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Early Morning - Early Spring : Strait of Western Elynnor

*Crackle*

The noise of ice cracking filled the night as I watched the pirate ship sink into the deep.

Turning back to Adrians ship, I saw several holes in the side with a few letting in water. -I’ll at least fix the urgent ones..-

Using Ice magic to raise the ship out of the water, I used my aura to find and reposition the splinters of wood from the holes and patch them up. (like how he repaired broken bones.)

-That should be good..- "Hey Ilios, you alright?" Once I finished, I looked up to see Ilios's smiling face poking between the railing.

"Woof!" He was wearing his familiar and characteristic smile.

“Phew..” A mix of relief and joy filled my body, but I had a lingering uneasiness. -Its too quiet..-

Once the ice quieted down, there was simply no noise at all, neither the voices of people on the merchant ships nor the waves of the ocean. The ocean had turned glassy. -Is that a phenomenon caused by the shockwave?-

After thinking about it for a second and not figuring anything out, I tossed away the thought and hopped up onto Adrians ship.

I slowly squatted down to pet Ilios. “Hey, buddy. Sorry if I made you wo-” My words were cut off as I felt a massive conglomeration of uncontrolled auras coming from the merchant ships. -What the..-

Quickly standing back up, I darted up to the bow and overlooked the merchant ships. The decks were covered with unconscious bodies, both dead and alive.

-Sh*t.. I forgot to muffle the shockwave.- It was a gruesome scene that would make any human feel a deep shame or guilt, but I felt indifferent to most of them.

As I hopped onto the merchant ship, I quickly ran over to Adrian who was on his hands and knees with a pale face.

"Are you alright Adrian?" He didn't move at all, as if he couldn't hear me. -Well that's not good..-

Spreading out my aura once again, I did a low detail scan of everyone's bodies.

Of the several dozen people on the ship, over half were dead, but none of them were apart of Adrians crew. Although some of the crew had stab wounds or cuts, they were all alive and their lives weren’t threatened, that didnt mean I was going to just leave them be though.

Including Adrian, everyone had damaged retinas and had muscles all around their body that were ripped apart, with only the weaker or unluckier ones having concussions. -But.. to think none of their eardrums ruptured..- It wasn't till I looked closer that I noticed why.

-How fascinating..- They all had accumulations of mana in their ears that they subconsciously used to lock their eardrums in place.

This made them temporarily deaf, but once the mana dissipated they would be able to hear like normal.

-To think they all did it too.. is it a part of human instinct in this world? -

Quickly snapping out of my thoughts, I turned back to Adrian. -Right.. Ill have time to think about it after I treat everyone.- I lightly set my hand on the back of Adrians head. -You first..-

"Huh?" Adrian mumbled in a lethargic voice.

"Sorry Adrian, but you don't want to be awake for this.."

*Thump*

His body limply fell to the deck as I started working on fixing his retina. -It would hurt a little too much if I left you awake..-

Around 30 minutes later, I finally finished treating not just Adrian, but everyone else as well. -It'll take them some time for everyone to fully heal but at least there won't be any permanent damage..-

I glanced across the deck towards where I had Emelia and the young girl she was protecting laid down. -It still doesn't make sense how unharmed they were though..-

When I went up to the nest to give them treatment, I found Emelia laying over the young girl with neither of them majorly injured. The only injuries I could see were bruising and some minor cuts from the previous fighting.

The only explanation I could think of was that the bodies lining the floor and railing significantly muffled the shockwave. -They're incredibly lucky if that's the case..-

"Ughh.." Adrians groan echoed across the ship. "Where.."

"You're finally awake?" I casually walked up and squatted next to him.

He seemed startled by my voice but quickly tried to calm his nerves and rolled onto his back.

"Do you feel alright? How's your vision?" Although I repaired everything I thought was damaged, just like the brain, the eyes are incredibly complicated so I wasn't sure if I did everything right.

"Huh?" He struggled to lift his arm into the air to look at his hand. "I think everythings fine.."

"Phew, I was a bit worried." I glanced around the deck to see if anyone else was getting up, but no one moved. "I gave everyone treatment so no one's life should be in danger, and there shouldn't be much, if any, permanent damage among the crew."

"Treatment? What hap-" His voice cut off as he remembered something. "R..right.. How could I forget.." He paused for a moment before glancing up at me. "How are Lynn and Emelia?"

"They're both fine, you three were the least injured of everyone by far, so don't worry." I gave a comforting smile seeing his anxiousness.

"Haah... Thank goodness.." A look of relief washed over his face as he relaxed and looked up towards the night sky. "You know.. my memory of everything before I passed out is still a bit foggy but.." He nervously looked up at me. "What.. are you?"

I paused for a minute to think of how to respond before letting out a chuckle. "Haha, that's a good question that even I’m looking for the answer to.." Although I knew what I was in-name, my knowledge didn't go much beyond that.

"S..sorry.. It was insensitive of me to ask.." He quickly averted his eyes before changing the subject. “How's the ship?”

"It's fine, I patched up the holes that needed it, but there is still some significant damage." I looked over at the ship, still raised slightly out of the water.

"Thank you.. as long as she doesn't sink, she can always be fixed."

"It's my fault that you're all hurt in the first place, so that's the least I could do. Don't thank me for it."

“Haha, well in that case, I'll thank you for showing me that I'm still not at the top of the mountain.” His face showed a fresh determination.

A bit of relief and thankfulness filled me. -To think my strength didn’t discourage him..-

We continued to idly talk after that until Adrian’s muscle soreness faded so he could walk again.

As soon as he was able to get up, he headed straight to the captain's cabin to look through information about the merchants. -How has no one else woken up though..-

As I sat on the railing overlooking the ocean, time steadily passed, and people finally started waking up.

After a few hours, Emelia and Lynn finally woke up but neither of them could move much.

"Ughh.." Emelia forced herself to sit up against the side of the ship. "Is this... Where is this?"

Seeing she woke up, I quickly made my way over to her. "Do you remember anything?"

She held her head with her hand like it was hurting her. "It's a little fuzzy.."

"You probably have a tension headache so don't try to move much. Just lay down and relax." With one hand, I casually made a makeshift ice pack. "Just lay this on your head or anywhere hurting, it should help a bit."

She looked a bit confused before reluctantly setting it on her forehead. "Will this really help?"

"Yeah, just try to lay down and relax.." I carefully moved her away from the edge of the ship and laid her down again.

Right as I was about to set her down, she jolted her head to the side. "Oh right-Ackk!" She gripped her head as her headache worsened.

"I told you to relax.. What made you jolt like that?"

"That little girl, where is she?" Her face looked panicked.

I moved to the side and pointed right behind me. "She's right here, and she isn't hurt so don't worry."

She didn't seem to believe me though. "If she's fine, why is she laying down like she's dead.." She glanced around at how I had people lined up while laying down on the deck.

"I lined them up like that when I treated them, everyone on the deck is alive so stop panicking.." As I laid her back down and repositioned the ice pack, I waved Adrian over to let him and Emelia talk.

As I got ready to walk away though, I was stopped. "Vasilias.." She hesitated and turned her head away from me. "T..thank you.."

Seeing Adrian get close, I decided to let them have a moment to themselves. "No worries. If you need anything just let me know."

As I walked away, I headed up to the bow and looked over the ocean. It was still unnaturally calm without as much as a ripple being seen in the water around us.

The scene made me feel a deep unease. -Just let my instinct be wrong for once..-