Five months had passed in the relentless monotony of the sea voyage, yet for William, each day was a battle. He had beco a walking clock, a training machine with a singular purpose: to grow stronger. He rose with the first hint of dawn, the sea breeze still cold against his skin, his first stop being the deck.
With sword in hand, William began his warm-up. These weren’t gentle motions, but the initial forms of the 24 Plum Blossom Steps, which were finally revealing their true power. He had dedicated this year and a half to mastering this technique, and although with effort and perseverance he had reached the seventh step, he still felt far from fully mastering it. Each lunge and cut, executed with lethal grace, sought perfection in a dance of blade and body. The tallic clang resonated in the morning silence, a constant rhythm marking the start of his day. Then ca mana training. He raised his hand, and a small fireball danced in his palm, bright and controlled. He launched it against an imaginary spot on the mast, feeling the flow of energy. Imdiately after, the translucent blue glow of his mana shield erged around him, a protective bubble testing his reaction speed and his defensive mastery. He repeated the sequence again and again until sweat drenched his tunic and his muscles trembled from the effort.
"Faster, William! The enemy won’t give you a break!" Angel’s voice, his mind’s companion, urged him. "Your reaction ti has improved by sixteen percent. Your control over fire mana by four percent, but it’s not enough. If you want to defeat Roderick and not be humiliated again, you must move!"
"I know, Angel," William replied ntally, his breath ragged.
Afterward, he headed to the stern of the ship for sparring with the sailors. Brannik and Renno had beco his regular partners, and while at first the fights were more a mockery of his injuries, they had now beco intense sessions where William honed his swordplay and magic in real combat.
"You almost hit with that fireball, kid, haha, but you’re still too slow!" Brannik shouted, narrowly dodging a fiery projectile William launched while blocking Renno’s sword strike with his own blade.
"Don’t get cocky, old man," William retorted with a tense smile, activating a mana shield around his arm to cushion an impact. "I’m getting faster every day."
"We see, we see," Renno snorted, launching a combined attack with Brannik. "It’s as if your injuries never existed. What kind of sorcery did you use to heal so fast?"
William shrugged, blocking another blow. "Let’s just say I have a good healer. Besides, a true mage recovers from anything." Of course, he wouldn’t tell them about Angel or the strange energy that had accelerated his recovery, which he’d noticed thanks to the recordings. The scars from his initial wounds were barely a mory, almost completely faded.
Following his physical training, William spent ti with Lia. He helped her and taught her the spell Aurus had shared, but progress was agonizingly slow.
"I don’t understand, William," Lia said, sitting cross-legged on the cabin floor, a look of pure frustration on her face. Almost five months had passed, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t even conjure a tiny fla. "I keep saying the words, I try to feel it, but... there’s nothing. It’s like the mana is mocking ."
William knelt before her, gently taking her hands. "Don’t give up, Lia. It’s normal for it to be difficult at first. Rember what I told you, the initial pain is part of the process. Focus on the calm, on that refreshing sensation you felt." He guided her through the ditation, reviewing each step of the "Shaelun vora elentis, kal’dar en mureth" technique. But despite their combined efforts, Lia’s progress was minimal. He felt frustration bubbling inside him, not at her, but at his helplessness to accelerate her progress. He needed her to be able to protect herself too.
anwhile, worry spread like a silent plague among the sailors. William noticed it in their tired faces, in the bloodshot gleam of their eyes. "The sharks haven’t returned," a sailor told him one day, his voice barely a whisper. "It’s a bad on, kid. Very bad."
The absence of sharks was an unsettling sign, one that could only an one thing: the Kraken or the Leviathan was near. The sailors couldn’t sleep. They looked tense, their eyes bloodshot from restless nights. There were constant guard shifts, every second of the day, an uninterrupted vigil to prevent any underwater ambush. The atmosphere on the ship had beco heavy, charged with the uncertainty of the approaching danger. Whispers of Kraken legends, of entire ships disappearing without a trace, were becoming more frequent.
William also made ti for his old companions, the knight aspirants. He went down to the lower deck where they trained, often joining them for a sparring session or simply to talk.
"Seriously, William," Cedric said, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "It doesn’t even look like you were roasted alive anymore. How co you don’t have a single scar?"
William just smiled, not revealing anything.
"The important thing is that you’re standing," Thom interrupted, with a sincere smile. "And stronger than ever. Your movents are different now."
"Yeah," Theo added. "There’s sothing... different about you. As if every blow carries more weight."
William rely nodded, grateful for their perception. He had noticed the change in himself. His Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality had increased, a reflection of his constant training and perhaps, the mystery of the beetle and the hidden energy.
Throughout his daily activities, William remained alert. Eldrin and Roderick, the Level 3 Apprentices, hadn’t attempted to attack him directly or provoke him since their encounter on deck. However, their contemptuous stares were constant reminders of the threat hanging over him. William saw them at night, ditating in silence, focusing on strengthening themselves. They were a latent threat, one he couldn’t afford to ignore, although with the increase in his stats, he felt more confident that this was the right path.
Strength: 6.1, Dexterity: 6, Vitality: 7.5, Spiritual Power: 7.
The Mystery Persists: Agines Eyes
At night, after helping Lia and with the ship imrsed in a tense calm, William tried again and again to activate Agines Eyes. Frustration grew with each failed attempt.
He concentrated, reciting the words of the Agines Eyes incantation, the sa ones he had read in Aurus’s book. He visualized the translucent eye, imagining the power to see through lies. But nothing. Only the silence of mana, unresponsive. He touched his left ring finger, searching for the black line, the fleeting ring, but there was nothing there. The absence of the ring seed to be the key, but also the biggest obstacle.
"What am I doing wrong, Angel?" William wondered, his ntal voice tinged with exasperation. "The spell says it should appear, but it simply doesn’t. Is it because of the timing? Because of my mana level?"
"The data suggests that the appearance of the ring is linked to an unknown factor, possibly a ’reboot’ or ’cooldown’ period after each attempt to connect with that other world," Angel replied, ever pragmatic. "Your spiritual power is more than sufficient, and your control is improving. It’s an external limitation, not your ability."
William sighed, frustration pricking his brain. He wanted to unlock Agines Eyes. He wanted to understand. But the spell remained inactive, a silent enigma in the darkness of the sea. Every day he grew more desperate, as they were about to make landfall, and he didn’t want to disappoint Aurus, who had taught him so much.
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