The first thing Crane noticed upon arriving in the large, dark room, was that he was surrounded by treasure. It was not a vast amount, but it was more than he could carry on his person.
In the same room, also looking around, was Onyx. She was picking up and examining various bits and bobs of treasure. Overall she did not seem interested.
Crane moved to the exit of the room, a massive door. “Open Sesame.”
At the name of his self-created spell, the door opened outward.
The hallway leading to the treasure room he had been transported to was ancient. It looked like the ruins of some lost civilization.
“Grr,..Ehh.. Hmm..”
Crane looked back to see that Onyx was in a bit of pain.
Onyx could use devil skills, but demon and devil skills were suppressed on the surface world. She could use them, but they would be vastly weakened. From this point on unless she was in a deep, dark dungeon or some place forsaken by the gods of this world then this would be the norm for her.
Crane continued forward leaving Onyx to adjust.
The building he was in was not a dungeon, but a temple of some short. The main hall had large statues around the edges. These were not the statues of gods of course, they depicted the five archdevils.
Cranes had met three of the archdevils and had witnessed two of them die. He knew which ones were which. These statues meant that the temple predated the factioning of the archdevils several thousand years ago. The archdevil in the center of the hall, the once proud leader of the archdevils, was Onyx’s father.
Crane ventured further. He opened the door to the outside, and for the first time in many months saw the sun.
Twilight Equipment has reach limit of durability and has broken beyond repair.
The message didn’t surprise him. Objects crafted from Teokorite ore lost durability in sunlight, even if they were still in the inventory. However, more than the message, it was the smell of the air that struck him.
“No way.”
He said it to no one in particular, he just couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it.
Crane activated his shoes. They were a gift from Loki, the god of Mischief. They allowed the wearer to fly.
Crane flew into the air, higher and higher still. After reaching the desired altitude he looked around the temple to see that his fears were correct.
The first thing he noticed when he opened the door was the smell of salt water. And what he saw confirmed it, he was on an island surrounded by a great sea.
Crane flew around the island and surrounding waters. There was no sign of civilization or anything. He looked around the temple and saw nothing of use.
In the middle of the ocean, without any idea where he was, without any idea of what direction he should take.
At this point his only option was to pick a direction and start flying. But Loki’s shoes required mana to maintain flight, and his mana was not infinite. The worst case scenario was that he would run out of mana and have to float in the ocean.
In Royal Road, it is known that the ocean is beyond dangerous. Monsters over level 300 are commonplace. The further away from the continent you got, the stronger the sea monsters became. It would not be shocking to see level six or seven hundred monsters around.
If Crane got eaten and died, he would likely reappear at the temple. But Onyx was an NPC with one life. If she died, that was it.
When Crane returned, he saw that Onyx was flying around as well.
As one of the Fey’ri, Onyx could switch between a devil form, and an elf form. Her devil form had wings, so once a day she could add or remove features from either form.
Onyx quickly understood the problem they faced.
“So what should we do?”
“Pick a direction.” Crane answered directly.
She pointed west, towards the setting sun.
“As good as any.”
The pair took what treasure they could carry and left.
As they flew over the water, Crane saw deep, enormous shadows beneath the surface of the ocean. Just looking at them made him feel more terror than anything he felt from the Abyss. Shadows larger than shopping malls swimming faster through the water than Crane was flying through the air.
At one point the pair flew over a patch of highly turbulent water. On closer inspection, it seemed to be two giant sea monsters fighting each other beneath the surface.
The ocean was a terrifying place.
After four hours of flight, Onyx spotted a ship.
“There, see it?”
White sails. Crane was just happy there were no skull and cross bones. He didn’t think pirates would be very accommodating to weary travelers.
Crane flew down first to check the ship out. The men on board were human, but not the same race as most humans on Versailles. They were all either very, very tan, or they naturally had a bronze skin tone.
They noticed Crane flying over them before he landed down.
As soon as he landed, several of the men seemed to get defensive, but upon getting a better look, they reframed. At the very least, no one pulled out a sword.
“Oy, brat, what are you doing here?”
This was the first time he saw humans in the game for many months, he didn’t even mind being called brat.
He answered, “My friend and I got thrown into the middle of the ocean. We have no idea where we are.”
Another of the sailors asked, “Friend?”
Crane pointed up.
