Last chapter, the trio managed to successfully make it off of Adesia's ship with the loot in tow, however it turns out that most of the treasure was fake and Adesia knew their plan all along. Now, they plan to head towards the next trial site to dock ashore until Karia is recovered.

Seric's P.O.V.

"🎶 Yoho, yohoho, hoho! Sailing across the Hopian sea, drinking all there is we see! After alllll tommorow we've got places to be! 🎶" King Metallica sings a slow but catchy melody as he stands atop of the small rectangular junk room and dances around it.

"Keep it going!" I yell up to him out of boredom as I continue to pull the joystick back, driving our small ship according to the map application on Karia's tablet.

"...That's all, you shouldn't be greedy you know pal! Now who wants to hear a story?" He says as he calms down, hopping off of the roof and landing in front of me onto the pure white floor without even bending his legs.

"Yeah sure, what ones have you got?" I ask ignoring his comment as Karia's already taking a quick nap in said room so I'm pretty bored just watching a GPS.

The door to the junk room then suddenly opens, "Honestly, I get woken up by a song and it can't even be a good one." Karia says as she walks out slouching with messy purple hair and wearing her classic short sleeved purple shirt with a black diamond pattern on it, as well as a pair of navy blue jeans and purple sneakers.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you wouldn't be able to hear us." I reply with some guilt, but with some gladness as Karia can now whip us up some breakfast- well if she's in the mood to at least.

"I know you just got up but uh, could you please make us something to eat soon Karia?" I ask trying to sound as kind as possible.

"You may have seen some one legged chefs before but have you seen any with one arm? No can do, you guys are gonna have to make something." She responds as she leans off the side of the ship and looks into the sea, hanging her bandaged arm to the side to make a point.

"Uh, but we don't know how to cook..." I reply nervously as I take my hand off of the joystick and stop the boat.

"Oh please everything I've made so far is simple. Just check out one of my recipe books and bam you're done." She replies not even looking back at me.

"But..."

"Sounds like it could be more fun than a story! Well maybe not one of MY stories but anyways come on Seric it's gonna get hot out here, OW!" King Metallica yells in excitement as he runs over a few feet to the outdoor mini kitchen area and digs through the wooden cupboard under the water system until he pulls out the dusty hefty soft covered recipe book.

"Ooooo, Fillet Mignon, Caviar, Lobster... wow! These are all oiling up my mouth! Oh wait, I forgot I'm not one of those crummy older bots, YASHASHASHA!" King Metallica says with a laugh.

"Yeah they're pretty nice, but a band of misfits like us has no chance of affording any of those." Karia says with a small laugh as she walks over to us.

"These," Karia says as she points to three different bookmarks sticking out of the heavy book, "are what we can make."

King Metallica then flips to each of the pages, until he flips back to the first one with a confused face "Fish, rice, fish, rice, oh bread- these are all basically just things that come from water!" He says with disappointment as he looks back at Karia.

"Deal with it, it's not like you eat anything in the first place." Karia responds in an annoyed tone as she yanks the book from his hands.

"I so can, can, can! Did you not see me chugging some delightfully sweet but bitter ale back at the party?!" King Metallica responds with his hands on his hips.

"No, not really. Anyways you guys can make this." Karia says as she points to one of the recipes, which is of course rice, but actually with something new being that giant purple sugar fish we caught before the fighting tournament and stored on the ship using salt.

"Alright, I hope it really is easy. But wait, don't we have to be careful with the raw meat and all that, and what about filleting isn't that-"

"It's fish, ever heard of sushi before? And filleting isn't too hard. ...Alright since you guys are so undetermined, whoever does a worse job at cooking has to clean out the junk room."

"What?! That things like a black hole how is anyone supposed to clean it out?" I exaggerate to prove my point.

"You may want to get started." Karia replies with a smirk, and looking behind me King Metallica is already carrying a big piece of fish and heading towards the counter in which a cutting board is prepared.

🍴🍴🍴

"Come on guys times almost up!" Karia shouts as she stands behind us.

"YASHASHASHA this is gonna be one SPICY fish, sorry but you're not winning this one pal!" King Metallica laughs as he flicks his wrist while holding the pan of sizziling fish he's sauteing, causing the three smaller pieces he's cooking to fly in the air and land back down on the oil covered stainless steel pan with a splash.

Meanwhile I'm trying to finish cutting up the vegetables for my part of the breakfast, stirring the giant metal pot of boiling rice next to King Metallica's pan on the stove at the same time but not doing so well.

"One minute left!" Karia calls out which makes me panic, picking up the pace and cutting my finger with the knife in the process.

"Damn!" I curse to myself but nonetheless quickly pick up the plastic cutting board, scraping the green onions into the rice.

