The Lone Wanderer

Percy felt the temperature go up rapidly, as the red glow in the distance intensified, the very water around him vibrating.

Apparently, that light he’d seen the other day was an underwater volcano – and an active one at that! From what Enki explained, his people tended to build their towns and cities in similar locations all around Atlantis, settling as close to the volcanoes as they safely could. These were their main sources of heat – and also food, as they attracted marine life of all shapes and sizes.

This particular volcano was called Samo, and its eruptions lasted a couple hours at a time, interspaced in regular intervals around five times longer than that – according to Percy’s estimates. This was how the townsfolk kept track of time, though each region on Atlantis had to rely on a different system.

‘If you’re done staring at the lava, we should get going while it’s still bright…’ Enki rolled his eyes.

‘Hey, I know you’re used to it, but this is quite a novel experience for an outsider.’ Percy protested.

The boy shrugged, before swimming towards the Marble Reef they’d seen the day before. They hoped to make it there while the eruption was still underway, as the extra light would help them in their search. If they missed it, it would just make their life harder until the next one.

‘Say, are you sure those eels are rare?’ Percy suddenly asked.

As he’d come to learn, Enki was a rather fearless kid. He didn’t seem scared to return to the reef in the slightest – almost as if he hadn’t nearly died there just yesterday. In fact, Percy had to force him to ask the caregiver at the orphanage to lend him more of the antidote, in case they got bitten again. After some placating, the lady had begrudgingly agreed, though a single dose wouldn’t help much if the place was teeming with the creatures.

‘Geez, will you stop nagging me about that already?!’ Enki scoffed. ‘I’ve been playing there my whole life! This is the first time this happened!’

Percy wasn’t entirely convinced, but he did let go. After all, he wasn’t the kid’s dad, nor would he be able to babysit him forever anyway.

Eventually, the two reached the undersea forest, diving into the dense embrace of the corals. The dim glow of the volcano looked even scarier from within, as the scant rays of crimson danced against the deep shadows of the reef itself, both clawing at Enki from every direction. Suffice to say, Percy’s heart skipped a beat whenever a small creature jumped in front of them, much to his host’s dismay.

‘Can you not get spooked by every little thing? It might have been funny if we weren’t sharing a body…’ the boy groaned.

‘Have you seen how creepy most of these things are?!’ Percy asked, though some heat still gathered in his cheeks. ‘I’d be a lot less scared if you could actually defend yourself.’

As embarrassing as it was to be called a coward by a kid, he didn’t think Enki fully appreciated how unsettling this experience was for a land-dweller. Percy was essentially swimming at the bottom of an alien ocean, his only company being a Red cored kid who couldn’t light a candle to save his life. And it only got more frightening once the eruption finally died down, plunging their surroundings into complete darkness.

‘Look, I get it.’ Enki acknowledged. ‘But nothing besides the eels is even capable of hurting us.’

‘Ah, silly me. We’ve only got the eels with the deadly venom to worry about. How reassuring…’ Percy rolled his eyes.

In the end, the two continued their search in silence, this time relying on Mana Sense to locate their target. The good news was that the fast-growing moss they needed was a mana-rich ingredient, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to spot, even like this.

Of course, Mana Sense couldn’t help with navigating the maze-like interior of the reef itself. The corals didn’t contain much mana, making them practically invisible in their sixth sense. Consequently, Enki bumped his head against the hard structures a few too many times for his liking. Not to mention that the moss they were looking for wasn’t the only thing containing mana nearby, which meant they’d wasted a fair amount of time on false positives.

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‘I think this must be it.’ Enki eventually said.

‘That’s exactly what you said the previous twenty times.’ Percy grunted, but still carefully examined the area beneath their feet.

They were floating inside a ring-shaped section of corals, a blanket of Orange coating both their inner walls and the crater’s floor. This was already a good sign, as that was precisely the moss’s natural mana grade. Even better, the chaotic pattern via which the substance spread over the coral also matched the description somewhat. ŗÄƝＯ฿Êꞩ

‘How long until the next eruption?’ Percy asked.

‘We’re not even halfway there.’ the boy replied.

