“Why isn’t it sinking?” Kelsey asked again. Anton didn’t know. They were a fair distance from the warship, but even from here, he could see the gaping hole.

He didn’t know, but he could guess. “The Admiral must have a Trait that keeps his ship afloat,” he speculated.

Kelsey looked at him in consternation. “That’s cheating,” she protested.

“Maybe you could hit him with another one?” Aris suggested. Kelsey immediately looked guilty.

“You don’t have another one?” Anton asked incredulously. “What if I’d missed?”

“You’re weren’t going to miss, Anton,” Kelsey said. “You had a single shot, one chance to save us all. There’s no way a hero would miss that shot.”

“I’m not actually a hero yet, you know, just an adventurer,” Anton said. That wasn’t quite true. Firing the torpedo had put him over the edge. He could feel his final Adventurer level waiting to be accepted. Now was not the time, though.

“Also, this wasn’t our one chance,” he said, pointing at the ship still stubbornly remaining afloat. “We still need to figure out what to do about that thing. Tell me that wasn’t why you only made one.”

“It’s not like you’ve brought a bunch of anti-ship weapons to the table,” Kelsey snapped. “Those things count as Tier Four. I can’t just magic them up, I have to build them the hard way.”

“Even so,” Anton said doubtfully. He’d seen just how much Kelsey liked to overprepare.

“And,” Kelsey continued. “I’ve only been working on torpedos since we started this sea voyage. Not a lot of point to them until then.”

“What about the earlier versions?” Anton asked. “That was a Mark Three, right? What about the Mark One and Two?”

“The Mark One showed a distressing tendency to explode when you put it in water,” Kelsey said. “And the Mark Two wouldn’t swim straight.”

“Um,” Zaphar said. “I hate to interrupt, but the warship is getting closer.”

They all looked. It was missing some of its oars, but the Prowler was indeed heading straight for them, seemingly unslowed by its damage.

Kelsey cursed and started up the engine again. “At least we got its attention!” she yelled.

Zaphar said something that Anton couldn’t hear. Probably something about that being a mixed blessing, at best. Either Kelsey could hear him, or she guessed what he was saying. She grinned back at him but then turned to Anton.

“Anyway, the thing is, I do have another one,” she shouted. “It’s just that we need it for that.”

She pointed and Anton was reminded that the Prower wasn’t the only warship on the island. The galley they had passed going in— or another similar ship— had been anchored out past the entrance of the bay. To get out of the harbour, they would have to pass quite close to it.

Anton swore. They’d attracted that ship’s attention too. Whether it was a communication from the flagship or that they’d noticed Kelsey’s small boat buzzing across the bay, Anton couldn’t say. Its oars were moving and it was turning to meet them.

“What’s the plan?” he shouted. It looked like Kelsey was headed straight for the second galley.

“Just before we get into arrow range, you fire the second torpedo,” Kelsey yelled. “Whether it sinks or not, they should be distracted enough for us to slip by.”

That didn’t sound like much of a plan, but it did mean that he had a few moments before he had to act. A perfect time to accept his new level.

You have reached Level 10.

Please select a new Trait.

Available Traits: Finish the Job, Divine Action, Irresistible Blow, Impenetrable Defence, Disarm Trap, Unwavering.

Anton swallowed. He knew what all of these Traits did, of course. Finish the Job wasn’t always available on the main Adventurer path. It typically activated after you died, keeping you moving until you finished whatever it was you set out to do. You could still live if you got healing before that point. Few did.

Anton wondered if the reason he’d been offered it was his experience on the night he met Kelsey. He knew what it was like to strive beyond the bounds of what his body was capable of. Regardless, he wouldn’t be taking it. It was powerful, but it was only useful after he was dead.

Divine Action was more tempting. It could only be used once a day, but it guaranteed success on any one thing he tried to do. It would come in handy right now.

Irresistible Blow and Impenetrable Defence were your standard capstone skills. They weren’t actually undefeatable, especially when going against higher Tiers, but they were very hard to defeat. Disarm Trap was from the lower levels and wasn’t a serious consideration.

That left Unwavering.

A Hero can’t let her fears stop her.

That had been a favourite saying of his mother. She hadn’t been afraid, on the wall. Her last actions had been to see to Anton’s safety.

Unwavering selected.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Applying Benefits for Level 10

Strength + 1

Toughness + 1

Agility + 1

Dexterity + 1

Perception + 1

Please allocate free Ability point

Anton put the extra point in Strength. He was getting closer to Kelsey’s strength, he could feel it.

“Head’s up!” Kelsey called. She had the second torpedo ready for him. He lifted it more easily now. He’d thought that Unwavering wouldn’t be immediately useful, but he’d been wrong. He could feel the Trait flowing through him, strengthing his resolve. He’d done this before, he could do it again.

He took the weapon and moved to the front of the boat. This time, he thought to use Spider Climb to attach himself to the deck as he leaned over.

The warship was ahead of them. It was headed straight for them, but it was already starting to turn. They would be in arrow range soon, and the archers could only fire so many from the front of the boat. Far better to give them a volley from side on.

A frontal charge was only good for bringing the ram into play, and Anton didn’t think that would work. Kelsey’s boat rested on top of the water. Even if the galley turned out to be nimble enough to catch her, the ram would pass straight under.

