Right after Vlad and his group departed on the sea, inside the Tower of Devil a meeting between devils. The room itself was almost empty, except for the five hexagrams on the ground, drawn with the blood of a 2nd-tier noble orcs, supplied by the royal family.

“Did it work?” Miara, The Succubus asked with her enchanting voice the just-returned white devil. Around her was coiling a black mist; a leftover residue from her divination spell. She had, yet again, just tried to divine the human, but failed miserably.

“Of course. They are gone,” Ssirze nodded with blank expression.

“And the priestess.. What was her name again? Something on ‘S’… Sular!”

“Returned to the church,” Ssirze kept the answers short. He did not like the woman before him at all.

“Alive?” A shadow being in the corner of the room wanted to know. It had a genderless, extremely deep and sharp voice.

“Per the agreement. She transformed into Avatar; she will pay in many levels,” Ssirze answered.

“The King won’t help, after all, huh?” Miaras sighed as she changed the subject. All of them knew what she was talking about; the Blood Steppes were getting increasingly rowdier lately.

“I still don’t like it. The human kept secrets before me. On a table!” Ssirze’s expressionless face broke into a deep frown.

“It’s just a simple breathing technique, so calm your tits. He is important to this plane; a freaking blind spot! A Hero! You do know what would happen if we impeded or even killed him, right?” The shadow sneered. It had no face, no eyes, no limbs. It was just a literal shadowy blob on the wall talking to them.

Never it had occurred to them that Vlad was no hero. He was just a half-insane man in the wrong spot at the wrong time. And that made all the difference.

“The spy?” Ssirze asked, yet again fully expressionless.

“Successfully planted,” Miaras replied with a sweet voice. 

“The Hero won’t be able to… scry him, right?” The shadow worried; that could destroy their plan.

“No,” Ssirze paused, then pensively answered, “at least, not right now.” The first time they met, the human had scried him. He did not get much, but still… 

“Good,” the fourth devil joined the conversation as his spell flickered in his designated hexagram. 

“Could you stop that?” The shadow would glare if he had with what.

“No, and no time to bicker. Just reporting; The Cult of Sal-Al was sighted,” the devil ignored the shadow.

“Yea, yea, I understand. Kulgar! Dargan! Go!” She yelled and the two transformed orcs deeply bowed without a word and left. They had red skin, instead of the usual green and one small horn on their foreheads.

“Huh. I didn't even notice them. New playthings?” The shadow wondered.

“Yes. Now, I believe this is all, right? I want to return… There is an orgy in the roYAa..al chaaAAAaambers!” She moaned as her Lust Tether spell activated.

“Yes. This will be all,” Ssirze dismissed them all. There was a strange voice in his head telling him they had just made a terrible mistake. But, he just could not put a finger in what.

 

⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬

 

Vlad was mesmerized by the Whispering sea. The surface was all sparkly from the moons and stars. There were only small waves, harmlessly breaking on the hull.

A tall goblinette sat on the prow in a lotus position, meditating. Vladimir frowned as he did not recognize her at first. Eyeing her features with a stretch of Imagination, showed it was Bread! He could not believe it. She was almost as tall as him, otherwise, she had not changed much. Only her breasts and ass gained some size. At least what he could tell from behind. She was also concealed by a thin layer of ki! As he analysed her, she stirred and her eyes snapped open.

[Bread
Level: 12
VIT: ~100
CAC: ~10] 

“Vlad!” She leapt into his chest head-first. It was so fast, Vlad had difficulty even following her movement. He staggered back, but she hugged him.

“Bread? How are you so tall?”

“Uhm… I… I will turn into hobgoblin soon! As father did!” She proudly revealed. Vlad smiled. She was now even more enticing, but still adorable.

Vladimir decided not to ask and just enjoy the warmness of her body.

“What happened after I was out?” He asked after a while.

“Aelathane will tell you everything…” She grabbed his hand and lead him back into a cabin near his.

“Thane! Thane! He is awake!” She rambunctiously hammered on the metal door.

The door slowly opened and the still-sleepy elf squinted on them. Then she noticed Vladimir and promptly scanned him. He was pale, his bones and veins visible through his skin; sickness and coma had taken a toll on him.

