Chapter 108
For this field trip, he’d chosen to go much further east. In fact, they’d only camped a hundred or so kilometres away from the eastern coast of the island. Having done so, he’d anticipated much more challenging encounters, but also the possibility of finding something interesting.
A village of Selkies was certainly interesting. For all they shared the same name with the mythological creatures of Earth, they weren’t at all the same as the ones from Earth.
For one, they seemed to be a descendant of the elves. Night Elves, in their case. Which, he was told, was an important distinction, because High Elves didn’t produce Selkies when they interbred with Mermaids, they produced Sea Elves. He had absolutely no idea what Dark Elves would produce, nor did he really want to know at this point in time.
So, Selkies were basically half Night Elf, half Mermaids. In their case, Selkies closely resembled their Night Elf ancestors in that they had the same skin tones- which basically varied from alabaster to having shades of blue, green, and purple that you’d see at sea. Their ears were like Night Elf ears, which kind of threw off his expectations of them having those fin-ears you’d see in most comics and stuff.
What they did have however, were very fine scales along the backs of their arms, along the lateral aspect of their legs, and along their spines all the way up to the base of their necks. He was told that they could also transform their legs while in water to match their mermaid ancestors’ tails. But on land, their legs and feet were pretty much elven, except the slight webbing in their toes.
As for their hair, it was predominantly a silvery colour. Here and there, he spied the same hues he’d seen in their skin tones as highlights in their hair.
All-in-all, they made for a stunning people.
Which, really, explained why they were preyed-upon by slavers quite often. Which made him wonder if this small colony of them were refugees, or if the Academy knew about them….
‘Hey, Dean,’ Joram sent to the old man using his Student Card.
‘Yes, Master?’ the Dean replied astonishingly quickly.
‘Do you know about a Selkie village on the east side of the island?’
‘I do not, no.’
‘Are Selkies normally allowed to settle wherever they want?’ he asked, not quite sure what to ask, though.
‘Normally, no. But given that the Grand Waeryn Academy is seen as a safe haven for many races, we don’t usually remove anyone who isn’t causing issues for us,’ the Dean sent back, sounding almost eager to answer.
‘Then, should I leave them alone, or should I see about contacting them on behalf of the Academy?’ he asked, once more unsure of what to do.
Normally, he’d run from any situation that would require him to act as a representative of anyone. But given how sleepless his nights had been over the past week, he was willing to dive into some extra work to help avoid more sleepless nights.
‘If you’d like to, yes,’ the Dean sent back, sounding entirely insouciant about the whole affair. ‘Though, if you’re going to contact them, you’ll be the permanent liaison between them and the Academy because Selkies don’t tend to like dealing with changing contacts,’ the Dean explained, then went on to explain more about what he knew about Selkie relations.
Selkies put great weight in their relationships with people. Be it their family, friends, coworkers, or casual acquaintances, they were very… rigid. When it came to diplomatic relationships, they would often choose to only deal with one person, a person that they had acknowledged; though it was unknown how a person was able to gain their approval.
‘Great,’ he sent back, then thanked the Dean for his time before disconnecting the call, not wanting to deal with the whole “Master” thing. That said, he would eventually have to take some time to teach the old man a few things just to get him to leave him alone.
“So, what’s the plan?” Emily asked as she finally looked his way after studying the small village.
“I guess we could just do a standard approach? You know, just walk in and say ‘hi’…?” he said, not at all sure about any of that.
He was certainly the sub-optimal choice when it came to the person making contact with another group.
“Then let’s just head over,” Aya said, nodding.
The others, Jae-Eun, Emily, Mo Yu, and Bai Lian all nodded in agreement, not seeming to see an issue with the plan. Well, considering that he and Aya were there, let alone Bai Lian and Mo Yu, they’d be relatively safe. It wasn’t like there were enough Tier 6 beings just wandering around for someone to trip over.
He nodded then got up, brushed his knees off, then started heading towards the village with his… friends in tow.
* * *
She was tired, so very tired.
She looked out at the coastline, wondering if there would be another attack today. There had been one almost every day since they’d arrived, trying to find refuge.
She shook her head, trying to rid herself of those useless thoughts. Regret wouldn’t change the past, nor would it do anything about the sahaguan that thought that they would be easy prey.
Grimacing, she shifted her trident to her other hand before rubbing her neck with her now free hand. At least sahaguan weren’t too hard to deal with. Much better than a juvenile kraken or something equally deadly. Well, deadly to the others in the village at least.
