Master Of None

Taking the life boats to the water made them all worry a little. They had not been in the life boats out in the open ocean and they felt too small. But in the grand scheme of things, the ships were even very small. They had already seen an island swallowing whale that could easily eat every single ship and still be hungry. Everything in the ocean was small by comparison.

But what was even stranger was the fact that as they moved, no one saw any movements in the water other than the merfolk, demi-humans, and the golems. That was all. Not a single fish or any monsters to be seen. It made everyone uncomfortable.

Walker was constantly using his all around appraisal skill on the water to make sure that he was not missing any monsters that had the skills to hide invisibly. He knew that in the open ocean that this might be the only way for some monsters to survive. What better place was there to hide than plain sight?

”There aren’t any rocks that I can see below the waters. The ships should be safe to come closer. All I see is sand.” Walker told this to the sailor that had taken control of the lifeboat. He was rowing carefully while keeping his eyes on the horizon.

”Kid, what’s below that sand is always stone. Sand is just stone that the waves break. Keep the ships far away and we can use our muscles to get back.” The sailor was very used to younger sailors asking these things. It was the dangers that hid just below the sands that would normally sink the wooden ships. The same would be said of the metal ships if experienced sailors like him weren’t there to speak words of wisdom.

”I see, thank you for that.” Walker was surprised that the sands would be like that. He had an idea of how they were formed but didn’t expect that they could be perfectly hiding the rocks that made the island up. Since that was the case, one wrong move would trap a ship or even worse, sink it.

”Just keep in mind that there is always more than what you see.” The sailor made a little more effort and got them to the shallow waters where the lifeboat stuck itself in the sand. The slight scratching made the sailor’s words proof since that was rocks under it.

”We will be back sooner than later. The entire survey of this island should take a very short time.” Midnight and Onyx were way ahead of Su and Walker. They were excited to explore someplace new. Midnight wanted to find whatever food might be hiding while Onyx was falling for the general curiosity anyone had over a new place.

”Stay close and remain focused. We didn’t see any animals or monsters from the ships but they could still be here.” The other survey teams were moving carefully while some of them had brought extra people with them to map the island. This would help when others stopped here in the future.

”These trees look off. They have a very rugged bark. What kind are they?” Su was looking at a tall tree with a single stem. It didn’t have any branches but had a few long ruffled leaves at the top. The round brown buds at the top looked like they should be coconuts but were slightly different.

’Storm bloom

The storm bloom is a parasitic plant that grows on larger monsters. They will grow and absorb nutrients from the monster until they encounter a large storm. It will use the nutrients to grow rapidly in the manas that naturally form inside a storm and bloom.

Their flowers are rare and contain varying elemental manas. The most common fusion of these is known as a lightning bloom which can shock people just by touching it. Those killed while touching the plant can go to feed the host of this plant. It is a symbiotic relationship in some situations.

The flowers are valuable but even more so before they bloom. They hold seeds that can be used to create dense elemental medicines for those that have become ill due to absorbing too much of a single elemental mana. Not many alchemists or apothecaries can create this medicine.’

Walker read this out to everyone making them wonder what was going on. The nearby survey teams also heard him and looked at the rough blooms at the top. They weren’t sure what to do with them since these plants could be parasitic. But for whatever reason, they had ended up on an island to live.

”So they are valuable for medicines. We will let the others harvest them. But it is very odd.” Su was sure that there was a good reason that these would be here. But since there was nowhere else nearby for them to grow and she knew that there were larger monsters on the open ocean, this made sense. They could have just ended up here accidentally. Weirder things had happened before.

”I will let everyone know. There should be no chance of harm since they are not in a sto0rm and won’t bloom. I wouldn’t mind seeing one bloom though. It could be beautiful.” Walker did want to see how these pants worked. But he was still having a strange feeling about them. He couldn’t put his finger on it and chose just to go with the theory that it was a coincidence that these were here.

Midnight was sniffing the trees carefully and was not happy that this was not yielding any fruits for them. She did feel like there was nothing much of a scent around at all though. She huffed out some air to try and clear her nose but found that nothing was blocking her. She just didn’t smell anything.

”Sister, there is nothing on your face. This could just be the result of a recent storm. There is nothing to smell here.” Onyx reassured Midnight as they moved. Midnight was still shaking her head a little but was more interested in exploring.

”Hmm, this bush isn’t giving me an appraisal at all. I wonder why? Even the smaller things like sticks will give me something.” Walker was very uncertain about what was going on. He kept finding more bushes and outcroppings of rocks that gave him nothing.

Soon he started to hear that the other survey teams were finding nothing as well. The teams they passed by had been talking loudly enough about the fact that there were no washed up driftwood from atoms that would be all over the beaches. There were no toppled trees or overgrown patches of grass either. It was all too perfect and clean.

”Walker, maybe you should get a bird’s eye view of the island. The harpies seem like they have seen things but if you use your skills on the island you might be able to figure out what is going on.” Su had thought of this as a last ditch effort to figure out the secrets of this island. She had a few theories about why it might be odd.

Her first idea was that the island might have been hit by a large storm recently. The wounds could have been strong enough to blow away debris and the currents strong enough to take them away completely. It was theoretically possible.

Her other theory was that the mana on the island was off. It could deter animals and monsters because it would be different. Walker and them just haven’t sensed it because they were not used to being out on the ocean in general. This could explain a lot since they had already dealt with strange mana phenomena when the elemental mana was unbalanced because of certain people.

”That’s a better idea than I have. Midnight, want to take a look in the sky with me?” Midnight jumped in to the air and spread her wings. She was well ahead of Walker without even saying a word. Walker was just smirking while watching her fly higher. He wished she would talk more but it was tough to force her since she always seemed to be enjoying herself nonetheless.

Walker let the sand and water make a pair of elemental wings behind him. He let them carry him in to the air while also manipulating the wind somewhat. He easily caught up to Midnight to take a look at the small island. He passed a few harpies and gave them a wave until he finally looked down at the island as a whole.

It wasn’t the shape that shocked him. He expected it to be small and have nothing much on it. That he had already learned. What shocked him was the appraisal as soon as he had used the all around appraisal skill. It was why he used a lot more mana to rush back down to where the others were.

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