It was a warm day, and the sounds of animals filled the forest. Hunters and prey lived their lives as usual, and on the riverbank, a group of pix were preparing the new ship to test it against the wild currents of the river.

It was known as Azasie's Tears, the world's largest river and the only thing keeping the Pix tribes alive. In the eyes of the Bors, they were considered nothing more than a pest, yet they were allowed to live here in the Old Lands.

An old continent abandoned by the intelligent Bors, why would they leave a place like this? Why would they allow the races of the System to live here among the beasts and plants? Those were the questions Nadine asked herself as she looked at the other side of the river.

She couldn’t see the shore; it was too far away. She was going to ride on his new ship today. It was model number 100. One hundred ships were made with the intention of crossing the river. The first one couldn’t even withstand the force of the currents, but now she was finally able to make a ship sturdy enough to ride the currents.

"The sails are ready, and the ship is in position. We can begin at your order." A pix told her as they walked closer to the ship.

It was being held by a steel rope in a dock made of iron, courtesy of the trade city's miners. About seven months ago, after the incident with the Rak who infected some of her friends, they took over the old city and made it a mining center. It was thanks to the minerals and other rare materials that she could build this ship.

"Let’s get ready. I want two people in the sails to release when I give the signal. The rest stay inside and row in sync. If we can go for five minutes without breaking down, I consider that a win."

They obeyed her orders. This group was used to her crazy ideas; at first, many of them expressed concern, but she never put them in unnecessary danger.

"We’re doing this with caution and slowly. There is no point in trying to hurry and getting hurt in the process. We're doing this for the future of everyone." Those were her words; they could feel the care in her voice and her desire to advance and make a ship good enough to take them to the other side.

Of course, that path ended up with another question. Why would we want to go see the Bors who hate us so much? Most of the pix didn’t ask out of respect for her. But Nadine had an answer that wouldn’t leave them happy.

She promised Emily she was going to help her return to being a full human. She was the one who caused her to turn into a half-Bors. It was her fault that Emily had to give a part of herself for power to defeat Gloom Scent.

Emily acted tough in front of everyone else, but she let her guard down in front of her. She saw her tears and promised to find a solution.

"We’ll find it. No matter how long it takes us, we’re going to find a way to undo this. I don’t care if we have to beat their asses to get an answer, or maybe even fight the System. We're going to win and get back home, just as we entered this place with our bodies and minds intact."

"Hahaha, thank you, Nadine. Can we keep this promise between us? I don’t want the others to drop everything and make helping me their top priority. There are a ton of other things we need to do, like find a way back to Earth. This quest is something more selfish."

"Wanting your body back to normal is not selfish at all, but I get it. Just don’t do anything rash without telling me, ok?"

"Sure."

That promise made Nadine devote herself to building a ship. Talking and asking other Bors was the most direct source of information they had at the moment. The issue was whether all the Bors would be like Gloom Scent and try to kill them on sight.

Whatever, that’s a problem for the future me. If things get too hard, we can tell the others and do it together. On second thought, we could use Meliae to kidnap a bors. What I’m thinking, that would give them more reasons to hate us.

The pix unlocked the safe guards and untied the ship. It was the moment of truth. The currents moved rapidly, and the ship was dragged into the river.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"First test done!" The ship could withstand the basic force of the water without breaking apart. She waited for a moment and gave the signal to lower the sails.

The ship stopped in the middle of the river and managed to hold its position. The pix were rowing inside with all they had to push against the water.

"Drop the anchor!" A giant piece of pure metal dropped to the bottom. They already tested the depth of the river. They made this anchor the longest they could.

The second test is done. The only thing left was to wait five minutes in the same position. If they could do this, then a journey across would be more realistic. Taming the river and crossing it was the first step of her plan to help Emily.

A pix wearing a bandanna was holding a pocket watch she made. They only had to withstand and repel any attacks from the fish below. She let the ship stay here to not get too far in case of an emergency, but they were still within the reach of several creatures.

