They didn’t see Alicia that night. Kai reached out through their party communication ability with mixed curiosity and concern only for her to tell them she was working on a task for her master and that if she found the time, she would come into the domain for the night.

  She never showed up, but Syl had checked up on her a couple of times herself, reporting nothing was wrong. Alicia had apparently fallen asleep in her quarters.

  When Kai woke up the next day, he was, for the first time in the last two months, alone.

  He looked around the domain for Syl for a good ten minutes before he remembered he had her on magical speed dial for the rest of their lives.

  In his defence, she had talked about starting preparations for her physical manifestation, and when she wasn’t at the house, he thought she was off somewhere getting things started.

  When he got in touch with her, he was surprised to learn she had actually gone for a morning stroll around the ship and was actually sorting something out with Arnella and that he should just make his way to the mess to get some breakfast.

  So Kai sat in the mess by himself, having possibly one of the strangest breakfasts he had ever had in his life.

  Not because he couldn’t identify anything on his plate. But because everyone in the room had their attention fixed on him. A room in which about ninety per cent of the population were magically beautiful women wearing form-fitting military uniforms.

  He tried to keep his head down and remember Alicia's table manners from their time together in the dungeon.

  But with everyone shooting him looks as they tried to examine him, he was struggling not to wolf down his food as fast as he could so he could get the hell out of there.

  He had tried distracting himself by working on his new mana sense skill, but it turned out the mess of a cramped ship that literally pulsed with mana to stay in the sky was not an ideal place to practise.

  He had foolishly thought he would be able to use the skill as easily as Syl did. However, it turned out having all Syl's knowledge on the subject did not translate into him having any of her actual ability with it. Meaning he had to find time to practise yet another skill. And while it wasn’t ideal, he found he could actually activate the skill for short bursts and learn to adjust for a short while before he would feel a headache coming on because of the flood of information the new sense provided.

  “Looks like you’re a popular one,” someone said as they sat down beside him.

  Kai looked up from his plate to see the young el’vei lad who had approached him outside the dungeon.

  “I made the mistake of telling someone the crew could examine me.” He looked around the room, catching more than a few sets of eyes. “I didn’t think it through.”

  The kid chuckled, “Yeah, my bet was eighteen…”

  “Sorry?” Kai asked, caught off guard by the fact that the betting that could have only just started yesterday had already reached this kid who had been brought onboard shortly after he had.

  “Oh, it’s nothing.” The kid said as he started shovelling his breakfast into his face to avoid the curious look Kai was giving him.

  Amused by the attempt to avoid his question, Kai leaned over and whispered, “You should know, loose lips sink ships.”

  “And you should know it is pointless whispering to someone when you are surrounded by people that are, what, two, three levels higher than you? Especially when they are all trying to find out your level.” Said a man as he set his tray down opposite Kai.

  The man was the roughest-looking man Kai had seen since that night the system had come to Earth. With his board-muscled form and pale skin that somehow lacked the perfect condition he was growing used to seeing on Alea, he looked instead worn and durable, like the light leather armour he was wearing.

  Kai would have guessed the man was in his forties with the dash of white hairs scattered in his temples of his short brown hair. But when the man smiled and there was barely a wrinkle around his ageless blue eyes, Kai came to the conclusion he would never be a good judge of someone's years when mana was at play.

  A silver pendant hanging from a chain around his neck left Kai to assume this man was one of the silver rankers Arnella had told him about.

  Seeing that Kai had chosen to ignore the probing into his level, the man's eyes narrowed for a moment before he grunted, “So… You know about the betting pool; I guess that makes things easier.”

  Kai looked back at the man, examining him as he put on a knowing smile, “I know about it now. Thanks for confirming something fishy was going on.”

  Bardrick Tunn, Lv. 63

  Human El’viairen hybrid age: 179

  Human El’viairen hybrid? That’s new. Kai thought as he glanced at the man's ears; with his short-cropped hair, he could see them easily. There was nothing about his ears that remotely said there was anything elvish about him. If anything, Kai would have said the man was too broad, too rough or too durable to have any of the fair folk within him.

