“Theo, I have a four-day cargo run around the lake. Are you interested?” Mara asked.

“Absolutely. When and who else do you have?”

“Kim is coming because we are going to do our own trading alongside the cargo contract. Kim has arranged for two others who were recommended to her.”

“Adventurers?”

“I am not sure. The shipping firm is sending three of their employees with the cargo. We will be doing a circuit.”

“I’ll be there.”

Mara moved the Freedom to a loading dock early on the morning of departure.

I finished my preparation late the night before. I was working on combining two different poisons. Kai’s Venom is from potent sea snakes, and I used that as a basis. The sea snake venom paralyses the prey right up to stopping the heart. I added some mushrooms I was growing in my garden. It was a mushroom called Death Cap, which affects liver function, causing death. Obviously, in our partially magic bodies, it is the magic in these two bronze-rank items that need to be combined. The more varied the poison, the harder it is to defend against and find or create the right antidote. I was going to use water and water quintessence as a base as they are easily absorbed into the body. But Jules changed my mind with his Blood Essence. It was more difficult using blood and blood quintessence as a base. The magic was a lot less stable, but the effect on entities with blood was sped up by a factor of three.

I ended up using purity quintessence to stabilise the mixture. This also had the effect of countering healing. Keeping the poison pure for as long as possible so it has the greatest effect is the key here. Then, I used the most expensive ingredient. I concentrated the formulae with Potent quintessence. The key to the potent quintessence was getting the ratio right. Too much, and I had useless sludge. Too little, and it only made the blood portion potent, not the poisons.

I need it to overcome natural regeneration in monsters, but I also want counter-act healing potions if I have to use this on people. It won’t overcome silver rank regeneration, but it could add to the damage, and the paralysis should slow them down. I have been conscious of counteracting higher-ranking people ever since my kidnapping.

I was really pleased to have created this and prepared it for the trip, and I made several batches. I judged this poison was five to six times stronger than Kai’s venom on its own and three times faster acting.

The next poison I want to create will be based on the rot quintessence I picked up, and Nia said she could get me some Death quintessence. The Temple of Death always has an excess. I was thinking I would use Flesh Quintessence as a base, but that is going to be more challenging than the blood. If I get it to work, it will be a very potent flesh-rotting poison. It might also be the key to my promotion to the next rank in the Alchemy Association.

Mara said the biggest risk is from monsters spawning unreported in the lake. There are four main stops in this circuit, and we will spend overnight at three of them. There are several shorter intermediate stops.

I sailed with Mara to the loading dock, where Kim and two bronze-rank men were waiting. They both had the smell of water, but one also smelled of might. Their auras showed some monster core usage in their growth.

“This is Mike and Rob, both experienced seamen from the Shipping Guild,” Kim introduced them. “They are both experienced with water monsters.”

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We welcomed them aboard, and they went below to store their stuff. We would be sleeping in hammocks in a corner of the hold. If we wanted a bed in the towns we were docking at that was on us. I was hoping for fine weather, bringing my hammock up and sleeping under the stars.

Just then, a heavy cart rolled up stacked high with dimensional crates. The foreman and Mara consulted, and we got busy unloading the cart and securing the crates in the hold. The foreman coming with us was Iron rank, but his two workers weren’t. I was pretty sure one had a might essence, and one had an air essence. They were young and reminded me of myself in Ironwood. Young with only one or two essences looking to get to iron-rank and looking for adventure. A shipping company meant they would get out and see different places.

Looking at them made me feel old.

Once, Mara was happy that none of the crates was going to move in rough weather. We set out. A good breeze blew, so she used less of her own wind. Once we cleared the gate to the open lake, she opened out the wings and controlled the breeze enough to lift the Freedom and speed us up a bit, giving us a smoother ride. The lake had a moderate swell.

I joined Mara at the helm.

“What is with the Shipping Guild people?” I asked.

“The client is shipping with me at a rate for mid-level security of their cargo and personnel. That is the captain plus four bronze-rank sailors. If I had a permanent crew at Bronze, I wouldn’t need to hire them, but we are not financially secure enough for that yet. It eats into the profit but is necessary.”

“How high is the risk of monsters?”

“No ship has reported a monster in the lake for over a month, and no ships have been lost recently. That is either good or bad, depending on your superstition level.”

I raised my eyebrow.

“No reports equals safe,” she said, “or no reports means we are due a bad one.”

“I see.” I changed the topic, “You said you can fly for reasonable periods. How long?”

“With an empty ship, I can stay aloft for over an hour now. I am getting better at landing, but we will only be coming down in the water for a while, probably until late silver. My main wind skill is supercharged when I use it on items I conjure, and the vessel is particularly attuned to wind magic.”

“What about a loaded ship like this?” I asked.

“Oh, we are not loaded full. We are only about three-quarters full. However, I can probably get five minutes of air time. Bringing a loaded ship back down is always the problem; it takes the most mana to land without causing damage.”

“When you get to silver?”

Mara grinned at me. “When I get the skills to silver, I can probably do four to six hours empty and two to three hours full, maybe more. I am limited with my bronze rank recovery. When I fully get to Silver, I can fly all day loaded up and for multiple days if we run empty. I see no reason to sail empty.”

“That sounds awesome. You are tempting me to sign on as a permanent crew!”

“The standards are high. You will have to prove you are worth it,” Mara said.

“Yes, captain!”

I looked at the ballista on the front. “When you said your main wind skill is supercharged for things you conjure, did that include the arrows and ballista bolts?”

She grinned, “It most certainly did.”

“I had better go and familiarise myself with the ballista then,” I said and moved forward to look at them.

Operating the ballista was reasonably simple. Use the lever to wind the bowstring tight and place the bolt. I bet a bronze-rank person with the might essence could pull it back by hand, reducing the time. I tested the strength. I might be able to do it with my Mighty Oak, especially boosted with Blessings of the Reaper.

The more difficult part is aiming for the Ballista. It was mounted on a platform that could turn, and the firing arc was straight ahead, just off the side of the ship along the edge. The turning mechanism would not go further, so it could not fire into the ship. The vertical range was a lot less than the horizontal range. I could point it down at about forty-five degrees into the ocean and only up about the same amount. It is not that easy to aim. I might ask Mara if I can practice when we stop for the night.