As a Heaven-Grade cultivator, she could deal with most monsters this close to shore. She just wished that she wasn’t the only Heaven-Grade cultivator they had. Sure, they still had almost a dozen Earth-Grade cultivators, but they weren’t quite up to dealing with something like a juvenile kraken, even if those tentacle-bastards were only at the peak of Earth-Realm. There were just too… cunning.
She shook her head again, then brushed her silver hair out of her eyes and looked over her shoulder. Inland was just… strange. Sure, she’d been to a port or two growing up and while training, but land-dweller cities were very different from their wild places. Creatures she’d never seen before stalked those places, creatures that she found difficult to deal with.
Her combat style had been born from combat in the great oceans of the world. Such… linear fighting was just too… restrictive for her tastes. But she was getting better. She had to.
Who knew when the slavers might find them?
Now fighting back a headache, she once more pushed those thoughts out of her mind and returned to her vigil. Useless thoughts wouldn’t keep her people safe. They’d just prevent her from reacting in time, possibly causing another tragedy to occur.
“Phee!” someone yelled, making her turn around quickly, trident at the ready.
It was then that she recognized little Caspir as he ran for all the was worth, already winded.
“What’s wrong?” she asked after dashing closer and stopping him with a hand on his shoulder as she crouched down to look him in the eye.
“P-p-people!” he panted, pointing inland.
“Rest here,” she said before standing up from her crouch and hurrying in the indicated direction.
She noticed that a few of the other defenders were also heading in the same direction and nodded to them when their eyes met. Thameda and Cherod were the two next strongest there, making her torn between sending them back to keep an eye on the ocean and accepting their help with the “people” little Caspir had reported.
She was about to send them off when they passed the last hut and saw the “people”. At that point, she was suddenly glad to have the backup, but also regretted that they might die with her.
She could feel the presence of a Mystic-Grade cultivator along with the presence of another two Heaven-Grades in the group. They were led by a mortal, of all things. A young human who stood much taller than the rest of them, though no less fit-looking than the cultivators at his sides, though slightly behind him.
“Hi,” the purple-haired human said, raising a hand and giving her a friendly wave.
She studied them all, taking in their details as she could. There only seemed to be one non-human amongst them, as catkin if she wasn’t mistaken. Aside from that difference, the human male was the only male present, making her wonder if he was another slaver. That was the only reason she could see that a mortal would be accompanied by so many strong cultivators.
“Umm, sorry to bother you,” the young human said, looking for all the world as though he’d prefer to be anywhere else but there, confusing her more than a little bit. “But I was hoping to speak with the person in charge of the, ah, village,” he said, motioning vaguely towards the refugee camp.
“What do you have to say?” she asked, taking a better look at the male.
“I’m not sure if you know, but this island is, ah, the property of the Grand Waeryn Academy, and I’m told that they weren’t aware of a new settlement here,” he said, still looking, and sounding, as though he didn’t want to be there.
Considering his lack of cultivation, she couldn’t blame the boy, barely a man. He could seriously die before he knew anything. Especially when approaching an unknown like her and her people.
“So?” she said as she stared at the young man, though she didn’t focus on him so much that she wasn’t able to pay attention to those who’d come with him.
“Well, ah, I was more or less wondering if you were in some sort of trouble?” he asked as his eyes focussed on the camp behind her, a slight crease on his forehead forming a moment later.
“Why? Would that inconvenience this Grand Waeryn Academy of yours?” she asked, probing the seemingly timid young man’s intentions.
“Not really?” he said, shrugging. “It’s more that I’d like to help if I can,” he said, then looked embarrassed at what he’d said, turning to look up at the clear sky above as he placed his hands on his hips, fingers pointing down and hands a bit back as though he was supporting his back. Or perhaps his back hurt?
Either way, she could understand why he sounded embarrassed when it would be his… companions? When it would be them helping instead of him because he was just a mortal.
“Why would you care?” she asked, still very suspicious of him and his group.
He gave her an odd look, then. She couldn’t quite read it, but got the impression from it that she’d asked if water was wet, or if the sky was blue. In other words, a stupid question. At the same time, his look seemed… almost pitying. Which made her a little bit more than a little bit angry.
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“Because-,” he cut off when she spoke over him.
“If you’re here to mock us, you can just leave,” she said derisively. “Get lost.”
