1) Not quite a three hour tour.

My head hurt.

I ran my tongue around the inside of my dry mouth. Then opened up my eyes to see the blue screen in front of me.

...Did my computer crash?

No. I am way more uncomfortable than if I had just fallen asleep at my desk. And someone was moaning nearby. They sounded female, which normally would be encouraging, but it wasn't a happy moan.

I noticed the screen had writing on it.

[ You have been pressed into service into the Sunless seas ]

[ Your desination is Threat: Starter Pirate ]

[ You are in the Illumina Reach starting area ]

"Oh crap. I've been isekaied as a starter monster."

The female voice called out. "What? What's going on?"

The screen faded away as soon as I finished reading and I could see that I was inside a boat. Kev's Grandfather's boat, now his, the Last Chance. The one I had been taking a three-week long vacation island hopping around the Caribbean before on before I started my new job coaching high school kids.

The room looked like it had been through a storm, which it had. A storm with multi-colored lightning and vertical clouds before we started circling around a whirlpool. Once we tipped over the inner edge everything went black.

Looking around the common room I could see one of the three girls who had caught a ride with us back to Florida. The little blond with the spiky hair in the red bikini, I think her name was Sue.

Right now she was pulling her hand back and forth in front of her face. "Oh no, I'm an NPC."

Oh good, at least one other person has a clue. But I think counting herself as a non-player character is a bit optimistic. Unless she got a different prompt than I did on her blue screen?

"Sue right?" She looked over at me, making eye contact which meant her blue information box must have cleared away. "Yeah. You're Rob right?"

I shook my head as I got to my feet. "Bram. Rob's the black guy who was hitting on the pale girl. Badly."

She looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry. But I'm a little focused on worrying about how we got pulled into some sort of game as adventurer fodder. We might be looking at a fight any moment."

I considered suggesting that we could just refuse to fight and surrender but... "And we're experience points on the hoof. Yeah, let's check on the others and figure out if we hide or run."

Then there was another blue box in my face, I was going to have to figure out how to get rid of those. The last thing I needed in a fight, or more likely while running for my life, was something blocking my vision.

[ Immortal blood detected. Tagaloan bloodline. ]

[ Scion reassigned as Premium rank player ]

[ Associated group upgraded to Basic rank players ]

[ Please select from race, class, and talent selections ]

Sue reacted before I did. "Who the heck has Immortal blood?"

I glanced over at her as the blue screen faded. "No clue, but I think following your plan would still be the best choice."

Sue gave me a quick grin and scampered off into the kitchen where she called out the name of one of the other girls who was groaning on the floor. "Sandy? Are you okay, maybe you should get off that guy so he can breathe?"

Okay, that’s one of hers and one of mine accounted for. I decided to go the other way and check out the upper decks.

Up top... There was darkness. No moon, no stars, just nothing, in all directions. The only light was coming from the ship and all it showed was the dark water all around us.

I could smell the sea salt and hear some of the soft sounds of some gentle waves hitting the side of the ship. But other than that there was no noise in the still air.

Then Kev and Ryan's heads popped up on the steering deck as they got to their feet. Well, at least Ryan got to his feet. Kev was sort of half lifted to his feet. Both of them were looking at something right in front of their faces. " You two on the pirate message or the immortal one."

Kev seemed to be confused, which was normal, "Pirates?" While Ryan announced that. "I'm past the immoral one and on to the race one. I'm being given the choice of Ifrit, Elder human, and Rakshasa. It seems a little racist."

I nodded at that. Ryan's parents were Arabic and Indian, so it did seem a little on the nose.

"How did you get to the race menu?"

He glanced down at me. "I said Race, in a firm, authoritative voice."

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Which meant saying class and talent should do the same. But before I get distracted, Ryan got me back on track. "Is everyone else alright?"

"I haven't seen Rob, Stan, or the other girl. But either Rob or Stan was underneath the redhead in the kitchen, so I'm guessing that that was Stan. Rob would never be that lucky.”

That got me a relieved grin from Ryan and a hooting laugh from Kev.

Which was the exact moment when the entire inside of the ship was lit up with a bright blue light and I could hear two shrill screams from below.

I admit the first thing I thought in response to the shrill screams was, "Or maybe that was Rob." I would feel a little bad about that later on.

Rushing downstairs I saw the two girls pressed back against one side of the kitchen looking at a circle of blue light shrinking down until it vanished entirely. The redhead looked over at me as I finished half falling down the three steps into the common room and stumbled my way to my feet.

She pointed over to where the light had been. "It opened up and a huge hand reached out and dragged Stan into it. A voice said something like, "Your ancestor would not want you here yet child." Whatever said it was like all shadowy with glowy eyes."

The short blond nodded along with her friend and then looked confused. "Hey, since when do you speak Swedish?"

The redhead also looked confused. "Swedish, who was speaking Swedish?"

Sue pointed at where the hole was and started to explain when Rob and the goth girl came out of the door to the bunk room the guys had all moved into. It was clear the two of them had been, together-together during the storm which brought us here.

