EG Monster Island Chapter 2

**** AUTHORS NOTE *** 

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**** AUTHORS NOTE****

The ship turned and we started to head to rescue Captain Skipari. I felt like rushing to the bow of our ship, but knew it’d be hours before anything would happen. “Aye son, the waiting is the hard part,” Captain Alborz said, seeing my face. “Go train or eat. Maybe even take a nap. Fighting aboard a ship is brutal, and you want to be rested for it.”

“Come, I will show all of you the next step in my Pool Expansion Technique,” Librarian Narwan said. “Zofia, can you assist in speeding the ship up?”

“Captain Alborz?” Knight Kaminski said, walking with him back towards the wheel of the ship.

“Alright, hmm,” Librarian Narwan said. “Collect your friends who have finished tempering and meet me in the same room as before.”

“Yes, sir,” I bowed to him, then turned to Vaya. “Uh, did you see where Aleks and Hanna went?”

“I will get them,” Bridget said, rushing off.

“Okay, Jon’s just below. Shall we?” I held my hand out. Vaya smiled at me and took my hand. I lead her down to the weapon level again to find Jon helping move one of the ballistae off to one side. “Jon, Librarian Narwan wants us.”

“One minute,” he grunted at us, shoving hard on the large contraption before bowing to Madfiei Majnun who straightened up and returned the bow. “Thank you for the lesson.”

“It was my pleasure Jon,” Majnun purred, then smacked another crewmember on the back of their head. “Lock the legs before leaving. We might need these soon.”

Jon looked at him quizzically, but got waved away. He joined us as we jogged down, and I quickly explained what we knew. “So we are going to go fight some Illyrian raiders? Awesome,” was his response. I rolled my eyes at his exuberance, but felt nearly the same.

“I wonder if they’ll have slaves on the ship,” I frowned suddenly. “How would we rescue them?”

“I do not know,” Vaya answered, scrunching her face in thought. “Though, will we even do much, or will Librarian Narwan just obliterate them.”

“Don’t know,” I shrugged. “We’ve got six hours at least until the fight, so let’s get this lesson on gathering techniques done and work on getting stronger.” They nodded at that, and we walked into the workroom.

Librarian Narwan was already waiting for us, as I expected. Just behind Jon, Vaya, and I, Bridget ran up with Aleks and Hanna. “Good, you are all here. Sit, sit. This is a fairly simple set of techniques that will enable you to maximize the benefits of the Whirlpool Expansion Technique. Firstly, gather in Aether for a few minutes, but hold it above your pool. Force it into a ball of liquid Aether.”

I sat and began to gather, noticing immediately when he put a level five Beast Core into the Formation that I swore every room in the ship had. Is this entire ship designed to utilize Beast Cores in some way? The Aether density in the room swelled up, and seemed to pour into my body as I pushed the Runic Spiral Technique as hard as I could. Focusing on my center, I saw Aether flowing from my meridians into it, and focused on pulling the Aether above my Pool rather than letting it fall in.

My teeth ground together as I strained to hold the Aether up without letting it just rush back out to my body. The ball of power grew quickly. “Now, thrust the Aether into the side of your Aether Pool, rolling it down the side and pushing outward as it goes.” I complied, shoving the Aether I was holding into the edge of my Aether Pool and rolling it down like a ball. The uncomfortable stretching feeling from the morning returned, but much milder. The ball dropped in size quickly, disappearing when I was about two-thirds of the way down.

“Sir, was the ball of Aether supposed to reach the bottom?” I asked.

“Not necessarily. Just as deep as you could make it,” he answered. “We are stretching the sides of your Aether Pools with this technique and the Aether you are forcing into it will restore some supplety to the edges. This will limit how quickly expanding your Pools with the Whirlpool Expansion Technique gets harder. Repeat this for the next hour, making a circle around your Pool.”

