Rise of the Devourer
Book 3: Chapter 16 — Beach episode... in the sky? Pt. 1

Time had passed rapidly and Noah had sunk himself into training day in and day out. It was almost a month since he’d first boarded the ship and he’d more or less grown accustomed to his life out here in the clouds, sparring and training till he almost fell over and passed out.

Given the intensity of their training, the group had decided to take their very first day off to rest a little. Noah had protested but surprisingly Kaelan had been the one to insist, saying even their bodies needed some time to recover.

Noah knew that was true, but he couldn’t help but feel itchy as he sat out on the deck with a glass of some kind of fruit alcohol in his hand. He’d tried to treat this like a vacation but despite himself his mind would run back to thoughts of training, and he’d get up to practice a move set only to catch himself and stop.

He’d even tried to break in secretly, but Zax had setup a spell that’d caught him when he’d tried. With a reluctant sigh of defeat, Noah sunk into his chair, opening his astral script one more time to look at all the upgrades and improvements he’d gotten as he’d trained.

Astral Script:

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Draconian Humanoid

Rank: D

Title: [Titan Slayer]

Paths:

Wyrmblood Guardian (Legendary) - level 127

Runebody Arcanist (Legendary) - level 126

Abyssal Predator (Legendary) - level 127

Attributes:

Power: 914 [1098]

Agility: 743 [890]

Constitution: 837 [1129]

Mystic: 871 [1175]

Attribute points: 0

Skill Points: 1

Noah had been hoping something would happen when his attributes reached four digits. He’d even equipped his Progenitor title to boost them, but to his disappointment, nothing had happened. He was still hoping still holding out hopes for when his base attributes got there.

Still, despite that, he couldn’t help but smile at his progress. The amount of attributes he gained per level was significantly higher now, and naturally, Noah had assumed that it would mean he would also grow slower than before, but his current pace was faster than how fast he’d been growing previously. It was almost hard to believe, despite Noah living through the experience.

Almost all his abilities were over level thirty and those that weren’t were catching up rapidly.

He opened his menu, looking at the blessing he had obtained from the dream trial as well.

[Septah’s Blessing (Minor)]

Gain a 10% boost to charisma. People will find you more mellow on their eyes, and your voice will sound more pleasing and more convincing. And you will find yourself welcomed in any church of the Goddess of Mercy around Erandir.

Noah had asked if there was a way to see Charisma as an attribute, and the dragon had told him there was, but never elaborated further. While it wasn’t a powerful boon or anything that increased Noah’s fighting abilities in any way, it was still nice to have around.

Closing the menu, he sighed, leaning back in his chair as he tried not to open up his Astral script to stare at the numbers again.

The progress was almost addicting, and Noah found himself living for the moment he would hear the notification after every training battle. He’d almost wanted to put the entire training setup into his cosmic vault to forever keep access to it, but like all good things, his time and the journey was also nearing an end. And that made his forced break day today all the more unbearable.

Noah didn’t move from his spot as he sensed Aurelia and Snow walk out, both wearing more casual attires, as they stepped onto the deck. The sun shone brightly above all of them, the sky was a bright and clear blue, given how they were above the clouds and everything.

Aurelia wore a stray hat, and a white bikini with a towel wrapped around her waist. Snow wore more normal looking clothes.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What’s up with that look?” Noah asked, rising from his chair.

“We’re going swimming!” Snow exclaimed, before Aurelia could reply.

“What she said,” Aurelia replied. “Did Seph not tell you?”

Noah noted the nickname, but did not comment. The two women had grown surprisingly close in their time sparring with each other.

“Clearly not. What am I missing? Unless you intend to swim out in the sky somehow,” Noah said, rising from his chair.

“There’s a—“ Snow’s eyes widened as Aurelia covered her mouth rapidly.

“It might be more fun now if we don’t tell him,” Aurelia said, in a whisper loud enough that even without Noah’s enhanced senses, he still would’ve heard it.

Snow looked at Aurelia, and the corner of her eyes crinkled in a pleased expression as she gave a nod.

Noah rolled his eyes. “That’s so childish. What is it? Is this why Kaelan told us to have a day off?” Noah asked.

