Cloud Whale Drifting Through the Sky

Back in his cabin, Angel continued to hole himself up like a mushroom, studying the problems his mentor had left behind. Sometimes, he even missed mealtimes. More than ten days passed. During that time, Angel heard of the grudge between Isley and Dev: a noble had humiliated a young girl to death, while the girl's childhood sweetheart turned his grief and fury into strength, endured humiliation and lived on with a heavy burden, until one day he finally rose up and killed the noble.

It was melodramatic, but it was also reality. In this world, where the law only targeted the poor, whatever the noble class did was always treated as an exception. Fairness existed only when both sides possessed equal strength.

After hearing the story, Angel did sympathize with Isley. Though Isley was a noble, he had received Jon's Earth-style education and held only faint notions of class distinction. But later, Angel heard something that greatly lowered his opinion of Isley.

The reason Dev had gone to the dining hall without a single attendant that day was because Isley had slaughtered every one of his followers. Some had been members of minor Central Empire families who clung to power and influence; some were newly recruited lackeys who had looked down on others aboard the ship; some had even been beauties and talented people Dev had forcibly taken. The first group aside, the latter two had no conflict with Isley at all. Some were even fellow sufferers. Yet Isley had killed them all, leaving none alive.

Angel disliked such cruel actions, but he did not develop any hatred for Isley. He simply felt a little less sympathy and a little more wariness.

The world of wizards was even crueler than he had imagined.

Time passed. They crossed Whisker Whale Sea in peace, and the Bauhinia entered the rumored most terrifying Devil Sea.

This stretch of sea was filled with evil pirates, gigantic sea beasts, bizarre weather, and even legendary ghost ships.

For ordinary civilian vessels, Devil Sea was an impassable natural barrier.

But the Bauhinia was different. With wizards aboard, all evil things fled at its approach.

When they were halfway through Devil Sea, Irene, who had vanished for nearly a month and a half, came to Angel's room.

Irene's face was pale, and she looked somewhat dejected. None of her usual vitality remained as she listlessly sat on the stool by the window.

"Brother Pat, I only now realize how stupid I am. I don't even know who I can talk to. My brother sensed spiritual power the day before yesterday. But me? It's been more than a whole month, and I haven't achieved anything through meditation. Forget magic power—I haven't even seen the shadow of spiritual power."

Irene kept recounting her meditation experiences from the past month, regardless of whether Angel was listening. By the end, her nose had reddened, tears welled in her eyes, and her lips were pursed. She looked utterly wronged.

Angel sighed. He had no idea how to comfort the girl and could only repeat, "You'll definitely succeed. It's only a matter of time."

The more he said that, the harder Irene cried. With Alan and Isley, who had shone so brilliantly a few days earlier, as comparisons, Irene became even less able to hold herself back. Not only did she cry, she began complaining about how boring meditation was and about all the jumbled, chaotic thoughts that arose while meditating. Fortunately, Irene still had some sense and did not reveal the core content of the Triangle Guidance Method.

Even so, Angel gained a great deal. He carefully committed to memory all the possible drawbacks of meditation.

Once she had finished crying and complaining, Irene wiped away her tears, her face flushing with embarrassment. Just now, she had felt so wronged that she had treated Angel as a tree hollow to pour out her tears. Only after calming down did she realize that what she had done was not very ladylike... Would Angel think she was terribly spoiled from now on?

The atmosphere turned quiet. Irene nervously kneaded her hands, her eyes darting about as she thought of how to ease the mood—preferably in a way that would make Angel forget her earlier tearful outburst.

"Brother Pat, what are you writing?" Irene noticed a stack of paper covered in writing on the desk. Her eyes filled with curiosity. She had seen those characters before in the stilt house at Pat Manor. They were called "Chinese characters."

"A diary. These days, all I do is read and sleep. It's really, really boring. I can only write a diary to pass the time." Angel told a small lie. He was actually solving problems, but explaining it would be too troublesome and might even involve his mentor's secrets. Fortunately, in this world, no one besides his mentor and himself could read Chinese, so he did not have to worry about being exposed.

Irene looked for a while and found that she truly could not understand it, so she simply put it down and searched for another topic to ease the atmosphere.

