Chapter 83: Sailing to the North
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[Name: Nik Faran
Age: 20 (80)
Code: GC—EHG—98034
Authority Rank: 1 (5.89→ 7.93/100)
Paradise: Transmigration
Title: Transmigration Intern
Bloodline: Adonis' Ember (Common)
Physique: 2.3
Mental: 1.8
Energy: 21.6]
If Nik still were to be a rank 0 member then the metal prison would have gotten him 20 points easily. Sadly, the conversion rate from each rank was 10 folds so he could only sigh. Still, after ranking up and promoting to an intern, Nik wasn't in a hurry to rank up yet again.
"Hey, what's gotten you so quiet?" A large hand suddenly patted his back as Nik looked up to find Yoki grinning at him. All the prisoners looked better now. Those who wanted to clean up, did. Those who wanted to rock a mean prison look continued on. Yoki was one of the latter. His beard was already tied into dreadlocks somehow while his long hair fell over his shoulder. All of them wore whatever they could receive from the villagers, so, Yoki had a plain brown vest on and a large cream loose trousers. It was merely a large piece of cloth tied around his waist and then pulled around his crotch like a loincloth.
{A/N: A Dhoti.}
"It's 4 in the morning," Nik yawned. Even the dawn hadn't arrived as the large group of freed waterbenders walked with minimal conversation— equally dazed in their morning blues.
"So? You're the hero, son! Let me tell you about my niece. She's got the looks and she would be your age."
"How do you know my age?" Nik narrowed his eyes.
"Well, you're 17, right?"
Nik scoffed, shrugging Yoki's hand off as the man continued, "Well, anyway, no ladies. I get it. But you don't look like a Southerner or a northerner, how the hell does someone like you become a bender?" his words finally attracted a bit of attention from others. They were curious, too. Katara was easily accepted as a waterbender and her engagement choker was a hard piece of evidence but despite Nik's slightly darker skin tone, he didn't have that 'look' about him. Plus, his eyes were violet and not blue.
Katara and Suki looked at each other, almost jumping into the conversation but Nik was quicker, "Someone like me becomes a bender to save imprisoned benders like you. Call it a nature's favor."
Yoki blinked before he started to chuckle.
"He got you, eh?" A rather mature woman commented from the side. Her interests were clear. Well, Nik was a bit amazed how a few women didn't end up skinnier after such a brutal treatment. It wasn't only a few women but Yoki himself managed to maintain his impressive physique.
"He did," Yoki heaved, "Well, son, I hope you don't lose that spunk after Hama gets through to you. We're gonna need all the support to free up the Northern Water Tribe."
"And kill that son of a sea lion bitch Hahn!" One of the men cursed and Yoki's gaze turned dark for a moment. He only replied softly, "Yeah."
But the chilling hatred couldn't be contained.
"What happened at your tribe?" Katara questioned.
"Let me answer that for you, Katara," Hama, who had been silent, finally revealed an almost toothless grin, "These high rising idiots lost the first few battles against the Fire Nation's Navy. Men, of course, died. Stupidly, might I add. They had their female benders locked up for healing practices... Ah, all that untapped manpower. Long story short, the untrained women lost just as easily. Many died, more captured and possibly kept like us.
And here's the twist. A non-bender warrior engaged to the Chieftain's daughter betrayed the tribe by secretly opening a path for the firebenders to infiltrate the tribe. The Chief is now dead, her daughter, probably, still in that traitor's bedroom. Blissfully unaware, most likely."
The dripping condescension in Hama's tone aggravated the waterbenders around her but no one refuted. These were the facts.
Although, they regretted telling Hama any of it. The witch wouldn't let it die down!
"Wait a minute, how does the Chieftain's daughter not know of it but you do?" Suki looked at Yoki. The trio already knew that Yoki once led the charge against the Fire Nation.
"Many superiors who came to inspect the prison flaunted it," Yoki grumbled.
"Anyway," a cheerful but thin woman with greying hair clapped, her morning blues almost washing off of her after this conversation, "When do we reach the shores?"
"About three hours of walking," Hama mumbled, already feeling the load of her age but others only gloated for a short while.
Makapu Village wasn't far from the western edge of the mainland. Of course, this was only a small part of the border as the waterbenders intended to move through a ship. Nik should have saved one of the ships but it didn't matter at this time. Anyway, the more experienced navigator from the group estimated that to move through the sea around the western border of the giant Earth Kingdom to reach the Northern Water Tribe would take them less than two months should they be lucky.
Of course, time was of the essence here. Yoki seemed to believe Hara's promise of not divulging the information regarding their travel back to the Northern Tribe but this got Nik thinking...
How hard would it actually be to guess it?
It wouldn't be this easy if he hadn't heard the story of betrayal... but now?
