Ivory looked at the ever-shrinking figures in the distance with a look of… confusion. And awe.

"What in the hell was that?" he spoke to the salty breeze. It apparently also wasn't over: either there were some giant birds descending on the area, or flying [Assassins]. Reinforcements? For whom?

"Not my problem."

The deck had returned to calm. Ivory assumed there would be more people, more crew present… but magic ships wouldn't exactly want for much grunt work.

The beacon of light that was Dejima began to dim—it was only then that Ivory realised how late it was. There were magical lights aplenty aboard, of course, but you really could appreciate that kind of ingenuity.

"[Light]."

Ivory croakily spoke the spell, which manifested as a pale lilac star sitting atop Misoe's head. It was the closest approximation to the kaleidoscope of colours he saw as he re-entered Tsumai today.

Misoe squirmed to the left and then monched up into the air, swallowing it whole. It brought a weary smile to his face.

He wished he could just go to sleep. That damned stamina potion—for all the good it did. He gave a salute to the sky, and no doubt its intended recipient received it. Being carried suddenly didn't feel so bad when it had saved his life!

A rustling to his side made him look up. Heito closed the sliding door with his free hand, his other holding a familiar tray—

"Nozumu," he blurted, remembering that he had not only left with him, but he flew! "What?"

“When we first met, you called me a ‘cool bird’. Of course I can fly.”

The two got up from opposing sides of the deck and met halfway at the tea set up Hidenori had produced. A more ordinary one this time, bereft of the, well, everything else that the previous tea ceremony Skill had produced. There was even a cushion for Misoe, which she happily floated onto.

“Truthfully, I’ve never seen a peacock fly before. Never seen a peacock as well, apart from, err, pictures.”

Saying ‘I’ve seen them attack people on YouTube’ wasn’t exactly a viable response.

“You two are remarkably calm for surviving an attempt on your lives,” Hidenori said, taking a seat at the ceremony. “I expected the call to return you to Terandria some time from now—and with one person fewer."

“Lucky you were still here,” Ivory responded after a sip of tea. Fruity, and strong. Hopefully this wouldn’t keep him awake even longer. “I can’t catch a break, apparently.”

Hidenori smiled and leaned in towards him.

“But, Ivory Henderson: was it worth it?”

This would have produced a more profound moment in any other situation.

“Yeah, I suppose. It was definitely interesting. Didn’t like almost dying a bunch of times, but for the very short time I wasn’t skirting death, it was pretty good. Yurluxiamo was wild—I think Jiji told me to come back in 20 levels? I’m level 13 now… how long you reckon that’ll take me?”

Nozumu choked a bit on his tea.

“So it’s true—not that I distrust Heito. If she, herself, has said as such… then perhaps ten years? 20?”

It was Ivory’s turn to choke.

“Compared to others your age, you are higher level than many. Most reach level 20 in their adult lives and climb no further; level 30 is seen as unattainable and far out of reach. Level 30 people are known people, if you understand what I am saying. That she herself said as such to you means that you will likely reach that point. Most who come to Drath for training come for that express purpose: to learn, and level.”

Ivory bit the inside of his cheek. She had said that. But… Ivory had only been in this world for, what, a few weeks?

“Enough of that. Nozumu—based on the reaction of those at the pier, it seems that your companionship was not entirely planned?”

A sheepish look adorned his face, and his beak opened and closed a few times before responding.

“I—yes. No, it was not planned. Not by the academy. When I heard that Ivory was coming back, I just knew that he would soon leave for Terandria again. In truth, I was going to leave my belongings on whichever vessel would be taking him home in advance… I am just glad that Ivory understood when I gave him my bag.”

“N-no, I just took it in the heat of the moment and threw it down when I boarded. Not that I’m not happy you’re here! But I was on pure autopilot.”

“Uwaaaaahhhh…”

Hidenori gave a yawning Misoe a scritch on the head. Nozumu’s look of surprise—’why would he have just taken a bag that wasn’t his without questioning it?’— was replaced with one of contentment as Misoe happily bobbled there.