He blinked at her before looking at the others in his group who just shrugged at him. He turned back to her, and something in look made her grip her trident tighter as she clenched her jaw, ready for a fight.
No fight came, though. He just looked at her, then at Thameda, then at Cherrod before finally looking past them all. She watched him closely as his eyes went from hut to hut, and unreadable look settling on his face. She was starting to get more than a little bit impatient with the mortal, ready to yell at them if need be, when he finally turned his attention back to her and spoke.
“My name is Joram,” he said, nodding at her. “Tell me what I can do to help you all.”
He didn’t say anything else. Just that. But the look in his eyes was unmistakable. Sincerity.
If things could have been settled with sincerity, with honest and open communication, would they all be homeless right then? Would they have been attacked and enslaved? Would everyone have needed to die like that?
Gritting her teeth, she swallowed those words, knowing that some rich mortal wouldn’t- couldn’t- understand.
“Sure,” she said, trying not to sneer at him. “Just go and wipe out the sahaguan raiding us. After that, wipe out the other monsters trying to eat us. While you’re at it, why don’t you build us a proper village of our own? Something you rich land-dwellers enjoy, hey?”
Despite herself, she couldn’t hold back her anger and resentment as she spoke. Seeing another human hadn’t been great, but seeing the pity in his eyes as he’d looked over their camp, combined with his arrogance, had truly been the last shell that broke the net.
She silently enjoyed his shock, hoping that he would give up and leave them alone. She could see that her words had also had an effect on the women at his sides. The slightly older woman of the group looked as though she was ready to kill anyone who got too close, making her a bit nervous given that she was the Mystic-Grade cultivator of the group.
But the youngest-looking one at her side seemed almost… unphased by her words. The catkin, though, looked as though she wanted to pounce while the other two women, though a bit surprised, seemed the calmest of the group.
Joram, though, soon got over his initial shock and, of all things, grinned at her before speaking to the women at his side.
“Head inside and get whoever else wants to help out with exterminating the magical beasts in the forest around here,” he said before a… portal appeared behind them.
Both worried and intensely curious, she stared through the portal that seemed to lead to another sunny place. Soon, the four women who’d accompanied him were gone, having passed through the portal as Joram stood there, seemingly deep in thought. A minute later, though, he looked up at her again and nodded.
“So, basically kill any creatures in the sea that attack me?” he asked seriously.
She just stared at the crazy human.
Is he volunteering to be the bait while the others fight? She wondered, at a loss for what to think.
“That’s right,” Cherrod said, apparently trying to sound gruff.
For his part, Joram just nodded before looking back at the ocean, his expression once more unreadable.
Not quite knowing what to do, she continued to stand at the ready with her left and right hands, as it were. Thameda and Cherrod, though, seemed more than a little bit uneasy with things. She couldn’t blame them, for she too didn’t know what to think.
On the one side, if this Joram was indeed a slaver, she estimated the chances of everyone escaping to be about the same as a wounded whale trying to escape an adult kraken.
On the other, she… still couldn’t trust him. What would he gain by helping them? Did he hope to easily get his hands on hundreds of slaves? Or was it something more nefarious? Did he work for an evil cultivator? Would they all be sacrificed to help sate their hunger?
Then movement through the portal caught her attention, drawing her out of her increasingly distressing thoughts.
The case that Joram wasn’t some rich slave owner took a dive when she saw who came out.
Eighteen beautiful young women, and one man, exited the portal, nearly making her jaw drop. Each and every one of those women, no matter the race, were stunningly beautiful. Not only that, but they were all dressed similarly to Joram, with skin-tight body suits. They were also quite well armed.
Looking at everyone, she wondered if Joram had a thing for non-humans. She could see a wolfkin, the catkin, a High Elf, a foxkin, as well as four demons! Her mouth now a bit dry when she realized that the weakest amongst them was still well into the Qi Gathering Realm, with the new human male being in the Heaven Realm, and one of the demons also being in the Mystic Realm.
“All right,” Joram said, getting everyone’s attention. “Break up into three groups and start the extermination,” he said, then turned back to her when they split themselves up into three groups, though the foxkin stayed behind with two elegant-looking women dressed differently than the rest.
“I guess the three of you can help getting things organized here,” Joram said to the remaining three women once the three groups quickly vanished into the forest. “I’ll head to the ocean and get to work,” he said, nodding to himself as though he could do anything by himself.
Now a bit concerned for the obviously delusional human, she couldn’t help but speak.
