Chapter 97

We’d already been running across the water for three weeks, so we decided to rest in the city. Fee logged out of the game, while I gathered information about floating settlements and the River of Life. Who knows—maybe my parents had moved somewhere else again.

The locals were insanely powerful. I didn’t meet a single person below level 500. And it wasn’t just humans—there were dwarves, even trolls. Elves were rare, mostly just mages responsible for keeping the city functioning.

I only slept for six hours before logging back in and setting off immediately. Sometimes, for variety, we swam; other times, we dove and moved through that glowing stream of water. The water itself, if you drank it, gave buffs to vitality and stamina. The luminous plankton boosted strength and spirit.

We had to race to the far side of the Ocean of Horrors to find the right island. We didn’t venture into the Sea of Monsters—the old soldier had been right: what lived there was on a catastrophic scale. The Progenitor of all monsters.

Monsters: The Flying Whale, Level 1431, Raid Boss

This thing soared through the sky, hidden in the clouds. When it approached one, a rain of icy arrows would fall. The damage was insane—we almost died from a single stray attack. The whale emitted an aura of cold, creating an icy effect in a small patch of the sky. Absolute madness! It was three times stronger than any enemy I’d faced before!

It took us two more weeks to reach Fang Island, stopping at every town along the way to restock supplies.

The island was medium-sized. The locals were happy to see new faces and eagerly pointed us toward the fisherman and his seamstress wife.

At the edge of the forest stood a lone wooden hut. Smoke curled from the chimney, and one of the dogs lay in the clearing out front while the other sat with my father on the dock. He was fishing, pipe in hand, and the moment I caught that familiar scent, I realized just how much I’d missed it.

“Fee, I’m staying here a long time. I already told you. If you want, you can go back to the mainland—keep the sandals.”

“Dummy,” Fee smiled. “I’ve told you before, I’m staying with you, my chosen one.”

“I’m not your chosen one,” I muttered. I never understood women’s jokes.

“That’s for me to decide,” the girl grinned triumphantly.

I walked forward. How long had I waited for this? How much effort had I spent to find the ones who meant so much to me? The dogs caught my scent too, whining and wagging their tails as they rushed to nuzzle my father, licking his face.

“Hello, Father… I’m home.”