The burn mark

When they reached her room, which was actually a room shared by all three girls, Ian found the room empty.

A bit of presence sensing had Ian know that Elene and robin were sitting in the living room while Bert was in his room.

So Ian spoke to Stella.

"Take a seat on the bed, and relax. Do you want to know how it works?" He said with a smile on his face trying to ease Stella up. He could notice that she was nervous as much as she was excited.

"No, I'm fine like this" She took a deep breath as she sat up on the bed.

"Alright," He nodded.

Then Ian grabbed a syringe and took her right hand as he injected its content into her bloodstream.

Then following that he sat behind her cross-legged with his hand on her back.

"I'm going to start channeling energy through your body." He told her, and when he saw her nod, he released a small amount of his energy through his hand and into her body.

He then manipulated it to do the same thing it does to him every time he strengthens himself. He had it consume the DNA injected into her, and transform it into energy that will strengthen every part of her body.

If he didn't do so, and the DNA was left alone in her bloodstream it would change her body into something hideous.

In his case, the process was automatic as the energy belonged to him, but in this case, he had to manually transform all of the energy into one that would help her, and only then could he rest. And this process was a bit painful, which was proved by the groans escaping Stella.

It took Ian half an hour to do so as he finally took his hands off her back, and gently laid Stella who had lost consciousness into the bed.

When the morning comes he would see what stage she had reached. His guess was that they would reach the peak of the second stage. Meaning the peak of what he had dubbed the earth realm.

The DNA he had used belonged to the Diávoloi. As such its effects would be nothing short of monstrous. He had gained a second heart from it after all, not to mention reaching the emperor realm. But even if he used that DNA on the crew, they wouldn't gain any abilities. All he did was change its energy into one that would strengthen their bodies.

He stood up from the bed and started leaving, taking one last look at the sleeping figure, who until now was still undergoing changes. Changes that would help her achieve her wish to protect her family.

He stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Then started heading into Bert's room. And when Ian knocked he was told to come in.

"Hey there." Ian greeted.

"Hey, captain," Bert replied.

"I guess you want to know more about me." Bert then sighed and said.

When he saw Ian nod he started speaking.

"Well, most of the things I think Elene had already told you." He spoke.

"Yes. But I want to know why you want to be stronger. There is also the fact that you are the first mate of the ship too, and I want to know about you more. I'm sorry I wasn't able to do this before, as you know with the war and all." Ian said. When you know what drives a person, you subsequently get to know them more. And Ian was determined to get to know more about his crew.

What they like, what they hate, what drives them to improve, and what are their dreams.

"Well, I'm sure you already know everting else apart from how I got this burn mark," Bert said as he lowered his shirt a bit showing the burn mark reached onto his chest and not just his neck. Bert's eyes had a sadness in them along with a bit of pain.

It was true that Ian knew the rest. When they were eating the girls always recounted tales of their earlier days when they had just met. But never did they speak about the burn mark. So Ian guessed it was a sore subject for Bert.

He didn't want to hurt him by making him remember. Rather he wanted to help him. After Bert finishes telling him, he would help him resolve it if he still didn't already.

"When I was still young, I had left my home in the hope of adventures and fun. But the reality was disappointing Ian. I found out that my people are nothing but slaves to the humans and world nobles." Bert shook his head. The anger was visible in his eyes.

"But I was a bit proud of my strength at the time. So one day as I saw a marine ship with a few of my people in it, I was enraged, and infiltrated it in the hopes of saving them and punishing the marines." Bert said. "Sadly, I was caught. Quite easily at that. And as an example to the rest of the prisoners, I was made to be tortured. There were cuts, bruises, and the like, but they all heal with time. But this!" Bert pointed at his burn mark.

"This stays forever." He spat out with anger. Though Ian felt a part of that anger was directed at himself for rashly trying to save them.

Still, he was able to understand Bert and where he was coming from.

"They used hot boiling oil and poured it over me. This had me out for three days, during which the ship had docked into another island. When I came to, I was being carried by a person across the ship in the night." He said painfully as he rubbed the burnt part on his neck. Before closing his eyes for a bit. When he opened them this time had had a thin smile.

"It was as you can guess, Elene. She carried my injured form until a safe house. Then she went back out of the house, leaving me there. I lost consciousness once again. But when I came to, I found all of the prisoners on that ship sitting around me in the house. Along with Elene who was sleeping, quite possibly from the exhaustion of saving all of the mink there." He had a fond smile on his face. He would never forget what Elene had done for him and his people.

"Later she helped us all get our revenge. Though we didn't just kill anyone. Rather we kidnapped the torturer along with the captain of the ship and disposed of them. After which the adults' mink that were rescued took the rest back to their home island. With me choosing to stay with Elene. And that's one of the reasons I want to be strong Ian. I want to be able to repay Elene, and if not then at least be helpful to her. The other reason is to protect our family. Each of us has had something bad happen to them when still young, which had us bond as if a real family. I don't want to lose that." Bert finished. He grabbed a bottle of water and poured a glass for himself.

"I understand." Ian nodded. He was proud of Elene. She had done extremely good in his opinion. He also understood what Bert was saying. And he agreed with him. His reason for getting stronger was a good one just like all the rest of the crew. Ian was happy he got such people to be with him.

"I will help you to get stronger. Tell me do you wish to get rid of that burn mark?" He added.

Bert stayed silent for a while before he nodded yes.

"Then by the next morning you will find that you have newfound strength, along with fur in your neck area," Ian said with a grin.