Mash walked out of the restaurant, watching the interesting party through his domain. He noticed how Lisa was glancing back too.

“What’s up? And why did you pay for their meals?”

Lisa shrugged. It was a bit weird considering that she was actually a few years older than Mash, but Lisa had picked up some of his more casual gestures.

“They felt hungry, and I do not believe they are that well off. I think I feel a little bad for them considering what we are about to do.”

She sounded morose as she looked back into the restaurant.

“They were hungry. Really, now I feel kind of bad.”

Mash wondered if he should stick around and fight Jacob after all. It wouldn’t be that big a deal to spar with someone. Lisa shook her head, however.

“I’m sorry. But you shouldn’t feel bad. Money or not, they did not have good intentions. I just know how much hunger can change a person.”

Lisa’s tone dipped into one of regret and pain. He had seen this kind of reaction a few times now. There were just some things that set her off and reminded her of her past. He tried to come up with something to help cheer her up.

“What do you think about the world thing? I might actually be able to help him get home.”

“Oh, I was under the impression that you could not control where your portals lead.”

Her fascination with classes and skills, helped her recover and she jumped at the new topic. Mash grinned a little and tried to explain what he had felt.

“I’m not sure. I kind of read his aura. I mean, I’ve done that before, but his aura was more solid. And Priscilla said that it could probably be used like mana and that I could probably recreate it. I’m not a hundred percent certain that it will let me open a portal to his world, but I think there’s a chance. It just felt like his world was calling out to me.”

Lisa’s eyes grew focused as she seemed to analyze him.

“The Path of Change. You think that’s what’s happening, don’t you?”

Mash nodded.

“That or one of the aspects. I’m not exactly sure how to differentiate between the aspect-related skills and the aspects themselves.”

He spoke while noting several other people on the street. Most people probably couldn’t understand what their conversation was about, but them was always some significance when naming a skill directly.

“Let’s talk while we fly. I think they figured it out.”

Lisa didn’t argue, and Mash lifted both of them into the air. She could fly on her own, though this was easier and faster.

The flight from the Scaleport to the eastern kingdom, and continent, of Adria wasn’t as long as he had expected it to be. At the speed he was able to fly, the entire journey only took them a few hours. More to his surprise, they hadn’t encountered any threatening monsters. When exploring scale port, he had heard plenty of sailors talk about the horrific monsters of the waters and was secretly disappointed to have not seen any. Even with his domain, all he picked up were mundane fish and the like.

Even with the uneventful journey, the day had changed to night. Mash could see how people could get lost when all they had for guidance was the stars. He had directions though, and really just had to go in a straight line. Mash and Lisa talked about how they should act on another continent. Lisa had done a little research about culture and the like and told him that he probably wouldn’t need to worry about it much. She had said that he would fit in well and didn’t elaborate on any specifics for him.

He didn’t know what he expected from the new continent, but the first sign of land he saw was unremarkable. They hadn’t flown aimlessly, having gotten good directions ahead of time. So, he knew what city awaited them.

The port town of Taira wasn’t very different from Scaleport from the onset. A wide wooden pier spanned a good portion of the town’s beach. Even outside his domain, he could see several large ships docked there. Some of which he saw adorned with crude flags, with strange symbols on them. From what he had learned, those were pirate ships, and there were a lot of them. Lisa wasn’t able to see as far as he could, nor did she have night vision as he did. So, he had to tell her about what he saw.

“I think I see some pirate ships. Just letting you know in case the people there need some help.”

Weirdly, his words made Lisa smile a little.

“Sorry, but it is a bit funny. For you to run from one fight, just to find another. Not that I am saying we shouldn’t help.”

Mash nodded. He understood, and despite the possibly gruesome situation, he smiled sardonically. She was right, he really did do that.

He carried them down rapidly, scanning the city as it entered his domain. The scene wasn’t nearly as bad as he expected. The pirates were raiding the town, but they were mostly just stealing goods. The majority of the townsfolk had holed up in some kind of pseudo fortress, and they had some high-level batting away any pirates that drew too close to the building.

That left the pirates to pillage every other building. Mash could see a lot, including all the ‘treasure’ the pirates had stuffed away. He noticed that they were stealing some odd things like pillows and blankets.

“They’re stealing bed sheets, why?”

He glanced toward Lisa, wondering if she had some insight that he didn’t.

“Maybe they are slaves or just desperate.”

Lisa was clearly trying to understand their motivations, whereas Mash had just been preparing for a fight. A wave of shame splashed into him as he realized just how violent and distrustful, he had been. If Lisa wasn’t here, would he have murdered some unfortunate people? He wanted to believe that he was better than that, but he wasn’t sure.

“I didn’t think of that. I guess I’ll find the captain. See that big fort-like building, that’s where all the townsfolk are. You want to head there and see what’s up?”

Mash pointed at the relatively large stone structure at the center of the town. The building was shaped like an inverted wedding cake, with the fort’s highest point being its outermost walls. It was covered in enchanted stone, reminding him of a similar fort he had been imprisoned in as a kid.