“Finally. I thought you would die,” she grimaced as she remembered the past two and a half months.

“Sorry about the trouble. It was just too much for my body. What happened and where is my stuff? I need to make the potion.”

“In the storage…“ She grumbled and slammed the door before them.

“Uhm… I think we caught her in a bad mood,” Bread got slightly red.

“It is okay,” Vlad waved it off. Then added, “and thank you, Bread. For being here for me,” he suddenly kissed her on her cheek.

Now, she got completely flushed red and just nodded, not making eye contact with him. Then she suddenly kissed him back. On lips. They hugged again and stood there, enjoying each other.

 

⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬

 

The bag with his supplies was undamaged and the herbs, though they lost a little bit of their effectiveness, were mostly unspoiled.

After two botched tries, where he either coughed at a bad time or Bread leaned to him, breaking his concentration, the weaker Potion of Cure Disease was born. After he chugged it directly from the fire, he immediately felt his pain to alleviate. However, the potion gave him instead of 20 days, a mere 10.

“Onyx, why?” He queried his Onyx system.

  [Answer: uncultivated Essence, old ingredients]

He sighed and hoped that he would soon find the cure. He was fed up with it! After his pain alleviated, he started to think about Bread. He was… In love with her and gods help to anyone who would stand between him and her.

Goulash and Bread were being trained by Sou’Rek on the ship’s deck when he finally left his cabin. Aelathane was at the helm, vacantly observing the sea-filled horizon.

“Yo!” Vlad greeted her from behind. She did not even flinch.

“Took you long enough,” her bored expression did not change a bit.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Vlad needed to know.

“Sure,” she shrugged. “As we ran, a shockwave hit the whole docks when Sular used her last spell alongside Ssirze. And you,” she turned her scrutinizing eyes on him, “hit your head and almost died. You live only thanks to Bread and your potions,” she flatly explained, but Vlad could hear her minute mocking tone. He decided to ignore it and went for another question.

“Bread? Goulash? How did they grow up so much?”

“Simple answer; your breathing technique and a sea filled with monsters,” she explained.

“That’s… amazing,” Vlad nodded.

“Who knows what effect it will have on the world…” She sighed.

“How long to the human lands?”

 “Right now we are going the long way; alongside the shore. It will take us around 8 more months to reach elven lands.”

Vlad remembered maps. The sea they were in, the Whispering Sea, was surrounded by land in a crescent shape. They were in the south and now moving alongside shores; far enough not to be spotted from the shore and attract land monsters, but close enough to not attract the true sea monsters. He did not know their exact location, but he could triangulate at least a probable position... Or just ask, “so where are we now?”.

“Near the Island of Nerghul, one of the three Great Necropolises. There, we will gather some new resources and cure your illness,” she scrutinized him. “Your world must be truly weak to let even this inferior illness kill, huh?” She deadpanned as Vlad halted in movements.

“Well… There was no magic or ki… Only legends and made-up stories,” he embarrassedly replied. “What is that?” Vlad noticed something in the sea around dozens of metres before them.

The sea before them suddenly rose up and a black, giant whale slowly emerged. It released a large stream of water and submerged again. Vlad sneezed as the cold water hit him, his face burned in embarrassment. Aelathane only rolled her eyes and returned to her driving.

“Anyway, thank you, Aelathane. I owe you.”

“Yes, you do. And I intend to collect,” she sweetly smiled and Vlad shivered.

“Do you know something about Sular?”

“No… But I don’t think Ssirze is ballsy enough to kill her. Staumaz is still there and they cannot afford a direct conflict. Didn’t you have a contract with her? Focus on it. If it’s gone…” She let it slide to nowhere.

“Onyx, is the contract with Sular still active?”

  [Confirmed]

“She is alive…” They both sighed in relief. Contracts before God of Death, Commerce and Taxes were immutable. In a lot of cases, even death cannot save you from them.

“Oh… Hmm, this will be a stupid question, but… How is this world named?”

Aelathane started laughing. Hard and for a long time.

