The Erratum

In the kitchen, as Elishia was preparing for dinner, Cetas, Reid, and Galkan hid behind the door.

They peeked on Elishia, who wore an orange apron and covered her hair with her orange bandana.

She held a piece of potato in her right hand. And on the left, the Zeal Weapon Cyclone was ready to do its purpose.

To peel a potato!

Elishia injected her Zeal inside Cyclone and brought the side of the knife to the potato. Once it made contact, it started spinning slowly.

Turns out, the lesser the Zeal you use for the knife, the weaker its rotation would be.

Elishia found this out when she took Cyclone away from Galkan’s hands. In order to test her new kitchen utensil, she had to do some demonstrations here and there.

Once satisfied, she immediately headed to the kitchen — Cetas, Galkan, and Reid secretly following behind her.

Upon injecting more Zeal into Cyclone, it started to gradually hasten its pace. It carved the potato skin with ease, the sharpness of its spiraled blade was quite convenient for this purpose!

Within seconds, the potato was peeled off perfectly! No excess skin nor excess flesh could be seen in the residuals!

Galkan’s mouth flung wide open.

This wasn’t the original purpose that he intended for Cyclone!

Elishia went on to grab another potato. Then she peeled it in under 5 seconds.

Her eyes sparkled.

"This is much better than I expected!"

With a satisfied look, Elishia started to peel the several potatoes that she had on her side.

After a minute, all of them were clean!

It took only a minute to peel off about 15 potatoes!

*I wonder.." Elishia muttered to herself, walking towards the cold storage.

Then, she brought out a large tub of cream, butter, and a few more.

Taking a specific measurement of each ingredient, she placed them all in a steel bowl.

Then, she added spices and a few herbs in the mix.

Afterwards, once all the ingredients had been gathered and prepared, she injected Zeal into Cyclone and started to make it spin.

It rotated at a moderate pace. Once Elishia was satisfied with its speed, she brought it down to the bowl.

Once she did, all of the ingredients inside started to mix!

"Wow! It really works like this!"

Galkan’s eyes whitened.

His face became frozen in shock.

Reid coldly looked at him and closed his eyes. Then, he patted the bulky man in the back.

As Elishia continued to use Cyclone in different ways, Galkan became even more heartbroken.

And so, she finished making dinner in mere 30 minutes.

She carried a large pot in her hand as she headed out of the kitchen and to her surprise, she found the three standing behind the door.

"Oh! You three! Great, help me with this."

She raised the pot to Galkan’s direction.

"Thanks for the Zeal Weapon Galkan! It made making dinner so much easier! I no longer have to make Reid peel the veggies!"

Reid was half relieved and half confused.

Relieved because he didn’t need to do such arduous tasks anymore and confused because of how she utilized a Zeal Weapon that way.

Meanwhile, Galkan still had a frozen expression.

Elishia left the kitchen and headed to the mess hall.

"Dinner’s ready, everyone!"

While she called out to the crew, Galkan remained in place.

"Cetas, I’ll handle this.. You go sit down in the dining area.." Reid waved.

"A-alright."

Reluctantly, Cetas walked over to the direction of the mess hall. Constantly, he looked back only to see the always indifferent Reid to comfort the large bulky man.

It was a weird sight.

But nevertheless, dinner arrived and the two served the large pot on the table.

After a few minutes, they finished eating.

Still remaining at the table, the crew talked to each other for a while.

"So? How was Cyclone?" Skadi asked, facing towards Elishia.

"Oh! It was great, really great! Though I have some modifications that I may suggest."

"Really?" Skadi shifted her gaze to Galkan.

The bulky man had a look of surprise on his face. It’s as if he was saying "She still wants more!?"

"Would that be alright?" Skadi asked.

After a few seconds of silence, Galkan let out a deep breath.

"It depends on the modifications."

"Alright." Skadi looked over to Elishia, "State the changes you want."

Elishia cleared her throat and said:

"Oh I just wanted one single change."

She leaned to the table, carrying her chin with her palm.

"Didn’t you have a self-manipulating metal? What’s it called again? Hephon? Hepheis? Whatever. Can you make it so that the blade can change its shape based on whatever the user wants it to be?"

Galkan’s eyes narrowed.

"It’s Hephaestite. And yes I do have one but it’s not made to be used as kitchenware!"

"Aww, come on! It’ll make things so much easier in the kitchen. I can serve food for less time so you all no longer have to wait!"

Galkan looked at Skadi.

"Captain!"

Skadi remained silent, closing her eyes and leaning back to the chair.

She said nothing for a few seconds. Once she opened her mouth, Galkan’s eyes immediately widened.

"I think it’s a fair proposal, no? Elishia’s been hard working at the kitchen for over 2 years now.. I think it’s good that she has something to make it a little easier."

"Yes!"

"No!"

Galkan let out hot steam from his nostrils. But then, he calmed himself down.

