Seven days later…
"Dinner is ready." Mabel said.
Jay, Katelyn, and Jericho sat down on the table.
Behind them was Sky slowly making his way to the dinner table. Every second his entire body twitched in pain.
After seven days had gone by they were used to seeing Sky be in pain.
Once he sat down Sky he injected the antidote on his thigh.
"Ahhhhh…" Sky was satisfied to feel the pain was gone.
{Poison resistance: lvl 8: 40% resistance to poison}
{Poison eye: lvl 5: 180 damage per second}
{Healing touch: lvl 5: Heals 1300 HP. Able to heal others from a 55m radius without touching}
Every level his poison eye increased the damage increased by thirty. And every time he heals himself his healing touch does as well.
He used poison eye on fishes he would catch and throw them back into the ocean, because using the same skill repeatedly on himself does not work unless he gets rid of the poison first. If he followed such a method he would have already run out of antidotes.
Sky only uses the antidote on himself when he is about to sleep or eat. He tried to eat while poisoned and nearly choked on his food.
"Captain, I really don't understand how the antidote works that fast on you. It should not be possible because it doesn't make sense." Jay said.
It was true, no antidote immediately works upon injecting it. It takes several minutes or longer for the antidote to take effect.
"I know I am just that weird." Sky grinned and healed himself.
{Skill level up}
{Healing touch: lvl 6: Heals 1450 HP. Can heal others at a 60m radius without touching}
'Oh, nice.' Sky loved seeing his hard work was paying off.
Everyone sat at the table and enjoyed their food prepared by a loving mother. The table and chairs were bought by Jericho and her family the last time they docked their ship on the island.
"This is really good." Jay said while stuffing his mouth.
"Thank you, Jay." Mabel smiled.
'Yeah, she keeps improving.' Sky thought.
{Cooking: lvl 5}
Her cooking skill also increased and she had no idea. She'll only continue to keep growing under the system's influence.
"Hey, Jay, how did you get that scar on your cheek?" Jericho suddenly asked.
Everyone did wonder about his scar but no one asked because they thought it was a sensitive topic.
Jericho however thought they were close enough to ask such a sensitive topic.
"Oh, this? It's a bit of a long story if you're interested." Jay would have told anyone about the scar on his cheek but no one asked.
"Sure."
Everyone listened attentively.
"So this happened when I was fourteen or maybe fifteen. I was at Abigail's house, I bet all of you know who she is?"
Everyone nodded. They all heard about his failed love story.
"So on this night I was at her house. Her family was with my family. I think they were out drinking or something? Anyways while we're talking this drunk pirate with a knife breaks into her house and swings his knife at us. I remember rushing towards the man because I only thought about protecting Abigail. I was able to pin the pirate down but he managed to hurt me twice, here on my cheek, and here."
Jay rolled up his shirt to show beside his stomach another scar.
"I was stabbed here on my stomach and lost a lot of blood. Luckily one of the neighbors heard the commotion and took care of the wounds, she is a very nice old lady. The drunk pirate was sent to prison and I never heard from him again."
Everyone looked at him in disbelief.
"Wait, let me get this straight." Katelyn took a long breath and said what everyone else was thinking.
"You were an amazing friend to Abigail your entire life, you're good looking, tall, handsome, dependable, protected her from a drunk pirate, had a steady job, both of your guys' parents are good people and are friends, she knew you were in love with her for so long, you were loyal to her, you're a good person… and yet she never accepted you?"
"When you put it like that… yeah." Jay nodded several times.
When he protected her that night he didn't do it so she could fall in love with him, he did it to protect her because she was an important person to him. He would have done the same for anyone he cared for.
"Jay, I'm just going to say this: you deserve so much better than Abigail, like WAY better. If she didn't accept you for who you are and what you did for her all that time then she lost someone amazing. Any woman will fall head over heels for you if you treat them 1/10 like how you treated Abigail."
Katelyn was surprised. She has never seen something like this in any romance novel she has read.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Thanks, Katelyn. But I've been chasing her for my whole life, for now I just want to explore, have an adventure and have fun. I don't want to fall in love again any time soon" Jay smiled wryly.
The realization that Abigail did not love him had a deep impact on him. Jay was thinking perhaps he wasn't meant for love.
