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Chapter 220 - A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World
🕑 Added 2025-05-23 09:04:17 +0000 UTCThe next day was calm as the group sailed through Illvarian waters. The group hugged the coastline, meaning that most of what they passed was uninhabited wilderness. After all, especially now that Illvaria was concentrating its forces in the North, the south, which had already been desolate, was practically uninhabited again. Even though these waters technically belonged to Illvaria, Alice wondered how long it had been since these waters had last seen humans.
Despite how close they were to the coast, Alice was still interested in her first time in the ocean. Thanks to her [Endurance], Alice didn’t need to worry about seasickness, so she was free to enjoy herself and take in the sights as the group sailed north. The ocean itself was surprisingly beautiful. The waters were calm and clear, and the sun above made the ocean practically sparkle. Alice could almost imagine that they were sailing to a distant tropical paradise back on Earth.
Having seen all of the madness and horror wrought by the collapse of the System, Alice had honestly been expecting something different. She had expected swarms of monsters and chaotic weather patterns, brought far beyond the realm of regular weather by the impact of people’s beliefs. That was what had happened with the mana wastes, after all. However, at least for the first twenty-four hours after the group entered the ocean, the world was ordinary and silent.
Too silent, in fact. Alice didn’t immediately notice it, because the [Soldiers] and other people on the boat weren’t silent. They produced endless noise as they shuffled, sneezed, and talked. Despite their clamour, by the end of their first day at sea Alice had finally noticed that while there were plenty of human sounds in her surroundings, there were zero sounds from the ocean itself. No monsters or animals swam past the boat. No sounds of waves could be heard. Even the distant forest, just visible in the distance, made no noises. It was as if someone had muted the world itself.
“Creepy, isn’t it?” asked Ethan’s mother, as Alice stared at their surroundings. “I’m sure Ethan already told you, but I’ve spent a fair amount of time out at sea while I was working on my secondary Classes. I’ve never heard any part of nature be this silent before.”
Alice blinked in surprise. “Should we be worried?” she asked. From her days surviving in the wilderness, she remembered that when the forest was silent, it meant danger was coming.
“Normally, I would say yes, but right now, it’s hard to guess what anything means,” said Ethan’s mother. “Based off of what little information my son has been willing to share with me… due to the influence of mana on terrain, almost anything could happen in any area. That makes it very hard for me to rely on experience to make assessments. For now, I’m trusting my perks, and nothing else. Allira has sent some shadows to scout our surroundings, so hopefully she’ll notice anything dangerous before it reaches us.”
Alice tried not to swallow nervously. The fact that people couldn’t rely on their past experience to make judgements didn’t sound like a good thing, especially not while they were trapped in a little wooden boat in the middle of the ocean that was potentially infested with monsters. She scanned the area with her mana-sight again, to see if any monsters had slipped by her previous scans of the area, before she relaxed after confirming nothing was nearby. “Do you have any idea what we should be worried about here?” asked Alice. She had little understanding of ocean monsters. After all, in her monster biology class at magic academy, the teacher had focused on monsters in Illvaria. Since Illvaria didn’t even have a populated coast, oceanic monsters had been pretty far down the teacher’s priority list.
“Hmm… at least before all of this started, there were three main monster types this close to Illvaria’s coast. My information is outdated by several decades, of course, so things could have changed… but the most common monster here was a type of monster that looked kind of like a snake. These monsters are called Bulb eels, because their jaws look like giant bulbs when they enlarge them enough. Bulb eels can pop out of the water for short periods of time, and they specialize in a type of magic that allows their body to change or expand to fit their needs. I once saw an alpha of this species inflate its body size large enough to swallow an entire ship - not that it went well for the monster, since a Mage chucked a ballista bolt through its throat before it could even attack. But you get the idea. These monsters aren’t actually very threatening - as long as you’re careful and keep an eye on things,” said Ethan’s mother. “They are pretty common in most regions of the ocean, so this will probably continue to be an enemy we need to watch out for. Think of them as the spidercrabs of the ocean. Of course, they’re less common than actual spidercrabs, but you get the idea.” Ethan’s mother shrugged.
