7 – Brunch

Alan opened his eyes, and the first sight he saw was clouds so close to him. Surprisingly, he slept well last night, despite finding bottomless Celia in his dream.

The young man stood up, stretched his body, and then realized that he was alone on that rubble.

"Celia?" Alan glanced around. It didn't take long for him to find the female fighter falling from a chunk of the ground while screaming. "Celia!!!"

The wyvern swiftly caught Celia's feet, then brought her over to Alan's place.

"What exactly are you doing?" The young man asked his friend. She sat down, covered in sweat.

"I've just been practicing to land better. Miss Dragon always catches me when I fall." Celia removed her leather jug from her waist. But when she was about to drink the contents, she froze. No water flowed into her mouth. "I'm an idiot. I no longer have water, but I did activities that make me sweat like crazy."

Unfortunately, Alan has also run out of water supply. But there is one other method.

"Well, I can summon water already." Alan raised his staff a bit. A clear and rippled ball emerged above the tip of that thing.

[Water blast: collects water particles in the air and shoots them]

"This magic has a longer casting time than other basic magic skills, but I can hold this form as long as I want before I fire it." The young man continued. "You want to try drinking it?"

"Sure, I'm really thirsty." Celia stood up and tried to scoop up the water ball, but an explosion occurred, sending her flying into the air, and her HP decreased a little.

Luckily, she landed on another chunk.

Alan rubbed his face, which was wet from the water explosion. Some water entered his mouth and slightly moistened his dry throat. But that doesn't seem like the right way to get water.

"Are you all right, Celia?" Alan called. "I'm sorry. I didn't know the magic would explode."

"I'm okay." Celia rose to her feet with the help of her spear. "Perhaps you can try again. We are now quite far apart. You can shoot me in the face, and I'll try to collect the water with my mouth. The longer the distance, the weaker the water blast, right?"

It took a while for Alan to digest Celia's words. "Why? Why do you look so happy when I shoot water in your face?"

"I'm really thirsty, and water is refreshing." Celia bowed while opening her mouth to Alan. "Please."

With that pose and expression, she reminded Alan of some unquestionable things on the internet.

Instead of obeying Celia's orders, Alan fired the water blast upwards. That thing exploded above and scattered water everywhere.

Alan slightly opened his mouth to catch the falling drops of water, but they were so small they couldn't quench his thirst.

"I told you, just shoot me." Celia opened her mouth even wider, making it look like she was stuffing an invisible cucumber into her mouth.

"Don't be silly." Alan sighed. "You can be thrown from there if you get hit by the blast."

"I really am an idiot." Celia covered her face with both hands, but it only lasted a second. "But miss dragon can catch me if I fall. So, don't worry too much."

"I'm taking no chances. We'll find another way to collect water from me." Alan's lips twitched slightly. His words sounded strange.

"But…"

"Maybe you're just stressed, so you can't think straight," Alan answered. Celia's shenanigan made the young man hold back his laughter again. "Well, we better get going. Maybe we can find something for our water supply."

Celia cleared her throat. "Yeah."

Alan was startled to hear that girl's voice getting a bit deeper. Celia also widened her eyes as if she didn't want the young man to listen to that voice.

"This is my real voice." In the end, she didn't change her voice back.

"Ah, you're a streamer, huh?" Alan made a conclusion. It is something common. Sometimes, a streamer on the internet uses a different voice to do his job.

"Sorry. I'm not trying to trick you or anything." That habit still carries over because I feel like I'm still playing games, and just now, my throat was so dry, I accidentally let it slip."

Alan shrugged. "Why do you have to apologize, Celia?"

Yes, the young man doesn't mind that at all.

"Thanks." Celia put on a smile. "By the way, maybe we should name our new friend."

Alan looked at the wyvern. "Do you have a name?"

The beast shook her head.

"Well, how about Brunch? Do you mind it?"

This time the creature nodded.

"Why Brunch?" Celia raised an eyebrow.

That word is rarely used for a name. It is a combination of the words breakfast and lunch and refers to the time between those two meals.

"That is the name of my dog. My family and I adopted her at brunch time." Alan explained.

***

They continue their journey. Instead of jumping from one rubble to another, Brunch pushed the chunk of ground they occupied. Nobody suggested that. The wyvern took the initiative on her own.

"Water…" Celia lay down with her arms spread out. Her lips are so dry. "Shoot me again, Al. I don't care about the pain or the fall. As I said, Brunch will catch me."

It got Alan thinking about really shooting Celia in the face with a water blast. Dehydration is a terrible thing when it lasts too long.

"That's...." Alan stood up and narrowed his eyes. He finds an intact building floating in the air. "A house?"

Celia hurriedly straightened up her body. "Does it have water? Please, say that place has water."

That building was made of wood, not too big, and the shape wasn't special, but one thing caught Alan's attention. A giant rotating propeller was attached behind that thing, acting as the thruster.