My morning began unreasonably early, courtesy of my favorite blacksmith Lonni banging at my door before sunrise. Groggy, I stumbled over and let him in, still just in my sleep wear.
"What's up Lonni, I think you're early buddy." I said, yawning and rubbing my eyes.
"No no no no, I got great news, I finished them!" He said excitedly, his eyes bloodshot red as he spoke.
"Finished what Lonni? Can't it wait a few more hours?!" I whined.
"No way, I just finished and HAD to give them to you before bed." Lonni said, frantically grabbing two pieces of metal from his bag on his back.
"Give me your weapon." He said with bulging eyes and shaky hands. Obliging, I handed it to him from under my bed. He grabbed the long cylindrical metal pieces and slid them on either side of my twinblade. They fell to the hilts smoothly, a pressure latch locking out at the bottom of the hilt, indicating one finger pressed on each should remove their hold on my blades.
"Voilà! I give you; sheaths!" He yelled proudly with his hands out in display of his craft.
"Shhh shh Lonni, we got neighbors now man." I whispered, pushing my open hand down in the air.
"Also, this is fucking awesome dude? It's like a friggin' bo staff like this?!" I whispered excitedly, now more honest in my mood. It's true, it made it look like an overly fancy bo staff or, well polished stick to put simply, something I'd missed dearly. Plus, I won't have to look overtly dangerous around people I don't wish to intimidate anymore, since I never put this thing down. After all, my two Wakizashi were still at my hips for keepsake.
"I'm not totally sure what that is, but good. I can't tell you how relieved I am you liked them, it took me all of my free time to get the casings just right. There's manuals for these kinds of weapon sheaths but, the mana manipulation for it is fucking brutal."
Lonni admitted, his shouldering relaxing after hearing he did a good job. Exhaustion followed short after, his eyelids falling heavy suddenly. The dark metal felt cool to the touch, the warm lightning mana my twinblade passively permeated completely masked now.
"Well, happy birthday or whatever. I'm gonna get some rest before we ship out later today. Oh and if I sleep in, make sure to show Korbin those will you?" Lonni said, already stumbling groggily for the exit.
"Yeah, yeah sure man. Thanks again go uh, go get some rest now, Lonni. Big day today!" I hollered as my door closed. Now being fully awake, I'd spend the next few hours trying not to break shit in my new house while practicing my old bo staff forms and training. If nothing else it felt cathartic to have something basic with no skills attached Flowing through my hands again.
After a joyous round of martial nostalgia, sunrise had just risen over the horizon as I finally got dressed and headed for the docks. Much of the newly migrated townsfolk were gathered near the archway that led out to the docks. 'Ou's and 'aw's murmured around me while shuffling by the crowd of gawking settlers.
Finally popping out of the group at the other side, my gaze locked the utterly monstrous sized ship blocking most of my view directly east at the docks. Its sails towered high overhead, resembling one of the skyscrapers in the city when compared to the rest of the other dinky ships Ben had proudly displayed yesterday. Where the previous had been around 50 feet in length, this behemoth of a ship dwarfed them ten fold, resembling a cruise liner in size. The sides bore a collection of the same magma cannons that lined the Pylon outer walls, along with multiple giant harpoons rippling with glowing orange energy mounted along the deck.
The paint job was immaculate as well, coated with shimmering blends of orange reds and bright blues swirling in wavy patterns. Some resembled a roaring fire wavering up in the sky, while another directly under it took on that of a massive wave priming to crash down into the sea. My mouth was still agape with wonder when Korbin called to me from across the docks.
"Tom!! Looks like you actually woke up on time?" He razzed from afar, now approaching me with Ben behind.
"Dude, Ben!? Did you do this?!" I asked, wildly impressed with his handwork.
"Oh, this girly here? No, unfortunately I can't claim I had any hand in the construction of this beauty." Ben admitted solemnly. Which didn't make sense considering he's out only ship-maker.
"Wait, then where did it come from?" Confused, my eyes now back to Korbin.
"Oh yeah, I bought it." he said with a devious grin.
"…you bought it?"
"Yep."
"…so you've always been able to buy boats?"
"Well for the most part. This one's the latest unlock from our last Pylon upgrade but, yeah basically." Korbin confirmed.
"And, you made me wait to level farm for Benny here to finish learning how to make boats because…?" I asked, searching desperately for a rational explanation before I freak the fuck out.
"Oh yeah, no I just didn't wanna spend the TP. Got to min-max you know?" He answered with a laugh. I did not reciprocate.
