Captain Sebastian Bluerose sat on the yard, next to the crow's nest. It's almost morning and he loved watching the sun rise, which was why he always rose early himself. The night crew was managing the ship well, though his first mate got extra cranky as she was tired and he would only take over after the sun left the horizon.
The key to manage a ship by night was a capable lookout with the Night Eyes spell, which allowed to see several miles ahead even in darkness. On the open sea, there might be less obstacles, but sea monster attacks were a constant concern.
Unless you were Captain Sebastian Bluerose. While he didn't brag about his magical prowess—though he wasn't shy to brag about everything else—his Lifeform Radar covered a large area, allowing him to sense monsters from afar, and by now he was used to send a magical wave every ten minutes at least.
“Can you see it, Lennart?” he asked the lookout, who felt like almost dying from tiredness.
“See what, captain?” He yawned and put some more mana into his eyes, enhancing them to their utmost. The captain suspected, that Lennart was now also using Farsight as well.
“The mist! We're still on course, and we should get to the Mist Sea soon!”
“Maybe. Could also be sea fog, from what I see... Wait, wouldn't the Mist Sea not just a big area full of sea fog?”
“Well thought, Lennart. Indeed, the Mist Sea is a sea where a mixture of volcanic activities in conjunction to cold currents often creates sea fog, and those ships without a mage won't fare well, as no matter how well someone enhances their sight, the amount of fog will prove too much for safe travel. With the volcanic activities, there are several rocks and bodies of land sticking out, making it very hard to traverse without shipwrecking, and those wrecks are other obstacles, which is why the people avoided traveling through it for a while.”
Lennart used to be a hunter, so he could only use his common sense to understand how dangerous this place might be. Aside from the legends, which called the Mist Sea the 'Water of No Return' or the 'Lost Sea'. “And we're going into it?”
“Yes. Splendid, isn't it?”
“I guess?” Lennart was just here to pay off his debtors, after he got involved with a girl who sucked him dry, which made him addicted to gambling. He was here for very practical reasons and he didn't share the sense of adventure the captain had, but on the other hand, he used to know it, being a hunter and all, and he felt a small tickling in his heart by watching the captain, though his head rang big alarm bells.
“My last expedition was fun, though it took some lives. But rather to live short and to the fullest than long and in restraint, no?”
“I'm pretty sure I would rather live long and boring.”
“Nonsense. Ah, there it is!” Captain Sebastian Bluerose turned to the east and looked at the radiance of the first rays of light of the day. He closed his eyes and took them in, bathing in them like he was a flower that wanted to grow: “Today will be excellent.” He slipped off the yard, fell down on the deck, yet it was light-stepped, as he enhanced his legs and bones enough to withstand the impact with ease.
“FUCK OFF MY DECK, CAPTAIN!” That was Scarlet in her beautiful morning voice. “UNLESS YOU BROUGHT AN ENTIRE SHIFT WITH YOU, STOP STANDING IN OUR WAY, YOU BEAR-HUGGING BRAGGART!”
This was the cue to return to his cabin for a while, so he quickly turned around and said over his shoulder while running: “Good morning to you too, my dear Scarlet,”
There he studied the maps, the sea chart for this area and the one he made himself for what lies beyond. He took a look at his pocket watch, then at the rising sun and eyeballed the rest to make sure that they're really still on course. “Roughly there...” He would make a proper calculation of their position right before they entered the wall of fog.
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There were only three copies of his personal chart, which showed the wrecks they encountered, dangerous waters, and a few islands. He wasn't interested in the border area though, as these could be explored by lesser peers, he was there for the unknown.
Last time, they went in southwest, so this time it would be northwest. What kinds of adventure would they meet there? While Captain Sebastian Bluerose had a journey into the Mist Sea before, he only learned that he knew nothing about this world, and to be one of the people to explore it was all he desired.
