”How-how could I have let this happen,” she asked, her voice barely louder than the noise around her.

Ning looked at Saphandra with a frustrated face as he brought out something from his storage. He reached over to her face and opened her mouth before putting it in.

”Eat this,” he said as he made her swallow it.

Saphandra swallowed it without asking and finally, her deathly face got better.

”I thought I was going to die,” she said as she slowly stood up.

”Stop exaggerating,” Ning said with an annoyed voice. “It’s just sea-sickness. You’ll be fine now that you’ve taken your medicine.”

Ning left her be and walked out of her room. Then, he went out of the hallway to the deck and felt the cool air of the ocean.

There was water as far as he could see with no sign of land anywhere close.

It had been half a day since they started their journey in the morning and were currently less than a quarter of the way through. It was a 3-day long journey with no stops, so there was still plenty of time for everything.

Ning looked at the different fishes that swam underneath him and wondered if there were any monsters there at all.

”Hey brother,” Ning called out to a sailor that worked on the ship.

”Yes?” the young man came up to him.

”How often do the beasts come to attack from underneath the water?” Ning asked.

”Oh very often, sir,” the sailor said. “But don’t worry. We have 5 Rank 3 Summoners that are constantly monitoring the water underneath and fighting away any beast that comes to attack us.”

”But they are only rank 3 though,” Ning said. “What if a stronger beast comes by?”

”Well, fortunately, beasts higher than Rank 4 or 5 are pretty much impossible to find around here, and they also don’t like bothering us humans, so we are fine,” the sailor said.

”I see,” Ning said. “Thank you for answering.”

Ning stayed on the deck for a while and simply enjoyed the journey. They were headed west so the day was going to last longer than normal.

With nothing else to do, Ning returned to his room and started studying the different pieces of information he had in his mind. Primarily, the information on the summoning circle was what he went for.

After a few hours of studying, he got bored and went out to check on the other two.

He knocked on Taron’s door, but he was missing. So, he went to Saphandra’s door and knocked on it.

Saphandra opened up the door.

”Oh you’re looking healthy now,” Ning said.

”Well it feels good not having to throw up every few seconds,” She said.

”What are you doing?” he asked and looked behind her to see a book on the bed. “Are you studying the language?”

”Yes,” Saphandra said. “Want to quiz me?”

”Uhh… sure,” Ning said and stayed with her for a while, asking various questions for her to answer.

Ning saw that she was definitely getting better. A few more weeks of learning, and she would be able to hold a normal conversation with anyone, at least an understandable one.

As they were studying, there was a knock on the door. “Dinner time,” the sailor shouted.

On the ship, there were 2 meals a day, lunch and dinner. As for breakfast and supper, one could just go grab a fruit from the dining hall if they were hungry.

”I’m really hungry,” Saphandra said.𝞸𝒱𝗅xt.𝕔𝗈𝗆

”I would hope so,” Ning said. “Considering you skipped out on lunch and threw up everything else that was in your body.”

”Yeah, let’s not remind me of that,” Saphandra said as she made a gagging motion. “Even the thought of vomiting is making me want to vomit now.”

”You’ll be fine, you’ve eaten the medicine,” Ning said.

”How did you even come across the medicine?” Saphandra asked as she got ready to leave.

”What do you mean how? I bought it in the city. They sell all kinds of stuff that are useful in the sea,” Ning said.

The two of them walked over to the dining hall and found Taron already sitting at one of the tables, surprisingly with another girl they hadn’t met before.

”When did he meet a girl?” Saphandra asked.

”Most likely while you were in your room, trying not to throw up,” Ning said.

”I told you to stop reminding me of that,” Saphandra said as she kicked his leg.

Ning pretended to get hurt and laughed a little. They then lined up and took a place each to grab their food.

There were varieties of food for dinner and Ning chose a little of all of them. At the very least, he was going to taste it all.

Saphandra only took what she recognized and let the rest be. Once they grabbed their food, Ning looked around to see where they should sit.

”Shouldn’t we go by Taron?” Saphandra asked.

”Let’s not disturb him,” Ning said. “He will probably hate us if we bother him at the moment.”

”Well, then we should go sit over there with— that bastard!” Saphandra shouted.

”With who now?” Ning was surprised and looked at where she pointed and saw a man wearing a hood, sitting alone at a table.

Despite his hood, however, his long green hair spilled along his side and Ning recognized who he was looking at.

”That bastard!” Ning said as well.

”Do you think he followed us?” Saphandra asked.

”I don’t know. Want to find out?” he asked.

”Sure,” Saphandra said and took the lead before walking towards the man. She slammed her tray onto the table, surprising the man.

”Hey what are you— Ahh,” the man was even more surprised this time when he saw Saphandra.

Ning sat down by her side and looked at the man with a serious face. “Are you following us?” he asked.