Lee jerked awake after feeling pokes, prods, and nudges. With eyes wide, he looked around for the source of his morning scare. Only to find Kooco attempting to stuff an egg between the crook of his arm and body.

Lee looked at the sky and saw that it was early. He must have slept at most four or five hours. Everyone was still asleep in their tents, and some of the more rambunctious adventures were passed out around dwindling bonfires. Some less enthusiastic adventures stood watch, eyes peeled for threats while their friends got their rest.

Upon seeing Lee jerk awake, Kooco hopped backward and put on her baby-doll eyes. “Friend Lee Barnes. The eggs call. This one in particular picked you, you should cook it and eat it to make it happy.”

Lee rubbed his tired eyes as he sat up. “Kooco. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to eat your eggs.”

Kooco blinked two or three times with wide, innocent eyes and tilted her head. It was adorable, and Lee felt his heart grow heavy.

Kooco jumped forward a few feet and got really close to Lee. Their eyes were mere inches apart from one another as a highly unsettling staring contest ensued. Kooco whispered. “They’re the tastiest…”

Lee slowly nodded and inched away, which caused Kooco to take more steps forward. “I’m sure they are…?”

Kooco squinted her eyes and looked Lee up and down. She let loose a harrumph as she turned and strutted away back into her and Meriah’s tent—Displeased and insulted by Lee’s inactions.

Now well and truly awake, Lee threw some more logs on the dwindling fire and kept watch over their camp. He didn’t expect anything to happen, but his rude awakening put some things into perspective. If Kooco were a monster or a statue, his life would be forfeit.

During the wee morning hours, Lee watched the fire and surroundings as best he could. He also spent some time thinking about spells to create. The reflection Em had brought up about moonlight mana had some merit, but he couldn’t think of a way to make it a reality.

When he created spells, he knew what he wanted, roughly how it worked, and what element it would be. When he created Mend Wounds, he knew he wanted to use life mana; he wanted the spell to heal wounds and restore HP, and it would work by super-stimulating the body's natural healing. His knowledge about cells was sufficient for it to work, even though he would readily admit that he wasn’t an expert.

But, when it came to Moonlight, he didn’t even know where to begin. It wasn’t like the moon itself was trying to reflect the sunlight. It just happened. Your body naturally heals itself over time. It works towards that goal. The moon just hangs in the sky.

Lee thought about the spell he wanted to create. If he were going with reflections, some type of barrier would be ideal. While it is nice to be able to heal injuries, preventing them from happening in the first place would be much appreciated—by all parties involved.

He would, of course, aim to use moonlight mana, as the reflective properties provided would be essential for it to work… Or would it?

Lee drummed his fingers on his knees as he thought about reflections. His spell Aquavista worked with reflections, and it was based on water.

Lee ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. Overthinking wasn’t going to get him where he wanted. Almost every single time he tried to create a spell, it worked. This time should be no different.

Lee placed a hand on his chest and tried to cast a spell. Using moonlight mana and focusing on the reflective aspects of the moon, Lee tried to create a bubble around him, which would protect him from harm.

White and cyan mana spread from his hand onto his chest, creating a film that encapsulated him. As the film spread outwards from his body, it began to shake and tremble. Lee clenched his eyes closed, face full of focus. But, eventually, the strain on the mana film was too much. It popped into whisps of smokey mana and faded away.

Lee didn’t need to open his eyes to know he had failed. He kept his eyes closed in silent defeat as he thought about what went wrong. If he were to guess, it would be that he didn’t fully understand moonlight mana enough to create spells with it.

With Arcane Synthesis, Lee cheated his way into most of his elements. Although he was fully aware of this, it still put things into perspective. He wouldn’t magically become the best mage ever just for knowing the elements. He had actually to understand their use and purpose first.

It wasn’t demoralizing, but it was definitely a shift. Hopefully, with enough time and research, he could utilize moonlight. It’s not like he didn’t have the time to sit down and learn.

Lee brought up his status page. It had been a while since he’d viewed the whole thing in its entirety.

Lee’s eyes were drawn to the empty section at the bottom of his spells. He could synthesize spells with Arcane Synthesis. It wasn’t just for discovering the elements.

Lee read the description and thought about using this cooldown period to create a spell, not an element. From what he knew, he could combine two of his current spells together into a singular, augmented spell. The possibilities were endless.

Even thinking about the more useless combinations had merit. Combining Swiftness and Blind together could create a spell that blinded an enemy and messed with their sense of being. Lee didn’t have the dexterity to make use of his own spell, and he would bet that even if someone did have the dexterity to do so, they would struggle if they were blinded as well.

Words of the Wind and Musical Melodious Melody could potentially create long-distance music. Which… wasn’t as impressive as he had originally thought.

The more esoteric spells he could create would be along the lines of Void Sphere and Orb of Light. He didn’t have a clue as to what that would create, and he was curious as to its effects.

Aquavista and Word of the Wind could enable him to speak to those he spotted through his Aquavista. An interesting combination.