A group of lethal waterbending escapees seemingly disappearing into the woods towards the shore... with obvious anger towards the Fire Nation and innate hate for the traitor which many superiors of Hara reveled in the description of...
'Even I can make connections and I'm here for less than a month,' Nik sighed softly.
To him, the objective wasn't to save some Tui and La guys that Wu mentioned. He was only interested in learning waterbending from a master... but he had to admit another thing, he was a bit interested in Chieftain's daughter.
'That's like a royalty, right? Wait... Sokka is a chief himself. Does that make Katara a royalty, too?' Nik gazed at her. Feeling his stare, Katara grew wary, "What?" she questioned instantly, the recollection of their conversation last night still a fresh memory. Of course, not something she would expose to Suki... but the thought of keeping special moments without Suki made Katara awfully titillated.
"Aren't you the Chieftain's sister yourself?" Nik questioned directly, "Where does that put you in terms of status?"
"Status?" It was Katara's turn to be confused.
"The southern tribe isn't the same as the northern tribe," Hama explained with a soft sigh, "I have to admit that even while fostering waterbending fools, the northern tribe is united. Many villages formed a single tribe... while those who didn't want to fall under the same rule sailed to the Extreme Southern region, forming the diverse Southern Tribe.
While the title of Chieftain means something in the Northern Tribe, to us southerners... it's just a strong person. Preferably a man."
"Heh, finally realizing our value, eh?" Yoki smirked, making Hama stare at him menacingly.
"Men of southerners breed no traitors and women barring sissies, you bulky buffoon! They know how to make an honest woman out of us! Ain't that right, Katara?"
Hama looked towards Katara for confirmation, causing her to blush, "I- I don't know..."
"Well, you better get some experience fast, child. You're all on a rough road. Actually, we all can die due to a wrong step so might as well find some good man to show you how bending really is done!"
Katara looked away, unable to bear Hama's vulgar words while Suki glanced at Nik for a moment, a flash of expectations passed through her gaze.
"Always expect a Hama to be crass," the curvaceous woman from before scoffed, "Look how you've made the poor girl a mess."
"Hehehe," Hama merely cackled, uncaring.
The group began to liven up slowly. Their chatter grew louder and louder but their walk didn't stop until the group reached a wide beach ended with two giant stretches of land.
It was past dawn already and the morning sun made everyone feel relaxed.
"Alright, no time for rest, people! Hama, you can take the moment to get the two started with actual waterbending. That scroll the two of them have been studying for is as old as you. Get them the real stuff.
Suki, right?... Just relax? Enjoy the sight maybe?
The rest of you lot, let's cut the trees. Kavye, make vines into ropes."
Yoki didn't take a moment of rest and instantly waved his hand, pulling a rather small blob of seawater while his words made Suki and Hama roll their eyes at him.
But he meant well.
Hama was already exhausted beyond belief. While she was a waterbending master, that didn't mean she had a young man's energy to pull off a similar level of endurance. It would only increase their burdens should Hama pull more out of her than she can recover and fall sick. A waste of good fighter, in Yoki's eyes. Instead, letting her direct the two amateurs would be better. Meanwhile, Suki? She couldn't waterbend so Yoki couldn't make use of her.
Almost everyone took the same amount of seawater as Yoki which surprised Katara and Nik.
"Alright, the first lesson will be control," Hama coughed, jumping straight into the topic.
"I think we have enough control," Katara spoke as she pulled a blob of water and made various looping shapes with it, demonstrating her control only for Hama to chuckle in mockery as she clenched her fist and the water in Katara's control turned into ice in an instant.
"Huh?" Katara gasped as Hama then proceeded to turn the ball of ice into thin shrapnels as they plunged into the sea.
"You call that control? Just because you can play with water doesn't mean you control it. Almost all the waterbenders cutting down the trees can take control over your area of water. That's control! To keep the water from betraying you."
Hama explained, "Yoki said it right. That scroll is old. Not as old as me but older. It lacks the basic principles that were developed later on.
Have you seen firebenders fight each other?"
To Hama's question, Nik, Katara, and Suki shook their heads.
"Hmm, I've seen it once. Inspiring, in fact. You see, the two men were experienced and didn't create fire like other firebenders. Instead, they used the fire from their torches and used it against each other.
But the fire never died out. It was like a dance... the two would continuously use the fire thrown at them and control it to attack once again. Of course, I'm not saying that it wouldn't expend their energy to keep the flame as strong as it was because it would. But you get the point.
We benders control the element temporarily and even this control is too fleeting when met against a master. You didn't allow your chi to flow properly into the water and that allowed me to control it in an instant."
"Chi?" Katara questioned with visible confusion as Hama cackled, "See? It wasn't described in the scroll, right?"