Sky wasn't surprised Jay was loyal to her; it was a part of his personality. But if you test a loyal man's patience for too long he won't remain loyal forever and will eventually seek other options.
But Sky was secretly glad Abigail was dumb enough to not see that. If Jay and Abigail had been a thing there was zero chance Jay would want to join his crew. Finding a talented person with good personality traits was very rare.
It is why Sky wanted to give him and Jericho payments as a way to keep them loyal to him.
Sky was the first one to stand up.
"Thanks for the food. I'll be in the quarters if you need me."
'I am so glad I bought so many antidotes. Poison eye.'
"ACK!" Sky could feel the pain of the poison. It was somewhat bearable after his poison resistance skill leveled up significantly but it was still painful.
Sky sat down on his bed while still groaning in pain. He took out a pen from his inventory and levitated it with his wind ability all while healing himself.
{Wind runner: lvl 5: 50% faster. Can produce and manipulate the air at an low-expert level}
Sky wanted to use his time as best as he could and leveled up multiple skills at once.
*Knock* *Knock*
After a while Sky heard some knocking on his door.
"Sky, can I speak with you?" Jericho said through the other side of the door.
"What do YOU want?" Sky couldn't help raise his voice from the sudden pain.
"It's something I want to talk to you about in person."
Sky jammed the antidote down his thigh again to rid of the poison.
'I still have about 80 or so antidotes. Thank god I bought an abundance of them.'
"Come in."
Jericho opened the door, closed it and sat beside Sky with an obvious happy look on her face.
"What?" Sky was confused, why did she look so happy?
"I think Kate likes Jay." Jericho was happy to tell Sky her suspicions.
"You think so? What makes you say that?" Sky never realized.
"When we were at the table Kate was complimenting Jay which she rarely does. And she also said
"any woman would fall in love with you" meaning her as well."
"I mean she was just stating facts." Sky said.
"True but she said it with emotion. And when Jay said "I don't want to fall in love again soon" she seemed let down as if she got rejected."
"Really?" Sky thought he was oblivious to not notice.
"My mom thinks so as well and agrees with me. What do you think?"
"I don't know, honestly." Sky said truthfully.
Sky has never had a romantic relationship in past, not due to the lack of trying.
"If they were to get married, can you make it official and wed them?" Jericho was brimming with joy.
Much like her sister, Jericho had a thing for love stories with happy endings.
"What makes you think I can wed them?"
"You're the Captain. You have the legal power to wed others."
"Captains can do that? I can actually do that?" Sky asked, shocked.
"Yeah, you didn't know?"
"No, not at all."
"Have you been living under a rock?"
"No..."
Sky knows that officials from the Caribbean are allowed to wed others. It was how his parents got married.
"Uh-huh… Apparently it's true. My mom said that most couples bond after spending so much time out at sea. So captains have the legal power to wed couples. Isn't that amazing?"
"Huh, never knew that but it makes sense."
"It's only a matter of time. Look." Jericho pulled Sky to the door and opened it slightly.
They saw Katelyn and Jay talking but they couldn't hear them.
"Have you noticed Kate has been unusually close to Jay these past few days? And she's slowly getting closer."
Katelyn was practically leaning her whole body on Jay and he didn't seem to mind or care. She was acting feminine, playing with her hair, touching his hand, smiling, complimenting him on everything, laughing at his jokes.
On the other hand Jay seemed clueless or perhaps was ignoring her.
"True… but it looks to me like it's one-sided."
"Can you blame him? It's not like he received any love back from Abigail all those years so he doesn't know it." Jericho said.
"Hm, good point but sad."
"Hey, Sky, have you never had a girlfriend or been in love?" Jericho asked curiously. She suspected Sky was too clueless to not realize these things.
Sky looked back at her with a deadpan look on his face. He picked her up by the shirt like how one would carry a sack of potatoes, and tossed her away gently leaving her confused.
"???"
"Bye, Jericho."
'Some things are better left unsaid, Jericho.' For him that was a sore topic to discuss.
Jericho heard Sky groan from pain on the other side of the door and left him be.
'Guess not.' Jericho thought.
Another week went by…
Everyone made it to Marjack without any problems.
"Woah, that's a huge island." Sky said.
"This is one of the islands I thought of temporarily hiding out with Katelyn since no one would expect it. Of course I had other places in mind." Mabel added.
