I decided to spend the next day heading into town to talk with Merlin. He's the only enchanter I think might know about mana canisters and mana cannons… The enchanters hut he used to own is now a gigantic house… Easily five times the size it was before… I enter it.
Going inside, the main room for rares is now completely different. Everything is well marked and clean. Everything is made of better materials than before. A few more people are moving around than normal. I see the two other apprentices but they're commanding other people. It looks like Merlin might have started teaching enchanting. I call out.
“Is Merlin around? I need to ask him a few questions.”
One of the apprentices takes me towards the back. Inside is a room with several students in it. Some of which are from the magic school. Others are from the slums and some are from the adventurers guild. Merlin is standing in front of everyone lecturing them on how to make the mana reduction enchant. He notices me and calls out.
“Ah, hello Kite, how have you been?”
“Fine, fine, I've just come to ask a few questions.”
“Ah of course, I heard you were going to fight the pirates head on. I was wondering when you were going to show up.”
He gestured at the apprentice who brought me in and he ran off. We talked for a few more moments before the apprentice returned with a few books.
“Here's every book I have on sea warfare and land warfare for enchanters. You'll need these if you hope to stand a chance in the upcoming war. I know I'm trying to prepare for it the only way I can. By teaching my job to students so they can help make the canisters needed to fight evenly with other armies.”
“Something else I have to do I guess… I wish I would have known to come here earlier. That way I could have read them before I needed them.”
Merlin laughs.
“Even as unique as you are Kite, even you can't predict the future. No one can see what they'll need before they need it.”
“I guess your right. I can teach you a few enchants if you'd like as payment.”
“No, I'm far to busy with my students, you can have them for free.”
“I'll be on my way then.”
I'll try to read through them quickly so it doesn't slow my plans to leave in a few weeks… Depending on how long it takes to make the canisters and cannons it might be longer… It also might be longer depending on how much more of Greed's memories I have to go through.
Everything feels like I should have prepared more this passed year. I should have been ready to go as soon as my generals returned. I still have so much to do and it feels like even more things are getting added to the list. I read through the books. It takes days for of continuous reading for each book. Finally finishing them, I also absorb them for any last bit of information I could retain.
Enchanting recipe learned mana canister
Enchanting level increase 53 to 55
…I feel like a fucking idiot… The way you make the mana canisters is with water and a metal container… I can't believe I needed a book to tell me to do that. With the mana canisters you can power objects that would require mana and you can also use them to power engineering creations. I could make a robot and power it with mana canisters… That would be extremely inefficient though compared to just powering automatons.
The cannon is the same thing. It is just a giant metal container you put the canister in. Then you put some type of ammunition on top of that to fire out with the activation of the mana canister. Mana canisters can also be used as explosives. Perhaps a few mana canister arrows would be a good idea? Well knowing that much I can think of a few new ideas for weapons. I should make the-. Greed cuts me off.
“Go through my memories first before making the weapons. You might find some new equipment you can make from the weapons my men used. It was after I started to become the leader of a pirate army. I met with someone very influential to my warfare methods.”
Alright I guess I should worry about going through the memories first. Greed thinks the memories will help me make better weapons and I'm inclined to believe him. Before that, I have to teach the enchanters this new recipe… Shortly after everyone left for the year of training. The two enchanters ranked up.
The synthesis enchanter had learned advanced enchanting. He could add mana and enchant faster naturally. All stat boosts he did were also better. The tinkerer enchanter learned dungeon making. He can make practice dungeons now and we have a sectioned off portion to help get levels for people with new classes. He hasn't found a way to use tinkerer to improve the dungeons yet, maybe I should try to think of some ways as well…
They learned it and I set them aside for making the canisters. I have the blacksmith making the cannons to use. They need to fit perfectly so I made a canister for the blacksmith to size them. I'll try making some smaller ones for a gun. Imagine how damaging my gun sword would be if I a mana canister as a propellant instead of wind scrolls… Maybe I can replace my wind scrolls for all my weapons.
I've been putting this off and I'll do it now that I have some downtime. I need to form a blood pact with one of my pets… Which one should I form a pact with... I decide Darkclaw, a few reasons being he's weak right now. Meaning the chances of us dying are lower. Forming a pact is extremely dangerous to both participants.
Humans can form pacts with other humans. Unless you are around the same exact stats one of you might die though. Forming a pact with a pet is safer... Not much safer though. The margin for error is bigger though. As he gets stronger, I'll get stronger with him. Also if one of our lives are in danger the others soul can help heal the injuries. I imagine he'll become my strongest pet. I pull Darkclaw aside and talk to him.
