Sky felt dumb. He forgot a method to carry water with him when he left the island.
He still has the motorboat his parents gave him, he hasn't used it because he can't place it back in the card since his skill is still too low level.
'It's okay, I can do this. First I need wood.' Sky went up to the nearest tree. He didn't have any tools to cut down a tree, but he had a skill.
{Water slice}
Sky made a huge cut on the bottom of the tree.
"No, that won't work at all. Hmmmm…"
Sky planned on cutting down the tree using his skill, but what about after? He wanted to use his fine knife to make some oars in case he were to be stuck out on sea, but his fine knife was close to breaking, he could tell by the cracks on it.
The system didn't show him an item's durability until the very end. Moments before his crappy sword broke a notification popped up {crappy sword is about to break} three swings later it broke into pieces, same for his crappy shield.
'Wait, mom gave me the motorboat. I wonder…' Sky had a realization. He ran off to the beach and took out his boat that was inside a card.
"Please let me be right. Activate!"
Sky threw the card and it transformed into a motorboat.
The motorboat was identical to the one Mrs. J and her family had.
On the back of the boat was a large ice box that was strapped to the seat. Inside the ice box contained lots of cards, every single card was filled with food and water that nearly filled the entire ice box.
"Woah, mom, thanks so much!" Sky said.
On top of the ice box was a note in Sky's mother's handwriting. He picked up the note and read it carefully.
'Sky, if you're reading this it means something happened to you on the island while we were away and you had to run away. I'm sure that Mrs. J is with you right now and keeping you safe. But if on the low chance that you're alone then follow the compass it is pointed straight to Peeves. There's a lot of money in one of the cards inside, about 20,000 shells, and also gas. Find your way to Peeves. Everything is going to be okay, we'll be waiting for you. Love, mom and dad.'
Sky smiled as he nearly teared up a bit. Her overprotective nature is what might've saved him. And even if they were far apart, she was still helping him.
The compass was located inside one of the cards.
"Activate."
It transformed into an ordinary silver compass with a small chain hanging from it.
What weirded him out that made nearly drop the compass was that the chain hanging from the compass began moving by itself.
It then stretched towards Sky's right side as if it was pointing at something.
'Identify.' Sky wanted to know what was going on.
{Compass}
{Works like any old compass. Has a chain imbued with a spell that will lead anybody to a specific piece of land}
'I never heard of this type of spell.' Sky thought, nonetheless thanks to his parents he found his way back home.
Sky tried to put the ice box inside the inventory since he thought it would be safer that way, but a notification popped up instead.
{Item is too large to place in inventory}
Sky took out all the cards and placed them inside his inventory which worked. He wondered how much money and time it took his parents to make all those cards for him.
Sky kept the ice box strapped to the boat.
Sky stepped on the motorboat and left the island. Looking back at the island he couldn't help but sigh. Everything that happened to him seemed so unnatural.
First he gets a system, he gets stranded on an island, fights a dungeon, gets a few green scrolls, fights baboons for days, gets stabbed, bitten, scratched, got stronger, and everything else.
"So long! I'll remember you in therapy!" Sky waved goodbye to the island.
Using his compass he drove his boat to Peeves.
He still wondered what exactly was the cause exactly, and how did Mrs. J and her family know it would happen?
Something told him it had something to do with the Caribbean boat that was there, but he wasn't entirely sure.
'Wait, I can train in the meantime.' Sky took out his fine knife from his inventory.
{Can't turn this item into a card. Player skill is still too low}
"Oh, right." Sky took out a green shell and turned it into a card, and turned it back into a green shell, and repeated the same process over and over again.
The spell only consumes 0.9 mana per use. The bigger and heavier the item the more mana it costs.
{Card transformation level up: lvl 3: can turn hand sized objects to cards}
Sky took out the fine knife from his inventory again, and this time it transformed into a card.
{Mana cost: 2.7}
"Wow, this would have taken me months to get this ability to this level if I trained it everyday, according to my dad at least. And I managed to reach it in a few minutes after using it over and over again." Sky smiled.
During these past few days he didn't have the luxury of training the skills he wanted in fear that he would be ambushed while his mana was low.
He continued leveling up his skill. Whenever he ran out of mana he took a rest, because he wasn't moving around his mana mastery increased his mana regeneration by 40%. It was the result of spamming the same mana attack for three days and over 250 times.
{Card transformation level up: lvl 4: can transform objects with a 1 meter radius}
Sky raised his skill after an hour. Then he took out his slime staff and successfully turned it into a card.
{Mana cost: 13.5} (15 after taking 10% off)
"Hmmm, bit pricey." Sky muttered.