“Will do, Master Narwan,” I dove back into my center. Okay, so, maybe I can use the runes for collect and Aether to make holding the ball easier? I thought, before mentally shrugging. I started gathering again, only using the Spiral Technique this time to reduce how quickly Aether entered me. I focused on holding the technique while drawing the runes above my center. The Essence pulsed angrily, but I ignored it. Need to ask Librarian Narwan what he wants me to do with that before the upcoming fight. Actually, Hanna is the only one who doesn’t know about my Core. Well, as far as I know anyway. Every interaction we’ve had makes me think I could trust her, and Aleks trusts her. Just ask.

“Uh, Librarian Narwan. What should I do with the Essence I have still in my Seed Core?” I looked up at him hopefully.

“Hmm, yes, you might have a problem there. Let me think,” he scrunched his face in thought. I noticed Vaya peak up at him while Jon just stared unabashedly. “You said you can change it into Aether, correct? Hmm, experiment time. Take as small a piece of it as possible, and roll it down the side of your Pool. Let me watch and tell me what you feel.”

“Okay,” I took a deep breath. As small as possible, I can do this, I thought, mentally walking my consciousness up to my Core. The radiant jewel seemed to glow with a bright white light. My imaginary hand reached into the Core, passing through the barrier without any feeling at all. I tried to scoop a small bit out, but a large portion surged towards the wall of the Core. My other hand instinctively tried to stop the Essence, and it worked! Woah, that’s cool. I moved the small amount of Essence in my mental hand, and packed it down like a snowball. It rolled around like one too.

I moved over to the edge of my Aether Pool, and rolled it down the side. A sharp pain stabbed into me, and I lost hold of the Essence ball. It shot down my Pool until it vanished, carving a line in the side. I coughed, coming out of my center, and had to take deep breaths until I had control of the nausea and heartburn that had swelled up in me. At least I was already sitting down, I thought, then flinched as Librarian Narwan’s hand clasped my shoulder. A surge of foreign Aether rocketed through me, and he squeezed gently.

“Well, that looked unpleasant, but you should do it again. Using Essence improved your Aether Pool measurably, and more will be a commensurately larger increase,” he said, kindness and steel both in his voice.

“I can do it,” I nodded sharply at him, This is gonna suck. Maybe bigger won’t hurt as much, or hurt the same? I grabbed twice as much and drove it into my Pool near where the first ball went. The worst heartburn ever was combined with the feeling of being stabbed in the belly. Okay, I can do this, I gulped, then imagined a fire hose connecting to my center. At first nothing happened. I focused, and mentally grabbed all of the Essence, bringing it to the edge of the Core but not letting it out.

I reached for my Aether while holding onto the Essence. Fire hose, come on. A small amount of Aether rose out of the Pool and I formed it into said hose. When I connected it to my Core, I pulled at the Essence through the Ather. A rush of Essence flowed through the Aether conduit, and shot forward like water through a hose. Well, at least this is less stabbing pain, I thought as the Essence seemed to dissolve the edge of my Aether Pool like acid, shooting straight through the Aether in it like it wasn’t there. Burning pain swept through me, but I focused on stabilizing my makeshift techniques.

It took nearly thirty minutes to empty my Core of the Essence stored there, both from the Lamia and from the various fish Beasts Sia and Zim had been catching. I strove to make the expansion even across the entire Pool, but there were still areas that jutted out from the new wall. I came out of my center pale, cold, and clammy. “Okay, that sucked,” I started to say, then turned and vomited into a basin on the workbench. Vaya caught me before I slid off my seat.

“I have got you,” she said softly.

“Good, because you have to do this next,” I said. “I got almost as much expansion out of using my Essence as I got from Librarian Narwan’s technique. I doubt we’ll get that much Essence again for a while though.”

“Never know,” she said grimly. “We might get a lot in a few hours.”

“Right. So, this is what I did,” I started, then explained how I used the Essence to expand my Aether Pool. Jon and Bridget listened in, while Librarian Narwan eagerly took notes in a small book. Aleks was explaining to Hanna what happened to us in hushed tones. Hanna’s eyes were getting wider by the second. Yeah, we’re weird, I laughed internally.