"Where's the L.E.M.O.N?!" King Metallica says in an evil tone as he leaves his fish and barges into the storage room to look for one.

"Maybe he'll overcook the fish!" I think to myself with hope as I continue to stir my rice, but it still isn't looking too great with some ingredients basically being burnt while others are still mainly raw.

Unluckily he runs out of the storage room carrying at least thirty lemons in both of his arms, dropping a few as he reaches his pan.

"Ten seconds!" Karia calls out, as with precision King Metallica swings his arm holding the pan behind his head, flinging the three pieces or fish onto a big plastic plate.

Meanwhile I'm trying to scrape my rice out of my pot onto the plate next to his.

"Five seconds!" She calls out.

"Maybe, just maybe I can actually win this!" I think to myself with glee as I finish pouring the brown-ish rice filled with vegetables and spices onto the plate.

"Oh wait!" I say to myself, as I forgot to pour more salt into the mix, and so I grab the container of it from next to me, and pour some on the rice just before Karia yells "Time!"

"Phew... That was- W-What?!" I think to myself in panic, as it wasn't a container of salt I grabbed, but instead the container of lemon juice King Metallica was using.

"Where did the salt even go?!" I ask in anger as I know I'm basically screwed now.

"Oh, I was using it to make my meal all the more tantalizing, sorry pal!" King Metallica says with a grin using his silver teeth as he puts it back down on the counter.

"Well, I hope it helps you at least..." I say in a bitter tone to the stupid sabotager.

Without hesitation Karia grabs a wooden spoon, digging it into the plate of rice and tasting it.

"It's not bad actually, why the hell did you put lemon in it though?" Karia looks at me with a weirded out face.

"...It wasn't exactly... intentional." I say gritting my teeth but not calling out King Metallica as to be honest it probably was an accident knowing him.

She then leans over to King Metallica's plate of fish, tasting it and nodding her head. "Well done, I'm surprised you cooked it just right as well as using a good amount of seasoning. The winner is King Metallica!" Karia says with a grin as she starts to pull out two plates.

"Damn it, I could have won too! But at least he's probably happy though, I was just doing this so I wouldn't have to clean out that void of a room. Speaking of which shit that's gonna suck ass, if it's just me it's probably going to at least take a day." I think to myself with a sigh and being all the more tempted to call out King Metallica.

"Cheer up pal, we both got to have some quality fun and spend time together so that's all that really matters!" He says as he extends his hand out to me.

I'm hesitant at first, but I give in and end up shaking his hand. "Yeah, I guess."  Is all I reply, but obviously this wasn't what you would call a fun experience...

🍽 🍽 🍽

"YASHASHASHA, so Seric got to have an extra long weiner at the trial?!" King Metallica laughs as we sit at a plastic table Karia pulled out from the storage room, shoving a piece of the fish into his mechanical mouth using a silver utensil.

"Well, considering how strong that squid was I'd say taking a few injuries is pretty reasonable." I say with a scoff as I put down my fork on my plate.

"Oh please I bet I would have taken it out in one blow." Karia says with a laugh.

"I wasn't asking the one with an overpowered Blessing, and anyways anyone wanna go on the trial island with me? I'm getting pretty bored." I say as I look off the side of the ship, with the minuscule sandy island and above ground pitch black cave entrance with a wooden door being right next to our ship under the cloudy sky and rain that came out of nowhere.

"Yeah sure why not, just don't touch the door though or else it'll probably open again." Karia responds as she finishes her plate, stretching out her arms above her head and standing up.

"Whoever gets to the other side of the island first is a corroding senile bot, YASHASHASHA!" King Metallica laughs as he jumps off of the side of the ship onto shore and starting to run on the side with his semi exposed silver legs.

"Wait up!" I respond with a laugh as I carefully jump off of the boat with a laugh and land on the shore, but stop soon after as I realize even the shore could be booby trapped.

"Wait, King M-"

"Go on, you wouldn't want to lose now would you?" I hear a voice say from out of nowhere which makes me jump.

I'm about to call out to Karia, but I soon remember that this is the same voice that saved me back at the trial.

"Who- who are you?!" I respond telepathically like I would to my ship.

"...The ocean has drifted you much too far. A worm that does not fertilize the land. Anon, or else another worm will strike. In that regard, a cold fate awaits thee. To the frozen continent you must go. For the land of science reaps no more gold." The now elegant and strange voice of a male says to me.

"What? I don't understand." Is all I say back to it nervously, scared of it's wisdom as a voice like that is normally not a good sign.

"...Sigh. I took all of that time to come up with a beautiful poem and you just throw it in the trash like that. I can see why Karia makes fun of you now." The voice says in an annoyed tone.

"Huh? How do you know who Karia is?" I respond to the beings surprisingly ungraceful comment.