“And it seems there is a third member of your party. A rare beast. What is her name?”

“Misoe.”

Hidenori covered his mouth as he laughed.

“Well named. A [Sorcerer] and a magical seal—be careful as she grows. They can become… hungry beasts.”

Misoe shot him a glare and Ivory was quick to respond to the accusation.

“We have a [Bond of Friendship], so don’t worry. I can tell if she’s hungry for mana.”

Hidenori just smiled.

“Come, I will show you both to your cabins.”

And that’s how the night ended. Each settled nicely into their rooms and attempted sleep. Reminiscing and playing catch-up could wait for tomorrow, or even the next day: the journey ahead of them would last another few weeks yet.

—-----------------------------------------

Ivory was standing on Hidenori’s boat, watching the giant shuriken assail Heito's barriers. He could feel the grinding in his bones as he waited for it to be over. More and more materialised above the barrier and crashed into it, magnifying the cacophonous, bonerending screeching of the Drathian throwing weapons.

The crescentic climax came, as five [Megaton Shredder Shuriken] obliterated the [Onmyouji]’s barrier. Only one managed to hit Hidenori’s ship—it smashed the bow of the ship into smithereens. Ivory felt the boat start to tip and sink, before a flurry of smaller shurikens came straight for him—

Ivory awoke with a sharp gasp for air. Despite the general chill of the boat, he was sweating up a storm. His chest was hurting as well—he put a hand on his heart and was shocked at the sheer force beating against it.

“Just a dream. Yup…” he whispered to himself, but it availed his body not. Would that it was that simple.

If he were in a hotel, he’d have gone to the bathroom and thrown some water on his face and had a drink. Unfortunately for him, however, this was not only not a hotel, it was completely black. He recalled from his brief past encounter with these cabins that there were window shutters, but there was a better solution. H

The [Light] orb bobbled in front of him as he got up from his bed. Misoe was sound asleep at the foot of the bed; he had taken both of his towels and made a little nest for her to be comfortable in. Seeing her made made him forget about the horrible dream for a moment. He quietly exited his cabin. Luckily for him, he was only a few doors down from the deck! He gently slid his door closed, and tiptoed down the corridor. There was something about sneaking out around in pitch black, with magic light illuminating his way that made him feel a bit silly, like he was in some sort of children’s television programme. Nonetheless, he made his way outside.

He immediately extinguished the [Light] spell, as there simply was no need for it—the sudden brightness actually hurt his eyes at first! It was unlike anything he had ever seen: it was almost like the moon… was just a dim, grey sun. Everything within his vision was recognisable—the stars in the sky, the seabirds flying in the distance, the scuffs on the floor from the [Sailors]’ boots…

The only thing he regretted was that this wasn’t the front of the ship, so that he might get buffeted by the beautiful sea breeze.

He walked to the end of the deck, which was a conjoining of each side, not a flat wall like he was used to seeing on boats. It made for an excellent leaning and viewing experience.

“I’ll never get back to sleep,” he said to the wind. The nightmare he had was one of the ones that came to you when you were just about to fall asleep, but were still quite awake. Similar to those ones where you begin falling suddenly, only to jolt upright—except this one was more fleshed out. As such, he felt really quite awake indeed.

Luckily, no one came out to give sagely advice to him. It was just him, the boat and the wind. If only his phone wasn’t unusable… nature’s ringlight made for some simply beautiful photography.

Not only that, but he needed a way to put some of his thoughts to paper. To electricity? This trip was going to take ages, he just knew it: a little checklist of magic he wanted to learn is going to be very necessary. Some paper and a pencil tomorrow, then.

Ivory looked overboard at the water—the ship was going decently fast… but it was hard to tell. He could probably work with this for some water magic. He only really had a solid grip on wind magic—yes, he had some equivalent spells for other spell schools, but being able to just generally manipulate the omnipresent wind made for a wonderful foundation. He had nothing relating to earth magic, but he did have that [Venom Spray] spell. Did that come under a ‘nature’ category? Definitely something to look up when he was back in Calanfer.