After nearly 5 hours of driving the motorboat Sky didn't see anything.
"How… just how far away am I?" Sky asked himself. There was something wrong and he could feel it.
A motorboat can go as fast as 500 kilometers per hour, meaning that he had traveled more than 2500 kilometers and he saw not even a single island.
Atop of Sky the old man looked down, stroking his beard.
'Hm, strange, usually whenever people get the level-up system and get a taste of its powers, they're pretty quick to leave their old lives behind.'
He has seen several users abandon their loving families, their great homes, even their friends, everything except their partners most of the time.
Once the users experience the thrill of having a system they think they're unstoppable, they succumb to the power and do whatever it takes to gain power even if it means leaving behind everyone and everything they once knew.
The old man had seen how many users have gained extraordinary power, some had even become the strongest in their worlds, but eventually they all die but never from old age.
Therefore the old man thought Sky would be the same as them, and purposely dragged Sky's corpse to a faraway island, which is also the only low level island he could find that was perfect for Sky to train. Most users in the beginning spend their time traveling and finding perfect spots to train.
Sky didn't realize that he was nearly a month away from reaching Peeves.
'I feel bad.' The old man looked around, but there was nothing he could do for Sky.
A rule that systems abide when they are guiding their users is that they cannot help out directly, they can give them warnings at most, guide them, give them items, skills, or missions only if they earned it, but all of the work has to be done by the user.
Some systems go above and beyond and just abandon their users in some world and hope for the best.
Sky noticed the sun was about to set and was getting worried. He could just leave his motorboat out in the open, but he might come across some sea monsters who are more active during the night, or pirates.
Sea monsters are a rare occurrence where he lives. But at night they attack anybody they see.
Sky continued to keep a lookout for any nearby islands. He refilled on gas when the motorboat showed it was low.
Night fell, and Sky could barely see with the moonlight. He purposely did not turn on any lights as that was basically an easy way for sea monsters to see him.
Sky took out his slime staff preparing to face sea monsters. He wasn't scared at the moment, but he knew if a sea monster were to appear and destroy his motorboat he'd be dead.
'Wait, do slime shots even travel underwater?' Sky didn't think of that possibility.
He placed his staff back in his inventory and decided to rely on water slice. Sky looked beside the boat every now and then, he couldn't see anything because it was practically pitch black, but he couldn't help but think that a sea monster would pop up any moment.
'Wait, I see light! Land!' Sky saw an island with lights and buildings. He'd never been happier to see one.
All of a sudden a chill ran up his spine as he could sense something underneath him, something very strong, big, and fast, and it was coming towards him.
{Sense lvl up: lvl 4: can detect things up to a 100 meter radius}
*CRASH*
Sky felt how the monster jumped underneath his motorboat and launched him dozens of feet into the air.
Sky landed in the water, he couldn't see the monster properly since it was dark but he could sense it, it appeared to be 14-16 meters long, and had a snake like body
'Sea serpent.' Sky thought. He began swimming towards the island as fast as he could.
'Stats.' Sky placed all his 15 stat points into speed.
{Spd: 27+5}
He felt his speed increase drastically and he began swimming faster than he ever could.
'Faster goddammit!' Sky thought as he swam for his life.
The sea serpent noticed something swimming away from it. He began swimming after it.
'Shit!' Sky sensed the sea serpent coming after him. He can't rely on his water slice since it was still weak and he could tell that it wouldn't affect the sea serpent at all. His slime attack could deal a lot of damage but underwater he didn't even know if it would work.
With the serpent catching up to him Sky thought of all sorts of ideas that didn't work.
'Screw it. Inventory!' Sky took out an item from his inventory.
Once the sea serpent got close enough to Sky and opened his mouth, Sky threw the baboon claws straight at his mouth.
*HISSSS*
The sea serpent realized he swallowed something sharp that was starting to cut the inside of his mouth. Its body jerked around angrily as it was trying to cough up the item it swallowed.
Sky could see the notifications pop up in front of him.
{Dealt 2 damage}
{Dealt 2 damage}
{...}
Sky ignored the notifications popping up but continued swimming towards land.
Miraculously Sky made it to the island's shore. The notifications kept popping up in front of him.
"My boat." Sky looked at the area where the sea serpent was, he could still hear it flailing around angrily trying to cough up the baboon claws, and thanks to the moonlight he could see its silhouette moving.
Thankfully he still had the compass in his inventory.
'Identify.'
{Sea serpent}
{HP: 572/600}
{Mana: 0}
{Stats: Str: 40. Dex: 0. Spd: 75. Int: 12. Mind: 14. Vig: 50}
Sky felt that he made the correct choice to run away. There is no way he was going to win against that monster especially in its own territory.
