Chapter 17 - Billy Goes to Camp
Billy shot awake in a cold sweat and immediately smacked his forehead on a plank. His ears rang and his vision swam as he rolled over, right off a cliff.
“AAAAH-” PLOOF. He landed face-down in the sand. Heart pounding, he sat up and started spitting out sand. Nothing woke one up like existential dread coupled with a quick jolt of adrenaline. He looked around. The cliff he fell from was actually part of the Schooner or Later that rose about three feet above the sand.
The schooner was lodged firmly into the beach, the back half buried underground, the front half sticking out at a 40 degree angle. Adventurers and crew members were strewn about the boat or running around, frantically trying to do… Something.
“Channel some more, you smelly bits of smoked haddock!” Well, at least the captain had survived. “She’s tearin’ apart!” It was true. As the captain yelled, the ship seemed to dissolve, piece by piece. Around the ship, where crew members were channeling mana into planks, the ship was staying stable. The rest, however, wasn’t doing so well.
Billy reached over to the shelf of ship that he had fallen off of. It seemed to be disintegrating, like a slowly despawning monster. Tiny flakes of the ship flew upwards like pieces of ash, scattering in the wind. He pressed his palm against the wood and sent mana into it, like he was using his wand.
Instantly, the planks stopped decaying. As Billy sent more mana into them, they actually seemed to be regenerating. He slackened his mana flow, trying to slow it to a manageable rate. It seemed like any amount of mana stopped the ship from blowing away in the wind.
As more and more people woke up, they joined in, picking a critical piece of the ship and sending as much mana into it as possible.
Billy began to sweat, but not because of the mana drain. It was hot. Like, muggy enough to drown on land. He repositioned, placing the ship between himself and the sun. It helped, but the air was still thick and made him feel sluggish.
Then, he heard a shout. A blue pulse rippled from the middle of the ship, passing through everyone around it. People cheered. Billy felt like he took three power naps and then chugged a gallon of coffee. Another pulse, this time red, echoed the first from the middle of the ship.
He felt energized. No, he was frenzied. His muscles yearned to move. He couldn’t stand still. Billy wiggled and flexed, trying to keep hold of the ship to send in his meager amounts of magic. Then, he realized something: his core was brimming with mana. With a surge, he shoved mana into the planks of the ship. His mana hardly dipped. With a cackle, he channeled his mana wide open, pushing with all of his might. Others echoed his joy as the entire group sent waves upon waves of mana into the ship.
The Schooner or Later stayed firmly wedged into the ground, but it swelled. Damage that was delayed from the captain’s last skill was wethered, then the self repair enchantments on the ship were sent into overdrive by the combined might of a couple of dozen feral mana batteries. Planks regrew, doorways reformed, ropes unfurled and sails started flapping in the wind.
The adventurers let out another cheer as the ship was repaired. The crew also celebrated, but with far less enthusiasm. The entire group met on the exposed part of the deck. A few minutes of arguing and of shouting suggestions just resulted in frustration.
A loud voice boomed above the crowd, silencing everyone. “Enough!” Billy looked up to see a large leonid raising his arms in a clear sign for everyone to calm down.
“For those of you that don’t know, I am Hustak Firemane, outpost commander. As we have arrived at our destination, the chain of command answers to me.” There were a few mumbles and grumbles from the crew at that.
“First, we set up an outpost. Montgomery will start the work on that. Afterwards, our planners and builders will expand our base of operations from this ship, building outwards and upwards. We need walls and we need them now. The rest of you, if you don’t have anything to contribute to the construction efforts, you’re on resource gathering duty. We’ll have boards up soon to help coordinate that.”
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“What about our ship?”
“Yeah, if you use our ship as a base, how will we get it back?” The protests came from the schooner’s crew.
Commander Firemane shook his head. “There’s no feasible way to construct a shelter in time and restore the ship. Plus, we do not currently have the strength or the ressources to excavate and then get the ship back into the sea.“
At the groans and shouts of protest, steel entered the commander’s voice.
“Our priority is survival. We will relaunch the schooner or build a new one when we can, but not dying to a pack of roving monsters should be everyone’s goal. Now, if you’re going to get in the way or not pull your weight,” his cold eyes swept the crowd, “let’s get this over with now. Any volunteers?” The large lion man punctuated his question by drawing his sword halfway out of its sheath, daring anyone to speak up.
With that, the commander stepped back and motioned for Alanis Montgomery to go ahead with whatever she had been channeling. She was a short human woman with a no-nonsense look about her. She had been channeling mana into a spell ever since Commander Firemane had given her the go-ahead at the beginning of his speech. At his signal, her murmuring turned into a full-blown chant. As it came to a crescendo, she raised her arms to the sky and released a massive blast of mana.
The entire ship was enveloped in a dazzling golden aura. Stairs grew from a few railings, leading to the ground below. Wood shifted, creaked and groaned. The ship expanded, growing larger and taller as the magic worked. Chairs sprouted from the deck, then a few canopies, and finally a desk and a massive board. Tickets phased into existence on the board, along with the accompanying tacks and stamps.
Billy gaped at the spectacle. With one massive spell, the logistics mage, Montgomery, had transformed the Schooner or Later from a ship into an Adventurer’s Guild outpost. Hells, Billy thought he even saw barrels of ale behind one of the counters.
As the spell fizzled out, Montgomery fell to the floor, knees hitting hard against the planks of the ship. A few crewmembers helped her into the captain’s cabin. Or, what used to be. Commander Firemane wasted no time in directing people to the newly conjured missions board.
Adventurers rushed the board, reaching and snatching for the contracts with the highest rewards, no doubt. Billy stood back, noting a few exceptions. Jessum, Marit and Loc trudged directly into the ship’s interior, no doubt looking for beds. Nordica and the other elf ranger, Aelin, skipped the board completely and went directly into the forest.
Roland and Rhinus grouped together, discussing things before Roland headed for the board and Rhinus approached Billy.
“Hey,” the man said with a wave. Well, the boy, really. Billy figured Rhinus wasn’t much older than he was. Definitely still in his teens, for sure.
“Roland and I are gonna group up, try and take on some group missions. Thing is, we’re, uh, kind of lacking in the damage department. We were wondering if you…” He trailed off embarrassedly, scratching the back of his head with one hand while holding his oversized hammer in the other.
Billy cocked an eyebrow, gesturing at the gigantic weapon. “You’re lacking in damage? You? You could probably kill a D-ranked monster by dropping that thing on it.”
Rhinus made a surprised but contemplative face as if he hadn’t considered just dropping his hammer on enemies, but then he shook his head. “I’m defense all the way. I can’t move half as fast if I’m not defending. Just the way my Gift works.” He shrugged at Billy’s raised brow. “Could be worse. But, like I said, I’m a tank. Roland is a healer. We just need damage. You in?”
Billy accepted for two reasons. For one, having a tank sounded like a whole lot of fun. Secondly, having a party meant he could potentially guide them constantly throughout the day without seeming like a deranged control freak like he was sure he had looked like on the voyage over. Then again, it had been worth it. His core had grown steadily as he had orchestrated events on the boat. His core’s growth, however, had grown quite a bit more when he had acted during the serpent’s attack. He could probably channel his Gift for three and a half minutes now, and that was mostly because of his gains from that last battle. He rubbed his hands together greedily as he waited next to Rhinus for Roland to come back with a mission. He stopped as soon as he saw Rhinus watching him warily from the corner of his eye.
Roland came back within a few minutes, proudly holding a bag in one hand and a felling axe in the other.
“I have acquired the perfect contract,” he proclaimed. “Procure wood for construction!”