A week had passed since Drackenn had went into the dungeon. All the class chosen were busy with their assigned duties while on the island and waiting their turn to face themselves.

  Vorin was working with Minily and Gene on the map to figure out its secrets. A map that tracked powerful entities could be useful and there were obviously powerful enchantments and wards on the table itself. Gene worried that trying to remove the table would ruin the work of art. Minily was convinced they could carefully remove it and fit it on the ship without any negative effects. Vorin wasn’t convinced either way. He had little experience of magic of this level. He was mainly there to track any potential threats to their safety while on the island or along their path once they left.

  Shell was sticking with the class expected. She enjoyed teaching them special mediations techniques that the Wave would do when getting close to their class day. There was no proof of it being effective, but the Wave were convinced that focusing on a class option you wanted could factor into the System’s offers.

  All the class expected had taken being stranded well. Even on the island they did what they could to help out around camp. Some worked to prepare food while others continued to clean their new home. A couple even went out to collect resources when there was a class chosen around. Two of them knew they were getting close to their class day, and this would be an excellent start to their path. Gene even confirmed this by saying it’s possible they will be offered rarer classes due to spending time in such a high mana area for an extended period.

  Zuls was enjoying being on the island. She was working on her bonds with the animal companions she carried around with her. They hadn’t been able to come out on the floating forest, so all of them were excited to get out and stretch their legs. All ten were running all over the island to train with their bond forger. Snowfall was getting faster with her newfound strength that was an unexpected result from the extra growth that had occurred when Synexus grew her a new eye. The animals and Zuls herself were fine with the dungeons taking extra time. It felt amazing to have enough room for them all to be out and training together for the first time in years.

  Prith often practiced his sword forms near the waterfall or found a quiet place to meditate. He was excited for his chance to enter the dungeon, but sadly he would have to wait for Minily. That’s what they all had decided. Drackenn, Minily, Prith, Zuls, Vorin, Shell, Kumo, and then Synexus. While he waited, he wanted to try and gain some levels through practice. His lessons to the class expected continued to give them a greater chance of survival after obtaining their classes.

  Kumo found herself escorting the class expected out on resource runs in the forest. They still hadn’t seen any monsters, but there were some bigger animals that had absorbed some of the strange ambient magic. Beyond that she liked to walk the perimeter of the island and take care of any sea creatures that got too close. She loved being out here and seeing the night sky. It felt like she was truly on adventure, and this is what she had wanted all along.

  When she fought monsters, she was practicing what Shell was teaching her on the floating forest. Instead of massive cloud blades, she would use more controlled ones. The intense focus from before had lessened and now she could create extremely sharp cloud blades with barely a thought. They were much less noticeable and harder to dodge because of it. A well-aimed strike often meant the end of the battle and she always had well-aimed strikes.

  Synexus found himself on the shore closest to the mansion. If you followed the beautiful gemstone mountain range to the coast, he’d be sitting there on a flat rock. The sun felt amazing to him and the warmth helped him focus. His one and only task while waiting for his turn at the dungeon was to finish growing the ship.

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  It had taken him three days to finish refining the genomes of the seeds. The fourth day was about setting the seeds in precise places since each one was designed to grow in a unique pattern that would make up parts of the ship. The last three days involved him using Extreme Growth, but slowly. Technically, he could have pushed hard and grown the whole thing out instantaneously, but he wanted to take it slowly to see any faults before they became a problem. Each day he would go out to his spot and pour small amounts of mana into each seed simultaneously and watch the trees spout and grow into their unique shapes.

  This would be the final day. The ship was bigger than the Windswept was and he had just completed the deck. All that was left was to finish growing out the masts. Mipp came out to watch when he had first started. The seeds sprouted and it looked like the trees were growing over top of each other. They started to twist and turn and interconnect. It was as if the trees were fusing together into one big tree except it was shaped like a ship. The sheer size was enough to inspire awe.

  Of course, it wasn’t close to being finished. The ship looked rough and that was because the bark was still on the growing trees. Sanding, and sealing the ship would still be required. His skills could make the wood pretty smooth, but not perfect. Not yet. With that in mind, he had started working on an aether-infused sap that he had gotten from one of the trees here. His idea was to manipulate it to add in properties. The dried product should be clear, waterproof, and extremely durable to truly protect the wood. Now, this will be a little redundant because his plan is to also manipulate the wood with waterproofing, lighter floating, temperature regulating, and extreme durability as well. His hope would be to make a ship that will stand the test of time.

  His seeds were painstakingly designed from the castaway tree. The direct instructions in their genes would stop their growth at exactly the specified height and width. Synexus had removed the genes to produce leaves or fruit to make the finishing touches easier. It was truly fascinating how he could use his skills to such a degree. Genome Refinement was that much different than Gene Editing.

  Kumo saw the masts over the tree while on one of her coastal walks and right as she looked up, they stopped growing. Everyone knew what that meant. It was time to come together and start sanding. Hopefully, with all the class chosen it wouldn’t take too long to take off all the bark and get the ship smooth. After that, Synexus would manipulate the wood while it dried, and then they would treat it with his sap.

  When he felt the masts stop growing, he knew the growing of his ship was done. He stepped back and looked at it in admiration. They had accounted for the final prep work and had grown it on large wooden stilts that he had also grown out from trees. Even without the extra height of the stilts, the ship was massive. His heart filled with pride, and he knew it’d look even better once everyone came together to work on it.

  All the island inhabitants showed up moments later and stood by Synexus to look at his handiwork. Vorin was the first to speak.

  “Truly incredible.”

  “I don’t think you’re qualified to sail something so amazing, captain.” Prith always had a sharp comment to make. Everyone of course laughed at the joke.

  Minily let out a whistle. “You know Synexus, if you ever want to settle down and make ships, you could be a rich man.”

  “He already is a rich man. I personally want to see where his class takes him.” Zuls said from atop of Snowfall.

  “Wait, you’re a rich man?” Minily questioned.

  Kumo smacked her palm to her forehead. “You all are going to inflate his ego. It is a job well done though. Now we just have to figure out sails.”

  Gene flapped their wings and glided down from the crow’s nest. “I may have some thoughts on that front. I think we could…”

  Suddenly there was a loud noise like distant thunder except it was followed by something horrifying. A giant crack started to form along the gemstone mountain side followed by a blast of mana coming from the mansion.

  “That will have to wait. I believe Drackenn just emerged from the dungeon.”