The night went by quickly and we left early in the morning the next day. Javier and Maria were quiet but studious as I showed them the simple controls to the barge. I let each have a turn with the controls to the horror of the merchants as we plummeted a hundred feet when Javier bumped the height lever.

“Careful,” I said in admonishment. “That lever is very sensitive to height adjustments, and while the barge can’t rise very quickly, it can fall as fast as gravity allows.”

The kid nodded his ashen face from his position on the floor. He had fallen when the barge came to a sudden stop. I hadn’t intervened in the error as I knew it would level out. I was also the only person braced for it to happen as everyone, including the merchants, had fallen.

“Monitor the controls while I go out and see if anyone needs healing.”

“Please, Mr. Paul, let me,” Javier said, getting to his feet.

I nodded as the kid moved past me on slightly wobbly legs.

I turned toward Maria, “try not to crash us into the ground,” I said with a smile.

She blanched as she eyed the controls like her life was in immediate danger.

I might have laughed if she wasn’t mostly right. I hadn’t shown the two how to feed mana into the system yet and wouldn’t need to until after we landed. I figured it was better they focus on one thing at a time.

***

“So what do you think of those two?” I asked Fiona as I lounged on the control room roof.

She shrugged, “they seem competent enough, they are also willing to learn so that’s a bonus. Why do you ask?”

“No reason just wanted to get a second opinion. They remind me a bit of myself when I was younger.”

“Strange, they don’t seem like idiots.”

“Oh, haha. No, quiet, driven, but unsure of themselves.”

“Aren’t all teenagers like that?”

It was my turn to shrug. It wasn’t like I made a habit of befriending kids.

***

Our last stop in Mexico was uneventful. The town was on the smaller side but the locals were ecstatic to see us and purchase anything they could afford. The little hamlet had been a resort town before the system but with no more tourists most of the oceanside buildings had been left to rot. The remaining residents had moved to the farther inland buildings to avoid the predatory monsters that occasionally came out of the ocean. If I didn’t have two weak people with me I might have been tempted to see for myself.

While the merchants were trading and taking orders for future sales I showed Javier and Maria how to charge the system.

“You need to hold this key,” I said, shaking the metal plate in my hand, “then place your hand on this silver plate here. Wait, before we do that, do either of you know how to feed mana into items?”

They both shook their heads.

“Ok, not a big deal, I can show you. Watch.”

They attentively watched while I fed mana into my armor.

“Do you understand? Here, try pushing mana into these,” I held out two tiny mana hearts and watched as they tried and failed to push mana into them. It took a couple of tries before Maria figured it out. Javier was a couple of tries behind her but he got it as well.

“Good, now you see this bar here?” I pointed at the energy level indicator. “You should never let that drop below half unless you have no other choice. The barge can compensate by reducing height but flying lower may not be advisable.

“But, Mr. Paul, it is only at thirty percent,” Maria said.

“Correct. I did that so I could show you how to charge it. It won’t self-adjust the height until it reaches a quarter charge. Now watch how I charge it.”

I didn’t need the plate since I had my tattoo but they would need to use it so I held it in one hand and placed my other on the charging plate. The only reason I could still do this was the mana pathways built into my fake hand.

The charging plate lit up to indicate it was working and the power meter slowly rose to thirty percent.

“Now you both give it a try. I want you to run yourselves as low on mana as possible, you need to know how much of a charge you can add so keep that number in mind. As you level that should increase.”

Javier went first, only managing five percent charge before he passed out from mana exhaustion. I sighed and hauled him over to a chair in the corner. The kid seemed to get a bit over excited at times. I didn’t know if he was doing it just to impress me or what.

“You’re up next Maria, try not to go completely dry like Javier.”

She nodded and stepped up to the charging platform. She managed seven percent before she pulled her hand away, stumbling. I braced her so she wouldn’t fall, and helped her over to the other chair.

“Good.”

Maria seemed to have dedicated a few more points to intelligence over Javier. I found that a bit surprising, considering they both relied on mana heavily but to each their own.

Once Javier regained consciousness I told the two we had one final stop before heading back to Houston. They both watched in awe as I brought the barge’s power back up to full without breaking a sweat.

It was a simple task for me as I expended only my mana regeneration without even dipping into my mana pool. I hadn’t mentioned to them to control their mana outflow but they would figure it out eventually. Some things were better learned than taught, it would leave a bigger impression that way.

We headed out over the ocean on our way east. I pointed out the coast of Texas as we flew past and the area the dwarves lived but I didn’t mention the dwarves, only to stay away from that jut of land that I called the horn. They nodded.

I did have Fiona fly over and examine the area since we were near. She could easily outpace the slow barge to catch up with us.

“It’s empty,” she said upon her return.

“Empty?”

“All the bodies and everything we didn’t take is gone. Even the carved doors and any sign of habitation have been removed. If I hadn’t seen it before, I would have thought it was just a cave system.”

“I guess it isn’t too odd that they would pack up and leave after finding the mess we left behind. I imagine some nasty underground critters will take up residence eventually. But it’s good to know that that clan of dwarves isn’t lurking around.”

“The Marshall will be glad to hear this as well, he had some of his men watching the mountain for any sign of them.”

“He did? I wasn’t aware.”

“Martin asked him to do that.”

“I’m glad, it was a good idea.”

***

We neared the other side of the mountain and I could see the town in the distance thanks to a telescope I had. I wanted to approach this town in the daytime because they were cut off from civilization by their location and the surrounding monsters. While I wasn’t willing to ferry a bunch of civilians on this trip, perhaps another barge could be sent for anyone that wished to relocate. I hoped that most would stick around once they realized they would get supplies regularly.

