19 Astra 10,391
“Why would you fall into the river?” The man asked, as if Six had done it deliberately.
“It was an accident.” Six shrugged.
“How do you accidentally fall into the river?” The man's face was a mixture of confusion and suspicion.
“I didn’t see it,” Six said truthfully.
“How could you not see it? Look at the size of this ting!” The man said, making expansive gestures with both hands, indicating the river that surrounded them.
“It was dark,” Six said, again truthful.
“Didn’t you hear it?” Asked the man, incredulous.
Six nodded and downcast his smiling face. “Well, yes,” he admitted.
“And you still fell in?” He whispered in disbelief.
“Accidentally.”
“Wuh? How?” The man clearly wanted the root of the problem.
“I was being chased by a lady.”
The man narrowed his eyes and nodded as if he understood the explanation perfectly. One of the figures behind him punched the back of his head and he squawked at the blow.
“Why was she chasing you?” An elegant feminine voice asked. It came from the figure who threw the punch.
“She was trying to kill me,” answered Six.
The man nodded in understanding again.
“Why?” The feminine voice was less elegant, and more agitated.
“She thought I stole from her. Absolutely insane.” Six crossed his arms and shook his head, no.
It was silent for a bit before the gruff man asked, “did you?”
“No. I would have sooner returned whatever she wanted than fall into the river.” It wasn’t a lie but it made him look like a fool. Fools were harmless but usually couldn’t hold onto important things. His rings and his Ley Core seemed important and he would keep them if he could.
It was silent again.
“Ok.” The man took a breath. “Are you headed somewhere? I won’t stop to drop you off properly but I can get you close enough to the shallows for you to make it to shore safely. If you have coin to pay your passage, you can ride with us, if not, off me boat. Rations are extra.”
Six nodded. “I need to get to Olisrosa.”
The man nodded. “Not much else out here to head to, we’re heading there ourselves. I can take you there for 3 silvers.”
Six searched his rings and found he had a small amount of wealth. Between all the rings, he had 642 copper, 112 Silver and 356 gold. He really had no idea how much any of this was worth and he hated bartering but accepting what was almost certainly highway robbery was… Suspicious. Six was too ignorant to how this place worked so he just tried his best.
He winced in performance. “Could you do half a silver?”
The man laughed and held out a helping hand, Six grabbed it and was helped to his feet. “Listen.” The man paused and chewed his tongue, thinking before he spoke. “2 silver and you do some simple labour.”
“1 and I do some simple labour, whatever my ankle can handle.” Six lifted his foot and pointed, wincing. His swollen ankle hurt but it wasn’t broken. Swimming like that probably made it way worse though.
“Done,” the man said, nodding.
Six nodded in agreement.
“It’ll take two days, maybe three.” The man offered.
Six shrugged. “I’m in no rush.”
Skill gained: Trade- Initiate - 1
Improves the ability to bargain and negotiate. Additional levels provide a reduction 0.5% in costs and removal of certain system restrictions. Current reduction: 0.5%
“What's your name?” The man asked.
“Six. You?”
“Name’s Copperback. Amos Copperback,” the man supplied. He pointed at the woman. “That’s Elyria Miafona.”
Six could see her pointed ears now that it was brightening steadily. She was an elf. Cool.
Copperback gestured to the well muscled orc. “And this is Jeffums.” He made a wide welcoming gesture. “And this lovely vessel, is my ship, the RiverDancer.
“Nice to meet you Amos, Elyria, Jeffums.” Six nodded once again, this time in deference.
“Nice to meet you,” grunted Copperback. “Now you can polish oar handles unless one of us tells you otherwise.”
“Aye aye Captain.” Six said with a salute.
“Are you mocking me?” Copperback asked with a steely glint in his eyes.
Six shook his head and laughed. “I’ve just always wanted to say that.” He shrugged.
