"We are good all around," Nik said, "As long as our journey doesn't take more than two months, we won't suffer much."

  "Good to know," Dan said to the provision master, "How are Ruby's experiments going by the way?"

  "Surprisingly good," Nik said in his deep voice, "Or maybe not that surprising, considering how magic is making things happen around here. We should see about having a suite turned into a greenhouse or something like that, more room for her to work with. Do you think your skill could achieve it?"

  "Maybe?" Dan wasn't too sure. "We can try though, it's a good idea."

  As Dan was closing things with Nik, he saw Sam looking around, when their eyes met, Dan would swear that the young tamer's eyes lit up as he made way towards him excitedly.

  "Sam, what is it?" Dan smiled.

  "I have been looking for you, I need your help," the young man said. Dan felt that he could guess what it was about.

  "I need to get the thing that's with the Swarmers." The young man didn't even let Dan speak as he explained. "I waited so long! And now with the Voyager about to move again, I think we should get it!"

  "Do you even know what it is?" Dan asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "I'm not that sure," Sam said. Then trying to seem mysterious, he added, "But I have a guess."

  Dan just smiled at the young man. He had an idea about what it might be too, probably all those who saw the fight between the Kraken and Sticky Reefs had that idea. He didn't mess with him and instead asked:

  "I will see about dealing with it. Get the one holding it to stick to the borders of the Voyager's aura."

  Seeing the tamer nod, Dan focused on the connection between him and the Voyager as he said,

  "Hi there, big girl, how are you doing?"

  Good! she sent, the happiness she attached making Dan smile involuntarily.

  "Can you shrink your aura as much as you could?" he asked.

  Getting her agreement, Dan got his walkie-talkie and updated Keith and the others on the bridge about what was happening.

  Done! the Voyager sent as her aura dropped to around 60 meters.

  "Well done. Can you now get a round object that's supposed to be at the edge of your aura?" Dan looked at Sam as he spoke, and the young man nodded.

  A few seconds after the Voyager said that she would do so, Dan saw a brown object with hints of orange flying towards them.

  "Yes, it is that one," Dan answered the inquiring sensation she sent, "Thanks a lot, big girl."

  "So what is it?" After finishing with the Voyager, Dan turned to Sam who had the round object land in his arms.

  "It's an egg!" Sam said excitedly, to no one's surprise. "A Kraken's egg!"

  "What are you going to do with it?" he asked.

  "Tame it." Sam seemed a bit disappointed after not seeing the reaction he wanted from Dan.

  "You're going to remove one of your Swarmers from under your control?"

  "Yes, well, I already did."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "When?" Dan asked. He felt that the young man was a bit too hasty.

  "As soon as I got it within my grasp." Sam seemed a bit confused at Dan's reaction.

  "And about taming it..."

  "Yeah, already done." He seemed even more confused. "As soon as I got it."

  "So." Dan just decided to move on. "Are you going to wait for it till it hatches? Do you even know how to get it to hatch and how?"

  "I got a skill for my latest level up, my 16th, it's called-" Sam stuttered, "Taming Bestiary. It gives me knowledge about most of the common species that my Class lets me tame. It also tells about how to take care of them and treat them best after having them under my control, or taking care of them before even that."

  Dan decided to ignore what appeared to him as an obvious try from the man at changing the name at the last second, if he wasn't going to tell them the name, then he was alright with knowing the effect at least.

  "Well, I will leave you to it then," Dan smiled as he patted the guy, "Get that little thing big and strong, at least as big as its mother."

  Dan then talked a bit more with him before leaving for the bridge. As he walked, he thought about what had happened after they left Sticky Reefs and the Kraken's fight behind, how fuel had increased and all.

  After a bit of back and forth with everyone and the Voyager, plus focusing on what he had felt as they were fighting those stingrays, they finally came up with an explanation. With the Voyager, Aura Appendages and Dan all at tier 2, the dark aura became able to consume life-force or something like that.

