Shell created a current for the floating forest to start moving forward. Synexus, Kumo, Shell, and Minily were to stay awake until daybreak to give the others a rest. The class expected went to the middle of the forest and fell asleep immediately except for Laiko. Vorin was supposed to sleep but stayed up with him. Zuls attempted to convince them both. The whole group relied on everyone having their energy for the next leg of this journey, so after half an hour she gave up and fell asleep herself. Synexus decided to go have a word with them while Kumo took over being the lookout.

  “You both should get your sleep. You’ve been through a lot in the past few days.”

  “How can I? You’ve brought my sister back to me. I don’t want to leave her again.” Laiko said in a voice on the verge of tears.

  “She’s gone. I’m sorry, Laiko. I brought her body so we could give her a proper burial. I knew you’d want that. Her body will still be here in the morning.” Synexus knew he was in bad shape, but this was much worse than he thought.

  “No! She’s right here! We can bring her back. There has to be some kind of magic to bring her back. Right, Captain?” He turned to Vorin who was just staring blankly at the corpse.

  “I’m…I’m sorry, Laiko. If there is then it’s magic way beyond me. Perhaps a class master, but I can’t give you false hope. Synexus is right. We have to say our goodbyes.”

  “No! I won’t! Not again!” Tears started falling from his face in rapid succession. His words were barely audible. It was heartbreaking.

  “We have to, Laiko. You know I loved her too. I’ve known you both since we were kids. There will be a hole in this world that we won’t be able to fill, but we should try. We should fill it with the good memories of her. She’d like that.” He placed his arms on Laiko’s shoulders trying to give him a hug. Laiko reacted by pushing him away. He needed space.

  “Okay, I’ll leave you two alone to grieve. We will bury her on your terms, Laiko. Whatever you feel is right. Get some sleep if you can.” Synexus walked away hoping Vorin could get through to the kid.

  The sun came up and they knew it’d be a clear day. It felt like a shroud of bad had been lifted by the new dawn. Morning sunshine giving them the clean slate they needed to figure out what their next plans were.

  When everyone woke up, they informed Synexus of Drackenn’s ability to sense the closest land. It seemed as good a plan as any right now. They needed to get to land and then decide in what direction they needed to go. If the land was civilized, it would be a good way to stock up again and get a proper ship before heading back towards their original destination. The floating forest was awesome for now, but they knew one good storm would be dangerous to them.

  According to Drackenn’s ability, the land wasn’t too far. Another four or five days would get them there at the current pace. Kumo had conjured a nice wind that was helping to push them along. They didn’t have a proper sail, but the trees and their foliage caught some of the wind.

  Four or five days was longer than any one of them wanted. Land sounded amazing to anyone on the floating forest right now after the last week they had. Synexus decided to see the bright side which was that while they were floating through the ocean, it would be a good time to try and get some levels.

  Kumo informed him that she had leveled up all her skills twice in the past few days and now he was behind yet again. He had no doubt she would level up her class before him. This was his chance to make up some of the distance between them. His Ullashtt equipment had upgraded like hers did, but he was still consuming a remnant magical item every day for the random stat point. Over the last eight days, he had gotten two in perception, two in intelligence, one in endurance, and three in strength. Gene had informed him that if he consumed stronger items like the skill echoes then he would get multiple points per item, however, he wasn’t sure if they should waste those.

  The others had also made some progress in their classes. Zuls had finally hit level twenty, Prith had leveled up a few skills, and Vorin had gotten two levels in one of his skills. Peace and safety are good for your soul, but chaos is good for your progress. Drackenn had jokingly acted like it was unfair that they had gotten levels and he didn’t. It would take a long time per level for him. The laughter from everyone was nice after the stress.

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  Minily had a map, except it wasn’t helpful without knowing where they were first. That was why land was so important. They needed a reference point or directions if there were people close to the shore. The pirates wanted to get back home. The Windswept passengers wanted to get to their destinations. Some wanted to go home, but that would have to wait. Shell wanted to get home as well. She decided to stay with them until they were on land safely. If needed, she could swim home herself, but a boat ride home would be ideal and safer. The Wave could always sense the direction of their home. Her home was far though.