“What can you do? Just let your… people handle things,” she said, catching herself just in time to change what she’d been about to call his slaves.
“Yeah, I am,” he said as he motioned towards the forest. “I still need to do a few things, though,” he said, then walked past her as though he lived there.
Cherrod nearly skewered the human before she stopped him with a glare. She quickly caught up with Joram, wondering if he had some artifact that a mortal could use that could help them.
As they walked, she had Thameda and Cherrod keep the others away, not wanting them to get involved with the crazy human. It was hard, though, because most of the survivors were just children, hardly old enough to walk on their land legs. Others, a bit older, still wanted to see what the excitement was as they held the little ones who couldn’t use their land legs yet, their tails unsuitable for moving about on land.
They stopped at the beach, a wonderful thing of fine white sand. If they hadn’t been there because they’d fled slavers, or if they weren’t constantly in fear of being attacked by various monsters, it would have been quite the sight. As it was, she somewhat regretted the easily sloping sands that led to the water, wishing instead that they’d come to land at a much rockier place.
“What are you doing?” Thameda asked in shock, bringing her attention back to the crazy human as he stepped into the surf.
“I’m taking care of a few things,” he said, not bothering to turn around as he spoke as he walked and waved lazily at them.
“You’ll die!” she said, once more unable to keep silent as someone basically committed suicide in front of her.
“Then you’ll be rid of me!” he called out over the sound of the surf, laughing, and already chest deep.
Before she could say anything else, he dove and vanished from sight, leaving them to gape at the low and lazy waves.
“Do you think they’ll blame us if he dies…?” Cherrod asked as he looked back towards the forest at the far side of their camp, worried as could be.
“I hope not,” Thameda said fervently as she fidgeted with her trident.
She was about to say something when the three women who’d stayed made their way to the beach, then veered over when they saw them standing there.
“So, I think we can put up a wall along the beach, there,” the foxkin said, pointing at the stretch of grass that bordered the sand.
“That could work,” the violet-black haired woman said, nodding.
She could hardly believe how tall they were, standing almost as tall as Cherrod, or just as tall, though the foxkin was about her height.
“Wait. What are you planning here?” she asked, now slipping back into her guardian persona.
“Hello, miss. I’m Layla, of the Heaven’s Bounty Auction House,” the violet-black-haired woman said, presenting her hand to shake. “May I have the honour of knowing your name?”
She unconsciously took her hand, completely disarmed by the woman’s aura.
“I’m Phioria,” she replied, blinking.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Phioria,” Layla said, giving her a radiant smile. “My friend here, Megami, will be helping to plan out a few things that should help your village,” she said, indicating the foxkin.
“What?” she asked, more than a little bit lost.
“I’m sure that Joram will help too,” the other woman said, nodding to herself.
“Yes, but he’s got his hands full right now, so we’ll have to start without him,” Layla said, though not unkindly. “I’m sure that we can get started soon. Would it be agreeable to use the surrounding terrain and resources to begin?” she asked, turning back to her for permission.
“Maybe I should start by helping them with their weapons,” Megami said as she eyed their weapons.
“Pardon?” she asked, now a bit taken aback as her guard went up again.
“Megami here is an accomplished Smith and Artificer,” Layla said, once more indicating the foxkin woman. “If you need anything, just let her know.”
Now more than a little bit dubious, Phioria eyed the young Artificer. She could feel that the young Artificer was at the peak of the Human Realm. Though, if she was indeed an Artificer, she would also be proficient with Mental Strength, which made her more than a little bit nervous.
The conversation went on from there. They spoke of proper housing, sanitation, as well as actual streets!
*BOOM-GUSH-WHOOSH!*
She jumped as the sound rattled her ribcage, spun, and saw massive up-spouts of water rising from the ocean in no fewer than a dozen locations. Then more blasts and eruptions washed over them as the first plumes of water fell back into the ocean, practically rattling her teeth in her skull.
She slowly backed away from the ocean, closely followed by Thameda and Cherrod as the ocean turned frothy with the violence occurring below its surface. The three women who’d come with Joram also backed away, though for some reason they didn’t look nearly as disturbed as she thought they should.
As the spectacle continued, the other guardians of the camp came to help hold back the other refugees, though she noticed that they, too, were paying a great deal of attention to the ocean. She couldn’t blame them.
The surface of the ocean was now quite… grim. The once white foam was now heavily tinged pink. Not only that, but she could see countless… bits. Bits of sahaguan and other marine life floating slowly to shore on the ever increasingly large waves, leaving the beach looking as though a war had broken out there.