"Uhp, look at that, Steve's here. I better go get into my battle gear and say bye to Kaitlyn and Anna, meet you at the ship!" Korbin said nervously shuffling away, my eyes flaring wide with rage that Korbin definitely knew was fair. Not because he wasn't in the right for not buying the boats, but for not mentioning it was an option.
You know, because I can get TP too. I just needed to kill enough stuff.
Thoroughly ready now to fight anything, I made my way towards the giant vessel at the docks. Cassi and Lonni were sending her little special unit of water druids up the webbed ropes knotted to the ships exterior. They were clearly focused on their conversation, Cassi's hands pointing and waving up the congested clump of soldiers without even checking. It looked much like an irresponsible pool guard at a waterpark, sending all the kids down the slide while flirting with a hot mom.
Not willing to kill Lonni's game, I turned toward the ocean behind and took a load off on the docks, sending out a ping to Steve who'd been not 30 feet from me. He'd decided to chill against one of the ramps on the backside of the docks, probably not wanting to associate with humans that literally can't understand him. Taking much longer than a giant water snake that swims faster than a torpedo, his head emerged from the water in front of my dangling feet.
"There's no way you requested me from here. Did you need a beverage, your grace?" Steve sneered sarcastically. His eyes looked tired and and even a bit crusted.
"You feeling okay, my man?" I asked, ignoring his teasing.
"Fucking exhausted to be honest. Ever since that new Pylon appeared in the water, more beasts are getting stronger faster. I really don't know why, but it's made hunting a day and night activity to keep my territory in control." Steve explained.
"Isn't that just free experience though? Can't be all bad." I pointed out.
"Sure, except they're all of my level or weaker, meaning I'm probably getting jack shit for these kills." He responded in a frustrated tone.
"Is your territory going to be okay while you're gone?" I asked, concerned the trio may harm the stability of Steve's little aquatic kingdom.
"Most definitely. The sheer amount of fish I've clamped my jaws around has dwindled the total population of predators considerably. My eels have already been instructed to…neutralize the bloodlines of those who sought to disobey my rule." Steve explained with a clear disgust for his territory's little 'rebels'. It was a little unnerving hearing him basically admit to ending entire families of fish. However, this wasn't exactly a new concept to wildlife pre-integration, it shouldn't come to a surprise they hadn't abandoned their instincts now.
"Well, hopefully all that monotonous fighting is over starting today, buddy. Why don't you go back and coil up for a bit? Korbin's still getting ready." I offered, feeling a little sorry for my fatigued serpent.
"Sounds good. Ping me when we're leaving, I'm gonna loop onto those ropes for the first bit of the trip. Besides, I killed most everything in this vicinity for 20 miles." He proudly proclaimed through a tired mental voice. With a long exhale, Steve sank back down into the sea to get some last second rest. It was reassuring to see he still handled his business in the face of exhaustion. Hate him or love him, just have to respect the drive.
Terra arrived short after with a large basket full of the same potions she'd handed me when I visited the alchemy lab...which were cracked and empty in my pockets. Discreetly dumping the shards into the water, I headed over to greet her. She wore a bright smile on her face, though it grew a bit melancholy after we made eye contact. Confused, I came over to help carry the bundle up to Cassi's soldiers.
"Hey Terra. I see you made sure we didn't go thirsty on our trip." I joked, reaching for the basket.
"Can't have you dying right after promising us protection now, can we?" She joked back. Having grabbed the basket, I noticed she definitely looked bummed out, and really nothing gave reason as to why.
"You know, we're gonna take good care of Lonni. In case you're worried." I offered, shooting in the dark. She scoffed, smiling away from me before responding.
"I'm sure he'll be fine. Just be sure all of you get back." She said, not turning to return eye contact.
"That includes you, I still owe you a major fucking ass-whooping for how we met." She said, now suddenly rather angry.
"Woah woah I-I'm sorry. I told you it wasn't personal?" I said, taking a big step backwards. She sighed, her eyes dropping back to a saddened expression.
"I know, I know it's fine I-..I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped." She said through a cracking voice, tears welling in her eyes. I always hated watching people cry, which is probably why I was so intent on reassuring her.
"Look, I'm not sure what it's like to handle the loss you are. But, we'll be back. And if you must, you go ahead and take some pop shots at me when I get back. Just let me rest on day one in case I need it." I said, with a chuckle. Her face brightened ever so slightly at the offer as she wiped her tear soaked face, sniffling.