  But then again, the fair folk and half-elves, with short pointed ears, were one of the preconceived notions he brought from Earth, and things might not actually work that way despite the way things tended to line up despite Syl’s many protests that he should abandon those expectations.

  The man, Bardrick, either chose to ignore the quick glance or did not notice it as he said, “Again, that’s another turn of phrase you have used that I’ve not heard before. What’s it mean?”

  Kai sat back as he noticed two more men coming to his table. Both of them wearing similar light leather armour to Bardic with bronze pendants hanging around their necks.

  “Well Bardrick, it means something smells that something is obviously suspicious or odd. Like how everyone is studying me, and you’ve just mentioned a betting pool.” Kai said, laying some groundwork for his and Arnella’s grand betting pool, deception.

  It wasn’t something they had actually planned, but him not knowing about the bet yet only made sense and should provide them some cover, even if it was only circumstantial.

  “Your level. Don’t let anyone know it.” Bardrick said sternly.

  “Why?” Kai asked, doing his best to sound confused.

  “Because telling anyone would ruin all the fun, and collusion would complicate things. You see, we know you entered the dungeon between zero and level ten because of the entry requirements. But when you came out and handled that ambush the way you did. Slinging mana bolts like a mage whilst cutting down assassins like a swordsman was impressive… too impressive.“

  The kid beside him groaned, “I can’t believe I missed that. My cousin won’t shut up about it; she asked me to come talk to you on her behalf.”

  “Yeah, no one can get a good examine to connect with you.” Bardrick grinned, “It was just supposed to be a quick bet, a chance for the crew to do something interesting. The thinking was as soon as you were seen without one of those fancy cloaks on and we could examine you, the bet would be over and it would be back to business as usual,” his eyes narrowed, “but here you sit, all exposed, and all I get is marks and a subtle feeling I should ignore you. It still feels like there is an item at play if you ask me, but this is good. Even the officers are laying down good coin.”

  “Forgive me, but is it not rude to go around examining people?” Kai asked, hoping to find out what was actually culturally appropriate.

  Bardrick scratched the back of his head. “It’s not like the system will reveal anything sensitive, just your name, level, race, age and if you have one set to show, a title. It’s honestly best to assume people will or have examined you… The only other way around it would be to train your willpower or use an item.” He looked at Kai. “Usually it’s not that invasive… But to be fair, there are times when it is considered rude. Like when there are high-level guests onboard who require anonymity for one reason or another. Though most people use items that change what information the system returns in those situations. But whatever you’re doing feels like someone of a higher level, which makes no sense and attracts more attention. No offence, but your aura, your feel, it’s too weak to return marks on an examination.”

  Marks? What did that mean? Bardrick had used the term twice. Kai's conclusion was that he was referring to the (???) he got when his examiner couldn’t or wouldn’t give him any information.

  It was then that one of the two bronze rankers down the table spoke up, “When the memo went around last night that we were all encouraged to try and get a successful examination with you, we all thought someone had pulled a fast one. We just couldn’t work out how.”

  Bardrick scoffed, “No, Kelt, I felt him examine me… It’s rough. Gives me the feeling he grew up someplace where examination was considered rude…”

  Ignoring the probe into where he was from, Kai asked, “If the betting pool was supposed to be secret, why are you spilling the beans?”

  Bardic cocked his head. “Beans?”

  Kai sighed, “You caught me; I’m not from around here.”

  “Well, I can spill the beans, the secrets because I’m the bookie managing the pool.” Bardrick said as he took out a small notebook and jotted something down, “As the bookie, it’s in my best interests to keep things… interesting.”

  “Okay then, as the subject of everyone's interest, do I stand to make anything? I mean, what's stopping me from spoiling all the fun, going straight to the sage and asking him to put a stop to it, or better yet, finding a member of the crew to go in on the bets with?”

  Bardrick grimaced at that, and he pushed his tray away to drum his fingers on the table as he seemed to weigh his options.

  He didn’t think for too long before he put his elbows on the table to lean in. “I tell you what, if you can keep the betting pool going until we reach the capital, I will split the winners pot with you.”

