Watching my sister's actions, I nearly missed the attack — the orc leader was approaching me and trying to split my goblin in half from top to bottom. Ha! How naive! I just had to think about dodging for my body to instantly step aside and turn away from the terrifying strike. And then the cutlass passed me by, having gone just one centimeter over my head.
Dodge Skill increased to level 12!
So, that was how my invincibility worked — as long as I didn't want to get hit, my body would go into action automatically! I needed to make use of the unique chance and level up as much as possible while I still had the opportunity! I even sheathed my dagger, as the weapon was now of no use to me, and easily ducked away from a few of the orc's strikes. Then I heard a short, frightened cry and the sound of breaking glass — it must have been the rougarou, having somehow managed to catch up to and destroy one of the mirror images of the mavka, in the very limited duel space. The three other magesses were ceaselessly shooting the dog-faced creature with lightning and icicles. His life bar had already gone down by three fourths. Just a bit more and... Suddenly the rougarou lit up red and his health fully restored! What was more, I saw the dog-head suddenly make a twenty-meter burst and slash another mirror image of the mavka with his claws. I heard a cry and the sound of breaking glass. Bad news! The duel space was too small for the magess to get away from such a blistering fast enemy.
"Quick, into the water!" I cried, and Valerianna heard me and understood.
The two remaining green-haired girls cast spells in concert and were brought onto the sea, walking over the waves with ease, putting some distance between herself and the beach. The shapeshifter, having thrown himself at one of them, stopped when up to his chest in the brackish water and started howling in frustration.
Dodge Skill increased to level 13!
Acrobatics skill increased to level 10!
I watched my sister in alarm, and almost didn't see the splash of spit from the impotent rage of the Merciless Aarsch, who was still trying to catch me with his broad heavy blade. The orc was clearly tired, but was still cutting the air deliriously, trying to do away with the impudent goblin. Finally, when the orc was totally out of breath and finished the attack, I turned to my enemy and suggested he surrender, promising to let him keep his life.
"Now you dare mock me, whippersnapper!" the pirate captain shouted, barely breathing he was so tired. "Dog-head, help me!"
That was a huge error on the part of the pirate captain — as soon as the rougarou turned his attention from the wood nymph onto me, the shapeshifter stopped sharply and froze, his eyes glassed over.
Passive use of artifact: Ring of Fenrir
Successful Charisma check
Experience received: 80 Exp.
The canine beast roared furiously, made one uncertain step forward, then another and... threw himself at Aarsch the Merciless, striving to bite through the orc's throat! The terrifying jaws of the shapeshifter plunged into the orc's throat, causing blood to gush out in thick streams. The orc stepped back, tore the enemy off, and ran the rougarou through with his cutlass, trying to deflect the attacks of his clawed paws with his shield. The two enemy markers shown on the mini-map were fighting one another! At that, the wood nymph's two copies were shooting both pirates from the water, not particularly caring which of them got hit by her sharp magical icicles as they burst into shards.
The life bars of both pirates were going down fast — both the rougarou and the orc were bleeding profusely. They were under the fire of Valerianna Quickfoot's spells and, at that, were still trying to slash and pummel one another. If I were a bit quicker on my feet, I'd have helped the rougarou out — in theory, I could include him in the Gray Pack and make him a companion. But I was a bit distracted and didn't manage. The shapeshifter froze, stopped by some freezing spell of the mavka's, and Aarsch didn't lose the chance, driving his cutlass directly into the rougarou's chest.
Experience received: 400 Exp.
"That's what's up, pup," exclaimed the orc leader, gurgling out blood from his torn throat. A few seconds later, though, he fell dead on the corpse of his opponent.
Experience received: 680 Exp.
"Whoo-ee! Amra, you have to make sure to put this battle in your next video clip. It was an awesome fight! I leveled up Water Magic, Illusion Magic, and Thaumaturgy, increasing my total mana!" said both girls at the same time, creating a slight echo effect.