"Yeah I know. Forget about it really, I've just been a mess since this all started. Just uh…good luck out there, Tom." She said before turning and walking away smiling. My head spun having gone through damn near every human emotion one could experience in less that two minutes. In truth, part of me worries both for and about these people here. Terra's tough for even being alive out here still, no two ways about it. Yet even she's shown signs of mental cracks through all of this. Maybe we all are, but it's just not a priority we could afford tending to anymore.
The crowd having gathered to watch as their Pylon's finest packed up to claim power in their name began dispersing. Of course, out struts the Pylon leader himself fashionably late. The armor he wore was absolutely mint, the dark metals shimmering a prismatic red glow in the sunlight.
It looked like an old knights set, only far cleaner, and a helmet in arm emitting a foreboding aura. In fact, his whole armor set permeated an unnerving amalgamation of emotions. Each piece giving off different flavors of sensations.
It was hard to discern, subtle mixtures of an innate yearning for battle and the oppressive attempts at instilling fear intrinsically. The armor piece invoking fear was the easiest one to sunder, its orange glowing eyeholes causing whispers to echo in the air upon eye contact. My spine shuddered averting my gaze.
"Okay, I'm all set. Has Cassi finished getting all of our soldiers and supplies aboard?" Korbin asked, not at all commenting on his insanely cool looking armor set.
"Y-yeah I think so. Probably have to ask, hey what's up with the crazy badass armor?" I asked Korbin who quickly started walking away with me striding up beside him.
"Had to get the best I could to ensure my safe return like anyone else. Cassi! We got everything on board yet?!" He yelled up to Cassi.
"We're all set captain!" She responded.
"Not my title but I appreciate it." He answered.
"Yes but how much TP was all of this?" I persisted as we reached the rope wall. He sighed placing one foot and hand up onto the handholds.
"A lot, Tom. Perks of making 89% of the undoubtedly richest Pylon in the tutorials' income in the first week is deciding where the extra goes. You ready to kill shit like you've been begging or not?" Taking pause at his brashness, I smiled feeling content enough with the results to press any further.
"Fuck it, after you Captain."
"If people keep calling me that, the actual Captain's going to get super pissed, just saying." Korbin said before ascending up the vessel wall. Following behind, Korbin double checked the status of the vessel before instructing a few recruits to release the several giant ropes tethering the vessel to the docks, and raise anchor on the other side.
I'm really not sure if any of these things were 'to code' with how ships worked before. Based on the mana barrier at the bottom separating the boat from the boat, decorated with fucking magma cannons at an insane 100 foot length, I imagined the 'rules' have changed anyway.
Finally set to depart, I pinged out to Steve little late on purpose because, well, the idea of a snake rushing to catch his boat made me laugh. My smile faded when the ping back was from the ropes at the back of the ship, Steve having already latched on without my signal. Honestly, why even ask me then?
Next was exploration time, as I'd yet to set foot on this massive ship that apparently held dozens of cabins and storage areas, along with a few mess halls and multiple captains quarters. The areas just below deck were sectioned off as storage and cannon maintenance, though I couldn't imagine these automated magic fire guns we're going to 'jam'.
After finding my way deeper down to the vessels lower floors, I stumbled across a large metal gate. With resided a brig set up in a traditional prison style arrangement with a plethora of holding cells. Having spent a night or two in one of these back in the day, I made a point to question Korbin back in his quarters as to why this mini facility was necessary on the water.
"Pretty simple, valuable people who don't cooperate will stay there. That way there's no pissing gods off along the way." He answered while scrolling over the replica of his giant map from his super secret scheming lair.
"Ok but, it's just metal bars. Pretty sure no one worth holding is too weak to destroy those things instantly." I pointed out.
"Look, I'd usually be really down to lock you one and watch you panic as the mana sappers suck your energy dry, but I'm busy and we're not too far from the first target. Just stay ready, go stretch or something." He said dismissively, waving me off.
"Jeez, you sure know how to ruin the mood on a conquest for regional domination. Have fun doodling!" I said jogging out, catching a glimpse of his fist balling up on the desk. Sure, he planned and funded everything, but that doesn't mean he can't enjoy himself sometimes it too?
After spending another hour perusing the halls of our entirely oversized and understaffed battle ship, the tamed beast ping went off in my head. Knowing it had to be Steve, I sprinted up to the deck and continued towards the ping dropping my sheathes from my twinblade behind me. The only reason he had to summon me was if we ran into trouble, and I had no intention to delay dealing with the issue, My body had just propelled over the railing off the deck when Steve surfaced from the water, my hands clapping around his scaly body sending us falling back into the water.
"What the fuck Tom? I was seriously NOT expecting that, what if I was some other snake just trying to get a meal?" He asked in a phony concerned voice.
