"So, the strange energy was probably a side effect of whatever they did to try and escape failing. They probably tried whatever they could think of, no matter how crazy or dangerous it might have been."

Seronia says "Why does that sound familiar?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

Krenocia says "That is probably the most likely explanation. Anyway, any other questions?"

Lin says "I have tons of questions. How much did you learn from them? Do you know about the First Ones, how they lived, what their empire was like, what happened to them?"

Krenocia looks a little overwhelmed at the onslaught of questions from Lin. However, she starts telling us what she learned, but it wasn't all that much. After all, the crew was mostly common sailors, only the captain and the mage really knew anything.

However, she did learn enough about the common lives of the First Ones to satisfy some of Lin's curiosity. Most of Lin's questions go unanswered, but she takes it better than I would. She obviously has better control of her curiosity than I do, which is a good thing.

One of me is bad enough, if Lin was as bad as me it would be a disaster. Not to mention that she keeps me from doing as much stupid stuff as I would on my own. The goddesses probably realized that much sooner than I did, I can be quite blind at times.

Krenocia says "Did you have a question, Ash?"

"No, why?"

Krenocia says "You just had a strange look on your face."

Seronia says "Knowing Ash, he is probably thinking up some crazy experiment that he wants to try."

Lin says "Considering how often they actually work, I don't think his experiments are all that crazy."

"Thank you, hon. Speaking of experiments, what did you learn about their system of magic?"

Krenocia says "It was very structured. They measured mana in much smaller units and calculated things with precision. The way they cast spells was much more strict than the mages of today. I got the impression that this allowed them to get more effect from the mana they used, but at the cost of adaptability."

Lin says "So, basically they are the complete opposite of Ash, with the rest of us being somewhere in the middle?"

"Hey!"

Krenocia says "Actually, that is a fairly accurate statement. The First Ones were extremely rigid, whereas Ash is extremely creative and flexible. They are basically the complete opposite of each other."

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Lin says "How advanced was their magic compared to ours?"

Krenocia says "Oh, they were far, far ahead of current magic."

"That makes sense. After all, they had a lot more time to develop magic before their empire fell. Not to mention, they were entirely unified and didn't have the constant wars between kingdoms that you do. Meaning, for their mages to stand out, all they had was creating new magic spells or techniques."

Krenocia says "That is very close to how the mage described how he lived. He worked on the ship to make money to buy materials for his research. His greatest hope was to create something new that would get him recognized and adopted by one of the mage clans."

"Oh, mage clans? Did he give you any details?"

Krenocia says "Not many. All he told me was that there were a lot of them. Each one controlled an area around the size of a kingdom and they were based around a mage school. They would only recruit genius mages that had enough accomplishments to catch their attention."

"Sounds like an elitist society. They probably focused all their resources on raising their own kids. Recruiting outsiders was probably just to give the common mages hope and keep them from rebelling. Did they mention how non-mages were treated?"

Krenocia says "No one on the ship was a noble. None of them ever had contact with any of the clan mages. For the most part, from what they said, the clan mages pretty much lived in a separate world from them."

Lin says "That sounds a lot like the Magic Kingdom, just on a much bigger scale. Did any of them happen to mention how old their empire was?"

Krenocia says "At the time they died, the empire had already been around for five thousand years. I have no idea how long it was after they died that the empire fell."

"That is a long time to develop a magic system. No wonder their magic became so advanced. They must have made some amazing things during all that time."

Lin says "Just imagine how big their libraries must have been!"

"Probably big enough that someone couldn't read all of it in a single lifetime. This is making me really tempted to go look at the ruins in the center of the continent."

Lin says "You are not going without me!"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Seronia says "Good answer. It seems you have gotten wiser, Ash."

Krenocia says "Either that, or Lin has been working on training him."

Seronia says "That could be it, or maybe it's a mix of the two."

Lin says "Alright, stop teasing him. So, when are we going on this adventure?"

"It will have to be after we have returned to the peninsula. If we try to leave before then, Myria will try to kill me and the kids will hate me."

Lin says "That's probably true. In that case, how will we get back? Are we going to sail back?"

"No, we can just gate back. That's why I have been leaving gate platforms as we travel. They make up a network that we can use to extend the range of our gates. Even from the peninsula, I can gate back to any one of the platforms we left behind. The only downside is, I didn't start making the platforms sooner."

Lin says "So, the furthest we can go is in the north where you built the castle and the first platform?"

"Yes."

Lin says "That's still an amazing distance!"

Seronia says "Just be careful, Ash. If that magic fell into the wrong hands it would be a catastrophe."

"I know. I have been very careful ever since I came up with it."

Krenocia says "Do you have any other questions about the First Ones?"

"Um, did you happen to ask them if they left the main continent to explore the other continents?"

Krenocia says "No, sorry, I didn't think to ask them."

Lin says "Other continents? What other continents?!"

"Is it alright if I show her?"

Seronia says "Sure, we don't mind."

With a thought, our table and chairs become part of a platform and the world appears below it. The view created is the same one I saw ages ago with the goddesses. Lin stands at the edge of the platform, staring down at the world with her mouth hanging open in shock.