B-bump, b-bump. Ivory’s heart rate was still quite fast, but had slowed from its previous speedracing. He put his hand back on his heart and concentrated on his blood Skill.

He was struck with some mental stimulation that was not capable of processing. He was not trying to stop his heart beating so fast—he wasn’t a moron—but he tapped into the… baseline information on blood that his Skill provided him. It was difficult to differentiate the information he had prior to the Skill and what the Skill had given him, if it was possible at all! The problem was that some of what he now knew didn’t quite make sense to him; he didn’t know how it was relevant to what he was currently feeling. A Skill did not a [Doctor] make, or something. He surmised that that was the Skill had given him, for all the good it did now!

“Now what?” Ivory sighed as he rested his head on his hands; the smell of the seawater was soothing to the soul. He looked out and saw how the water parted from the boat’s back end, so to speak. The water was flying up a good distance… why not start some practise now?

He stood up straight and leant over a little bit so that his shoulders were slightly slumped overboard. He extended both his arms out and remembered how he had moved the water in the bath all that time ago.

“Christ, that wasn’t even that long ago. Okay, let’s try this.”

He didn’t need to imagine what the water should do—it was right in front of him, and in action. Something simple to start.

For close to 20 minutes, Ivory was trying to alter the direction of the airborne whitewash from the left side. Its usual trajectory was… an arc, and then it fell back into the water. He was attempting to altar that trajectory in some way. Nothing major, like a water feature (some day!), but at this point just something.

He wasn’t using much mana at all, which was the silver lining in this exercise. He debated whether to try and manipulate the ocean water from the side of the boat, which wasn’t being disturbed, but figured that would be way harder. So, he kept at it, remembering the words of Jiji: toe in the ocean, ‘what I think I know about magic is literally laughable compared to the reality of things’. [Form Mist], [Form Mist]...

The end goal here was quite abstract: ‘move the water’. Not exactly reaching for being stars, but it was something that he had already proven he could do, albeit on a far, far smaller scale.

Another hour passed by, his arms extended overboard. Staring at the wretched water. Trying to alter its direction. To no avail.

At one point he cast [Gust] at it to check whether he had sudden onset muggle syndrome. Thankfully, the rancourous blast of air sufficiently well. It paid off in more ways than one: the idea of developing something like [Water Vortex], [Water Tornado] or serving like that came to mind. But, for now: move the water.

Feeling like the Avatar after palming a torrent of air, he set back to his task.

"What is it you are doing?" asked a kindly voice over his shoulder.

Ivory jolted in surprise and spun around to see Hidenori. He exhaled with a hand on his chest in relief.

"Blimey. Scared me. Had a nightmare, so came out here to chill. Trying out some magic while I'm at it."

Hidenori nodded, peering over the edge of the boat to see what he was doing. Unsurprisingly, nothing new was there, as they were on a boat.

"I was surprised at your composure—it catches up to you, eventually."

Ivory felt a validated at that.

"So, what are you practising?"

"Trying my hand at some water magic. The um, whitewash. Trying to manipulate it. figured it would be easier than to move the ocean water, since we're on a boat and all."

It sounded so dumb as he was saying it. "God," he thought, "I must seem mad."

Hidenori took a moment to respond; his eyebrows showed the slightest inkling that they wanted to shoot up.

"How would I compare it? It seems that you are a low levelled, novice [Sailor] trying to command a warship. Possible, but—difficult."

Ivory put his head back and exhaled through pursed lips.

"Yes. Probably. Well, may as well keep at it. Effort has to account for something."

"If you need me, ask one of my crew. They will be able to understand your request.

"Great, thanks. I'll continue my crusade against this water."