I suppose that’s actually the case, she thought numbly as her eyes took in the gruesome sight.
It wasn’t until the sun had gone well past its zenith that the explosions stopped and the ocean calmed. The silence was so profound that she grew increasingly tense again as the minutes slowly crawled by. When a swell in the ocean almost a mile out slowly grew in size, she was almost relieved.
Then the swell grew as it also approached the shore. In fact, she could see that it was picking up speed at an alarming rate.
“Everyone! Get back!” she called out, now concerned that the stupid human had drawn the attention of an adult kraken or something equally dangerous.
Everyone scattered, though they had the presence of mind to head inland, away from the incoming disaster. Gritting her teeth, she readied her trident, absently wondering if she could do more than scratch the aquatic titan with it as she clenched her jaw.
Then she noticed that there was another woman standing with the foxkin, this one with long gem-like blue hair that was oddly… pointy at the tips. She was sure that she would have noticed someone with such eye-catching hair as hers, but dismissed her as her attention turned back to the incoming tidal wave.
Phioria gaped as the young woman stepped forward, hand raised so her palm faced the incoming wall of water. Just as she was about to yell at the stupid human to get to safety, she felt a surge of… something. She didn’t know how to describe it, but the potency of it made her involuntarily gulp down the words that had been forming, causing her to hiccup painfully.
Then she saw.
The great wave that had been forming was suddenly blasted away. She gaped, not quite able to process the sight. Sure, as a Heaven Realm cultivator, and one proficient in the Law of Water, she could manage the same, though it would leave her thoroughly drained afterwards. Which was why she hadn’t been planning on dealing with the tidal wave, instead choosing to save her strength to fight the incoming titan.
With the water gone, she saw that it was indeed an adult kraken. Her firm resolve shook when she noticed the gaping hole in its head, though, showing that it was quite thoroughly dead. It shook more when he saw that it was being physically dragged by one of its tentacles by…
“Joram,” the blue-haired woman said, shaking her head. “You’d think that he’d think things through a bit more,” she finished with another shake of her head, setting her hair to wave like the rippling deep ocean.
She turned back to the absurd sight, then suppressed an instinctual gulp. She tried to remember if she’d been rude to the young man, then began wondering if he was as young as he looked. Surely not, no. No, someone that powerful must be an Immortal; a being who’d lived for centuries, at the least.
Lost in her thoughts, she missed the amused grin on Avi’s face as they watched Joram approach with his prize.
* * *
“So, I’m not sure if these things are edible,” Joram said, motioning to the corpse of one of the ocean’s most terrifying predators. “But I thought that it could help with the food situation if it is,” he finished, shrugging.
Layla looked at the trove of wealth and nearly sighed at the thought of just eating the kraken. Its skin could be used to make a myriad of defensive artifacts, while the barbs in its tentacles were capable of being refined into Tier 5 weapons, possibly Tier 6 if they found the right Artificers! Its blood was also highly sought-after by Alchemists for its many uses, all of which produced highly lucrative elixirs, pills, and potions.
Then there were its eyes and brains… what might be left of its brains, anyways.
She sighed.
Then she got to work educating Joram about simple things like economy, focussing on supply and demand.
* * *
Avi couldn’t suppress her smile as she watched Joram get a talking to by Layla as Aenwyn enthusiastically added a few words from time to time.
She could also sense that Phioria was also itching to join in, but was kept back by a healthy dose of both respect and fear. Which was fair, really. Who wouldn’t be in awe of someone who could take down a kraken? From what she could feel, it had been at the peak of Tier 6 before its death.
Shaking her head, she wondered just how powerful Joram had gotten.
The various Tiers of cultivation were just there to set apart the various stages of cultivation, not to be a classification system where you could compare one thing to another. One’s strength very much depended on one’s experience and physical capabilities. Joram being the posterchild of that concept.
A Tier 6 human was physically weaker than a Tier 6 magical beast. And a Tier 6 dragon was much stronger than your run of the mill Tier 6 magical beast. And something like the kraken was certainly stronger than your run of the mill flood dragon at the same Tier.
Which got her wondering just how ridiculous the Adamantium Body Technique truly was. But then she recalled his Bloodlines and just dropped the issue with a quiet sigh.
With dragon, phoenix, and saiyan bloodlines running through him, it was a wonder that he hadn’t farted and blown away half of the Academy yet.