Ep. 866 To The North Part 14 (Patreon)

"Alright, go ahead then."

Lin says "Do you need to know anything about the spell to help boost it?"

"Nope, I will simply watch you form it and figure it out from there."

With a nod to me Lin immediately starts chanting the beginning of her spell. I immediately switch to mana sight to watch the spell being formed. The first stage of the spell reaches out to gather the existing weather available.

However, its range is fairly poor and it only gathers visible weather formations. Whoever designed this spell obviously didn't understand how clouds are formed. Unfortunately, since I am not the caster I cannot alter the spell's properties.

All I can do is apply some pure mana to boost the range of the spell by three times. Once the net cast by the spell is fully extended the spell moves into its second stage. The second stage is gathering all of the collected weather to a single point.

Boosting this part of the spell will make the weather gather faster, but also more violent. The faster the spell moves the weather the more storm winds will be generated. Boosting this part is a bit on the dangerous side, but I go ahead and do it anyway.

As soon as I do, I can feel the winds picking up, but the spell isn't finished yet. After a couple of more minutes of Lin chanting the winds have really picked up. The sky is already covered by clouds and the waves are getting bigger and more violent.

The third stage of the spell is simple, it is feeding enough energy into the storm so it doesn't dissipate quickly. I decide not to boost this part of the spell, the storm is going to be bad enough as is. If I boost it then the storm will last for days or more and that would be bad.

A storm this strong, lasting that long, would affect the local weather patterns. It could destroy crops and cause a famine or even change the climate permanently. Weather is something that is very dangerous to play around with without enough knowledge.

Creating this storm is already dangerous enough without having it last for days. So instead of boosting the spell I just wait and let Lin finish casting the spell. By the time she is done chanting the sky is going nuts, there is thunder and lightning everywhere.

Lin says "This is crazy! Just how much did you boost my spell?!"

"It should have been boosted by about three times."

Lin says "This looks like more than that. This is going to be bad!"

"Um, Stillwater, better get everyone but the sailors below deck and make sure everything is secured."

Stillwater starts barking orders and Silverstream, Silverleaf, and Brightfire go running off. Due to the wind, the ship has picked up speed and is slamming through the waves. It has also started raining, but it is half rain and half sleet and the temperature is dropping.

The center of the storm is located where Lin started casting the spell so we are already north of it. We are moving away from the center, but it will be a while before we are clear of the storm. The waves are continuing to grow in size and soon the ship is going over them instead of through them.

Lin says "I am going back to the cabin before I get blown away!"

Stillwater says "Should we lower the sails?"

"No, that would only slow us down. It is better if we get out of the storm as fast as we can. Don't worry, the ship can handle it."

Stillwater says "Alright, then that is what we will do."

Lin quickly leaves the bridge and heads down to my cabin, leaving just me and Stillwater. Stillwater is manning the wheel while I keep an eye on the sailors in case any go overboard. Luckily, they don't have to climb the masts to bring the sails down so they are fairly safe.

However, the waves are now big enough to come up over the deck from time to time. There are only a few sailors still on deck, but there is still a chance one might be washed away. If that happens, I am the only one with any chance at all of rescuing them.

Although, I would imagine that being rescued by a meg would be fairly traumatic. Hopefully, no one will go overboard and we won't have to find out. So far, all the sailors have managed to hang on, but the storm is still getting more intense.

The waves keep getting higher, and now the ship is climbing each wave like a hill. The scariest part is when the ship crests the wave and drops down the back of it. Tons of water washes over the deck as the bow of the ship actually goes underwater.

Then after a few terrifying seconds the bow pops back up above the water. Then it is peaceful for a few seconds before the process starts all over again. I told the others that I was really confident in the ship, but I underestimated the power of the waves.

Every time the bow goes underwater I am worried that the ship is going to snap in half. When I built the ship I didn't account for this kind of pressure being put on the frame. The only thing that is saving the ship is that any damage to the frame is getting repaired.

As long as the damage doesn't build up faster than it is repaired we should be alright. Luckily, we are moving away from the worst of the storm, if not I would be really worried. If the human ships didn't turn and run, then they are probably doomed.

Unfortunately, due to the low visibility, I will probably never know what happens to them. As long as they are no longer after us, it doesn't really matter if they sink or not. The sailors have all given up and headed below deck, Stillwater and I are the only ones left.

It is a good thing that we are running under full sail and nothing needs adjusting. Even better, I can tell that the waves have stopped getting bigger, but the storm is still raging. A few minutes later the waves start getting weaker, we are going to make it.

I am sure that if the ship wasn't made from living wood that it wouldn't have held together. Even now it is still creaking and there are other disturbing sounds coming from the ship. I notice that the ship seems to be riding lower in the water just as Brightfire runs up.

Brightfire says "The bottom deck is flooded!"

Stillwater says "How did that happen?"

Brightfire says "Some boards of the hull cracked and let the water in. The boards repaired themselves, but the water is still there!"

"Alright, stay and help your father. I will go deal with the water."