I found myself rushing to get through my morning training. Marcelle watched from her usual spot by the entrance to the garden. I suspected she knew I was sneaking out of the tower and wanted to insist on going when I did. I discovered I could combine my strength and elemental training if I fused the appropriate element for each type of exercise. I felt the importance of being efficient with my mana, only infusing the necessary parts of my body for each exercise. When I did a sit-up, multiple muscles in my core worked in tandem to get the job done. While infusing the muscle with fire gave me strength, electricity gave me a jolt that made them flex automatically, requiring little effort from me directly. By infusing light mana, I could soothe the damage and make myself capable of doing nearly endless repetitions.

During my training, I had an idea.

What happens if I infuse an element and an emotion at the same time?

The first couple of tries didn’t go quite as planned. Mixing the wrong emotion with an element was similar to combining the wrong elements. Fire had trouble being calm and ice didn’t like heated emotions like anger. Infusing myself with certain elements also had strange effects on my body. Marcelle rushed over right in the middle of a water infusion test. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah,” I grimaced. “I need to pee.”

A quick teleport to my room remedied the problem. Once I relieved myself, I was done with training for the day. As I washed my hands, I considered ditching Marcelle and Ulli again. However, they seemed sincere about keeping my secret, and I didn’t have to have every conversation in front of them.

I announced. “I’m going out. Who wants to come?”

It wasn’t surprising when both girls raised their hands. Ulli had changed into a pink sundress with white polka dots. “Where are we going today?”

“Back to Camelot,” I announced, holding my hand out for them. “And we are going to be teleporting there.”

“Why there again?” Ulli asked, taking a deep breath as she took my hand.

Marcelle took my other hand and braced herself. I decided not to answer the question and wrapped mana around all of us. Inside the void, I took a moment to look at the two girls. Ulli looked cute with her cheeks puffing out while she held her breath. I applied the illusion I’d been using as a disguise next. Not wanting to waste any more time, I zoomed in on the map and found the underground chamber in Camelot. I picked a spot further in than spear guy and plopped us down next to Mika.

She wasn’t prepared for us. Nor was she fully dressed. She shrieked and dove behind a shoddy-looking bed. Ulli and Marcelle were disoriented for a moment but once they realized what was going on, Ulli jumped on me and covered my eyes while Marcelle apologized profusely. Spear guy’s voice rang out as he barged into the room. “What’s going on in…um, oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were…Are you safe? Do you want me to remove these people?”

I heard Mika shuffle some more before replying curtly. “I’m fine. Go away!”

She waited for what felt like an eternity with bated breath before she sighed. “Okay, you can let him go now.”

Ulli removed her hands from my eyes and I opened them to find all three girls glaring at me. Marcelle was the first to chastise me. “It’s rude to barge in on a girl while she’s changing.”

“Sorry,” I replied. “It’s hard to see where I’m going when I teleport. You looked like a dot from the void.”

“From the…what?” Mika asked before thinking better of it. “Never mind. Mother gave me some info about Atlantis. I’ve been waiting for you to come back so we can check it out. Did you have to bring these two, um, guards?”

“We aren’t guards,” Marcelle said coldly.

“We’re his chosen,” Ulli chirped.

“You’re…chosen?” She spoke the word as if she was tasting it. “Do you mean you and both of them…do it?”

I shook my head vigorously. “No! I’ll only do it with Kalli. I already told all of you that.”

“Who’s Kalli?” Mika asked.

Ulli sighed. “His dead girlfriend.”

“Ulli!” Marcelle scolded the girl. “We don’t know that. She’s just lost at the moment. Melvin is trying to get off the planet to find her.”

“Oh, is that why?” Mika asked, a smile appearing on her face. “I can respect that. Are you ready to go?”

“Sure,” I replied. “Can you tell me approximately where Atlantis is? I’m sure I can find it if I know where it’s at.”

She rubbed her chin. “Well, do you remember the place we went last time? That’s on the coast of the Cosmic Ocean. There should only be one city under the sea. Normally, you’d have to charter a ferry to get down but you might be able to teleport there directly.”

Mika walked over to me, still a little red in the face. All three stood close as I wrapped my mana around all of us. This time, I didn’t waste time in the void, scouring the ocean near the seaside town I’d visited. While the ocean was vast, it was also unpopulated. I saw the great city on the ocean bed, its single tower looking unnatural against the backdrop of an underwater mountain range. I zoomed in and selected a spot that didn’t seem to be populated.

We appeared unnoticed in a dark alley only lit by ambient blue light that filtered through the sea. I grinned at the others and said, “It must not be very deep. The light gets through.”

Marcelle rolled her eyes. “That’s magic. Did you expect Atlantis to be completely in the dark? Look there.”

I followed her finger to see a giant blue ball above the tower in the center of the underwater city. It radiated light that flooded the entire dome. People on the street didn’t look at us and scurried away when we emerged from the alley. Mika laughed and said, “You sure picked a bad part of town to drop us in.”

“How can you tell?” I asked, looking around for the first time. Most of the buildings seemed to be bars and hotels. “Okay, I get your point. So what now?”

