Jasmine looked in horror at the sea monster that looked like a cross between an octopus and a whale that currently was getting slaughtered by giant sword lights that flew down from the sky and cut into the sea monster, Jasmine was not alone in her shock as the group of hunters and virtually all the s.h.i.+p's crew also stood and watched the showdown with their jaws on the floor, Allen asked Damon that stood next to him

"H-hey Damon, didn't that dragon call Mars a 'living G.o.d'"

"Y-yeah it did... Now I kind of believe it..."

While the two of them exchanged words, the sea was gradually dyed in red from the blood of the sea monster that let out an agonizing roar as it seemed to breathe it's last breath and collapsed before it began sinking, soon a figure could be seen rapidly descending down before it hit the sea right where the sea monster had sunk. A few minutes later the figure shot up from the sea and flew over and landed on the s.h.i.+p, 78 walked over to the figure and handed him a towel before she spoke

"Welcome back Mars"

"Thanks 78"

Mars took the towel and began drying his hair as he looked around at the people around him and asked

"What?"

Allen snapped out of his daze before he swallowed his saliva and asked

"Mars what's a living G.o.d, no what exactly are you?"

Mars dried his hair as he answered Allen's question

"A living G.o.d is exactly what it sounds like"

"... I see"

"I would appreciate if you don't spread out what you saw today as it might annoy my siblings"

"Your siblings?"

Mars gave a smile as he took off the hides that covered his upper body and laid them on the railing to dry

"The other living G.o.ds"

Allen and the other hunters gave a nod, so did the rest of the crew that was on the deck, no way in h.e.l.l were they going to be annoying such a frightening living G.o.d. 78 looked at the necklaces Mars wore and asked:

"Hey Mars what are those?"

"Oh this is my merc tag and this is my necklace of the apostle"

78's eyes glinted as she looked at the golden merc tag and the necklace of the apostle before she asked

"Mars can you make me a pretty necklace too?"

"Sure, I'll make you one soon"

"Yay!"

Mars looked at the happy 78 for a while before he opened his palm and looked at the magic beast core he had gotten from the sea monster

cla.s.s 9 magic beast core

stored energy: 1.200

stored status points: 20

source: ???

'As usual there's the ??? on the source... Maybe I should ask Info about this...'

Mars had thought of asking Info about the weirdness of his skill, but since there were no temples on the unnamed continent it was a little hard to meet her

"Oh well, hopefully there's a temple on Heden"

"Of course there is, there's even one in the port city we arrive in"

"Okay... Thanks for the info Allen"

"No problem Mars"

Mars wiped his upper body with the towel when Jasmine walked over, she was blus.h.i.+ng slightly when she looked at Mars and his naked upper body still slightly wet from his trip under the waves, Mars saw her staring but ignored it, she was after all, a girl in the middle of her p.u.b.erty

"What's up?"

"Umm... how exactly can you fly?"

"It's a skill, like the sword lights I can from with the help of a blade"

"I see... Here I thought you were an angel or something..."

'Nope but I know an archangel...'

Mars kept his thoughts to himself and spoke

"No I am a living G.o.d, not an angel"

"I see..."

Jasmine gave a nod and walked off still a little dazed, Mars gave a sigh and sat down on the deck and looked up at the sun before he stretched out his hand and attempted to grasp the sun, only grasping air

'My hands hold nothing... But that won't continue...'

Days pa.s.sed and soon the s.h.i.+p had spent five days at sea, Mars had spent his time sunbathing along with 78 and had developed a slight tan on his skin also during the trip he had hunted some more sea magic beast and gotten a cla.s.s 11 core and a cla.s.s 14 core which he kept without absorbing them as he would sell them when the s.h.i.+p reached Heden to finance travels over the three continents he had to cross to reach Slaen. He had a lot of time to think during his idle time and often thought of his loved ones as an urge to drink slowly crept up on him, another thing that changed over the trip was he grew a little closer to Jasmine as the two of them would have some light conversations now and then, from those he learned that the school she would be attending were a combined knight and mage academy, he also learned that a railway network lay across the whole of Heden so as long as he could afford it he could travel from one end of the continent to the other along with 78

'but for that I need cel... and a lot of it, maybe I should teach a bit at the academy...'

The price of two tickets to the end of the continent was a staggering 500.000 cel and the train trip would take about 2 months in total so Mars opted to take the train rather than fly all the way, he was sure he would grow tired of flying before they reached Salen anyways as a railway network was not guaranteed on the other two continents

'Might as well make use of it when it's there...'

Mars sat up from his spot and looked around, 78 lay beside him and was lightly snoring

'guess I'll go hunt for a bit...'

Mars walked down to his cabin and picked up his boardsword before he walked above deck again and slowly lifted off the deck before he flew into the distance while scanning for targets as the tip of the boardsword cut open the surface of the calm sea while Mars flew just above the surface while looking around with his [Energy: sense], Mars reached down with his free hand and touched the surface of the water drawing a long line on the surface of the sea. Soon Mars returned to the s.h.i.+p, his harvest this time was nothing but Mars didn't mind as he was just using hunting to pa.s.s time anyways

"Oh Mars you're back"

"Hey Damon"

"So you got anything interesting?"

"Nah, some fresh air that's all"

"I see, you better go look for 78 she was raging that you were gone when she woke up"

"I see... Where is she now?"

"She went under deck"

"Got it"

Mars walked under deck and soon stood in front of his and 78's cabin and knocked on the door

"78 it's me, can I come in?"

"..."

"Come on now I know you're in there I can literally see you covering your ears with your hands"

Mars of course used his [Energy: sense] to peek through the door, not that he had a hobby to peek at young women mind you, his intention was pure

"... I am mad"

"I know, I am sorry"

"Do you know why I am mad?"

"Because I left while you were asleep?"

"... Yeah"

"Sorry"

"... Are you?"

"Yeah, can you forgive me?"

Mars 'saw' that 78 got up from the bed and walked over to the door before she opened it and looked down at the floor before she spread out her arms before she said

"Hug..."

"You really are spoiled... Geez"

Mars hugged 78 close and patted her head for sometime until she let go and looked up at his face with a wide smile on her face

"Let's go sunbathe"

"Sure"

Another two days pa.s.sed and soon the port city of Larton was within view, Larton was one of the bigger port cities of the country Checa. Overall Heden was mostly what Mars would call a 1800's continent with technology that was mostly powered through steam and mana, like the ironclad they were currently sailing on which steam engines were powered by a mana stone boiler, Mars looked at the approaching port and asked Jasmine that stood beside him

"How far is the academy form Larton?"

"it's a few cities away but we can take the railway there, don't worry I'll pay for your tickets"

"I see"

Mars gave a nod. Soon the group got off the ironclad and entered the port city of Larton and after Mars said goodbye to the group of hunters Mars and the two young (at least 78 acted like she was young) ladies walked to the train station, Mars looked at the train station, the station itself was rather big with 25 tracks for pa.s.senger trains and countless tracks for cargo trains, Mars got some looks as he was still dressed in furs and hides but he ignored them as usual