“Excellent, Aiden,” Librarian Narwan said. “Now, try and see how it feels to use Aether to condition your Pool after using Essence. Here, drink this to get the taste out of your mouth.” He handed me a wine skin.

I took a swig to find out it was a fruit juice made from Sky Limes and Sugar Cactus. I drank a few more mouthfuls, then looked down at the basin I’d barfed into. It was clean. I looked confusedly at Librarian Narwan.

“Aether is useful for more than battle, you know,” he said cryptically.

“Well, of course,” I said, rolling my eyes at his theatrics. “Time to gather.” I moved my consciousness into my center again, and focused on drawing in Aether. Okay, pack into snowball, let’s target that spot. Biggest place I missed with the Essence, I thought, before rolling the Aether down along my Aether Pool’s wall. It stung like a bee sting, and I was amazed as the ridge-like protuberance smoothed out. It merged and flattened with the surrounding walls, though only a small amount of the way down before the Aether ball ran out of juice.

I spent the next hour, roughly, smoothing out the walls and strengthening them. Even the deepest carvings soaked in the Aether, though they didn’t hurt as they drank it up. It felt more like rubbing Aloe into a bad sunburn. Uncomfortable at first, and then cooling relief. I finally came out of the repetitive motion trance I’d fallen into to find Hanna sitting only a few feet away, staring at me awkwardly. “Yes?” I asked, looking sideways to find Vaya sitting next to me, gathering still.

“I want a Core like yours. How do I get it?” Hanna said intensely, leaning forward into my face.

“Uh, find a dungeon. Survive fighting through the entirety of it. Smash its Core. Eat a piece, and survive the massive surge of Aether and Essence that will try to crush you flat,” I said.

“Okay,” she nodded sharply, leaning back again.

“Okay,” I said awkwardly back, drawing out the middle syllable. I stood and turned to Counselor Sila, then explained to him what I discovered and how my Aether Pool responded to the Aether technique after using Essence.

“Hmm, interesting,” he nodded. “Go eat some more, then try to take a nap. You will be woken an hour before we intersect Mr. Skipari’s ship.”

“Yes, sir,” I bowed to him, stumbled slightly, then walked out the door. Whew, that took more out of me than I thought it did, I thought, using a hand on the wall to maintain my balance. I fumbled my way into a seat, and one of the crew came to check on me. “I’m just out of it. New technique drained me more than I expected. Can you grab me some food?”

“Sure thing,” the crewmember smiled, showing off the large, pointy teeth of the Ashkha people, then brought me a loaf of hard bread and a piece of fried fish.

“Thanks!” I told him, before digging in. The meal refreshed my body, but I was still tired. After finishing, the same crewmember took the plate. I just nodded at him, then slowly walked back to my room. Ming and Xiao were both in our room, gathering again, or still.

“You look tired,” Ming said, opening his eyes as I opened the door.

“Yeah, new technique,” I yawned. “Gonna take a nap. We might be fighting against Illyrian pirates in a few hours, so you should rest up and make sure you have a full tank too.”

“Pirates!” Xiao exclaimed, bouncing out of his seated position. “Yeah! Defeating the scourge of the sea!”

“You are really bored on the ship, aren’t you?” I asked, shaking my head.

“Sooo bored,” Xiao whined. “And all the girls are taken, not interested, or another species.”

I laughed at that, shaking my head and giggling before a massive yawn broke me off. Xiao was playfully glaring at me, so I said, “We’re almost to Monster Island. There should be lots of fun you can have there, outside the tournament.”

“Yup, I cannot wait!” he threw his hands in the air, slamming his fingers into the ceiling.

“Nap time, though. Librarian Narwan said we’d be woken an hour before we intercept the merchant ship being pursued. Rest while you can,” I lay down, closing my eyes and conking out immediately after my head hit the pillow.