Copperback laughed and tossed him a polishing cloth and pointed to the sides where oars were sitting, five stowed on either side of the boat. Six hobbled over, sat down and got to work. The morning had come and he pulled out some breakfast jerky to chew on while he performed this mindless menial task. Time flew by and he was moved to other menial tasks, the repetitive monotony broken only by brief instances of specific assistance to the crew. Mostly different variations of, “hold this rope.” It was simple labour, something he was very familiar with.
He took this time to read more deeply into delayed prompts, character advancement, and item description. He could work his body while he read. Elyria mocked him as it was so obvious his attention was misplaced. She didn’t tell him he couldn’t though. Six was professional enough to put it away when doing anything more complicated than cleaning.
He needed to complete his advancement, waiting until the last moment had been foolish. He began with the Ley Core prompt. He considered the prompt and what it offered him.
Aligning the Dark auras will unlock Shadowed Mind
Shadowed Mind: Mental Resistance += (0.0075*N)
Aligning The Earth auras will unlock Earthen Endurance
Earthen Endurance: Health Regen/M += MaxHealth*(0.05*N)
Aligning the Water auras will unlock Flowing Execution
Flowing Execution: Performance Reduction % += (0.005*N)
Aligning the Fire auras will unlock Flame Touched.
Flame Touched: All Damage += All Damage*(0.05*N)Fire Damage
Being bonded to the Ley Core has unlocked your Dark, Earth, Water, and Fire mana manipulation affinities. This is cumulative with your innate Earth affinity. Aligning a Ley Line will increase the mana density of the “Deathspire Mountain” Ley Node by 14.14%
Would you like to align a Ley Line?
Error note: Ley Node affinities are being redirected and/or blocked. The Ley affinities, and the Spire Mountain mana pool and mana regen are restricted until this issue has been resolved.
How could he make this work for him? They all seemed to be scaling stat buffs. He sucked at numbers but as long as the numbers went up he should be good. Which one would be best for the spellsword build? He felt a twinge in his gut.
He was alive… Yet, he had already almost died again, drowning to death… He wasn’t sure if this was a hardcore run or not.
Best to assume it was, he quickly concluded.
So, he needed a hardcore build. He didn’t like playing hardcore but he knew the common tactics. There was no reason to believe the ideas would work here but he needed a direction to go. The theory was solid but opposite to how Six usually thought about games and the concept of winning.
He didn’t need to kill to win, that would lead him to his eventual death.
He needed to survive any and all damage trades. Six didn’t know the extent of the mechanics but his mind rested on one idea.
He needed to be tanky enough to soak any oneshot.
Putting all of his attribute points into constitution had not been a waste. It was a good foundation for a hardcore build. He needed a massive amount of health to survive anything thrown at him. He would progress forward through this new life with attrition.
If his damage was insufficient to win the trades at least he would survive and could then retreat. That thought was the next facet of his build. He needed escape mechanics. Right now his endurance regen was large enough he felt like he could jog without stopping. His two legs were the most basic escape mechanic he had access to. Mana was a thing so maybe he could learn how to fly?
Smoke bombs?
Instant transmission?
He needed to start training his sprinting.
The last pillar of the build is damage. More specifically, ranged damage. Hardcore builds were not for speed running. Most hardcore builds survived by taking out threats with consistent chip damage and that took time.
Maybe a bow? Oooooor...
Six wanted to learn magic but he had no idea where to start with that. He wasn't even sure what affected his mana and it might be impossible for him to perform magic without help.
Still he considered it. Growing up as a boy he had always dreamed about magic. Even as a young man he daydreamed about it. When his sisters passed a few years ago there had been nothing more he wanted to do than to bring them back. He felt affronted with how powerless his mundane reality was. Technology might one day slay the dragon of death but it was far from it when he had died.
Now he had the opportunity to explore… Something… He was careful to not make assumptions. He suppressed his wonderment and expectations. Resurrection was probably impossible here too. No. Staying alive was something solid. Something real.
Health regen was important. A fundamental stat and the improvement didn’t require him to do anything active, it would be useful at all times. Also, it would scale better with his large pool of health which now sat at 460HP! Neeeeat!
That made his choice of ley alignment simple.
You have chosen: Earthen Endurance
He willed the Earth Line to align and felt something blossom inside of himself. A tension he didn’t know he held left his body. His ankle began to lessen in pain. Six couldn’t believe it. His mind was blown but he kept his expectations low. It might just be a weird placebo effect. He didn’t know what HP regen really did. It might regrow limbs or it might just close wounds over.
Even still, how cool was that!
He breathed some relaxation into himself and looked at the last prompt.
Skill gained: Sailing- Initiate - 1
Skill increase: Sailing - Initiate - Level 2
Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of maneuverability and speed for sea vehicles. Current increase 1%
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
He had gotten skill in sailing? He had just focused on holding ropes stationary. He wasn’t even trying to learn... What did he learn? He thought carefully and realized he somewhat understood what Elrym and Jeffums were doing when Copperback burped out an order. He might be able to respond to a few basic orders… Tack the jib or unfurl it. Maybe.
He had been quick to pick up knowledge before but he hadn’t even put effort into understanding what he was doing.
Next he checked what each attribute actually did. That was probably important to know going forward.
Strength - Increases Baseline Capacity, Exertion Capacity, Natural Defense, Speed of Movement, Melee and Thrown damage, Critical Chance and Damage, Maneuver Damage.
Dexterity - Increases Precision, Divisions of Precision, Twitch Response, Reaction Speed, Melee and Ranged damage, Critical Chance and Damage, Maneuver Cooldown Reduction, Performance Reduction, Evasion.
Endurance - Increases Endurance Pool, Health Regen, Internal Status Effect Resistance
Constitution - Increases Endurance Regen, Health Pool, External Status Effect Resistance
Wisdom - Increases Mental Resistance, Mana Regen, Concentration, Reaction Speed.
Intelligence - Increases Spell Resistance, Mana Pool, Spell Cooldown, Accessible Memory.
Charisma - Increases Social Weight/Strength of Personality.
Luck - Increases Fate Bias
Well screw him for not knowing what a third of these did. Concentration? There was a luck stat? What the hell? Looking at it all made them all seem very important. Except charisma and luck, maybe. Those two only affected one thing compared to the others that affected multiple values.
What about the items?
He went through the rings, inspecting it all, looking for any equipment that might actually be useful to him. Between the four of them they had quite a bit of equipment. Most of the armor and weapons he couldn’t use effectively or wear at all, though, a few pieces might fit. There were also more rings.
Carralevine had worn a ring of health.
- Immortal Steel Ring of Minor Health -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Common
Weight - 4 G
Durability 49/50
Traits: Increases the wearers Health Pool by an additional 37 points. Health Pool + 37. Requires attunement.
Orifec had a ring of mana.
- Immortal Steel Ring of Minor Mana -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Common
Weight - 4 G
Durability 48/50
Traits: Increases the wearers Mana Pool by an additional 32 points. Mana Pool + 32. Requires attunement.
He wasn’t able to identify Roshgar's or Matt's ring but he slipped them on anyways.
Cool. These new rings needed attunement and Six didn’t know if four was the normal cap but after some time wearing them he began to feel something. He didn’t know if four was the maximum for attunement but he felt fine. Great, even.
I feel so blinged out.
- Heavy Iron Breastplate -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Common
Defense - 10
Weight - 2.5 KG
Durability 112/120
Traits: Protects the wearers Chest from physical damage.
- Heavy Iron Gauntlets -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Common
Defense - 7
Weight - 2.5 KG
Durability 63/70
Traits: Protects the wearer's Hands from physical damage.
- Heavy Iron Half Greaves -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Common
Defense - 10
Weight - 2.5 KG
Durability 76/80
Traits: Protects the wearer’s lower Legs from damage.
- Heavy Iron Vambracers -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Common
Defense - 10
Weight - 2.5 KG
Durability 78/80
Traits: Protects the wearer’s Forearms from damage.
- Heavy Iron Half Helm -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Common
Defense - 8
Weight - 2.5 KG
Durability 66/70
Traits: Protects the wearer’s cranium from damage. Increases headbutt damage.
Defence was something he was looking for so he wore the thing as best he could. Jeffums laughed at him while he was struggling to put the slightly small armor on. Once the orc managed to stifle his laughter he helped Six adjust the protection as best as they could.
When all 6 rings were worn he had
497 health
132 mana
Six didn’t really believe it. He didn’t feel any different but the numbers told him he was nearly as durable as 5 men? Impossible.
He assumed he would just have to try and find what the other rings did later, or maybe check again when his Inspect was higher leveled. It shouldn’t take too long as this little bout of inventory management had already netted him another 3 levels in Inspect, bringing him to level 4. He should really just use this skill on everything, even things he already had a good understanding of.
Orifec had a spell book along with a staff. Six could tell it was written in a strange version of Imperial Zleenish. Inspect failed but he could tell from its cover that it was for the spell Plant Growth. He hesitated to open it, as he had played enough DnD to be wary of cursed magical items. Instead he kept trying and failing to inspect the staff. Nothing came of it, but that was ok. He put the items in storage.
Now that he had that out of the way he focused on actually learning sailing. Asking questions here and there and really paying attention when told to do something. The three sailors were somewhat surprised by his knowledge of knots and nodded in respect.
It was going good, until Amos called in a stage whisper, “boat ahead.”
Suddenly both Elyria and Jeffums took on grim faces. Jeffums went into a chest and retrieved a rather large crossbow. He primed it and loaded a bolt. Copperback kept hold of the wheel and Elyria drew the scimitar on her hip.
“Do we have anything to worry about?” Six asked. It looked like they were getting ready for a fight. Six used to fight as a kid but the older he got the more he avoided violence. It was too volatile, too easy for someone to get seriously hurt, too easy for fate to throw you under the bus. He hadn’t been in a fight for nearly 8 years.
“We shouldn’t if they know what's good for them,” said Elyria.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Asked Six, now beginning to worry.
“People tink that just because the Empire is dead that means law is dead too. It's only been a few weeks and already people are becoming animals. River pirates are aplenty all of de sudden.” The captain spat off the side of the boat.
Six nodded. He didn’t know how to use any of the swords or the bow but he could swing a stick around pretty good. He grabbed Orifec’s staff and gave it a test swing. It was a bit short and it honestly felt a tad brittle. Maybe using this as a bludgeon was the wrong decision. He grabbed an oar instead, polished to a fine gleam. Six looked back to Amos, searching for permission and the Captain nodded his assent.
The sailboat was being oared up stream. Three oars on each side. The distance was shrinking quickly. Amos started to steer away, seeking to maximize the gap between the two passing ships.
The other ship had no intention of passing. One-hundred meters away it altered its course to intercept. Fuck.
“What do we do?” Asked Six.
“Fight,” grunted Jeffums.
“What do I do?” Clarified Six.
“Fight,” grunted Jeffums, and he fired his crossbow, hitting a person on the incoming boat and then quickly reloading.
Six looked to the oar in his hand and instantly made peace with the fact that he was going to have to fight. He might be able to jump overboard as a last resort, he would at least try to stand against this shit with these people who helped him. He wouldn’t die for them though.
The pirate boat was even closer now and Six could see those on board accurately. There were nine pirates. One on the wheel, two on oars and six waiting on the edge, swords ready. Six versus four? Six looked back and saw that Amos was firmly focused on steering. Six versus three.
Jeffums let fly again, dropped the crossbow and drew his sword.
Five versus three.
The boats collided and four pirates jumped over while one threw a grapple and began to lash the boats together. The pirates realized the swords were the danger and began to attack Elyria and Jeffums, two on one.
Six needed to do something. He couldn’t cut the rope with the oar so he did the only thing he could do. He swung with all his might at the closest pirate.