  Kai arched an eye. “Split, as in fifty-fifty. That doesn’t seem fair; I'll be the one doing all the work for what, a whole month?”

  “And I will be managing all the bets, all the money. You just need to keep up whatever it is you're doing, then reveal your level when you depart.”

  “Just what are the bets at the moment?”

  Bardrick grinned, “Just your level… Who the second braid is for, where you’re from.”

  Kai sat up. “My second braid?”

  “Yeah, you went into the dungeon with one person and no braids. Then came out of the dungeon with one person and two braids.” It’s a hot topic among the ladies.

  “You’re forgetting Syl.”

  Bardrick’s eyes flashed. “You mean the mystery woman no one has seen?” He gestured around the room, “Where is she?”

  “She’s working on something.”

  Bardrick held up a hand, “Don’t tell me; that’s half the fun. The bet at the moment is whether she is real or not. Not going to lie, after yesterday's demonstration, a lot of the crew are hoping it's some ruse.”

  Confused Kai asked, “What’s the ruse?”

  “Well, most everyone's on good terms with Alicia, and they are hoping to sneak in a bit of action with the mysterious stranger. They think Syl is some fabrication to keep them at bay. Sounds dumb to me, but you know how irrational people can get when there's a chance they might get some with someone new and interesting like you. I turned down a lot of ”

  Kai sighed, “Is everyone aboard this ship horny?”

  “Yes!” the three ranked adventurers at the table said in unison.

  It was then he noticed the kid beside him looking about eagerly.

  “What's up with you?”

  “My team’s made up of me, my younger sister, and three distant cousins. Unlike you, I haven’t got teammates jumping at me to braid my hair. It's been weeks.”

  Kai blinked at the sixteen-year-old kid, the implication of what he said taking a second to sink in; surely he wasn’t going to try and get his end away with a member of the crew.

  Then he recalled people looked much younger here on Alea than they did on Earth and examined him.

  Cillian Calabin Lv.0

  El’viairen Age: 32

  Remembering he was thirty-one on Alea, he groaned.

  The kids heads shot round. “What is it?”

  “You’re older than me.”

  Bardrick hissed at Kai.

  “What?”

  “You just eliminated a sizeable amount of the crew from one of the bets.”

  Kai just shrugged, “You said nothing about age.”

  “It’s not a problem; you just narrowed it down. People usually try to make their money back when that happens.” Bardrick said as he got up and made another note in his little book, “You coming to the training?”

  “I had planned on at least checking it out.”

  “Light armour only, and be prepared to sweat. The more of a show you put on, the more people will try to guess your level, and that means more coin if you can keep your mouth shut and that trick of yours going long enough. The Sage has already said he is willing to verify all of the approved bets at an appropriate time.”

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  As he walked away from the table, Arnella slipped into his vacant seat. “What did I miss?”

  “Just found out the crew is making bets.”

  Arnella looked aghast. “Lord Kai, I apologise profusely. I will have the culprits found immediately; just say the word.”

  Kai just rolled his eyes and got on with eating his breakfast.

  “The sage has requested a meeting in the afternoon,” Arnella said as she looked about. ”This is nice; I don’t usually get to sit at the boys table.”

  “The boys table?” Kai asked as he looked over to the two bronze-ranked adventurers to receive a nod confirming that this was, as Arnella just said, the boys table.

  Receiving the affirmation, Kai looked about curiously, seeing that there were only three other men in the room, all of them in uniform and sitting awfully close to someone else.

  “I just saw an empty table and sat down.”

  “Probably saved yourself a lot of hassle; this table is unofficially reserved for us when we don’t want to be pestered by the crew.”

  Arnella tsked, “It’s not our fault decent men are hard to come by. No one here wants a waste of space kept man. It’s the reason why half the women aboard signed up in the first place. The male crew members aren't bad, but there’s a lot of competition, and you guys know there’s nothing better than a solid adventurer in their eyes.”

  “I sat at the wrong table.” Cillian grumbled.

