Back in the game after classes, Rick went to the limestone quarry and used his Move and Shape Stone skill to cut ten-foot by ten-foot cubes from the quarry. He transferred them over to the Amphitheater construction site and lined them up along the road. Once again with his Move and Shape Stone skill, he began cutting each of the large limestone cubes into blocks to be used by Handil's crew. Since this was such a large build the workers would also need a large amount of cement so Rick mixed the dry ingredients together in his inventory and used a barrel recipe to store the dry cement in.

With a quick guess, he figured that the work crew had enough materials to get them almost halfway through the construction. This would give the quarry workers time to cut more stone and refill the stockpile that was being continuously depleted from the Wagoner's deliveries.

Rick still wanted to work on his rifle and test out a few more materials, but he had told his friends that his boat should be finished and it was time to set off and begin his journey across the ocean. Even if Luke and his girlfriend were still having fun exploring the Enclave Isles Ryan and Lily were both more than ready to move on.

He made his way over to the System Gate inside the Officials building and opened the buy units menu. He spawned a human female Ship Captain with General for a second class, a human female commander with Blade Master as a second class, four human female riggers with Blade Master as a second class, and four human female sailors who also had Blade Master as a second class.

One of the classes under the Military Division Navy column did not seem to fit as he looked through which units he would want to have on his ship. Under the Navy column, there was a unit class called Gunner but this world was far from the era of guns and artillery.

Why would the developers add a class called gunner if there were no guns or cannons for them to operate? Did someone screw up somewhere or was it a given that a Player would eventually create a black powder, firearms, and cannons to be used on ships? I should take a look at this class and see if it would be useful.

Spoiler: Gunner Class

 Gunner Class

 The Gunner class was designed to be a modified archer. They have a few skills that are related to archery.

The world of Kingdoms Online was not designed with firearms but the world holds all of the materials needed to produce them.

It is only a matter of time until they are eventually introduced and this Gunner unit is one of the early released classes that can adapt to the early age of firearms.

Skill List

Skill Name Skill Description Mana Cost Recharge Time Read The Wind You use the wind to aid your shot. Your shot travels 2x farther with accuracy. 5 mp One Minute Power Shot Allows you to overdraw your bow to cause 2x increased damage. 5 mp One Minute Safe Shooting You can safely fire into the midst of melee battle avoiding allies for thirty seconds. 5 mp One Minute Kentucky Windage Allows you to accurately read the wind and movement of a target and highlight the area to aim and shoot. 5 mp One Minute Eagle Eyes Allows you to amplify your vision to see a target 2x further in detail. 5 mp One Minute Rapid Shots You can make quick rapid shots in any direction for ten seconds. 5 mp One Minute Snap Shot You can raise your weapon a deliver an accurate shot on target without aiming. 5 mp One Minute Take Aim The longer you hold your shot and aim at the target the more accurately you will hit it. 5 mp One Minute

Instinctive Knowledge

Ranged Allows you to quickly adapt to new ranged weapons and apply your skills toward their use. Archery Allows you to use a Bow and Arrow. Level determines bonuses to damage and technique. Daggers Allows you to use Daggers. Level determines bonuses to damage and technique. Blunt Weapons Allows you to use Blunt Weapons. Level determines bonuses to damage and technique. Unarmored You can maneuver in combat so that most strikes miss or glance off your body. Light Armor Allows you to wear Light Armor. Skill level determines protection bonuses. Sure-Footed Allow you to keep your footing on a precarious terrain. Shoot on the Move Allows you to accurately hit targets while moving regardless of terrain. Reading and Writing Allows you to read and write you racial and Lord's language. Climb Allows you to skillfully climb ropes or anything with handholds.

 Not too bad this seems like it could make a great land rifleman class. I think I will spawn a few and test them out with my new rifle.  Rick thought as he closed the Gunner Class Menu and spawned ten human female Gunners with Blade Master as a second class.

That should be enough people to run the boat and having a full crew of woman is much more pleasant than spending hours at a time on the open seas with a boat full of men. Every one of them besides the captain has Blade Master as a second class which is one of the classes Angelica has that allows her to skillfully wield dual swords. If we run into trouble along the way I know they will be able to put up a decent fight.

 Rick spoke with the messengers who job it was to assign available housing to new units before they left. He told them to have all of the new female citizens meet him at the restaurant once they had been given an apartment.

Over inside the restaurant, RIck sat down to eat while drawing up a few designs for a navy uniform until he had one that he liked.

Spoiler: Naval Uniform.

 [https://s20.postimg.org/kslj34ix9/Naval_Uniform.png]

 He had finished his lunch and just left the restaurant when the messengers brought over the female naval units. Rick thanked the messengers and had the group of women follow him over to the Tailoring and cloth production building. Inside he had the spinsters and weavers turn the piles of raw spider silk he had collected from the Lorebark Forest into rolls of cloth inside of the fast domain.

