It turns out that Minily is quite a talker. She started telling Synexus pirate stories as soon as they started rowing and didn’t stop. Luckily, he didn’t mind the constant distraction. He figured she was glad to be able to use her mouth again. She told him about how she started her adventures and how she got into pirating. Her parents died and left her with nothing which made her spend a lot of her youth in an orphanage. They had been pirates and since they were in one of the big pirate cities, that was the quickest way to success. It was where she always belonged or at least it was the only place people had accepted her so far. Most of the pirating is taking down the monsters in the ocean for loot to sell, but they did take from passing ships from time to time. She only enjoyed taking from those that had wealth to spare.

  Synexus didn’t like the idea of pirating at all, but he had to admit that the pirates he had met personally, besides that first group, have been friendly. Minily had a good sense of humor and a great work ethic. She never stopped rowing. Her mind was set on finding the survivors and she was going to accomplish that goal. Her mind just needed more to occupy it than most. She had a little game she had been playing since they left which was that Synexus wasn’t allowed to tell her the name of his class. She wanted to guess it based on things she already knew about him.

  Minily had been watching Synexus for a few days while waiting on the monster to show up because he intrigued her. Those silver eyes and the way he seemed fascinated by everything had lured her in. She wanted to know his secrets, but she also wanted the challenge of figuring them out on her own. He had some type of plant in his bag that would eat things. She could barely see it when he went to store something. He had used some skill to turn his arm into a plant during the attack. It had the power to heal or perhaps cure. His stash of crazy fruits was also a clue relating to plants. She knew it had to be some type of cultivator, farmer, or druid.

  Synexus laughed with every guess because she started close with druid and then started to get farther away with guesses he wouldn’t have even known were a thing. She even asked him if he was secretly a plant in disguise and didn’t have a class. The levity was nice in the situation they found themselves in. His mind was trying to shake away the knowledge that Kumo and his friends were probably scared, cold, and in danger somewhere. The distraction worked.

  “Okay, I was probably wrong about you being a plant, but I know that you’re actually a tree in human form.”

  “Nope! I was raised by trees though.”

  “Well, that explains a lot.” She looked around at the forest they were currently floating through the ocean on.

  “Hey! This raft saved your life, so you have to give it some credit.”

  “I didn’t say it wasn’t impressive. I’m not sure you can even call it a raft at this point. If you told me yesterday that I would be sailing the seas with a Plant Generator on a magical floating forest, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

  “I’m not a Plant Generator whatever that is. Also, wouldn’t we be rowing across the ocean?”

  “Good point. We use sailing too much. Plant Alterer?”

  “I’m not that either. Although, I do alter plants a lot.”

  “You got me. That one was made up. This must be a pretty rare class.”

  “It was a rare rarity. Both my original and my evolved class.”

  “You are a mystery worth solving. At least tell me this, are you human?”

  “No, I’m a Zaxillian. Even I don’t know what that means. I’ve never met another on this world.”

  “Sorry to hear that. I haven’t met one either, but once you get to the Balaki continent you might find one. The cities are filled with all different races.”

  “That sounds incredible! I can’t wait.” He really meant that. The past few days had been all about this looming doom. A little hope and excitement go a long way. “It’s starting to get dark. Ready for another hint at my class?”

  He pulled out some moss seeds and concentrated on them. His mind worked through his Genome Library to find the genes from his starlight fungus. Then he got to work by infusing the glowing ability into the moss and changing the bright light property. Before it would activate if you squeezed the plant, but now he wanted it to only become a bright light when he pushed mana into the plant. It wouldn’t be ideal if every time someone stepped on it, it’d create a blinding light. This alteration was a little more difficult than he thought, but in the end, it wasn’t too bad compared to some of the projects he’s handled. With the seed done, he activated Extreme Growth to grow a patch of moss that covered all the roots and grew up the tree trunks of the trees on the outside of the floating forest.

  Genome Refinement Successful!

  Starlight Mana Moss (unique): This moss grows blue by absorbing the natural mana in the atmosphere. If given mana from any other source, this moss produces a bright light. The brightness depends on how much mana is given. The duration of the bright light is until the moss has absorbed the excess mana.

  Minily looked around in awe while the blue light glowed softly on her skin. She was amazed at the versatility of his abilities. His combat prowess was obviously less than the other members of his team, but his functionality as a support member was off the charts. This was something she had never seen before and that was saying something. On her adventures she had seen a lot of this world.

  Synexus saw the amazement on Minily’s face and decided to show her how incredible this moss was. He pushed a little mana into the moss and a natural white light lit up their craft.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “If we push mana into it, the moss will produce a more natural light. It will get brighter; the more mana we push into it.”

  “Where did you find it?! I’ve never seen anything like it besides fungus.”

  “I made it just now. I actually used fungus to do it.”

  “And you’re sure you aren’t the made-up plant alterer?”

  They both laughed out loud and then sat down on the soft moss to watch the sunset. This was Synexus’ favorite part of the day. His favorite moments aboard the Windswept were when they would gather on the deck and admire the setting sun. The beautiful oranges it would produce over the water were a reason to keep living on their own. It looked like fire in the sky. He had wanted to find them before sunset, so they could all sit and enjoy it aboard his floating forest, but sadly they hadn’t caught up yet. The tracking ring still said they were on course to run right into them or Kumo at least. This little break would cost them time, but it was needed. Sometimes you have to stop and enjoy the little things in life, or you’ll miss out on the moments that are worth living for.

  “Do you ever wonder what it would be like if no one had classes?” Minily asked Synexus without even looking away from the burnt orange sky.

  “I never knew they existed until I got mine a few months ago.”