Another of the sailors saw Onyx in the air and casually said, “Its a flyin’ elf. Look over there.”
Few if any seemed particularly surprised. They had likely seen far stranger things on these seas.
A sailor in a large hat with a neatly trimmed mustache came forth and said, “I’m the captain of this vessel, the Silver Chalice. The name’s Rotimer. And you are?”
Crane lowered his head in a formal bow and introduced himself. “My name is Crane, I am a simple adventurer. My friend up there is named Onyx, also an adventurer.”
“Hmm. Well mister adventurer, you’re in the Faulhorn sea. The largest sea in the world. A mighty poor place to get lost.”
Crane smiled weakly. “Yes, I am thankful to have found a ship.”
“Aye, but this is no pleasure cruise. This is a cargo ship. If you wish to stay for any period, you must pay accordingly.”
Crane nodded and took out four gold coins. They were not currency, all of his money had been destroyed when he first used Random Transfer to escape Versailles. These were ancient gold coins, treasure from the temple.
The captain looked over them, “Boy, where did you get these?”
“An island I passed over. It had a temple of some sorts, but there wasn’t much there. Found those hidden under a rock. The place was likely looted clean some time ago.” If he told them the truth, he would likely have to lead them there, and Crane didn’t feel like it.
The captain put the coins in his pocket and said, “Temple huh. Boy, you should be careful with such things. Those coins bear the mark of an evil nation that once tried to destroy the world. I can melt them down and use the gold, but having them in your possession is dangerous without knowing.”
Crane nodded. He hadn’t considered the fact before, but it made sense that a temple filled with Archdevil statues was likely built by an unsavory people. What also concerned him was that the mark the captain spoke of was on every piece of treasure he had. Crane would have to melt all of the treasure down to use any of it as currency.
The captain said, “You and your friend can stay until we make port at Yolasys in two days.” He turned to another and said,”Drummer! Show the wee lad to the bridge side room.” Turning back to Crane he said, “We only got one spare room, you and your friend will be sharing it.” After that he walked away.
Crane motioned for Onyx to come down.
A few of the sailors stared at her for a moment, but nothing rude. It was as if this wasn’t anything new to them.
The one called Drummer showed the pair to a room. Food was brought twice a day, and they spent the time watching the ocean and talking to the crew.
Overall, the crew was not a great source of information. They were low class background NPCs not even suitable for conversation. The captain was better but he was busy throughout the duration of the voyage.
According to what the crew did know, the destination was a large island called Nalrot. It was an independent trading hub that serviced the many island nations throughout the Faulhorn sea. The route the ship took zigzagged right and left. This was to avoid the mapped territories of the ocean monsters that roamed the deeps.
Even hearing about them made Crane shudder a bit.
The nautical maps for the area included the ranges and types of most of the known sea monsters. When Crane spoke of the mall sized one, the sailors said they knew of it. It was a leviathan. Its level was undetermined, but it was one of the deadliest creatures in the world. There were tales of a leviathan large enough that the act of opening its mouth took in so much water, the tide around the world would drop. There were witnesses of such an act occurring, where an entire fleet of over a hundred ships were drawn into a leviathan’s mouth, never to be seen again.
The sea was a dangerous place.
After two days the ship made port. The island of Nalrot was large enough to hold two or three standard sized cities. It was not however a place one would go for a vacation. Most of the island was covered in buildings that were either for business or storage. It seems when land is limited, storage space is a much larger issue.
At the advice of the captain, Crane and Onyx left the ship and headed for the Mercenary guild to register as mercs. Mercenaries, especially ones with wide skills sets that included flight, were highly sought after and could easily acquire work.
The captain even provided some coin to pay for the registration fee. He said it was owed change, as the gold Crane paid was a bit too much for the short voyage there.
In addition to the local men who seemed to be of the same race of human as the sailors, a variety of other races or nonhumans were all over the port. There were men and woman with wings on their backs, there were blue skinned races with scales and gills on their necks, there were even lizardmen, a common monster around versailles, walking around like it was normal.
Even Onyx, a beautiful woman with the appearance of a dark elf and bat wings did not raise too many eyebrows.
The pair made their way to the mercenary guild. The building stood out from the others as it seemed to have been built using only blood red wood. At first one might assume it was painted or stained, but the wood seemed to simply be naturally red.