Irene's topics still could not escape the narrow horizons of a noble girl. Angel could not bear listening for long, and just as he was about to interrupt, the ship suddenly lurched violently.

Neither of them panicked. They quickly grabbed the iron anti-shake rails on the wall to steady themselves.

How could one sail the sea without encountering a little wind and waves? Besides, they had entered Devil Sea, where wind, thunder, clouds, and lightning were at their strangest. Over the past month, there had been a small bout every three days and great waves every five. They had long grown accustomed to it. Because of this, aside from paper and pens, there was nothing else on Angel's desk.

The waves lasted five minutes, which counted as a minor storm compared to their experiences over the past month.

Because of that bout of rough seas, the awkward atmosphere vanished completely. Irene brushed aside her slightly disheveled hair, while Angel tugged at his brown short shirt, now so wrinkled that it exposed his abdominal muscles. The two stared at each other blankly, then smiled.

The relaxed mood did not last long. Before either of them could react, a chaotic, dense patter of footsteps sounded overhead from the wooden ceiling—like many people running.

What happened upstairs? The same question rose in both their hearts.

Irene leaned against the windowsill and looked outside curiously. Then she suddenly cried out, "Brother Angel, come look!"

Hearing her, Angel leaned over and looked out.

Outside was a vast darkness. The incomparably azure sky had been blocked by a gigantic creature. Angel wanted to see what it was more clearly, but it was simply too large; for the moment, he could not even distinguish its head from its tail.

Angel's heart jolted. He said quickly, "Let's go out and take a look!"

If such an enormous creature attacked the Bauhinia, hiding in the cabins would only mean dying faster. Irene understood this as well and followed Angel without hesitation.

After leaving the room, they saw that the doors of all the other rooms in the corridor had opened. Everyone was rushing toward the deck, their faces tense or even panicked.

When they reached the deck, they found it already crowded with people. The gifted, the servants, and the sailors stood in their respective groups, all staring blankly at the enormous creature floating in the sky.

However, Angel noticed that the gifted mostly wore worried and terrified expressions, while the sailors and servants aboard the Bauhinia looked curious and amazed, without the slightest fear.

After noticing this, Angel's anxious heart relaxed somewhat. Since even sailors who spent all year aboard ships were not afraid, this giant creature presumably did not threaten their lives.

With that sliver of hope, Angel calmed himself and carefully examined the massive creature in the sky—

He could not see its full form from inside the cabin, but once on deck, Angel finally caught a glimpse of its true appearance.

It was a gigantic whale at least two hundred meters long, floating a hundred meters up in the sky. The two enormous fins at its sides resembled wings, and every flap raised a whirlwind. The great waves from before had probably been caused by the Cyclone it stirred up?

The whale's eyes were like azure gemstones, glimmering with rippling light. A towering horn rose from its streamlined forehead. Set against blue skies and white clouds, the horn seemed wrapped in unfathomable drifting vapors.

"I never thought the legendary Cloud Whale actually existed in Devil Sea!" someone exclaimed in astonishment.

"Cloud Whales have always been gentle by nature, but just in case, we must prepare for the worst." Not far away, the Bauhinia's first mate loudly directed the sailors, then turned to look at the three "lords" behind him.

"My lords, the Bauhinia needs to activate the Mirror Spell. I ask that you lend me your strength." Dressed as a knight, the first mate knelt on one knee before the "lords."

These three "lords" were the escorts from the three major wizard organizations stationed aboard the Bauhinia. There was one woman and two men. The woman was elegantly dressed. She was Madam Meline, the level-three wizard apprentice from Hurricane Tower whom Angel had seen a few days ago.

Of the other two men, the young and handsome one with black hair, brown eyes, and leather soft armor was Lord Kormoen, a level-two wizard apprentice from Gravity Forest.

The other was an elderly man with gray hair and a gray beard. Though his face looked aged, his eyes gleamed sharply. He was Lord Florent, the level-three wizard apprentice escort from White Coral Floating Island Academy, which Angel and the others were about to join.

Behind Lord Florent stood an old man in black robes and a youth. The moment Irene saw them, her eyes lit up, and she waved her arms at them.

The old man and the youth were Moro and Alan, whom they had not seen for a long time.