“What about the other two types of monsters?”
“The second major type of monster that appears in most parts of the ocean is the shadowlark. Shadowlarks are a type of monster bird that are hard to spot. Their size can vary greatly. The smallest ones are about the size of an adult’s fist, while the largest ones can have wingspans of nearly thirty meters. Their bodies are partially comprised of shadows, so they have a strong tendency to blend in and use stealth during attacks. The small ones have very sharp beaks - they’re like little daggers. If you aren’t careful, they’ll rip out your throat. The big ones try to swallow people whole, if they target a human. The smaller ones tend to attack in swarms. We should be able to fend them off, especially since Ethan is here - but be careful.”
Alice frowned. A wingspan of 30 meters? Alice tried to visualize a monster that size, and her brain started drawing analogies between skylarks and dinosaurs.
“The final major threat is unlikely to be present at our destination - although given how much things have changed, it’s best to be cautious. Still, at least under normal circumstances, they are a monster that requires high mana density to survive, so they tend to only exist in the southern half of the southern continent and off the coast of the western continent. They are called Deep Ones. We definitely need to be careful them. Deep Ones are human-sized squid-like monsters that move in the depths of the ocean, but occasionally surface to hunt. Their innate magic is a type of madness-inducing ability. If you meet the eyes of a deep one, it will try to override your sanity and turn you into a lunatic. [Scholars] have debated exactly how this works, and the most common consensus is that they do some kind of mana attack that literally tries to ruin your brain - although there are also many [Scholars] that claim it is some type of pheromone attack, and others that claim it’s none of the above. Either way, falling prey to a Deep One means going mad and losing control of your body.”
Alice shivered. The idea of any sort of mental attack that targeted her brain was terrifying. Even for Immortals, their brain was the core of who they were. There was a reason that, despite being able to regrow their entire body from nothing, Immortals were still assassinated from time to time on the Central continent - it was because it was impossible to regenerate if the brain was destroyed.
The group continued sailing, while Alice fell into small talk with Ethan’s mother. Normally, Alice struggled with this kind of conversation, but Ethan’s Mother was adept at finding ways to keep the conversation going. Alice had noticed Ethan’s mother using a few Perks during the conversation, but as far as she could tell, they were just helping Ethan’s mother know what to say, So Alice let it slide.
Alice learned a surprising number of random facts, such as Ethan’s favorite type of monster meat when he was five, or the fact that Ethan’s father had a terrible snoring habit. While Alice had no idea what to do with these facts, it was still interesting, seeing such small and mundane parts of life in a prestigious family of Immortals.
About an hour into their chat, Alice stopped. She scanned the ocean, and saw a large blob of monstrous mana heading towards the ship. Alice frowned. It didn’t look like the mana belonged to any of the three monster types Ethan’s mother had mentioned. The size was wrong for a deep one or a bulb eel.
“I see a monster,” said Alice, as she pointed at the monstrous blob of mana. “I don’t know what it is though. It will reach us in about five minutes. It looks big, so prepare for an oversized monster.”
Ethan’s mother grimaced. “Huge, underwater monsters, you say? In that case it must be something that doesn’t belong here. I already expected that the current chaos would change monster habitats, but I hoped at least some of the monsters would be the same.” She sighed. A moment later, she narrowed her eyes at the spot Alice had been pointing at. “I think I see it. It look like giant trout. It must be nearly fifty meters long… how unusual. I think… ah, one of my Perks got me some information. It’s usually only found near the Western Continent. It’s tentatively named a skyfish, because its magic allows it to fly for short periods of time. Combined with its massive size, it typically flies into the air, before literally crushing ships underneath its body mass. Then, it spends a while swallowing up survivors. Their usual hunting habits are unknown, since they live too close to the western continent for easy study.” Ethan’s Mother Grimaced. “These things really don’t belong here. The mana density should be too low to sustain this creature. How frustrating.” Then, Ethan’s Mother grinned. “Actually, if its only advantages are its huge size and flight, it shouldn’t be that big of a danger. Do you see any monster alphas or other nearby enemies?” Alice checked the monsters, before she shook her head.
