In the morning I leave long enough to tend to the tree and then return to butchering the beast. For the rest of the day, the elves and I spend all our time working on the beast. The elves deal with the skin and the meat while I remove the bones once they are exposed.

Luckily, I can cheat and use the cleaning stone on the bones instead of doing it the hard way. Once the bones are clean I store them in my pouch, at least until I run out of room. The problem is I still need to figure out how I am going to use them, so far I only have a rough idea.

Until I figure that out, it is too early to start shaping the bones, so all I can do for now is store them. Those that won't fit in my pouch just get piled up on the beach for now. The amount of bones in this thing is way more than what I need for the ship.

At least, it is more than what I currently have planned requires, but plans can change. In fact, since I have so much extra bone I am trying to think of ways to make use of it. A little bit of testing shows the bones are high density and very strong.

Originally I planned to use strips of bone to reinforce the wooden hull of the ship. Now I am thinking I can use a lot more bone and even but entire bones into the hull. I am mainly thinking of using part of the beast's rib cage since it already has a curve to it.

It should make the ship much stronger against impacts and any sort of pressure. At the same time it will add a little bit of weight to the ship, but I feel that it is worth it. I know that there is a relationship between weight and water displacement but I don't know how to figure it out.

Basically, I am going to have to build the ship and see how it works before making changes. I just have to hope that whatever changes need to be made are things that I can manage. Whatever happens, I am only going to get one shot at this, there won't be a second attempt.

Luckily, with my ability to manipulate mana, as long as there is not a major problem I should be able to fix it. Still, I can't rely on that, I need to do everything I can to prevent problems. So, that night after dinner, I go into the soulscape and practice building the ship.

I start with the tree at the size I am hoping it will grow to and start shaping it. While I can't improve my skills in the soulscape, I can at least see if there are any major problems. Which it turns out there is one, trying to work on the log while it is lying down is very difficult.

To fix the problem, I create a cradle to hold the log while I work on it and it works. Now I will just need to create a cradle on the beach, which shouldn't be too difficult. I also have plenty of time while the tree grows to build it and I can even use the extra bone.

With that figured out I go back to working on the ship, shaping and hollowing out the log. There are no major problems with this part of it, just a lot of work and mana manipulation. This part I think will be easier outside the soulscape, because the tree will cooperate with me.

Or at least that is what I am hoping, I won't really know until the time comes. For now I just focus on completing the ship with the design I have in my head. However, when it is done and I put it in the water I encounter another large problem.

Due to the cabins on the back of the ship the weight is too uneven and the ship sinks. The first thing I try to fix it, is moving the pontoons forward, but that doesn't work. It isn't enough weight and it also looks fairly stupid, so I scrap that idea.

After trying several different ideas I finally think of the warship, mainly the weapons on it. Adding a catapult and a pair of ballista to the front of the ship balances out the weight. It is a really good idea since the ship should be armed and I am ashamed I didn't think of it sooner.

Weapons should have been part of the design from the beginning, but I completely forgot to add them. I was too worried about making the ship big enough for the elves and didn't think about anything else. After fixing the weight balance I immediately run into another problem.

With just a single sail the ship doesn't move at all until the wind is really strong. That just isn't going to work, either I need to reduce the weight or I need to add more sails. This is turning out to be even more complicated than I thought it would be.

First, I try taking the bones out of the hull, but that doesn't reduce the weight enough. That means I can't fix this problem by reducing the weight, I have to add more sails. That means I need to add a second mast, which means I need to start over.

However, I have spent a lot of time getting this far, so starting over will have to wait until tomorrow night. Since it is morning outside, I end the soulscape and head over to take care of the tree. This time the feelings from the tree are much stronger, almost like it has matured.

Once I place the third stone by the roots and have watered it, I head back to the elves. I was expecting them to be breaking camp and moving back to the village. However, the activity I can see seems more like they are making the camp more permanent.

Stillwater says "Morning, Ash."

"Morning! What's going on?"

Stillwater says "What do you mean?"

"Shouldn't everyone be moving back to the village?"

Stillwater says "You mean the village we are abandoning?"

"Well, yeah. But that won't be until the ship is done!"

Stillwater says "I figured it would be easier if we move down to the beach now. That way we are around to help with anything you need. It also moves us farther away from the orcs and the humans."

"That does make sense, but are your people going to be okay with it?"

Stillwater says "There might be a little grumbling, but that doesn't matter. They would have grumbled anyway when it was time to abandon the village. This way they can get it out of the way now and go back to being useful."

"Alright, sounds good. By the way, can you spare Brightfire for a few days?"

Stillwater says "Sure, do you need her for something?"

"Yeah, I want to take a trip and need someone to care for the tree while I am gone."

Stillwater says "Oh, okay. Where are you going?"

"I want to go over to the mainland and find a human shipyard. I still don't know enough about building a ship and want to try to learn more."

Stillwater says "That certainly makes sense. I will find her and send her your way."

"Thanks!"