could feel strength returning to his limbs. The time flew by fast, spent on idle talk, card games, and bickering.

  Only after five hours, he felt good enough to stand on his feet.

  As it was getting late, though, he decided he had enough of sitting idly.

  With Makani’s help, he managed to descend from his platform and traverse the treacherous stairs leading to the deck. His steps were slow and cautious, yet he almost managed to fall down two times.

  But his efforts were well worth it.

  He wasn’t sure what to expect from the Dzyl Archipelago. He knew that it was a somewhat tropical collection of islands, but was warned about the cold winds and tricky weather.

  What he wasn’t prepared for was a miniature paradise standing on the golden sands spreading far into the land.

  It was dark already, but the sky was clear and the moon was shining brightly as it always did.

  The crystal-clear water of the lagoon wasn’t hiding anything from his eyes, proudly showcasing a lively and colorful coral reef surrounding their ship. The organisms living there were alien to him for the most part, painted in a palette different from that of Earth – deep velvets, fluorescent blues, and grayish green were dominating the underwater world. Yet, the view was familiar, nostalgic even.

  The Moonlight was playing on the calm waves and wet sand, its pale light shimmering like a distant night sky.

  The piers here weren’t solid. Instead, they floated on the surface of the water, moving in the rhythm of the sea. A Few stray pillars stood firm against the waves – the only firm support for the docked canoes and boats tied to the floating, wooden construction.

  From further back, colorful lights could be seen, escaping through the gaps in bamboo walls of the buildings surrounding the lagoon they have found themselves in.

  The docks were lively and somewhat rowdy – the distant sounds of crowds of people, music, and singing were a clear indicator that the whole place was celebrating.

  The buildings near the beach looked flimsy – big huts built from light wood, sticks, and big leaves – but going by the decorations, they were built that way to create a relaxing atmosphere, not to stay functional.

  He couldn’t see what the residential area looked like from his vantage point. Sparse trees and bushes growing further away from the water were hiding the rest of the town. The thin forest resembled that of a tropical island all right, although the local equivalent of palm trees didn’t have a singular, naked trunk. Instead, they were branching a few times, spreading out their enormous leaves to block the access to sunlight from their competitors. Because of that, the forest was surprisingly bushy.

  The center of the Island was elevated much higher than the outskirts, but the vegetation was doing wonders in masking anything of importance in the weak light of the moon. Also, the island wasn’t small by any means – the top of the hill at the center seemed to be a good five kilometers away. The only building he could spy on from the boat was the System Shrine standing near the base of that small mountain, maybe a kilometer away. He recognized it immediately because of the gold-and-black motif. It was visible thanks to its size and polished surfaces that were reflecting the moonlight, but it differed greatly from what he saw in Lurona.

  Instead of using the pyramid-like style, it looked like a complex of seven four-story-high towers (at least, going by the height of the trees around) that were shaped like gigantic totems. He had to admit, the visuals played nicely with the local architecture. Or, at least, with the part he was able to notice.

  “No wonder everyone abandoned the ship,” he said with revere in his voice. “Is that an endless party that I am seeing?” he asked, shivering slightly from excitement and a chilly sea breeze.

  “More or less. It’s more of a business discussion time if I understood correctly,” Makani said, shrugging. “And not everyone. Don’t ignore our good sentinels,” he added nonchalantly, waving his hand.

  Zeph looked around. Noticing that the nearby crewmembers were looking straight at them, he nodded in the direction of each to show respect.

  If he wasn’t this weak right now, he would be touring the island back and forth, so he understood their sacrifice all too well.

  Turning back to feast his eyes on this wonder of a town, he got an idea.

  “We are going to sleep in an inn, aren’t we?” he asked, smiling.

  “Nope!” Makani denied immediately, squashing his hopes. “Government or not, this place isn’t safe. Everyone should be back in three hours.”

  Zeph grimaced.

  I just want one night on a tropical beach! Is that too much to ask?!