Grisline Harbor, Inston, 1:00 AM
The area was covered with gloomy mist as the neon lights illuminated the entire harbor as one couldn't even observe the ocean as it was covered with fog.
A group of people lead by a lady with short purple hair dressed in a black suit and sunglasses that covered her eyes were walking towards a harbor that was guarded by a tall man with bronze skin having a scar on his left eye wearing flashy grey overcoat, under a black vest and pants with grey boots.
"Are the preparations complete?" asked the man, his voice a bit gruffy as the cold air in the harbor made his voice shiver a bit.
The lady nodded, "Yes. Our men caused enough trouble which will cause that ship to land here temporarily. Our mission will begin right after that."
"Good. I understand. Vaneria, Your device is under this garage. Check if everything is working properly. Here's the key."
The lady named Vaneria nodded as she caught the garage keys the man threw, "Thank you, Robcael. You go finish your preparations as well. After all...." Vaneria paused as she added looking ahead at the ship approaching the harbor.
"We don't want to disappoint "Madame" now do we?" said Vaneria in a confident but a hint of panic was visible in her voice as the sound of the approaching ship echoed across the quiet docks.
....
St. Annie Cruise, Artis and Alice room, 6:00 AM
Artis woke up feeling refreshed from yesterday night's exhaustion, as he woke up and sat on his bed to review the skills he had analyzed last night.
"Analyze."
"Record."
"Play."
As the blue screen appeared before him and Artis choose to analyze the Unique Skill [Eye Of The Psychos]
[This skill allows the user to create a force field around them that allows them to manipulate any object that withing the surrounding radius covered by the force field.]
[Since the user managed to identify the Unique Skill is evolved; Having a high understanding; The Time and Radius improved than the original limit]
[Warning: Your level, strength and skill is not compatible with a high level skill so the skill's power and time limit will return to its original time limit to be adjustable to your body.]
[New Time Limit: 6 minutes]
[New Radius: 5 meters]
'6 minutes and 5 meters? Interesting. But it's so damn annoying that it changed absolutely nothing even if I deciphered this skill was an Evolved Skill because I am weak....
This skill compliments my [Magician], but its too bad the time limit for both the skills will decrease if I combine these 2 skills. Does the range moves if I move with it?
I will try it out later, Can I control my range for this Skill? Let's try it out.'
[Eye Of The Psychos]. The moment Artis activated this skill, his lake blue eyes had developed a light purple layer over it as a range developed over him with him being at the center of it.
Artis, felt a pang of headache in that very moment as he clenched his forehead in pain. It felt like his whole world was exploding in front of him as various information of how to use this skill entered his head.
"Shit!"
After a few seconds, Artis looked up as he processed all the information that entered his mind of how to use this skill.
He continued his focus as his eyes went over a pen stand that kept multiple pens with it. He then, turned his focus over that area and the pen stand kept with few pens started to lift up slowly.
Focusing on his hand, he tried to call the pen stand near him as it began moving slowly towards him.
After reaching a distance, where he could grab it with his hand, he stopped the flight midway and decided he wanted to see what he could do with it.
He removed the pens from the pen stand and counted there were 5 pens and 4 pencils inside it. As all 10 objects levitated around him, he chose his focus on a red pen and a pencil needed to be sharpened as these two objects started to zap around him in all directions.
Smiling confidently, he stopped the pens midway and charged them in a straight direction towards the door and stopped it before it went out of his range and called them back slowly.
Turning of his skill, he sighed and analyzed the skill even further.
'This skill needs a lot of mental stress to use it continuously otherwise the headache will kill me. Yeah, its obvious I need a bit of mental training before I'm ready to properly use this skill.'
He sighed, as he raised his head to see that with turning off the skill, he made an entire mess of the room, with pens and pencils spread out all around the room.