“Yup!” the drakonian said, this time genuinely surprising Noah as he appeared out of nowhere, wearing a swimsuit as well. “It’s a mandatory break for every trip!”

“No wonder you of all people had agreed to it. I should’ve known something was wrong,” Noah said, rising from his chair. As he took a look around, he began to notice a lot of the other passengers wearing similar clothing as well as they stepped out on the deck of the ship.

Noah simply sent a pulse to Tony, as the symbiote shifted around Noah’s body, his clothes changing into a suitable attire as well. He couldn’t help but smile at the change, and the convenience of the ability. You’re the best, Tony.

The symbiote shivered happily, pleased at the praise.

“Alright, announcement time. Those who’ve been on this ship before know this place already. Those who haven’t, have likely heard of it anyway. But if you still don’t know, we’ll be stopping at one of the few natural sky islands, on our way, and you can step outside. But it’s a B grade habitat and there will be monsters around. Stronger than what you can handle. Don’t provoke them, and don’t get into fights,” the captain announced, her voice carried across by a spell as it echoed throughout the ship.

With a click, the voice ended, as Noah raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Sky island?”

“Indeed! Sometimes when there’s enough wind mana crystals, pieces of the earth can levitate to the skies. These are quite rare, especially stable ones, but this one is always on this route to Drakonias, and is filled mostly with water,” Kaelan said.

“That explains the swimsuits,” Noah said, glancing out front. He squinted his eyes, trying to search for the island amidst the clouds, but found the sun’s glare covering his sight.

“You won’t see it just yet. Give it a few seconds,” Kaelan said.

A moment later, Noah felt the ship starting to descend. Clouds surged from around him, as the ship went down, covering the world around Noah in a hazy fog. After a long hazy moment, the clouds began to part, and Noah’s eyes widened at the sight.

A beautiful island floated in the sky, with a waterfall rising out of a cliffside covering a large chunk of it in a giant lake, around which all sorts of strange creatures flew and swam about.

The group walked up to the edge of the deck, looking below them at the beautiful sight as the ship gradually descended downwards. Kaelan grinned, spreading his wings, as he stepped back to get some space. “Alright, heading out!” he shouted, rushing forward as he jumped off the deck.

A green light swirled around him, and a moment later, the dragon warrior was teleported back on deck.

“Ah… I forgot about that spell,” he said.

Noah burst into laughter at the drakonian’s antics, the rest joining him in their amusement.

“Oh, we can see it clearly now,” Kaelan said.

Noah turned around to look at the giant open beach floating in the middle of the sky. The majority of the island was covered in water, forming a beautiful lake. He could see creatures swimming around in the water even from this far above. The rest of the island was covered in exotic looking trees and plants, with a small mountain at the center of it.

Noah’s eyes spotted creatures flying around in the distance, and he squinted, using Identify.

[Thunder Wyverns - ???]

”Thunder wyverns huh?” Noah murmured to himself.

“Yup. A whole bunch of them. I wrestled one a few years ago. It almost ate me,” Kaelan said with a laugh.

“Don’t try that,” Aurelia added, as if afraid Noah would want to mimic him.

Noah rolled his eyes. He was not that stupid. The thing had three question marks, even with his rather large surge of strength it’d chew him out, or injure him seriously.

“Oh, look, sky manatees,” Aurelia said, pointing ahead. Noah followed her finger, and saw flying creatures extremely similar to manatees, but with azure bodies and a shimmering glow gently floating around in groups. As the ship descended, the creatures began to circle the ship, using it’s wind to carry them before they used to gusts to rise further up in the air. The sight looked mesmerizing, their bodies reflecting the sun in various glows that made them look other worldly. As the winds settled, the ship soon sunk down, settling gently down onto water, as the protective spell covering it dissipated, letting people off.

“Alright folks. You have three hours while we check everything and make repairs for the last stretch. Don’t cause any trouble!” Captain Ariella’s voice echoed across the ship.

Noah looked out at the beautiful island in front of him, waiting to be explored and he couldn’t help but give in to the sight.

Perhaps it wasn’t a terrible idea to take a day off for once.