[System: for defeating the Kraken ships under your command are granted free passage to the Unknown North Sea]

The message popped on his vision as soon as the islands came into view, "must be some regional barrier" he mumbled.

"What?" Janice asked

"We crossed some kind of border and i got a system message for it" Slom answered, not realising he spoke out loud before.

 [System: you entered the domain of the sea serpent, do you want to issue a quest to call heroes to your aid? Y/N]

"No" 210m said irritably.

"What now?" Janice asked.

"The system keeps prompting me to issue quests for heroes to come save us" he deflated "it seems now we have to deal with sea serpents".

"I never heard of a sea serpent contract" Janice seemed worried, "do you think its a private region?"

"It could be" Slom looked towards the islands "it can also be just a very old closed contract".

Janice leaned over the rails "Like a dragon that was never defeated?"

[Whisper: Kraken My name is Karen by the way, forgot to mention it, and yes its intentional i chose the kraken for the joke /Whisper]

[Whisper to Kraken: 210m nice to meet you Karen, my name is Allen /Whisper]

[Whisper: Kraken I thought you should know you have players on your ship, I got credits for interaction and for hurting a player /Whisper]

"We could be in trouble" He said to Janice "Some players are still on board"

[Whisper to Kraken: 210m thanks for the warning /Whisper]

[Whisper: Kraken you should take off the sign or you could get someone in a lot of trouble /Whisper]

Slom changed the words on the sail to just read "Odacious".

Turning around he looked at the ship and tried to figure out who or where were the players they didn't find on the first sweep, none of the NPCs was reacting to prompts, they were all just lazing about in the sun like pleasure cruise guests.

He walked down to the main deck when Janice caught up to him "what do you mean sea serpents?"

Her question brought him back to the previous conversation, "oh probably just some prowling monsters", he shrugged his shoulders feeling a slight pull from his scar, "they shouldn't bother us since we don't have players to give them credits".

As he finished the sentence he heard somone cry to his left and looked to see people standing and pointing. A splash in the distance and an impossibly long body erupted from the water. Shooting up like a rocket the blue and green monster was rushing towards them. Slom turned back to the front and shouted "TURN RIGHT AND FULL SPEED AHEAD".

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"They wouldn't bother us" Janice said in a mocking voice from the stairs.

[Whisper to Kraken: 210m Karen do you know the sea serpent in this area? /Whisper] Slom sent while running up to the deck.

[Whisper: Kraken that asshole is supposed to guard the treasure island why is he bothering you?] he read after turning to look at the behemoth chasing them.

[Whisper to Kraken: 210m can you talk to him? /Whisper] he grabbed for a rope tied to the main mast.

[Whisper: Kraken I can try /Whisper]

[Whisper to Kraken: 210m thank you, please give him my id and tell him to whisper me /Whisper] pulling the top ring of the knot and took a swing out.

[Whisper: Devourer I'm busy what do you want? /Whisper] the monster was closing in on the ship in great leaps

[Whisper to Devourer: 210m we dont have any players on board /Whisper] he was flying to the side of the ship

[Whisper: Devourer too bad for you /Whisper] it took a dive and didnt surface

[Whisper to Devourer: 210m is there anything we can do for you? /Whisper] he landed at the back and looked out to the water

[Whisper: Devourer you can die /Whisper]  a shadow appeared in the water behind the ship

"HARD TURN LEFT" Slom used credits to amplify the order and the ship turned almost on the spot, the serpent shot out of the water and missed the ship by less than twenty meters, its tail flicked and almost hit them and the ship was sucked towards its entry hole in the water.

He was searching for serpent underwater when he figured who the players were and it got him to think of a plan that could work.

[Whisper to Odacious: 210m Luke get Rick or one of the other players to take over the ship /Whisper]

The serpent broke the water in front of them, blocking their path to the island and thumping its tail on the water with a rhythem that caused the waves all around it to swell.

[Whisper: Odacious This is halia, what do you need captain? /Whisper] Slom could almost feel her giggling

[Whisper to Odacious: 210m I know how to deal with the serpent /Whisper] the monster finished its thumping by thrusting its tail into the wave for a lift.

[Whisper: Odacious what serpent? /Whisper]

[Whisper to Odacious: 210m look to the front /Whisper] the monster was riding the crest of the tsunami it created.

[Whisper: Odacious  What the hell? /Whisper] the ship started to turn.

[Whisper to Odacious: 210m Dont panic, like i said i have a plan /Whisper] turning with the ship the monster was riding the wave in a intecept course.

"TURN RIGHT" Slom burned through his credits to add a huge bladed ram to the ship's prow, "RAMMING SPEED" he ordered and the ship slammed into the serpent's maw slicing the monster in half for about a third of its length, they broke through the wave and in seconds the sea calmed and the corpse sank to the bottom.

The NPCs stared out to sea with mouths open and then cheered when the whole ship started to creak and stretch, becoming longer and wider, adding another mast and a whole new floor to the front and aft decks, the figurine at the head seemed to double in size and was now holding a giant spear that ended with the blade Slom added earlier.

[Whisper: Odacious I leveled up AS A SHIP, you crazy maniac, DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS /Whisper] Allen started laughing and fell on his rump

[Whisper to Odacious: 210m i dont think there was ever a Player Ship before today so no, I didnt know it was possible /Whisper]

[Whisper: Odacious how did you figure this out? /Whisper]

[Whisper to Odacious: 210m Karen said she got encounter credits from hurting a player and i figured the only players around here were you guys /Whisper]

[Whisper: Odacious who is Karen? /Whisper]

[Whisper to Odacious: 210m the kraken /Whisper]

[Whisper: Odacious the kraken's NPC is called Karen? /Whisper]

[Whisper to Odacious: 210m she said it was intentional /Whisper]

The captain walked to the front of his leveled up ship and looked at the island that they were closing on, a small lagoon with a sandy beach welcomed them under the looming shadow of a dark rainforest.