  Like a predator finding prey, Arnella’s eyes locked onto the boy. “You’re too sweet; this ship will eat you alive the moment you put yourself out there, but at level zero it will be for different reasons. Remember, what happens onboard stays onboard.” She made a point of looking him up and down. “I’d give you a week before you are thinking about giving up your life of adventure and signing up.”

  Cillian turned a shade of red as his ears twitched violently. “I think I’ll stick to eating at this table.”

  “Wise choice.” Arnella sighed, “At least get a few dungeon runs in you before you decide to mix things up. Not only will they know if you have it in you, but you’ll also have the stamina to keep up with all the attention you’ll get if you have one or two levels. You’ll find yourself swimming in slightly higher-quality women that way. Still… those women won’t be the best; the best look for men sensible enough to keep it in their pants.”

  Cillian nodded meekly as he looked down at his breakfast.

  Kai couldn’t believe the kid sitting next to him was just a little bit older than him.

  But then again, if he was on the spot like that, he doubted he could have kept from turning that same shade of red.

  Kai finished his breakfast and made his way back to his quarters to pretend to change into light armour.

  He didn’t know what light armour actually meant, but he copied what Bardrick and the other two adventurers were wearing as best he could and got a nod of approval from who had stuck with him.

  Dressed appropriately, Arnella led him to the shortest route up to the top deck, every crew member they passed giving them a salute as they passed. It made him wonder about her rank again, so he did the only thing he could think to do and asked.

  Kai was surprised to discover she was in fact ranked second only to the captain, the Sage, Syl and him.

  He and Syl had both been given honorary ranks equivalent to that of the Sage while they were onboard, hence Arnella’s insistence that she call them both lord and lady whenever she addressed them.

  When he had teased her about ordering her to do whatever he wanted, his jest backfired when she told him she would happily play into any power fantasies he had in private. While informing him, his honorary rank carried no actual authority and was just a formality so the crew could be held to military code should they fail to treat him with the respect the rank deserved.

  His embarrassment amused her, but thankfully she chose not to tease him further.

  He, however, could hear a snickering Syl in the back of his mind as she got on with her own little project within the domain.

  Exiting the confines of the ship to access an external gangway up onto the top deck, Kai had expected to be buffeted by a headwind, but the air was unusually still.

  Arnella explained that there was a massive spell constructed into the ship that manipulated the air around the ship, forming it into a sort of aerodynamic bubble that prevented drag and allowed the ship to move with limited resistance despite its shape.

  That led to him asking what the sails everywhere were for if not to catch the wind and help propel the ship.

  Arnella thought that was a novel idea, so much so that she made a note after he briefly explained tall ships to her.

  After getting over her surprise that ships used to sail on water back on Earth, she put her notepad away and informed him just how dangerous the deck and the many external walkways of the ship were.

  Unlike Earth, mankind had not worked its way to the top of the food chain. Apparently there were birds of prey large enough to swoop down and pick him off without a sound.

  And the reason she was surprised about ships sailing on water was because large bodies of water usually hid leviathans no one on Alea could handle.

  She explained that when they crossed the territory of any particularly dangerous predators, the exterior of the ship was just off limits to everyone. And they often had to be careful not to go too low or too high depending on where they were.

  The sheets were there more to slow down the attack of smaller predators than anything else.

  However, they could also be used to obscure the ship's shape from afar and deflect minor attacks in ship-to-ship combat.

  It was all very interesting to Kai, and he found himself trying to compare Alea’s airships to Earth’s tall ship era, feeling like the maps might quite literally say, Here be dragons, with complete seriousness.

  Getting up onto the deck, Kai saw a group of about twenty people gathered at what he thought of as the front of the ship.

  His arrival was noticed immediately, and he was pleased to see Alicia come jogging over to see him.

  Only she skidded to a stop upon seeing Arnella come up the gangway behind him.

  Alicia saluted, which seemed odd to him.

  Noticing she looked tired, with noticeable bags under her eyes. He gave her a questioning look as she held her fist to her breast.

  He was about to ask if she was okay when Arnella stepped to his side and gave Alicia some kind of signal to tell her she should relax.