The cooldown for Arcane Synthesis had ended, and he was ready to use it, but he wasn’t sure what to aim for. He could create another expert element, which could bolster his more intense spell repertoire, but he could easily create another element that he wouldn’t be able to utilize properly.

He felt it more reliable to create advanced elements, as he had some guesses as to what some of them might create. He may be wrong, but the more esoteric the element, the harder it would be to use. If Light and Earth made Life, it was plausible that Dark and Earth created Death. Then, Death and Life would create…?

Lee nearly had a heart attack as Em lowered her head down over him. Her dark red ruby eyes crinkled mischievously upside down in his vision.

“Jesus Christ!” Lee exclaimed as he scooted away, heart pounding in his chest.

Lee held a hand to his beating heart as he spotted Em in the most horrifying position he could imagine. Em’s human half had bent so far forward as to make it look like she had broken her spine. Her human abdomen was slotted in between her fang legs, and her short-cut pixie hairstyle dropped towards the ground by gravity.

Em righted herself effortlessly and then tilted her head in question. “Jesus Christ? That is not the reaction I anticipated. Is that a person?”

Lee didn’t have the want—or time to explain who it was or why he said what he did. So, he ignored her. His sudden exclamation drew the eyes of several of the ever-watchful adventures, who either snorted in amusement or warily watched Em.

Meriah, Kooco, and Jeremy all stumbled out of their tents in varying degrees of readiness. Jeremy had his shield and sword ready but was obviously half asleep. Meriah was keen, hands on her daggers as she scanned for threats with wild eyes, and Kooco was patting Meriah’s leg with one of her wings in comfort. “Shh… It’s okay, Friend Meriah Camp. Shh.”

Kooco sent a furtive glance toward Lee as she continued to comfort Meriah. “Have some eggs. They’re the tastiest and will help make you well. Miraculous eggs. They can work miracles.”

Lee raised a hand guiltily. “False alarm. Em spooked me.” He finished by giving her a nasty side-eyed glare.

He then sent an unenthusiastic glance toward Kooco, obviously picking up on her hidden meaning. “Maybe you should have been a caring egg-giver instead of a windweaver.”

Kooco narrowed her eyes as she patted Meriah on the leg. “Ohoho, Friend Lee Barnes. I would have gladly taken that class if it was offered. Even though the perks wouldn’t have made my eggs any tastier, as they are already the tastiest.”

She patted the calming Meriah on the leg a final time as she whispered sweetly. “All is well, Friend Meriah Camp. All is well.”

Jeremy, who was bleary-eyed and grumbling at being startled awake, stalked over near Meriah’s tent and withdrew some of Kooco’s eggs to make for breakfast. Kooco gave Lee a smug look and gracefully preened her feathers.

Seeing Jeremy wide awake, Lee asked about how informing his superiors of Lopus’ situation went and what to expect from them as a response. Jeremy started to crack some eggs and toss them into a cast-iron skillet as he thought about how to reply. “Well. I am in contact with a very high-level military member. The general of the Thexian military. I have a scroll that copies its contents to its connected pair. It works both ways, but so far, I haven’t gotten a response.”

Jeremy shook the skillet, releasing the pleasing aromatic scent of breakfast around their small camp. “I assume she will send reinforcements or demand a nearby lord to send aid. This technically isn’t her responsibility, as she is the general of the entire military and currently preoccupied on the warfront.”

Lee nodded as he tried to ignore his mouth watering from the smell of eggs. “I forgot that you guys are currently at war. What is the war about? What started it?”

Meriah was the one to answer. She pushed up her glasses, yawned, and then started counting on her fingers. “A ton of reasons stemming over… well, everything. You name it, it probably happened. Trade embargo? Yup. Encroaching on our lands? Yup. Noble marriages gone wrong? Yup. Assassination attempts? Yup. A whole lot of reasons.”

Kooco was still smugly smiling as she watched Jeremy place some finished eggs onto a wooden plate and hand it to Meriah. She took a bite, smiled, and then carried on. “They’re our only neighbor, and they know it. It made them think that we were reliant on them. We’re here to show them that we’re not. To the east of Bardum, they have the island chains of Roxal—A very wild and mixed-cultured country. It’s by no means small nor weak, so they have relations we don't have and thought themselves better.”

Lee nodded along but was slightly confused. “You don’t have any relationships with other countries? Like, at all? Couldn’t you sail there by ship?”

Everyone looked at Lee like he was an idiot. Lee stared around, confused about why that was the case. Jeremy coughed slightly. “Lee. Where are you from again? How did you get here? Did you sail?”

Lee spoke the truth but left out some relatively… important information. “I’m from the United States of America. But, no. I didn’t sail here. My circumstances were different.”

Lee could tell Jeremy was doubtful, but he didn’t question his arrival further. “The oceans are death. Unfathomable abominations live deep on the ocean floor. While there are some who sail the open waters, they are… unreputable.”

Lee paused as he stared at the mouthwatering fluffy eggs. A single thought came to the forefront of his mind.

Did he just insinuate pirates?