Once the notifications disappeared the sea serpent dove back into the ocean, meaning that it managed to spit out the baboon claws.
Sky couldn't see where the snake spat out the baboon claws, but there is the chance they're at the bottom of the ocean.
"Whatever, I'm safe. But now I don't have a boat anymore."
Sky walked towards the island. It was about the same size as the one where his home was.
The shops were already closed for the day. Sky entered a small building with a "Hotel" sign hanging above it. Sky didn't feel tired, but he wanted to rest.
The interior of the hotel was small but it was nice and clean. There was a small counter with a girl around Sky's age. There was also a sofa on the side of the wall and a rug on the entrance.
"Oh my god, are you okay? What happened to you?"
She asked because he appeared dripping wet from head to toe, and was shirtless. His pants were ripped and had blood stains on it.
"Long story. Do you have any clothes I can buy or borrow?"
'Identify.' Sky couldn't help but be curious about an ordinary person's stats look like.
{Adriana Blank}
{HP: 160}
{Mana: 25/25}
{Stats Str: 5. Dex:5. Spd: 5. Int: 5 Mind: 6. Vig: 6}
'I can also see their names?'
"Um, the store beside us is open 24/7. They sell clothes."
"Okay, I'll be back, thank you. Wait, how much is it to stay the night?"
"12 shells."
Sky left the building. And just as she said there was a building beside the hotel, it didn't look like a store but a house.
Sky entered the building and there was a large selection of clothes that was handing on rails all over the walls.
"Holy crap, man." There was an old, tall, but obese man behind the counter. He couldn't help but be surprised to see someone in Sky's state. "What happened?"
"Long story. I wanna buy some clothes."
"Uh… sure, anything you see here is for sale."
Sky picked up every clothes that was his size, the shop owner rarely has people buy so much stuff.
The man in front of him also had stats around 5-6.
Sky left after paying 600 shells worth of clothes. He transformed them into cards and stored them in his inventory. Sky walked back into the hotel.
"You'll be charged an extra ten shells an hour if you go past the time." She said after Sky placed the money on the counter.
"Your key."
She handed him a key with a white shell chain that had the number '6' written on it.
"Thanks, sorry about the rug."
"It's okay. Is there anything I can do? I mean your pants are covered in blood, and torn."
"No, everything is fine."
Sky entered his room. There was a bathroom, a small sofa, a bed, and a closet.
Sky took off his clothes and threw them in the trash. After that he took a hot shower.
Then he threw himself on the bed, comfortably dressed, warm, and feeling refreshed. Before he knew it he fell asleep.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
Sky woke up as he sensed and heard someone knocking on the door, he knew who it was.
Sky opened the door and saw it was the girl from the counter.
"Yes?"
"Um, you went over your time by two hours. I wasn't sure if you were still in your room."
"Oh, yeah, I'll pay the money in a bit."
"Okay." Before she left Sky called out to her.
"Excuse me, is there a shop open that sells weapons? And boats?"
"You can find an old lady who sells boats around the corner. As for weapons, there's a shop on the way that sells harpoons, guns, and whatnot."
"What about maps? Does anybody sell maps?"
"I have a map if you want. Just pay the money you owe me and I'll give it to you for free."
"Cool."
Sky took one last shower, changed his looks and left his room.
The girl had a map on the counter ready.
Sky placed the money on the counter, he didn't mind, he had a lot from grinding and thanks to his parents.
"Do you know where Peeves is?" Sky asked.
"Peeves? I think I've seen it on the map. Oh, it's all the way over here." She pointed at a part of the map.
Sky took a look, that place was definitely Peeves.
"And where on the map are we?"
"Over here." She placed her finger on the other side of the map.
'What?' Sky couldn't believe it.
"Is Peeves really that far?"
"I mean, yeah, it's like a 3-4 week trip."
'How the hell did I get all the way here?' Sky thought, it didn't make any sense.
"Is there any way I can send a message to Peeves?"
Sky remembers the time when he ran his shop, his parents would order materials from other islands through carrier pigeons. He at least wanted to let his parents know he was safe.
"We don't send messages that far. But if you go here," she pointed to another part of the map, a huge island, "this place is called 'Harbot's,' it's a heavily populated kingdom and I'm sure they send messages to far away islands. It's about a few hours from here."
"Thank you. I can keep the map, right?"
"Of course. It's an old one that we were gonna throw out anyways."
"See you, Adriana."
"Bye... wait, how did you know my name?"