After that, both copies of Valerianna Quickfoot returned to shore, exchanged glances and ran to meet one another, opening their arms for an embrace. I heard the sound of breaking glass once again, and my sister was back to one.
"Val, how high is your Intelligence, if you were able to kill enemies twenty levels higher than you with such ease?"
"One hundred fifteen is the raw number in my character description but my effective Intelligence, considering primary skills and worn objects is two hundred fifty-six."
"How much?!" I froze, not believing my ears, and my sister repeated.
The wood nymph's intelligence had already reached 256! That's what I'm talking about!!! I had a pretty amazing sister! My own highest effective stat was Agility at 97, then Charisma at 74. But two hundred fifty-six, was beyond belief... It was no surprise, then, that her magical attacks were so crushing. No wonder she was taking down "red skulls."
"Amra, quick loot the corpses and take blood, especially from the rougarou — you might never get that chance again. They're very rare."
I followed my sister's advice and looked at the trophies.
Orc Blood (alchemy ingredient)
Rougarou Blood (alchemy ingredient)
Captain's Cabin Key
Thirty-five coins
Bronze medallion of a Brotherhood of the Coast captain
Chipped pirate cutlass (Damage 2-4*Strength, +2% chance of critical hit, 6% chance of causing 5 seconds of bleeding damage)
Under the steadfast gazes of dozens of pirates, I took the heavy cast-iron octopus medallion and placed it around my neck then turned back to the silent crew:
"If any of you have anything against me or want to challenge me to a duel for captainship, this is the time to say so. Because, after this, any mutineers will find themselves hung from the boom!"
The crew got on guard and kept silent. No one was opposed. I waited a few seconds for order, after which I shouted at full throat:
"Then from this moment on, I am your new captain! And I ask, why are you lazy sacks just sitting around?! I'll show you the meaning of idleness, shark bait! Ten sailors in each dinghy, make haste over to that island to cut logs! First mate, your mission is to help these slow-moving mollusks with heavy kicks to get those boats in the water! Shrekson, you give these degenerates tools and help them split the logs into boards. The tide will come in soon, and the White Shark must be fixed by that time! Shaman, don't be stingy with the magic. Heal the wounded! Max Sochnier, Yunna and Val, I need you to find provisions on the bireme and cook up something for the crew to eat! I'll need them strong and healthy soon — every hour you delay, Tipsy Gannet gets farther away, and I plan to catch up to that impudent trader before nightfall!"
At a Crossroads
THE BIREME FLEW over the waves as if soaring through the sky. The wind was at our backs, and the big sail was confidently pulling us forward, but I didn't let the oarsmen rest, because time was too precious. Tipsy Gannet had a nearly three-hour head start on us, and I wanted to catch them before they stopped for the night in a protected port, where the local garrison might come out to help the trader.
The huge Ogre Fortifier, panting heavily, came up onto the upper deck and stopped a few steps from me. The giant was glistening with sweat, having worked for more than an hour as the lone oarsman with a huge five-meter oar. He couldn't see me, but supposed I was somewhere above him.
"You really ran me ragged today... Tell me, Amra, how do you generate missions?"
"What are you talking about? What missions?" I didn't understand.
The ti
tan turned to my voice, searching the empty space with his gaze — I was invisible to all living players for another forty minutes.
Stealth Skill increased to level 18!
"What do you mean 'what missions?' You gave me three quests in the last few hours: 'Saw boards,' 'Fix the bireme,' and 'Take the ship out of the shallows.' I completed all your quests successfully and got significant experience, even enough to reach level twenty-seven."
