Truthful Transmigration

One thing that Tirto found odd was that they had not been attacked by anything yet. He wasn’t expecting whoever was assaulting the ships to easily show themselves when they were perhaps a quarter of the way through the area they intended to patrol, but he did expect some sort of attack by local beasts.

Certainly some would be lured in by the presence of the ships and their cultivators. Unless creatures in the Crystal Sea were vastly more cautious than those in the Shimmering Islands. It was possible that they sensed his cultivation or that of their other stronger members, but that didn’t usually stop beasts. Perhaps all of the local ones were weaker than anticipated, but while they seemed to avoid the ships, Tirto still spotted a few that seemed to be the equivalent of the Consolidated Soul Phase.

Verusha came to lean against the rail next to Tirto. “I expected more excitement. At this rate, I wonder if we’ll even encounter these pirates or whatever they are.” Her hair was a dim reddish orange, like coals. In the past it had been uncontrollably influenced by her emotions, but she had learned to deal with that… when she cared. But she had no particular reason to hide her boredom.

“I was thinking we should have at least been attacked by beasts,” Tirto commented.

Verusha dangled one arm over the side as she twisted towards him. The sort of ‘lazy’ pose that took more effort to maintain than simply standing up straight. “Yeah? You think we could provoke some?”

“That wouldn’t be setting a good example for our daughter.”

“Pfft. She’s an adult now, any bad habits I have she’s either already got or is immune to.”

“Regardless,” Tirto said. “Causing a local disturbance would potentially tip off the people we’re looking for.”

“Maybe we should just set our ship on fire and call for help. That could draw their attention.”

Tirto chuckled. “I think it’s a bit early to go to such extremes. But if you’re that bored, you can come with me to look for wrecks. Another ship was likely lost somewhere around here, based on its predicted sailing path.”

-----

Swimming with Verusha was much more energetic than swimming alone. She seemed almost eager to boil the water around them- and he knew she could, if it came down to a combat situation. It was a large expenditure of energy, but it could be a surprise to human opponents, and beasts were rarely able to deal with a sudden change of that sort. The only option was to completely block water from touching them or to flee out of an invisible area of unknown scope.

Despite her general attitude, Verusha didn’t actually go around causing chaos all the time. That was simply a representation of what she would have been up to without Tirto. Said chaos would have probably been much more troublesome than Ursel’s extreme enthusiasm. Only specific powerful beasts had to worry about her. Tirto’s presence helped her learn to pick and choose when she should unleash certain parts of herself. In turn, she provided a push for Tirto when he might have otherwise been overly cautious.

“I sense something further out,” Verusha commented. “We can probably reach it in just a few minutes if we push ahead.”

Tirto nodded. He would have personally continued at the same pace, staying closer to the ships and the other swimmers. But there was no real reason for him to be concerned, as they would sense anything of significant power far before it got close.

The sea smoothly flowed around their own personal bubble of water as they pushed forward. Soon enough, Tirto could pick out the same things Verusha had. And despite approaching a burned out ship, there was no prominence of fire elemental spiritual energy… merely air.

“Help me track down the origin of this air element energy,” Tirto asked. The two of them split up, making their way around the remains of the ship. The wreck was even more recent than the last, and still carried lingering traces of the battle. Not a clear picture, but the traces of energy brought Tirto to the keel of the ship. He took special note of the burn marks.

Burns. In an area that would always be completely submerged. He inspected more closely and discovered the signature marks of lightning, spreading webs from which the fire spread. But it didn’t make sense. While air was dominant over water, fire was not. Thus, using lightning to spark a flame underwater was a contradictory action. The lightning would flow smoothly enough to its target, but it wouldn’t cause a sustained reaction. Yet the keel had burned, enough to open a wound in the hull of the ship. It might have even been the primary cause of the ship sinking.

That was a significant difference from catching sails or pitch alight, the usual hazards of fire aboard any ship, and burning a sturdy part of the ship underwater. Tirto tried to recall if there were signs of similar damage on the previous wrecks. He didn’t think so, but he at least understood one thing. Whoever did this had ways to prevent fire from being put out by the presence of water. That would explain why previous ships hadn’t simply put out the fires- it would have been odd to have no water cultivators.

That was the end of what they managed to gleam from the current ship, but it was a critical piece of information. Unfortunately, it didn’t tell them who was at fault. Along the coast of the Wuthering Steppes, any number of individuals could have started a fire with lightning. Lightning was the specialty of the Glass Hills. And yes, the Sky Islands used lightning as well. So the signs didn’t point anywhere in particular. Indeed, they seemed to point everywhere.

Perhaps it was a rogue sect from one of the continental regions. They would certainly have easier access to shipping routes, but that didn’t mean they were the only possibility. The Sky Islands were not without grudges against the continentals, even if they had avoided actual conflict so far. Some of the peaks were friendly, while others were not.

