<Atumi pov>

The next few days passed quickly and before I knew it,  it was time to embark on our journey to the Archipelago nation known as Atlantis.

From what I knew, Atlantis was located just to the southeast of Haakuni and is the closest nation in terms of distance. Although it was the smallest nation by landmass, it is one of the most prosperous. I had mostly packed the previous day, so I was ready to go by morning.

“Master Shino, auntie Maria, thank you for looking after me,” I did as I hugged Maria and then Shino.

“Oh, bye my little Atsumi, please take care of yourself,” Maria said, waving.

“Take care and keep my teachings in mind.” Shino said.

I gave them a bow and started heading towards the carriage.

We then approached what seemed to be some sort of carriage. It differed from what I saw with regular carriages. There seemed to be no animal pulling it along. What confused me the most was that it was floating. I then realized it was one of those artifacts that was powered by mana.

“What’s that called?” I asked. 

“Oh, it’s just a Low Latitude cruiser. Wish I could have rented a mid-latitude, but I was short on time.” Allan replied.

I contemplated asking how it worked, but before I could do so, the door on the artifact opened.

“Come in, patrons and young ones,” said a brown-skinned man. “I am assuming you are, Mr. Florin, correct?”

“That’s me yes, Let’s get going, everyone,” he said before ushering us into the carriage.

I turned around to see the two women watching eagerly as I entered. I waved my hands up one last time, bidding them farewell. “Bye-bye.”

.....

Several hours passed, and we were moving at a decent clip above the forest.

The fact we were flying had me pacing up and down. I looked out the window again as many shades of red, pink, purple, and green sped by from beneath my feet. It was called the Murasaki forest for this reason, but I never expected it to look this amazing from above.

It was a mana hotspot where pure wilderness ruled and mana flowed freely, causing the leaves of almost every tree to take on a vibrant color.

I spotted Timothy looking out the back of the cruiser while in a daze, his eyelids fluttering. It was almost as if he was falling asleep.

I took a bite from the sugar cane I had bought from one of the stall owners near the edge of the village and sat next to Allan. He was immersed in his reading, while simultaneously playing with his emerald green hair.

“Hey, Mr. Florin.” I said, calling to him.

“Yes?” he answered, not taking his eyes away from the book.

“How long will it take before we get to Atlantis?” I asked, while looking up at him.

He seemed almost reluctant to answer, taking a shallow breath as he changed his sitting position. “Not for another 10 days.”

My eyes fell upon the book in his hand, its title unreadable to my untrained eyes. I approached the elven man and stretched my short neck to take a peek, my strong curiosity not making me realise the rudeness of my actions.

“What are ya reading?” 

“Oh, this, I’m just looking over some runes I came up with. I’m trying to plan a way to set up your seal.”

“Oh, can I have a look?” I then asked.

He sighed and then perked up, the tune of his voice changing slightly as he then offered me the book. “Sure, have a seat. Are you interested in learning runelore by any chance?”

“Hmm, I’m not too sure.” I replied.

“Well, give me a chance to change your mind,” he said with a playful grin.

We spent the rest of the afternoon going over different runes and glyphs. I found out that when a rune is inscribed on parchment or paper, it’s called a glyph, but if it’s inscribed on a Weapon is called a rune. The last type of rune lore I learned was the ones that appear on our bodies called blessings. These runes, in particular, set themselves apart from the other two, as they are not manmade and only appear at random or when a person makes a special accomplishment. 

It was now late afternoon, and the air had gotten considerably warmer. The trees, now predominantly green, signified that we had long left the Murasaki forest.

“Alright, let’s stop here for today. This should be a suitable spot to set up camp,” Allan said as he exited the cruiser.

The one who was steering the cruiser was the impeccably groomed fellow called Elbir, who remained silent for most of the trip. He then broke his vow of silence and spoke.

“I’ll help unload the materials.”

Timothy, who had succumbed to sleep hours ago, still laid there snoring his life away.

“Hey, get up. We need to set up camp.”

He seemed to be in a deep sleep. The slight wheezing sound that escaped his nose annoyed me somewhat.

“HEY!” I said as I poked his forehead.

At that point, I had given up and decided to just mess with him. He was going to ruin his sleep patterns. If he wanted to change himself, that needed to be fixed, so I pinched his nose shut and waited silently.

He let out a long groan and sleepily swatted at his nose. He then tried breathing through his mouth, which I promptly held shut.

The garbled mess of words poured from his mouth as he shot up from his lying position, gasping for air.

“Hey what was that for? Are you trying to execute me or something?”

“Hahaha sorry, I couldn’t help it, especially when you slept like a dead fish. I had to do something to revive you.”I said while walking away

“We’re stopping here for today, so get your lazy butt down here.” I said.“The faster we finish, the earlier you can go back to sleep, Ms. Sleeping beauty.”