"And you gave me and the wood nymph the quest 'Feed the crew,' but we're still working on it," the Naiad Trader cut into our conversation, pointing to the dozen orc pirates sleeping on the deck. "Valerianna and the goblin girl caught fish, cleaned them and cooked them in the galley. They're almost done with their mission already, just twenty sailors remain unfed. How did the pirates even have the strength to row to us? In the hold, there wasn't even a morsel of food! The mavka and I scavenged the whole ship, but there was no flour, biscuits, corned beef, or even clean water. Thankfully, we gathered a few baskets of fruit and bags of coconuts on those islands, otherwise the provision situation would be really dire."
That was right. I really was still in shock at the abhorrent conditions previously endured by the pirate crew of the White Shark. Hungry, dirty, ragged, practically untrained, with no armor or weapons... the Merciless Aarsch thought losing half of his crew when storming a ship was just business as usual. Having no pity for his subordinates, he simply replaced his losses with utterly untrained wild orcs from seaside villages, who had no understanding of sailing, much less particularly astute minds.
The only thing that moved the blood-thirsty orc leader was a quest for revenge, and inconveniences like losses among his own crew meant nothing to the harsh captain. Aarsch punished the disaffected with his own hand, cutting off their heads and throwing their corpses into the water, so the crew was ghastly afraid of their leader and suffered his tricks. What was more, many orcs were accustomed to their chieftain being such a person since childhood — it was always the strongest, cleverest and most bloodthirsty among them. They had simply never known any other way.
My appearance on the bireme was still being taken with caution. The crew was blatantly afraid of my goblin, as the big-eared Amra, despite his short height and low level, had managed to take down the strongest pirate of them all. But I had no doubt that nearly all the crew members would be glad to stick a knife in my back if I gave them the chance. I was hoping that the crew would notice the improvement in their condition with time, would stop being so afraid, and start respecting and appreciating their captain, but I couldn't say as much yet.
And I had absolutely no confidence that my friends and I would be remaining on this pirate ship for long. On the one hand, the chance to be on the open ocean and not get randomly spotted by other players was great in my current circumstances; however, I had no doubt that my pursuers would soon take responsive measures, and the White Shark would be truly mobbed by a great many combat ships. I needed to prepare for that in advance and, at least, arm my ship with long-ranged weaponry.
"Shrekson, how possible would it be to make a catapult with the logs and boards that we have left over?" I asked the ogre fortifier. The titan shuddered:
"Woah, Amra, I just got a new quest from you: 'Strike from Afar.' How are you doing that?!"
I didn't know, which I told Leon honestly. He shook his head in uncertainty, but promised he would think over a ballista or catapult for the pirate ship. The captain's first mate came up to us. I could now see his name:
Ziabash Hardy
Level-50 Orc Berserker
"Captain Amra, a group of five orcs has come to me. They suggested all six of us cut you down without warning. I ordered the other sailors to tie up the mutineers and throw them in the hold. What are your orders for them? Hang them off the boom as a warning to the rest? Or cut off their legs and throw them overboard for the sharks?"
Well, well. I was starting to like this first mate more and more. Of the whole crew, he was the most judicious, which was quite unusual for a berserker, a class that typically goes into battle after eating toxic mushrooms so they won't feel fear, pain or exhaustion. Also, Ziabash Hardy had a lot of sailing experience. He'd been on both human and orc galleys nearly since he was a baby. And he was also capable and lucky, given he'd managed to survive dozens of bloody boarding operations.
"No, we'll do something else with them, as a lesson to the other sailors. Give each of them a rag and order them to clean the dirt and shit off the oar deck. If they try to refuse, threaten to make eunuchs of them and sell them to slavers for perverse entertainment."
The orc stretched out his lips, revealing a set of uneven yellow tusks, which must have been intended to be a smile. It seemed this type of punishment was unusual to him, but the experienced sailor immediately appreciated its plus sides.
"So the other sailors don't come under any illusions about how easy it is to cut me down, call up everyone who isn't busy rowing to come on deck. We'll hold a training session. By the way, you can have the previous captain's saber. It's not a good weapon for me," I said, extending the wide cutlass to Ziabash. "And I also invite you to participate."
