"Where am I?". I asked myself as I came back to consciousness, it was suddenly very hot and I felt myself rocking around, giving me a slightly nauseating feeling. As I slowly opened my eyes, blinding rays of sunlight entered my vision. Just as I was about to completely open my eyes, I my face was splashed with icy water.
I realized that it was sea water as I could feel the saltiness of the water in my mouth. I completely roused myself as I stood up from my initial position. The sight in front of me was a magnificent and open sea, and I was on the deck of a ship sailing across the sea. This explained why I felt nauseous, I was feeling slight seasick.
"Good view isn't it, recruit?" a voice said behind me. Turning back at the voice, a fatty stood there with a sword in his sheathe and bucket of water in his hand.
He was obviously talking to me as I was right in front of him. Despite my confusion as to who he was and where I was, I nodded as I stood up. Looking at myself, I was wearing light clothing that looked like a 1600s pirate attire.
I immediately thought of my last memory and felt shocked. The dream I had last night was extremely odd as a booming voice simply asked me if I wanted another shot at life, and whether I wanted to build a legacy. Thinking it was a usual dream, I said yes, the next thing I know, I wake up on a ship in the middle of the sea with seawater splashed on my face.
This seems to me like more of a movie or a novel than real life, eh, I might as well go with it and see where it takes me. With those thoughts in mind I took a better look around me. I saw a man on the upper deck of the ship looking at me nonchalantly, he seemed as if he was really stuck up. I looked away and realized that this was a whole crew of pirates.
Everyone seemed to be fulfilling some kind of role, where some were fishing, and one was behind the wheel, there were even a few men patrolling the ship. This didn't seem like my ideal cruise as the atmosphere in the ship was solemn, as if everyone was preparing for a bloodbath.
"enough with the daydreaming kid, get up before the captain sees you" The fatty said as he dragged me up and patted my back. "time to train, lets go" The fatty said as threw me a glance.
"Since you just got here, let me tell you that you directly report to me as I'm your mentor, and if there is anything you find or need, you come to me first. Understood?". The fatty said in an imposing, yet approachable manner. "Yes sir" I instinctively said as I straightened up. "You seem to have discipline, good" he said in approval as he commanded me to start doing pushups.
I did as he said without question as I knew that I would eventually find answers, if I tried to forcefully probe into everything I might just land in trouble, so I decided to go with the flow.
As I started my pushups, I realized that it was much easier than before, as if I had some strength in me that aided me. I felt some strange energy in my body that was enriching my muscles and giving me power as I kept on with the pushups. I could feel this energy making trips around my veins and my acupoints. And every time I completed a set of pushups, the energy in the core of my body would slowly be absorbed by my muscles and bones.
"Oh? Boy your rate of growth is already at middle stage mortal realm, what is your name?" the fatty asked with a glint in his eye. "I am Owen" I replied as I vaguely understood his words. Middle stage mortal? This sounds even more like some level up game.
"your growth rate is quick, keep training, I see great potential in you" the fatty said as he licked his lips. Seeing this, I shuddered. "Have I been marked as food for this fatty?!" I thought in horror as I kept working out under his seemingly hungry gaze.
The energy in my core had finally depleted, completely being absorbed by muscles. As I sat there with sweat drenching my clothes, I found that the energy I lost from my core replenished at a fast rate, I felt as if I was automatically absorbing energy from the air into my core. This must be some kind of power up system, I kept silently observing the changes in my body. The energy from the air would be absorbed into my core, which was in the middle of my chest, which could then be absorbed by my body if I worked out, making my body stronger. "Wow, this really seems like a situation from the novels I've read" I exclaimed to myself as I came to a realization that I could become really powerful as long as I worked hard.
"All crewmembers stand at the lower deck immediately!" a short man with a mustache cried out as he stood at the upper deck of the ship screaming the same thing thrice.
"Must be the captain's order" said the fatty as he got down from the railing of the deck "Come kid, I'm going to take pride in showing you to the captain" he said with a glint in his eyes while he licked his lips again.
I internally shuddered once more and feared for my purity "Oh no, just what kind of fantasies would this captain have?!" I thought in horror as I awaited my fate. "forget it, I'll just jump offboard and hope some fisherman help me up". I thought to myself.
At this moment, many well built pirates stood respectfully on the lower deck. The short man with the mustache stood proudly at the front of the assembly as he awaited this mysterious "captain".
A familiar figure exited out of the inner chambers below deck, upon seeing this 'captain' properly, I trembled as I pointed at the familiar figure. She was my girlfriend, I remember texting her goodnight just before going to bed. Just what is she doing as a pirate captain???
"Angela!? What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed.
