A beautiful day. The sea birds call their mates. The frolicking of the waves make music. The serene wind takes a yawn. The lukewarm sun shines its brilliant rays on to the deck of a ship. On to a young man who stares at the heavens looking upon this wonderous world. He would have been blessed to receive nature's prize and his thoughts would have been full of amazement. He makes the shadows move hither and tither as he slowly lifts the mop on to the ship's deck.

'I have been tricked!'

So much for important missions, exciting adventures and amorous women. If anyone tells you that being a shipwright learner and a page are important jobs, hit them. By any equation, all calculations, shipwright learner + page = slave.

Consider it. The addition of two lowest rungs in the job ladder results in being like the lower side of the lowest rung of the ladder. Kinda like negative number + negative number = a more negative number.

Raka sighed again, running the mop across the wooden floor of the ship's deck, remembering everything that had brought him to this.

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Raka stood wondering what to do. He had just been delivered the Annoying Parrot. It was getting late and he had to log out soon but he couldn't just leave it in the cage. He would be gone 2 days after all. In his shock, he had failed to see what was in the cage. 'Was there food and water?' Well even though the parrot was annoying, should he just let it die?!

After thinking a bit he decided on a course of action. He got out the ear plugs he used when he worked at the warehouse and put them in his ears. He hoped it would be enough although all his instincts warned him that if they couldn't protect him from Salmon's voice, they wouldn't help with the parrot.

But still, something was better than nothing. If only it would give him a few more seconds to react before he was stunned, he hoped. Slowly he lifted the cloth from the cage again.

".......," the parrot moved its beak.

"Um....wait. Before you start singing, wouldn't you like to get out of the cage." Thankfully, he couldn't hear its voice. The ear plugs were working. On the other hand, not being able to hear, he was sure it had not started singing yet. He could see its beak move though so....Well strike before it could get in its groove, as they say.

He put his hands on one side of the cage wall, finding a small latch and opened it. He tried lifting it and the cage wall lifted. All the while the parrot was watching his actions, incredibly with its beak closed.

"You are free now. Go on fly away. You see freedom, fresh air...go on!"

'Please do', he thought as well.

The parrot walked out of the cage, hopped would be a better word, with its wings flapping. It flew on to the tree monkey was on and landed. And then it stared with its beak open.

'Is it saying something?' The parrot simply nodded its head and shut its beak.

Raka wasn't sure what to do now.

"Go on...you are free, do you understand. FREE! FLY! AWAY!" He even shooed with his hands. But still the parrot just sat there.

It started moving its beak after a while. Not sure if Raka was out of danger yet. But there was no way to find out other than to risk it. Slowly he moved the plugs out of his ears, being cautious.

".........beneficiary. Therefore I shall in good honor of generations past." Thankfully, no singing, yet.

"Um, what?"

"Ah you are a bad listener in addition to being filthy sir. Why don't you get an extra pair of ears while you are at it."

"What?" Well it was still annoying.

"You gave me freedom. I owe you a debt. The clan Cackle does not take debts. We repay them in full. So I will serve you till I have repaid it."

"Ah no no. There is no debt. Please fly away. Go back to your home or whatever. I am sure your folks miss you."

"Definitely not! I am a proud member of the clan Cackle. Pure blood of 5 generations. We don't keep debts as I said."

"But I don't need you for anything. Besides don't you have an aspiration to be a singer? Don't you want to go somewhere else for that?"

"That is true. But dreams can wait. This Cackle shall honor his debts first."

"Why! As I said there is no debt. Even if there was, there is no reason to stay...you can resolve your debts some other day...like maybe next year."

"Oh no. The Cackle fatherlord said. We resolve our debts then and there. And we do not leave till we do."

'Now how do I get rid of this thing!!'

"So what do you have to do to resolve your debt? Like one favor and your done?" Maybe he could get rid of it another way.

"Laws of the Cackle clan state, I shall have to serve you for 10 new moons."

"Wait, that's almost like 10 months. You have to serve me for 10 months?!"

"Ah that proves it. You have an addled brain sir. In what world does the new moon happen ten times in ten months?"

"Eh...Oh!" Raka, like most people had assumed the game world was the same as the real world atleast with respect to the moon and stuff. Well more than assume, he hadn't cared about it.

"So when does the new moon happen?"

"Once a year. Everyone knows that. Ah life...its misery and the beauty of the moon...."

"Stop! Don't sing!" Raka shouted.

The parrot did stop. Guess the key was to do a preemptive strike before the bomb dropped.'That was close. I will have to keep listening to its words carefully. But still once a year..!!!'

"Um that would be like 10 years! Are you sure you did not get your law wrong? Maybe you heard it wrong?"

"Ofcourse not. The Cackle clan prides itself on its perfect memories."

"Really? Then how were you captured?"

"Ah...I got lost while going home and landed on a ship to spend the night. The next thing, I was in a cage!"

"So you forgot your way home. What's with perfect memories!"

"Do not belittle the Cackle clan, filthy addlebrained sir! Even the best Cackle makes mistakes."

"Seriously! Anyways what is this Cackle clan you are talking about?"

"Ah forgetful too aren't you sir! Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Sir Squaky Nobbington Poppington Cackle the sixth."

"Squaky? Seriously?!"

"Ah if the name is too much for your forgetful self, you may address me as Sir Pop Cackle the sixth!"

'Ridiculous!' On so many levels. But anyways he didn't have time for it today.

"Alright...Pop Cackle....whatever. I will be gone for the next two days. If you wish to leave you can do so. Or please do anyway. I have left some food for monkey, if you want to eat."

"The proud Cackle clan hunts its own food. We do not take someone else's."

'And didn't you eat the food served to you in the cage?' It was annoying in more ways than one.

"Ok then. Well good night monkey."

The monkey moved his head and made a small sound, almost like a whine and a light screech.

"Ah he says good night to you, sir! He also says please glue his mouth together before you go. Ah why does he want to glue your mouth? Rude little ape, isn't he."

"Oh...ok. Wait! He says that? You understand him?"

"Yes. It reminds me of the time when I first visited the island of the apes...ah the beauty of the trees..."

"Don't sing."

So the parrot understands monkey language. Raka sighed and logged out.

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Swamy sighed again. He was having trouble paying attention to anything the prof said. In fact for the first time in his life, he suspected he had found himself in that proverbial fire and fire pan situation. Or was it the well and valley situation. Anyways he was having the perennial problem most film makers have. How to get their characters be at two places at once.

