It was morning and everyone woke up. Fluff looked around and squeaked. Jay looked around and stretched his small body. Using his mana he flew some fish and crustaceans out of the water.

After getting them out in the open he cooked them quickly. After he was done cooking, the three started eating. They savored their meal and took a while to eat. After they were done eating Tesra spoke.

"What are we doing today Jay."

"We'll be going into the forest so you can practice magic. Are you ready?"

Tesra became a little nervous about fighting since she's never fought a single thing in her life but she nods. Fluff got onto Jay's shoulder and they walked into the tropical forest.

Breathing in the fresh air they walked around looking for things to fight. After a while of walking, they spotted a two-legged lizard feasting on a carcass.

"Wow, it's a dinosaur."

The dinosaur was a raptor and it turned to look at them. It was covered in green scales while standing two meters tall. It screeched and ran towards the group.

"Good luck Tesra." Jay then backed away from Tesra.

Tesra became scared but she gritted her teeth and sent a fireball towards the raptor. The raptor easily dodged and got close enough to pounce on her. It jumped in the air tumbling onto Tesra and she screamed in pain.

Jay just monitored the situation closely. The raptor clawed at Tesra scratching her and she cast a fireball into its face at point-blank. The explosion pushed both the raptor and Tesra away from each other while harming both of them.

In pain and burning, the raptor ran into the forest setting the forest on fire. Jay extinguished the fire on the raptor and surroundings. Tesra however had already extinguished the fire on her bodyand looked disfigured.

Jay saw her disfigured body but didn't say anything and just healed her. He went to her side and patted her shoulder.

"Your okay now, your okay."

Tesra felt like crying but she didn't want to show weakness in front of Jay. After a while, Tesra got over the pain and became calm.

"What rank was that lizard?"

"That lizard was low rank 0.”

Teresa hoped that wasn't true but she knew it was true. Jill had shown her many strong creatures and the raptor seemed very weak. She was of high rank 0, yet she almost died to the creature.

“Am I pathetic?” She whispered.

“Compared to the average girl, you're not pathetic.”

“Compared to the average girl huh, what about compared to you?”

Jay looked into her eyes. “Do you really wanna know?”

A few seconds passed and Tesra shook her head. She felt helpless when the raptor attacked her. She felt weak. She started hating herself.

“Don't feel too bad kiddo, once you experience more of these situations you'll get used to them. After all, with experience, one will eventually be able to adapt to situations.”

Tesra felt scared knowing she had to face another situation like that again. She didn't want to experience that again. She looked at Jay, no, Jill for hope. Jay looked at her and shook his head.

“You really won't be able to keep traveling with me if you don't overcome this situation. I shouldn't have taken you with me. You are but a child who hasn't adapted to the world yet. Maybe it's better if I had left you in your birds' cage.”

Tesra heard what he said and became scared. She did not want to quit traveling with Jill. She did not wish to keep being a child. She did not wish to be stuck in a birdcage.

“If it's too hard, just let go. You don't have to do this you know. I could send you back home and make you empress of a country and you will never to worry again about fighting for the rest of your life. So what do you say.”

Tesra mind told her to say yes but her heart screamed no. The mana in her body became conflicted and she started feeling pain. Maybe she was being a stupid little girl. To dumb for her good. Wishing for things that could never be hers. She looked into Jay's eyes with eyes of fire and determination.

“I do not want to go home. I wish to travel with you and see what this world has to offer.”

Jay looked into her eyes to try and see what he saw in her. Jay had lived a long life and he had seen orphans starving on the street with no one to care for or love them. The look in their eyes was hopelessness while some had hope in their eyes.

He remembered when his parents had abandoned him when he was 7 years old with his 6-year-old sister by the alley. Growing up in the alley he did everything he could to survive and take care of his sister. His sister was the only thing that gave him happiness.

To make sure his sister didn't die of malnourishment, he made sure to try and feed her every day. Sometimes he would starve for days but that was okay since his sister was his only reason for living. Whenever he looked at Tesra he would remember his sister.

When he saved Tesra he made the excuse that it was because of magic talent. But inside he knew that the reason he saved her and didn't kick her out was that she reminded him of his sister.

“Tesra, you remind me of my little sister. I feel like giving you a chance. I'll be honest with you. You indeed have a great talent for magic, but you do not have the will for magic.”

Jay made liquid steel rise from the ground. The liquid steel soon transformed into a long sword. He handed the sword to her and she took it.

“No more firing fireballs at things. I want you to cut away the life of a creature and watch its life fade from its eye.”

Jay went deeper into the forest and Tesra stood up and followed.