The goth girl blushed all the way down to her hastily knotted black bikini bottoms and dashed into the other bunk room that we have given to the three girls. Meanwhile, rob gave me a little grin and rubbed his hand through his mini dreads. "So, I guess we're all still alive, who has immortal blood?"

I stared at Rob for a moment. "Did you..." then shook my head. "Stan I guess. Someone or something rescued him from here through a magic portal or something. Everyone else is accounted for."

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the sound of footsteps coming down the steps.

"Maybe since we got everyone together now," I glanced at Sue and the Redhead. "Or we almost do. Could you two get your friend out here? We should figure things out as a group."

Ryan took a step forward while Sue slipped into the girl's bunk room. "It looks like we get to choose a new race, a class, and a talent. But I'm worried we might end up being stuck here if we play along and make those choices. There might even be a time limit if we refuse which could get up booted out of this game or whatever it is. That could end up sending us back home."

As he finished I saw a scaly hand reach up and grab hold of the bottom rung of the railing on the walkway outside the common room window. I quietly pointed it out to everyone.

The quiet part had more to do with being very, very concerned than any desire to be sneaky.

Very, very concerned is what I would call silently terrified if it was anyone else than me.

Everyone looked over in time to see the gray shark-like face the hand was pulling up the side of the ship as it rose above the deck. Shark face in turn was looking at us through the window with its cold black eyes.

Sue came walking in and looked over to see what the rest of us were staring at and let out a short, sharp, high-pitched squeak.

It was cute as hell. But it also broke the moment in which we and Mister Shark-face were all frozen in place staring at each other.

"I think we're in a fight Ryan. I'm taking a class."

"Class!"

Nothing happened. Dammit, I must have to take them in order.

"Race!"

[ Based on your heritage the following three races are most applicable to you. ]

[ Elder human. Slightly enhanced in every way from a common human]

[Einharjar. A tireless warrior who heals from any injury. Sometimes even from death itself. ]

[ Coyote Shifter. They can be a human, coyote, or somewhere in between. ]

Okay, Dutch and American indigenous got me two of those. Turning into a Coyote on a boat isn't going to be much help. A Valhalla warrior who doesn't need a healer or get tired sounds good.

"Einharjar. Cla... Urk!"

I was trying to race through to picking a class. But it turned out I needed a moment to deal with feeling heavier and lighter at the same time and feeling like my bones were turning to stone.

It only took a moment and then my vision turned sharper and I could now see the other shark faces climbing up onto the back deck. But for the moment they seemed to be moving in slow motion.

"Kev... never mind. Ryan, get the door to the back deck. Class!"

As Ryan took two steps up and reached out to slam the back door shut, I got my class options.

[ Based on your current and past experiences. The following three classes are available to you ]

[ Pirate. A warrior and adventurer on the seas. ]

[Shaman. A mystic who calls upon the spirits for favors.]

[ Heavy metal warrior. A fighter who wears full metal armor ]

Metal armor on a boat, nope. A pirate... would be good. But I already know how to fight, and who knows if anyone else gets offered a spell caster. Especially one that sounds like it might be at least partially a healer.

And it's not like knowing how to swing a wooden club or use a fencing epee was going to help us figure out a way to get home.

[ A shaman receives a spirit every ten levels. Choose your starting spirit now. ]

[ Lister the healer ]

[ Magellan the traveler ]

[ Arnold the barbarian ]

The names brought my mental processes to a sudden halt for a precious few seconds. What is up with...? No, no time to think about it. Traveler sounds like the best bet to get us home. But I doubted that is going to happen anytime soon. Healing is what is going to keep us alive long enough to get our chance. Even if someone else gets a choice to be a healer too, someone else will need to be able to heal the healer to get them back into the fight.

"Lister. Talent!"

[ The strands of fate have blessed you with three choices for your Talent ]

[ You will receive a talent every five levels. Choose your starting talent.]

[ Breath water]

[Slow fall]

[ Spirit weapon ]

I grinned to myself. "Hell yeah!" Either of the other two might prove more useful in the future.

But right here, right now. I need to be armed as the shark faces began thumping some short primitive-looking spears up against the glass windows on the side of the room and the door frame.

"Spirit weapon!"

I had been picturing some kind of sword, maybe an axe or a spear.

What I got was a long, heavy-ass, old fashioned looking rifle. The whole thing was semi-transparent and made out of a blueish-white light.

As I stared at it in confusion, the bolt worked itself to load a round and a flip-up sight flipped itself up. A ghostly image in the shape of the number five appeared in the air next to the sight.

Five... shots? And self-loading? I guess I could work with that.

Looking up at the shark guys, I could now see the same ghostly symbols over their heads but theirs were red colored.

[Makoan, Lesser]

The name was underlined in red.

I was going to guess red was for hostile.

While I was guessing that, the first window cracked under the blunt end of a spear. Well, at least I guess I didn't have to worry about breaking Kev's window by shooting them out.