If he did not go to college tomorrow, his Aunt who lived next door and through her, his parents, would know. If he did go to college tomorrow, he would miss his quest. The ship would sail.....literally. And if he was not on it, well..! He did wonder though, how virtual reality games get a character log on and off from a moving platform. I mean you get back online the place you died or logged out. But if that place was a ship, do you log on to the ship or to the exact place above water you logged out at. This and other nonsense thoughts pervaded the domain of his mind in his search for the solution to a very complex problem.

Swamy sighed again. He tried to focus his attention back on his lessons but every few minutes some other nonsense thought would come invading.

During lunch...

"Hey Swamy, what's up pal?" Rohit asked.

"Hmm...what?"

"You are looking so lost today. In fact you weren't even listening in the lessons. Dude, if you doze off what will I do?"

"Well it would help if you showed as much interest in class as you do in Long Island forums," Sneha quipped.

"Oh come on. I can't help where my interests lie, can I now?" Rohit replied with a smile.

"Ha Ha...you will have to try harder than that!"

'Ri~ght....and ignore me will ya,' Swamy thought.

"Any~ways back to Swamy. So what's caught up in your sleeve? I mean I haven't seen you staring out of the window...like I have never seen you stare out of the window in class," Manish added.

"Um...I am in a bit of a fix. I got this quest in game, but it will happen tomorrow in the day time."

"Ok. So skip class tomorrow. I have done it once already," Rohit said.

"Well he is not you obviously!" Sneha replied back.

"Well its not like we are graded for attendance. You could skip, if you wanted to. Is this quest really that important? What kind of quest is it?"

'Do I tell them?' Swamy thought. He had never got a chance to really talk about his game character. Well he did, but no one was particularly interested at those times, so he had politely stayed quiet. Was this the moment of reckoning. What would happen if they found out he was Raka? More specifically the Raka. Would they be upset? Or like Christopher, they would think it was clever that he hid it. Maybe the middle path would be best for now.

"Umm...the quest has a difficulty of E. But if I get it done I might get to learn the woodworking skill, I think. It does not have many rewards, but it gives me the basic shipwright commission."

"Wait...whats a basic shipwright commission?" Rohit pricked his ears at the new knowledge but it seemed everyone else was also interested in that.

"Ah, the shipwright commission allows you to work on ships. The basic one allows you to work on the ship. The intermediate one allows you hire other shipwrights to work for you. And the advanced allows you to design and build ships. But you have to have the previous one to get the next level. So getting the basic one could be important. I think you will be able to get it through some other means as well but..."

"Ah that is an absolutely excellent information you have uncovered Swamy." And Rohit was already moving his fingers on the cellphone. Maybe he will check up on this new information. Or maybe he will post it.

"So you need this shipwright commission to actually travel on the ship as well? I mean can someone not travel if they don't have that? Can't they do other jobs which are not related to the shipwright thing?" As usual Himali came up with the most interesting questions.

"Actually I think you can. Not sure what other jobs there are. But I doubt the captain would be a shipwright as well. It is one of the positions on the ship. Knowing the ship is made of wood, the woodworking skill could become very important, I think." Swamy replied honestly.

"Hmm...we never thought of that did we Himali?" Manish said.

"Yeah. After all, this game has a lot of islands. I think we forgot it due to being stuck in one place for so much time. Now we can go to the capital and see the sea right." Himali answered.

"So should we spend some time learning the woodworking skill you think?"

"Well we can if we want. But there should be other jobs to do on the ship as well. Lets find out more about it by asking around, before we decide."

"But you use the bow as a weapon. It would be good to have someone know this skill in our guild."

"Yeah. Oh lets not forget we need to find out how to make our guilds when we get to the capital. I think the road's open now. I asked the guards and they said that the guards from the capital would be going back today. Once they get there the road will open for normal traffic."

"Oh I heard that too. It seems Lady Altia will also go with the guards. The battle school instructors were talking about it. Come to think of it, I haven't seen her around lately."

"Could it be a continuation of the event quest you think?" Himali asked.

"Not sure. Do you think we should hurry to the capital in that case? Maybe the next event quest will take place there." Manish added.

"Well even if we hurry after the road opens, it would take us a few days to get there. Not sure we would be able to take part." Himali explained.

"Oh yeah. That's true."

"Oh did you know I got a blessing yesterday." Finally Sneha spoke. It seemed she had been dying to get this out but looking that the talk never turned her way she had waited. The water had finally broken through the dam and she eagerly blurted it out.

"Really what was it?" Rohit quickly looked up from his phone.

"Oh just some silly thing actually." Sneha gave a knowing smile to Himali.

Rohit looked at the exchange between the two ladies perplexed. Thankfully Manish explained.

"Well Himali's cooking instructor, who's a female npc by the way, kissed her cheek when she was blessed. Her blessing is kind of embarrassing so I don't think I will disclose that. I think something similar happened to Sneha."

"Wait you were learning tailoring if I remember right? That instructor was a guy. Did he kiss you on the cheek as well?" Rohit asked.

"No. In my case he went down on one knee and kissed my hand like a knight. It was so romantic." Sneha replied.

"What! He did that! The nerve of him!" Rohit said aloud.

"Calm down. I will let you do that as well, if you like it so much." Sneha teased and Rohit had the good grace to blush a little bit.

"Well anyways, you should just skip class Swamy." A lame attempt by Rohit to change the discussion and everyone smiled, but they let it drop.

"Yeah. But I think you may not need to do that. I was talking to one of the seniors I know. She said that during the start of long weekends like this, usually they end class early. And in some cases the profs themselves take the day off. Last year they had the whole morning off and in the afternoon the profs let them leave early." Sneha said.

"Ah that would be nice. But I guess I still have to come down tomorrow to check it out. Well lets see what happens." Swamy could finally see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. Ofcourse that would be very lucky and he had a feeling his luck ran out in the game. But if it had happened before, there was a good chance it could happen again. If not...'Well I will think about it when I get there.' Swamy sighed again.

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Raka logged in by the beach. He took a deep breath of the salty sea air of the night. He had logged in a little early today, it was still like dark in the game. Monkey was still hanging by the tree and it looked asleep. Parrot...or Sir whatsitname seemed to be missing. 'Did it go away?' Raka smiled for a moment. But then sighed his hopes away. He was not that lucky. It must be somewhere around, probably hunting for food.