Once they had made a few rolls Rick sat at a table and began making patterns for the naval uniform. He made the jacket, shirt, cloak, and pants out of three layers of spider silk cloth then he moved on to the embroidering details. The next step was to make the boots, gloves, and belts out of wolf leather. The belt and strap buckles were all made with the help of his buckle recipe and only needed to be sewen to them.

The entire uniform was then dyed a deep navy blue with gold embroiderings and gold accents. When he had completed the uniform he named the recipe "Naval Uniform" and made thirty of them. He assigned ownership of the uniforms to each of the female naval units. He had them go into the shops back room and put on their new uniforms while he used his recipes to make air rifles for the gunners and dual Gladius back harnesses for everyone who had Blade Master as a class.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

While Rick was waiting on the women he crafted a leather rifle sling and equipped all of the rifles with one to make it easier to carry them. He also made ten leather hip pouches for the female gunners and filled them with iron bullets. The women soon finished putting on their new uniforms and equipping their weapons and were now ready to move out. Rick led them over to the river and found that the sailboat was complete and ready to launch.

Rick had the shipwrights pack up all of their tools and climb out of the hole the boat was sitting in on a wooden scaffold frame. Using his Move and Shape Earth skill he started cutting out the soil so that the river water would pour into the hole.

When there was enough water in the hole the boat lift up off of the wooden scaffolding and floated on it owns. Rick had the women all climb on board the sailboat and he opened up a wide enough gap to maneuver the boat out into the river.

With long wooden poles, they kept the boat in the center of the river and allowed the current to carry it downstream. The captain took the wheel and helped to steer the boat along while everyone used their poles to keep the boat in deep water and after floating downriver about five miles they were pushed out into the ocean bay.

The sailors and riggers went around the boat learning which lines were used to operate the sails while the gunners stood along the rail watching for any signs of trouble from man or creature. The sails were then untied and let out so that the wind would fill them and begin pushing them along.

They set sail south using the compass Rick had been rewarded from the quest and the captain was able to use the sun as a reference once she was set onto the course. Rick told her that there was a large continent south of them some miles and that they would follow the coast to reach their destinations.

With his crew taking care of the ship, RIck went into the cabin and took out some lumber to make a narrow bunk bed. The beds were just wide and long enough for one person to lay on them. He wanted to make beds for the crew of the boat, but there was only so much room so he had come up with the idea to make these compact bunk beds. He had thought about possibly using hammocks but chose to scrap the idea and make something with a little more comfort.

The recipe received from the bunk beds allowed him to quickly make enough for each member of the crew. Rick arranged all of the beds and used his screwdriver to screw them all to the cabin floor so that if the boat went through rough waters they would not slide around the cabin interior. The cabin was also furnished with tables and chairs that were made from recipes so that the crew would be able to sit down and eat or just relax.

In the far back corner of the cabin, he made a small closet and installed a toilet with a drainage pipe that went through the wall and emptied into the water behind the boat. Inside the toilet bowl, he made a small water rune and connected it to a storage gem and switch rune on the outside of the bowl in easy reach.

Rick went to find the commander which would be equivalent to a ship's first mate and show her the cabin interior. He explained that there were now enough beds for the entire to crew to sleep and then Rick demonstrated the toilet and had the commander bring the other female crew members down into the cabin in small groups to teach them how the toilet worked while he waited up on deck with the captain.

After the entire crew had finished their crash course on modern toilet mechanics he went back down into the cabin and began making a small stone stove and refrigerator. He lined the area around the stove with thin stone pavers to prevent the walls and floor from catching fire. With the fire being supplied by a rune it did not produce random sparks so it was extremely safe if anything he worried more about the effects of the heat that would emit from the stove. 

Alright, now that I have a stove and fridge I need some food to fill it with. I guess it is time to test out the Portal spell I know that I will be able to transfer from the ship to land, but if I close it I don't know if it will open back up on the ship or over the water where the ship was last time I used it.

When he opened the Portal on the wall of the cabin the black doorway moved along with the ship and did not act like it was stationary. Rick then stepped through into his store office and then quickly back into the boat cabin. He had a weird sensation like when an elevator reaches a floor and you get that slight sinking feeling, but he was back in the cabin right in front of the black door.

Not wanting to take a chance and lose the boat's position he left the Portal opened when he went back into his office to collect the money from his draw. He did not bother looking over the sales records and left his office to drop off the book in Barat's office.

Rick left the store after giving Barat a brief update about how he was currently sailing a boat across the northern ocean and would not be able to stick around. He warned him about the open Portal in the office that connected to the boat and then left the store to make his way to the central plaza vendors area.

Barat was still in shock over hearing what his boss just told him and could only mutely nod his head as RIck quickly left the store. 

"Barat I just saw Cedric walk through the showroom did he leave already? Normally he will stop and talk to me and teach me a little about his worlds sales techniques." Nellie asked looking a little disappointed.

"He said that he is currently traveling across the northern ocean on a boat he designed. A full crew of female sailors right now are sailing the ship as we speak. He only dropped in to collect yesterdays sales and to go out and buy some supplies for the trip." Barat said repeated what he was told with a look of stupefaction on his face.