I wanted to use this city as my main port on the east side of the Spine. With luck, the place would become a massive town like Houston as people flocked to its relative safety. That meant not spooking the civilians and having a word with our old friend Kurt.

It was true that I hadn’t left the best impression but the man was kind of a fuck up and I hadn’t been in the best of moods back then.

As we approached, I could see people running from the dock, and a dozen or so armed men appeared a couple of minutes later.

I stopped the barge in a low hover, less than twenty feet above the water and a good hundred feet from the closest dock.

“We’re here to trade, we mean you no harm!” I yelled from the edge of the barge.

“Who are you and where did you come from?” Kurt yelled back.

“Just a group of merchants from Houston. Could I come ashore alone and speak?”

I watched as the group conversed for a bit. “Only one of you,” Kurt replied.

I held up both my hands with a thumbs-up gesture. They should be able to see that clearly from shore.

“You two monitor the barge, I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Ok, Mr. Paul but how are you getting ashore?” Maria asked in confusion.

I winked at her as my wings erupted from my back and with a powerful stroke I launched myself toward the shore. A hundred feet was easy to cover with my wings and I landed at the tip of the dock, well away from the armed townsfolk.

“You,” Kurt pointed angrily.

“Nice to see you too,” I said, slowly walking up to the group but stopping a dozen feet away.

I could see the man warring with his emotions. He went from anger to acceptance and back to rage but he settled on distaste.

“Are you here to cause trouble again?” he growled.

“I didn’t cause trouble last time I was here, I simply sold some weapons and got attacked by some local thugs. You should be thanking me for helping to rid your community of them.”

I saw Kurt stiffen as some of the other people present gave him questioning looks. I shook my head. “Wow, even after they were dead you didn’t tell them what happened? Do you want to explain it now or should I just tell them?”

“What is he talking about, Sheriff?” a younger man near him asked.

Kurt glared at me but I just quirked an eyebrow. He caved under the questioning stares of his fellow townfolk.

“You remember those bodies from a half year back?”

He got nods from most of the people assembled.

He sighed before continuing. “They were Cartel and they had taken control of the town. They killed the Mayor and threatened our families.”

“Wait… is this why the rest of the police officers left?”

“Some left, others were killed by the Cartel’s men for not bowing to their rule.”

“So what changed?” another asked pointedly.

Kurt gestured to me, “he and his friends arrived in town, they started selling weapons to some of the locals and the Cartel caught wind of it. There was a fight and the Cartel was killed off.”

“Wait, I do remember you, I bought a sword from you in that weird house,” a man from the back said.

“Always glad to see a customer,” I retorted.

While it didn’t appear that the citizens of the town cared for the way Kurt handled the issue, they didn’t force him out of his position as sheriff. It was probably for the best, he had leveled to fourteen since the last time I had seen him. The other people of the local militia seemed to be between nine and eleven. Considering how remote they were, it wasn’t too shabby.

The conversation got back to why I was here and I reiterated that I was bringing a bunch of merchants from Houston. They had all kinds of stuff to sell. I wasn’t surprised when a few asked for me to take them with me but I had to turn them down. Some got angry but I told them regular deliveries would arrive every two weeks.

They didn’t look sickly so there must be ample food to be found nearby. My guess was most of it came from fishing. That proved correct when the merchants that brought food other than meat sold out the quickest. I saw some of the locals trading gems to merchants and I asked one about it.

“Oh, these, they come from the rock elementals. They are a real pain to kill unless you have explosives. But we have a guy in town that took a class that allows him to produce explosives.”

I nodded, I don’t think I would have volunteered information like that but it seemed these people were hard up for any outside stimulation. They had been trapped on this plateau and cut off from anyone else for nearly a year.

I learned from another local that after the bodies of the Cartel were found, most of the remaining police officers took their families and fled north. I winced at this knowing north was straight through the rock elemental territory. I hoped they made it, but from what we learned the last time we were here, it was a dangerous trek that had forced more than one group to turn around.

Since Javier and Maria were taking turns recharging the barge, I was free to hang out. I saw Kurt approaching me late in the day. Most of the people had already finished their shopping by this point and the barge was quiet.

“I want to apologize for my behavior both from earlier today and from the last time you were here. If it wasn’t for you and your friends, most of us would probably be dead by now.”

“Apology accepted. Next time, don’t be such a spineless ass.”

He bristled at my comment but it quickly passed. “I… I deserve that,” he paused, seeming to think about something before he spoke again. “Will you be taking passengers on your next trip?”

“Will I, No. But there will eventually be a passenger ferry. You should stick it out here though.”

“Why? We have nothing,” he complained.

“You have safety, do you know how rare that is these days? If you are willing to offer up a contract I can see about bringing an Earth mage by next time. They can extend a wall around the entire city given time. And not too many are going to risk braving ocean travel. There are creatures down there that I don’t want to deal with,” I replied.

I had seen the creatures on this trip. Massive sharks that would put Megalodon to shame not to mention the stuff we only saw shadows of, that dwarfed even the sharks. The world was bigger now, which meant larger and deeper oceans.

“Is it really that bad out there?”

“It can be if you aren’t prepared. Houston is a relatively safe town if you like being crammed in like a sardine. If you must know, Kurt… you are below average level-wise and completely ignorant of what the world is now like. If you plan on leaving the safety of this town, you may want to focus on gaining levels first.”

“How can you see my level?”

“See this is what I mean. It’s a skill, talk to one of the merchants about it, I’m sure at least one has it for sale.”

“Thank you, I will think on your words.”

While it wasn’t true that Kurt was under-leveled, if he wanted to survive here or anywhere else, he needed to get stronger. Perhaps this would be the push he needed to take that extra step.