  He even guessed that it was most likely the section of the skill that he hadn't been able to link a certain effect to before, attributes.

  Aura Appendages's skill description said, The appendages take the attributes of your aura and strengthen that effect. That was most likely what was happening there. The dark aura always had that effect in it, it just needed to reach a certain threshold before that effect could appear, or maybe for them to be strong enough to use it. Dan wondered if there were other things like that hidden behind future tiers and growth.

  As Dan turned a corner, he saw someone standing there and looking into the ocean, it was Old Raily. Dan was about to call out to the old man when he noticed that something appeared off.

  The old man had an expression that Dan had never seen on him before, he looked to be lost in thoughts as his expression was a mix between remembrance and barely hidden pain. Dan felt that the man was the most vulnerable he had ever seen him.

  "Hello there," Dan called to him after feeling conflicted about it for a while, "How are you doing?"

  "Oh, captain." Old Raily seemed to be woken up from a dream as he turned to Dan. "I'm just sitting here and enjoying the view, it's quite calm and pretty, I find it welcome after all we had been through yesterday."

  "Yes, I have been thinking the same." Dan nodded as he joined him on the railings. "I've enjoyed this morning to the fullest."

  They then fell into a comfortable silence, just enjoying the view.

  "What do you think about our chances out there?" Old Raily suddenly asked.

  "The longer time passes and the stronger we grow, the better our chances are," Dan replied seriously.

  He truly believed that if they had enough time, they would grow to be quite the power out there, they just needed to survive that first period.

  "Peace is never given." Old Raily shrugged with a light mocking tone. "Only acquired or taken."

  Dan again felt that same sense he got when he looked at the man from afar.

  "I didn't get a new skill you know?" the old veteran finally spoke after they watched the water for a while, "I've always had that skill, since level one, I could have done something like that from the very beginning, I just never could bring myself to."

  "You mean what you did when those huge stingrays attacked?" Dan asked, more to the fact that the one man felt as if he wanted him to do so than wanting to pry.

  Not that he had no interest in knowing how the Mended Veteran managed to summon that squad of soldiers fighting alongside him. But again, it was in the name, Old Raily must not have had the best of experiences in the field, he didn't want to push.

  "Brothers in Arms, that's it's name," Old Raily said as he nodded, "It allows me to summon projections of people who have fought with me in the field... and fell there.

  "Once I saw it, I knew that I shouldn't take it, it felt bad to summon projections of them just to fight in another battle, almost slimy in nature. As you can see, I couldn't really do that, the thought of seeing them again was too tempting and I ended up taking that skill."

  There, the old man stopped speaking. Dan didn't push this time, he decided to give him the space he needed. He felt that the old man wasn't even saying all of that for him, but that he had been holding it in for a while and was only letting it out on Dan because the chance presented itself.

  "I never used it though," he finally spoke again, "I was too weak and scared of facing them, only after spending more than half a month here did I gather enough courage to do so. If not for last night's events, who knows how much longer it would have taken me to use it."

  Dan opened his mouth, he almost asked the old man if he had felt some release from it, some peace at seeing and fighting with them once more. Dan hadn't seen much of their fight, but he had seen how the group moved like one. Dan never asked that question, he just patted the old man as he listened.

  "It was good," Old Raily said with a weary chuckle, "I've only known them that one way, we met, trained, fought and separated as soldiers. Even though I know that they were just projections brought up by magic, they were still my brothers and sisters, and seeing them alongside me again was worth it."

  The old man then turned to Dan, smiled and patted him as he turned and left. Dan stayed in his spot for a couple of minutes before turning around to leave.

  As he did, he met eyes with the gentle smiling face of Mrs Raily, who was standing in a secluded corner unseen by both him and Old Raily.

  She nodded at him in appreciation before turning around and leaving.

  Patreon at chapter 127!!

  Our current milestones: