Amethyst's aura shines with delight as we trudge through the Underswamps, completely undeterred by our boots immediately being coated in mud. Rowan sticks to her as we make our way through the fantastic fungal tunnels, as she's squishier than me if we run across any swamp monsters out here. (It's funny to think of myself as not being the squishiest one in the party anymore solely by virtue of being Elite rank.)

While Amethyst admires the scenery, I keep an eye out with [Aura Sight] for monsters. Nothing but some Basic-rank giant cave newts, but that's always an opportunity to get some Invocation practice in. I aim my copper snake rod at them and channel paralytic venom at them, and point out their locations to Amethyst so she can poke them with her spear. The venom from [Serpent's Bite] is still too weak to be useful against anything higher rank than me, but I will keep working at it. We bring the corpses with us to deliver to the Splott Lakeside Inn as usual.

Although we haven't built a paved highway through the Underswamps (yet, anyway), the route from the Hebron Stair to Splott Lake is well-marked and regularly patrolled. We pass a group of goblin scouts who are heading the other way, who give us brief cheerful greetings before we part ways.

As the tunnel opens up into the vast Splott Cavern, we pause to give Amethyst a chance to gaze in awe upon the lake lying below us lit up with glowing fungi. It has become something of a right of passage for every new dwarf we spawn in Hebron. We stop at the crude stone inn by the lake for lunch and leave the game we'd collected, though we don't stay long enough for those specific newts to be cooked.

"Glowing mushrooms, friendly goblins, and tasty lizards," Amethyst says. "Nice."

"They're newts, technically," I say. "Not that it really matters."

We move on to the surface exit and again, pause to let Amethyst stare in awe at her first sight of the sky. There's no rush, so we emerge slowly beneath the canopy of the Great Oak, its leaves lit with yellow light from the sky above us. Although there isn't a festival going on at the moment, the benches, tables, and some of the decorations remain.

Amethyst wonders, "Hey, so why exactly didn't you spawn me before the Brew Festival instead of Copper?"

"I wasn't thinking about it at all. I'm nine."

Amethyst laughs and pats me on the shoulder. "I'm just messing with you. There will be many more festivals in the centuries ahead."

Once we walk out under the open sky, the Crystalline Heavens make for a breathtaking panorama between the Great Orb casting the sky in yellow and the scattered skymotes punctuating it with gold and red. Zenith shines overhead like an orange pancake of a moon, lit up by the local skymote, Tiganna, just below the northwest horizon.

"I miss the sun," Amethyst finally says quietly.

"Yeah," I say. "I didn't spend much time out in it, back on Earth, but I don't think I'm ever going to get used to it being gone."

A beaten dirt path leads from the tunnel entrance through a wheat field and to the gates of the small walled village of Nefern. Amethyst is interested in talking to people about booze. I am not. My [Brewing] skill is only at level 9, and while I've put some time into it along with my other Crafting skills, I was never especially interested in alcohol when I was an adult, never mind as a reincarnated child. (My vices were usually caffeinated and excessively caloric instead.)

Above the gates stands the docking tower, where the small skydock holds my flying boat, the Celestial Duck. Or at least, it's supposed to. The dock stands conspicuously empty.

"Where is my boat?" I wonder aloud once the open parking spot that my aether pinnace should be occupying comes into view.

"Maybe one of our uncles needed it for something and didn't care to wade through the Underswamps to come ask?" Anise says.

"Or maybe the Nefern kids took it on a joyride," Rowan adds.

I put a hold on speculation until we get inside and can just ask. I really need to get or build a new skyboat that actually has a locking feature, or figure out enough Wizardry to add one to the sigil works myself. Assuming the Nefern kids didn't take it on a joyride and crash it or something.

Name: Badger Nefern Tempest Tiganna Race: Human | Gender: Male | Rank: Heroic | Tier: Master | Class: Enduring Wheatmaster Disposition: Friendly | Mood: Disappointed, Nervous, Unhappy

"Ah, Drake…" says the middle-aged farmer when we stroll into the square.

I sigh. "Did the kids steal and crash my boat?"

"Did you read my mind?" Badger asks.

"Sometimes you don't have to be a psychic," Anise points out. "The empty dock is right there and it's written all over your face."

"Is everyone alright?" Rowan asks.

"They're fine," Badger replies. "Also grounded, obviously. Yesterday, Colt and Poppy decided to sneak out and fly to the Secret Garden. We had the tower locked, of course, but they just climbed up the outside like a couple of squirrels."

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"I will yell at both of them when I see them," I say. "I told them not to touch my boat. Which, in hindsight, was probably just a challenge."

"I fear I can only offer reparations and help in retrieving the wreckage if it can't be repaired."

"We'll see," I say. "We got some skills that might help, depending on how bad it is. You can show us after tea. We've been walking through the Underswamps all day and I need some Stamina back."

"Of course. Head into the guest house and I'll send Colt and Poppy from the Hearth."

Nefern's guest house is a large, cozy green wooden building opposite the lavender-painted magicrete Hearth. Somebody probably actually built it, as opposed to the artificial substance the village's aether core shaped the main building with.

"So, inns are traditionally painted green to symbolize travel," Amethyst comments as we go inside.

"You were actually paying attention to Teacher Rosemary's info dumps?" Rowan asks.

"It's not like I had anything better to do," Amethyst says. "I was useless in that fight."

