Luckily, I still have my detection sphere going, otherwise I would have been ambushed. A low flying enemy comes up behind me, but thanks to me being ready it isn't able to hit me. As it flies towards me I turn to see what it is, it looks like a scorpion, but it is flying.

The body is definitely that of a scorpion, it even has the tail, although it is below instead of above the body. It has wings like those of an insect coming from the top of its body, there is even a buzzing noise as it flies. Since it is not under the sand I greet it with a nice big lightning bolt, which fries it.

1 Hive Scorpion defeated! 150 Soul Exp gained!

Soul Coins +3

'Hive Scorpion? I don't like the sound of that!'

In my mind a hive means thousands of creatures, I certainly don't want to run into that! Hopefully, this one was just a scout and the hive is nowhere near here. Even if it is just hundreds of the things, my mana would never last through that kind of fight.

After that lightning spell my mana is dangerously low, so I hurry back to the gate. Luckily, nothing else appears and I make it back through the gate safely. After recovering my mana I am surprised to see that it is not yet dawn.

While I am tempted to go back into the hall, it is probably not a wise move. It is only a couple of hours until dawn, if I go back into the hall I will probably be late for breakfast. While I wouldn't mind, Nala and Albion are a different story, besides the ship is more important.

Leveling up my soul isn't something that I need to rush, as much as I might want to. The fact that my soul is stronger and has healed some means I've already achieved my goals. I will have plenty of time to explore the hall once the ship is built and we have left the island.

So, I head over to the ship and work on the supports for the weapon platforms. After the sun has been up for a while I take a break to have breakfast with the kids. Then I get back to work, a few more hours sees the weapon platforms finished.

After breaking for lunch I go back to working on the internal supports for the rest of the ship. Once that is done I start laying the planks, at least for the lower decks. Once the decks are in place I will be able to build the above deck structures.

That should take me another day, maybe two, and then there isn't much left to do. I need to make the sails, put in the rigging, and then enchant everything. Once all that is done the ship will be ready to be put in the water, to see if it floats.

Once it is in the water, if it floats, then I will have to see what needs to be fixed or altered. Of course, if it sinks I have no idea what I am going to do, but I will figure something out. After dinner I go looking for Stillwater to ask him about some things.

"Stillwater, how much rope did you manage to make?"

Stillwater says "Last I checked we had several hundred feet prepared."

"Alright, tomorrow I am going to need some of it and I will need some people to lay out leaves."

Stillwater says "How many people?"

"Just whoever can be spared. Even the kids would be fine."

Stillwater says "Alright, I'll arrange it. Anything else?"

"Oh, I can mount the siege weapons whenever they are ready."

Stillwater says "Alright, I will inform the crafters. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of. How is everything going on your side?"

Stillwater says "Good. We have everything planned. People are starting to get excited about leaving."

"That's good. If all goes well we should be able to leave in about a week."

Stillwater says "Great! I will pass the word!"

"Can you have everything packed up and ready to go by then?"

Stillwater says "Absolutely! Oh, the only one I can't be sure of is Brightfire. We have no way of contacting her."

"That's fine, I can always go get her. I wouldn't mind hunting a few orcs myself before we leave. Oh, that reminds me, the day after tomorrow I will need the sailors that you have chosen."

Stillwater says "Alright, I will arrange it."

After I am done talking to Stillwater I return to my camp spot and then create a soulscape. I spend several hours playing with the kids and then return to the desert. As soon as I finish creating a body, before I can spread my mana, I hear a buzzing sound.

Looking around I can see hundreds of hive scorpions flying around the area. Instantly, I turn and jump back through the gate before any of them can attack me. While I could maybe fight them, I couldn't do it without taking damage.

With how hard it is to find the healing items, it just isn't worth the risk. Especially since there is an entire hallway full of doors I can go into to explore. So, I head over to the next door and go through, only to find myself underwater.

Luckily, as a soul I don't need to breathe, even once I make a body I won't need to. The only problem will be movement, my new body hasn't been tested for swimming. Well, it kind of has, but swimming in lava is something a little different.

Once I have made my body I start swimming around to test it out, but it isn't good. While I can swim, it is nowhere near fast enough and I am not maneuverable enough. Unfortunately, no matter how I try I can't shapeshift my soul body.

Since I already know how dangerous ocean life can be there is no way I am swimming around as I am. So, I start playing around with my mana to try and figure out something. During the process I figure out that I can make weapons and armor for my body using mana.

However, that doesn't help me much right now, unless I do something crazy. The thought of trying to make a mini-sub crosses my mind, but I don't try it. For one thing I don't know exactly how one works, for another I don't want to mix technology and magic.

Then again, there might be another way to do the same thing, but with mana. Slowly and carefully I start building a shark body around myself out of mana. I will ride inside it just like a sub and control it using my mana, at least until I run out.

It takes almost a quarter of my mana to build the body, but once it is built it is solid. Meaning I don't need to spend any mana to maintain it, just to make it move. The faster I want it to move the more mana it will use, so I will have to be careful.