'Oh crap! If Alice woke up to see the state of this room, she will actually kill me!' As panic surged inside Artis as he got up and picked up the pens and pencils placing it at its original position. Just as he placed the last pen, he heard a soft rustle from Alice's bed, and he froze. Holding his breath, he turned to see Alice stirring, muttering something in her sleep.
"Don't… throw… food at me…Aevis..." she mumbled, still lost in whatever strange dream she was having. Artis let out a sigh of relief, laughing a little under his breath. He really didn't want to face her wrath first thing in the morning.
Finally done cleaning up, Artis sat down on his beds looking up thinking about the skill he tested while thinking of suitable places to test [Dominating Aura]. As he continued to think, his mind diverted back to the Divination stall guy, and where he got the Trenant Tree roots from.
Just then, the doorbell chimed softly. Artis stood up, adjusting his t-shirt, before heading over to open the door. A young crew member stood outside, holding a tray with two cups of hot tea and a small folded note.
"Good morning, sir," she said, smiling politely. "Complimentary morning tea from the St. Annie crew. And here's a message for you."
"Thank you," Artis replied, accepting the tray and note. Closing the door, he set the tea on the small table between their beds, then unfolded the note.
The message was brief but strange:
"Dear Artis and Alice,
We hope you're enjoying your journey aboard the St. Annie. Due to some unforeseen issues, we'll be making a temporary stop at Grisline Harbor. Please remain on the ship until further notice. Safe travels!"
The note wasn't signed. Artis frowned. A temporary stop at Grisline Harbor? At this time of day?
Alice stirred again and sat up groggily, her hair a mess. She glanced at the tea tray, then at Artis, and finally narrowed her eyes at the note in his hand. "What's that? A love letter from one of the crew?"
Artis shook his head, handing her the note. "Apparently, we're making an unscheduled stop at Grisline Harbor. No clue why."
Alice's brows furrowed, as she read the letter, 'Did those 2 guys who fought yesterday fought again, and Captain had to kick them out? That's why we're stopping here...or is it because of the developments that will happen soon...'
"Umm...Alice, you alright?" asked Artis in a concerned tone, "You really looked spaced out there for a second..."
As if suddenly snapped by her sudden thoughts, Alice looked up at Artis, as she gave him a nervous chuckle, "Heh Heh, it's nothing...was just wondering why the ship would suddenly stop at Inston of all places. You know, cause the main harbor for this ship is Constantine Harbor, so I'm just worried if something will happen or not."
Artis listened, his brows furrowed as he looked at Alice, "Perhaps we are stopping here to restock our supplies? It's not that farfetched to think that a ship this huge wouldn't run out of supplies right?"
'No. You're wrong.' thought Alice internally as she gave him a smile, "Maybe you're right and we are thinking too deeply into this. C'mon let's get ready and have our breakfast soon...On second thought, let's have a late breakfast today!"
She stood up, jumping energetically as she fixed her hair, "And let's meet up at the dining hall. I will be going somewhere to...confirm some things!"
As she said that, she hurriedly left the room in her pajamas leaving Artis stunned for a moment as he blinked looking at her back.
"She didn't even change out of her pajamas..." he murmured, scratching the back of his head. "What could she possibly be checking so early in the morning?"
...
4th Floor, Room 404
Alice stood in front of a door leading it to a person's room. She stood still, her eyes completely hardened as she felt many emotions waver in her heart.
Taking a deep breath, she mustered up the courage to knock on the door.
"Come in..."
...
At the same time, as the 2 passengers were removed from the ship, a drone flew from behind their crew back as it attached some sort of tracker inside it.
"This was your final warning, y'know!" Said one of the crewmates in a snarky tone, "All ya had to do was not scuffle again and you still failed. Us normally don't kick out folks but we had no choice y'know! Just pray that t'was your mistake on that one!"
Saying that, he turned around and left them to themselves. Unknown to the crewmate, the passengers turned around and let out a malicious smile as they stood up and crossed their right arm to their chest.
"Glory to the Genesis!"