We were flying low over the jungle. We have been flying for weeks but we had ran out of things to say.

Muqu had been of great help in ensuring that I didn’t take too long in resting and sleeping. It made me wonder if I could have killed the Cockroach in a fraction of the time if I had a companion.

When I get back to Kaledon I will seek out Paul and Paula or Agnis, Raishin, Gregory and Ted. I also considered just finding a quiet place to settle down.

I don’t mind adventure but all of this was too much.

I had met natives, rabbits, Tlaca’s and fairies on this journey even gods.

“Hey Muqu, will I ever meet you again after this?”

“I don’t know. I hope so but as long as we’re alive we should be able to meet.”

“The advantages of being immortal, eh?”

The journey to the ocean was boring. Muqu was great at staying out of trouble and avoiding problematic situations. Was I cursed to attract trouble?

The weeks passed and I got uneasy. This might be the last time I can get to hang out with Muqu. She might discover that her sister isn’t on Kaledon or on this planet and leave. I don't feel as if I did a great job thanking her. What could I give her to indicate my appreciation?

How about I make a magic skill for her? She uses water like me. It’s perfect!

I started on the next break. It was nearing dusk so there was a chance that we would spend the night.

What skill would suit her? She is a bird fairy and all her skills relate to it but... where is her shaped magic? Shooting watery or icy feathers barely scratches the minimum. I would make a bird-like skill for her. Like a water phoenix. It has to be strong and pretty!

Everything went well until I hit a wall.

How do phoenixes behave? How do I even set it’s behavior to act like one?

My only shaped magic that’s an animal is my [Azure Sharks] but all I did was change water clones into sharks. The sharks behave like me but all they need to do is swim and bite so that’s not a problem.

Muqu is some sort of bird so as long as it acts like her it should be fine.

Adding the ability to fly might cause issues as I don’t know how Muqu’s flying works. Its a mix of how animals fly and something magic-related. It’s not [Levitate] or how my fan floats.

The basis of a water clone got used and reformed into a large water-like phoenix. I had seen many images in my youth of phoenixes and I could vividly remember their depictions.

I kept working to deep into the night. I was almost done but couldn’t decide on special abilities. What would suit her? What would she need?

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The morning came and we fought off some greedy monkeys. I paid close attention to how Muqu fought.

She had trouble protecting her wings from attacks. They were used to block magical attacks but physical attacks deemed to be a problem.

I flushed the monkeys away and launched them into the air.

A hungry Tlaca flew over and plucked their free snacks out of the air. We continued to placate the Tlaca in the hope it wouldn’t go for us.

“Thank you.” Muqu sat down and tended to her left wing which was bleeding a bit.

So something that can deal with physical attacks for her. What instead of a water phoenix that’s its own creature, how about it covering her forming some sort of cloak?

I tinkered on the skill the next evening. It would get activated as a cloak but she could send it out like a separate being afterward if she wanted.

I pulled an all-nighter and chugged energy drinks as if I was a student. I reminisced about the times when I did the same to cram for exams. These energy drinks were to counter my [Acedia] however.

We fought a flying Tlaca the next day. It was extremely evasive and only melee attacks would have a shot at hitting it.

It died to a [Meteor Slap] but I noticed that Muqu lacked options that dealt high damage in melee range. It was partly due to how she tried her best to protect her wings from getting damaged in melee range.

I talked to Muqu and while fairies can regenerate, their wings do so slowly. The poor blood and mana flow to their wings explained the reason.

How do I solve poor blood and mana flow? That’s more physiological, I can’t do that. How about just augmenting it so it doesn’t take damage?

Another night went into making the phoenix cloak as sturdy as possible, to the point she could punch and slash with her wings. It would have been so easy if I shifted it to ice but Muqu prefers to use water over ice.

It added many complexities to add ‘sturdy wings’ to the skill I was creating for her.

The skill progressed more and more and finished on the night before we saw a glimpse of the ocean. I was just happy that I didn’t take forever to create this. All it needed was a name. I had many ideas but I was unsure if it would be too close to existing skill names.

“We reached the ocean. I want to thank you again for keeping me company through all this.” Muqu smiled and gave a polite bow.

“Wait. I made something for you. I’m not great with words so I wanted to create a skill for you as a thanks. I just couldn’t find a name...”

I showed the skill to Muqu. She studied it, tried it several times and succeeded.

She got covered in a thick layer of water. The water around her formed the body of a phoenix. The reflection of the water faked colors and it had some ice feathers to make the shape more distinct.

The most notable part were the wings which were enormous.

“Oh I love it! Thank you! I don’t have anything for you sorry...”

“That’s fine. I made it so you can use your wings to attack and block without them getting damaged, you can also send it out as a separate being to fight for you. I hope you like it.”

The water wings closed around me as Muqu hugged me. “It’s perfect! You couldn’t get a name for it eh?”

Muqu admired the wings of her new skill.

“[Azure Wings]!”

“Huh? But that’s my color, don’t you want to use your color?”

“I don’t have a color and it will remind me of the friend that helped me. I can change it if you want.”

I shook my head and smiled. “No, [Azure Wings] is fine. I like that name.”

We reached the beach and Muqu’s wings were scattering the sunlight.

“Well then. I will be off. Don’t procrastinate too long before leaving. I hope to see you on the continent of Kaledon!”

Muqu flew up while singing one of her fairy songs. She flew up and up and flew through some strange portal.

I waved at her until the portal closed and sighed.

“Back to being alone...”

I walked over the beach. I would reach a settlement at some point. I didn’t feel like flying. I wasn’t a fan of sand but I haven’t seen a beach in over a decade.

The sunset revealed some lights in the distance. My journey is almost over. All I need is to stock up and fly back.

I used a [Search: Imposter]. I didn’t expect to find anything but a red trail was coming from the north. This bitch is reviving in Kaledon?!

It’s good and bad news. I don’t want to stay on Nesher so it’s convenient that she revives on Kaledon but I still haven’t found a method on how to kill her for good.

“Why does my life suck so much...”