Marjack was the third biggest island in the Land of the Dead.
It had tight security with many Caribbean men patrolling the areas. All of their stats were around 500 and above.
It has multiple villages, a lush forest, a desert, schools, libraries, and is heavily populated. It would be more wise to call it a small city than a large island.
They docked the ship and went searching for a place to stay.
"Sky, how much money do we have?" Jericho asked.
"47,000,000."
"That's a lot!"
"We're looking for a cheap place to live so we won't burden you." Mabel said.
"Yours and Katelyn's safety are top priority, and so what if we have to spend some money looking for a good place for you to live?" Sky sounded worried for their safety but he was more worried about his quest.
After a long while they searched for houses in a good neighborhood where they'll be protected.
Along the way Sky noticed the Caribbean men following them but he didn't mind it. In a way this was good news because it meant Katelyn and Mabel will have extra protection.
"Two million… three million… three-point-two million, man even the cheapest houses are in the millions." Sky said.
He was glad that back in Peeves where his parents lived was cheaper compared to Marjack. The difference in prices was because both islands were on vastly different locations.
Sky looked at Jericho and noticed she was also worried. They did not have the luxury to spend a lot of money unless it was necessary, but buying a good house for them was very necessary and expensive.
"Sky, we really don't mind-"
"Mabel, it's okay." Sky said, "I can make the money easily and like I said, yours and Katelyn's safety are my top priority."
Mabel would try to convince Sky to settle for a cheaper house. She was grateful he was helping them but felt very guilty about it.
In the end they settled for a decent house worth 7.3 million shells.
{Shells: 40.2m}
"What do you think?" Sky asked.
"It's perfect." Mabel said.
"I'm also leaving you guys with three million just in case."
{Shells: 37.2m}
"This is too much, Sky."
"No, you should use the money to your advantage in case we fail to pay back the debt on time. Use it to escape or something."
"Well… okay." Mabel accepted the money.
"Great, we really have to go now, we wasted a lot of time. Let's go, Jericho. Say goodbye to your mom and sister… Wait, where is Katelyn?"
"I don't see Jay either." Jericho looked around.
Both of them realized something and looked at each other, it was as if they both knew what they were both thinking, 'You don't think!'
"I TOLD YOU!" Jericho was happy.
All three returned to the ship. They were standing right outside of the crew's quarters.
"Yep, they're in there, and they're together… and they're uh…*looks at Jericho* sleeping soundly." Sky sensed both of them inside his ship.
After getting used to sensing others he could accurately tell who is who without looking and what they're doing.
Mabel closed her eyes. She semi-expected this but not so soon. She took the largest breath of her life.
"Sky, allow me." Mabel had a calm look on her eyes and a creepy smile.
Sky recognized that look. It was a look all mothers have, including his.
The only time Sky's mother looked at him like that he had set his entire house on fire.
Sky grabbed Jericho by the shoulders and gently pulled her away with him. He purposely put her in front of him as if he was taking cover from an explosion.
"Is something wrong?" Jericho looked at Sky, confused.
"It's uh… why don't you ask your mom after the aftermath is over?"
"Aftermath? But they're just together, alone."
Sky looked at her and couldn't help but admire her innocence.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Katelyn, Jay, I know what you're doing. Come out and no one gets hurt."
They all heard loud and heavy stomps echoing throughout the ship. Jay exited the room first while putting his pants and shirt on. He was sweating, breathing heavily, and mostly panicking.
"MRS. Mabel! Did we arri-"
Sky shook his head as if he was saying "don't lie to her, man. Don't make it worse."
Jay faced down while putting on his clothes.
"MOM!" Katelyn was also putting on her clothes, "Did we arrive already? I'll go make breakfast!"
As Katelyn was about to flee Mabel grabbed her arm.
"Sit down, the both of you." Mabel said firmly.
Sky is the Captain but even he cowered in fear.
They both sat down and looked like a bunch of sad puppies.
"I am not mad. Just surprised. Hmhmhmhmhmhm…" Mabel chuckled to herself maniacally.
Jericho recognized that laugh and she hid behind Sky.
'Hey, you're supposed to be the human shield!' Sky thought.
"Both of you are SO lucky we are in a dire situation. And you, Jay, are lucky I got the time to know these past two weeks and that you're also helping us, otherwise *snip*" She mimicked a scissor with her fingers.