The pirate’s attention was firmly on Jeffums and so Six had an easy shot at the man’s head. Humans were fragile in certain spots but now was not the time to pull blows. If Six had to fight he would treat it as life or death. He never wanted his life in the hands of another. He would win, and win fast.
The oar struck with a satisfying crack and the man staggered a bit. Six wasted no time and reversed his swing, angling the oar to hit on the edge. The thin edge of the oar bit into the man's face with a crunch and the man lost balance, bending over with the loss of equilibrium. Six lifted the oar above his head and brought it down, nailing the back of the man’s head. The man collapsed to the deck, motionless. Six felt a brief flash of regret. He didn’t actually want to kill anyone.
He was going to go help Elyria with her fight but a movement in the corner of his eye made Six lunge to the side. Narrowly avoiding a sword slash. He made some distance between himself and the fifth man who, having finished lashing the boats, was now adding himself to the fray.
“Put the stick down man,” the rough looking human said, twirling the tips of his sword around in a fencing-like manner. A grimace on his worried face.
“Fuckin, no,” Six gave back.
The man’s grimace deepened, he snarled, and with a two step lunge, he thrusted forward.
Six stepped back and swung as hard as he could. Not at the man but at his sword. Six just wanted to push it away, get rid of it. It's not like he knew what he was doing in a sword fight, so best try to make this a fist fight. The man's arm went wide barely holding onto the sword, but bringing it back in only to have Six knock it wide again. The man managed to hold on again. That was ok, the pirate was off balance and reeling.
One more swing and Six knocked the sword from the man's grasp. Six loaded up another baseball bat swing, aimed at the man's head and let loose, but the pirate regained his balance and dodged, dashing forward under the swing. Tackling Six to the deck, shaking the boat. Six fell onto his back, oar going flying from his hands and clattering to the deck far from his reach. His heavy armor had made his response slower, thirty percent slower. It was hard to move effectively while weighed down so much. Now the pirate had him mounted and pulled a dagger from somewhere on his person. Oh shit.
The man stabbed down and Six threw out his forearm which pushed the strike to the side. A series of stabs were narrowly avoided and blocked with his vambraces and breastplate. Six needed to control the blade, so he lifted his hand and grasped at the wrist of the dagger. This pirate was strong. Six was strong for the average person, but this pirate must have invested into strength as Six was losing the struggle. He needed the situation to change. He stopped resisting the downward stabs and instead pulled with it while dropping his hip and rolling both of them over. Six held onto the dagger hand and scampered forward, straddling the man’s waist.
Six grabbed the man’s dagger hand with both of his and shook the weapon loose with double the strength and a position he could exert with his weight. The dagger clattered to the deck and Six quickly punched the man. The man smiled a bloody smile and struggled. Six punched him again. The smile slipped a bit but the man still wriggled. Good. Six punched again and again. His gut felt a sliver of cold ice - this was too much violence for him, but still he did not stop. Now was not the time for hesitation. Six punched again and knew the man was unconscious. He punched once more. He felt so cold, the violence and exertion was exhausting. Or maybe it was the knife sticking out of his belly. There had been another dagger. Shit. Six rolled over, sitting on his butt he looked around.
Jeffums finished off the one he was fighting and took one pirate from Elyria; it was two duels progressing on the ship now.
Amos called out. “Jimmy you fucking bastard. You’re gonna die fer dis!” He bellowed it across the decks.
Six turned to look at the enemy captain who shouted. “You were always weak Amos! It's why you have three crew men and I have nine! Weak!”
“You have four!-” started Amos but quickly changed when Elyria cut her foe down with three quick slashes of her curved sword. “Three! Jimmy. You have three! And soon you won’t have dat. Quality Jimmy! Quality!”
Amos’s jeers had an effect on the single standing pirate still on the River Dancer who tried to turn and flee back to the other ship. Jeffums cut at the man's ankle causing the pirate to fall. Elyria quickly stabbed the man in the back.
