From that day on Leo’s life changed quite a bit. He forbade the children to bother him with the bowing exercises and chanting near the cave and could finally cultivate in peace, but during the brakes he gladly hung out with the little rascals. At first they didn’t really know how to behave, but after a few rainy seasons got used to him being around.
The first and foremost thing Leo learned was how to properly swim. While there were many weird things the creepy kids did, like drinking the salty ocean water or eating raw oysters and fishes, they actually swam as if they were aquatic beasts. They paddled around the turquoise blue bay in their little boats and the moment they saw a larger fish they dived after it. Of course ‘large’ was relative to their own size and the biggest ones that got in the bay were at most a foot long.
Up until now Leo swam like a puppy paddling with his all fours and not only it didn’t allow him to swim fast, he got tired pretty quickly as well. But watching the children dive and swim under water undulating their lower bodies in a wave-like manner while maintaining a streamlined posture with their arms stretched out in front made him a quite jealous.
With a little bit of practice it didn’t take long for Leo to get hang of it as well and after a couple sunny seasons went by he was as nimble in the water as the other kids. Diving in the warm waters quickly became his favorite entertainment and because he could hold breath several times longer than the children, they began to idolize him even more.
Of course, Leo knew his physical capabilities were rapidly developing thanks to the diligent cultivation practice and that allowed him to focus on the Nameless technique even more.
With time quickly passing by, the buds on the lightning tree slowly grew and at some point popped open and turned into beautiful purple flowers. They bloomed only for one night though, but fortunately Leo didn’t miss it and spent the whole time staring at the unforgettable sight.
When to his great disappointment petals began to fall one after another, he quickly gathered them and stored between the pages of the small book containing the Nameless technique. They probably didn’t have any alchemical value, but served well as a remembrance.
From this moment on he began to spend more and more time on the beach staring towards the mountain peaks in the distance in hopes to see a Nascent soul stage cultivator flying over. There was no way anyone would let the fruits go bad and the teleportation platform also should’ve been repaired by now.
Unfortunately no matter how hard Leo looked, he never saw anyone. Of course, the kids were thrilled by him noticing several new logs floating their way, but to Leo it didn’t matter much.
He made an interesting discovery though. During the ten days of sunny season from time to time he saw logs and branches float his way from the direction of the tall mountain island – just the way he arrived here, but during the rainy period waves seemed to go the opposite way. The children also pulled him to the other side of the island when it rained because that was the spot where the ‘good stuff’ was washed ashore, but while the kids were cheering at pieces of wood, Leo was considering the implications of this phenomenon.
If it really was like Leo thought and during the sunny season ocean stream was going one way, but during the rainy – the opposite, he kind of had a chance to get back to the island with the teleport.
It was a long shot, but he didn’t have to risk everything at once. He could test if one of the boats could hold against the waves during the rainy season and then attempt to get to the closest island. If it went well, he could try to go home, but if not, he’ll return and wait for the rescue here. In the worst case scenario the boat would flip over and he would join Samantha and the rest and wile he was no thrilled by such prospects, the palm sized fishes cleaned the flesh from bones so fast, he might not even feel any pain before dying.
Even thought the fruits on the lightning tree were not ripe yet and Leo’s hopes of a Nascent soul stage cultivator arriving were still alive, starting from the next rain season he began to practice seafaring, just in case.
His first steps in to the new craft caused a complete panic for the locals. Children screamed in panic, cried and ran around the beach the moment Leo took one of the boats and put it not in the bay waters, but in the open ocean. Obviously he knew there was no use of explaining them anything, therefore the best he could do was to ignore the tantrums little ones created and fully focus on the task at hand.
Even though what he did was quite dangerous, Leo didn’t intend to blindly risk his life. First he checked if the idea of him paddling through the ocean waves was in any way feasible and had to realize that neither sitting nor standing in the boat felt safe. He tried all the boats children had, to not speak about him paddling in different positions or styles, but everything led to dangerous unsteadiness that a couple of times even ended with an unwanted swimming.
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Meanwhile the whole kid village gathered on the beach and performed their favorite back strengthening exercise and chanted in one voice their new hit, “F*ck! Sh*t! Damn you, Brandon!”
Leo, of course, understood that the children were stressed out about his safety, but as his father used to say – ‘There are just some things a man has to do!’.