The darkness made it difficult to verify this was indeed the ingredient they were after. In theory, they could wait a few more hours for the volcano to light their surroundings, but Percy had a quicker method at his disposal.

Taking control of the body, he swam closer to the wall, unsheathing a knife strapped to their skirt. Next, he carefully stabbed into the substance at an angle, peeling a layer out. Its texture was definitely soft enough, though there was an even better way to confirm it.

‘Eeewww! What are you doing?!’ Enki protested as Percy grabbed a handful of the slimy goo, plastering it over their stomach.

‘Just shut up. If this is indeed the moss we want, you’ll be getting a lot more than a free alchemy lesson.’

As their name implied, the lesser regeneration pills they needed to brew weren’t that different from the healing potions he was familiar with. Sure, they were solid objects rather than liquids, and they worked by enhancing one’s natural regeneration rather than healing them directly. Still, their primary component was still rich in life mana.

And indeed, the seed of their second core awakened from its deep slumber mere moments later, seemingly realizing what a tantalizing feast had been laid before it. Without delay, it pulled at the substance greedily, the Orange colour of the moss soon seeping into their skin. As soon as it reached the centre of the vortex, it vanished entirely, leaving nothing but inactive sludge on Enki’s belly.

‘Wh-What?! Where did the mana go?’ the boy asked.

Though Percy replied with a question of his own.

‘How much moss do you think we can find? We’ll need at least 8-10 patches of this size. Maybe more.’

Whether he wanted to or not, Percy would have to repair the boy’s second core before they could even start working on the pills. After all, handling the ingredient would be a pain in the ass if the ethereal organ kept sucking the mana dry.

Luckily, Enki nodded.

‘That shouldn’t be a problem. This place is over a dozen times as large as my town and the moss is quite common. It might take some time, but we’ll definitely find enough if we keep looking.’

Receiving a positive answer, Percy then unstrapped a large pouch from his waist. Next, he scraped more moss from the coral, stuffing it into the pouch with his knife. He took care not to let it touch his skin.

It wasn’t like he didn’t trust Enki, but he wanted to save some just in case they emptied out the reef before the second core was complete. Brewing without repairing the Decree wasn’t going to be pleasant – he’d have to wear gloves or something – but it was better than missing out on Ea’s Gift.

Only after the pouch was full of moss did he seal it shut with a piece of string they’d brought along. Then, the two took turns harvesting as much of the substance as they could, feeding the boy’s Decree. The laborious task lasted several hours, neither of them finding it particularly enjoyable.

By the time they were done, Samo had erupted thrice more, and they’d also had to look for several more moss-covered areas. Still, the seed was eventually satiated, the second core taking form.

Even more notably, Percy overcame his initial unease over the bizarre environment at some point. As strange as it had appeared at first, he understood by now it was just Atlantis’s equivalent of the Whistling Woods – probably even safer than that, actually.

‘So, you’re telling me I have two mana cores now?’ Enki asked.

Naturally, Percy had already brought the boy up to speed over the last couple of days. The kid had found the news difficult to accept, though Percy didn’t miss the wave of excitement seeping through the bond.

‘Yes, but don’t try activating it just yet.’

‘Why not?’

‘It’s dangerous if people find out about it. I’ll sew you something to hide it as soon as we return to town.’

At any rate, they’d already collected what they came here for. In the end, they hadn’t even run into another eel – as Enki was more than happy to keep reminding Percy.

Following his instructions, the boy swam upwards to extricate himself from the suffocating embrace of the corals. Only once he was floating above the reef did he turn towards the town, shooting towards it at top speed, eager to play with his new toy.

Truth be told, Percy was just as excited to return to the orphanage, looking forward to practicing with the moss. Leaving Ea’s Gift aside, studying the fundamentals of potion-making was something he’d already wanted to delve into.

His current plan was to spend the next few weeks guiding Enki into awakening the new core. At the same time, he’d try wrapping his head around the locals’ alchemy. And as soon as he mastered the extraction principle, it would finally be time to take the test.

‘And hopefully earn a brand-new Decree for our efforts!’

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