Ava found herself sinking into her Father's embrace for what felt like eternity.

However, she knew that it was not the time to enjoy such comforts when there was a battle raging outside.

“Dad…” Ava found herself muttering hesitantly.

“Yes, Ava? Is there anything wrong, are you hurt?” Xandas replied looking her over with concern.

“No I’m fine now… whatever happened with the snake man, well it seemed to restore me to top condition, so if anything I’m better than fine.” Ava found herself replying quickly wanting to get to the point at hand.

She felt guilty at what she was about to ask after what her Father had just been through to protect her, but she was at least not being deceptive about her condition.

Cense seemed accurate with what he had gleamed to have happened after she seemed to ‘consume’ the snake-kin, she felt better than she had ever been.

Her muscles felt as if she had spent the day in the spa, loose, stimulated as if she just had a good workout, and stretch. However, it was more than that, she felt physically stronger, that she had become athletically more gifted than before, she instinctively felt that she may be ambidextrous now, not that she knew for sure until she practised using something like a weapon with both hands.

But she knew for sure she was far more dexterous in the way she moved, even if she barely took a step before embracing her Father, her steps felt sleeker, and Ava knew it was probably from her sudden power gain but she felt the need engage in some parkour to test her limits.

Cense described Snake-kin and Beast-kin in general as being the most physically gifted among the intelligent races. Though Elves similarly enjoyed natural physical gifts over humans, for Beast-kin it was on another level entirely and Snake-kin excelled in dexterous-based moments, according to Cense's description their biology had a higher percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibres in comparison to the other races.

They also had many other racial traits that were boons to her, and from Cense's words, she had gained far more than just the Snake-kin's physical gifts.

Nonetheless, it was not the time to investigate all that she had gained, not when Arwen and Althaea could be in trouble outside.

Her Father also required urgent aid, and although he was ignoring his injuries for her sake, she was not about to let him bleed out here just to ensure her safety.

Speaking of which, “Heal wounds”, Ava murmured as chanted the spell, manipulating the Water Qi in an attempt to heal her Fathers injuries.

“Ava you shouldn’t waste your energy on me, my injuries are quite extensive,” Xandras said as he smiled gently at her.

Ava soon found her father's words correct despite not wanting to accept that she could not heal him at her current stage, although the quality of her soul had progressed to the next stage from integrating a portion of the Snake-kins strength with the door now being opened into progressing to a Tier 3 Mage, this did not make her one as she has yet to consolidate this new foundation, and was still at most a Tier 2 Mage with a stronger soul.

Not to mention it became more difficult to heal injuries the further an individual's tiers are since her father's body was far stronger than a normal individual's, it meant he was far more resistant to injuries and if for instance, a non-cultivator received the damage her Father did they would have long since met their maker.

However, his durability also meant he required far more Water Qi to heal, especially since his injuries were far more extensive than she thought, the Snake-kin fully intended to cripple him and would have done far worse if he wasn’t distracted by her.

“Why can’t I do much…” Ava felt helpless, her tier was simply too low as a mage, a Tier 2 Water Mage was considered a good healer for mortals or a low-level cultivator, yet she now found it was still lacking towards aiding cultivators of higher tiers like her Father.

She was already performing beyond what an individual of her tier should be able to, after all, Minor Heal was not usually used to repair broken bones or the extent of internal injuries Xandas suffered from and even he was surprised.

After all, he knew the limitations of healers for treating someone above their tier, if it was merely one it would not be as bad, but the difference between his tier and Ava’s at the moment was huge.

After all the gap grew wider every Tier, not to mention he did not have minor injuries, the Snake-kin did a number on him and would require something extensive, yet currently he found the pain racking his body his body was far less as Ava’s extremely pure Water Qi caressed his wounds, attempted to repair the damage to his body.

Nonetheless, despite the absurd purity and that Ava was able to perform well above what a Mage of her level should be, the Snake-kin was a strong Tier 9 Warrior, and the damage to Xandas was far more than it appeared to be on the surface, his internals was a mess at the moment as the blows the Snake-kin landed sent reverberations that travelled around his body from the sheer impact.

Yet he felt far better than before, and all thanks to his daughter who was a mere fledgling mage who had just about started her path.

“It’s fine sweetie you have no idea how incredible you are. Most Mages of your level shouldn’t be able to even help this much… Minor Heal is never even usually used to heal injuries of this extent, even for Mages who are of a much Higher Tier compared to you that have access to far stronger Qi than you do would have resorted to a stronger spell, the fact you can do this much shows your talent.” Xandas said with a smile that screamed proud father.

Ava couldn’t help but let out a small smile at this, her mood was incredibly dampened from feeling like a failure relieved somewhat, but hearing her father's words made her even more desperate to get out of here.

