‘Auguste’, the grand three mast barque, anchored up only a couple hours later. It was not going to be ‘Auguste’s’ first trip across the ocean, in fact, it was the fifth time captain Bobier was leading it to the continent of Storms.
While usually the term ‘storm’ was associated with seas and oceans, the continent Renaud family was going to was located far to the north east from their home and gained its name because of the cold and windy weather conditions. Surely for half a month every year even Burundy region saw a bit of snow, but it was nothing compared to the six months long, cold winters people experienced in Harstadt, the largest city of the continent of Storms.
That, of course, was the main reason why ships towards the north departed on spring with the intent to timely come back in autumn. No captain looked forward to their ship be hit by a snowstorm or get stuck in ice and even spending a few months in winter while anchored in Harstadt’s harbor could be too damaging for any vessel.
Not many people dreamed of living there, but at the same time the place offered plentiful opportunities for the regular people to get rich and for cultivators to increase their strength. Because of the latter reason almost fifty years ago Lyam’s friend Andre Cellier moved or maybe even hid there after coming out victorious in their friendly duel. Of course, him winning the stakes of this duel, the hand and the heart of the beautiful Meja also might’ve played a role in that decision since the girl was not only incredibly beautiful – she had taken liking in both of them and was not opposed to the idea of them all spending their lives together. The two young men were categorically opposed to such offer and it was decided that the winner of the duel would ‘get’ Meja, but the other’s son would marry their daughter thus sealing the friendship between the trio forever.
Now Lyam was going to the far north exactly for that reason and, if he was honest to himself, he really itched to show off his son in hopes he would take several of Andre’s daughters as wives at the same time and pay back for his old man’s careless mistake all those years ago. The idea of Leonel doing the tall, blond and blue-eyed Meja’s copies over and over again warmed Lyam’s heart and he was really looking forward to see Andre’s expression upon their arrival. Of course, all of that had to wait for a couple of months until they got there, especially because the meat ball at his side had to be slimmed down quite a bit.
“Dad, will you fight rank seven snow lions?” The ‘meat ball’ suddenly asked, interrupting his father’s daydreaming.
“Let’s hope it won’t get to that.” Lyam said while silently gulping at the horrifying thought. One had to be at least at late Core formation stage to even have a slim chance of running away from a rank seven beast one on one, but fortunately such beasts in a mortal realm were almost as rare as Nascent soul stage cultivators, “We are having a friendly visit after all – no need to eradicate their wildlife.”
“I want to see you fight!” Leo said, expectantly clenching his little fists, “Everything is so weak around here and you never even use your sword!”
“We’ll see how it goes, Leonel.” Lyam patiently said.
“Okay.” Leo nodded.
In order to motivate his son, a couple months ago Lyam showed him one of his own ultimate sword techniques, ‘Fire claw’, that involved the use of the fire element and during which the weapon was beautifully burning with red flames. Leo’s untrained eyes didn’t allow to discern much, but to him the relatively trivial earth grade technique seemed like an otherworldly power that only his invincible father was capable of wielding.
Lyam, of course, didn’t explain the details and the son’s admiration was a sufficient result for now. For the upcoming years, though, he planned a harsh training for the child so he could get far ahead compared to his peers.
Actually the training began the moment ‘Auguste’ left the harbor. As it turned out, there were no snacks or usual delicacies on the ship and when Leo ran out of questions to ask his father, he began to look for food. Unfortunately the only thing he found was the rest of his family members with green faces. Both ‘other mothers’ and the three sisters were not as thrilled as him to go on the lengthy voyage and, just like any other regular mortal in their situation, were hugging their respective buckets and vomiting out what was left of their stomach juices while praying to all possible deities to end their miserable lives. The disgusting stench of their vomit made Leo a bit nauseated, but in order to not loose his bearing he patted each of them on shoulder and told ‘to try harder’ and went back out on the deck – obviously it would've been something Lyam would’ve done.
Even though his belly wildly grumbled, Leo stood on the forecastle deck right besides his father with a serious expression and hands behind his back, swaying along with the ship. The water droplets that from time to time sprayed in their faces were a bit cold, but since his father didn’t flinch, the son didn’t intend to either.
“Why the ship is going towards the sun?” It didn’t take long for Leo to think of another question.
“Well, Leonel. The sun is in the east and for now we have to go in that direction.” Father patiently explained.
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“But I can’t see anything. Can we turn around so that the sun shines at our backs?” The son asked.
“No, for now we have to go to the east.” Was the answer.
“To the east? Where the sun is, right?” Leo knowingly nodded, “And then?”
“Then we’ll turn north and go to visit uncle Andre and his many pretty daughters.” Lyam said inwardly grinning with expectation.
“Mhm.” Leo cluelessly agreed.
