Chapter 3
A new people
The dungeon was a winding maze all the way down to the fifth floor. I killed a couple dozen rats along the way but eventually I stopped finding live ones. I lost track of time but I had to stop and rest at one point. The last room of the dungeon was a stereotypical boss room, much larger than any of the other rooms and round where the entire dungeon was square corners until now. Feeling around the doorway revealed a barred door. I supposed it must normally close when someone entered until the boss or the intruder died. It didn’t close now though, probably because whatever the boss had been before, it was now mostly a smear on the wall.
If I were to guess the water rushing in made a sort of vortex around the circular room as it filled. The boss was likely on the throne which was against the wall opposite the door. The water would have pulled it from the throne and dragged it along the wall. The walls were pretty smooth but they were still stone. Blended rat king wasn’t pretty.
The trip down had given me time to think, and now that I was “looking” at it, the throne was very likely the seat of power that the quest seemed to be interested in. So with nothing better to do, I placed myself in the throne.
Ding
And there we go, I checked and the quest was indeed complete, I accepted the reward, ruler authority level 1. Nothing happened. Well great, hopefully I just needed to figure out how to use it and I didn’t just waste a bunch of time doing nothing. Another round of guess the keyword later and I found “authority” opened a menu.
Authority
Territory controlled: 1
Allies: 0
Active wars: 0
Authority points: 0
Authority point production: 1/day
Authority point shop
Browsing the authority point shop told me I would eventually be able to buy things, mostly buildings, but terraforming and siege weapons were there as well. For the totally reasonable price of one hundred eighteen million two hundred sixty thousand points I could raise a mountain somewhere in my territory. Yea I’ll get right on that.
There were shops of different varieties listed as well. If I buy a cartography shop, strangely specific by the way, would it come with world maps? I really really wanted to be somewhere besides the middle of the ocean with only dead rats as company. The cartography shop was seven hundred points though and I didn’t want to wait the better part of two years to maybe get a map.
Was I really going to have to pick a random direction and hope I wasn’t swimming into oblivion? I spent the rest of the day moping in my throne, king of nothingness. I started my trek back to the surface after a nap, but when I made it to the door of the boss chamber a prompt startled me.
Fast travel to exit?
Well hell yea. I don’t want to feel around for days again. I mentally acknowledged the prompt and blinked in the sudden daylight. When my eyes adjusted I froze. A ship wasn’t two hundred feet away just sailing along. After rebooting my brain I rebuilt my toddler form but quickly realized my boosting constitution had massively boosted my, uh, mass.
If those rats were rat sized, and the trees were slightly large trees then I was a solid hundred thirty maybe hundred forty pounds. I could compress it somewhat by making flesh into stone but I wanted to seem as human as possible. I used all my skills to quickly build what looked like a teenage boy. I managed clothes easily enough, hopefully they weren’t too outlandish for this world. The lungs weren’t too bad, I didn’t need any plumbing, vocal cords were a challenge. I wasn’t even totally sure where they were supposed to be. I made something that I could use to make sounds with though. Then I hid my whacking tail which I was keeping in every form thank you very much, double checked everything and screamed.
“HEEEELP”
“I NEED HELP!”
Quickly someone looked over the railing and spotted me. There was a few seconds of shock while I smiled and waved then the alarm was taken up.
I didn’t do much sailing on earth so maybe it was the same here as there, but when someone started calling about a man overboard, things got done fast. I couldn’t follow everything that happened, they did something with the sails, the whole ship started turning and a small boat on the back dropped to the water. I almost felt bad about disturbing the whole operation and kicking up such a commotion. Almost.
The thankfully normal sized people hauled me back to the ship and onto the deck. Safe from drowning in water they tried drowning me with questions instead.
“How did you get out here?”
“What happened to your ship?”
“What were you standing on out there?”
“Back to work ye worthless excuse for a crew”
That last one was from a heavily muscled slab of flesh that looked like it might be able to pretend it was three people in one outfit.
“Can ye stand boy?” The muscle mountain asked
I nodded and stood, more focused on making sure my tail stayed hidden.
“Come wit me then, we get you checked by the doc and then capn wans to talk at ye”
Then he walked off, thoughtfully shortening his stride so I could keep up. We went below deck and to a cabin which so far was the only doorway with a door that I had seen. Once inside my guide gently shut the door behind us. Inside was two more men, a skinny one with glasses and dark unkempt hair at a desk, the other looked like everyone’s grandfather grey hair and beard, kind eyes and a smirk like he could barely keep from telling you the punchline of a joke you didn’t hear the setup for.
Skinny glasses spoke up “Boy how long were you out there, are you hurt anywhere, when did you eat last, you didn’t drink the sea water did you?”
Now that I was closer and looking at the person talking, I could see the words I was hearing didn’t match their mouths as they spoke. It was like foreign movies with voice overs, probably my language skill.
