“Kuh.”

Using his focused state, Alex fixed his posture mid-air, and landed on his two feet. A small cloud of dust was formed as he touched down.

“Gua?!”

Marie meanwhile, landed much less gracefully onto her back. Luckily, she didn’t land face-first.

Gotta savour the little victories.

“Pi?”

With apple crumbs all over its face, which was mostly its shell by the way, the crab peeked its head out of his backpack and looked on in curiosity.

How was this thing able to eat in that shaky environment?

Hah…Who knows.

This crab’s full of surprises it seems. It might be the last boss for all I know…

But putting that all aside, he and Marie, and the little crab, had successfully made it to the next island, even if they sacrificed their both. Not that it matters anyways, Alex can just conjure a new one.

Isn’t his ability broken?

Although, he can’t really control asteroids.

Looking back to the small island, he easily noticed a small change in distance. There was still a long way to go, but getting closer, even if slightly, was already an accomplishment, along with the fact that they survived a trip like that.

Yeah, that was something he didn’t want to fell ever again.

“Are you alright?”

Pushing aside his thoughts, he walked up to Marie and helped her up. She staggered slightly after he let go, but it seems she was able to stand on her own.

“T-Thanks…”

Marie softly said as she fixed her shirt, her hands shaking wildly as she did so. Beads of sweat formed all across her pale face.

“…I’ll walk around for a mom-.”

“W-Wait! I-I…uuu...”

“…?”

Hearing her suddenly call out like that, he turned around to face her. Realising that he had actually listened, she shamefully looked away.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Come on.”

“A-Ah!”

He took her arm and pulled her away from the edge. A slight resistance was felt, but Marie gave in and followed him. After they had walked a fair distance away from the floating river bridge thingy, Alex let go of her hand and conjured a set of two wooden chairs. With her still looking away in shame, she silently sat down, her cheeks burning red.

Letting out a soft sigh, he dragged the chair and sat down.

“Pii!”

Suddenly, the crab jumped out of his backpack, and landed on his shoulder. “Pi!” With a cheerful cry, it waved around its claws in the air.

“Geez…What do you want now?”

“Pi!”

Jumping down from his shoulder, the crab raised its claws into the air and ran around. “Huh? You want to run around?”

“Pii!”

It immediately rejected his answer and kept running around. After a while, he came up with another guess.

“Swim?”

“Pi!”

This time, it jumped up into the air and clasped its claws in delight. Seeing it being enthusiastic like this, he awkwardly scratched his neck and looked around to see if there were any lakes around.

From what he saw, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.

Actually, this island was pretty barren.

As of now, he didn’t really feel like walking too much, and it doesn’t seem like Marie was either. They both had just survived through that insane boat journey, having a moment of respite would probably be a good idea.

No, that is a good idea. They’re humans, alright?

Marie is, but how about Alex?

Does being a bloodborne count as a race?

Hmm…

“Hah…”

Sighing deeply, he nonchalantly conjured a small cube. Aiming it to the right, he threw the cube out.

*Bang!*

“A-Ah?!”

“…”

Upon contact, the cube exploded, and formed a small hole in the soil. Standing up from his chair, he walked over to the hole he made and stretched out his finger. He traced a medium-sized ball in the air, about the size of a basketball.

Finishing it off with the word ‘Water’, he let his magic get to work.

And out of the light, came…water. Wait a second, what?

“…Odd.”

To his surprise, the thing that came out was actually water, not ice. Normally, all the things he conjured would be in a solid state. Once, he tried writing ‘Liquid Oil’, because simply writing ‘Oil’ didn’t work, but that whole object broke apart when he wrote that.

Seeing that, he simply dismissed it as his lack of effects. Since his Rank 1 only allowed 1 effect, and, in theory, ‘Liquid’ and ‘Oil’ are two effects, which should mean that ‘Liquid oil’ doesn’t count as one effect.

Ironic, because ‘Shoots out bullet using MP by pulling the trigger’ counts and one effect.

I know, insane.

The logic behind this world is just plain weird man…

If so, then why did the word ‘Water’ work?