Six felt cold breath and forced himself to focus and act. He gripped the dagger’s handle and pulled with a jerk. It slid free with a slurping sound and Six shuddered a gasp.
“No you idiot,” Elyria said, “you should have kept that in until I was ready to help you.” She fiddled at her hip for a flask, uncorking it she poured it over his wound and Six instantly felt a warm relief spread from the spot and the pain began fading. He was ok.
One of the pirate oarsmen cut the rope and their ship began to drift away. Amos, taking full opportunity to make distance by going down stream with the flow and wind. “Fuck you Jimmy!” he called at the retreating boat.
“Next time Amos! Next time!” the man called back.
Elyria poked Six’s breastplate. “You ok?” she asked. “Some chainmail might help next time. Was your ring working or did you forget about it?”
“My ring?”
“Yea.”
“Which one?”
“The healing one.”
“Oh that one?” He had a healing ring? “Yeah, it’s on, uh, cooldown.” Six kinda sucked at lying to nice people but Elyria didn’t seem to be too interested in his answer. Six lifted his shirt to see a severe wound crusted over with a nasty scab. It hurt to touch but looked and felt pretty solid. “I’m alright I think.” He picked at the wound.
Elyria slapped his hand. “Don't pick at it idiot. Nice swinging by the way. How close did you come?”
“How close to what?”
“Dying,” she clarified.
“I don't know.” He shrugged.
She lifted her eyebrow and laughed. “You’re strange. Check your combat logs.” And with that, she began to adjust the sails to Copperback’s requests.
Six let out a deep breath and sat down on a chest. Combat logs. He mentally requested and a list of notes came to his attention in prompt form.
You have struck with ship oar for 20 bludgeoning damage.
You have struck with ship oar for 20 bludgeoning damage.
You have struck with ship oar for 86 bludgeoning damage.
You have rendered level 2 human unconscious.
You have struck human with a unarmed strike for 10 damage
You have struck human with a unarmed strike for 10 damage
You have been stabbed with a dagger for 24 damage (473/497)
You have been inflicted with the condition bleeding1.
You are bleeding you lose 15 health.(458/497)
You have struck human with a unarmed strike for 10 damage
You are bleeding you lose 15 health.(443/497)
You have struck human with a unarmed strike for 10 damage
You are bleeding you lose 15 health.(428/497)
That repetition continued for a bit, then it changed.
You have rendered level 3 human unconscious.
You are bleeding you lose 15 health.(278/497)
Minor Healing Potion has healed you for 27 points of health.
Bleeding 1 has been stopped by Minor Healing Potion
He wasn’t anywhere close to zero, but the single bleeding effect would have killed normal everyday Six twice over. Again, he was thankful for his high constitution. He stood up, tested his range of motion and called after Elyria, “too close.”
Any wound was too close. He didn’t know how diseases worked in this reality. Six picked up the oar he used and thanked it. It helped him, so why not show appreciation. He gave it a pat of affection and snatching up the cloth, began to polish the mighty staff. It was upon this maintenance that he noticed a large crack running up the shaft of the oar.
He inspected it.
- Oaken Ship Oar -
Rank: Average
Rarity: Common
Weight: 3.8 KG
Durability: 2/60
Traits: Propels ships.
The durability had almost bottomed out. One more swing might have left him with nothing at the moment he was expecting a weapon. He would have to be careful to keep track of his equipment. That was nothing new, climbers relied on their gear to keep them alive. Regular examinations revealed the pieces that needed replacement. It would be no different here.
Six cleared his throat. "Sorry captain but I basically broke this oar. How much?"
"How much for what?" Copperback asked.
"How much for you to replace it? I'll pay, I broke it."
"No, those two broke it," he said to Six while pointing at the two unconscious men. "You don't worry about it, I'm just glad you decided to fight with us. That could have gone completely differently if you didn’t help us." He nodded at Six. "Thank you."
