When Leo woke up again it was nighttime and he felt as if his head was about to explode. Obviously the Firewater was for more experienced cultivators and he was not ready for it, but he decided to fight through the challenge, just like his father would.
Besides the terrible headache, Leo was extremely thirsty once again and guided by touch went back into the storage and drank from the same barrel again. Already the first gulp alleviated the pain as if he was drinking some kind of magical elixir and with his eyes shining brightly Leo drank to his fullest once again … and few moments later passed out on the stairs leading to the galley.
The next time Leo woke up, he realized that ‘for sure’ the Firewater was too strong of a supplement for a beginner cultivator like him. Unfortunately there was no other drinkable water aboard the ship and somehow he had to survive by drinking it.
While fighting thirst and headache Leo thought for a while and came to conclusion that he had missed an important aspect – the crew members often ate the plain crackers and dried meat when they drank the water! Judging from how the crabs easily killed several of them it was clear that many were not experienced cultivators, maybe even at the bone reforging stage, and therefore had to soften the effect of the Firewater with food and this tactic might suit him since he also was a ‘beginner cultivator’!
Armed with the revelation, Leo found a barrel with salted dried meat and, after couple of failures, a box that contained actually dry crackers. They tasted much worse than the food he and his father were served, even though it was also simple, but he forced himself to swallow some of both meat and crackers after a bit of chewing. The salty taste made him even more thirsty than he was and he unceremoniously drank to his fullest once again and this time didn’t pass out, but managed to stagger out on the deck.
The headache was partially gone, but Leo noticed another side effect of the Firewater – it felt like the world around him began to spin! At first it was amusing, but then he suddenly fell down on all fours and began to vomit. This was the first time he became ‘seasick’ since the start of the trip and ‘obviously’ it was only because of the salted dried meat since he had tasted both the Firewater and crackers previously and everything was fine.
After vomiting until the gastric juices stopped coming out, Leo got up and on wobbling legs went back to the storage room. He felt terrible, but this time he was set on doing everything right.
He slowly gnawed on a cracker, then chewed on a small piece of dried meat and then washed everything down with a mouthful of Firewater. He was careful to not overuse the ‘cultivation supplement’ and after five or six mouthfuls turned to go back out on the deck, but passed out on the stairs once again.
When Leo woke up the lack of headache proved his ‘theory’ was correct. During the next days he continued the same way, albeit slightly increasing the dosage every time and mostly spent the time in a pleasant buzz. The world often did spin around and everything looked hazy, but he was generally in a good mood and the voyage seemed to go well. The tragic end of his father saddened him now and then, but after drinking a bit of Firewater he immediately got back to a good mood. That could only mean one thing – the cultivation process helped to overcome all distress! No wonder his father became so strong – Lyam often complained how much trouble his wives and daughters were causing and obviously because of that cultivated a lot … and, probably, consumed the Firewater a lot as well.
Leo was not going to fall behind and, since there was nothing better to do, he decided to train more intensely and practice the secret ‘Focusing technique’ while drinking the magic Firewater supplement. Unfortunately no matter how hard he tried, he could never find the spark of fire within him. Every time he closed his eyes the only things he saw were the bolts of the annoying purple lightning, but it clearly was some kind of a residue head damage he had taken back then.
Fortunately every time Leo drank the Firewater and afterwards tried to meditate, he almost instantly passed out and didn’t have to dwell on the past. In addition, for him alone there were plenty of supplies and he could calmly ‘cultivate’ while the ocean stream carried ‘Auguste’s’ wreck southwards.
Leo had no clue how long he had drifted, especially since he spent the waking hours in a permanently tipsy state, but he was not worried. His father taught him that the sun was in the east and since the ship was going towards the sun only during the middle of the day, it could only mean it was going in circles. And that meant that one of the many ships Leo saw in the Farrand harbor would sooner or later find him.
His body was still covered in a thick layer of black, hard substance as if charred all over, but no matter how much Leo tried to wash it off, the only result he got was a terrible itch. After few tries to clean up he decided to leave it be and focus on cultivation since his wise father had once said it was a panacea to all problems. Of course, he had no clue what ‘panacea’ was, but his father was smart and definitely knew what he was talking about.
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With the days going by it did become annoyingly hot and the Firewater was not really quenching thirst no matter how much Leo drank it. Summer immediately became Leo’s least favorite time of the year, but since he spent most of the time in a ‘sleep cultivation’, how he called his latest invention, it was bearable for the time being.