His mind was intrigued immediately.

Curiously, he drew another basketball in the air, but this time, he wrote the word ‘H20’, which, for those who forgot, is the molecule for water. Letting it go, a bright light shined.

And out of it came…a basketball made of ice.

Wait, what?

Why does that work like normal?

What the hell?

“…Huh.”

Once again, he traced another basketball in the air, this time ending it with the word ‘Ice’. Just like expected, a basketball of ice came out. Normal stuff. He already knew this mechanic.

Wait, this isn’t a game.

Or is it…?

No, this ain’t a virtual reality game.

This time, he wanted to try something different. Just like before, he traced a basketball in the air, but he ended it with the word ‘Water vapour’, which somehow counted as one effect. And out of the light came, nothing, or to be exact, water vapour, just not visible.

“Hmm…Does that mean that ‘Water’ works because I simply know it as a liquid?”

As he thought about it more, it was reinforced that the knowledge he knew about his own unique skill was very tiny, and that the applications he can use are very diverse. Putting that aside for a moment, he conjured some more water and dumped them straight into the hole.

Oh well, at least there’s a small pool of water now!

“Pi!”

Happily, the crab jumped straight onto the pool, and played around. Although, the pool wasn’t very big, probably just enough to cram in a normal-sized jet ski, but the crab was happy nonetheless.

“…Hmm, does this work?”

Pulling his wooden chair closer to the pool, he sat down and crossed his legs. With some excitement brewing in his heart, he focused his magic into his eyes, and the world around him seem to fade to grey.

“…It does.”

The sight he saw closely resembled that of old classic movies, when the movies were still black and white and there would occasionally be static playing, just without the static this time.

That would be insanely annoying.

How would he look if he saw himself in this greyed-out vision?

Marie looked completely fine there, just sitting silently with her eyes staring into the wind. So, I guess he looks normal too? Yeah, probably. He’s just lost his colour.

Also, somehow he pictured himself wearing a tuxedo and a black top hat, along with a golden monocle over his right eye while he was sipping tea. Wait, what’s with that imagination?

This isn’t some classic olden movies!

This isn’t even a pictured media!

“Hmm?”

But then, just as he was having a debate with himself, he noticed something odd with his new enhanced vision. His eyes carefully observed the crab, and there on its eight legs, he could see what looked like a coat of…something.

Squinting his eyes slightly, he managed to make out a better view of this strange phenomenon. The energy that was evenly coated around its eight legs was light blue in colour, and he could see slight movements in the energy, slowly moving around, but still keeping the coat on its legs.

If he could give a very simply summary, he would probably say something along the lines of an ‘Aura’ or ‘Plasma’. Either would suffice.

But the main point of interest was on the bottom of each legs. The energy that coated its leg formed into a surfboard-like shape on the bottom of its legs, and every time it moved or turned, the surfboard-like energy thing would turn and wave around.

Was that how it ‘Surfed’?

“Hey.”

“Pi?”

“Come here for a moment.”

Following his call, the crab quickly stepped out of the small pool. Using his enhanced vision, he carefully observed as the energy coat slowly disappeared when it got to land. Using his left hand, he clumsily drew himself a set of explosive cubes, each with different colours.

Would have been nice for a party! If it exploded into confetti that is.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

Throwing out the cubes like he would with bread crumbs to a flock of pigeons, explosions after explosions occurred, expanding the small pool into a much larger one. Hey, its about 5m by 5m now!

Nice!

“Wait a second.”

Using his magic once more, he drew some more water basketballs, adding up the water level until its limit. Okay, he surpassed it a bit, and a little bit of water spilled out, but he doesn’t have perfect eyes, alright?

That, or he’s just too lazy to make a border.

I say it’s the latter.

“There, it’s much bigger now.”

“Pi!”

Quickly thanking him, it swiftly dashed towards the pool and jumped straight in. Once more, just like before, eight surfboard-like shaped energy formed under its eight legs.

*Byuur*

“Pii!”