"They'd be dead. Speaking of, I assume you ran into some trouble up ahead?" I asked atop of Steve, cutting through the water far ahead of the large battleship heading Southeast. Most of our short journey thus far was through Steve's hunting grounds, which he cleared out periodically anyway. Now, with Steve scouting ahead a couple miles at a time, we entered uncharted waters for everyone involved.
This meant the aquatic life ahead hadn't felt the crippling wrath of the fang and blade yet, and still had some unmerited pride about them.
"Oh yeah, and it's strong too. Level 6 Dunkleodon" Steve added, nonchalantly.
"What the fuck is a 'dunkleodon?'" I asked, incredibly curious.
"You'll see."
It didn't take long for us to get close enough for the absolute unit of a fish to come into view, especially with shared senses activated seeing through Steve's much keener eyes yellow eyes for a clearer picture. The naturally armored fish was massive, its bulking size distributed towards awkwardly toward the front of its body. The beasts tail was considerably smaller, as was its small rounded fins. Its eyes were sunken under its strong outside layer of metal. In fact, most of its skin was covered in metal plating, centralized around vital areas like its head, back and sides, along with four massive teeth hanging out of its maw in sets of two. Its movement was slow, subtly gliding along the current more than treading water. That was until we got within 30 feet of the beast.
Its body violently twisted around before firing towards us without warning, closing the distance within seconds. Steve rolled his scaly body to the side to avoid the presumed 'Dunkleodon' from its massive chomping jaw, a school of smaller fish dispersing in fear around us. My twinblade crackled with energy stabbing at the Dunkleodon's side, only for the blade tip to ricochet from its metal plating. Steve lurched his head for a bite attack at its tail, the Dunkleodon quickly whipping its head around trying to counter-bite my serpent friend.
The amount of Flow the massive fish was producing along its spine fired through the beast's neck as it twisted around. I flung myself off of Steve down the length of his body, preparing a Flow Strike through a roundhouse kick. My shin smashed into a soft spot between metal plates on the Dunkleodons head, pushing its bite off course just enough for Steve to coil its body back from the counter-bite. My hand barely gripped the end of his tail while floating back from the leaping attack. Steve barely afforded me time to settle on his back before quickly repositioning for another strike.
The metal-headed fish reciprocated his aggression, charging forward with its jagged metal plated head leaned down.
"Dodge under it" I instructed Steve. However, as he went to duck below the tank of a fish's strike, its body inflated its mass significantly. The rapid increase to its weight caused the metallic monster to sink quickly. Steve had to wrap his body around one of its legs and ride up to its back side to avoid being bitten. Steve's body twisted like a bullet contorting against the Dunkleodon's body, forcing me to leap off to avoid smashing into its outer metal layers.
Now listing slowly through the ocean, I did my best to swim back toward Steve who was currently thrashing with our powerful foe. Frustration at my lack of mobility underwater settled in watching Steve fight alone. I focused on kicking my feet as hard as I could off the water to reach the monster's flank. They drifted ever so slowly as they viciously scrapped, trading lunging bites while Steve slithered around its body. Meanwhile, I fought currents trying to be any semblance of useful.
Anger at myself lulled my focus inwardly momentarily, replaced by a sense of helplessness seeing Steve accelerate around the Dunkleodon's snapping maw, the metallic monsters tail whipping around headed directly towards me.
"Motherf-"
My final thought cut short by the heavy impact of the Dunkleodons tail slamming into my chest, my hands clamping around it instinctively. The initial hit didn't hurt nearly as terribly as I'd assumed. The wild bucking and thrashing around the Dunkleodon started having noticed me gripped in tow however made my neck twist and whip back in every direction, my vision slowly fading. My eyes fluttered as sunlight glared into view, releasing my grip from the armored fish to block my face. Thankfully, it thrashed upward when I'd released, launching me toward the surface like a torpedo.
"Steve, motherfucker GET me?!" I sent out kicking my feet frantically toward the surface. Seeing the Dunkleodon barreling towards me unabated, I spun around in the water to face the beast. Having received no response from Steve, my heart pounded feeling fight or flight settle in, preparing a Lightning Strike for this fuckers mouth the second it goes to chomp. The monster was close enough for me to count its teeth individually when a ping signaled not 8 feet to my left.