“Darkclaw. I'm going to form a pact with you, doing this will be very painful. We'll both get stronger doing this. I just need your blessing before I do… I can't force someone to do it, you have to be willing.”
Darkclaw shakes his head in agreement. Here goes nothing I guess. I cut mine and his hand, pouring blood into a cup. I start the ritual. It is beyond painful! FUCK! It feels like my soul is being ripped out of my chest. IT IS! Both mine and Darkclaw's souls are out of our bodies. Merging together, then splitting apart. Both souls being forced back into our bodies. I hear cries of pain from Darkclaw now.
“MASTER! IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH!”
“JUST HOLD IN THERE DARKCLAW. IT WON'T BE MUCH LONGER.”
What feels like hours of our souls being forced in, it's finally over… Both of us are drenched in sweat. I start coughing up blood… Darkclaw might have been too strong for me to form a pact with. If I did it when he was a baby, he might have died though. My body feels different.
Pact formed with Darkclaw
Extinct class learned Dragon bloodline passive skill Absorb dragon essence- any dragon killed close to you gives you a portion of it's essence, passive increase to all stats
level 1 Dragon bloodline skill Dragons breath- gain the ability to breath fire from your mouth
Dragon bloodline secret passive skill Dragon speech- can communicate with dragons
Druid secret skill gained Dragon form- Shape shift form to that of a dragon (increase to all stats)
Druid secret skill gained Griffin form- Shape shift form to that of a griffin (increase to movement speed)
I start to feel woozy then I hear Greed cry out in pain.
"GAAAAAH!"
I pass out shortly afterwords. Being waken up by Darkclaw. I can hear him shouting. He has tears in his eyes.
“Master! Master please! Please wake up!”
“I'm fine Darkclaw, sorry to worry you. Looks like we succeeded.”
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I take the next day off. I can now speak with Darkclaw through the dragon language. I doubt anyone else would be able to learn the language besides us. I try out the two new forms I also got. Dragon form makes me a dragon equivalent to the size of Darkclaw. I don't look like him though. He has feathers starting around his face covering his body. I'm completely reptilian in form. In this form I can fly… I can't wait until I get the level one hundred druid skill to go half form.
Griffin form is the same thing. I change into a normal griffin. No discolored skin like Darkclaw, I look like a plain. If not smaller than average griffin… Kind of weak in comparison to the dragon form. It is still slightly faster at flying. I'll stick with dragon form unless in an absolute rush.
The next day, I start going back into where I was in Greed's memories… Before I do I asked him why he was in pain.
"It was because you ripped a portion of me off and gave it to your pet dragon! I lost that portion of me since I couldn't fuse with his soul."
Kite going through Greed's memories
I abandoned my boat at the hideout… Sailing back on a rowboat is far more dangerous but it is better than selling the black dagger… The boat is precious to me. The next ten years I spent adventuring. I formed friendships with a few groups. I was only going on the most lucrative missions.
Since Lindsay has died… It is hard for me to find meaning in life. Money is one of the few comforts I have now. She always appreciated money more than anyone else. Another comfort I have is alcohol... I normally drink until I pass out to go to sleep.
During a dungeon near the end of my adventures I saved the life of a ninja. His group had gotten wiped out and he was about to be killed by the boss. I managed to catch the boss in the eye with a throwing knife and got a lucky hit in on the boss. The ninja was a murine folk. A mouse like race that specializes in agility classes like ninja and thief.
He started following me around after that saying he owed me a life debt from now on. While I thought it meant he would follow me until he saved me once. He could save my life one hundred times and would still follow me… I acquired a very strong underling. murine folk can live to be a few hundred years old so he will serve me for my entire life. He also had a cute little fox as a pet. It was nice to have some type of animal around in case we ever ran out of food.
I started drinking… A lot. More than most people would consider a good amount… I just can't get over Lindsay… It's been ten fucking years and I still think about her every damn day... I need to go back to my passion of the sea… I think it has been long enough for me to be over her. The main difference is I'm going to be a counter pirate. A noble pirate that doesn't kill anyone and fights the other pirates. My new goal is keeping the ocean safer.
I'll amass a crew of like minded people. People willing to protect the seas from dangers while making some money on the side. I still need my old ship. With the money I've made adventuring I can buy more than one ship. I'll get my black dagger first while they make my new ships. Ten years has afforded me the time to design two sister ships to the black dagger.
An even smaller ship for hit and run tactics. So small it will need to be protected by bigger ships from monsters. It will be called the black shiv. Finally the bigger version of my ship. It will hold the bulk of my troops I recruit and have the most firepower. It will be used for head on fights with other ships. Once the black dagger and shiv have weakened the size of any other fleets. It will be called the black sword. We still need treasure, so sinking ships isn't the goal this time.