"She literally came into the trial last time how wouldn't I know her you idiot. Even before you guys came I already knew who Karia was." The being responds in a shocking casual and annoying tone.

"Oh-oh right. Well I have a lot of questions, so I guess I'll start with who are you again?" I ask, wanting to act sarcastic in response but not risking it.

"Who am I? I'll give you one to think about, who are you? Really? Who are you huh?" The voice responds.

"You know about my memory loss?" I reply with tactics in my words.

"Wow nice eye kid, yes I do! In fact I already know everything about your past. It's quite the tale, and I'll tell you all about it one day, now that's a good one to share some booze over. But before I do that though, I'm gonna need you to complete a few more of those trials for me." The voice says to me with enthusiasm.

"Really, you will?! Thank you so much, now this trip actually has some meaning for me!" I think to myself with excitement.

"Yeah, after all you three have done for me I have to give you guys something back in return. Oh right, your Blessing is pretty cool too. I guess you've forgotten about it. Hm... I guess I'll help you out on your journey, you can't really afford to be weak forever after all." The being says to me.

"Oh thank you so much, I can't wait to see my new powers! Wait, by the way what is my Blessing, I'm guessing it's my invincibility and summoning the boat right?" I ask completely thrilled.

"That's a secret, you'll know the details soon enough. Anyways, I  don't have all the time in the world here so I need you guys to get going ASAP. To put it in simple terms, you've already done the one trial you need to in Hopian, and so now you have to do one of the six trials in the frozen territory, Dalkan." The being responds which shocks me.

"Wait, Dalkan?! Isn't it blocked off from everyone in Hopian?" I ask as I remember King Metallica's story of "The Five Kings". I wonder if it really was true after all.

"Yep, I know you three and your future companions will be able find a way to get there! Well, that's just about all you need to know so I'll see ya around! Oh shoot one last thing, I doubt Karia is going to believe that you even talked to a random voice in the first place so tell her this, "The Snow Witch"." The voice responds in a rush.

"Wait, there's still so much I want to know, like who are you?!" I ask one final time.

"You really are that interested in me huh? I'm so flattered. Well, my name is-"

"Seric! Hello?! Are you high or something, Earth to Seric!" I suddenly hear a more feminine voice come from nowhere, bursting me out of my thick bubble of thought.

"Huh, what, where..." I say out loud as I look around at the small sandy beach I'm standing on and the pitch black trial cavern, and can see King Metallica and Karia bending down towards me.

"That was weird. I'd like to say it was a first but..." I laugh to myself as I've talked to three beings telepathically now so its nothing new.

"Are you okay pal?! Me and Karia were worried sick about you, I think you may need to catch some more precious, bone-growing Z's if your zoning out this much!" King Metallica says with concern as Karia even looks like she cares a bit with a relieved face.

"I don't think that's it... don't you remember how I summoned my boat back at Magthera Karia?" I ask as I need evidence to prove I'm not actually insane. Or am I?

"Yeah, you were zoning out and talking to yourself back then too, what's the connection?" She asks with a furrowed brow.

"Back then I was talking to my ship, uh, telepathically. The same thing happened just now, except it was a different voice this time, one that has to do with the trial." I respond nervously and scared of how they'll react.

"Bullsh-"

"Wow, awesome! What did it say, did it say anything about how cool my robe is?! What about my crown?! Oh no did it tell you any dirty little secrets?!" King Metallica asks, somehow completely believing me.

"...As I was saying, you really expect me to believe that? Remember, we've only been together for a little while now, so how do I know you're not lying?" Karia responds unfaltered as she looks down at me and crosses her arms which is completely fair really.

"The voice thought you wouldn't believe so it told me to tell you "The Snow Witch". That help anything?" I ask.

"What... how did... what the hell? There's no way you could've known that. If the "voice" really is connected to the trial then... Wait, was the voice a man or a woman?" Karia asks with a confused face.

"A man, why?" I ask.

"A guy huh... That just makes this even more confusing..." Karia says with a sigh as she runs her hand over her forehead under her purple bangs.

"What do you mean pal #2?" King Metallica asks as his head tilts in a complete 180° turn so his forehead is where his chin should be.

"The reason why we're doing the trials in the first place is because of a promise I made to a woman named Bersia who I killed when I worked for the Hopian Army, which is how I got my "Spirit of Bersia". Her last words to me and me alone were "I'm not the White Witch... I'm the Snow Witch."" Karia says in an uneasy tone which makes me even more confused.

"Just who was I talking to then?" I say outloud in complete confusion.

A/N: A new character is revealed, just who is this being?!

This was probably one of my favourite chapters to write, I loved making the dialogue for the new character haha.

Anyways, I hope you guys consider voting or commenting if you enjoyed, and see you next week!