  After nearly an hour of chatting, the plan came into existence. They would sail to this mystery plot of land, find a ship, get the pirates and Shell home, and then finally make it to their original destination. It would take five days and in those five days the class chosen would work on their skills. The need for more progress became apparent from the Ullashtt attack. They would take shifts of two watching the perimeter. Kumo would keep up her wind as long as she could, and Shell would keep her current going. This was how they would make it to their salvation.

  Synexus and Minily were the first two up to rest. Gene was already asleep in a tree somewhere. They had been up all night and Vorin wanted everyone sharp. Kumo and Shell had been up to, however, they both had been out for quite some time the day before and weren’t feeling tired at all. Class chosen could stay up for multiple days without any drawbacks. Sleep was just nice when you could get it.

  The crew of the floating forest all separated and went to their designated duties after the plan was made. The only two that remained were Vorin and Drackenn.

  “You know you can’t blame yourself for the loss of your class expected.”

  “Her name is Layola. I feel like we have to take responsibility. We are their leaders. They do as we say even if we give them the choice.”

  “We must take responsibility. That is our burden as leaders, but we can’t blame ourselves. It wasn’t us that drove the knife through their hearts. Blame the kraken if you must blame someone, but death is a part of life. As leaders, we must learn from our mistakes to protect those who follow us in the future. Learn from her death.”

  Vorin looked down and then spoke softly. “I do learn from every death. I carry them with me, and they push me forward, but I don’t think I can carry anymore without being weighed down. This one was personal. I have known her since we were kids. What do I even tell her parents?”

  “Hopefully you won’t have to carry the weight of anymore, but that is unlikely. We all risk our lives every day. It is our duty as class chosen. You need to learn from them and then let them go. Keep the memories of those people, but don’t dwell on their death. When you tell her parents, you’ll tell them the truth. You won’t tell them the gruesome details of her death. Focus on who she was and how she wanted to be remembered. That’s what we can do for those that have passed.”

  That lifted Vorin’s spirits a little. Drackenn was no stranger to death. He was a good leader. You could tell that by how many pirate captains came together to stand behind him. All those lost souls hadn’t withered him away. Maybe Vorin could be that strong too.

  “Thank you, Drackenn. I think I just need a few days to get my head straight. You’re right though, we do need to focus on the good parts of their lives and not their death.”

  Drackenn nodded to Vorin before they walked off to start focusing on their progress like the other class chosen.

  The floating forest wasn’t big enough for every class chosen to have their own space to work on their progress. They all decided to train on the sides to not disturb the class expected in the middle. The rules were that no one could do anything that would throw them off course, which wasn’t great for Kumo. Zuls also had trouble with having her bigger animal companions out, but she made it work. Prith was fine with the confined space. He took that as part of the training.

  Drackenn took a corner and sat down to meditate. He was focusing on his mental skills rather than his combat skills since they were rather explosive. Vorin took the opposite corner and was staring out to the ocean with an intense focus. It was like he was trying to burn a hole into reality itself with his stare. Zuls was concerned, but Prith knew to give him space to figure things out.

  Synexus, Shell, and Minily were in the middle of the forest. Shell was meditating while the other two were sleeping. Some of the class expected had gone back to sleep while others were talking about how close they were to getting their classes. It was more discussion of what they would have done if they had classes during all this. If they could have helped in some way. The fact was that it was hard for them to sit and realize they could only help row right now since there wasn’t much to do.

  This is how day one of five was spent onboard the floating forest. It went by smoothly with only a few monsters approaching them. Apparently, there was a species of sharks that had evolved to eat the castaway tree roots. Synexus would have to fix a few spots when he woke up. They were peaceful creatures unless you got in between them and their food. Sadly, this was probably the most concentrated cluster of their food that they had ever seen. None of them wanted more monsters to show up, but they were needed to level up combat skills. If this was going to be five days of progress focus, then they would need something to fight.