"Alright, I’ll do it. Captain’s orders."

He faced towards Elishia.

"Come with me after this, I’ll make it fast to imbue Hephaestite with Cyclone."

Elishia cheered out in joy.

"Thank you thank you thank you so much!"

She was happy not because it made things easier in the kitchen, but because she had many ideas on what different utensils she was gonna make.

She thought about making a sauce mixer, a dough mixer, a sharp blade, a presser, a juicer, and much more!

The possibilities were endless!

And so, dinner time was over and the crew left the mess hall.

Elishia and Galkan headed to the forge, Reid headed up to the main deck, Jones came to the clinic as usual, and Skadi studied the stars above to navigate their location.

Cetas came with Reid, hoping to see the stars today again.

Upon ascending up to the main deck, he gazed up only to see several dark clouds blocking the sky.

"A storm is coming.." Cetas uttered

"Unfortunate. Best you lot stay below deck for now.." Skadi said, walking behind the two in the shadows.

"Understood, Captain." Reid tilted his head to the side, looking at Cetas, "You heard her, let’s go."

Before they could go back, Cetas was curious.

"How will you navigate then, Captain?"

Skadi then patted Cetas’ head, ruffling his hair.

"I can simply fly up above the clouds."

"Oh."

Cetas pondered, looking up and then at Skadi.

"Alright then, be safe Captain!"

The two descended back down to the quarters. Cetas looked back at Skadi who floated slowly upwards.

Around her is a veil of wind, covering her body so as to not get wet in the clouds above.

Just as Cetas made his way to his hammock, the rain poured.

It started with a little patter but then ended up into tremendous winds.

But, nothing was too dangerous for the ship to handle, so, Cetas decided to turn it in.

He laid down and close his eyes, his mind gradually becoming weary.

Alas, he fell asleep, rocked by the crashing waves and the heavy winds.

*

The next day was unusual — the storm still hadn’t let off.

The seas were calm though, its just that.. The winds and the clouds covered the sky.

"Odd."

Peeking from below the deck, Cetas found this occurrence too weird.

The waves weren’t raging, contrasting to last night, and there were no strong currents pushing the Aegir.

But up above, rain poured down with a heavy gush, creating ripples below on the sea’s surface

The ship, however, was protected by Skadi’s waves. Therefore, no flooding could occur as the storm raged on.

When a raindrop struck the veil of wind surrounding the ship, it merely became deflected back until it reached the edge.

Skadi held this veil for an hour or more. Her Zeal didn’t deplete since she hadn’t focused much on it.

In other words, doing these had become as easy as moving her hand.

Of course, even if her manipulation of the winds were high, the way she utilized it still depletes Zeal.

But, at her current level, Skadi couldn’t see any noticeable deductions from this.

Cetas was amazed as he made his way to the main deck, looking up to see the bouncing droplets above.

The whole crew was already in the main deck, they talked with each other seriously.

Cetas could feel something amiss.

He got closer to the crew and began to hear some of their words.

"It must be a Dreadspawn’s doing. The sudden rain isn’t normal at all!" Galkan declared.

"Or perhaps an aggressive opponent has come to the fray? A group of Zealots may be able to control the weather like this.." Jones expressed his thoughts.

"I believe it not to be another pirate crew, if it were, then I would notice remnants of Zeal in the clouds. However, my eye is showing nothing." Reid rejected Jones’ theory.

"Could it be a Fae? Since the clouds are covering the sky, then it might be the Fae that was described to be in the clouds." Elishia raised her hand, expressing what she thought.

Then, Skadi stepped up.

"Whatever it is, it might pose a threat to us.. And if it were really a Fae. Let’s call it Fae of the Clouds for now, then I’d sense it due to my Attunement to the Winds. Alas, I feel nothing."

The other crew members turned silsnt, their heads deep in contemplation.

"For now, let’s remain vigilant and observative of our surroundings. If any weirdness or peculiarities arise then notify me immediately."

"Aye!"

Just then Cetas arrived near the crew, emerging from behind Skadi.

The first to notice him was Elishia, who had a confused look on her face.

After her, the other members of the crew followed.

They were all surprised.

As Skadi began to turn around, her usual cold demeanor showed signs of breaking.

Then, she summoned the Windslinger to the side and pointed it at Cetas.

Cetas’ eyes widened.

As Skadi brought her hand up, a figure was revealed from her opposite side.

He daw a young boy with sea-like blue hair, a dark cloak covering his body, pale skin, and onyx scales were in his body.

A perfect imitation of Cetas!

His heart suddenly crept up with Dread.

The imitation noticed him, gazing at Cetas with a curious look.

The two of them locked eyes, both curious and confused about the sudden arrival of the other.

Just then, the imitation looked at Cetas and slowly, its mouth curled upwards.

Cetas’ eyes narrowed as he glared at the imitation and immediately, he summoned Sands of History.