Stillwater says "That would definitely be something to celebrate. How long until this happens?"

"I don't know exactly, but it shouldn't be too long."

Stillwater says "I can understand why you didn't say anything before we made our choice. Would it be okay to pass on this information now?"

"Sure, it should be fine."

Stillwater says "Alright, I will do so. And I will let you get back to work."

After he leaves I turn back to the ship, I am almost done with the hollowing out. It takes pushing dinner back a bit, but I manage to complete the first stage. Since the cooks were busy with the meeting, I end up providing dinner for everyone.

After dinner I enter the soulscape and spend some time playing with the kids. Then, instead of exploring another door, I get some real sleep for a change. I am well aware that I have been pushing myself lately to level up, now that I have it is time to recover.

Besides, the hall of doors isn't going anywhere, I can certainly explore it later. In the morning, when I wake up, I feed everyone and then get to work on the ship. Now that the majority is hollowed out I can start the actual shaping of the hull.

First I work on the bow, sharpening its shape so it will cut through the water. On the other hand, I will be widening the aft to make more room for cabins. Once that is done I proceed to smooth out and streamline the rest of the hull.

With that, the basic shape of the ship is finished, but there is still a lot of work for me to do. When dinner time rolls around the elven cooks put out a feast and I head over to eat. As I am eating I realize I haven't seen Brightfire in a while, so I ask around.

Silverstream says "Brightfire went scouting. She volunteered to check on what the orcs and humans are up to. Since she has levels she is the strongest of us and the best suited."

"She probably volunteered just so she could go orc hunting and gain more experience."

Silverstream says "Considering her weapons and armor I don't think you need to worry too much! Such wonderful gifts you have given her!"

"It wasn't that much, I just wanted her to be safe while leveling up. I would have no clue how to tell Stillwater that something had happened to her."

Silverstream says "Are you sure that is all it is? Have you maybe taken a liking to Brightfire?"

"Yes, I am sure!"

Silverstream says "That's too bad! Brightfire is a strong girl, she would be a good match for you!"

"Stop trying to play matchmaker, I already have enough problems with women!"

Silverstream says "Oh, really? Why don't you tell me about them? Maybe I can give you some advice?"

"Alright, what kind of advice do you have about having two goddesses who say they want to be my wives?"

Silverstream screams "What?!?!"

Silverstream stares at me with a dumbfounded look for a few minutes and then just walks away. I am guessing that I am not getting any advice out of her, no real surprise there. At least now she should stop trying to play matchmaker between Brightfire and me.

Not that there's anything wrong with Brightfire, in fact she is very attractive. As I told Silverstream, I already have enough problems with the women in my life. Especially now with this new situation with the goddesses, it has me really confused.

After I finish eating I summon the kids into the soulscape to play for a few hours. Once they leave I head into the hall and go through the second door. On the other side of the door I find myself in the middle of a desert and start building my body.

For some reason it is a lot easier to build my body this time, maybe because I leveled up. There are two suns in the sky and it looks like this place should be insanely hot. However, it feels perfectly fine to me, immunity to fire is such a useful ability!

If it wasn't for that, then I would probably not try to explore this desert. I had more than enough of being tormented by heat and sand in the desert of the lizard tribe. Now, all I have to worry about is the sand, which is much easier to deal with!

Especially since so far there is no wind in this world, meaning no sandstorms! If I don't have to worry about sandstorms then I am fine with exploring this world a bit. Depending on what enemies I find here will determine whether or not I continue hunting.

With that thought in mind I spread my mana out around me, but in a sphere instead of a ring. This takes more mana, but I need to prevent things from ambushing me from within the sand. I also need to keep in mind that using fire spells will probably be less effective here.

Whatever lives in this type of environment will have developed at least some fire resistance. So I will stick to using other elements besides fire, like lightning or ice based spells. With that decided I start moving around the gate checking the surroundings.

After checking the mana consumption of the sphere, with minimal spell usage my mana should last four or five hours. Of course, spell combat will shorten that time, but it should still be enough. After finding nothing close to the gate I pick a direction, north, and start walking.

It doesn't take long before my mana detects something hiding under the sand. It is a scorpion with a body about the size of a dinner table, but it isn't moving. It is probably waiting for me to get closer, but I don't need to be closer to attack it.

Unfortunately, since it is under the sand, a lightning attack will not be very effective. Creating an ice attack in the heat of the surface would also not be very efficient. However, the sands below are much cooler, so I use my mana to attack from below the scorpion.

1 Hell Scorpion defeated! 100 Soul Exp gained!

A hundred exp, about ten goblins worth, that is not too bad considering how easily I killed it. The ice spell was a little expensive mana wise, but definitely worth using. If these scorpions are common, then getting to the next level won't take too long.

I am about to continue walking when I realize that something is different. Previously, when killing goblins, the corpse would always disappear quickly. The scorpion's body also vanished quickly after its death, but it left something behind.

Using a bit of mana I grab the item and bring it to the surface, it is a white crystal. Since I don't feel any energy being emitted from the crystal I reach out and pick it up. As soon as I do the crystal turns into a liquid and is absorbed into my hand.

10 Soul HP recovered!

'A healing item?! For my soul!!'