“From now on, I want you to use your mana for only reinforcing your body and enchanting your equipment.”

Tesra nods at him and the two walked into a forest. In front of them was the raptor that Tesra had fought earlier. Jay had trapped it in a stone cage and it screeched at them.

Jay made an arena around the two and unlocked the cage. Tesra looked at the creature and reinforced her body. She did not let the raptor charge first and instead charged first.

The raptor did not expect her to charge first which scared it. Its fear gave Tesra an opening and she slashed down with the enchanted sword towards its neck. The chop was clean and the raptor fell to the ground.

“Impressive, ready for more?”

Tesra nods and Jay made the dirt in the ground rose into two raptors. The raptor looked like the exact raptor Tesra killed moments ago. Jay had copied the thoughts and will of the living raptor so he was able to make a replica of it with exact intelligence and will. The two raptors screeched and charged towards Tesra.

Tesra stood her ground with no emotion but determination in her eyes. The first raptor to pounce towards her was slashed through the stomach while she dodged its attack. The second raptor didn't pounce and charged towards her. With a swing of her long sword, she sliced its head off.

“Amazing, let's see you fight a bear.”

A bear came forth from the ground and roared. It charged towards Tesra. Tesra jumped up before the bear could slam into her and she stabbed her sword into its neck. The stab made the bear roared and it tried to shake her off. Tesra held on to the sword tightly and the bear soon died. She heard clapping from Jay and she wanted to smile but kept her determined face on.

“I'll leave you in this forest alone so kill what you want. Don't worry about dying since my perceptions cover the whole island. Fight to your heart's content. I know you can feel the heat rushing through you.”

Tesra nod at Jay who teleported away. Looking into the forest, she marched in trying to keep this feeling that made her feel good. She didn't like violence when she was young and never understood why some people liked it. Now she started to understand why.

Jay teleported to the beach with fluff and smiled. In the water, he saw something that he thought to see in the ocean. Looking at his target he spoke.

“I spy with my little eyes a little mermaid.”

The mermaid had green hair with fair skin. She had a white fishtail on the lower half of her body. When she heard Jay's voice she looked up at him. Seeing that he had some intention, she quickly jumped off the rock and into the water.

She tried to swim as hard as she could but she couldn't swim far. Jay used telekinesis and pulled her out of the water with some water surrounding her. He didn't want her dried up like a fish. Making a hole in the beach with a steel ball cage he places the mermaid inside it. The mermaid tried to bend the bar but her flimsy arm couldn't move it at all.

“Let me go human, or you will suffer the wraith of Tyroceous.”

“Who the heck is Tyroceous?”

The mermaid stared at him with wide eyes.

“You don't know who Tyroceous is?”

“Nope, why do you think I kidnapped you.”

“Tyroceous is the god of the ocean and he will drown you dare to harm us mermaid.”

“Cool, now where can I find this Tyro guy?”

“Do not insult our god Tyroceous name, or you will be cursed forever.”

Jay perked up at curse. He studied the curse at the former human kingdoms but they weren't very advance and could be easily done by him. Curses worked by placing passive mana onto the target by making them feel pain every day, making mana that makes them unable to lie, making mana that made getting pregnant impossible, or setting of a mana passive timer that kills the target after a while. These types of curses can be easily used by Jay but he wanted something more, something more mystical.

“Alright, I won't insult Tyroceous if you tell me where I can find him.”

“If I tell you, will you let me go?”

Jay smiled at her. “Yes, I promise to let you go.”

She was satisfied with his answer and spoke. “Tyroceous lives under the the ocean in the world crack.”

“I see then.”

Jay then used his mana to stop the thought process of the mermaid and made her unconscious. He took a piece of her scale and scanned her memories. Tyroceous was an ocean dragon it seems. The creature slumbered in the ocean trench trying to increase its mana so that it would grow stronger.

After scanning through more of her memories he learned where the various pirate ports are and where the mermaid kingdoms are. Satisfied with the knowledge he gain, Jay erased the mermaid’s memories of its encounter with him and tossed her back into the ocean.

The mermaid woke up confused and Jay saw it swam away into the ocean depths. After she was gone, Jay made a clone of himself who had around 1% of his power. He gave it the order of protecting Tesra and Fluff who he placed on its shoulder. Jay then jumped into the ocean.

In the ocean, Jay's body structure started to change quickly. Soon he changed into an ocean serpent. As a serpent, he was glistening with black scales and was over 1000 meters long. He only had one goal in his mind. That was to find Tyroceous and see if he could obtain the secret to rank 6.