It was only during the third rain season since he started to experiment with vessels for his escape when Leo on accident figured a weird solution for the stability and balance problem. In fact, it happened not in the ocean, but while fooling around in the bay.
On that particular occasion two kids were sitting in the boats side by side and Leo jumped out the water, scaring them and throwing them over board. Then he stood with each foot in separate boat wearing them like giant shoes and paddled around with a long branch that served as an oar. For some reason he felt particularly stable and in control riding the waves this way and further experiments in the ocean allowed him to refine this two-boat style by using the smallest possible boats and a six foot long branch.
The unexpected success didn’t blind him though. Leo continued to cultivate during the nights and practice boating during the day until several seasons later the fruits on the lightning tree ripened. Actually Leo would’ve eaten them over a month ago, at least that’s what he did back on the island where the mutated chicken and cat lived, but he was afraid that any moment the long awaited Nascent stage savior could arrive and he didn’t want to begin their relationship on bad terms.
Unfortunately no one came and one night when Leo in the dim light that lightning flashes between branches produced noticed small purple spots appearing on the fruits, he decisively picked them and put in his backpack. Eating the fruits was kind of a waste, but letting them go bad was even worse.
His idea was to check them every day and if the fruits showed any signs of going bad, he would simply have a tasty dessert. But if by any chance he could bring them back to the sect, there was no telling how many contribution points he would score.
Three days later when the next rainy season began Leo, ignoring the pleas and cries of the children, took two of the smallest boats and the six foot branch and left towards the island with the teleport. Neither shouts for ‘Uma!’ or curses ‘F*ck! Sh*t! Damn you, Brandon!’ could keep him on the island.
After the incident with lizards Leo kind of counted as the protector of the kids, but getting a real help was much more effective way of protecting them. If he could ask the sect master to take the kids back to Avila they could grow up in peace and with the three fruits from the lighting tree in the backpack he figured he had the right to ask for a small favor.
The first part of the trip went relatively well. Obviously behind the thick rain curtain Leo couldn’t see his goal, but to keep the general direction was not that hard, especially because he could discern the outlines of the closest island.
While practicing he had developed this simple technique – he paddled ten times, then quickly scooped out the rainwater from both boats and then paddled again, repeating the process. This allowed him to have brief periods of rest in addition forcing to not forget about one of the main risks of this journey – letting too much water to overfill the two boats.
Leo didn’t rush since safety was the main priority, but the ocean stream was surprisingly fast. He got to the closest before noon and then to the next one almost as quick, but in order to not find himself in the ocean at night, he spent the night there. This small island wasn’t even half the size compared to the one he lived for the past months and there was no hill, grass to not speak about any inhabitants.
Obviously Leo didn’t mind. He made a small construction putting an end of one boat on the other and hid below it. It wasn’t comfortable, but at least the dinner consisting of the fried fish he packed for the road was still relatively dry. Afterwards he lied down in the sand and half-slept, half-meditated through the night.
The next morning Leo continued on his way and after making brief stops on two small islands along the way, he finally saw the base of the mountain penetrating the heavy rain showers. He had done everything flawlessly from maintaining the correct course, to following the safety procedures and now was about to be rewarded.
At this point Leo was certain he had already made it and almost began to celebrate his brilliant idea by fantasizing what expression will Jack have when he was going to tell about the unbelievable adventure he went through. Unfortunately right after the big island appeared in his vision, Leo was forced to learn what made those strange sounds at night when he was lying on the log going in the opposite direction all those months ago.
Three huge black triangular fins suddenly appeared from nowhere and slowly began to circle around his two little boats. He immediately squatted, trying to keep the boats together and not breathe at the same time while praying to Heavens and blaming Brandon for putting a curse on all members of the expedition.
The fins were at least four feet tall and the backs of the owners who appeared above the water from time to time looked terrifying. Only now Leo realized that the ‘quick death’ he had thought of as one of the outcomes of this voyage was not that acceptable, but sadly the only thing he could do was to squat on the two boats and pretend to be invisible.
Not everything was bad though. Yes, Leo was so stressed out he thought he might die from a heart attack, yes, the beasts or fishes, whatever they were, were enormous, but they were only harmlessly circling around with him in the center.
The real problem was the heavy rain that continuously filled the boats with water threatened to sink them if Leo didn’t do anything about it. But after a quick calculation that mostly was based on his gut, Leo figured he could hold out for the remaining three hundred yards.