'Anyways I will let them do what they want. The people don't seem to bother them so I think it should be alright if I just let them be here.' Thinking that he headed to the library. His addition to his usual routine would be reading about his new found skills in the library. Well the only skill he had practiced so far was Massage. And he hadn't learnt it yet. But then he had been practicing on Monkey so it might not count anyway.

Pushing his thoughts aside, he found the book on herbal medicine again and started learning it slowly. He even took out a few empty sheets and started making notes. 'I will have to buy more paper soon.'

A few hours and a bunch of notes later he stood up from his seat and stretched a bit. 'Ah the sun's up already.' He had been so engrossed in studying that he had not realized that the sun had come up a couple of hours before. 'Well lets head down to the docks.'

Salmon wasn't there today. 'Hmmm whats up?' Raka asked one of his colleagues and found out that Salmon won't be coming today. Raka sighed. 'Couldn't he have just told me. He knows I come up every 3 days.' But not telling him seemed exactly like Salmon's nature.

Well he had no work today. So instead he made his way down to the one thing he could now do, because he had found a little bit of fame. The bow maker's shop. In his regular routine, he visited all the shops he knew.

Ofcourse going to all the shops in Thelmova everyday was not possible. There were so many. But Raka had quickly found out that intimacy counts for more with merchants than fame. Yes, fame helps. Especially if you are selling stuff like bones. But for profit margins, its better to have high intimacy. So he had identified the few shops which liked to buy at higher margins. He had also found stores which liked to sell just a little cheaper. And then he visited them regularly. Oh and he noted down the prices of the items every time.

With intimacy came another distinct advantage. He could now ask them about things in their shop. Once he got more information, his Identification skill could work and improve. Unlike other skills though, improving Identification skill did not remove or reduce the requirement for information. He still had to find out about things or figure out things before his identification skill took effect. It was more for converting general information into specific data. Like how he figured out age and the skill gave him a number.

"Ah aren't you the young man who came here before? What was your name again? Heard a few people talking about you getting a Queen's medal now, is it true?" asked the young bow maker.

"Ah yeah, last time we were not introduced. My name is Raka and yes it is true that I was rewarded with a Queen's medal."

"Hahahaha now I remember. You were trying to sell bones to me, right. At that time I couldn't help thinking what kind of loon had arrived...sorry about that. Name's Boyle. So how can I help you today?"

"Well I came today for the same reason as last time. I wanted to sell all the rabbit and wolf bones I have."

"Ah yeah. I agree you can sell them now but I got no need for those bones right now. No demand for basic bows see."

Raka thought for a bit.

"Um...I think there is a requirement of basic bows in Gurrow village. Lots of Goddess's children will be reaching the age to go out of the village and they will be needing weapons. The first things they hunt would be rabbits and wolves and soon there would be lots of bones in the market. But if you can supply the bones first, I think you can sell for a higher price. Also if you make basic bows and sell some in Gurrow, it should sell for a higher price as well. You can add the transportation cost to Gurrow too. Well it will be a limited time offer. After all the road just opened, last I heard. And people would soon be flooding the market with bones. But if you act fast..."

Boyle pinched his lips thinking about this. The profit margins in basic weapons would not amount to much. And as these bones don't have magical properties they would lose their demand soon enough. But right now the Goddess's children might not care about such things. Raka could faintly imagine the things going on in Boyle's head.

"Well alright. Show me the bones...."

A little while later, Raka concluded the business earning 74 silvers 35 coppers. And he still had bones left. It seems that not all bones can be used in making bows.

'Now what do I do with the rest? Should I just dump them?' The bones did not seem to go bad like food so he could store it for now. After all his bag was mostly empty nowadays. And then he remembered the medicine makers. 'Could this be another lack of foresight?' Raka sighed. He had just read a book on herbal medicine. Ideally it should have reminded him of those medicine makers. 'I am an idiot, hence proved. Well not like they would buy these bones but lets find them first and then I can decide.'

"Say Boyle, do you know any medicine makers around here? I know most of the shops but none seem like they would sell medicines."

"Ah that's because medicine makers don't have shops like these. They usually sell directly to the physickers."

"Physickers? Are they like healers?"

"No no. Healers are different. See healers use magic to help your recovery. They can also deal with some wounds and curses. But they cannot do anything about diseases. Physickers are the ones who take care of any disease. They use various herbs and medicine and only they can prescribe medicine. That's why medicine makers sell it directly to them. A lot of medicine makers are physickers themselves and they travel around here and there."

'Ah so healers use magic, while physickers use the herbs and medicine. And what's this about curses and disease?' Raka had thought healing would take care of everything. But it seems in the game there were things which could be dealt with magic and things for which you would need proper medicine. So what happens if you get afflicted by a disease and do not get it treated? Npcs would die ofcourse. But what would happen to the players? 'Just some negative effects which last a long time...or would there be more severe consequences. Hmmm.'

"Well so how do I find these medicine makers or physickers?"

"I can't say. Usually when they come, word goes around that they have come. And there's one in the Queen's palace. But he doesn't come out much. Otherwise they just go around the island helping people. But one or two visit every month. I haven't heard of one coming so can't say. The medicine makers also don't come to the city much. They usually scour the forests in search of herbs."

"Hmm in that case, how do they get in touch with the physickers?"

"Never thought about that. I think maybe they have pigeons or something."

'That makes sense. Well no point waiting for them.'

Raka left the shop and headed to the blacksmith. He needed to get his armor repaired though how much help would it be, he wasn't sure. Especially when he was on a ship. In the event quest video, the beastmen had simply tore through armor like it was paper.

Repairing his armor cost him 20 silvers. Guess the time spent so far had really done a number on them. Leaving his armor to be repaired, he decided to head down to the magic academy as was his routine.

Hours later, he still had no luck. But....'They are still staring aren't they.' The other students in the training hall seemed to be staring at him. Or at his back to say. They were being careful not to do it overtly. But Raka could feel their stares on his back. Guess being invited by Lady Verina and/or Sambal did not go down well with them. Atleast they did not intend to do anything about it. Raka wasn't sure whether he was being underestimated or not. In any case, it was not the most comfortable situation.

He walked down to the beach in the afternoon and parrot was still missing. Now Raka had a reason to hope. Just a little. He and the monkey had their lunch together watching the waves roll onto the beach.

After spending some more time relaxing, he moved on to Cassian's house for tea. Thankfully Cassian was alone today. His Peek lessons could now begin in earnest.

"You know bonding affects two similar objects. Or atleast objects who you can imagine to be similar. You understand those rules?" Cassian said.

"Yes." After all the bonding practice, he was sure of it.