  “Despite being the sage's apprentice, Alicia is a midshipman, the lowest rank of officer.” Arnella explained for Kai.

  Alicia, for some reason, gave the other woman a stern look and asked, “Shouldn’t you be on the bridge, looking at crew manifests, making reports and teasing the helmsman?”

  Arnella chuckled, “You see, Alicia here had a higher rank when she first came aboard.” She said, ignoring Alicia’s question, “But she got a little too big for her boots and was taken down a peg so she could learn a little respect.”

  “That was a misunderstanding,” Alicia retorted.

  “And yes, normally I would be on the bridge. But my commission is coming to an end; I’ve been assigned as Kai’s personal aide while Casey gets up to speed on her duties as the new first officer.”

  Alicia’s eyes went wide.

  “And besides that helmsmen made the mistake of getting two junior crew knocked up while you were in the dungeon. Without the ship on the move for so long, it seems he gave in to temptation, finding other ways to keep himself busy. He is in the brig at the moment.”

  “That’s not allowed? I was getting the impression the crew was pretty…” He looked at Alicia and, choosing his words carefully, said, “promiscuous.”

  Alicia blushed, her ears twitching as she looked down.

  “It is, but you have to get authorisation for insemination and prove there is a fair contract between those involved.” Arnella sighed as she stepped off toward where people were gathering. “Speaking of promiscuity, I had to put a stop to a private betting pool this morning; that’s the reason I had to catch up to you in the mess.”

  “Another one?” Kai asked as he fell into step behind her, Alicia sticking close to his side.

  “Lady Syl was not happy when she came to see me… That’s a lie; she was more amused than anything else. But still she asked me to do something about it for both your sake.”

  “What was it?” Alicia asked, her brow already brought down into a frown.

  “Who could get the mysterious stranger into bed first?” Arnella said matter-of-factly.

  Kai nearly tripped.

  “I would have been annoyed with her for going about the ship on her own, but she helped me catch two serious infractions we’ve been struggling to pin down; that and no one’s reported a sexy redhead floating about the ship, so I can’t exactly punish her.”

  Falling back into step, Kai couldn’t help but think this crew would eat him alive if he wasn’t careful.

  “Still, that little cabal was a good group of the junior crew,” Arnella turned to Alicia, “I suggest you make your claim on Lord Kai a bit clearer. Maybe let yourself be seen canoodling somewhere not too obvious.”

  “I do not canoodle.” Alicia said firmly as she glanced at Kai.

  “I know… Poor Jeffry was so smitten with you he asked to be reassigned when you rebuffed him.”

  Kai was in a haze; this ship was mad. Then again, he had worked an office job and retail. Everyone there had been sleeping with each other or working to the top with their legs apart.

  “Jeffry was a fop, and you know it. We had dinner once, and the man practically told the whole crew we were considering a formal arrangement.”

  “You didn't have to make him cry.”

  “His poetry was terrible,” Alicia moaned.

  “Oh… is Lord Kai’s poetry any better?”

  The two women turned to look at him as he started to lag behind again.

  He thought about comparing Alicia to a summer's day, but one, he never learnt the exact words; and two, it would feel like he was cheating; and three, he couldn’t find his tongue.

  He just dumbly shook his head.

  Alicia smiled and turned to Arnella, “Kai has other qualities that far outweigh any dumb poetry some duke's son can regurgitate.”

  Seeing that they were drawing the attention of everyone on deck, Kai chose to remove himself from the conversation.

  He spotted Bardrick, the silver ranker he had breakfast with, and decided the older man was his best bet.

  But as he passed Alicia, he got an idea. It wasn’t exactly canoodling but….

  He leant in and kissed her on the cheek. “Good to see you, Alicia. Don’t forget to come by tonight; we were wondering where you were.”

  His heart was thumping in his chest, and he felt himself burning with embarrassment, but it should send a message to any of the crew still thinking about taking their chances with him.

  Satisfied, he proceeded on to see what this training was like.

  As he drew close to Bardrick, the man pulled out his little notebook and smirked as he scribbled a note.

