While I wait for Brightfire to show up, I start thinking about the best way to build a cradle. I don't plan to build it just yet, but there is no harm in planning it out, I can always change the plan. Besides, there shouldn't be much difference in how a cradle is built.

The only real difference should be that I am building out of bone, the humans probably use wood. If the shipyard is old enough then they might have built part of it out of stone. The main thing I am looking to learn about is the technology of ship building itself.

What I need is to be able to understand why certain things have to be a certain way to work. Anything I can learn that will help me make the ship better is just a bonus. The ship needs to be able to do more than just float and move slowly.

For one thing it needs to be able to survive through a storm, it also needs to be able to survive beast attacks. There are humans and they have access to ships, so there are probably pirates as well. Thinking of that I really can't believe that I almost forgot to put weapons on the ship.

Speaking of weapons, I am going to need to either learn how to make them or steal some. Although, I can probably go back and recover the weapons from the sunken warship. They shouldn't be too badly damaged, so I should probably do that before they start to rot.

Brightfire says "My dad said you are looking for me?"

"Yes, I want you to take care of the tree for a few days."

Brightfire says "Sure! What do I need to do?"

"Every morning you need to place three of these stones by the roots of the tree. If the dirt looks dry you can water it as well."

Brightfire says "Is that all?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Brightfire says "Okay, no problem!"

"Thank you!"

Using eagle form I fly to the west side of the island and go check out where the fort used to be. As expected the humans have reclaimed the location and are in the process of building a new fort. They seem a bit more serious this time since they are using stone for the construction.

The soldiers that I can see also look to be higher quality and better equipped. They seem more like regular military rather than just a bunch of mercenaries. If I need to wipe out the humans again it will not be as simple this time around.

One of the changes is that there is a corral with a large number of horses in it. That means that the humans have a cavalry force here, possibly an elite troop. Moving the horses across to the island is much harder than just moving some troops.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

This is probably the human's answer to the orc's superior numbers, it is a decent move. Cavalry, on open ground can kill a lot more than normal soldiers would and they have higher mobility. They would totally massacre the orcs if they fight on open ground, even if they are outnumbered.

There is plenty of open ground between the fort and the badlands, perfect for cavalry. The humans seem to have put a lot of thought into how to hold this ground. It makes me wonder why they didn't put in the effort sooner, probably something stupid.

After seeing everything I can from the air, I continue flying west until I am over the ocean. Once I am in the general area that I remember sinking the ship in I fly down and end the shapeshift. However, I don't turn into a meg yet, I need to do some things before then.

It takes me a while of swimming around before I find the shipwreck and luckily it isn't too deep. It is a good thing that I can hold my breath for a long time, getting the weapons off the ship isn't easy. Once the catapult and the four ballista are removed from the ship I tie them all together.

This way when I shift back to meg form I can just grab the end of the rope and tow the weapons. However, before I do that, I go up for a breath of air and then set about searching the ship. After all, this ship was carrying the mages and other important people, they might have left something behind.

It turns out to be my lucky day, just in the captain's cabin I find a chest full of gold. The captain didn't manage to take anything with him, I find his charts and all his navigation equipment. What's more, they are all enchanted and the sea water hasn't done any damage to them.

The only drawback is that I have to make some room in my pouch, but losing a single bone is worth it. Especially the charts, those are worth more than everything else combined. They don't show the entire main continent, but they show a decent amount of it.

It also shows the borders of some of the kingdoms that border the ocean. Between the charts and what I remember the goddesses showing me of the main continent I can plan a route. From the information I have, I think going north around the continent will be the faster option.

Even though I have already gotten plenty, I still continue to search the rest of the ship. The other cabins don't have anything of value but the cargo hold is a different story. The entire cargo hold is completely full of cases of high quality weapons.

While they aren't enchanted, they are all made of good materials and are well crafted. While I don't have any use for them myself, the elves could probably make use of them. However, I really don't want to give up any more bones to make space for the cases.

Instead, I take the time to carry them all outside and tie them to the weapons. Since I am doing it anyway I also recover the bone from the captain's cabin and tie it on. While it might make my swim back a little slower, I feel it is worth the effort.

Once I have all the cases moved out of the ship and tied on to the weapons I shift into the meg. Then I grab the rope and start swimming, dragging everything along behind me. It slows me down a little, but I still manage to swim around the island by sundown.

When I arrive in the cove where the elves are camped I drop shapeshift and walk onto the beach. Then I turn around and start pulling the rope until all the weapons are on the beach. Of course, the elves notice and gather around to see what I am doing.

Stillwater says "What is all this?"

"The catapult and ballistas are for the ship. The cases contain decent quality weapons that I thought you might find useful."

Stillwater says "We certainly will! Where did all of this come from?"