I get my ship and leave my first mate ninja, named Tezuna to handle the ships being made. At least until I return, I can't allow anyone to see the location of my hidden fortress. No matter what, it still takes a week of traveling by rowboat to make it there. As risky as it is traveling by myself to my fortress, I can't ever let anyone else see it.
Grabbing my ship and heading back I'm ambushed by a monster. Damage is done to me and my ship, I killed it though. I managed to kill a boss monster by myself with the help of the mana cannons… My leg is gone. I lost my leg in the attack…
Making it back to land, everyone their surprised by the sight of me and my ship. I guess I need to get a new makeshift leg made. Getting myself fitted for a fake leg while the rest of the ships are being made. I had a few people come up and ask to join my crew. Of course I let them join, I need all the men I can get.
I recruit some more members. The whole message of being upright pirates, defending the seas and robbing from the robbers goes over well. I fill all three ships with enough members to run a skeleton crew at least. We'll need far more in order to fill the black sword fully. The black shiv only requires a handful of men to pilot it. We'll use it and run tactics for now until we expand at other ports.
It's been two years since I've started reverse pirating. Mild success so far. I guess the biggest group of pirates was wiped out when I killed them some years ago. A few more have sprouted up from time to time but it is mostly nothing anymore… I'll have to quit pirating soon because we ran out of pirates to fight.
We decided to start raiding transport ships. I was against it but if I leave my position as head of the pirates. Someone else will come and fill the spot. Everyone is under orders to not kill a single person when we raid ships. It is my only rule they have to follow. I wont fall down to the pirates level who stole from me all those years ago.
Five years later and I've been at it for that long now. I started running supplies with a few ships but my pirate army keeps getting bigger and bigger. I now have fifteen ships under my command gaining more every day. Today we were raiding a ship like normal and they killed my men and fired at a ship sinking it…
I killed everyone on that ship and tortured the captain for an entire week before he died… I TRY TO BE NICE. I TRY TO BE REASONABLE BUT PEOPLE CONSTANTLY FIGHT AGAINST ME! My men are under new orders to kill everyone on each ship we raid… We'll skin the ships as well to keep from getting suspicious eyes on us. They don't deserve my mercy if they're going to defy me. After sinking a few ships I stopped. Most of my men were on the verge of leaving when I started that.
Five years later still… My crew has expanded to thirty ships. Slowly over time I've started getting more and more ruthless with pirating. I've become a legitimate pirate by those standards. I don't care anymore.
I numb the pain with anything I can get my hands on. Booze, drugs, women, nothing makes me happy anymore. I wish… I could have been the one that died that day. I wish Lindsay would have lived. I wish I was stronger, strong enough to stop anything bad from happening to her.
I went to far. Even from my standards I know that. While drinking one day we found a transport ship carrying passengers from one continent to the next. In my drunken state, I ordered the ship to be ransacked and everyone on board killed… My men didn't want to so I did it myself... There were children abroad the ship... This was crossing the line to a few of my men. The ship was also loaded with very wealthy individuals... No doubt the neighboring countries will send ships now that I've caused such a big problem.
When I was sober enough to realize my mistake I quit drinking from that point on. Tezuna, my loyal follower was ready to leave after that… For someone like him to go against the tradition they were raised to never break.... All because I'm such a bad person. I'll change I swear it. I need to get better for the sake of my crew.
"Please... Please don't leave me Tezuna... You're all I have left... I'll kill myself if you leave."
"Fine, this is your last chance though. I can't keep following you if you're always ruthless... For greater gods sake you killed a group of children."
Kites point of view
Every time I dive back down into Greed's memories, I realize I could easily end up the same way as him in a few years. My previous life wasn't nearly as dangerous as the one I lived as Kite… I just went with the flow… Never really having a goal in my life, I just did what I thought I should do… My trait was (kind) but I barely helped anyone. I only truly started to care when my life was over… I need another break from these memories. I'll rest for a day or two then try to finish Greed's memories.
(Kite stats before blood pact) (strength- 300) (dexterity- 280) (intelligence- 330) (stamina- 380) (total = 1290)
(Aegis 20 stack stat boost before blood pact) (strength- 1500) (dexterity- 1400) (intelligence- 1650) (stamina- 1900) (total = 6450)
(Kite stats after blood pact) (strength- 330) (dexterity- 330) (intelligence- 350) (stamina- 430) (total = 1420)
(Aegis 20 stack stat boost after blood pact) (strength- 1650) (dexterity- 1650) (intelligence- 1750) (stamina- 2150) (total = 7200)