“Terra,” she barely answered. Vlad blinked.

“What?”

“You deaf? Terra,” she raised her eyebrows.

Vlad again calculated this world’s diameter. Still, 4 times larger than his Earth.

“You fine?” She asked, still giggling.

“Yeah… It’s just… My world is named Earth. There is an old, almost dead language; Latin. Earth can be translated as Terra…”

“Latin, you say…” She squinted. That word seemed familiar to her, but could not remember.

“Wait… You know Latin? That should not be possible.”

“It’s just a familiar word… Can’t remember where I heard it. We will look into it later… Definitely worth examining.”

“Oh… Wow… Very strange…” Even the Loony Voice agreed.

After that, they chatted a little bit more, but Vlad got tired.

“Well… After I read our memories about you making plenty of decisions, I must say I am mostly disappointed. What are you doing?! Just let me drive!” The Loony Voice angrily yelled in his head after they returned to their cabin.

“... I miss them. All of them,” Vlad sighed as he sat on his bed, his head down, remembering everyone. Now he had time to properly mourn; no one was hunting him, there was no immediate danger, except sea monsters, no insane training regiment. 

No matter how genial was, no matter how much he struggled, he always lost something. His mother's face again flashed before his eyes. Then his father’s and his team. 

Then Bread and Sou’Rek, even the orcette Staumaz’s priestess, Sular… He promised he won’t lose them. To anyone. Never. Whatever it would take.

 

⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬⌬

 

Another week passed without a single incident. Bread was immersed in her training with Goulash. 

Sou’Rek… Was Sou’Rek. He appeared to be over Staumaz and the church of steam, fully concentrating on training his two disciples, which he immensely enjoyed. He still wanted revenge against Staumaz for his betrayal, but he accepted that it would be in the very distant future, if ever.

Vlad still could not understand how Bread and Goulash were on the verge of evolution, while Sou’Rek was stuck as a goblin. He guessed that Sou’Rek was fixed as a goblin because he used divinity instead of ki, or magic. Aelathane confirmed it. Unless the patron god was willing, his petitioners would not advance. That meant Sou'Rek could not advance. At all… No experience, no levels.

Vlad tried to train with them, but his weakened body did not allow him to do much. At least he got somehow better with a sword and a pistol. He knew he could break through, but it looked like he needed a class. He wondered what he needed to break through to the apprentice grade. Even Bread refused to answer him about this.

In the back of his mind, somewhere, where Loony could see, he planned how to gain AI, class and magic.

Vlad also surprisingly enjoyed fishing and cooking for others. He learned how to cook fairly quickly and even gained a technique for it. He had a talent for it and after a few attempts, he was able to make a good meal; with hefty help of analysis and his herbs. 

In just a week he had trained the [Cooking] expertise to beginner-grade, which gave him slightly better taste and better ability to spot bad ingredients on non-magic or non-ki ingredients. It also nicely went with [Herbology] and [Alchemy].

Next, his Encyclopaedia expanded by large amounts. Each of the monsters had quite a few interesting organs. He stored them for future experimentation or selling. Aelathane joined him in the proceedings and was impressed by Vlad's meticulous research.

Otherwise, it was a mind-bogglingly boring cruise. The few sea monsters that approached the vessel were quickly dispatched by the three goblins with his ranged support. Bread was forced to abandon pistols and use the spear when training with Sou’Rek. However, she still trained with Vladimir, which both enjoyed a lot.

After their first kiss on the lips, more followed. Vlad enjoyed the slow progress with their relationship. Both of them acted a little bit as virgins, which both were not, but it seemed that the goblinette enjoyed the human-type slow seduction too. With goblins, it was only about sex. Goulash… Was not taking it well, but appeared to accept Bread’s decision. Though, Vlad could see a strange glint in his eyes.

Also, he asked why the sea was considered more dangerous than Blood Steppes. She laughed him off in the face and said that it was a common misconception. Blood Steppes were much more brutal places and proceeded to tell him a few stories that she heard from her seniors. She never had the guts to go there. She rather accepted a quest to be a spy in the middle of the Grand Orcen Empire capital.