Unlike Yui, Core is still a living being so I am hoping this will work with her. Since I am dealing with the elves, I really want to get her opinion about everything. Luckily, after a few minutes pass, she appears, but she is naked, so I quickly turn my back.

Core says "Ash? What's going on? Where is this?"

First I teach Core how to create clothes by thinking about them so that I can turn around. Then I explain to her what the soulscape is and some of how it works. Only after that do I explain to her where I am, how I got there, and what the elves are like.

Core says "Elves? Real elves? Like me?"

"Yes, as far as I can tell. Um, there are also four elves I met that lived in your city. They are elemental spirits now though. Would you like to meet them?"

Core says "Yes! Absolutely!!"

"Alright. Lynara, Ekertan, Fereesh, and Slispera, I invite you to my soulscape!"

Core says "So, where are they?"

"Give them a minute to respond, time moves differently here."

About ten minutes later, the four of them appear and I introduce them to Core. As soon as I am done introducing them they start talking rapidly in elven. They are talking so fast and over each other that I am lucky to catch one word in five.

They just keep going on and on, so eventually I just turn and start paying attention to the movie. Eventually they realize what is going on and stop talking to turn and look at me. Once I see they are looking at me I turn and explain to them the circumstances of the elves on the island.

Lynara says "That is sad! To think they have fallen so far!"

"Yeah, I agree. Wait, I didn't think you knew the common tongue!?"

Lynara says "After our last conversation we decided to learn it. Your pronunciation of elven is rather painful to hear!"

"Ah, sorry! So I take it you would be okay with me helping the elves?"

Fereesh says "Yes, absolutely!"

Ekertan says "If you can help those that are enslaved that would be even better!"

Slispera says "If you can help the elves we four will find a way to reward you!"

"A reward isn't necessary. I would have helped them out regardless, just because I hate slavers."

Core says "Yeah, Ash is like that. So, what can we do to help?"

"Well, the easiest way would be if there is a way to repair the gate?"

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Lynara says "Not a chance. Even during our time I doubt it could have been done. Our mages would have just made a new gate."

"I don't suppose you could teach me how to make a gate?"

Ekertan says "I know how to build one, but it is advanced elven magic."

"Since I don't know elven magic I'm guessing it would take a while to learn?"

Ekertan says "A couple of years at least!"

"Alright, traveling by sea is still my best option. Do any of you know anything about ships?"

Lynara says "No. Our people never tried exploring the oceans."

Slispera says "However, once you have a ship Lynara and I can bless it."

"That would be really helpful! Thanks!"

Core says "I wish there was something I could do to help!"

"You will have plenty to do if I am successful. You will have to help them settle in and start teaching them magic."

Lynara says "Speaking of, we should teach Core how to summon us!"

Leaving them to teach Core and talk, I move a distance away and turn part of the soulscape into a vast ocean. Then I start playing with my idea for a ship, since I can create it easily here. Once created I can see how well it works, even making the ocean stormy.

In the end I spend quite a lot of time working on the design of the ship. After all, it has to be big enough to carry all of the elves, plus any I manage to rescue. Making the ship bigger creates several problems that I have to solve.

The two biggest issues I run into are the stability of the hull and the sails. The stability I fix by adding pontoons to either side, but the sails end up being a real pain. I can't make them too complicated since my only crew will be a bunch of elves who have never sailed before.

Yet if I make them too simple then the ship is going to be really slow and there won't be any point. After over a hundred experiments I find a sail configuration that I think will work. It is only a single sail so the ropes for it are simple enough, at least I hope it is.

The problem is, the sail is really large, meaning it is going to be hard to make it. That is a problem that I will have to figure out later, if I even make it that far. I am still hoping to find a decent human ship that I can steal, making one will be much harder.

However, with the size of ship that I am thinking I will need, the odds are against me. Especially since I have no idea how advanced the human's shipbuilding is. So, I keep working on the design so that I have it ready in case I need it.

Seronia yells "Ash! Next movie!"

"I'm sorry, Seronia. That is all that had come out by the time I died."

Krenocia says "What?! Then how do we find out the rest of the story?!"

"Um, use your imagination?"

The result of my comment is that I spend the next few minutes being chased around the soulscape. The elves are all laughing as they watch me being chased by two goddesses. Eventually the two of them give up chasing me and just leave the soulscape.

I should probably avoid asking them for anything for at least a little while. Seeing that the elves are still happily chatting away I go back to playing with my ship design. I start hitting it with rocks in various areas looking for weak points to the design.

Just because it looks sturdy doesn't mean it actually is, this method lets me find areas that need fixing. The fact that the hull will be made of one piece is a big advantage, but it still needs internal support. Especially at the back end of the ship where the hull is wider and taller.

For this design I added two decks on the back of the ship, like on the ships in Pirates. This gives a lot more room for people but it also adds a lot of weight to the back of the ship. This extra weight means I need ballast in the front of the ship to balance it.

It also means that I need to add more supports to the back of the ship to hold the weight of the cabins. These supports also add more weight meaning I have to increase the ballast again. All in all I am having to do a lot of trial and error, but at least it is easier in the soulscape.

If I had to do this normally it would require a massive amount of time, resources, and manpower. All three are not something I currently have, so I need to do this here. As I am trying to figure out the weight problem I find myself wishing I had kept the drake bones, they would make better supports.