Some time later, I jolted awake to a pounding on the door. “It is time!” I heard Farah yell through the doorway. I slapped the bed above me, jolting Jon awake.

“Get dressed. Armor and real weapons,” I said, before following my own commands. I threw on my chainmail and my shielding circlet. A belt that had six Inscribed powder compartments had been waiting in my packed bags, so I threw it on and put four of my best healing powders and two Aether refill powders into the slots. Light, is that enough? It’ll have to be. At least Jamila, Vaya, and Hanna are amazing healers. Librarian Narwan is one of the strongest people alive. We should be fine. Fire burn it, did I just jinx it? No. Darkness, hide us from our enemies. Light, guide us in the best way to strike them down. Our cause is righteous. Theirs is not.

A woman’s voice seemed to whisper into my head, You shall see.

“Light!” I said, awe and suspicion in my voice in equal measure. “Are you actually speaking to me?” No answer was forthcoming. Jon and Xiao were looking at me weird, while Ming was sitting cross-legged on his bed. “Sorry, felt like Light actually spoke for a second.”

“They do that, sometimes,” Xiao said. “Especially if you direct your thoughts at them, and they are paying attention. What’d she say?” He was leaning forward, eyes wide, with a huge grin on his face.

“I didn’t realize you were that devout,” I said. “All she told me is, ‘you shall see’. Not sure what that means.”

“Neat! I wonder what she will highlight for you,” Xiao gushed, then realized he wasn’t getting dressed. He eeped and scrambled to put on his armor, a metal and wood laminate that was reminiscent of samurai armor. I finished adjusting my armor, putting on the bracer that improved my speed and another that I had embedded the shield Inscription LIbrarian Narwan had taught me in.

“Let’s do this,” I said, and turned to the door.

Farah was waiting on the other side, wearing a cloth gambeson that had a few swirly Inscriptions more reminiscent of the tattoos Ambassador Saf’Ir had given us than the Inscriptions lining my own armor. “We have some time,” she said, a frown on her leonine face for the first time I’d ever seen. “It looks like we will arrive at the ship ten minutes after the Illyrians reach them.”

“Sia! We’re not going to beat the Illyrians to the ship. Can you slow them down?” I sent to him while nodding at Farah.

“They have at least three Core-level gatherers on the ship,” he sent back. “I attempted to slow them down but was driven away.”

“Are you okay?” I asked, worried for my friend.

“They were unable to hurt me, but I was unable to get close without injury. We were at a stalemate that was untenable for me, and not slowing them down in the slightest.”

“Okay. I am glad you are uninjured.” I turned to Farah and repeated what Sia had said.

“It was very brave of him to try,” Farah replied, forcing out a small smile. “Go on up, I will wait for the others.”

Just as she said that, Aleks’s door and Vaya’s door opened, almost like they’d coordinated it. The girls filed out, covered with armor and holding or wearing weapons I hadn’t seen before. These are the real ones, I thought, our weapons for fighting others rather than sparing.

“Let us go,” Aleks commanded, then turned and marched up the hallway. Her tone resonated with power and demanded that we follow. For the first time, I’m seeing her princess face.

We spilled out onto the deck to find it significantly crowded. I squeezed through gaps in the waiting crew members as they tightened lines and moved equipment. At the bow of the ship, Librarian Narwan and Madfiei Majnun were discussing something, frowns on both their faces. Librarian Narwan turned to me as we approached. “Good, you are ready. I will not be participating at first. Something is off, and I must be ready to respond. Knight Kaminski and Madfiei Majnun will lead the attack. Be ready.”

“Will we be able to shoot the Illyrian ship?” Jon asked from behind me, eagerness in his voice.

“Most likely not,” Madfiei Majnun ground out. “Not without risking the Craesti traders you all are wanting to save. We will try, though. Now, watch and prepare.”

I stared out at the oncoming ships, still tiny and far away, then cycled my Aether and stretched.