Dan first updated everyone on what Voyager told him before he thought for a bit and then turned to Robert.

  "Can you please call Fleta here? I'm about to bring a tiny bit of the dark aura into me, and you know how that leaves me. I'll probably need her help."

  "On it." Robert seemed hesitant at first before agreeing.

  Dan just nodded at his close friend in appreciation before turning his attention inward and focusing on Voyager.

  "Big girl," he called gently, "Can you please bring out a bit of your dark aura for me to take in like last time?"

  No! Voyager didn't even hesitate as she answered.

  "What?" Dan asked unconsciously.

  It hurts you too much, Voyager said, I will not bring it!

  Dan just opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say to that. He looked at the others who were looking at him with interest. He cleared his throat then tried again.

  "It doesn't hurt that much, and I need to see what you're talking about, it might be important."

  No! With that, Dan felt her connection with him become faint, as if she didn't want to listen to him anymore.

  "What's going on?" Robert asked after Dan just stood there in silence.

  "She refused to bring the dark aura, said that it would hurt me," Dan said awkwardly, "And now she isn't listening to me anymore."

  Dan watched as his crew showcased their acting talents. Marcus was the best, he just stared at him blankly, if not for the twitching at the side of his mouth, he wouldn't have realised that anything was wrong. Sam was the worst, there was an explosion of pfft before he tried to hold back from laughing, unsuccessfully. Robert and Rose were the same, both just turned away from him while clearing their throats.

  Old Raily simply didn't care, he laughed at his face before patting him.

  "Kids do get like that sometimes, you will get used to it." With that, the old veteran turned around and left, shaking his head lightly.

  "I will go and look some more into the books about Obsidian Eels," Arnold finally said, the man had been acting as if he wasn't there as Voyager ignored Dan. "There might be something I missed from before, or something that didn't seem important then."

  "Okay, good luck," Dan and the others waved him off.

  "Let's stop for now," Marcus said to the few remaining there, "George come with me, let's catch up with Old Raily and see if we can come up with a plan for how to deal with this."

  With those gone, Rose also turned to leave, she was going to see about preparing the Tanks for the upgrades they were to get.

  "What about you?" Dan turned his focus to Sam, the only one alongside him.

  "I was thinking..." the young man said, seeming deep in thought.

  "What is it?" Dan smiled lightly, wondering what he wanted to achieve.

  "I want to take one of them under my control," Sam finally said.

  "The eels?" Dan frowned. "Didn't you say that it wouldn't work?"

  "I said I instinctively feel that it wouldn't work," Sam clarified, "While the system makes me feel that I can. I want to try and see what would happen if I took control of one of them. One of those two must be wrong, let's see which one it is."

  "I will bring this up with Marcus and the others later," Dan agreed easily, it was quite interesting after all.

  "That's not the only reason I want to try this," Sam suddenly said, "If this works, I can use my skill, Taming Bestiary. That skill gives me information about whatever animal or monster I tame, it might shed some light on what's going on with those eels."

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  "That could work, I totally forgot about that skill of yours," Dan said in surprise, he then remembered something that had been on his mind. "What about the Kraken egg by the way? How are things going with it?"

  "They are going well." Sam turned excited. "I've been keeping it in the tub in my room."

  "Everything is going alright? You don't need any special materials or the like to help it hatch?"

  "It does need mana to grow up, a huge concentration of it, but that's easy to deal with." Sam waved his worries away. "I had to use some of the mana crystals we brought from the black market at first. I was worried that it wouldn't be enough, but fortunately, with the amount we got from the island, it's more than enough."

  They spoke some more before they went their separate ways. Dan headed to the workshop to talk to William and Francis, just to see if they could come up with anything that could be of help in their current situation.

  While he was walking, he focused again on Voyager, just to notice that she was still giving him the cold shoulder. Sighing wearily, Dan continued on his way, massaging his head. He really wasn't good with children.

  ***

  Arnold looked at the map he found in some obscure book. It showed the migration route of the Obsidian Eels, well, at least the known part of the migration, no one was with them the whole way.

  At first, he didn't give that map much attention, after all, he was asked for all they could gather on the eels and their capabilities, the route of their journey wasn't that important. Things changed though, knowing that something about them changed through their journey, their known route became much more interesting.