“Slow down doc, I assume you’re the doc, I’m not sure how long I was out there, not long “
As I spoke I cobbled a backstory together in my head. All that time being bored and I never made a backstory? “I’m not hurt, I had the last of my bread this morning, and I ran out of fresh water yesterday, no sea water”
The doc looked me over presumably making sure I hadn’t lied about an injury or something then leaned over and mumbled some things to the other man, who I guessed was the captain.
“Alright, after you chat with the captain I’ll bring you some food and water, you’ll rest here for the rest of the day and tomorrow morning we will make port in Sea’s Edge. There you can get a proper checkup with a real doctor.” The doc nodded to the captain and made his way out
“You too Derek” the captain said with a voice as kind as his face.
The giant left after the doc and closed the door behind him The captain stared at me for several seconds. Then heaved a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Alright lad, I won’t make you tell me the truth, I’m sure I don’t want to know. Just… when we get to port, if people are going to come asking questions maybe don’t be around for them to ask. And don’t tell the ships doctor or Derek something that will get them in trouble either. Please?”
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Wow, I’m not sure what he thinks happened but something I said or did has him convinced I’m lying somewhere. “Mmm, captain? This may sound weird but, have you seen an island around where you found me before?”
“An island? No, I didn’t see but the crew was talking about you standing out on the water, there shouldn’t be but maybe there’s a sandbar there?” He said while stroking his beard thoughtfully.
“Ehhh, something like that, you saved me so I’ll suggest you steer clear of that area in the future, probably not good for the hull” I suggested
“I see, I’ve been making runs through here for forty years and never seen a sandbar, you being out there standing with no ship in sight is enough to convince me though, we’ll be careful”
I nodded. After one more appraising look the captain left me alone to wait on the doc.
When the doc returned he brought something that could potentially be called food. Fortunately I had spent the time while waiting wisely. I had been making a stomach and esophagus, not working on taste and smell. On closer inspection it looked like some kind of bland oatmeal and hard dry bread, not quite as bad as it could have been. Seeing a bowl of grey mush with brown things floating in it had been worrying.
After eating and drinking, which amounted to just hiding the food in a hollow part of my torso, the doc insisted on running a few more tests. I did my best to decline but he was relentless. That’s how I found myself quickly making another hollow in my chest to house something I could use to imitate the sound of a heartbeat. I suppose I could have actually made a circulatory system but that was a bit much on such short notice. I didn’t need blood anyway, whatever was fueling my body wasn’t water or air or food.
I must have missed the mark when trying to match the sounds of a heart because the doc went into a bit of a panic. He made me some kind of tea and as I drank it he cast a spell. I knew Mana existed based on my status but now I finally got to see a proper spell. Though there didn’t seem to be much to see. He placed his hands over my chest like he was about to perform chest compressions, closed his eyes and furrowed his brow for a moment. Then his hands began to glow, just a soft white light barely visible, and then nothing.
The doc listened to my chest again, I had tried to fix whatever had worried him but I didn't know exactly how I had messed it up. After a time he leaned back and looked at me intensely for a moment.
“What are you?”
Well shit. I didn’t think my false heart was that bad… I needed to get him to move on and not ask too many questions.
“I’m not from around here, got a bit of a heart condition you may not have heard of” I tried
“You lad, are not entirely human, are you?” The doc asked, backing up toward the door.
I grimaced, well this was about to go downhill fast, maybe I could still get some information before he brought the whole ship to skin me alive or something.
“Of course I’m human, what makes you think I’m not?”
“The heal all spell is expensive but it clears any status effects and heals the body. That spell would fix any heart problems, you are lying. That’s not a human heart.”
That’s quite a convenient spell, how do I get spells like that? No, first things first, I need to stop this guy from kicking up a scene.
“You must be mistaken, I am definitely human, what else could I be? “
The doc hesitated for a moment before shaking his head, “I don’t know but wait here, the captain needs to hear about this”
Well so much for not causing a scene, I needed to get out of there right now. Who knows what they would do if they found out I was some kind of shape changer monster. I nodded to the doc and sat in a chair quietly. That must have been enough for him because he rushed out of the room. Unwilling to see what the captain would think of me after I lasted all of twelve seconds before the doc found out something he shouldn’t have, I quickly followed.
I had managed to keep track of our route on the way in so I backtracked to the deck. It seemed the sailors were almost all on duty because there had been no one around below decks, save the three who I had met. The deck however, was alive with activity. I peered through the last doorway trying to figure some way to hide. If I could hide for a day the ship was supposed to make port and I could slip away then. Before a plan finished coalescing I heard stomping behind me.
“There ya are, get back ere tha capn and doc ain’t done talkin ta you yet” of course it would be Derek, how did they teach a gorilla to sail anyway?