I glanced at the time shown at the bottom of the screen. I had another thirty-eight minutes of invincibility, so it'd have been stupid not to take advantage of the unique opportunity to level my Dodging and Acrobatics skills, while building my reputation as utterly impossible to kill. Hopefully, that would stave off attempts on my life in the future.
* * *
"Done! Moderation in all things!" I said, stopping the pirates five minutes before six in the evening.
Twenty weary soldiers took their weapons and, following the example of the first mate, bowed in respect to their captain. The many onlookers started applauding and expressed their enthusiasm with shouts. I myself was not tired at all, despite the fact that my little goblin had been strenuously hopping about, bending, squatting, falling to the ground, rolling on the deck and somersaulting for a whole half hour without rest. My endurance bar stayed at maximum the whole time, and none of the pirates managed to hit me for thirty minutes. It was a very, very beneficial training session, and it was a pity to see it come to an end — in that half hour, I'd raised my Dodging skill to level eighteen, Acrobatics to Fourteen, and also grown my Athletics and Foreman skill.
And I finally saw unhidden admiration in the eyes of the pirates, which was also quite important. They had begun to take pride in their captain! I took another look at the clock and hurried down the stairs into my cabin — it would be stupid to let myself burn up in the rays of the sun while my whole crew looked on! The captain's cabin was furnished in a very spartan fashion. There were no rugs, mirrors, paintings, expensive furniture, or anything else the orc had considered a luxury. Only a big clunky bed with a straw mattress, a round dining table fastened to the floor, a wobbly stool and a locking chest with fairly dirty orcish clothing. Against the cabin wall, there was a large sturdy box approximately one meter by one meter at the base and one and a half meters high.
On my first visit to the cabin, the box hadn't been of much interest to me — it must have contained some pirate booty, which Aarsch had taken for himself. The wooden container was locked with a stiff latch, and I didn't spend much time messing with it, as I had some more important business. But now, I could no longer ignore it — something inside the locked box was scratching and howling. Also, the narrow crack I had earlier written off as simply unevenly hewn boards, could have been for the creature locked inside to breathe. I returned to the stairs and caught the first mate, asking him about the container. Ziabash just shrugged his shoulders:
"I do not know, Captain Amra. Our last captain dragged it from a seaside village we attacked a few days ago. What is inside, no one can say — the captain never showed us. He immediately took it into his cabin."
"Whatever it is, it's alive, though. It's moving around, howling and scratching the boards," I said, admitting my confusion.
"So just open it and look," Z
iabash suggested.
I smiled a crooked smile and went back into my cabin. Easy enough to say: "Just open it and look." I didn't even have the key to the locked box, which closed with a normal latch. But the latch was very tight! The pirate crew would burst their bellies in laughter if they found out their captain simply lacked the Strength to open the box, although it required just fifty points! Any of my pirates could open it with their left hand, without even trying. But not me — my Goblin Herbalist's effective Strength, considering all my skills and worn objects was just thirty-six. I could have temporarily raised my Strength with Alchemy, but as bad luck would have it, I didn't have the ingredients to make a Strength Restoration Elixir.
I hung a piece of old fabric over the porthole and prepared, walking away from the window just in case. There was just one minute left until six, so my time of invincibility and invisibility to players was coming to an end. While the last seconds ticked by, I decided to drink the orc and rougarou blood in my inventory.
Achievement unlocked: Taste tester (29/1000)
Achievement unlocked: Taste tester (30/1000)
ATTENTION!!! Resistance to light improved
Your character will no longer die instantly in sunlight
Sunlight will now cause damage at a rate of 1000 HP/second
I looked at my Goblin Vampire's maximum hitpoint stat: it was just 255. I couldn't really tell a particular difference between dying instantly, or dying in a quarter second. Nevertheless, the news was very positive — in the end, leveling Taste Tester would reduce the damage I took from light and increase my character's ability to survive.
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