"Wow! That sounds amazing I have never even seen the ocean before even though it is supposedly only a days cart ride from here with all the monsters and bandits it is too risky to make the journey." Nellie exclaimed as she walked away to go help the sales girls once again.

Did she not even hear that he is out on the dangerous ocean right now and even teleported from the ship to his office? She only thinks about how wonderful it would be to see the ocean and not about how he had built a boat that can cross the ocean and then teleport to and from it! Am I the crazy one or is it everyone else around me for acting like this is a normal thing? Maybe it is a benefit of being young that they can easily adapt to strange and dangerous circumstances.  Barat thought as he continued to greet the stream of customers entering the store.

Rick made his way around the vendors and bought food supplies for the boat along with blankets and pillows. The blankets and pillows were nowhere near the quality he sold in his store, but to save himself a trip to the crating district he made due with what was available. He figured that they would most likely not really even be used and were ore of an emergency purchase. Now that he knew it was possible to Portal from the boat he would be able to let the crew return to their apartments at the end of the day.

He left the vendors area after asking around about blacksmiths in the city and went off to find one of the larger blacksmith shops that were supposed to be on the scale of his teacher Hibal's. He found the place and found that the man that owned it was reluctant to sell him the iron ore that he had in stock. With the use of his Charming Presence and offering more money that it sold for he was able to purchase roughly five hundred pounds of iron ore on a one-time-only deal. When the owner led him outside to collect the ore he couldn't believe the size of the pile this guy had in stock. It was easily a couple tons of ore and this owner acted like it would be the end of the world if he sold any of it.

This greedy bastard is just worried about the competition I bet. He figures any ore he sells to anyone else will be less work that walks through his door. Rick thought as he collected the ore and flashing the owner a nasty look who was watching every move he made.

Rick was so pissed at this guys attitude after he collected the ore he had already paid for, he activated flight and flew off toward his store without saying a word to the owner who was standing right beside him. He landed behind his store so not to cause a commotion on the street and walked in through the front door. Inside he stopped to talk with Nellie and see how and her saleswomen were doing. After a quick update, she related what Barat had told her and how she had never seen the ocean.

Rick smiled and hooked his arm around hers and led her into his office.

"I know you are working right now, but how about you take a little break and have a quick look at the boat and the ocean. Do you remember when I took you through the teleporter upstairs to the tower near my city?"

"Yes that was a little scary but it was also exciting to know we had lept away to somewhere far from the city. I had grown up in this city and have never left much further than the city walls for fear of all the danger in the wilderness." She said.

Rick just shook his head after hearing that. He had never even thought about how dangerous this world would be for regular NPCs who did not have the fighting prowess of a Player. Also since if he died it was just a matter of respawning and trying again. That did not work for NPCs like the real world for him if you died that was it, game over.

"See that black doorway on the wall over there? That works just like a regular doorway even though you can not see what is on the other side when you step through it you will end up on my boat. So how about it? Are you up for a quick little adventure?" Rick explained then asked her.

Nellie staring at the door took a deep breath. "Yes, I would love to take a look." 

Rick took her by the hand and walked through the door with her to help ease her anxiety. The two of them ended up inside the ship cabin after steeping through Portal and while Nellie looked around the cabin trying to take in the new room she was now in Rick took out the food and stocked the fridge and set a small drum of oil along with a bag of flour next to the fridge.

"Let's go take a look around outside you will get a better view," Rick said to Nellie who was looking out through one of the small cabin windows.

When Rick opened the cabin door Nellie breathed in a blast of the ocean air and felt the wind blow through her long hair as she stepped through the door onto the deck. They walked along the rail and all of his crew looked on in surprise and curiosity at the girl with Rick who seemed to have suddenly appeared on the boat.

Nellie smiled at the other women who looked so gallant in their matching uniforms and wearing strange metal weapons on leather straps or swords on their backs. She had never seen women that looked so strong and beautiful. She had thought that if these women fought with the city guard they would be able to hold their own with them or even possibly beat them.

The cries of the white birds above the boat distracted her thoughts and she glanced up to see the birds trailing along following the boat with just as much curiosity about all the new things on the boat as she had.

Nellie followed Rick to the front of the boat and looked out across the ocean in every direction there was no sign of land anywhere.

"I have read and heard about how big the ocean is but I never imagined this!" Nellie said excitedly as the mist sprayed up to cool their faces from the waves breaking against the bow of the ship.

The two of them talked for a while and Rick told her about the oceans in the real world and the many creatures that inhabited them. He told her tales of pirates and even modern day ships that propelled themselves without sails and had weapons which could hit targets miles away beyond sight.

As they were talking Rick caught sight of a thin strip of green on the horizon and knew that they had found the starting continent.  He knew that from the position of the island if they traveled south they would eventually find it but it was still a nice sight as it slowly grew bigger as they traveled along.

Rick then took Nellie back to the store like waking up from a dream she found herself back in the city she had always lived with the smell of the ocean still lingering on her clothes and in her hair.