  “What is it?”

  “As I said, people were betting if you and the princess were really a thing or if it was just some deception. But that.” Bardic said as he pointed back over Kai’s shoulder, “Doesn’t look like a deception to me.”

  “You said people were betting on if Syl existed, not if things with Alicia were genuine,” Kai said as he turned around to see Alicia frozen on the spot, her pale complexion turned red, her ears twitching violently as she held a hand to her cheek.

  Kai smiled, his heart still thumping as he turned back to see Bardrick leaning in close.

  “Break her heart and I’ll kill you.”

  Kai swallowed as the man clapped a hand on his shoulder.

  An evil grin crossing his face, “And it’s a betting pool; people are betting on pretty much everything, so long as it’s reasonable and someone has a different bet, I take their gold.”

  “Isn’t this getting out of hand?”

  Bardrick shrugged. “Trust me, we're working hard to keep things from turning illicit. Now let's see what you’ve got.”

  That started what Kai could easily describe as two hours of carefully regimented punishment.

  The deck was broad but also too small for their number to do anything like the sparing Kai had anticipated.

  Instead, after a short back and forth about what he wanted to work on, one of Bardrick’s team took Kai and, to his surprise, Cillian off to the side to run through a series of exercises with training swords that seemed far too heavy for the wood they looked to be made from.

  Each time he thought he was getting the hang of things, their silver-ranked minder would increase the difficulty either by adding a new swing or getting him to pivot and change the form he was using in a different way before handing him a new, much heavier sword to work with.

  Cillian actually did much better than Kai, moving through the steps he was shown as if he was dancing with his blade, not merely swinging it around.

  Of course, with Cillian’s much lower stats being compensated for with the use of a much lighter weapon, it was still obvious Cillian had far more training than Kai, who was relying primarily on what he had learnt from the skill books he had absorbed.

  After two hours with no breaks or interruptions, the two of them were sweating buckets and gasping for breath as things got ramped up for a final push towards the end of their time.

  Kai only just resisted collapsing to the deck as his training sword was taken away from him.

  He had thought he had done appallingly; he had fought the undead, kobolds and the undead for hours and not felt this worn out. But by the nod of approval he was given, he corrected his assumption to not that bad.

  Turning to Cillian, he caught him giving Kai a curious look.

  “What is it?” Kai asked as his clothes started absorbing the sweat and grime from the exercise as they started to clean themselves and, by proximity, him.

  “I- I just thought you would be better.”

  His new assumption that he might have done well shattered with those words.

  It must have shown, as Cillian's eyes went wide and he rushed to apologise, “No, no, I didn’t mean it like that. You picked up things quickly and kept up. It’s just everyone's making such a big fuss over you; it inflated my expectations. But it’s like you have no formal training.”

  “Skill book”. Bardrick said as he got close. “A good one, but just the basics was Katarla’s assessment.”

  Kai nodded; there was no point in him lying.

  Bardrick smiled. “She said you held the sword correctly and picked things up instinctively, like you were primed but had never had the opportunity to train and ingrain the knowledge in a regimented way.”

  He sighed, “In the dungeon I was just reacting the whole time; the goblins, kobolds and undead in the dungeon never actually presented any real challenge. Even after killing hundreds, if not thousands, of them, I never really felt like my skills grew. Actually…”

  Kai checked his weapon skills.

  Basic martial artist.

  Basic Swordsmanship.

  You have a basic understanding of many different sword styles; be it a shortsword or a great one, you know how to adapt your form and technique. The range and scope of your understanding give you an almost intuitive ability when it comes to the use and maintenance of sword-style weapons, even if you are only vaguely familiar with the sword in question.

  Basic Knife Style.

  Basic Axe Style.

  Basic Mace Style.

  Basic Hammer Style.

  “My showmanship is still basic.”

  “But you have swordsmanship? That's interesting.” Said as he scratched the back of his head, his curiosity evident by the look in his eyes.

  Kai shrugged, “Not going to give up all my secrets, Bardrick.”

  “I wasn’t asking you to. Just saying, having swordsmanship was interesting.”