“No problem, I’m ok. What are you going to do with them?” Six asked, indicating the sleeping pirates.
"Well you went through the trouble of knocking them out, you can keep ‘em. You can sell them in Olisrosa. It don't really look like you could control ‘em real well.
"Sell them like slaves?"
A moment of silence extended between the two men before Copperback broke it with a simple, "yes."
"I'm not doing that," Six said. “It’s-”
"So you aim to keep em? Ah, I don't blame you, two strong men can make a lot of money but it ain't easy being a slave owner. Now, take it from me whe-"
“I don't want to keep or sell these men!” Yelled Six.
“See? Not everyone sells slaves Amos.” Elyria said with an, “I told you so,” tone.
“People sell slaves all the time, Elyria,” Amos said with a wave of his hand.
“I don't sell slaves,” she said with a firm shake of her head.
“Hmmph, cause you don’t got no money. Anyways, SIx, if you don't want to sell em, give em to me and I'll sell em. Hell, I think we deserve one at least.”
“No? That is functionally the same outcome.” Six shook his head, no. A new prompt pinged and he checked it.
Level 2 Human has died. 200 Experience gained.
Oh shit. That dude died? Six thought he just knocked him out. Was he really that naive? Of course three blows to the head with a weapon would probably kill someone. His brain probably bled to a swollen death. Six had just killed a man and his stomach felt that sliver of ice again.
Copperback grunted. "Well if you don't want them to be sold. Toss ‘em off the ship Jeffums.”
Jeffums grunted and nodded moving in.
“Wait no!” Six said gesturing wildly
Amos let out a huge sigh. “By Kynairos man. I'm not keeping dis pirate on my ship for nothing. I wouldn't give me own mother free passage. No self respecting Captain would.“
Six looked at the remaining unconscious man. "Couldn't we just drop him off on the shore? I already killed a man, I don't want another man to die for nothing… The other one is dead.”
Copperback crossed his arms and began to grumble.
Six fixed the captain with an insistent stare. "Please."
Copperback took in a deep breath and sighed.
"I'll pay if that makes it better."
Copperback shook his head and let out a slightly disappointed chuckle. "No, no. You helped us out when you could have just jumped ship. I won't make you waste your coin on this trash. Jeffums take the rowboat and get this man off my ship. Six you help."
Six nodded in appreciation. "Thank you Amos. I really appreciate it."
Copperback just nodded and altered course to slow down a bit.
Jeffums dropped the little rowboat in the water and with Six's help they got the unconscious man in the boat and with a little effort they dropped him on the shore.
On the row back to the RiverDancer Jeffums cleared his throat. "I don't get it. That guy stabbed you, almost to death. Why let him live?" He asked.
Six shrugged. "No reason to kill him."
"Seems to me like getting stabbed is reason enough."
"Well, at the time I wanted to, but after I calmed down… Why would I do that when he's no danger to me?"
Jeffums nodded. "Some people are just bad."
Six nodded back. Jeffums was talking about straight up evil. "I don't think he was one of those people. I don't know why he was pirating. Is it hard to get a job?"
Jeffums nodded after a moment. "Hard to get anything right now. "
Six shrugged. "He doesn't matter anymore. He's over there and I'm over here."
Jeffums grunted. He left it at that.
When back on the RiverDancer Six took a moment for himself to check more prompts
Skill gained:
Polearms - Initiate - Level 1
Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of damage from long handled weapons. Current increase 0.5%
Heavy Armor - Initiate - Level 1
Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of maneuverability and a reduction of 0.25% endurance cost. Current increase 0.5%, 0.25%
Unarmed - Initiate - Level 1
Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of damage from unarmed strikes and natural weapons. Current increase 0.5%
Really? Already? He had already learned that much? Well, he had learnt a lot that last fight… Or, maybe it was his Unbound Comprehension gift. He shrugged, all that mattered was his skills leveling up. The bonuses were small but he could see that they offered power.
Six didn’t want power, but he wasn’t foolish enough to avoid collecting it.