Turning side on gave Anton a better target as well. He held on until he saw a ranging shot come down ten yards in front of them. They’d cross the line in seconds.

He pressed the button and yelled for Kelsey to turn. She did so, instantly, forcing Aris, the only passenger without Spider Climb to hang on for dear life. Fortunately, she had him to cling to.

They watched the thin white line head for the galley as Kelsey brought the boat around in a circle. They were trapped between the two galleys now, and arrows were beginning to splash down nearby. In a few minutes, the Prowler would catch up to them.

Before that, though, the torpedo found its target. The explosion was devastating. The galley, while almost as long as the Prowler, had fewer decks. The explosion ripped through all three levels of the warship, at a point around a third of the way back from the bow.

“Whoo hoo!” Kelsey yelled. “Stay afloat after that, I dare you!”

She completed the circle they were moving in so that they were back to heading right at the stricken galley. They were in arrow range now, but the sailors had more pressing concerns.

Over the shouts and screams of the sailors and the crackling of the fires started by the explosion, came a loud crack. To Anton’s astonishment, the warship split into two pieces. Both of its ends rose up in the air, the hole from the explosion plunging into the depths.

All of the sailors were screaming now, scrambling up the steeply slanted decks or climbing into the rigging to get further away from the churning waters that the ship was disappearing into. Anton could feel the experience from the deaths flowing in. He took a moment to confirm that his footing was secure and there were no immediate threats. Then he focused on his level.

You have completed Level 10.

Please select your new Class

Anton looked through the list of available classes. Hero was there, of course. So was Wandering Hero and Noble Hero, two variants. They were all Unique classes. Travelling to another country must have qualified him for Wandering Hero, and Noble Hero must have come from his title, even if he hadn’t been recognised by the King.

Heroic Marine wasn’t one that he’d heard of, another varient of Hero, probably. There were a few others that looked interesting.

Dungeon Companion (Tier 3, Unique)

Requisites: Relationship with Dungeon Avatar

Ability Improvement: 8 points per level. STADPWCC

He resolved to never, ever, tell Kelsey about that one.

Guardian of the Crypt (Tier 3, Epic)

Requisites: Completed Adventurer, Relationship with Dungeon Avatar

Ability Improvement: 9 points per level. STADPWC (2 Free)

That was better than Dungeon Companion, but it still tied him a little too closely to Kelsey for his liking. Was that unfair? He was married to the Sovereign of the Crypt, so it wasn’t just Kelsey that he’d be guarding.

He wasn’t sure and he was running out of time. There was one other Epic Class, though.

Heroic Liberator (Tier 3, Epic)

Requisites: Completed Adventurer, Rescue at least 10 slaves, Feel the sting of captivity.

Ability Improvement: 9 points per level. STADPWC (2 Free)

He liked the sound of that. That class probably got experience from freeing slaves, which he should be doing a lot of in the immediate future.

Heroic Liberator selected.

He returned his attention to the battle. Kelsey was cackling as she swung the boat around the sinking ship.

“If we’re lucky, the big one will stop to help them,” she yelled. “We just—” she looked around wildly. “Where’s—”

Aris was the one to point their ship out. Ignored in all the fuss, it had quietly slipped out of its berth and was heading north. It was still in the bay, but not for much longer.

Kelsey frowned. “I guess we should stick around to make sure no one follows them,” she said.

Anton nodded absently. He had a few other concerns.

Applying Benefits for Level 1

Strength + 1

Toughness + 1

Agility + 1

Dexterity + 1

Perception + 1

Willpower + 1

Charisma + 1

Please allocate free Ability points.

Anton chose Strength again. He checked his Status. His progress had been so fast, it was ridiculous.

Anton Nos, Heroic Liberator, Level 1

Overall Level: 16

Paths: Delver/Adventurer/Heroic Liberator

Class: Heroic Liberator

Strength: 22

Toughness: 23

Agility: 19

Dex: 18

Perception: 17

Will: 14

Charisma: 11

Traits:

Delvers Discernment

Leaping Attack

Stone Skin

Uncanny Evasion

Sense Mana

Spider-climb

Unwavering

“Um,” Aris said. “That big ship, the Prowler? It’s definitely still following us.”

Kelsey cursed. “We’ll just have to keep avoiding it then. Hopefully, none of the other ships will be able to get underway quickly enough.”

As they skidded across the bay, Anton realised there was something he could test out. His Delver’s Discernment was supposed to give extra information when he reached Tier Three. He was at a higher level as well, which meant he might be able to…

“Kelsey”, Level 28, Necropolis, S: 21 T: 18 A: 20 D: 17 P: 23 W: 24 C: 19

I can see her level! Was the first thing he thought. Then, her Abilities really are terrible.

Terrible was a relative thing, of course. Kelsey’s abilities were about on par with his, now. But he was level sixteen, and Kelsey was level twenty-eight. They were both Tier Three, but there should have been a vast distance between them.

Anton reminded himself that there was much more to Kelsey than the base Abilities of her avatar. As long as she could pull Tier Four weapons out of nowhere, she was going to outmatch him. But it didn’t make a difference to the feeling that started to well up inside him. For the first time since the raid, he felt like the irresistible currents of Kelsey’s agenda weren’t able to hold him any more. He wasn’t on dry land yet, but he was swimming.

I’m a hero, like you both were, he thought. I’m going to make you proud.