A cloud dimmed the moon's vast illumination as he resumed the position. "Surely," he thought, "using up all my mana is good for me. You work out your physical muscles in the same way…"

Would that this applied now, but he wasn't using much mana to perform this feat-to-be. In truth, he didn't quite know how to—that would come when he had the appropriate level of, well, hydromantic focus.

Regardless, he 'strained' harder from that point. Was there a lingering thought at the forefront of his mind that this was a waste of time, and that he should just go back to bed? Yes, and yes.

As if by divine invitation, the clouds parted as Ivory retreated back to his cabin; he and the clouds moved in sync, such that he was always one step away from walking on shadows.

With his hands on the wall, he sidled along until he reached his cabin. It slid gently open, and he shuffled carefully to his bed space, mindful of literally anything since it was pitch black.

[Spell - Move Water learned.]

——————————————

Ivory sat in the ship's mess… dining hall… whatever it was. He'd missed the rush, despite the sun only just beginning to rise; the only others present were the two [Weather Mages] sitting together and Nozumu, with whom Ivory was sitting.

It was a buffet style affair. Ivory had taken only some rice and an omelette. Things like fish and vegetables weren't what he was used to eating in the morning, but rice was always palatable and an omelette was a no-brainer.

Misoe was quite happy to sit on Ivory's lap and take in the lovely smells. She'd been fed back in the room; she was offered some fish by Ivory, but it seemed that magic made for a sufficient diet. Nozumu had a big mix of everything—he was quite peckish indeed.

"Sleep well?" Ivory asked, placing his chopsticks down. Nozumu had come down moments before he finished his meal.

"Yes, I did. I was knackered last night. How about you?"

Ivory nasally exhaled.

"Pretty bad. Had a bad dream about yesterday… but I got a spell after I was mucking around on deck last night. [Move Water]."

He, of course, was not 'mucking around'. Ivory's hunch that his new spell was, well, a bit crap was an understatement.

A 'well-trained' [Mage] would tell you that [Move Water] was a spell for a [Magic User] or [Hedge Mage]; a bottom of the barrel dirt dog spell for the equally bad class. But where the [Magic User] could not even fathom attempting to use introductory hydromancy… obtaining this spell after a level up would open many watery doors.

"Oh," Nozumu replied, putting down the bowl of miso soup he was about to partake of. He was taught that every new Skill and spell was a privilege.

"Can you…?"

Nozumu pointed a talon at Ivory's cup of water. A look of clarity was on Ivory’s face—you literally could just do magic whenever and wherever.

“[Move Water].”

The water swayed a bit to the right. Not enough for it to tip over, but just a slight little jaunt

“I could do more with just normal magic,” he said in an accusatory tone. He held his hand over the cup and made a swirling motion and remembered again his bath antics. This time, he didn’t have to think or concentrate much at all: the water swirled around as if he were stirring it with a spoon.

“See?”

“What did you do to make the water move then?” Nozumu asked.

“Just—magic. I have a basic Skill that helps me.”

“What if you did the same with the spell?”

Ivory thought for a moment. He was about to say ‘that’s not how this works’, but realised the stupidity just before it came out of his mouth.

“Like, channel it? Worth a try.”

The spell was cast silently this time; the sensation of not just fire-and-forget spellcasting was strange at first, like a conscious, continuous drain on his mana. A teeny tiny drain, but a drain nonetheless.

The water in the cup was swirling around like it had done before. Ivory returned it to the state of calm, before parting it completely. He didn’t wish for a big mess, so he stopped it there.

“Huh. Well, there you go. Thanks for the tip.” He lifted the cup to his lips and drained it.

After a few moments of silence, Nozumu continued eating his meal. Ivory was slouched forward with his head in his hands in contemplation. Was that new spell a crutch? Kind of like… driving an automatic car, vs. a manual. Not that he could drive, but he had a feeling that relying on that new spell wouldn’t help him get better. He’d need to play around.

On the plus side, he was Moses-lite!