Smiling, I placed my chains out in front of me like I was holding a bag open. Steve's head barreled into the chains, jerking my body away from the Dunkleodons incoming bite attack. The beasts body breached the surface in the air, its entire body now out of the water. Steve swam up along the top of the water with my head breaching out to catch a breath. I'd barely began an inhale when a wide shadow grew around us, the Dunkleodon descending straight for us. Steve quickly changed direction diagonally before launching out of the water, aiming his wide maw for its tail.
Steve's disabling bite found its mark, the giant fish writhing one last convulsion as it sank into the ocean. Its tail remained limp, its mouth chomping wildly in every direction to compensate. Steve landed his signature Flow Bite, meaning that thing wasn't going to be swimming anytime soon.
"Get in there Steve let's finish this thing!" I urged my treasured serpent.
"Relax, he's dead in the water. No need to rush." He boasted lazily swimming down toward the plummeting Dunkleodon. The incredibly thick fish was rapidly sinking, its eyes locked onto us biting over and over as we approached. Steve did a little fake to one side before darting to the other, landing another bite a little higher on its tail.
The beast flailed in pain, its bites flailing far more frantically creating white bubbles that dispersed around its thrashing body. Steve went for another dodge and bite, when the tail inflated with metal, popping Steve right in the nose. His head recoiled back, and the beast lurched its head to the side to secure a taste out of Steve's tail. The Dunkleodon's gills opened like vents as its maw spread agape, nearly biting down on Steve's tail before he whipped it away from danger.
Oh shit.
"Steve, stop fucking around." I commanded, not willing to see him die to wounded prey. Steve's body flexed a second causing his scales to ripple across his skin. Then, like he'd been fired from a cannon, Steve bursted around the floating beast, circling his panicked prey at full speed. The Dunkleodons urgency waned after spinning countless times to track us. It desperately lurched out with a series of bites every time we serpentined across its face passing by. Steve went for another kill shot, only to be busted in the nose by a metal stomach plate that flexed just before his bite could land.
"Tom, how the hell do you expect me to kill this thing?!" Steve yelled in frustration. To his credit, he effectively won the fight already. The issue wasn't winning but rather claiming our reward, and the ship we're supposed to be defending will be closing in soon if we keep up this cat and mouse game. Watching the monster continue thrashing about trying to regain control of its tail, its gills kept flaring open and shut in unison with its mouth.
"Okay, I've got an idea. Go do your spin shit and get it biting around. Then, lurch at that ugly tin fuck on my signal." I instructed, sounding far more confident in my mind than I felt. Steve did the snake equivalent of a shrug with his neck before circling around the beast like a cyclone once more. Its tail started twitching subtly while it thrashed, indicating our advantage was running short on time.
The water surrounding the Donkleodons violent twisting filled with white clouds of bubbles. I'd finally gotten the timing down on its gills and breathing when the beasts tail whipped side to side.
"Steve, NOW!" I yelled mentally standing up on his back. Steve's head launched forward, lightning and water mana gathering quickly at the base of his neck muscles. My foot slid down the side of his body, launching off him as he dove toward the Dunkleodon, the beast turning to meet Steve's attack with its own. Its eyes tracked me flying across the other side of its face, my blade radiating Lightning mana from my raised twinblade. My weapon fired out at its gills that opened like giant fleshy vents, one blade piercing all the way to my wrist.
The Lightning Mana exploded out of the fishes nearest eye, replacing the violent thrashing with an eery stillness. Luckily, the quiet was disrupted by the pleasant ding of the monsters death notification. Steve swam under me, swooping me up and escorting me to the surface. As we slowly made our way back toward the ship, Steve was the first to address our first fight of the conquest.
"That was…challenging." He said, sounding a little shaken.
"Oh most definitely, but hot DAMN wasn't it fun?! I mean, that thing could've killed us on like several occasions, and we still won!" I chanted aloud, feeling proud in our victory.
"Right, except it was able to move after I bit it. Why? Nothing ever moved after one my bites. Never." He said, sounding rather disparaged in his best attack.
"Steve, you have to understand your bite is incredibly overpowered. It's not like some toxin someone can build a tolerance to or something, you infect their Flow, man. That's insane." I admitted, not liking to hear my friend so hard on himself after a hard earned victory.
"What exactly does that mean? What is 'Flow'?" He asked, now more curious than discouraged.
"Oh boy. That's a big question, Steve. I'll go into more detail but, for now just know your shits really strong, and I make a point to be thankful we're allies regularly." I admitted, more reluctantly. It's not that I'd expect him to betray me or something crazy like that, I just didn't want to hear it out loud.
"Oh? You were intimidated by my bite now?" He asked in a teasing tone.
"Aaaand never consoling you again. Take me to the ship real quick, we'll patrol together again later." I said, pointing back to the ship.