“You little brat, what did you just call me?” he shouted as he chased me out of the cruiser.

I stuck out my tongue while running away from him.

“Hey stop running so much before you hurt your injuries,” Allan said.

“Also, after we finish setting up Atsumi, please come to me.”

“Hmm, ok.” I said, still grinning as I teased Timothy.

A few more hours passed and after settling down, I headed to the tent Allan was in.

“Alright, you’re here. Let me just get the rest of my tools. Have a seat in the meantime.”

He continued rummaging through his bag for the next few minutes, pulling out various tools and putting them to rest on the table.

“Alright, turn around. Let’s have a look.”

He placed his hand on my seal, and this time there was no stinging sensation.

“Alright start taking a few deep breaths and circulate your mana and Qi through your body.”

I follow his instructions and agitate the mana within my body.

“I’m just doing a diagnostic for now, so relax, just trying to understand how your inner being works.”

He does this for a while and then takes down a few notes. Throughout the next several minutes, he alternates between these two actions.

“Hmm, as expected, your mana is very pure, but your pool is small. Your Qi isn’t that strong either, which explains your low stamina.”

He puts the pencil down and raises his index finger as to emphasize his next point.

“The first issue is your mana flow. Mana should flow through the body as blood flows through your veins, but in this case, it’s like flammable acid that burns your veins and explodes once they get to the outside. I’ve never seen something like this before.”

He continues speaking while having me do various breathing exercises.

“Your body type is slightly less tolerant to mana than people your age. If you had a normal Fatesoul, this wouldn’t be much of an issue.”

He continued to fiddle around with the rune until satisfied with the information he had gained.

“I have more or less grasped the state of your body.”

“Before you go, I would like to do one more check.”

“Uhm, ok.”

I had remained mostly quiet through the entire session, as I was pretty anxious through the period he was looking through my seal.

“I would like to check what your current abilities are, or at least a more accurate one,”

“Hmm, wasn’t that what you just did?”

“Yes, I did, but just looking at a mountain and saying it is tall or short won’t give me the accurate measurement of its height.”

“I guess,” I answered, unsure of what he was doing.

“Have you ever measured your realm?”

“Uhm, I don’t even know what that is,” I replied.

“I’m guessing Shino hasn’t mentioned it. I guess she didn’t have Vigilance Orbs.”

“Your realm level or rank is a cumulative measurement of your physical, spiritual statistics and magical statistics. The orb of vigilance takes all this information and presents it in easier to understand information.” He then turns around and pulls a translucent blue orb from his bag.

“It categorizes you into one of twelve realms that represent your current strength.”

Basic

Beginner

Intermediate

Adept

Advanced

Master

Grandmaster

Venerated

Transcendent

Mortal Divinity

Empyrean

Exalted

“We divide each into 5 layers, 5th being the lowest and 1st being the highest.”

He then signals for me to stretch out my hands and place them on the orb.

“Focus on the orb.”

I followed his instructions; the orbs started glowing, and within it, a visage of my body seemed to appear in it and within that, a single dimly lit point shines on my stomach. A collection of runes I couldn’t read then appeared on the orb.

“Hmm, so you are at the basic level 5th layer and due for a breakthrough. Don’t worry, the first breakthrough is usually very easy and you don’t even need to go into a meditative state.”

“So I’m guessing a breakthrough is when you move on to the next stage?”

“Correct.”

“Hey what realm were my mom and dad?” I said curiously.

“If I remember correctly, your mother was at the Grandmaster level and your father was in the 3rd layer of Venerated.”

“Is that considered strong?” I then asked.

“Yes, believe it or not, they are among the very few humans who had reached such a level.”

“Has any human gotten higher than that?”

Allan shook his head, looking almost disappointed.

“No, or at least none that I know of.”

The conversation Shino had with me about my parents replayed in my head.

“So that’s what she meant,” I said, my head facing the floor.

“Oh, what about Shino?” I snapped back up.

“Oh, that overly serious half yokai is a 3rd layer Transcendent. You have to be at least such to be a gate guardian.”

That made sense. Even if I have never seen her go all out, she always seemed insurmountable in terms of strength. I often found myself unable to gauge her power.

“These measurements are very accurate, but your case is special, as I have obscured any statistics that may put you in danger, one example being your fate soul. Also, don’t think this is the be-all say all. It is not uncommon for people of lower realms to beat those at a higher level, as things like intuition, battle instinct and luck aren’t something you can truly measure.”

He then waved me off before returning to his desk.

“Alright, that’s about it for today. Go get some rest. We set out at sunrise.”