"Well lets think of bonding as making lines. One line starts from one object and leads to the other object. The second line does the same thing with the other."

Raka nodded.

"Well lets say for now, that I erased one of those lines. Would the objects still be considered bonded?"

"I am not sure. There would still be a link between the two."

"Exactly. You see I wondered that if we can see this in theory, why can't we see it in practice. After all, bonding cannot happen unless you link the objects. Which will always form two lines between them. Do you see the problem?"

Raka thought for a while this time. What Cassian said made sense. But the way he applied bonding on objects did not leave any way to be connected just one way. Once you pass magic through two objects, they were always connected two-way. Raka nodded again.

"Yeah. I spent years trying to understand this phenomena. At first, I thought it was simply a case of believing. After all, the limitations to magic is ourselves. But no matter how hard I believed I never achieved anything." Cassian slowed down for a bit. "Then I tried changing my thoughts. Maybe its just a different way of doing magic rather than simply believing. When you bond two objects, you imagine them to be one and the same and then pass magic through both of them at the same time.

But I thought what if I did not pass magic through them at the same time. I failed. I got two separate magic embedded objects rather than bonded ones. I tried with various levels of power. Then I tried it with different time intervals. I even tried it with different objects just to be sure. But nothing worked."

Raka listened quietly.

"And then I discovered a way. I have given you several clues. Lets see if you have figured it out by now Raka."

'What clues!' For a moment Raka was dumbfounded. Then he started thinking back to the entire conversation. What was left in the bonding process? He thought for a lot of time even giving up, but each time Cassian encouraged him to think some more. It was like he was guiding him to a solution, almost like if he couldn't solve it himself, he might not be able to learn.....

And then it hit him.

"When we talk of bonding, we always think of bonding two objects but we still have to think them as one. So what happens if we do the bonding process on one object only. And then maybe split it?"

"Ahahaha...yes very good. You see people usually have trouble giving up preconceived notions. And truthfully, it is hard. It took me years to get to this idea. I tried it and the result was a one way connection between the split objects. The answer is still incomplete but if you cannot give up the notion of bonding with two objects, you can not learn Peek. This is the main reason why no one has been able to perform it successfully, even when they know about it."

Raka smiled excited.

"You see, there is a further refinement. When you pass magic through a single object, the side which receives the magic first becomes the start of the first link. And then the other sides form the second link and connects to the first side. I have found that doing this way, the second link is always weaker than the first.

You have to take care when splitting the object now, because destroying the object destroys the links as well. So for example, you take a thick piece of glass. When you embed magic, it enters one side of the glass and out the other. The side where it enters first becomes the first link. Now I can simply split the thick piece of glass down the middle which will destroy the second link, and only the first link will remain. Then I make mirrors using the two separate pieces and the result is before you."

"But then isn't it possible to have many connected pieces of glass like that?" Raka asked.

"Ah...so you figured that out too. Well theoretically it should be. But I tried doing it and it doesn't work. That is why I said that it is an incomplete answer. I have this suspicion that when you split the objects into lots of pieces, the bond also divides in strength. So when you have 3 pieces, there will be two one-way links from the first piece to the other two. If thinking that a link has its own power, then when making two links from one, it divides and each link's power reduces. Maybe this makes it unstable and the link breaks down. Well it is just my thoughts."

It took Raka a few more minutes to understand. And he smiled as he understood.

"Alright you will find some suitable pieces of glass down at the back. I asked Taum to buy some."

Raka went below and out to the back. There seemed to be a room which was filled with all sorts of stuff, almost like a store room. He entered and found several thick pieces of glass of varying sizes in a stack. He carried the stack back.

"If you truly understand then try applying this bonding technique on these."

Raka lifted up a piece of thick glass, almost the size of his palm and with thickness around 2 fingers. He closed his eyes and did the magic. 'Now how do I split them?' But Cassian asked for the piece and waved his hands and then whispered 'Break'. A seam appeared right down the width of it and the glass split into two.

"Here try writing on the first one. And then the second one."

Raka did as told. Writing on the first reflected the same words on the second. But writing on the second did not reflect back on the first. Raka looked up with shining eyes. It had worked perfectly.

"Well done. Now all that's left is to learn how to manipulate water...." And Raka's mood vanished as soon as it had arrived.

That night he practiced some more Massage on monkey before leaving him with some more fruits. Parrot had still not appeared.

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Next day, Swamy's luck returned. Morning class got cancelled. His profs had taken an early holiday. Ofcourse he had to find this out by actually coming to class. He hurried back. Well, if his luck hadn't returned, it would have been very difficult to continue this story.

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Raka quickly walked down to the docks. He wasn't sure which pier to go to but there seemed to be only a handful of ships today. Five to be exact. He walked over to them and sure enough, Salmon was standing beside one with his hands folded, fuming for some unknown reason.

"Hurry up! Move those waggletails and get on the ship you moron!"

Raka did just that. He looked around. Quite a few people were working, still loading some stuff up, running numbers, checking cargo, inspecting sails, etc. Lady Altia and Verina were no where. Maybe they were still preparing and they would board at a later time. Thinking that, Raka spent his time watching the flurry of activities all along the ship as it readied itself to make sail.

"Don't just stand there and get in the way! If you are not helping then get down below!" Someone shouted at him.

Well, it was Raka's first time on a ship. Real or virtual. The author's as well. Not that he hadn't prepared a bit. He had read about old sail ships on the internet, hoping that these would resemble them to some extent. But looking at a ship in a drawing and actually being on one full of busy people, is a lot different.

'Now how do I get below?' Obviously this ship was not designed the way he had seen on the internet. The upper deck he thought it was called, had some rooms on top of it. With a bunch of doors towards the aft of the ship. And then there was this gaping hole on the deck itself towards the middle of the ship, which connected down to the cargo area. He headed to the rooms and tried opening one of the doors. Lots of charts, something, charts...no way down.

Another door revealed more instruments, even a wheel...guess this was the captain's. A couple more were locked. The last one was open and revealed a small hole with stairs going down. Now stairs on a ship are built straight down and not slanting down like in a house. You have to...climb down them.

Below revealed a small galley or kitchen kind of, having tables with attached benches. And then connected to it was a hallway, with more rooms and doors at one side. This hallway ran a lot shorter than the upper deck, only about the size of like a third of the ship. Maybe the other half is more storage area. And this was like the resting area. 'So a total of 3 decks by the looks of it. Where are the cannons by the way?'