__________________________________________________________

Ivory retired back to his room after Nozumu had finished his meal. It was a little bit awkward—for the both of them. Their relationship had started out as one of business. It was less so for Ivory, but he was pretty much a ‘minder’. It helped that the two were of similar age, so it wasn’t like their time together was a chore.

Now it was different, and it was just a teeny bit weird. They talked about Skills, spells, classes… but nothing really conversational. Nozumu was Ivory’s first ‘friend’ since coming to this world—what would you even talk about? Ivory had little such little knowledge of this world, for all that he had learnt since his arrival in Calanfer. The language barrier was less of an issue than he imagined.

Was it finally time for him to tell him his secret? Was it a secret? As far as he was aware, he was the only person from Earth in this world, and he’d just arbitrarily decided to not tell anyone.

“Hmmmmmmmmmmm…”

It was a conundrum he pondered as he lay on his bed. It was surprisingly comfortable, seeing as he was barely a measure above the wooden floor. Misoe clearly didn’t give a toss—her little nest looked quite comfortable indeed.

“Let’s go, then. No idea where he is, so let’s head to the deck to get some air.”

“Aaoh.”

The ever stoic Drathian [Sailor], [Deckhand] or whatever other nautical class the woman could have been couldn’t help but sneak a glance at the party of two. A non-Drathian Human, with a flying seal hovering above the Human’s head. Never a dull moment, for sure.

Ivory looked up at the overcast morning sky; he couldn’t help but think that visibility was better last night. He had a glance around—no one out here. Surely there was a better place to just chill, but Ivory enjoyed the cold.

A sudden rush of wind made him momentarily reconsider his temperature preferences. More importantly, though, he removed the loaf sitting atop his head.

“Don’t want you getting blown away…”

Misoe humphd, as if offended at the implication that she’d be so reckless. He, of course, ignored that, and decided to have a walk around the ship and see what he’d find.

“Left or right… Misoe, you pick.” She flapped her left flipper. Genius takes many forms, apparently. “Righto.”

It was a terribly thought out system, for the two were facing the back of the boat, so her flipper move could have meant anything. Be that as it may, he turned right to go down the left side of the ship and saw Nozumu walking towards him.

“Hello again,” Nozumu said, as if it were such a coincidence. Ivory realised the state of things, and went straight into it.

“We need to talk. Where can we sit somewhere comfortable?”

Nozumu blinked in quick succession, taken aback at the frank response.

“We—the [Sailors]’ recreational hall has some comforts. Follow me.”

The two walked towards the front of the ship, passing a few [Sailors] going about their business. They entered indoors through the very front of the ship, which should not have been very noteworthy—here was where the [Merchants] were, stock and all. The two passed by without much fanfare going each way, but it was quite funny to essentially bear witness to a ‘magical stockroom’. At least, he assumed it was magical, since there were lots of A—Drathian looking charms and doodads, no doubt to be flogged off to Terandria and beyond.

The recreational hall had a few inhabitants; one was napping against a few purple cushions, the other was sitting cross-legged reading a book. Ivory and Nozumu each sat in a putrid green armchair. What it lacked in looks, it made up for in comfort. Drathians truly did not lack for comfortable seating arrangements.

“What did you want to talk about?” Nozumu asked, sounding a bit too familiar and calm. It occurred to Ivory that he was the one doing a ‘we need to talk’ deathspeech.

“This is going to sound very weird,” he started, hoisting himself up slightly to move closer to Nozumu, “but I promise I’m telling the truth. I am actually not from this world.”

“What?”

Ivory almost laughed.

“It’s true!”

“I do not understand. Is this a… metaphor? I do not quite understand your meaning.”

“Not a metaphor. I am being literal—I was transported to this world almost a month ago. No, actually, it would have been over a month, since Hidenori used that Skill of his. I haven’t kept track, that doesn’t matter. Point is, I just… appeared here one day. In Calanfer.”

To Ivory’s surprise, Nozumu honed in on one thing in particular.

“What is ‘Australia’ then?”

