Both me and Grandpa took turns resting on the body of the giant bird after we confirmed that it died, and talked for quite a while about classes and such.
We were able to make a few strong assumptions based on that talk.
First of all, Heartborne classes indeed seemed to be specific to the person, as Grandpa also had three but two of them were different.
Not that he told me of course, choosing to keep them secret for some reason. Maybe he was embarrassed or something? I donât know.
What he did tell me though were his skill choices.
I was right that he did have one to throw the spear, called Pole Throw. Despite that he tried to insist that he didnât need the skill for that, but we both knew differently. That was a laser of a throw.
It wasnât normal.
Something like that could only be the work of a skill or perhaps someone insanely strong and practiced.
Neither of which actually applied here.
His other skill was something called Braceform. It apparently helped to root him in place wherever he stood and resist things like being knocked over or pushed backwards.
Definitely the type of skill that fit Grandpa.
Of course I had to try out my skills as well, and that came with even more information.
Invoking or activating the skill didnât just do the action for me. I quite literally had to move the way the skill dictated and then it would doâ¦something and allow my actions to be something more than what they were without the skill.
I didnât fully understand exactly what it did just yet other than pulling on my mana, but it did something.
Either way, to use surging step I had to actually step off into a direction as I activated the skill and then it would work as intended.
And when I did it right, it most definitely worked.
The world around me practically became a blur as I shot forward in the water for about 45 feet I think.
That was significant.
Honestly I donât think I can use it in a battle just yet, as I was a little thrown off by it, but that would be fixed by more practice.
It was unfortunate but I only got to do one test, as every bit of mana I had in my body was used by activating the skill just once.
Of course this was still just speculation. The number of my mana attribute was 6 at this point didnât actually change one bit, but something else happened.
An energy I hadnât felt this entire time felt like it was leaving my body rapidly. And for a moment after it left, I felt pretty fatigued.
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That had to be mana.
It would take some more experimenting to confirm and a whole lot more time and patience to perhaps try to get a better grasp of mana but I felt fairly confident in my theory.
Especially since Grandpa confirmed he had the same feeling when he activated his skill.
Anyway, it took about an hour roughly for the âenergyâ I lost to come back and I felt fine again.
I still couldnât grasp the energy or control it in any way but that was something for later.
For now.
Back to swimming.
Both me and Grandpa had stopped swimming and we were looking in front of us.
By this point both of us were haggard and starving. I had no idea how long weâve been swimming and at this point I didnât care.
It was still pitch black outside and if it wasnât for the stars we wouldnât even know if we were still swimming in the right direction.
But there was something in front of us.
A small boat.
In fact there were a number of boats in the distance across the horizon.
Most of them were destroyed and nothing but wrecks similar to the one we swam away from were all that remained of them.
Though that isnât the reason why we stopped.
Bodies.
Remains of bodies.
One of the ships had a broken light bulb at the top that was hanging by a wire and rotating slowly around the area.
The light was still lit. Faintly so.
In fact all it really did was flicker.
And what it showed was something straight out of a horror film.
Even though Grandpa and I were still relatively far from the scene, we were able to make out the carnage that remained.
âFred.â
âIâm alright Grandpa.â
ââ¦Try to swim as quietly as possible. Slow and steady. Whoever or whatever did this could still be nearby.
âAnd even if they werenât, this amount of blood will attract predators. Assume things worse than those sharks.
âWe will go in, try to find a working boat and use it to return to land.â
âUnderstood Grandpa.â
Grandpaâs words carried a much more solemn tone at the moment and his facial expression was dark as he gazed upon the scene in front of us.
I couldnât blame him.
I was actively fighting the urge to throw up. Which Iâm sure he realized and thatâs why he called my name.
We looked on for a few moments longer before we began our swim towards the horror scene. We were moving slowly but there was no real way to actually swim quietly on the surface of the water, but thankfully the ocean was never completely quiet and we mostly blended into the natural sounds of the ocean.
Or at least I hoped we did.
As we neared, the urge to throw up only grew in intensity as the smell hit us in full force. It wasâ¦putrid. The smell of death and decay wasnât something I think Iâd be getting used to anytime soon.
In fact...I eventually had to stop and throw up as I couldnât take it anymore and then the feeling began anew.
It didnât make it any easier to handle, but it at least reset the feeling in a way.
By the time we finally made it to the blood-filled waters, I had grown somewhat resistant to the smell and the sight but only slightly.
We swam through the waters as carefully as possible, until Grandpa spotted a boat that appeared relatively functional. And by functional it just wasnât destroyed and floated normally.
Thoughâ¦it was still covered in a lot of blood.
After making it to the boat and climbing aboard, we were met with the sight of two disfigured bodies.
It was gruesome to look at the sight, but we did our best to ignore it and while Grandpa went to check if the boat cold start, I went to check for supplies.
Desperately searching forâ¦water!
âGrandpa thereâs water!â
I found a cooler below deck, and it thankfully contained a few bottles of water and other drinks.
Of course, we were most in need of the water at the moment. I took out a bottle and brought the other one up for Grandpa.
We downed both of them as if we had never drank fresh water before.
Which is practically how it felt.
Rev Rev Rev!
The sounds of an engine trying to turn over could be heard as Grandpa tried to get it going and it took a few tense moments but it eventually came on.
âThere we go Freddy.â
Just as I was about to smile and be happy at the win, loud splashing could be heard coming from somewhere in the distance.
âHold on to something Freddy!â
That was all Grandpa said as he quickly brought the boat up to full throttle immediately and began moving in the direction of home.
The engine of the boat was drowning out some of the noise, but the splashing was growing louder and louder behind usâ¦