A few more eyebrows raised when the pair entered the building, but the folks inside had an even greater variety than the norm outside. Outside seven or eight tables sat various groups of various races and classes. More than half of them Crane did not recognize as residents of Versailles.
The first thing Crane did was walk up to the wanted poster list. He was relieved to see that a poster bearing his name was not there. Next he walked up to the counter.
The person at the counter appeared to be a woman, but Crane couldn’t tell for sure. At first glance she too appeared to be a lizardman, but she was clearly different. Her features resembled a dragon more than a lizard. Her sharp eyes caught Crane and Onyx as they approached. She said, “What can I do for you laddie? If you have work you need done, you’ll have to go across the room to that fellow over there.”
She seemed to think Crane was there to make a request of the mercenary guild.
“No, I’d like to register as a mercenary.”
“Oh? Well that’s different then. You’ll have to pass a bit of a test. Can’t let weak kiddies go off and kill themselves now can we?”
Crane nodded at this and the woman motioned for him to follow her up the stairs. A few patrons at various tables got up as well and went up a different set of stairs.
After two flights of stairs, the woman opened a door leading to the roof. On the roof was something of an arena.
“Ok kid. If you wanna be a merc, you gotta show me what you got. Ah, is the lady trying for a license as well?”
The woman noticed that Onyx had followed Crane up the stairs as well.
“Yea, after me.”
The merc woman nodded and entered the arena. Crane followed behind.
“Ok then, first introductions. My name is Felsan. I am a 205 year old mercenay of the dragonkin race.”
Crane nodded. He was sure there was no such race in Versailles, but it seemed strong.
“My name is Crane. I am 16 years spellsword and a human adventurer.”
“But you have no sword.”
“I can do without.”
“That so? Well then show me what you got and don’t hold back. My kind have a strong resistance to magic.”
Crane smiled. “Well, if you insist.” He held his hand into the air and called out, “Sun Fall.”
Ten glowing runes materialized around Crane’s hand. The attached themselves to each other and glowed bright for a moment before dissipating.
The next instant, the world turned darker. Like a great cloud had blocked out the sun, even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Those in the city that looked up still saw the sun, but it was far dimmer than it should be. In the place of the light from the sun, thousands of tiny shining specs formed far above the area. The dimmer the sun became, the brighter the specs became. Like the daylight was turning into night and thousands of glimmering stars had suddenly appeared in the sky.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
In the next moment, an impossibly bright beam of light shown down from the sky and struck the top of the mercenary guild.
After another moment the sky returned to normal. Several blocks of buildings experienced the event that was a blackening of the sky.
The ray of light that struck the surface left nothing in its wake. A hole had been burned from the roof of the third floor of the mercenary building straight to the ground floor.
Felsan, who was unharmed standing a foot away from the hole, was speechless. Crane had purposefully aimed next to her, as opposed to aiming at her.
Sun fall was a spell he made up after reading about a similar skill in a manga. It was one of his most complex spells. It used Ice runes, Water runes, Light runes, Sun Runes, as well as several runes for balance of power and control. It cooled the temperature of the air above the target zone, condensing the moisture into water droplets. The Water droplets then attracted and bent the light to a single point. After this, a mass of water at this point bent the light straight down. The effect of the spell lasted until the water evaporated, which wasn’t long.
The sum total of the effect, was the creation of a zone where temperature exceeded ten thousand degrees fahrenheit. For reference, diamonds to turn to gas at four thousand degrees.
It was not considered magic either, so resistance to magic or fire magic would not stop it. The only way to block it was to reflect it.
Felsan looked into the hole in the roof that stretched all the way to the ground. She saw a few faces looking up at her from the lower levels, At the very least no one was in the way during the beam’s penetration. If there was, Crane would already have a murderer’s mark on his forehead.
“Wow. Thanks for holding back I guess.” She was not confident she could have survived the spell.
“Well, you pass. Never seen a magic like that. You’re a lot stronger than you look.”
For the first time Crane noticed that there were others looking at him on the roof. There was a bench inclosed by a cage on the other side of the roof. Several others were inside and had watched the whole thing. The second staircase from the first floor likely lead up to it for spectators.
Felsan looked over at Onyx and asked Crane, “She that strong too?”
Crane answered, “Not as strong, but close.”
Felsan seemed to be ok with taking his word for it.