“Now, we need to find a place called the Purple Parrot,” she explained. “When we get there we need to order an extra salty oyster deluxe. That will get us in.”

“In where?” Marcelle asked, folding her arms.

Mika eyed the older girl suspiciously. “Can we trust her?”

I smiled. “Sure we can. At least I hope.”

It hadn’t been my intent to doubt Marcelle but it still leaked out in the end. She frowned. “The only thing I care about is your safety. Will you at least go as yourself this time?”

“Himself?” Mika asked. “Are you saying this isn’t the real Melvin?”

“He’s in disguise,” Ulli giggled. “The real Mel looks a lot younger.”

“Hey!” I grumbled. “I don’t like the attention I get in my real form.”

Mika nodded thoughtfully. “I’m torn. While I want to see what you look like, it’ll be bad if we gather attention.”

“Good point,” I replied. “Sorry, Marcy. Incognito it is.”

Marcelle sighed. “Just try to be careful.”

“It’ll be fine,” Mika said. “Where we’re going isn’t dangerous.”

“Then why all the code words?” Marcelle asked, looking unconvinced.

Mika shrugged. “That’s something you rich girls will never understand.”

“I didn’t start off rich,” Marcelle replied, giving Mika a frosty look.

“Let’s just go,” I said, stepping between the two.

Marcelle sighed. “Fine. How do we get there?”

Mika shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been here before.”

While the two of them bickered, Ulli walked over to an old man who was passing by. “Excuse me, Mister. Can you please tell me how to get to a place called The Purple Parrot?”

The old man laughed. “Oh ho ho. You’re in the wrong part of town for that missy. How did you wind up over here? It’s by the other sea wall, on the other side of the tower.”

I tossed a glance a Marcelle. “Does The Creator have a tower here too?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been here before either.”

“No no no,” the old man laughed. “The Creator never comes down here. The tower houses the magic that keeps this place from flooding. I don’t think anybody lives in there.”

“Interesting,” I replied. It hadn’t dawned on me to think about how the place worked. Part of me figured the system took care of things like that.

Having the tower to guide us, it was relatively easy to make our way through town. I could have teleported, but I wanted to check out the underwater city. It was interesting. We walked past structures made of coral and yards filled with seaweed, floating on unseen magic. The air was cool but humid and water dripped from above, making me think the magical bubble had a leak.

Otherwise, I ran into similar businesses that I’d seen in Camelot. There were quite a few gift shops as well as multiple chain restaurants. I decided to stop by one of the gift shops when I saw an advertisement for a trident. Marcelle rolled her eyes when I walked up to the counter with the blueish-green weapon on display. Ulli squealed. “Buy it!”

“One please,” I announced.

The shopkeeper, a boy who looked to be about the same age as me, looked over my companions and sighed. “Sorry, you have to pay first.”

I held out my hand. “Just give me the swiper thing.”

“The reader?” He asked skeptically.

His eyes bulged when I touched the reader he provided and it made a satisfied ding. He touched a separate reader to unlock the display and reached in to take it out. “I’ve worked here for a year and nobody ever bought one of these. They are way too expensive.”

I grinned, looking back at the girls. “I can afford it. Do any of you want anything?”

Marcelle shook her head but Ulli and Mika started stacking souvenirs on the table. I watched with fascination as Ulli pointed at another item in the display case.

MERMAID SCALE

BECOME A MERMAID FOR A DAY

WARNING: THIS ITEM HAS MAGICAL PROPERTIES

I nodded enthusiastically. “We definitely want some of those. Marcy, do you want to be a mermaid?”

“Pass,” she replied. However, she did browse the shelves and returned with a few books about Atlantis as well as a T-shirt that read, “I visited Atlantis and all I got was this lousy shirt.”

Mika decided on a mermaid scale and found a magic puzzle box that she just had to have. I swiped the reader again and the boy behind the counter whistled. “Dude! Who are you?”

“Just some random guy,” I replied, laughing.

The rest of the walk to the tower was uneventful. We looked in the window of every building we passed but nothing stood out like the trident. It took us about an hour until we got to the tower. It stretched well above the dome and was covered in moss. The shimmering orb that lit up Atlantis actually came from somewhere high in the tower itself. I didn’t see an entrance at ground level so I assumed the old man was probably right that nobody occupied the structure. In any case, it was too slim to have much room inside anyway.

From there, we made our way to the sea wall. It was exactly what it sounded like. A road stood between a row of businesses and the edge of the dome beyond which stood the ocean. The pale blue light of the dome extended out into the water and we could see various sea animals swimming around as we walked down the street. Toward the end of the row, we saw the restaurant we were looking for.

PURPLE PARROT TAVERN

OPEN 24 HOURS DAILY

We walked in and approached a small stand manned by a woman in a skirt and business jacket. She smiled when she saw us. “Good afternoon, kids. Will your parents be joining you today?”

Not wanting to waste any time. I blurted. “I’d like to order an Extra Salty Oyster Deluxe.”