-----

Their journey continued, stopping occasionally in ports while downplaying their combat capabilities, with the intention to hopefully draw out the attackers. They were able to confirm the first wreckage that had been found along the shared border of the Wuthering Steppes and the Glass Hills- and with careful observation, they were able to spot signs of lightning as well. It was difficult because the fire tended to spread, breaking down portions of the ship.

“This is weird,” Verusha commented.

“What part?” Tirto asked. “People always want to rob others, so I assume you mean something else.

“Obviously. I mean the fire.”

“Well, when caused by lightning it might be different?” he shrugged. “But maybe you could explain what I’m missing.”

“So it burns underwater,” Verusha said. “I can do that, if I want to. You just need a good understanding of technique. Without defenders, I could burn these ships into a pile of ash.”

“Sure,” Tirto agreed. “But that’s an unnecessary effort.”

Verusha grinned. “Would it be, though? Because burning holes through a ship causing it to sink is a good way to occupy the defenders. Though that’s not my point. How should I say this… why didn’t the ships burn down to nothing if the fires could be sustained in water?”

“I assume it takes a constant application of energy,” Tirto pointed out. “Thus the excessive effort.”

“WIth cultivators actively fighting against you, definitely. But a good fire cultivator could certainly cause a self-sustaining reaction against an undefended ship. In short, it wouldn’t have stopped.”

“But these ships are mostly intact. And we haven’t senses any particular prevalence of fire elemental spiritual energy, except what one might expect from burned ships,” Tirto concluded.

“Exactly. So it’s probably not any sort of fire cultivator, and the technique requires some sort of continuous application of effort. However, I suspect it’s quite good against active resistance by water element cultivators. A couple people threaten the ship, distracting the defenders while the rest of the pirates take down cultivators in small groups instead of as a unified defensive force. The ship still ends up sinking, but the flames end there.”

“I’ve never heard of such a technique,” Tirto admitted.

“Indeed. It could be kept secret, of course… but with coastal shipping not being a big part of daily life here, it would have to be an ancient technique dug off of dusty shelves or something just recently created. But it’s easier to just assume it didn’t come from locals. Probably not even the Sky Islands, since such a technique… they barely even have ships, so why would they bother?”

“Alternatively,” Tirto pointed out. “It could be something they’ve always had, to prevent people from poking around the Crystal Sea beneath their domain.”

Verusha nodded. “It could be. So maybe we still just have to track down these fellows to actually figure things out. If we can find traces just a few days old… though that is about as likely as simply sweeping them up in our net.” Verusha shrugged. “But hey, at least there’s something interesting going on now.”

-----

Their route continued east and slightly north along the coast, past the Glass Hills. And then, ultimately, they came to the end. They had come across most of the sunken ships they expected, as well as many more that were far more ancient, some barely visible as the sea itself covered them with sand and life over the course of time.

But they were at the edge of the Glass Hills now without having seen any recent traces of the pirates they were looking for. Going further would only bring them along the coast of the Gloom Desolation. That was a darkness element region with which they had little prior contact.

“It’s too risky to continue,” Tirto declared. “We don’t know how the Gloom Desolation would react to our presence.”

“Precisely,” Verusha agreed. “We don’t know. So we should find out. Perhaps they are sheltering these pirates. And no, I’m not saying that because they’re darkness cultivators. We simply don’t know. Their response would tell us quite a bit.”

Tirto took his wife’s words seriously. But just because he did so didn’t mean he always had to agree. “This would risk a diplomatic incident.”

“In that case,” Verusha said. “We had better be prepared both to get involved in and resolve said incident. Together, we have the strength to handle anything we could reasonably expect. And in the worst case… I can’t imagine their ships would be able to keep up with us, should we focus our ships on speed. Especially if their sails have been turned to ash.”

Ah, good. Tirto was somewhat worried at how his wife was acting up until that last line.

“You’ve convinced me,” Tirto agreed. “But I don’t intend to just traipse up to one of their ports. I’d like to contact a coastal village first, if we can. Let them see we are not a threat.”

“Or burn down a few houses so that they know you are a threat,” Verusha grinned. “I’m just saying. People respect strength.”

-----

The changes around them rapidly became apparent. Gloomy clouds that provided no rain. Lifeless coasts. And most tellingly, a clear lack of vibrancy underwater. There was still some measure of sea life, but it was a far cry from the Shimmering Islands and still noticeably lacking compared to where they had traveled just days before. Dark element reigned supreme even just off the coast, creating an environment where deep sea fish would be most comfortable- except that it was also the shallows.

As for those coastal villages Tirto was planning to visit… there weren’t any. Fishing villages were a staple of every coast he’d ever been to, even if some found it risky to go too far out to sea in certain elemental zones. But though they kept their eyes on the coast, they spotted only villages further away atop distant hills.

So they pressed on. They had not come this far to return with merely a few hints, and it was quite possible the locals could provide something unique. Whether they supported the pirates or had merely spied them in the distance, it would tell them something if any trace had come this far east.