"Hey it was just a joke man come on?" Steve retorted defensively.
"No no, it's not that, you're good. I just need a word with the captain, let him know we're hitting formidable resistance already." I reassured, seeing how my last statement could be misconstrued. It was a short trip back, the ship having caught up to us during our fight. Leaping from Steve to the webbed rope and climbing back up to deck, I retrieved my sheaths from the deck before heading to Korbin's quarters. The crew members moving about all looked at me like a ghost before I pulled my cowl down, now greeting me as "Captain" passing by. As if they'd seen anyone else leaping off of snakes with hoods on lately. And I'm not the fucking captain, either.
Reaching Korbin's door, I noticed it was already opened. So naturally, I let myself in. Korbin was at his desk, reviewing some paperwork when I came in.
"Tom! Last I heard, you'd dove off the side of the ship onto your snake buddy. I take it you two had a good hunt?" He said through reading glasses I was pretty sure he didn't need.
"Yeah, a big fucking thing. Called a 'Dunkleodon'. Never seen a fish like that before, pretty damn tough too." I answered honestly.
"That must mean we're getting close." He answered pensively, putting his hands together in thought.
"…you and Steve go ahead and stay out there the next time he finds trouble, but keep an eye for land to the north east of our trajectory. If my info's good, which it is, our first Pylon will be there. Return when you got eyes on the settlement and cleared out a path for the ship." Korbin instructed, looking content in his decision based on the half smirk.
"Sounds good to me. You sure you don't want to join in on one of these hunts? Free experience never hurt anybody." I offered, having thoroughly considered how reserved his leadership role had made him.
"Yeah, okay, let's send the fire affinity guy into the ocean to fight stronger water monsters, fucking brilliant!" Korbin said, laughing at his own sarcasm before continuing.
"No, no I'm quite content making my money's worth here, at least until we reach land." He added, now more seriously realizing my offer was somewhat a kindness. Sharing experience points wasn't actually something I'd enjoy doing, however I'd feel like an ass not offering at all.
"Suit yourself. I'll go meditate until Steve calls, have fun with your…paperwork." I said, trying to sound chipper for my friend.
"Oh I am. This is securing our futures, as in being wrapped up in a bullet proof blanket in a bomb shelter lower than the tectonic plates level secure. You'll see." Korbin responded with a grin. Not willing to delve into the cryptic optimism, I headed back toward the deck, happy to find a quiet spot for some well earned r-
*ping*
…right, figures. Steve emerged at the tail end of the boat below me. Even with his massive size, the ship made him look almost small, barring depth perception.
"Got another one." He said slithering over the guard rails and off the ledge. I jumped over the railing, Steve's body dipping down as he caught me to lower the impact on both my feet and his back.
"Don't tell me it's another Donkle-doofus." I said exasperatedly.
"No no, just a few level 5 brolic Orca's with ego issues this time. Shouldn't be too bad." He answered with some excitement in his voice. We'd made a fair share of orcas submit to my instruction, however they were level 3's and 4's. So far, level 5 seems to be the magic number for beasts becoming exponentially tougher. Thank Perunious too, I need higher level foes to get my extra experience boosts and percent boosters.
Speaking of, that big Donkleodon must have had some high toughness and vitality stats, because both were max boosted to 10% now. Same with strength, leaving wisdom and willpower as my only non boosted stats. All I had to do was hit level 10 and get those two boosted while maintaining the others, and my twinblade could evolve. Though, considering I'm still class level 4, it would be a while before that was relevant. Still, quite reassuring to see the boosts coming so quickly.
The orca situation started off pretty damn pedestrian. There was around 5 of them, all level 5's as well swimming around brazenly tearing through any sea life in their wake, level 1 and up. Truthfully, killing something that much lower level only displayed an affection for killing rather than progressing by necessary means. While I'm all for a good fight to decide the top dog, I despise bullying.
Which was probably why I instructed Steve not to show mercy to these sociopathic fish, skipping peace offers entirely and attacking right of the bat. The first orcas body ripped open, its skin like butter as I slashed out across its side. Steve zipped providing all the force I needed to slice through its body. The orca bled out for quite a while, but the 12 inch slash extending across its belly was far too deep to survive without healing of some sort. Suffering wasn't my intention, but the rest of its pod were too quick to retaliate for me to finish it off humanely.