Not wanting to try the rooms, he sat down on one of the benches. Now that he noticed, the tables were bolted to the flooring. And then he waited hearing the clunking, shouting, etc coming up from around him. A couple of times some people came down and went to check up the cupboards/larders lining the walls of the galley. One of them was kind enough to offer him some kind of jerky. It tasted nice and it gave him something to do besides getting bored. He laid his head down on the table and slowly dozed off.

Raka awoke a couple of hours later feeling something was wrong. And then realized it had become quiet. No shouting, clunking or any of the other sounds. He quickly made his way to the upper deck and found that barring a few people, everyone had formed ranks on pier....like a parade next to the ship.

He hurried down below, almost falling off the gangplank, and made his way to Salmon who was standing a little to the side and not in formation. He quietly growled.

"And where the hell have you been? Don't tell you were napping somewhere now!" But he wasn't interested in the answer instead he looked towards the streets. Raka did too.

A little while later, he heard the clopping of horses and a couple of closed wagons arrived surrounded by a lot of soldiers all clad in the finest armor.

"The Queen....." A whisper went out around him as the first wagon opened and out stepped a middle aged woman, a quite lovely lady having blonde hair, wearing rich noble robes and a crown. Even then he could see the grace as she stepped down. Raka felt that she was really good at fighting for some reason. Warriors or people trained to be one, had this grace. A way to walk, always balanced, always sure. But Raka realized it because the Queen walked more like Lady Altia and Verina rather than Neona.

And then the rest followed. Lady Verina, Lady Altia, Sambal and a few other noble looking people. The second carriage was filled with....

"Eh...!" Raka could not stop the sound from escaping as the magic academy transfer students dropped down from the second wagon. Also dressed in some form of noble attire. Probably from their homelands or kingdoms. He had known that they would be joining but he did not expect like this. 'And why is that Despira guy with them? Isn't he a local noble's son?' But there he was.

A little later a 3rd wagon arrived with a few more nobles. And then lots of soldiers which were following. These soldiers however came down and joined the parade formation near each ship.

Raka was too far away on the pier to actually hear what was being said. But the Queen seemed to shake hands with quite a few people along the way. When she reached Raka's ship, she shook hands with a man.

"Alright Captain, wish you a good voyage. May your men be victorious and strong," she said.

Finally she clasped hands with Lady Verina and Altia and then the students and nodded.

Orders bellowed from each ship's captain in order starting from the one nearest to the Queen.

"All Aboard! May the Goddess Salacia bless us!"

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Which brings us back to the beginning. Its been 2 days in real life, 6 days in game. The voyage had started slow, with the ship moved to the open sea under oars. And then the large square sail came on down to catch the wind. As the wind filled up the sail, the ship tilted to the side, before sailors manning them did some trimming of the sails and the ship righted itself up.

Raka almost fell down before grabbing on to a door handle. 'This was unexpected.' Not that he had been on a ship before. The stories you read about people travelling on ships, they don't really convey how much a ship swings side to side. Or rises up and falls down upon the waves for that matter. Another 20 minutes and Raka knew what sea sickness felt like.

"Ugh..." as he felt his stomach rise up again and then abruptly fall down. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed and people sure did. All of them were laughing. Even the transfer students. 'Well they had traveled over the sea already to get here.' But thankfully it was the first time for Despira as well. Though how he had never been on a ship or a boat as he lived on an island, was something quite confusing. 'Must be due to protected upbringing or something.'

Atleast Raka was not alone in his misery. Even a few of the young soldiers seemed as green as he.

And then the ship made another lurch. Raka slid down on the floor hoping his stomach settled soon. But there was no resting allowed.

"Alright get to your stations. Now if you will please follow me, I will show you to your rooms..." the Captain said to the nobles and the Ladies. Raka stood up gingerly and followed behind. As a page, he had to take care of Lady Altia and his work had already begun. Thankfully Lady Altia was not so fatigued that she couldn't walk.

It turned out Lady Altia and Lady Verina insisted on sharing the same room. The room had four bunks, two on each side. In fact all the rooms had this design. Perhaps it was common to group the travelling nobles together.

"Now I will have Raka here and only him, have free access to the room, when we are not present. Any cleaning or maintenance, he will be responsible for."

"I understand Lady Verina. If you need anything else..." said the captain.

"Not right now. Thank you."

"It is my pleasure."

"Now let me show you your rooms. I am sorry but there is not much space on the ship, so the males will be assigned one room and the females will have to share another." The captain said it in his politest but firmest voice to the the students.

"O~K! Its the same as in the dorms." It seemed that they were already in such a situation as part of the magic academy.

It was an armada which had left those docks. 5 ships. The other nobles, knights, commanders had their own places in other ships. Ofcourse, you had to share the room if you were a lower rank of nobility like all else. And ofcourse the rest of the crew, slept on the floor or where ever they could find a bit of space. Hammocks were hung after dinner in the galley. Eventually the crew were split into day and night crews with each resting while the other worked.

"But not when we have to get on oars. Or when the fighting starts. We will be all hands on deck then." The Captain said.

The Captain was old, but still strong and quite the conversationalist. He knew how to keep the people's attention on his already exciting stories. Just the right tone of surprise and suspense. Every evening he and the Ladies, who took Raka with them, had this official meeting between the ships. There was a proper mirror room just like at the academy, next to the captain's room who happened to be the only one to have a room on the upper deck.

This mirror room was much smaller though with only 3 mirrors on the walls. There was also a round table at the center on which a map was kept. Maybe the Captain brought out the map for the meeting or it was a permanent fixture of the room; Raka could not tell.

Raka was the recipient of a lot of envious stares as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him. This was secret.

But after that they would all have dinner together, courtesy Raka helping out in the cooking and serving their food, where they would all get to hear the Captain's stories. Raka was helping in the cooking other times too, to serve Lady Altia and Lady Verina, who usually ate in the room or the galley, depending on how Lady Altia was feeling.

But dinner was always with the magic students in the galley. It seemed it was a courtesy for the Captain to dine together with the nobility, if and when the chance arises. And the Captain being used to nobles as he was, did this courtesy at dinner. Atleast if you did not want to offend them. The only nobility aside from Ladies on the ship though were the magic students. And they did request having dinner together with Lady Altia and Lady Verina. And as he was already involved, Raka was catering to them as part of the cook staff as well.

That was the good part.

On the other hand was Salmon's work, which wasn't really work related to a shipwright. Instead he fancied giving Raka orders such as bringing him water, mopping the deck, polishing the guard rails...you get the point. Why would you want to polish the guard rails when you are at sea and water was constantly splashing over them?!

