The talking with the king of Karantis went pretty well, with Arthur getting a mysterious magical ring, more information about the demon continent, and, more importantly, the king's help in the upcoming war against the demon continent.
Arthur's crew now had one less member, but at least Samara was okay and not in trouble like most believed before arriving at Karantis.
After the talking was over, Nehres, the king of the mermaids and tritons, left Karantis, looking to go toward the central continent to speak with the current Archimage about an alliance and share everything he knew about the demon continent with them as well.
"We are now free to explore this place, which is honestly incredible!" Sybille said as they left the palace, looking at all the other buildings in Karantis.
They went to every shop, from clothes to weapons, looking for any trinkets they might want to bring before leaving Karantis. Arthur was interested in some alchemy ingredients and a cauldron too! So he went to the alchemy shop and learned everything he could from the vendor, who politely shared all the usages of each ingredient. Arthur wrote and drew each ingredient in his magical notebook, which was starting to look thick with all the information he wrote in there.
He bought some of the ingredients, but not all, and a cauldron for his alchemy experiments. Arthur still had a long journey ahead of him, so he might as well refine his alchemy skills.
On the other hand, Sybille was more fond of jewelry, so she bought lots of pearl necklaces, some rings, and earrings too! Would these things have an actual usage for her? Absolutely not, but she still used her money without remorse, and was happy with the purchase, so who was Arthur to blame her?
After their exploration of Karantis was over, Arthur and Sybille returned using the same portal, going back to the lake. They wished to explore more of it, but the rest of the crew, Jane and Wisa, needed to know more.
"With the map of the entrances, I can return here again to explore," Arthur thought.
A vortex teleported the two of them back to the lake underwater. They were both wet, and Sybille's clothing was tight on her skin, making it a sight to behold. Arthur saw the tip of her nipples, which got hard after she noticed his gaze.
"Savage! We spent months having sex in the ship; don't you get tired?" Sybille said that but had a lewd smile on her face.
"Shouldn't we get our clothes off to dry them?" Arthur suggested, and Sybille, of course, accepted.
They got naked near the lake, and their eyes exchanged glances for a moment, thinking about having sex there, but they opted not to do it. Arthur and Sybille had yet to get comfortable enough to have sex, just the two of them.
Deep down, they felt guilty if doing it just the two, putting Jane and Wisa aside, so that's the reason they usually did it all together.
Arthur used his magic to cast a hot vapor, drying up their clothes without much trouble. After that, they returned back to the shore where their camp was. Nothing unusual happened along the way, meaning it was a stroll in the park for them.
"Captain!"
The crew yelled when seeing both Arthur and Sybille in the distance, and when they noticed Samara was not there, most thought about the worse. Arthur gathered everyone, and all of them sat on the sand of the island's shore, where Arthur explained the situation. Only after the explanation the crew calmed down and send away all the negative thoughts.
Still, it was a shock for them as no one knew about Karantis' existence, much less that Samara was one of them! So it was a surprise, but all of them were happy she was okay, even though Samara would never be a part of their crew again.
"So we can all rest and enjoy our time here on this island?" one of the crew members said.
Arthur returned to his tent after sharing the information with the crew, where his wives and he had a good time during the entire week they stayed on the island.
~~~~
Nothing special happened during the week Arthur and his crew stayed there, and when everyone had enough rest, it was time to hop back into the ship and resume their trip toward the demon continent.
Just like that, two years passed.
Arthur and his wives had not changed much during that period, as they were strong mages who could keep their youthful looks for a long time. He trained in meditation during those two years and had sex with his wives constantly to get experience points and level up, adding up to an astonishing increase in power.
They significantly improved, with Jane and Wisa reaching the peak of rank 2 and Sybille at the middle of rank 2. With the constant increase in spiritual force, Arthur reached the peak of rank 3, and now he was in the most challenging part of his power-up.
The top of rank 3 was one thing, but reaching rank 4 was a different beast! Arthur knew his growth would get way slower, even with the help of his system. But was there something else he could use to boost his improvement? Yes, there was, and that was alchemy!
Arthur did three things during the past two years; meditate, have sex, and practice alchemy! He was not arrogant enough to call himself a master alchemist, but he was sure his knowledge about the field was ranked at the top of the central continent!
Now, his once calm journey turned into a nightmare! It was nighttime, and Arthur was on the ship's deck, looking at the stars and chatting with his crew to make them feel better. They were in a location called the demonic sea, known to be the home of strong magical beasts capable of destroying ships!
Well, ships rarely sailed there, as they were getting close to the demon continent, and that area was mainly unknown to humans. Arthur never believed something would happen to their ship because everyone knew that powerful monsters were usually deep in the sea and not on the surface level where ships sailed.
But his prediction was wrong! They sailed toward an island for their usual stop, like when they found Karantis. It happened once after three or four months to ensure everyone's mood was good.
This time, though, things did not work out their way. When the ship was getting close to the island, a beast attacked! It was similar to a massive shark but had a reddish color and two wings!
It came from the water, colliding its head on the ship, snapping it in half! Everything happened so fast that they had no time to react!
The crew of which Arthur became friends all died in the attack... Arthur's ship was sinking fast, and they couldn't get any resources from it.
"Jane, Wisa, Sybille!" Arthur yelled, meeting up with his wives on the ship's deck.
As for the shark, it was not beneath the water anymore but flying in the sky, looking at Arthur and his wives, who were the only ones alive after the initial attack.
"Fly away toward the island! I will deal with this thing!" Arthur said.
p1ease visit n0ve1b(in).ne)t
The shark tried to intercept them, but Arthur was ready for it, and he yelled to the shark, "why don't you fight with someone your size? Or perhaps bigger?"
He activated his dragon transformation, turning into a massive black-scaled dragon, colliding with the winged shark, sending it flying away with the impact.