The salt air felt good against my skin, almost cleansing as we raced along the waves. The wind in my hair eased the stress headache that threatened to overwhelm me at any point. It had been barely hours since the world had ended and here we were in an ocean filled with goblins...

'WEEEEEEEE!!!!!' Cameron squealed at the back of the boat. A tiny propellor hat was attached to his dome, and was drawing power to drive the boat forwards. Despite its appearance, the thing was as a good as a small outboard motor. The greater risk was the raft coming apart under the strain.

The rafts lack of efficient design was actually the thing holding them back from higher speeds. Its poor design was saving them from a more rigorous stress test.

While pieces of debris floated amongst the ocean, they were scattered and often damaged with bite marks. Not goblin bites either, judging by the size. Given the size of the ocean they'd seen so far, the current improved speed they'd gained was not sufficient, not if they wanted to find the way out of here before they starved or died of dehydration.

'Where to mate?' Mason asked.

'They said we have to find the exit, its a tower, so there must be a way up to climb, right?' I responded.

Mason shrugged. 'Makes sense, I suppose.'

Mason hadn't reached level one or opened up his status screen yet. I suspected it was the act of slaying the goblin that unlocked that function, and we'd have to find more of them to get him in the game. For all of his talk of being the goofy sidekick, he'd always been able to get his way out of a problem his mouth got him into.

With a crack, an image projected high above the ocean. A humanoid canine, a dog-man of some sort, flickered into being. A booming voice echoed across the ocean.

'Ruff day huh Climbers. Don't worry cause the Big Dawg's coming at you with his tutorial level tips. That's right its the Big Dawg assigned as your level one commentator.

Now we've seen a lot of you struggling, wandering aimlessly in the ocean. Don't get me wrong, goblin attacks are good for the openings episode, but we want to see drama and suspense, so we're allowed to drop you a hint.'

The 'big dawg' overhead leaned forward, as though he was whispering. 'The exit is hidden, you'll need to find a map to it. That should get you started right?'

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He turned as if to an audience and started pumping his fist. 'Woof, woof, woof....' The screen cut out.

'What the hell was that?' Mason said. 'Have we been invaded by hyper-intelligent fidos?'

Cameron bleeped. 'Negative. Big Dawg is from a race known as Canids. They're not a powerful race, but they're kinda too adorable to fight. The ones invading you are from a race known as the Collaborative.'

I looked at Cameron, surprised at the useful morsel.

'I mean bleep bloop, must be the head trauma from the fan, oops.' Cameron's main visor looked up at the sky fleetingly, before closing.

I stared at him long and hard.

'....errr....weeeeee?' The camera bot responded, continuing to provide forward momentum for our ship.

'So, how does this change things, we're looking for a map?' I asked.

Mason stroked his beard, 'You got our first item in a loot chest right? Sounds like we should try slaying more of these goblins, might get some sort of map from them. I mean heck we haven't even found an island yet.'

It was as good a plan as any. Certainly better than the advice to stay in one place that some survival courses gave you. They still had no water or food, and he had no idea if the temperature would drop at night. If this level even had a night. There was a probably artificial sun overhead, so maybe.

On the horizon I glimpsed an outlined ship. I angled Cameron towards the silhouette in the distance, figuring it would either be someone we could fight and gain loot, or allies to join our flimsy raft too.

Mason jumped on my back. 'Damn, still can't see even from this height. Hey, you know what we need?'

'What?' I said.

'A damsel in distress, that'll play real well. Rescue us a princess from some pirates.' Mason nodded.

'Are you from the nineties? Princesses save themselves now.' I replied, having been to too many Disney movies with...her. My hand flitted to the photo of Everest base camp in my pocket.

I readied my piece of timber, as the opposing boat came into closer range. Unfortunately the goblins dagger had been lost to the depths, and Mason still only had his fists. In a fight we were hoping for a quick blow to end it, as medical supplies were way down the list of things we needed. Maybe it was a friendly trading ship, or item shop.

It was not.

A group of five goblins clung to a miniaturised Viking longship, if a longship had been squashed end to end to produce a squat ugly dinghy. Two hung from the mast, daggers held in their teeth. Two more were at the back pushing the boat by kicking. A final spotter with an eyepatch and a looking glass was standing atop the boat's prow. That goblin had a magnificent tricorn hat with a feather in it.

It was the boat's prow that had caught my attention. Much like a Viking longship there was a figurehead attached to the front. It was a living creature tied to the boat's front, one that it only took me a moment to recognise.

'Look.' Mason pointed, grabbing my shoulder with glee. 'Its better than a princess.'

Image [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1056728480768868442/1122409347947958364/cjtimms_anime_style_goblins_hanging_off_a_viking_longship_f9174ae8-14df-44a5-992c-32e050f4da98.png?width=401&height=401]