Which brought up another problem. Raka did not know nautical terminology. And Salmon was cruel enough to give him his orders like....

"Clean the aft deck, then the prow. You will find mops in the storage room at the stern. After that polish the gunwales and then find me for more work....the day is long." He said smiling.

"Eh...what?"

In typical Salmon fashion, he was shouted at for not knowing where the bow and stern were, but this time he seemed happy yelling. Which was not that different from his normal yelling except the evil smile never left his face. "Fancy kids who do not even think to learn the basics before boarding the ship..." or something like that.

And in typical Raka fashion he had tried to learn it. Yes, he went on to the internet and searched for nautical terminology. Remembering them or understanding them....well lets put it this way. Atleast he learned aft was back and bow was front. Which could very well have turned out to be the limit of his sailing knowledge. 'What the hell does wearing mean?!! And why do they call the ropes, sheets and shrouds?!'

'It is a test....that's right...this is a test. It has to be...' Raka grumbled as he looked towards the sky.

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Today started no different. And Raka swung his mop across the deck, standing in the rising sun. Apparently his schedule on the ship was difficult. As he disappeared for 2 days. See, people of Thelmova had not gotten used to the disappearing act of the Goddess's children, unlike the ones in Gurrow village. It was a unique experience to them. Apparently this is why he had free access to Lady Altia and Lady Verina's room when he wanted to log out. Though the first time he did it people did wonder what he did for 2 whole days stuck in the room.

It became clear pretty soon and amazingly people simply believed that was how the Goddess's children were. Weird. And questions were avoided.

On the other hand, while he was online, he could work for almost 24 hours game time not requiring sleep in the game. It was troublesome when Salmon discovered this ability. He just doubled his workload. Now he had to mop all the decks. Infact he had to also use a cloth to dry off the excess water on the floor in the lower decks. After all, they did not get the ample sunshine the upper deck enjoyed.

'Well it could have been worse. On the positive side, I don't feel sick anymore.'

The Captain woke up and came out on the deck, yawning and stretching. He was always one of the few who slept very little on the ship. "That's why I sleep all the time when I am ashore." He said to Raka one morning. Early morning was always a quiet time. The nobles slept. The night crew were tired. And the morning crew were just stirring up and hated loud noise. Raka always enjoyed his talk with the Captain during this time. It turned out the old sea dog was far more curious than anyone he had ever met. He liked to talk about what Raka had done, will do and how he knew the two Ladies. They met again during dinner time but those times were for all the nobles.

"Oh hey Raka, good morning. Lovely sun isn't it?"

"Hey Captain. The morning is good alright. It seems that its getting warmer though."

"Yeah, we are entering an area where the wind slows down. So it does get a bit hotter. We should come out of it in about a day. We have a sailed almost to the northern tip of the island by now."

"Oh is that so. I wish I could read maps. I wish to venture out to the sea on my own ship eventually, you know."

"Ha ha, yeah. Well you would need a whole lot before that will happen. You just got over your sea sickness the last time."

"Yeah. It seems moving your body on the ship helps with that."

"Hahaha true. You are looking almost normal now. Wish you could have seen how green you were the first day. Ah hey, you did see yourself in the mirror didn't you?"

"Ugh! Don't remind me. I thought I might faint from looking at the sight of me. Or was it because how I was feeling."

"Hahaha. Well on with your work boy. Say what, when you get a break why don't you come to the bridge. You might learn a thing or two."

"I am definitely taking you up on that Captain. Well you have a good day as well. I got half the ship to mop..." Raka sighed.

"Think of it this way. Atleast you get to see two lovely faces every morning." The Captain teased.

"And a ton of murdering stares as well."

"Hahahaha....yeah what's up with that? The students seem to have become your enemies."

"I don't know. But it could be because I am spending so much time with their idols. Ofcourse they can't look at all the work I do, the cleaning and the cooking."

"Don't worry about it. They are good kids at heart. See they don't even bother you. Mean kids would try to bully you. Not that the Goddess's children could be bullied. You trained under Lady Altia and Lady Verina right. How strong are you?"

"Ah...truthfully not much. Atleast I haven't had anyone to compare against. But I have seen the other students in action and I know I can't do anything they do, yet."

"Hmm. But remember fights are not only about action. Its also about planning. Come to think of it do the Goddess's children know how to fight at sea?"

"I don't. Don't think the others do too. Which reminds me, where are the cannons?"

"Cannons! They are so slow. Boy, you will soon learn a far more exciting way to fight. Just you wait. Ah now that I think about it I need to schedule a lesson on naval fighting for you and the other students. I am sure you guys haven't done any of that and I need every hand available in case we encounter the pirates."

The sun rose a little higher and finally it was time to prepare breakfast. Raka came to the galley and washed his hands in the kitchen sink. The cook staff had almost arrived and had started to get busy.

"Ah Raka you are here. Why don't you peel those potatoes first. And then did you want to learn how to cook this sea bream?"

"Yes. I would like that." And Raka got busy with the cooking.

About an hour later, they had enough food made and the crew started arriving in hoards. The Cook had thoughtfully said this on their first day. "Never keep a sailor hungry, son. They get as cranky as your old granduncle with a bad tooth."

Leaving the others to serve them, Raka quickly left to check on Lady Altia and Lady Verina. He knocked and entered.

"Ah good morning Raka" said Lady Verina who had already woken up and dressed. She was combing her lustrous blonde hair.

"Ya~wn...good morning. Wake me up in 10 minutes." Lady Altia who was still under the blankets.

"Oh come on Altia. Would you grow up already. What will Raka think if you go on about like this?"

"He will think I am sleeping beauty. Just 10 more minutes....alright just 5."

"No.. get up now. Get some food in your belly girl. Lately you have been lazing around a lot. Is it that bad or are you just feeling lazy?"

"Hah...believe whatever you want." She finally sat up. "Is it time for breakfast already?"

"In a bit. The crew is just changing so they are filling the galley. I can bring it here if you want?" Raka said.

"No, I think my legs are feeling better. It will do me good to move around." And she yawned again.

'Best part of the day.' Raka could not help smiling. And he did not understand why.

After breakfast,

"So what's your plans today?" Lady Altia asked Lady Verina.

"I got to see the Captain and then get the new reports. I guess we are at the northern tip of Ilmentia or somewhere close. The last report had put the place where the pirates docked about 15 leagues from here. But its the low wind zone, so not sure when we will make it. And if they have moved..."