“I don’t think so.”
Ethan’s mother cackled. “In that case, it should be fine. You haven’t seen me fight before, right? In that case, I guess I get a chance to show off a little bit.”
“Should I get Ethan?” asked Alice, as she started to feel a bit worried. The grin on the older woman’s lips was a bit unsettling.
“No need. I can handle this, and {Housewife’s Intuition} doesn’t even record this thing as a proper threat.”
“{Housewife’s Intuition}?” asked Alice. That didn’t sound like a particularly impressive Perk, but it was capable of detecting the details of high level monsters?
“You’d be surprised how effective some of the Perks from the ‘husband’ or ‘wife’ series are. They’re surprisingly good at handling smaller threats to your family and your property. They’re just very specific. But since my son is on this ship, and this boat is my property, everything works fine,” said Ethan’s Mother. As she spoke, she pulled a knife out of a Storage Perk. It looked small - like the kind of knife one might use to cut fruit. Rainbow mana lit up her body as she twirled the knife in her hands. A moment later, Ethan’s mother extended her hand towards the ocean, and a surge of mana tore out of her body and into the water.
Then, to Alice’s surprise, it looked almost as if the fish monster had been grabbed by a giant hand. The monster flopped around desperately, as a 50-meter long fish was simply dragged into midair above the ship. A few [Sailors] cried out in alarm, before Ethan’s mother commanded them to get back to their positions. Then, Ethan’s mother dashed forward. Her feet lit up with rainbow mana as she stepped across the water as if it were solid ground, before the woman leapt into the air. Then, to Alice’s confusion, Ethan’s mother whipped out a jar of paint.
At the same time, the rainbow mana inside of Ethan’s mother’s body started to rapidly fluctuate. It wasn’t something Alice had ever seen before. Normally each class seed looked like a tiny little fractal of rainbow mana. Now, it looked like the class fractals in Ethan’s mother were sprouting little roots, almost as if they were weeds. These little ‘roots’ of mana were growing into each other.
Rainbow mana surged out of Ethan’s mother as she splashed the giant fish with paint. Another surge of rainbow mana seeped into the giant fish as red paint swarmed across its body. The fish wriggled ineffectually as Ethan’s mother brandished her fruit-cutting knife. Then, she lightly tapped the fish with the knife.
The bright red paint glowed with rainbow mana - and then the fish fell apart, as if a massive cutting knife had cut it along each and every splatter of red paint. Ethan’s mother happily reached out towards the falling chunks of giant fish, and in seconds, several massive pieces of fish disappeared into her storage Perk. She made her way back to the deck, before she winked at Alice.
“{Housewife}, {Chef}, and {Painter} have some very interesting synergy when you combine their strengths together. Especially when you’re trying to make dinner.”
Alice nodded. Before now, she had wondered how Ethan’s mother used her giant Perk salad to actually function in high-level combat. Now, she had a better idea. Alice hesitated - was it worth actually asking a question to confirm her suspicions? Alice eyed her surroundings, before she leaned closer to Ethan’s mother. Perhaps seeing that Alice wanted to ask a private question, Ethan’s mother put up a privacy Perk.
“So did you just combine lots of Perks from your classes together to do this?” asked Alice.
Ethan’s mother paused, before she laughed.
“Normally, people don’t talk much about their combat abilities. But since you’ve seen through it… yes. I can change my build a bit based on my needs,” she said.
Alice tried to figure out how that was even possible. Was Ethan’s mother… temporarily combining her Perks?
If so, the idea of how Ethan’s mother’s build actually worked was a bit more interesting than Alice thought. As far as Alice knew, while regular [Soldiers] and combatants had the luxury of keeping their build secret, Immortals didn’t have that luxury. This was for two reasons. First of all, Immortals were public figures, meaning that anytime they used an ability, people were watching them, recording how their ability worked, and trying to find weaknesses to exploit.