"Are you here to teach us or not?" Nik questioned Hama's constant belittling as the old woman shrugged, "Enjoying my last days, if you will. Anyway, now that you know you're not good at bending as you thought yourselves to be, I can start teaching the two of you."
"Can I listen, too?" Suki inquired.
"Sure," Hama nodded.
Chi, in Hama's words, was the energy flowing in every human being and is the basis of every Elemental bending. The consumption of Chi is the sensation of loss one feels while bending an element and the consequential exhaustion once a person completely consumes their Chi. This makes the battle of elements shorter and more fast-paced which forces many to invent more lethal tactics.
In Nik's terms, Chi was the value of energy in his body. Or, at least, one of the contributing factors to it. Just like the physique stat that made an average of every single physical aspect of his self, the energy stat surely had more than just Chi.
However, the numbers of his stats weren't really much of an indicator of his strength. An average human will have 1 value in every stat value so, compared to that, Nik was really strong. Especially his Stamina. But that didn't allow Nik to compare himself with the likes of Yoki.
Soon, Hama taught the basics in how to properly let one's Chi flow into their bendable element which finally shocked Nik.
As he began to follow Hama's instructions, he felt a hot blaze lit in his stomach that almost made him cough. As the chi flowed out from his hands, the air around his left hand seemed to grip his arm tightly, his right hand caused the water near him to splash outwards instead and he almost fell down.
He was being unnaturally pulled into the ground.
"Tch, tch, again. Look at the lass," Hama's words broke him out of this strange state as Nik glanced in Katara's direction, seeing a small sphere of water in front of her fascinated face.
"Feel the difference?" Hama questioned and Katara nodded, "It just feels... so easy to make shapes out of it now."
"Not just shapes. It also allows you to easily control the temperature of the water under your command."
Hama then looked at Nik, "What are you waiting for? Try again!"
Nik nodded silently.
Instead of just feeling other sensations, Nik focused on the small portion of the waves by the beach and then began to move in the manner Hama described previously and finally felt his Chi extending out of his body. Unlike before where this sensation is always distorted to the point it's considered a 'hunch', Nik clearly felt his energy pouring out.
'Woah!'
Nik's eyes widened. It truly was easier than before.
He spread his arms out and raised them, causing the small portion of waves to break out of its natural order and rise high in a form of two meters high tide.
"Tch, tch, I said, don't distort your control for greater gains. See? I can easily—" Hama's words were stuck in her throat as her control fell short against the suspended wave.
Wide-eyed, she turned to look at Nik with an incredulous expression, "You did that?"
Only for Nik to finally huff and let go of the wave. He slumped on the sandy beach while shrugging, "Barely."
It was an act. The moment he saw Hama's expression, Nik understood he may have overdone it in his own excitement. He had plenty of energy to spare but not at the expense of himself being dubbed as some sort of amazing rookie. He always felt that those who're called as such don't have an easy life. His previous life was one such instance.
"Hmm, take a breather. For the day, even when on the ship, you will practice this. Of course, it's only for today. From tomorrow onwards, I will begin to hone your skills from dawn to dusk."
"What about my training with Suki?" Nik questioned.
"If you have the strength after my teachings, go ahead. The two of you have been training from before, right? Don't let your stamina stop you from achieving your routine." Hama states with a menacing smile only for Nik to nod plainly. In fact, Katara and Suki didn't show any strange expressions, too, fully believing that Nik will make the cut.
The waterbenders were experienced in making boats and acquiring their resources and a large piece of cloth stitched together to make a sail was already deposited inside Nik's personal space since the waterbenders were made aware of a few of his 'tricks' that was already known to Zhao through Sokka.
The group planned to create two boats. One as a scouting party and the other one would follow them. The war had made Yoki painfully aware how they needed every waterbender trained and that included many from his group, too. Though bitter with her words, Hama still accepted the request to teach the war-hardened women more intricate methods of waterbending so while Yoki led the scouting team, making sure to take care of the many threats— including the natural disasters of the ocean. Hama, and a few other benders including two experienced navigators boarded the second ship.
Anyway, seeing how crude the two boats were, Nik now hoped that they run into a battleship just to take it over for the comfort of its more mechanical approach.
What came next was a grueling training from Hama began making everyone bend the water around the boat while Suki sat close to the bow, enjoying the view with the gentle wind making her auburn locks sway. What was even crueler was the fact that everyone basically slept on the boat together, leaving Nik and Suki with no privacy.
For the coming days, waterbending would be used to catch food from the sea and cook it by boiling the water. Hama even taught a nifty trick by causing the water to evaporate while letting another bender condense concentrated vapors quickly to form clean drinking water.
Other things, such as freshening up and whatnot were a bit hard but everyone had to simply buck and release it into the sea itself.
But the trio adapted to the situation quickly, finding ways to improve themselves.
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