She lead the pair back downstairs and said, “Alright, after paying the registration fee, I can give you each a Mercenary Card. Do you need an explanation for how they work?”
“Yes please.”
“Well, merc cards have your name and Rank on them. What quests you can take is determined by your rank. You can’t take higher level quests until your rank increases, but at higher level ranks, you can’t take lower rank quests, since the lower rank mercs need those to rank up themselves. You can take mercenary quests on your own rank, one rank above your own, or one rank lower than your own. To increase your rank, you need to succeed in a large number of quests. Failing quests can lower your rank. Failing a request also means you must pay a fine.”
The system different from the letter ranks of quests in Versailles, but it was similar to a guild’s ranking system so it was simple to adjust to.
She continued, “Starting Mercenaries are assigned a rank based on their performance. I see no problems giving you and her a starting rank of silver.”
“Silver?”
“Oh, yes, I forgot. The ranks are metal based. Copper, Iron, Bronze, Steel, Silver, Gold, Mithril, Orichalcon, Moonstone, Byzantine, Adamantine, and Helium. Silver is the highest an entry level Merc can receive right away.”
“Ahh, that’s fine.” Better than starting at the bottom.
She handed the pair a form to fill out with their names, levels, race, and class. After filling them out, they forms were returned along with the registration fee.
She gave the forms to another man who took them to the back. Felsan said to wait there for a bit. A few minutes later, he returned and gave the pair a card. The card was made out of pure silver.
“Ok, you can take any request of Steel, Silver, or Gold Rank. Remember that failing a quest results in a fine.”
With that she went back to sorting some documents on her desk and Crane went over to the quest board.
Each request had the rank below the name. It did not take long for him to find one that stood out.
“What is Red?”
On one request sheet, instead of a rank, was the word Red.
A merc that was browsing next to Crane answered, “Red means outlaw. Quests that come from parties of questionable legality.”
“Pirate quests?”
“Basically. No rank is assigned so anyone can take it, but they are usually dangerous, and most avoid them.”
It was an interesting idea but not one for now. He wanted to get a good reading of base quests, so he choose a simple Silver Quest.
Acquire Seabird Eggs.
Rank: Silver
The chef of the fine dining restaurant, The Nest, needs eggs from the Sea Bird for his signature dish. Acquire 10 eggs and bring them to the chef.
Reward: 250 gold
Penalty if failed: 80 Gold
Additional: If 25 eggs are acquired, reward increases to 500 gold.
A simple, basic gathering quest. The amount awarded was not bad either. Though he did not know much about sea birds.
He removed the slip and took it to the desk.
Felsan looked over it and nodded. “Alright. You can only take one quest at a time, if you give up on the quest, you cannot take another until the penalty fee is paid. Clear?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, Good luck.”
With that Crane left and Onyx left the mercenary guild.
The first thing Crane did, was find a secluded spot to take out the gold treasure he acquired and melt it down into small ingots. Molten metal burns wood to the ground, he could not have done this on the ship as it could have burnt the ship down.
Next he found a jewelry shop. It had no items on display, as it was more of an exchange rather than a store.
“My my, where did you come across this?”
“Found them on an island.”
“I see... This is pure, but why don’t they have marks?”
When a legitimate forger makes gold ingots, they put marks on them to identify where they came from. Without the marks, the gold seemed stolen.
“I found them like that, markless.”
“Markless eh? I can buy them from you, but not at market value. Business is business you see.”
“I understand. But if you give me a good deal, I’ll be sure to return should I find more, marked or not.”
“Oh ho, is that so?” The merchant considered it for a moment. “Very well, one moment.”
The man opened a drawer and took out several bags. Then from another bag he took out a few coins, and placed the partially empties bag with the rest.
“Here, this is the maximum I can give. I promise you won’t find a better deal in this port.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
The amount totaled a little over five thousand gold coins.
Next, Crane went to what appeared to be the best blacksmith in the port and showed him a piece of black metal ore.
“Can you tell me what this is?”
The blacksmith looked over the Night ore, the precious metal Crane found deep in the mines of the Abyss. The blacksmith said, “Hmm, I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s a bit lighter than mithril, but it seems a bit firmer too. There’s something else. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Strange. I’d be willing to buy it off you.”
The blacksmith tried, and failed, to keep his mouth from watering. His eyes were locked onto the ore like a child looking at a wrapped christmas present, wondering what secrets were within.