Happily, it raised its claws and surfed around the much bigger pool. As if it was a pro surfer, it did some swift twists and turns as it surfed around the pool.

Huh, a pro surfing crab…I wonder how that’ll look.

Oh gosh, never mind.

Don’t picture that.

“I wonder…”

………………

“Muu~”

And so, a total of 6 hours passed by in an instant. If this was back on Earth, or that other world, it would’ve turned evening by now, maybe. But with the ever-present sun shining above, it doesn’t seem like they’ll be able to view a sunset for a while.

That sucks. Sunsets are dazzling spectacles!

“Muu…Mua?”

With her back slouched against the chair, Marie slowly opened her eyes. The shining sun above greeted her a warm welcome.

Heh, ‘warm’ welcome. You know? Since the sun’s warm and all.

…I’m sorry.

I Should go to the corner and reflect now.

Be right back…

*……*

…I’m back!

Ahem, did I miss anything? No? Alright, let’s continue!

With her mind finally back on, she slowly got off the chair and stretched. “Muu~” She let out a pleasant purr as she raised her arms into the air, oblivious to the boy watching her by the pool.

“Finally awake?”

“Wa?! A-Alex?!”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“Y-You were watching?!”

“Yeah…?”

“Uuu…”

“H-Hey, what’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing……”

She answered weakly as her voice slowly trailed off. Worriedly, he tried calling to her several times, but she remained silent. Awkwardly, he tried calling her once more.

“Hey…If you’re worried, I can help…Just…not now.”

“…Eh…?”

Pushing aside her shame for a moment, she turned her eyes towards him, but what she saw was…bizzare.

“I…Can’t really move from here…”

Showing a weak smile, Alex hung his head in defeat as he failed to move closer towards the end of the pool.

Why couldn’t he move, you ask?

That’s because…

“H-How…did…?”

“Ahaha…ha…hah…”

He’s floating in the middle of the pool!

Yeah, I know.

“Pii!”

In a cheerful manner, the little crab circled around him. Seeing that a little crab doing such fantastic manoeuvres across the waters, his heart was further beaten in defeat.

“Oh, shut up.”

In shame and defeat, he silently said so. After all, this little guy had eight legs, and he had two, but this thing was able to control itself so well!

Him meanwhile, he couldn’t even get the surfboard to be in sync!

“Hah…”

Status: Damian Alexander Lv 21

Health: 154/203 (+68)

Mana: 19/248 (+83)

Strength: 89 (+30)

Intelligence:108 (+36)

Resistance: 92 (+31)

Agility: 101 (+32) (+5)

Skills:

{Illustrator} Rank 1 (57%)

{Blood Borne} Rank 2 (%)

[Agility] Rank 1 (47%)

[Cleaving] Rank 1 (17%)

[Blood Hound] Rank 1 (19%)

[Magic Manipulation] Rank 1 (22%)

[[Concentration]] Rank 1 (18%)

[[Third Vision]] Rank 1 (03%)

[[Sea Surfing]] Rank 0 (34%)

Titles:

(Blood Borne)|(Illustrator)|

“Oh, what the hell.”

Ah, that explains why he can’t surf correctly. His skill rank isn’t even 1. It’s 0.

Also, getting the title (Illustrator) took long enough. Not that he expected him to even gain a title like that. He already had the skill {Illustrator}, why would he need a title too?

“Hmm…”

(Illustrator)

A title awarded to an accustomed user of {Illustrator}

|Perk|: The skill {Illustrator} gains experience slight faster

[[Third Vision]]

Rank 1

By focusing the user’s magic into the eyes, he/she is able to see things unseen to the naked eye

The flow of magic is now visible

When activated, it is impossible to visualize colour

The clarity of the user’s vision has become clearer

3% to Rank 2

Derived from the skill [[Concentration]]

[[Sea Surfing]]

34% to Rank 1

Thing is, he already knew all this, but having these description about his skills always helps to clarify if they are real skills or not. Also, [[Sea Surfing]] description, you’re not helping.

“Hah…Alright crab, push me to the shore, would you?”

“Pi!”

“Thanks little guy…”