Second, Immortals grew very slowly. An old Immortal might need decades to get one new meaningful Perk. Since Immortals were constantly under scrutiny, and couldn’t produce new ‘tricks’ very quickly, their builds were often well-studied and well-understood by their enemies.
Ethan’s Mother didn’t have that problem. She could create a few combat tricks on the spot whenever she needed to. That made her dangerous and unpredictable on a battlefield, compared to more ‘normal’ Immortals. Of course, the woman might not have quite as much raw power as someone like Ethan - but as long as Ethan’s mother had a good way to ferret out information about her enemies, she would always have the perfect Perks to counter her enemy’s build. Ethan’s mother seemed like an intelligent woman, so Alice was almost completely sure that Ethan’s mother had some way to gather that information quickly.
The more Alice saw of Ethan’s mother’s build, the more Alice suspected that the woman had actually found a genius solution to the most common weakness of an Immortal. Even more interestingly, Ethan’s mother always had room for new, reasonably fast growth in whatever direction she needed to grow. If she wanted to get better at crafting, she could go find a new crafting Class and farm some Perks. If she wanted to get better at combat, there was no shortage of different combat-oriented Classes she could work on. Alice also suspected that the woman had at least a few Achievements that let her negate the usual downsides of secondary Classes.
Alice sighed, before she realized that she probably wouldn’t be able to emulate the older woman’s path to Immortality. She was too short on time. The System needed to be repaired now, and Alice was too deeply invested in research to focus on the same path Ethan’s mother had taken. Still, she was fascinated by seeing how different the older woman’s build was compared to most Immortals.
Alice sighed, before she shook her head. Either way, reaching Immortality was pretty good. Alice didn’t need to be ‘the best’ Immortal. She just wanted to do what she loved and avoid dying. That was good enough for her.
“How do you like seafood?” asked Ethan’s mother.
“It’s not my favorite, but I’ll eat it,” said Alice.
“Good enough for me. Let me show you how even foods you don’t like can become delicious with the right preparation!” said Ethan’s mother, before she gave Alice another cheerful wink. Alice grinned at the other woman’s enthusiasm. It was easy to get caught up in the energy Ethan’s Mother had. For a woman who was centuries old, Ethan’s mother hadn’t lost any of her spirit.
Then, a moment later, Alice frowned, as she saw a giant blur of mana in the distance. She didn’t think it was moving towards them - it looked static. However, something about the way the mana was moving felt familiar - almost the same way the mana had felt when she and the group had explored the mana-warped swamp, during their journey to Morendia.
As she gazed into the distance, Alice finally realized what she was looking at. It looked like water had simply stopped following the laws of gravity. Instead of sticking to the surface of the ocean, mana was slowly flowing upwards. Even though the ‘spouts’ of water weren’t moving towards them, the giant glob of floating water was growing later and larger.
“Do you see that?” asked Alice, as she pointed at the massive cloud of floating water.
Ethan’s mother frowned. “That is… something. I had heard that the swamp was bad, but I don’t even know what could have caused this.” She sighed. “I will need to try cooking dinner for the crew some other time. We need to get away from that thing. I don’t know when that cloud of water will start obeying gravity again, but I don’t want to be anywhere nearby when it does.”
Ethan’s mother quickly moved to the center of the ship, before she started barking orders at the [Sailors]. Alice sighed. Her first day on the ocean didn’t seem like it was fraught with danger - but she had a feeling that wouldn’t always be the case. Despite being so close to Illvaria, the monsters and terrain were already messed up.
She had a feeling it would only get worse as they approached the mainframe of the System. The dangers here were manageable for now… but that might not be the case for long.
As the boat changed direction, Alice shivered, and hoped that they wouldn’t encounter anything truly terrifying before they reached their destination.
Author’s Note:
I have some IRL stuff that will be happening during the last week of May (Next week). I don’t THINK this will impact Budding Scientist’s release schedule much, but if it does, I apologize in advance.
Join my Discord! (I’m much more active there than in the comments section).
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