Jay couldn't help but cover his groin area.
"Katelyn."
"YES!" Katelyn's voice cracked.
"Say goodbye to your sister. We won't be seeing her in a while."
Sky's plan was to sail further away where there was less competition for portals. He could not afford to fight exterminators when they could be powerful, unlike in the Land of the Free.
Everyone knew of his plan and they agreed on it.
"Um, yes." Katelyn, still shooked to her core, walked up to Jericho and hugged her tightly. "Take care, Jeri. Call us when you have the chance."
"Bye, Kate. I'll be back with the money, I promise."
Katelyn made a run for it not before looking back and waving at Jay.
Jay waved back at her and smiled wryly.
After saying their goodbye's Mabel hugged Sky, "Take care of my little baby."
"I will. She's (important for making me stronger) precious to me." Sky said.
Mabel looked back at Jay and made a gesture with her saying, mouthing, 'I will be watching you.'
Jay didn't know what to say and just smiled.
Mabel secretly laughed to herself. 'Lucky for Jay, he's a good man for my daughter. And that if they don't make it back in time, Katelyn will at least be protected as well.'
Mabel was relieved that at least both her daughters will be safe. Any loving parent would put their children first before anything else.
Once she left Sky immediately set sail to the seas.
"Jay, what did you and Kate do that made my mom act like that?" Jericho was naturally curious.
Sky and Jay looked at each other. None of them wanted to explain it.
"Captain, wanna do the honors?"
"This is something you're gonna have to deal with." Sky teleported to the top of his ship.
Jericho looked back and forward unsure why they did not want to tell her.
Jay sighed. "I got myself into this mess. SO! Jericho, let me tell you about the birds and bees. So when a guy and girl-"
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Jericho got down on her knees and began laughing uncontrollably.
Sky and Jay looked at her weirdly.
"I'm just messing with you two. I already know about sex. My mother told me long ago." Jericho wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Oh thank god!" Jay was relieved.
'Wait, she could have just called her mom and asked her.' Thought Jay.
"Good one!" Sky said from above. He was impressed by her acting as he was also fooled.
"So, Jay, when did you and Kate fall in love? Especially after you said "I won't fall in love anytime soon" like six days ago. Unless this is a fling." Jericho looked at him, curiously, she just enjoyed hearing other people's love stories.
"No, it's not a fling and I don't think you should know what that word means."
Jericho shrugged her shoulders.
"I am serious about your sister. She's the one. And I love her."
"HA!" Jericho pointed at Sky. "And you said it was one-sided."
"..." Sky.
"But seriously, she better not be a rebound or else!" Jericho waved her tiny fist at him.
"How do you know what that means?"
Meanwhile…
Mabel guided Katelyn to their new house. She closed the door. Katelyn's whole body went cold as if she expected the punishment of a lifetime.
'Is it too late to join Jay?'
"Katelyn, I'm angry at you. Very angry."
"But mom-"
"Let me finish! I am not angry at what you did, you're a grown woman now and you picked a good man. What I'm angry about is that you picked a bad time to do it. You know what Abigail did to him! And now he clearly likes you, and what if Sky and the rest don't pay back the debt in time? Do you know how affected Jericho and Jay will be?"
Katelyn looked down at the floor. She did not think that through.
"I'm happy you picked a good man. But I am just angry you could potentially hurt him."
"Sorry."
"We just better hope they make it back in time. Until then help me out with something."
"Okay."
Meanwhile…
Sky and the others reached another red portal.
{Jungle dungeon: Red}
{Monsters: ???}
{Boss: ???}
{Reward: Shells, exp, red scroll, red grade item}
Sky sometimes forgets his {Identify} ability can see the themes of dungeons before entering. The one thing he cannot see are the monsters and bosses after he has cleared it.
Not to mention he can see the guaranteed rewards as well.
"Ready everybody?" Sky asked.
Everyone nodded.
They entered the portal and were faced with thick forest jungle.
"Oh, no." Jay said.
They all looked up and noticed the sky itself was red.
"Oh, no." Jericho said.
They all knew what that meant, this was an irregular portal/dungeon.
{Anomaly detected: All monsters will explode upon death}
"Oh, no." Sky said.