  “I don’t get it; you went into the dungeon without any training… that’s insane.” Cillian said quietly.

  Bardrick chuckled as he clapped a hand onto both of their shoulders. “Cillian, Kai is a good example that training isn’t everything. Being an adventurer takes something special. Every day someone completes their training and enters a dungeon to never return. It’s one of the reasons the adventurers guild doesn’t just accept any old level zero with a few years of training.”

  Cillian looked thoughtful.

  “Now I’m not saying training isn’t important; good training alone will keep you alive. But it doesn't guarantee you are cut out for the life. Especially if you can’t react when everything around goes wrong, if you can’t use that training when it matters.” He shook his head. “If that happens and you somehow survive, find another career, join the military, or become a kept man.”

  Cillian still looked thoughtful; Kai could see the cogs turning in his mind.

  “Your also forgetting basic swordsmanship isn’t Kai’s only tool.”

  Bardrick grinned as he gave Kai’s shoulder a firm squeeze. “Why don’t you do us a favour and make some mana bolts, as many as you can, Kai?”

  Kai looked at the bookie suspiciously.

  “I promise you this isn’t for some pool I haven’t told you about; just help the lad understand.”

  Kai thought about it and saw no real harm in it.

  He started calling up the little balls of mana; they were only a couple of per cent of his mana a pop, and they barely took any control to maintain them in their basic form.

  When he got to four, two over each shoulder, he decided one at a time was too slow. So he started conjuring them two at a time, then three and four.

  With a quick glance he saw that Cillian’s eyes went wide.

  It might have been petty, but seeing him look like that made Kai feel better about his obvious lack of any formal sword training, and he doubled down, creating more and more mana bolts.

  Bardrick started,”you see its good to have more then one-“

  Kai got to thirty mana bolts and felt no real issue making more; he just had to move the ones he created out of the way to give himself room to work. So he set them in orbit just above the three of them. Adding more and more, he got caught up in making them move and circulate just above their heads.

  Not having to worry about firing the mana bolts at any targets or an imminent threat of attack, Kai realised it was having fun experimenting with the mana bolts. Flaring his new mana sense, he felt the mana bolts interact with one another as he moved them about in intricate patterns, flexing control he didn’t know he had.

  “Shit, boy, stop!” Bardrick said as he squeezed his shoulder, shaking him from his amusement. “You’ll blow a hole in a ship with that much mana. Quick, make sure you let it dissipate in a controlled manner.”

  Kai looked down at a somewhat panicked man looking up with a slack jaw, a crowd forming at some distance behind him, and he realised he might have gotten carried away.

  Acting on instinct, he raised a hand and called his mana back to him. All at once it flooded down in a swirling torrent, down into his open palm, back through his channels and into his core.

  “Your insane; you’ll burn your hand off!” Bardrick hissed.

  But as the maelstrom of mana vanished, Kai felt nothing more than a warm tingle of pins and needles and held out his hand for the flustered silver ranker and Cillian to examine.

  Only he realised a little too late that his arm, from the tips of his now clawed fingers right down to his elbow, was covered in intricate, sharp, black scales.

  Cillian just stood there stunned, his jaw slack as he looked from Kai’s face to his outstretched hand.

  “For the love of all the spirits, why are you wasting your time with the sword if you can wield that much mana that easily at your level…” Bardrick’s eyes narrowed. “Fuck, I still can't get an examine to stick.”

  Kai pulled and folded his arms to try and hide his arm while he retracted his scales and grinned, “Because Bardrick, I'm a battlemage.”

  It was all false bravado, but no one needed to know that.

  The older man stepped back, looking Kai up and down as he regained his composure.

  Recovered, he took out his notebook and started scribbling something down with a massive grin stretched across his face.

  Kai saw Alicia and Arnella off to the side of the crowd and decided to make a hasty escape.

  But just as he stepped off towards them, someone in the crowd coughed, and the crowd parted.

  Thanric, the sage, stood there in the middle of the parted crowd, giving Kai a look he couldn’t read.

  “Kai, a word if you please.”