“I’m sorry, but I intend to use it myself.”
At this the blacksmith regained his composure. “You know the forge?”
“I apprenticed for a while some time ago.”
“Ahh, that so? Well, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.”
“Can do.”
Next they went to the restaurant, the Nest. Crane sought a meeting with the head chef for more details relating to the Sea Bird eggs.
“What? You don’t even know what sea birds are?”
“Sorry sir, I am a bit new to this sea.”
“Ayyaa. Alright kid. Sea birds are about twelve feet long and hunt in large flocks. There is a nest of sea birds on Biccirol island ninety miles northwest of here. If you’re serious about the request, charter a boat or something and sail there to get the eggs.”
That was easier than he thought. Though the size of the bird was a bit troubling, but they still sounded smaller than Demon rocs, so it wasn’t much of an issue.
Next, Crane purchased a map, compass, and sextant. Using these three items and the proper knowledge, he could go anywhere in this sea.
Onyx asked, “Are we going to fly there?”
Crane shook his head. “Flying there is easy, flying back with the eggs is not. Not many ships go there, so we’ll have to charter one to take us there and assist in transporting the eggs back.”
“Alright.”
And last but certainly not least, Crane bought himself a new sword. His firecat cloak still provided better armor than most stores could offer him so he did not hand to purchase a new one, but he did buy a pair of gloves a new hat. Now he looked like a very young, very dashing pirate. But that didn’t concern him much.
The port’s main office was the main location to book passage to other islands or request private travel. Private travel meant a destination without a port. It was the difference between a bus and a taxi, the latter of which Crane needed.
The man at the port’s main office said, “Alright, I got one ship ready for private travel today and six that are available tomorrow. A bit of advice kid, you ought to wait for tomorrow.”
“Why?” Crane asked.
“Cause, the guys available today are a bit unreliable. They’ve been known to throw their charges off the deck into the bloody sea for petty things. The whole lot are little better than pirates.”
“I don’t mind.” answered Crane.
“Alright, dock twenty seven.”
Crane and Onyx found said a little later.
The front tip of the ship had a fierce lion head carved into it. At the dock was a very short man, a gnome wearing sunglasses. He looked up to Crane and asked, “What do you want?”
“I need passage to and from Biccirol island.”
“Biccirol? That bird nest? Alright. To and fro will cost you 59 gold.”
“Deal.”
“No negotiating? Come on kid, where’s your spirit?”
“Haha, its my first time hiring a transport.”
“That so? Alright, I’ll talk to the captain.”
“You’re not the captain?”
“Do I look like a captain? First thing you gotta know about the seas kid, the captain wears a hat. True on any boat. I’m the shipwright. Name’s Franky.”
With that the gnome scuttled off to the ship.
Crane waited for a few minutes when a he suddenly heard something slam into the dock next to him.
“Ahh, I fell. So much for a dramatic entrance.”
Crane looked up to see that directly above the fallen youth was the mast of the ship. He had fallen off after climbing up.
On closer inspection, Crane saw that the man was only a little older than he was, and he was wearing a straw hat.”
The man got up like falling three stories had not injured him at all and said, “Well, anyways, I’m the captain of this ship. Name’s Luffy.”
Hello people who read my stories. Sorry for not posting in a while, but I had a reason. Truth is, I had a sudden idea for an interesting story line some time mid-november. And during the time I have been absent from my other stories, I have been writing chapters for that story.
The thing is, I also wanted to test something. How popular would a story I wrote be if no one knew I wrote it? So I did a few things. I made a new account and posted the story under a different name. Next, to make absolutely sure no one could guess I wrote it, I did everything for the story opposite I usually do. I gave it a prologue, something I never do. I wrote the entire story first person, the mc isn’t human, and while in game, I made the MC female, since that also something I never do.
The story currently has 18 chapters and about 2k average views. It is called Maker of Heroes by Curiousbeing.
For those who know and have talked to Curi, that was me all along.
For those who have not heard of Maker of Heroes, here is a link. At the very least I’m glad I got good reviews from a story that did not include the words, “As expected from Gnomebob.”
Ahh, yes, the story Maker of Heroes is also complete. I will be posting no more chapters for it. However, at the end of the last chapter, I mention the details for my next ff Project. If you’re interested, feel free to look it up.
Maker of Heroes
http://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/639