  Arnold frowned as he noticed something about the way those eels moved, it was a bit off. They didn't move in a straight line, not even close, they took many 45° to 60° turns changing their paths as if they were seeking something specifically.

  He tapped his finger on the table before standing up to get a few maps he had made. The route those eels were taking was giving him a weird sense of familiarity, as if there was something about it that he knew.

  He was finding this task quite interesting, he chose his Class because he wanted to see what the ocean was hiding, and ever since he got it, he had been studying whatever creature he could get his hands on, and whatever map and book about ocean myths and phenomena. Even with all that, he never felt that he was making much progress as he was at that moment. His Class was screaming at him that this was important.

  Putting his self-made maps on the table, he started cross-referencing the areas that those eels went through and what he had noted in his maps.

  Those self-made maps were ones that he put in any information he knew; forbidden zones, known Behemoths territories, random irregular concentrations of ocean creatures, etc. All those were things he paid attention to and marked.

  As he looked at them again, he soon noticed what had stood out to him subconsciously before he made the connection on his own. The Obsidian Eels were heading to those areas with big concentrations of ocean creatures or monsters.

  At first, he thought that it was to be expected, after all they needed to eat, maybe they were hitting those areas for food. He discarded that though, they even headed to some forbidden zones, or at least passed by them, just at their borders.

  Those forbidden zones were like the area where the Swarmers were. A place that became a forbidden area because a concentration of extremely dangerous creatures was located.

  Noticing that, he knew that his first hypothesis that the creatures were heading there for food was wrong. Even the most mindless of creatures wouldn't treat Swarmers as food.

  That of course made him move on to the next hypothesis, they weren't there for those creatures, but for the reason those creatures chose to gather there in the first place.

  Arnold didn't know why those creatures chose those specific locations to gather at, but for the moment, it didn't matter. He was happy that he found something to work towards for now, as for the real reason, he will have his chance to study it in the future.

  ***

  "Hey sweetie, are you there?" Mrs. Raily said into the empty air, after making sure that no one was around.

  In her room, she had noticed the amusement in her husband's face even without her skill reminding her. Once she asked him about what he had found that funny, she knew about what had happened with Dan and Voyager.

  Feeling as if the air around her was stirring, even though it was perfectly still in reality, she smiled as she chose the wall ahead of her and acted as if someone was there. She found it easier that way, better than just speaking into the air.

  "There you are!" she said, "Don't worry sweety, I just wanted to speak with you for a bit. Alfred told me what had happened with Dan before."

  As she felt the same feeling she used to get from her children when they used to shut themselves away from her, she couldn't help but chuckle wearily. She seriously didn't expect that she would find herself trying to get a sulking cruise ship to understand where her father was coming from. But well, she also didn't expect to get sent to another world, that's life for you, she guessed.

  "I know that you don't want him to get hurt," she started, keeping her voice gentle, "That it hurts you to see him like that, but you should understand why he's trying to do it too. He worries for you and for all of us just as much as you do for him, that's why he feels the need to take those risks."

  Pushing Empath to its limit, Mrs. Raily tried to understand what the young girl was feeling. She doubted the skill was made for reading the emotions of a sapient cruise ship, but so far, it was doing well enough.

  Sensing that the little girl still didn't seem to forgive him, Mrs. Raily thought for a few moments before deciding to tackle this from another angle.

  "You're a smart girl, I'm sure that you understand why he wants and needs to do this, right?" Feeling her reluctantly agree, Mrs. Raily smiled as she continued. "Then you should also understand that acting like this might be hurting him as much as what he planned to do in the first place, or even more, don't you think?"

  Sensing the reluctance rise even higher, as if the other party felt that she was manipulating her, Mrs. Raily held back a smile at how rational and mature the little girl seemed to be as she added hurriedly:

  "I'm not saying that you should forgive him and agree with what he wants to do, but that it should be better for both of you if you go to him and see what he has to say. Acting like this won't be of help to any of you, it will just hurt him, do you understand?"

  Mrs. Raily once again felt the air around her stirring while feeling the presence's emotions. The poor little girl was wrestling with so many emotions as she tried her best to ignore what she just heard.

  "You're a good smart girl," Mrs. Raily eventually said, "I'm sure that you will make the right choice."

  With that, she turned around and left. She had already sensed the little girl coming around, so she decided to give her space to calm down and take that step when she was ready.

  I did what I could, Dan, she thought to herself, Don't mess it up now.