“But why can’t we go directly to the north?” A split second later he thought of the next question.
“We have to go take a detour around some dangerous waters.” Lyam vaguely said.
Currently there was no need to explain that the Black cliffs, a large group of islands located between the two continents, was a deadly place not only because of the risks it presented towards the ship. They swarmed with marine wildlife that could easily pose danger even to him and if not for the high rank of the beasts residing there, then because of their numbers for sure.
The next couple of weeks were spent in similar fashion – the father son duo spending their days on the forecastle deck, staring in the distance while Lyam patiently imparted his knowledge most of which was instantly forgotten, and the rest of their family hugging their buckets. Gaston and Maurice were cultivating in their respective cabins – contrary to their boss they were relatively young and had not given up on improving their cultivation level. In addition, they intended to use this trip and attempt to finally step into the Core formation stage.
The food on the ship was bad, but somehow Leo quickly got used to it and constantly munched on the salty crackers, making his father worry the boy was about to gain weight instead of loosing it. Luckily his physical shape did improve and under the watchful eyes of his father at the start of the third week Leo even managed to scale the main mast. Of course, afterwards Lyam had to carry him down, but after gaining the necessary confidence, the boy continued to crawl up all three masts until he couldn’t lift his hands.
Actually Lyam was amazed where his son got the strength to pull up his puffed body and run around for half a day without getting tired, but it only pointed at the good foundation that was painstakingly achieved by feeding him precious spirit grass and alchemy pills and giving special medicinal baths. Unfortunately this peculiar training came to an end when on the third week they were hit by a heavy storm.
The relatively large vessel was thrown around by huge waves like a leaf making the Renaud family females experience the living hell. They had long lost the ability to vomit and their glassy eyes indicated there was not much of a life left in them. Half dead, half passed out they lie in hammocks that constantly kept swaying and, if not for the occasional whimpers and wails, one could actually think they were long dead.
Leo was in trouble for other reasons. While he still didn’t feel nauseated, the ship going up and down literally threw him around the cabin like a pinball, although because of his bounciness he didn’t get hurt much – besides his ego that is. Looking at his father, sitting calmly like a rock, Leo clenched his teeth and did his best to maintain similar bearing until Lyam finally took a pity and tied him to a wall. Of course, the problem was solved only partially and only for a short period of time since the boy still had to answer the nature’s calls and periodically eat as well.
Despite the inconveniences, with his father constantly besides him, Leo didn’t worry one bit, especially because the former was always calm and smiling. Lyam spent time mostly educating his son, partially because there was nothing better to do and more importantly, he intended to properly pass on to the heir his most precious legacy – the rules of the Renauld household.
Unfortunately Leo was not the brightest child in the world and memory was not his forte, but it didn’t hinder him to competently nod at his father’s teachings even though he mostly had no clue what the man was talking about. Lyam, on the other hand, was not bothered by that. While he would’ve liked his son to be a genius in all areas, it was already good enough if the boy became stronger than the others. In addition, if taught properly, in the future he would enforce Lyam’s rules thus carrying on his legacy.
Unexpectedly the first rule Leonel memorized was somewhat different from what Lyam was trying to teach.
One day he brought Leo to the deck so his son could pee. Obviously after the endeavor both were wet from the sea water, but it was much better than getting covered in urine all over like during the first attempts of trying to pee in a bucket in the cabin while the ship was thrown around in the heavy storm. Be as it may, after the deed was done, Lyam brought Leo to the bridge.
There, captain Bobier, with his both hands clenching the helm, was trying to maneuver the ship through the wind and waves and pretended to not notice the couple that obviously arrived to once again verbally abuse him.
Lyam didn’t care though. Just like every other day since the storm began, he opened with the same like.
“See, Leonel?” He pointed at the horizon.
The son obediently looked in the direction that showed the usual waves, heavy clouds and rain that was on all sides of the ship. In fact, he hadn’t seen the sun in many days and the only people who caught a glimpse of it through the black clouds were cultivators who reached at least the Foundation establishment stage.
Feeling his father was about to say something important, Leo solemnly nodded and Lyam continued, “Leonel, you see … this guy listened to someone picking an auspicious day for the start of our trip, but look around you – only a fool would believe such nonsense! Everything in your life will depend solely on your own strength! There is no such thing called ‘auspicious days’!”
Just before Leo could once again nod, with a deafening blast a lightning struck the main mast. Splinters flew all over the place and tore the couple of partially reefed sails while Leo realized he would’ve peed in his pants for sure if he hadn’t just relieved himself a few moments ago. His ears rang and he couldn’t hear what father was saying, but it all sounded like ‘There is no such thing called ‘auspicious days’! … There is no such thing called ‘auspicious days’! … There is no such thing called ‘auspicious days’!’.