Sky left after waving the girl goodbye without looking back. He first went to the weapon's shop. It was a small outdoor shop.
"What can I do for you?" An old skinny man asked.
"Do you have any weapons?" Sky asked.
"...no, we don't have any weapons here." He pointed to a wall behind him that had a lot of weapons.
"Do you have any mana weapons?"
"Mana weapons? No, but you'll probably find them at Harbot's. We only sell ordinary weapons here."
"How much for a sword?"
"150 shells per."
"And shields?"
"120 shells per."
Sky took out some cards from his pocket and placed them on the counter, each had a picture of a gold shell.
The old man took the cards and said, "activate."
Each card transformed into gold shells.
"Huh, you're a rich boy. How many weapons do you want?"
"Three swords, and three shields."
Sky wanted shields in case he ever needed them.
The old man returned with three swords and shields. He placed 90 shells on the counter.
Sky inspected the swords and shields.
Each shield blocked 20 damage. Each sword can deal over 20 damage per hit, none of the weapons scaled with his stats.
The best part about these weapons is that the requirements to use them were low.
"Your change."
"Thanks."
Sky turned the shields and swords into cards and placed them in his pocket.
"Oh, you have that card ability." The old man raised his eyebrow. The card ability was very useful for carrying large items.
"Yeah, I do."
"I have a small job for you: can you transform all these weapons in my shop into cards?"
Before Sky could reply a new notification popped up.
{!!!}
{New quest found: help the old man out with his request}
{Rewards: 100 sea shells, 30 exp}
{Quest failure: none}
'I can also get quests like this?'
"No, I'm in a bit of a hurry." Sky also felt that the rewards were decent, but he wanted to get back to his parents.
{Quest declined}
"Understandable. Come back if you want for the small job. Anything else?"
"Do you have any sea scrolls?"
"Boy, anything related to portal items can be found in Harbot's or another major city or kingdom."
"I see, thanks."
"Yeah, sure."
Sky believed he didn't need anything else. The old man had a variety of weapons but he wanted to stick to swords, and his staff, and if he needed to he would use his shields or knife.
Sky managed to find a shop near the shore who sells boats. It was an old, skinny woman, with lots of wrinkles on her face.
"Hi." Sky entered the store.
The old woman was reading a book behind the counter.
"Hello, young man." She placed the book on the counter.
"How much are your motorboats?"
"I prefer to call them speed boats, but they're worth 2,000 shells each."
"Oh. I'll take one, no, I'll take two. Make sure they're your smallest boats." Sky didn't know what to do the next time his motorboat gets destroyed and he's stranded on an island.
{Card transformation: lvl 5: able to transform items into cards that are less than a 5 meter radius}
Before his boat was destroyed he managed to level up his skill to level five. It seemed that leveling up to level six was going to take a while.
And since some motorboats are around 5 meters it was perfect.
Sky was already on the same level as his dad when it comes to transforming objects into cards.
"I'll ask my son to unchain the motorboats. Hang on a second." The old woman hurriedly ran to get her son.
Sky took a look around to see if there was anything else he wanted to buy. The shop also sold a variety of fishing equipment and books related to fishing, fixing ships, and swimming for noobs.
Sky grabbed a hold of one of the books that caught his eye, and to his surprise a new notification popped up.
{!!!}
{Would you like to learn this skill?}
{Yes} {No}
'What?' Sky was confused, he can also learn skills from books?
He clicked yes, to his surprise the book disappeared into light particles.
{Learned {Ship repairing: lvl 1: able to fix interior and exterior design of low level ships}
Sky could feel knowledge about the book flow into his mind.
'What more can the system offer me?' Sky kept learning something new about the system.
The old woman's son showed Sky to his boats. Sky handed the old woman the money in exact change.
The man was fairly tall with a buzz cut, a square chin, and was muscular.
Out of curiosity Sky wanted to know exactly what the man's stats were.
{Peter Jefferson}
{HP: 190/190}
{Mana: 25/25}
{Str: 10. Dex: 5. Speed: 7. Int: 5. Mind: 6. Vig 9}
"Anything else, kid?" Peter asked.
"Yeah… is there a library here?"
"No, you can find one in Harbot's though."
'Of course its at Harbot's.'
Sky waved the family goodbye. He transformed one of the motorboats into a card and placed it inside his inventory. Using his map and compass he was able to determine where Harbot's is located.
"Okay, Harbot's it is."
Sky's only goal upon reaching Harbot's is to contact his parents so he could let them know he was alive. After that he'll find a way to make it to Peeves.
"But it wouldn't hurt to practice my skills on the way."
With one hand resting on the wheel, he used {water slice} over and over again.