"Why didn't I think of that? Thank you, Seronia. Any advice for severing it from my soul?"

Seronia says "Yes, don't!"

"Do you have another option I can try?"

Seronia says "No. You don't have the skills to cut into your own soul. When you are ready to do it, call me. I will remove it myself."

"Alright. Thank you, again. How hard is it going to be to move the connection?"

Seronia says "It isn't hard, but it is time consuming. You can only move it a little bit at a time and you need to let it rest between each time you move it."

"How much rest?"

Seronia says "At least a day, preferably two."

"Okay, I understand."

Seronia's presence fades away just as I spot Lin walking over to fetch me for dinner. As we are eating dinner I notice that Albion is once again eating way more than anyone else. Now that he is using his powers more his body needs more nutrition to recover.

"Lin, let me see the food pouch, please."

Lin says "Sure. What's up? Still hungry?"

"No, I want to improve the enchantments on it."

Lin says "Wait, didn't you tell me the goddesses made this? No way! You can't mess with divine enchantments!"

"Sure I can. I just have to use divine energy to do it. Relax, the goddesses gave me permission to do this."

Lin says "How do you have divine energy?!"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I am the goddesses' champion and crusader."

Of course, that isn't enough to satisfy her, but she does hand over the food pouch. So, as I start looking at the enchantments I tell her how I became the champion of the goddesses. The pouch still has room for enchantments, but it will need more energy to do what I want.

"Lin, Brightfire, do either of you know how to sew?"

Brightfire says "No, I don't."

Lin says "I do. What do you need?"

"If I give you some thread, could you stitch the formation we used on the ship on the outside of the pouch?"

Lin says "I should be able to, but it would be really small. The pouch isn't big enough for more than that."

"That's fine. It doesn't need much mana."

Lin says "Alright. I will need thread and also a needle. I didn't bring any sewing supplies with me."

"No problem."

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

After taking some of the mana rich silver out of my pouch I shape part of it into a set of needles. Since silver is a softer metal I put a single enchantment on them so they keep their form. Then I turn the remainder of the silver into a super thin thread and hand everything to Lin.

Lin says "Does it matter where it is?"

"It should be on the outside. Otherwise it will steal your mana when you are carrying it."

Lin says "Good point. Can I ask, why all this effort?"

"First of all, I am making it so that we can put food into the pouch and have it learn the recipe. The mana gathering is so that it can produce food with more energy in it. That way Albion won't need to eat six servings. It should also benefit the rest of us."

Brightfire says "How so?"

"The pouch currently can only match the flavors and the bare minimum nutrition. After I am done it should be able to duplicate the meal fully. Meaning beast meat created by the pouch will be as nutritious as the real thing. Or close enough anyway."

Brightfire says "Does that mean you can make more food pouches??"

"Not really. This was made by the goddesses from materials I can't identify. If I made one it would be a pale imitation if it even worked at all."

Brightfire says "That's too bad. The food pouch is really handy!"

"Serve the goddesses well and then ask for one. Chances are they will make you one too."

Brightfire says "I doubt that the goddesses will ever like me as much as they like you!"

"It's not about them liking you or not. They reward services rendered. Just pray from time to time and ask if there is anything you can do for them."

Brightfire says "I will keep that in mind."

Lin says "So will I."

"There probably won't be much to do while we are on the ship, but when we reach the peninsula there will be plenty to do."

Lin says "Do you really think so? How sure are you that this is okay?"

"Well, one of the goddesses was watching and didn't yell at me, so I'm pretty sure."

Brightfire says "One of the goddesses is watching now? Why?"

"They take turns checking on me to make sure I am not doing anything crazy."

Lin says "Have you done enough crazy things that they need to watch you all the time?"

Brightfire says "Yes, he has! Releasing the maker and setting her against the humans are just two of his many crazy ideas."

"Some of my ideas may be a little crazy, but they tend to work."

Brightfire says "True, but that isn't very reassuring."

Lin says "Ash, do you really do that many crazy things?"

"It isn't that I am crazy. I just really want to get stronger and the best way to do that is to take risks. Most of my crazy ideas only endanger myself."

Brightfire says "That is true. Well, mostly."

Lin says "The formation is done. Does it need anything else?"

"Nope. The rest is all enchantments."

Lin says "If we are exploring again tomorrow we should all get some sleep."

Brightfire says "You are right. We can talk while we explore tomorrow and I will tell you everything I know."

Lin says "Sounds good."

Instead of arguing I just tell them to sleep well and start working on the pouch. It takes a while, but I eventually get the enchantments the way I want them. Then I put the pouch in the tent with Lin without waking her up and head back to the tunnel.

As soon as I reach the tunnel I go down and start using my mana to break up the rocks again. This time, I use more mana to break up the rocks deeper so I don't have to stop as often. I didn't do this earlier because I was worried about causing a cave in when the tunnel was still close to the surface.

Now that it is deeper I am not as worried, especially since I can reinforce the tunnel as I go. Every once in a while I scan for the cave to make sure I am still on target. If I keep going at this rate, another day or two will see the tunnel reach the cave.

At that point we will only have a day or so left before we need to return to the ship. I am just hoping that whatever is in the cave is worth all of this effort. Of course, if it helps Albion become stronger then that will be worth it.

All my other kids can grow stronger on their own, Albion is the only one I can't really help. So, I want him to get as strong as possible before we have to leave the island. Luckily, exploring the jungle while I am digging is already helping him get stronger.