“Are you sending me off, because you think it will be dangerous?”

Mash stopped their descent, air rushed around them for an instant, startling Lisa in the process. He turned toward her genuinely surprised by her question. Not because she was protesting his decision, but because she was right. He had unconsciously been trying to get her to a relatively safe position. Why had he done something so unfair? It wasn’t like they needed to go to the fort and fight the pirates simultaneously.

“Sorry, you’re right. Let’s stick together.”

This would make it harder for him to go all out, but it wasn’t like that was ever a real option. If he did that, he was just as likely to kill the people he wanted to help.

Mash searched through the ships and the town, trying to find the strongest people among them. It wasn’t difficult since they were all on one ship or another. In trying to find them, he noticed something else. Each of the five pirate ships at the port was completely enchanted. In fact, the ships didn’t feel like they were made by a person. They were part of a skill, weren’t they?

That was cool. He had heard of skills that gave people vehicles or buildings but hadn’t ever had the opportunity to study one like this. The constructs weren’t inherently magical in a traditional sense, but they were made of mana or some variation of mana. Mana was but one component of the vehicles, though he wasn’t exactly sure what the other things he felt were.

[Can we replicate that?]

[Perhaps if you eat one.]

Yeah, that was something he could do. While a chunk of wood didn’t sound like the most appetizing thing in the world, the idea of gaining new power far outweighed those concerns. He did feel the need to warn Lisa though.

“Lisa, I’m gonna try and eat a part of one of those ships.”

“What? I’m sorry, I mean why would you do such a thing?”

Her genuine shock was amusing to see.

“They are made by a skill. Priscilla thinks there’s a chance that I can learn something by doing it.”

The idea that the ships themselves were part of a skill didn’t surprise her, but her eyes widened at the second half of his statement.

“Um, okay, how are you planning on doing that.”

She sounded uncertain but seemed ready to support him all the same. Mash grinned and dropped out of the air, letting his levitation end. Wings sprouted from his back, growing from beneath his clothes. The scales that were only sometimes visible on his skin, were clear on his wings. The wings were replicas of dragons, though thinner and narrower. Lisa yelped, but she could fly to an extent and would catch up. He didn’t want to go back on what he just said and slowed a little to let her keep up with him.

The darkness of night hid their approach, as he flew toward the largest of the ships. In terms of sheer size, it rivaled the fort. He hadn’t been trying to be particularly stealthy, so eventually one of the lookouts did notice him. Mash’s eyes widened, as the ship began to move without anyone at the wheel. The structure turned a little, and the cannons on the side shifted toward him.

Those were some odd cannons. They were attached to the boat by some type of mechanical arm that was clearly designed to be able to rotate freely, and maybe even extend over the top of the ship. The cannon locked onto him, and he noticed large rotund crystals jammed into where a cannonball would go. A loud, oddly high-pitched rumbling noise filled the air as the crystals began to light up. His domain let him see the mana in the air and get drawn to the crystals like they were magnets.

[Let me deal with them.]

Lisa’s message was a bit of a surprise considering that she was a little behind him, but he agreed, nonetheless. He flew directly toward the ship, ignoring the cannons entirely. The cannons fired a beam of pure concentrated mana at him. They were deeply blue and glowed brightly in the night sky. They shone over the ocean, and their light was reflected in the water beneath illuminating the ocean as they moved. Mash didn’t turn, trusting and watching Lisa behind him.

She was dancing, twirling in the air, more like a fairy than Jill had been with her class. Lisa moved her hands as if she were moving with some unseen partner. The attacks that were headed his way, veered around him. Almost as if the cannons were trying to dodge him rather than the other way around. The other ships reacted to the light show, and he saw similar cannons appear on their sides. They just kind of appeared on the ships. Lisa noticed too, and the beams of mana that had been heading in her direction shifted again, wrapping around her and flying toward the other ships.

That alone was impressive, but her control of mana went further than that. She was just as good as he was at controlling magic, and each beam headed toward a different ship, and they split. The beams separated like a frayed rope, sending smaller more concentrated attacks at every cannon. He smiled as the light spilled around him painting the large ship blue. The ocean shook as dozens of small explosions rocked the many boats.

Now, it was Mash’s turn. He held both arms in front of him, his palms open and fingers bent like the jaws of a monster. Rather than change his body like he normally did, he tried something else. He focused on his magic, remembering what he had done back at Tlik’s hive. He let his mana pour into his domain, into the vague outline that he would normally use with his wooden magic. This time though, he used his pure mana and his domain to mimic what he had done before, but in a more concentrated manner. In theory, all of his magic was a part of his body, so he should be able to eat things like this.

He focused on his hunger, on the idea of consumption. And he brought his hands together in a biting motion. A large portion of the ship, a section that he had checked to make sure no one was inside, just vanished. He tore into the room where the captain was, erasing the back wall of the ship to stare directly at the captain. Mash was grinning as he felt power rush through him.