The fatty's mouth dropped as he almost puked blood at the way I addressed the captain. The short man with the mustache even pulled out his knife as he prepared to stab me, but out of the force of pulling it out, he slipped and fell down the stairs of the inner deck comically.
The other crewmembers stared dumbfoundedly at me.
"You are in no position to address me as such, recruit. Fatty ben, even though he seems quite more talented than the other recruits, you better keep him in check"
The captain said nonchalantly before shooting a glance at the fatty, causing the fatty to almost jump off the ship.
"Y…Yes captain, this subordinate understands. Please forgive me" he quickly replied, seemingly fearing for his life. I stood there extremely confused. How is Angela suddenly scary, and why did she not even spare me a proper glance.
The fatty gave me a threatening look and obediently waited for the captain to speak again.
"We will be entering the territory of the nomads, so prepare to loot, all sharpshooters stand at the ready, cannoneers prepare the cannons, and all footmen, follow me as I lead the charge onto the enemy deck" Angela said with an air of authority.
"Aye captain" said many voices as they all prepared. The captain shot me one glance before heading to the upper deck to sort some matters. When the deck was finally cleared out, the fatty approached me and stared into my face with all his fat jiggling in anger.
"Son of the sea god, I thought I would die! never open your mouth during assemblies" the fatty said in anger.
I simply nodded. "now, prepare to follow us into the enemy deck" he said as he handed a sword onto my hands.
'Eh? Was I supposed to kill people??' I asked myself in horror. 'I don't think I would ever be able to do that as I couldn't even bear to hurt an animal. And I am definitely not a fan of putting my life on the line, I'm too virgin to die yet' I thought in utter dejection.
I stared at the sky, which was slowly turning darker as it approached night, the view was surely an experience I would never get tired of. The sound of the ship gliding through the seas, and the sea breeze making my hair fly, I almost felt like a pirate's life doesn't seem that bad.
I heard a series of clanging behind me as the fatty dragged a metal puppet in front of me. "This will be your training dummy to learn your first skill" he said with a proud aura. He pulled out his sword and stood in a stance as if he was about to slash, the sword suddenly turned red around the edges and slashed out. The red energy around the sword cleanly sliced into the metal puppet and went on to slash onto the deck of the ship, scaring the short mustached pirate who was watching from the sidelines, leaving behind a deadly sword slash on the deck. With a chuckle, the fatty put the sword back into his sheathe.
"That is a basic skill where you utilize your energy to wrap around the sword and augment your slash. It took me three years to learn it, try doing what I just demonstrated" the fatty said proudly as he looked at me.
That honestly seemed cool, I was just nervous as to whether I could accomplish such a powerful feat. I grabbed the hilt of my sword, I visualized the energy in my core to flow through my arms and wrap around the sword. Within a second, the sword in my hand started to glow red as energy wrapped itself around the sword, making it sharper and hotter. I felt the sword and energy become one as I slashed out towards puppet that lost half its body from the fatty's attack.
As the sword hit the puppet, the sword energy ravaged the puppet, turning it into a pile of broken parts, the rest of the energy slash went on to slash across the deck, leaving an even deeper slash than the fatty left.
"Y…You…..you comprehended the skill within seconds?! Tell me boy, you have already practiced this skill haven't you??!" The fatty shivered as he questioned me.
"No sir, I just learnt it from you" I said truthfully, still shocked and excited that I did something amazing. 'This feels just like a game!' I thought. I suddenly felt extremely exhausted, as if I used up all my energy. Looking back into my core, I realized that with that one slash, I used up my energy.
"Ah, your energy realm is insufficient to always support such a strong attack, kid, you seem to be extremely talented, how about you become my direct student??" the fatty asked me as he looked at me greedily. "All you need to do is give me 60% of your loot, ah no 59% is enough, what do you say?" The fatty licked his lips again as he rubbed his hands greedily.
Seeing this, I really couldn't believe that such a shameless man existed in this world. Just as I was about to answer him, a familiar voice sounded behind me "There is no need for that Ben, I will teach him myself". As I looked behind me, it was Angela, No, it was the captain of the ship, no longer the Angela I knew.
"absolutely captain, please, use him in any way you wish!" Fatty Ben said hurriedly.
Seeing how shameless he was and how what he said sounded extremely vulgar, my face instinctively reddened in embarrassment as I looked again at the captain. She maintained a calm demeanor as she nodded while appraising me as if I were an artifact and not a human.
"Hmm….firm foundations, very high talent, I see you becoming really powerful, you will now reside in the empty cabin next to mine and will be my student" She said with a slight smile and had me follow her into the inner chambers.
The fatty stood there sulking at the fact that he lost a good opportunity to earn extra treasure.