“Father we need to find Althaea and Arwen now, we can’t leave you like this… and what if someone finds us? You’re in no state to fight right now, it’s dangerous, please consider…” Ava tried to plead but Xandras interrupted.

“No what if there’s more of them? We need to hide until Arwen, and Althaea secure the boat and we’re safe. And since we met that Druid I had never seen anyone close to his match, even that Snake-kin there that was the strongest cultivator I had seen below the Monarch level did not give off as strong an aura as him, and experts of that calibre are rare enough at is, the likelihood of anyone stronger.” Xandras tried to argue but Ava cut him off.

“Father I’m sorry for talking up to you like this, and I know you want to keep me safe, trust me I’m terrified too, but sitting around whilst you hurt won’t help us. I believe in Arwen too, he’s strong, but he was not able to stop these people sneaking in here, so at the moment when you are this hurt and vulnerable I would much rather seek him out now, separating is a mistake and we need to meet up more than ever. We tried waiting here already and it left you badly hurt like this, we need to find Althaea and Arwen urgently and tell them what happened… I’m worried.” Ava tried to get out quickly as she was left panting afterwards, it was the most she had ever spoken up to her Father and despite it being for the best, she felt extremely nervous and worried about how he might view her opinions.

She lost her Father back on Earth, and the relationship with Xandras since being reborn was one of the best, most precious things she had gained since arriving.

Xandras just stared back his face contorting, grimacing as he frowned for a period before nodding, “Fine, but stay close to me. I feel uncomfortable waiting around too, leaving things up to fate again might not be the best. Let’s find Arwen and Althaea and see what’s going on up there.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With that Xandras brought himself to his feet, and clutched onto Ava's hand gently as they steadily made their way up the deck.

They took a while since they moved with measured movements, thanks to the Snake-kin Xandras was left badly injured, and despite Ava helping to relieve much of the pain, there were still significant injuries she did not have the experience, tier to handle.

Xandras had both his hands dislocated by the Snake-kin making them awkwardly weak after he snapped them back in place, but Ava's nourishing energy had helped him re-align, smooth the bone that was still fractured, broken. Ava was only able to grasp his hand slightly in fear of agonising the damage further.

As they continued their gradual pace, the ship continued to shake at times, the sound of fighting growing louder as they made their way up deck making their brows crease in concern.

Yet after realising there was no way back now and that if the ship was about to be taken over, it was best not to be sitting ducks below deck they continued.

Nonetheless, the noise of battle soon abruptly ended after a chorus of loud explosions occurred.

Suddenly they heard the noise of cheering, right as they were about to make their way to the upper deck too.

Xandras and Ava felt themselves having smiles of relief as they found the guests, guards and other occupants of the ship all being the ones with looks of relief and gratification, indicating the battle likely ended in the ship's victory.

Some of them even nodded to her Father, came over with concerns over whether she was doing alright, and asked if her Father needed support.

After they explained they were looking for the Druid, the looks they received changed as grateful smiles erupted, as men came to pat her Dad on the back saying he was a saviour and that he was on the top deck talking to some Empire big wig.

That was when they realised something strange, wait what Empire big wig?

After they continued down the upper deck, they found the formerly beautiful, elegant-looking Quinte appeared far worse for wear compared to when they first boarded.

Dead bodies lay discarded everywhere, as Sailors being instructed by Guards were throwing aboard the deceased carcasses of the River Bandits that had met their end fighting on the ship.

There were plenty of the ship's guards, occupants too, some she even recognised and had talked to them days prior.

The bodies of these men were treated far differently to the bandits and were put in a separate area, being covered by sheets of wool intended to be later preserved to be provided with a proper burial once they reached land.

The River Bandits shared no such measures, and looking at the death and devastation they caused she felt it hard to feel any sympathy.

Trying her best to ignore the stench of death, her eyes found themselves on the numerous burning ships and wreckages of a large fleet of ships.

Drawing a sharp breath she couldn’t help but gasp at the number of fallen ships, although these ships were grades below the Quinte, individually they made up dozens and dozens of them, and the fact that the Quinte was standing up to a small fleet of this size was astounding.

It felt impossible even but she soon realised just how they were dealt with in their entirety as she noticed several shadows hovering above them in the air, noticing the gleam of scales, draconic looking beasts she found herself gazing at something familiar, the Human Wyvern riders of the Empire, the Orgrasan Hunters.

Ava and Xandras took that moment to meet each other's eyes, Xandras was filled with worry and despite being a mere child on the surface, Ava's eyes reflected those concerns since she knew that the Wyvern riders were not exactly friends.

Nonetheless, she had no idea if they could even be considered enemies either since it was not like they were exactly friendly with the so-called Royal Clan of the Elves.

And since she and her Father would likely be considered a deserter and traitors to the Royal Clan now, doesn’t the saying go the enemy of my enemy is a friend?