Not even two minutes had passed when a giant fish's mouth tried to swallow the whole boat. She pulled out a cannon from her bag and opened fire. The fire consumed the fish from inside, and it fell into the depths after being cooked.

"I’m used to your type. I have plenty of ammo, so you can try until all of you are dead." She could see others around the ship waiting for a chance, but after watching the explosion, they withdrew and let bigger fish take the prey.

A giant crab’s claw came from the water; it was going to capture the ship. She used another of her inventions, the sticky cannonball.

"How do you like this?" She fired a black metal ball at the claw. It broke at the moment of impact, and a sticky substance covered the claw, making it impossible to open.

The crab used all his strength trying to get the claw open, but it was useless.

"The glue was extracted from the corpses of hundreds of sticky bugs; it’s not going to go away in a whole day." The crab also withdrew back to the depths.

"Four minutes!" the pix yelled out aloud. They were almost done with the test.

The final adversary came with a zapping sound. "Here it comes!"

She saw it once in a previous test; this monster brought down the ship with the power of electricity. She had no idea what animal it was because she only managed to see the tentacles dispensing the powerful shock that destroyed her previous ship.

Four giant tentacles surrounded the boat and prepared to bring it down. Before they could charge the attack, she yelled to the pix in the sails to push the button.

The mast opened partially, revealing a metal conductor and an antenna at the top. This was her latest invention, a lightning rod.

Normally a lightning rod sends the lightning to the ground, but Nadine had no idea of the principle behind it. So instead of doing that, she installed a battery on the receiving end. It was based on her numerous experiments and failures.

The tentacles sent the rays to the ship, and the rod took it all straight to the bottom, into the battery. It worked, the ship didn’t catch on fire like the last time, and it was a success.

"Five minutes!" The test was complete.

"Raise the anchor while I kill this thing!" She grabbed a harpoon made of green stone and put it in a gun. She took aim and pierced one of the tentacles. Blood poured down, and other fish came around to eat the piece of flesh. She reeled the harpoon back with the chain and prepared another attack.

The monster unleashed more electricity to keep the others away, but that gave them enough time to escape from the lightning. It didn't stop there; the tentacles followed the ship, launching more attacks, but the battery was fine... until it wasn't.

A pix came running down from the inside, yelling. "The bottom of the ship is on fire; the battery exploded!"

"Oh, come on!" She cursed her own ineptitude and cut off another tentacle. The monster was still refusing to give up.

They were so close to the shore, but they weren’t going to make it. The only option was to leave the water. "Everybody grab the ship, we’re making an emergency exit!"

They knew exactly what she meant by that. A bomb was hidden at the bottom of the ship, safe from predators and the wild currents of the river. It was attached to a device that could redirect the explosion. This was how they got from the river to the earth.

She pointed to the other side and pushed the button while hugging the helm. The bomb sent the ship high into the sky. It was the first time; the crash was going to break a few arms and legs, but she could ask Rebecca to heal them. She gritted her teeth, waiting for the pain, but it never came.

She looked down at the vines holding the ship. They were suspended in the middle of the air.

"I just arrived, and I find you doing more reckless things."

"Thanks for coming in a clutch, Emily." She was riding her servant, Meliae.

After making sure that everyone was unharmed, the two girls talked.

"I thought you were making more roads in the east; what are you doing here?"

"I came to pick you up. Silas asked everyone to come to the capital."

"Did something happen?"

"I'm not sure; all he said was that they found more World Stone and that he wants everyone present before speaking."

Those words carried a lot of weight. That stone was the one that could open a portal to the other worlds of the System. They used it to find the trading city the last time.

"You think he’s…"

"Definitely. We have to vote on how to use it. He probably has an idea where to go, but I’m not letting him go alone."

"You mean he’s going to want to contact the Empire?" That was their worry.