"A normal person would have been running away by that point."

Amethyst shrugs. "Honestly, getting killed by those things probably would have hurt less than eating them. At least I unlocked [Pain Tolerance]."

A sandy-haired boy and girl arrive bearing tea. Badger steps in behind them, broad arms folded across his chest and a stern look on his craggy face.

Name: Colt Nefern Tempest Tiganna Race: Human | Gender: Male | Rank: Elite | Tier: Novice | Class: Hardy Child Disposition: Friendly | Mood: Not nearly contrite enough

Name: Poppy Nefern Tempest Tiganna Race: Human | Gender: Female | Rank: Basic | Tier: Novice | Class: Sneaky Child Disposition: Friendly | Mood: Not nearly contrite enough

"We're very, very sorry," the Nefern kids say in unison.

"You really aren't," I say. "What were you thinking, trying to fly my boat with just you two?"

"I thought we could handle it," Colt says.

"And we could!" Poppy pipes in. "We were doing fine!"

"And then Poppy decided to try to fly us straight over the dungeon," Colt says.

"How was I supposed to know there's an invisible wall there!?" Poppy whines. "I didn't run into it last time I stole—uh, borrowed—a skyboat near the Secret Garden…"

I put my face in my palms and take a deep breath. "Alright, Poppy… I am not going to scream at you because you are eight years old and dumb."

"I'm nine!" Poppy corrects me. "Same as you!"

I ignore her and go on. "But Colt really should have known better. I wouldn't have even been mad you wanted to use my boat if you'd gotten some more help with it. If you'd had an adult along, or at least two more mischievous children…"

"All the other Nefern kids are boring," Colt pouts. "And I was grounded."

"It clearly didn't help," Badger puts in.

"We're very, very sorry," they repeat.

"And would you stop that?" I snap. "Did you pick that up from the Corwen twins? It's not convincing when they do it, either."

I'm outwardly calm, but beneath that, the roiling emotions of a nine-year-old boy spike between rage, panic, and despair. I console myself with the thought that I wanted to build a new boat anyway and had already been making plans for one.

After tea, Colt, Poppy, and Badger go with us across the wheat fields to the patch of moorland the walled garden dungeon sits upon. My poor frequently-stolen boat lies, if not in one piece, at least in one spot. Upside down, with the masts snapped and sails twisted beneath it. Suppressing the wrenching sensation in my gut, I touch the wreckage and draw in information via [Vehicle Diagnosis].

Name: Celestial Duck | Class: Aether Pinnace | Owner: Drake (you) Control Rating: Good | Max Speed: 20 kph | Maneuverability: Moderate Hull Integrity: 73% | Sigil Integrity: 65% | Main Power: Inactive | Tiller Control: Damaged Port: Sail Integrity: 99% | Sail Control: Damaged | Mast: Broken Starboard: Sail Integrity: 98% | Sail Control: Damaged | Mast: Broken

"How did you manage to break both masts?" I wonder in dismay. "At least aether silk is tough stuff."

"Is it fixable?" Colt asks meekly.

"Fixable? Almost certainly. Whether we have the skills to do it right now? I don't know yet. Before we roll it over to try to fix the masts, let's shore up the hull integrity to make sure that won't make it any worse."

"Time for Sorcery (Ship Shape)," Anise says, channeling the strong opinion of the shape the ship is supposed to be in into the hull.

I don't have that particular skill, as I was aiming for something less emotion-driven for some reason. I pull out the notebook with diagrams of the boat I'd drawn and unlocked Iconography (Restoration) with, and now that I'm standing here watching my mom bend splinters back with sheer force of will, I'm starting to wonder why I bothered. Yes, I had bigger plans for Iconography, but I still can't help but think her method is more direct for the purpose of repairs. I don't have any Sorcery skills yet, but I doubt I'd have any trouble learning this one. My class, [Resonant Child], would give a bonus to experience for item-related magic like this.

"Mom?" I say. "Can you teach me Sorcery?"

"Nope!" Anise replies cheerfully.

"Why not?"

"You can't teach Sorcery! You gotta feel it for yourself!"

I roll my eyes. "Aunt Rosemary could teach Sorcery."

Anise shrugs. "I bet you could teach yourself Sorcery better than I could teach anyone anything."

"Fine, I'll take that challenge. Sorcery is the Willpower-based magic skill and uses your emotional state as a focus. Everything I've read about it sounded incredibly vague. I generally like a little more precision than just stuff happening because you wanted it to happen, but I guess magic had to start somewhere."

Anise nods. "I never tried to be a Sorcerer. It just happened. I started off setting fires the mundane way, with Survival (Fire Making). Then after the incident that led to me reaching Elite, I'd unlocked Sorcery (Pyromania) and could set things on fire just by wanting things to be on fire."

"To repair a boat, you're just channeling the desire for the boat to be intact?" I say. "Hmm. Willpower is mental Endurance, which makes Sorcery the counterpart to the feet. It's reaching a mystic effect through hard work, through doing something yourself with great effort, like how we're going to have to walk home if we can't get this fixed."

"It's no wonder you're bad at Sorcery, through," Anise says. "You overthink everything."

"I was also born with lower-than-average Willpower. But I've been working on it. I didn't even yell at a couple of idiot kids who broke my boat. I wonder if Colt could channel the emotion of 'We're very, very sorry' successfully to help repair it." I give him a challenging look.

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