"Hmm...I understand. I think I will go enjoy the sun today. Its a bit warmer today, the kind I like."

'Lady Altia sun bathing.....' Raka just could not help thinking.

"And Raka what will you do?"

"Clean the decks. I just finished the upper deck so I will be doing the lower ones. Though I might take a bit of a break and go to the wheelhouse around lunch. Also the Captain seems to be trying to arrange some sort of training on naval fighting I think. Not sure when that is though."

"Ah that. Hehehe well I will come join you guys then. That will be fun!" Lady Altia said.

"Hohoho yeah I want to see that too." Lady Verina perked up.

"Is it that much of a fun thing?"

""You will see"" both of them said together and laughed.

Somehow Raka had a bad feeling about it. But it couldn't be worse than mopping the floor.

Lunch time. Raka went on about his own thing again, cooking. And then finding Lady Verina and Lady Altia. Lady Verina was almost always in the mirror room, if not the bridge with the Captain. Lady Altia was enjoying the sun lying down on a wooden bench, someone had propped up by the side of the sails. There being very little wind, the waves were nice. Even Raka was starting to enjoy this part of the voyage. Unfortunately, this was before the time bikinis had been invented but togas were not bad either.

After lunch, he went to the wheelhouse. Oh if I forgot to tell you, the wheelhouse is the part of the bridge where the steering wheel of the ship is. Guessing you are not so versed in nautical terminology as well. The Captain had his hands on the wheel, with a couple of guys with him, to shout out his orders to the men manning the sails. One of them was the First Mate, second in command. When the captain was not on the wheels, it was the First Mate who was responsible for steering the ship. The other guy was the Second Mate, third in command. He was mostly responsible for taking care of the other stuff on this ship, but he did help with steering as well. Together they divided into 3 shifts, always 2 of them there for each shift.

"Ah Raka you are here. Here Sammy, take over will ya."

"Aye Captain." and the First Mate took the wheel.

"Later then John."

"Later Captain."

Doesn't the Captain have a name? Anyways, they headed to the next room with all the charts and maps and stuff.

"Alright lets teach you how to read maps. Shall we..." and he started pulling out a map from all the stuff.

Skill Map Reading: You can now learn how to read a Map. Captain offers to teach you the skill.

Requirements: Read a map without the Captain's help.

'Even the quest window says Captain.'

"Yes please."

And they stared at a drawn map while the Captain went talking about north and scales and map legends. Now for people who think that reading a map is easy, try reading it without all those lines denoting longitudes and latitudes. Furthermore scale was not an absolute thing. Hands and Leagues are always about 'about'. You see they are not accurate measures. About 3 hands, depends on whose hands you are considering. Leagues are worse. A league on the sea is almost always greater than the league distance on land, though that thought might differ at other places. Kinda like mile and nautical mile. Even more, depending on who measures it, the league distance varies. For example one would measure a league to be the distance a ship travelled in one hour. How would a slower or faster ship measure that? So it was always 'about'. Don't get started on days and hours. The discussion will take an entire chapter.

In such a scale, maps were more about identifying points. Characteristic land and sea features which could be identified by many people as the same thing. Which made reading maps very simple. Following them to get someplace became difficult.

About an hour later of studying maps, Captain started asking questions.

"So what's this legend used for?"

"Cove."

"And if I am looking for Blue Ridge cove, where would I find it?"

"I think that was south of the island...ah yeah there it is."

"How many days of travel would it be if I want to travel to Brittanica?"

"About 2 weeks. Though in good wind you could probably make it in a week and half."

"How do you find north in the map?"

"Its this cross here. Its always on the top right side of the map. Once placed the right way, north is always to the above."

"Good. It seems you have absorbed the teaching well. Here, why don't you try and read this map and tell me about all the things you can find out." And he brought out a map of another island, smaller this time.

And Raka went on to describe all the salient points he could see.

"Alright I am satisfied. You know how to read maps now."

You have learned the skill Map Reading.

"You seem to have a talent for this. Why don't you learn how to make maps too?"

Skill Mapping: You can now learn how to draw and create a Map. Captain offers to teach you the skill.

Requirements: Create a map without the Captain's help.

"Ah ok."

Well lets suffice to say creating a map was much much more easier than reading a map. The trick was getting others to understand your map. That was not easy.

"Alright why don't you try mapping the island features you see. I got to go now. Show it to me later."

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Evening. Back at the kitchen. Raka helped prepare the dinner. The meeting would take place soon and everyone would talk about new reports or problems in their ships. It was a pretty regular meeting. No new reports yet. Well it didn't mean there were no updates. Just that the scouts hadn't reported back yet.

"Ah...well that was long...and boring." Captain sighed.

"Please don't say that. You take all motivation out of me too." Lady Altia replied.

"You two....are you on a vacation?"

"No. But there is no point being dead till you are dead, you know." Captain joked.

"Anyways, shall we have dinner then?" Raka suggested.

Dinner was a usual affair. The students talked about a million things with Lady Altia and Lady Verina. Captain made his occasional jokes and stories. At the end however, as soon as they were getting up, Captain faltered.

"Oh...."

"Whats up Captain?"

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah I am. Its just that my shoulder is feeling stiff a little bit. Must have banged it somewhere. It just pained a little when I placed it on the table to rise."

"Is it still painful?"

"Hmm...not really. But it does feel a bit stiff." Captain said holding his shoulder with the other hand, trying to move it. "Ah there is a bit of pain when I move it to the back. Shouldn't be problem. A bit of rest and I should be fine."

"Alright then. Its not a wound so I am not sure if healing will work. In any case rest. Raka why don't you see the Captain to his quarters. Just to check if he isn't hiding any more pains." Lady Verina instructed.

"That hurts more than you know." Captain replied back and everyone laughed.

Raka accompanied the Captain to his cabin.

"Ah thanks. But you can leave now."

"Ah...I just wanted to say, I have this massage technique which seems to help with shoulder pains. Would you like to try it out? No guarantees but it could help."

"Really...ok."

"Ok then, please take a seat..." And Raka started massaging the man's shoulder. He started slow, taking in the differences in muscles between the captain and monkey. He was the first human he was practicing on after all. A few slightly painful moments later...

"Hmm I think it does feel better. The stiffness is gone a little bit. But my pain is still there."

"Ah that didn't work. I am still learning. Will try to do better next time."

"Ok. Can I trouble you for your help again next time then."