With my options suddenly very limited I took off onto the deck. The sudden confusion of a giant chasing a child across the deck was enough that I didn’t have to worry about the other sailors snagging me. I made it to the front, I believe it’s called the bow, of the ship and jumped up on the railing turning around to deliver a clever one liner. Derek didn’t care and a hand as big as my head was suddenly right in front of me.
Derek didn’t count on me stopping and turning so the hand that was meant to catch me as I jumped ended up pushing me over. When I hit the water the ship suddenly started rolling over me. Back on Earth I once got bored and looked up what keel hauling was, I’m not sure how accurate the information was but the imagery of being dragged across a barnacle riddled ship seriously sent a shiver up my spine. Turns out that yes smashing into and dragging along against a bunch of barnacles really really hurts.
I was very much in the wrong body for this. Thankfully I wasn’t full of blood to bleed out into the ocean. The result was more like a cheese grater. Quickly I made myself a wooden shell to stop some of the damage. I then used my whacking tail, with a freshly installed bone spike on the end to spear into the ships hull. It took several attempts but I was able to get a tail hold about three quarters of the way back, just below the water level.
A check of my status had me at less than half of my maximum health, if I hadn't added my points into constitution last level up I would have zeroed out there. I assumed that meant death and was unwilling to test it. I grew a few more spike tails and secured myself to the ship. This was going to be a long ride.
While I waited I checked my full status
Name: What
Class: Who
Level: 3
Experience: 61/120
Territory:1/64800
Stats:Hp: 32/80
Stamina: 12/80
Mana: 20/20
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 1
Intelligence: 3
Wisdom: 3
Endurance: 3
Constitution: 8
Unspent Stat points: 0
Titles: none
Skills:
Wait: level 1
Universal language mastery: level 1
Ruler authority level 1
Traits:
Shape-shifting: level 5
Eyes (perception organ): level 5
Ears (perception organ): level 1
Peg leg (transportation limb): level 1
Spine (nervous system anchor): level 3
Nerves (nervous system): level 3
Shell (defensive growth): level 3
Tail (combat limb): level 3
Armor (defensive growth): level 3
Legs (transportation limb): level 3
Retractable neck (utility spine extension): level 2
Tail (sensory limb): level 3
Arms (manipulation limb): level 3
Mouth ( multipurpose orifice): level 3
Nose (multipurpose orifice): level 2
Wings (use unknown): level 0
Feathers (cosmetic growth): level 0
Fins (transportation limb): level 2
Barbs (utility growth): level 3
Lungs (respiratory organ): level 2
Vocal chords (communication organ): level 1
Stomach (Digestive organ): level 1
Esophagus (multipurpose organ): level 1
Chest drum (use unknown): level 1
Well there was quite a bit to unpack there. First I didn’t plan on looking over the trait section again until I could sort it or something, at least I could collapse that section so it wasn’t a wall of words in my face. Next the territory stat had risen, apparently I had one of almost sixty five thousand territories, more territories would probably speed up my authority point gain, if I even found a use for those. The authority thing seemed to be a skill, which made it my first skill after the special starting ones. It also implied I could level up authority although I’m not sure how or if that would help.
I made some more barbs to hook into the ship and rested, soon I would be in civilization, time to see what sort of world I was in, and begin a proper adventure. I lost track of time, but it definitely took longer than just the next morning, maybe they had spent some time looking for me. It was very hard to tell time, speed or direction while underwater latched onto a ship. Eventually we came to a stop.
I took my swimming shape and slowly swam around to the end of the ship that was against what must have been some docks. When I surfaced under the dock I caught the tail end of a conversation.
“…not sure what it was, it looked like a boy but our ships doctor says it had an oversized heart with an odd rhythm that didn’t respond to healing magic” that was the captains voice
“I’m not sure what you expect us to do? Boy or monster its not something we can deal with here” a gruff voice that I imagined belonged to some dock authority or other.
“I don’t know what you could do either, I’m just telling you what we saw”
“We’ll add it to the list, there are dozens of reports of strange things happening all over this past week.”
The captain sighed “yeah alright when can we unload, my men want to be on their shore leave for Saturday?”
I left them to their business and swam to shore. The captain mentioned Saturday so it seemed they use the same days of the week earth did, although it might just be how my language skill worked. According to the dock master or whatever people were reporting strange things this past week, to the point that a non-human human standing in the middle of the ocean, then vanishing from the ship that rescued them wasn’t worth investigating. Interesting, a week was just a bit less that I had been here for. I thought I remembered something about being forty third of a hundred, maybe there were almost a hundred people like me all plonked down into weird dungeons or something.
I found my way back on land and took a human form different from the one I used on the ship. Choosing a random street I started walking trying to put distance between me and the sailors who knew me, even with a different face I wasn’t going to be comfortable until I was well away from them.