Either way, there would be no way of avoiding them like last time, the mobility of the Wyvern riders would be far more than they could muster, Arwen also confessed that was his only Teleportation Talisman so that trick would likely not work again, additionally they were in the middle of a River still fairly far from land, so she had no idea of the distance covered would even be enough and Ava did not like the idea of teleporting into the river that held beasts resembled anything like the King of the Lake.

Nonetheless, she found these worries may not be founded as both she and Xandras finally caught sight of the familiar figure of an energetic old man alongside a beautiful female elf.

Standing before them was a hulking man in full plate armour, yet despite this, he seemed to move like it was weightless and Ava had a suspicion he was very agile despite giving the impression of being a tank of steel, this was affirmed when she realised he was a Wyvern rider and she could not see him using such heavy armour on a flying beast if there was not some sort of strange magic going on.

Reaching the trio, Ava found the hulking man of steel turning to suddenly regard her, Xandras at this moment stood protectively in front of her, despite moving awkwardly due to his injuries.

As the man of steel just regarded them silently, Arwen decided to intervene, despite not seeing him that long ago in grand schemes of things she found the old man seemed different somehow, like he was filled with vitality.

“Ah… this is my well, the young elf child I told you about. Those fools in the Royal Clan were collecting talented children like this, doing something strange over there, so I had to do something about it. Anyways I owe you great debt for the use of such an extravagant potion on a worthless old man like me… to waste such a…” Arwen's mouth moved like a machine gun as he blabbered even faster than usual but the man of steel simply waved his hand and replied.

“No no… I owe the druids a great deal. As I mentioned we were in the area, a Mayor of Adruil mentioned a Druid, and since this area was under purview, I had a bad feeling that it would be a bad look for the Empire to have a Druid injured on our hands, and of course even worse, I did not want my fears to come to be truth, yet, anyhow an interesting route you are travelling. Sorry for being blunt, but I guess you intend for the child to attend the Rarmose Academy?” The steel giant words flowed smoothly, like a deep bass, yet Ava felt a gleam of intelligence, cunningness even in the giant's eyes, his outward appearance may look like a brute but she couldn’t help but think this was a man that often used his looks to deceive others into making assumptions that lead them into lowering their guard around him.

His words seemed simple without intent but she knew he had a hunch he was targeting her from the beginning as his gaze never left hers from the moment he started speaking.

Xandras who felt the need to speak up for her was met by a look from Arwen who indicated he wanted to do the talking.

“You guessed right, as you know I go way back with the Headmaster, and the Rarmose Academy has a fantastic reputation for training Mages, and this child has the talent to become one of the best healers in the continent something I’m sure you Empire will appreciate since my disciple fully intends to offer her services indiscriminately.” Arwen had a big grin as he said this full of cheerfulness as he patted the lump of metal on the chest seemingly undaunted that his head barely reached the steel giant's chest.

“Hmm. Well, I’ll be off, me and my men will escort you down to Kaldor, can’t let you go dying on me after I give you such a valuable gift. I will leave you to it, no need to put the sins of others onto no child, and you have been through much. Now have a good journey to Rarmose Academy, I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we meet.” The steel giant finished that one off sceptically as he stared at dead Arwen, not that they could tell since his face was covered entirely by his steel helmet, yet even then she had a strange feeling he was referring to her when she said this.

Call it woman intuition, or girl, whatever she was far older in her mind alright.

With that, the giant mounted the large Wyvern that was patiently waiting on the ship, its sheer bulk taking up most of the room on the upper deck making many of the sailors, and guards have to re-occupy their positions to leave it room.

After that, the Wyvern soon flapped its wings and took off, and as the steel giant promised, he and the other Orgrasan Hunters silently floated above them, their presence fading into the background as they silently watched over them.

Ava couldn’t help but think about the endurance of those things, as she couldn’t help but think it would be exerting to follow them like this, but she just assumed that it was likely some magic bullshit that kept them full of stamina.

After that Arwen turned to her and Xandras, his kind gaze meeting hers before landing on the injured Xandras before realising how badly hurt he was.

“Oh sorry… now what happened to you both? Xandras take this potion, Althaea would help, but she has severely exerted herself greatly already. But, luckily I have a potion on hand that is more than enough to heal your injuries…” Arwen said hurriedly retrieving a glowing potion filled to the brim with vitality from his storage ring.

Having a grateful gaze, Xandras unhesitatingly took the potion, removed the cork and swigged it down.

He was not one to refuse such an offer, especially when his daughter's safety was on the line since his weakness had to be resolved as soon as possible to better protect her, so he would not be polite when offered a means to fully recover.

As the healing energies of the potion washed over him, it was time for them to discuss what happened, and finally continue their journey to Kaldor so they could begin the final trek towards Rarmose Academy.