Obviously Leo had no clue the ocean stream had carried the wreck thousands of miles southwards and either Heavens took pity on the boy or it was a lucky coincidence, all this time there were no storms and the ship didn’t sink. For months Leo went without seeing a single raindrop and his entire diet consisted of diluted beer, salted meat and crackers, not allowing him to loose a single pound of weight. He cluelessly thanked his wealthy father for the foresight and having so much Firewater on the ship despite it being a ‘valuable alchemy product’, but one could not ask much from a child, especially from the one who’s constantly wasted.
Everything changed when one morning Leo woke up to a loud ruckus. After opening eyes he tried to focus the sight, but the morning side effect form cultivating in sleep after drinking Firewater last night made everything around seem hazy.
At first Leo could only hear someone breaking or throwing around stuff while making weird huffing and puffing noises. Confused and expectant he rushed, or rather – staggered, out on the deck only to see ten or so silvery figures at least trice his size staring back at him. He didn’t recognize who they were, but before Leo managed to politely greet the visitors, they cheered in surprise and joy first.
“U! … U! … A! … U! … A! …”
To his great horror Leo realized they were some kind of beasts, not humans, but it was already too late. The closest one arrived at his side in an instant, picked him up with two large paws that were bigger than Leo himself and … while shouting another loud ‘U’ threw him away.
Leo’s sight was already blurry, but now the world around him spun and he lost all sense of direction. Before he could even formulate a thought, another beast caught him and immediately threw again. The commotion drew attention of quite a few more and soon two dozens of beasts were excitedly throwing Leo around the deck, catching and then throwing again as if he was a large, dark colored ball.
Beasts held on to their exciting game for a while until the largest one got bored and directly threw Leo over board, shouted ‘U! … A! … U!’ at his buddies and they immediately turned back to plundering.
If Leo was conscious, to his surprise he would've realized he was lying in golden sand while gentle ocean waves from time to time slowly washed over him. After traversing thousands of miles ‘Auguste’ finally had made its final stop at coastal reefs somewhere far to the south. A silver-back ape tribe residing in the nearby jungle found it and immediately began to take apart, enjoying the few goodies they found on board. One of these goodies turned out to be a young boy, covered in a weird black substance and they used him to play a kind of pseudo-volleyball until getting bored rather quickly.
Apes were at least a head taller than a grown man and weighted over six hundred pounds. The rank four beasts actually were not far behind a regular human in their intelligence, especially their leader, the rank five silver-back patriarch. He ordered his underlings around as if he was the captain of a pirate troop ransacking the ship and stopped only after they found a way to break into the storage.
Barrels with salted meat were mostly ignored while the opening of the first box with crackers was met with cheerful ‘u-u’s’. The beasts cleaned up its content within a heartbeat and immediately turned to look for more. Strangely enough even though they found the boxes, under the strict ‘U!’ command of their patriarch the boxes were quickly carried to the beach without anyone daring to start another feast.
Of course, apes found the ale barrels as well. It was not that hard since the one Leo drank from had its lid open and the flavor basically invited them over. Unfortunately the first guy who got to the barrel in a rush tipped it over and immediately called the wrath of the entire tribe upon himself.
Either the apes knew that these barrels contained ‘the good stuff’ or guessed it, but when a half barrel was carelessly spilled, the criminal got mercilessly beaten up as it he was an unfortunate victim of a street gang. The patriarch only had to ‘U!’ at him angrily when punches and kicks rained all over the poor guy and only after a while he managed to escape in a completely miserable state.
The sun was still up high when the tribe gathered at the large heap of boxes and barrels on the shore. They had neatly cleaned the wreckage of everything useful, to their understanding, of course, and after few ‘U!’ commands from their patriarch every ape grabbed a barrel or a box in each hand and dashed off in the jungle.
The patriarch contently watched as they disappeared between the palm trees and went after them, but on the way noticed the Leo’s dark skinned body partially buried in the sand. He paused for a moment, scratched his head, then butt, then head again.
Either the patriarch enjoyed the ball game too much or he decided Leo was another trophy, because a moment later he grabbed the boy by the leg and waving him over the head dashed in the jungle loudly shouting the usual ‘U! … A! …. U!’.
All that was left on the shore were the footsteps apes left behind and the completely ransacked ‘Auguste’s’ wreckage. During the following night a high tide washed away the last remains of the ship and after thousands of miles drifting trough ocean waves the formerly beautiful three mast barque had finally completed its last voyage.