Steve's bite gashed into the neck of the first attacker who'd foolishly assumed Steve's long body would be easy to take advantage of. It froze up in the water, drifting lazily with its eyes shifting around in a panic. Two others had arrived from either sides of us. Steve elected to attack the first approaching orca, launching forward for a bite of his own, The Flow from his attack rippled inversely to his tail. Seeing my opportunity I timed my jump from his tail with his flow, stealing the momentum.
The second orcas eyes widened seeing me fly by its lunging face, my blade cocked back with Lightning crackling through the water. My arm fired forward, piercing its eye down to its thick skull and stopping there. It recoiled in pain, whipping its tail at my side as I lifted my bent legs toward it. My feet lifted up and found purchase on its tail, using the force to leap toward Steve. My serpent companion was rearing a Flow Bite for the orca I'd stabbed, however the 5th orca was quickly closing on him from behind.
My blade flew forward from my hand as my chain unraveled to its maximum length, snagging into the cheek of the flanking orcas open mouth. Yanking on the blade still in hand, my body pulled quickly to its head. Lightning Strike blasted into the orcas neck causing it to sputter out in the water in a mess of blood. Turning back, Steve had his body wrapped around the other one eyed Orca. His body flexed around it hard, crushing the orca's ribs until its stomach burst open.
After smiling at the ding that followed, Steve retrieved me while floating among the carnage.
"Well, that was easy." He said, priming to head back toward the boat for a lap.
"Wait…I only counted 4 notifications." I said, placing a hand on the top of his head. I recognized what orca had been killed by what based on their mangled bodies now floating freely, however there were only 4. Retracing the fight, only one suspect could have possibly escaped.
"Didn't you Flow Bite one before the other three were on top of us?" I asked.
"…oh yeah, I figured he d-"
Steve's thought was drowned out by an ear piercing high pitched squeaking that made my eyes turn sideways in my skull and ears scream with pain, my palms slapping to my ears. The water was visibly pulsing in response to this sound, circles of energy rippling throughout the ocean. It persisted for about 3 seconds straight before abruptly stopping, it's terrible echo reverberating a few more times.
"…what the fuck was that?" Steve asked after a brief pause. Peering around the peaceful sway of oceans tides, my chest began tightening inexplicably. Far, far worse than it ever had before.
"Surface, I need air real quick." I told Steve, who ascended up quickly in response. Before we broke the surface however, the tightness evolved into sharp stabs in my chest at an alarming rate, nothing like the slow burn of needing oxygen. Especially now, with such a high endurance stat apparently affecting how long I could hold my breath. The excruciating pain was accompanied by a sinking feeling that sent a blast of urgency through my system. My eyes twitched toward an odd dark figure at the corner of my periphery.
"Left cut LEFT" I yelled mentally, Steve's body darting hard left before surfacing. As the sun rays hit my skin and air filled my lungs, I turned around having heard a loud splash behind us. My eyes traveled up high in the sky at a massive white and purple orca, its size comparable to a sperm whale. Its shadow covered me and Steve entirely as it hung in the air, before barreling down towards us with its massive mouth wide enough to swallow us whole.
Steve dove down and to the left, letting the multi-ton monster sink behind as its bite force echoed from behind us. Turning back, it had already recovered and begun chasing us, its maw actively gnashing at Steve's tail. Impending doom flashed into my stomach seeing its eyes roll to the back of the orcas skull, causing me to slap Steve on the side and drop a hip as I mentally screamed,
"DIVE!"
We'd barely dove down a couple feet when the familiar screech erupted from behind us, only WAY louder this time. The water above my head blasted and vibrated violently in a cone shape, the source being the massive purple orca. Seeing it slow after stopping its screech as an opportunity, I used identify.
[Stentorian Mother Orca level-6]
You're fucking joking.
The hunters quickly became the hunted, this Mother Orca clearly outraged for us having massacred her pod. Her screeches of pain becoming ranged blasts we narrowly dodged weaving back and forth as she pursued.
"We can't shake her, Tom. The fuck we do?!" Steve yelled, panic in his voicing dodging and oscillating around the ocean, avoiding the enraged building-sized predator. Looking back at the creature, from what I could see between jerking redirections, its Flow was pretty basic having only the anatomy for swimming and biting for the most part.
The problem was it was too damn fast, especially for something so massive. Based on our trajectory, this thing might follow us all the way back to the ship, and we couldn't risk the entire conquest before it even began. We needed to kill this thing here, if we had any hope at conquering anything.
"Get us turned back, we can't bring it to the ship."
I said, now readying myself for our toughest battle yet.
"Are you crazy?! If I turn too hard It'll catch up!?" Steve shot back. This was no time for my snake to act spineless. Frustration welled at his impeding on our duty. I gripped hard on his scales, digging my fingers toward his skin as he dodged around avoiding the sonic blasts rocketing all around us.