“Australia is the country I’m from. Continent, as well.”

“I see…”

Neither said anything for a minute.

“It’s why I wasn’t as amazed as you hoped I would have been. Not that I wasn’t! But in… my world, which is called Earth, there are heaps of countries which are similar to Drath. In fact, I’m fairly certain that you are speaking the language one of those countries uses. The language I speak, called English on Earth, is the language spoken everywhere but Drath. I had to learn a new alphabet though, but [Basic Literacy] helped with that.”

Nozumu leaned back, eyes alternating between wide open and shut.

“I know this is a lot to randomly just spring on you, but I felt that if we are going to be travelling together, you should know that about me. I quite literally know next to nothing about this world. Oh, and Earth doesn’t have Skills or classes, or magic.”

“What?” he exclaimed. He leaned forward, with true shock in his avian eyes.

"Yup. Magic is only really in stories and fiction. And! Only Humans. That's the only race on Earth."

"That… must be hard. Having no Skills."

Ivory laughed a deep laugh.

“Not at all. You can do things without having Skills. I was a student for 13 years—most people are—but not a [Student]. It might make things easier, but we still learn skills. Take [Lesser Strength]: if I worked out heaps, and kept improving and lifting more, changed my diet and whatnot, I could have naturally achieved this level of strength. It'd show, as well—I don't look any different after getting the Skill, I don't think.”

Nozumu looked pensive; he wasn't giving up.

"What about lights? You have seen how the city lit up at night. How could you see on… Earth? Fire?"

"That's something I've noticed, actually. This world doesn't use electricity for anything other than, well, spells, that I've seen. We have huge networks that provide everywhere with electricity that powers everything. Lighting, hot water, appliances… loads of stuff. It's hard to explain—the way this world of magic and Skills is normal to you, technology is to me. Electric technology, that is."

It was an odd conversation, but a necessary one. Ivory had very little idea how any of that technology actually worked, save for rudimentary explanations of telephone poles and cables. Which he also did not really understand. Ivory—for better or worse—was no Ryoka Griffin.

The minutes turned to hours as the two spoke of Earth and all its wonders. Wonders, of course, are relative. An aeroplane was a pretty ‘meh’ thing to someone from Earth; they were a staple of society. You’d hear one overhead and go ‘wonder where that’s going?’ and continue on with your day—or pay it no heed, knowing only of its existence due to them either appearing in your peripheral vision when looking up or hearing them.

Horse-drawn carriages are another example. They are the prime mode of transport for at the very least Terandria; no doubt there were other beast of burden type animals here that drew carriages. To Ivory, they were quite humorous—for a land of magic, they didn’t have something better?

This divide was a hot topic for the two youths. Technology was far more advanced on Earth, but did that make this world less so? Magic and Skills made up for almost everything… and yet, where were the cars, the skyscrapers? Flying saucers? Why was this world so inefficient?

Their conversations continued past dinner time, and Ivory was saving the best for last.

“Yeah, but everything aside, this world has Dragons,” Ivory said dreamily. “... It does, right? Drakes have to be related somehow.”

“Not anymore, I don’t think. I believe most died in the Creler Wars; some may have survived, but none have been seen since.”

Ivory didn’t seem too distressed.

“Surely there are eggs around the place?” he said, thinking of Game of Thrones. “Secretly hidden away somewhere?”

“I believe you have answered your own question,” he replied. Ivory, in response, made a face and stuck out his tongue.

“Well, still. I’m pretty sure that Jiji—the ‘Matriarch’—was some kind of snake god or something. Oh, ‘the gods are dead’, so probably not that. She was definitely some kind of mystical snake.”

Nozumu didn’t register the middle of Ivory’s declaration, owing to a sudden but brief popping of the ears.

The conversation dwindled on, and the two went their separate ways to their respective rooms.

Day 1: over. And what a day it was! Ivory was not plagued with a nightmare that night, and for the next week he slept perfectly. But what a week it was.