  She snickered. “You are a strange guy, but I’m glad it was you that picked me up.” Then she smiled and looked at him. “Did you know that way back when they didn’t have classes?”

  “I’m glad you’re here too. Gene and I would have struggled to do this by ourselves.” Synexus waved the owl down from his perch. “But no, I didn’t know that. When was that?”

  “It was way back when humans began on a planet called Earth. Billions of years ago. The stories say they left their home to survive and ended up on thousands of different planets. The common language is supposedly made up of one of their languages.”

  Gene landed on the moss and made a comment about how soft it is before adding to the conversation. “They are not stories. That is the history of your species. It was before the system, before classes and skills. A lot of their culture has been carried on even to distant planets like this one. Humans are truly an adaptive species. You hear about altered humans, but really they are humans that have evolved differently due to the environments on different planets. New races were born such as the Zaxillian.”

  Synexus’ eyes lit up. “Wow that’s incredible. What a legacy to live up to.”

  “Yeah, no pressure or anything.” Minily said with a laugh. “So, Synexus is an evolved human?”

  “Yes, his people had integrated technology into themselves to such an extent that they evolved to perfectly incorporate it. Their bodies were a scientific feat that shook the universe. I can’t say much more unfortunately.”

  “That’s what the book had said in the library back in Gale, but it was a science fiction novel. I didn’t want to take it as fact; however, it makes sense with my race skills. Don’t worry about not being able to reveal all the secrets to me. I mean I want to know, but I think I’d like to figure it out in my own time.”

  “Just like me and this mystery class! Now I know it has something to do with technology. Machine Druid?”

  Synexus laughed at her determination. “That is actually really close to my original class.”

  “I’m insulted that she thought you were a tree. She never suspected that I was a tree!” Gene added to both of their surprise.

  They both laughed hard at this. Synexus hadn’t even thought of that.

  “Wait, YOU WERE A TREE?!”

  “Yes, I was a fine tree. The most beautiful in this world. Everyone came to look at me. Well, you could say part of me is still that tree or more accurately, part of me is now an owl.”

  “See, I know I was getting tree vibes from somewhere. How in the world does a tree become an owl?”

  “Gene wanted to travel the world and experience all it had to offer. I thought an owl would make a better vessel for that than a tree, so I swapped the tree form for an owl form.”

  “I’m never going to guess your class, am I? At this point, I’m going to call you a magician.”

  “Wow! I can’t believe you actually got it!”

  “Wait, you’re really a magician?! I finally got it! YES!”

  “No, I was joking. I’m not a magician. Sorry.”

  Minily looked at him in shock before laughing and heading back over to the oar. “I’m getting back to rowing. That was mean.”

  “Yeah, we should get back to it, but first I have a question for you Gene. Do you know what aether is?”

  “I do. Where did you hear that term?”

  “I added it to my Material Database skill by using my sensors on Abyss.”

  “Oh interesting. Yes, that does make sense. Aether is the condensed form of magic. It starts to become a physical material when enough is gathered. Abyss, and the other Ullashtt, hold a massive amount of magic in their bodies. This magic becomes so abundant that it becomes a part of them as physical material or aether. That is why their bodies have taken on various properties.”

  “Thank you. I was just curious. I added fear aether, nightmare aether, and water aether to my database. I’m not sure I want to mess with altering anything with them until I understand magic better.”

  “That’s wise. Nightmare aether is especially nasty. I will start giving you lessons on magic. It sounds like you will need a better understanding to use your skills efficiently.”

  With that the owl flew back up to the lookup perch. Synexus went to the opposite side from Minily and grabbed the oar to start rowing once more. It was nighttime now and the sliver of the moon was getting higher. He wanted to find his friends as quickly as possible.

  ***

  The unknown entity approached them slowly, but the whole group was afraid. None of them had made a single sound since Vorin’s warning. They didn’t know what this was and were preparing themselves for a fight. Shell would take the class expected and escape if the blue-lit creature was hostile. Tension was building yet again. They hadn’t had a break for nearly two weeks at this point and the exhaustion was showing.

  It got closer and suddenly a bright light shot out at them. Compared to the dark night, the light hurt their eyes, and they looked away. A minute later they heard the massive beast speak, but it sounded familiar.

  “What are you all doing floating in the water when we have things to do?”

  Kumo would recognize that voice anywhere. It was Synexus. She started laughing uncontrollably. What he said wasn’t funny at all, but she was so happy. They were preparing themselves to fight and probably die, but instead this was their salvation.

  Everyone turned and looked at Kumo’s outburst before the class expected started to cheer. That tension, anxiety, and fear washed away. It was like the water took it all on for them and they were able to drift toward the vessel freely.

  The class expected boarded first with Synexus and Minily helping them. Then the class chosen boarded with Drackenn being last. He was surprised to see her.

  “Minily? You survived?”

  “Of course I did, King Captain! Now get up here on the magical floating forest covered in light-up moss so we can get going.”

  This got a laugh from everyone even though they were wet and shivering. Most of the class chosen had extra clothes in dimensional bags, so they started to pass them out. Kumo turned directly to Synexus, however.

  “Why do you have a stupid grin on your face? Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Don’t ever do that again! I thought you were dead!” Tears started to stream down her face, and she started to pound her fist against his chest.

  “Hey, I’m sorry. I was worried too. I’m just so happy to see you! All of you alive and well.” He took her into his arms and hugged her. She was drenched in salt water, but he didn’t care.

  Everyone else was changing and sort of giving them a look. Zuls had tears in her eyes as if she was reading a sad book. Prith was smiling ear to ear at them. Vorin looked empty and his gaze was set on something else. Synexus instantly knew what. Layola’s body.