"That wasn't a question Steve, turn around!" I yelled, using some mental will hoping it'd work like the other fish I'd employed to watch the smaller ships.
"NO!" He yelled back, ducking down sharply to avoid another sonic blast making my ears ring. My blood ran warm with anger as energy began forming in my palms. My stomach felt like I'd swallowed an exposed electric wire and washed it down with a gallon of water, before dispersing through my hand into Steve.
"YES!" I yelled back authoritatively.Steve's body whipped around on a dime, his tail passing his head before firing back at the giant mother orca. The orca's head shot pulled back in surprise at our charge. A ding popped off in my head, but it didn't matter right now. Sliding around to Steve's stomach, I willed for him to stop and turn bsfl again, whipping his tail toward the orca.
Sliding down to the base of his tail, my command for him to kick out his tail with force registered immediately. An actual mental message sent out to Steve as I launched up at the belly of charging mother orca from under it.
"DODGE!"
Trusting my snake, both of my blades crackled with energy piercing two Flow Strikes deep along the belly of this mother orca. Twisting my wrists outward, I wedged my blades into its body sideways and began channeling lightning mana as hard as I could through the twinblade. Its body convulsed erratically as it screeched its terrible scream trying to get me detached, but this was my only shot.
An impact from on top of the orca followed by its tail no longer thrashing so vigorously indicated Steve was not only okay but landing his Flow Bites now, giving me more time to finish this. After sufficiently charring the inside of its wounds with the Lightning mana surging through my weapons, I pulled a blade out and fired back into its blubber with Lightning Strike. Then again with the other side.
And again..
And again.
Until finally, when my sight was completely covered in its blood and massive muscle tissues and stomach ached from using most all of my mana, a victories ding sounded, followed by a couple more. Ripping my blades free, Steve wriggled under my legs before ascending up to the surface. Once out of the water, I turned downward to speak to my friend, hoping to make amends for the happy accident back there.
"Hey Stev-" he flung me from his back, my body smacking into the water before I surfaced, wading in the water.
"How dare you take control over me. MY body?! What the fuck was that?" Steve yelled, the pupils in his yellow eyes flaring.
"I seriously don't know how I did it dude. You weren't listening back there, you froze?!" I argued back, not willing to back down to the snake that tried to run from his hunt.
"That doesn't matter, I didn't sign up to lose my fucking free will to you. Don't fucking do that or I'll eat you next time. I'm sure I'll get plenty of levels from that." Steve snarled mentally. I was about to explode at him, scream and command him to listen as I had before feeling as though I genuinely could, but I didn't. I knew that wasn't going to help, especially because frankly, I agreed with him. I was in the wrong.
"Steve…look, I'm sorry. Okay? I won't do that without your permission again, that's not what hunting bros do. That's my bad, and again, I'm sorry." I said earnestly. Steve maintained his angry posture for a moment before slumping back, his eyes low looking almost ashamed.
"Yeah well…I mean we'd be dead now if you hadn't. And, I just leveled up so, I really can't be that mad. Just please don't do that again, it was super uncomfortable." He said now in a friendlier tone.
"Yeah man of cour-wait you leveled up?!" I asked, digesting what he'd just said. Looking at my notifications it was confirmed, along with a new skill I won't be using anytime soon.
You've unlocked a new profession skill!
->
Total Beast Sovereignty (uncommon) - for a short period of time, exercise your total sovereignty over your beast, assuming control over its body for an extremely short period of time. 2 day Cooldown.
You have slain [Stentorian Mother Orca level-6]
Bonus experience has been awarded for slaying a stronger foe
*Congratulations!* you've leveled up your Profession
Beast Tamer (level - 5)
->
Beast Tamer (level - 6)
+1 Wisdom +1 Willpower added to your stats.
Leveling was all well and good, however it was a bummer to get such a strong skill I'll never use, nor did my class or race level go up. True, I'd gotten to Rogue level - 4 pretty damn quickly, maybe quicker than you're even supposed to. However, I'd killed multiple monsters much stronger than that Cantis - Pantheris boss, yet no levels to show for it yet.
At least now I knew it wouldn't be a cakewalk out here like it was back home at the beach Pylon, meaning leveling won't be a problem for long. Plus I received a 10% boost to intelligence after that fight, leaving willpower and wisdom as the only unboosted stats so, it wasn't a waste by any stretch. All that was left to do now was head to the ship to meditate back my resource pools and…
Wait, where's Steve?