He just hoped to not meet harpies again. It was nice to confirm their existence, but their luring song wasn't appealing, despite its effectiveness. Maybe he would confirm that giants are real as well? That could be an adventure worth writing about!
After a while of planning and dreaming, Scarlet entered the cabin: “Finished the shift, captain.”
“Good work. I'll take over command and you get some sleep.”
“Aye, aye.”
He goes above deck, where the shift change was in full throttle, now that it had dawned, Captain Sebastian Bluerose was able to use his Body Enhancement on his eyes to gleam to the horizon. While it wasn't as effective as Farsight, his magical power allowed him to come close to the advanced spell.
There it was, the silvery fog that would lead them into a huge unexplored region, the uncharted waters of the Mist Sea. “Crew, we will continue half sail,” he exclaimed after everyone was at their post: “While the Mist Sea is the home to unique sea monsters, it doesn't mean that they won't come out at times.” The volcanic activities down below—Captain Sebastian Bluerose did make the dive during the last expeditions and what he saw led to the conclusion of underwater volcanoes—was a special habitat which would explain some of the creatures that were not to be found elsewhere.
While Captain Sebastian Bluerose was a dashing daredevil, he knew what to risk at times, and sinking the Reverence at the start of the true expedition just because of negligence would spell be just foolish.
The captain sent off another Lifeform Radar, which gave him a sense of the number and sizes of lifeforms down there. A high number of small pings, which meant schools of fish: “Also crew, make the nets ready. We will catch some fishes here, we will have another wonderful meal today.”
“Please no,” a singular voice moaned, he was one of the new guys. Blonde hair, some beard and no appreciation for the blessings of the sea.
That meant for Captain Sebastian Bluerose to begin his lecture: “The sea is like a mother. She gives us nourishment and a place to live. However, if we don't respect her and deny her gifts, she will pull us over her knee and start spanking us until we die. We better save our provisions until we really need them and who knows? Maybe we find entirely new fruits on our expedition, and you can be among the first people to taste them!” While others would have made these last words a threat, for Captain Sebastian Bluerose it was a big reward, therefore he spoke with excitement, leaving little doubt that he would also take a bite of an unknown fruit without hesitation.
As the crew prepared the nets, a sudden jolt went through the Reverence, one person almost fell from deck as he was working close to the rail. The jolt was the beginning of the ship slowly accelerating, and the captain looked at the waters to confirm his suspicion: They went on a strong current which suddenly started. Did an underwater volcano erupt and now the aftermath hit the surface?
Not the first time it happened on this sea though, just the first time before it: “Gird yourself and open the sails. Indigo, take the helm, read the current, and look for obstacles we may hit. Turquoise, be ready to give us the push if we need it.” With mages on board, many obstacles weren't that much of a problem with a clear head and quick decision making. “If it's save, let's ride this current and see where it gets us!”
“Aye, aye!” Indigo took over the helm—a good helmsperson was either someone able to read the currents or someone who could basically merge their perception with the ship—and started to slowly adjust the position, so that the Reverence would run down the current instead of being stuck to it. “Captain, there are several shelves here. Avoidable though.”
That was why a magic-user was so useful, as someone without a spell wouldn't be able to tell what lies below the surface: “Make it so. There may be a crevice nearby, and... Mast!” He yelled in excitement as he pointed at a singular piece of wood sticking out several miles away: “Let's take a look there!”
“Captain, the current won't allow it.”
“Then we change course. Turquoise, give us wind! We will explore the sunken ship first as a warm-up for the Mist Sea!”
Indigo had another idea: “Captain, the current is really strong. If we just push wind into the sails, it may rip the sails or even break the mast.”
“Then make them stop around us!”
“Captain, that's well above my capabilities!”
“Then I'll fetch Scarlet instead! Out to explore the ship!”
In the end, all what Captain Sebastian Bluerose got from that was the mast of a splintered ship, its cargo lost in the depth of the sea, and a black eye for waking up his first mate right after a stressful night shift.