"Yes. Ok see you then Captain..." And Raka turned around to head out the door but stopped. People were staring inside the open door of cabin. Well technically, it was never locked when the captain was in. But seemingly Sammy, the first mate had dropped in and looking at what was going on stood by the door. Finding him like this, became the invitation for the other crew to look. Which resulted in this.

"Can we get a massage as well Captain? Raka?" Sammy spoke smiling.

"It should be ok. I am sure a lot of people have sore muscles." Captain said smiling.

Raka had a very bad feeling about this.

"Um...what?"

And then Raka gave massages. Shoulders, neck, backs, thighs, legs, toes...by the way they smell bad. Well not having learned the actual skill, he was not making a lot of progress. But it was still helping a little bit. And seemingly everyone liked a massage, even if slightly painful sometimes. In fact it turned out he gave massages to almost all the night crew.

'Still didn't get the skill.' Raka sighed. It was late in the night now. He still had time before he logged out so he decided to practice some more magic. He was surrounded by water anyway, so getting a bucket of it to practice wasn't very difficult.

'Hmm...isn't that....'

"Lady Altia, master, you are awake. Are you all right?" He asked the woman sitting on a bench looking out towards the moonlit night sea. It was still the low winds area. The crew were still lazing about here and there but Lady Altia had found a quiet corner with a bench. Some of the crew had put up some covered torches for light around the deck but most of it was still dark, illuminated only by the moonlight. Lady Altia was leaning on the guard rails, probably the gunwales, and she turned her head around to look at him.

"Oh Raka. I thought you had disappeared already."

"Not yet. I still have some time before that."

"Hmm...so what have been up to?"

Raka hesitated.

"Hmm...is it something like giving massages to the crew?"

Raka stared at her.

"How did you hear about that?"

"Idiot. Almost the entire crew turned up didn't they. Is it a surprise I heard about it then?"

"Ah....well." Raka said sheepishly.

"They said you were clumsy but your massage helped a little bit. Are you trying to learn to be a masseur? Thought you wanted to travel the world and have adventures. But I am sure you can have that, this way as well...hehehe."

"Nothing of that sort. I am just trying to learn cause I figured it would be useful in my travels."

"Hehehe the lil eggplant is growing up isn't he."

Raka looked away.

"Anyways what are you doing here? I thought you went to sleep already?"

"Couldn't sleep. I have been doing nothing but resting cause of my legs."

"Is it that bad?"

"Yeah. This fight took a lot out of me. Usually I would need almost a month to be ready. But a commander cannot very well show her uncool face in front of the soldiers can they. Especially when so many good men died." Her voice turned serious.

"Are the beastmen really that strong?"

Lady Altia looked Raka in his eyes.

"Yes. People said that they couldn't use magic. And I think they can't, atleast not like we do. But they have their own kind of magic. Verina said it seems their magic is all about supporting their bodies. Not only does it give them great strength and speed but it gives them an amazing magical defense as well. The skin was almost as tough as stone for that one. I had to fight beyond my limits just to have a chance at winning. Pure luck I was able to knock him down."

Silence as they contemplated.

"Um...would you massage my legs too? Even a little help is good."

"If its okay with you. Though I am still learning." Raka answered a bit embarrassed. "But aren't you receiving healing from Lady Verina?"

"Healing don't work for these kind of things."

"Well then, please lie down. Ah and please remove your shoes."

Lady Altia laid down on the floor, her head tilted and resting on her hands, almost like she was sleeping.

Raka moved his hands slowly all over her back, her hips, thighs, legs and then the toes. He was feeling for stiffened muscles. The sign that they are stretched or under duress.

Raka had researched a bit about Massage through the internet. It actually worked on a pretty scientific principle. Balance of weight. The human body is designed in such a way that the entire weight is borne by the bones. It is the bones which actually carry the weight and the muscles are designed as support structures to the bones. Almost like how a suspension bridge works.

When a muscle gets torn or damaged, the other muscles take on the extra weight. Which adds extra stress on them. Now depending on the extent of fatigue or damage, a lot of other muscles could be affected all over the body. It was always a good idea to check the whole body like this.

Ofcourse feeling a moving breathing body, with the warmth oozing through the thin toga was another experience all together. Raka started by massaging her neck, applying pressure at the joints and trying to heat up the various muscles. Then slowly moving towards the back, moving his hands in a circular motion and pressing hard at key points. He reduced the pressure at the hips allowing his hands to just slide on top of it and finally pressing at the small of the back.

Then came the thighs. His hands came in contact with her soft warm skin. And as he pressed tightly,

"Oooooooooohh!"

'Eh...what?'

"Was it painful..I am sorry."

"Ah no its just felt good. Please continue."

"Ah ok."

And Raka continued, with the occasional Ooohs and Aaahs. The sounds played havoc in Raka's mind, taking his focus off the things he was doing and towards another direction.

'Concentrate ....and doing this will improve blood flow in this region..and then blood will flow down...focus damnit.'

"Aaaaahh...that's good. Right there."

'Fizzzzzz no concentrate.....focus......hmm the skin feels a little hotter, is the blood flow improving...'

"Ooooh.....yes...ah"

'............focus damn it...the skin cannot get hotter..body temperature is fixed....feeling hot must be in my head..'

"Hmmmm....Oh...wow"

'...follow the process for the other leg.....blood flow important so pull harder here and press harder here...breathe...keep cool...focus....wait this does feel a little cooler than the other leg....'

And then the toes.

"Haaah."

About 10 excruciating minutes, atleast that was how Raka felt, in which he ended up totally covered in sweat,

You have learned the skill Massage.

Successful Massage effects applied: Pain recovery, muscle relaxing, blood flow improvement.

Blood flow improvement results in Life recovery +1 for 30 seconds.

Intimacy increases.

Sensitivity stat has been created. Sensitivity allows observation and recognition of the smallest changes in your environment but requires that you be able to use your own senses to the limit to differentiate the smallest of changes. Based on your efforts you get 1 point to Sensitivity. This stat increases based on your actions.

You have grown. Your age is now 15.

'What the hell!!!'

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. That felt good." Lady Altia said softly and then sat up and felt her legs. She stood up and moved around, a smile on her face.

"Yes, definitely much better than before. A couple of massages like this and they will be right as rain. So lets do it again."

"Eh....um....you see......um....its not a good idea to do massages one after the other." Raka hoped that was right. The book did not say anything about it but Raka did not want to go through the last 10 minutes again. Not so soon atleast. His heart which was beating so loud that he could hear the thumping, needed time to calm down.