Doing nothing makes one think about bad thoughts, so Sergei Leian decided to recite Man of Determination inside his head, humming to his perceived tune of the Chinese folk song, The General's Mandate.

"Vigorous when facing the beatings of ten thousands heavy waves

Ardent just like the rays of the red sun

Having courage like forge iron and bones as hard as refined steel

Having lofty aspirations and excellent foresight

I worked extremely hard, aspiring to be a strong and courageous man

In order to become a hero, One should strive to become stronger everyday

An ardent man shines brighter than the sun

Allowing the sky and sea to amass energy for me

To split heaven and part the earth, to fight for my aspirations

Watching the stature and grandure of jade coloured waves

at the same time watching the vastness jade coloured sky, let our noble spirit soar

I am a man and I must strive to strengthen myself.

Walking in firm steps and standing upright let us all aspire to be a pillar of the society, and to be a hero

Using our hundredfold warmth, to bring forth a thousandfold of brilliance

Be a hero

Being ardent and with strong courage

Shine brighter than the sun"

Each time he repeats the song, he becomes slightly more energetic, just like being infused with chicken blood. At first, he barely has enough energy to whisper the song, but as he assiduously recites it, he becomes more and more courageous, his voice getting stronger until he becomes emboldened enough to roar against the injustice that has befallen on him, the wild and impartial nature his only audience.

After accidentally swallowing seawater, then some coughing, retching and wasting of his already limited energy, he finally noticed a black spot in his sight, slightly becoming bigger the more he looks at it.

"What could that unidentified floating object be? Forget it, I'll just assume it's a ship, what else can appear like that on the horizon? Aha, I knew Master Wong Fei Hong's theme won't ever fail me. Now, I hope the watchman on that vessel notices me before it's too late."

As he observe the object's outline and determine it's intended course, unbeknownst to him, a large humanoid creature seems to be swimming closer to him.

With his limited knowledge, he concluded a rough estimation of the vessel's course, then decided to paddle a bit closer to the vessel, even though it's a futile effort, for his little bit of strength can easily be offset by the wind and tide. While resting after paddling a tiny bit, he finally notices a rather large humanoid swimming to him.

"Ni-ma, what the frick is that? People say the gate to salvation and damnation is separated by a thin line, but why is damnation a little bit closer to me? Oh, hell no, HEY!!! THIS IS THE DAY YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER AS THE DAY YOU ALMOST CAUGHT CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW!!!

While saying that, he raised his middle finger to the approaching humanoid and then proceeded to paddle non-stop while shouting these words like a crazy man.

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! THIS IS FRIGATE BLACK PEARL, BLACK PEARL, BLACK PEARL MAYDAY BLACK PEARL

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

MY POSITION IS 69, FAVORITE

NATURE OF DISTRESS IS MAN OVERBOARD BEING CHASED BY MOBY DICK

I REQUIRE IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. No really, take your time, I have all the time in the world, you can delay by a year if you want too. HURRY UP AND SAVE ME, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY

I HAVE ONE MILLION PERSONS ONBOARD, PLEASE, NOT GIVING ASSISTANCE IS TANTAMOUNT TO ALLOWING GENOCIDE AND ALLOWING GENOCIDE IS SAME AS PARTICIPATING IN ONE. YOU AND YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE VILLIFIED BY THE WORLD IN THE FUTURE

AND I, THANK YOU!! Bye, have a great time!"

As if understanding his previous words, the mighty humanoid swimming in the ocean was slightly surprised by the weird man's crazy words, it stopped for a moment, trying to understand the puny being's weird actions, but then remembered it's master's orders, so it continue swimming forward to bring it's target into custody.

As the distance between both sides became closer, Sergei Leian becomes more and more exhausted, so he turned back to take a close look at the one chasing him. Upon doing so, he is slightly surprised by its features. At first, it has an uncanny resemblance to an ordinary human male, but bigger, taller and probably much stronger too. It's large head bobbing up and down the waves rhythmically, it's long massive arms as wide as a grown man's thighs are like oars, pushing the brute forward. It's gigantic legs are like propellers, every kick displaces so much water that each one might be strong enough to make big waves in a 20-meter swimming pool. Seeing it's compact body and rippling muscles, Sergei Leian almost thought of kowtowing and presenting his backside to the specimen in front of him but then remembered it's physically impossible for him to do it since he is currently in the ocean. Even so, it's out of character for a straight male like the past him to do so in a physically possible place, much more the current him who is now a combination of 2 males with the equivalent of two masculine souls and a post-fusion body having more testosterone than an ordinary male.

As the monster nears, Sergei Leian finally stops moving and closes his eyes, preparing for his imminent doom. As what he thought to be his predicted death approaches, he experienced multiple flashbacks, not from the the life of his controller but more like the early life of each male avatar he has controlled in all his playthroughs, before their journey to become heroes and leaders of Pendor.

--cue in flashbacks--

He remembered living multiple lifetimes, each corresponding to all the possible choices of avatars before their arrival in Pendor.

He gained their training, their skills, their experiences, their dreams, and their heritage. He swore that from this point on, he will uphold and honor their history in this god-forsaken world, away from their homeland, away from Pendor, from where they once rised up through the ranks of the proletariat in order to finally seize the means of production from the nobles and the kings.

--Flashback end--

After getting really close to the target, the humanoid beast soon felt a threat from the somewhat puny weakling in front of him. It stopped as soon as it felt the threat and decided to wait and see. It didn have to wait long for the flashbacks ended as soon as it started. Albeit, at the cost of Sergei Leian's sanity and mental power.

"(Ni-ma, what in the fricking history of headaches is this stupid migraine? Seriously? In a really dangerous situation right now, and you just have to give me this freaking headache. Might as well give me Ibuprofen instead of those memories damn it!)"

Sergei Leian then conveniently went into the unconscious state of comatose, clutching the poor dragon tear in his hand with a death grip.

"BAHH, ME HALF-OGRE ALMOST THINK SMALL HUMAN IDIOT YOU PUT UP FIGHT. PUNY THING STILL PUNY, NO SMASH YET FALL DOWN, ME VERY SCARY WARBREED NOW, TELL BOSS UPGRADE NEXT LEVEL. MORE MEAT."

The humanoid beast said as soon as it reached Sergei Leian, it's mouth drooling while thinking of food. It put Sergei Leian's body on its back then swam while carrying him to the direction of the black object, the same object Sergei Leian saw and estimated to be a ship.