CG Chapter 38: Sea Voyage
Tom took his first step out of the store, and his body began to slowly crumble as his soul flew away on a journey to a new and more exciting world.
While Tom was solely focused on his new adventure on the ground:
The Infinite Merchant looked at his ebony cat before he slowly made his way to the door. However, moments before he could touch the door's handle, he felt a paw tugging at him.
"You can't deal with that person. Being there all this time, yet you didn't even notice."
The Infinite Merchant knew that what his cat was saying was correct. However, he couldn't shake his curiosity.
"Fine." One word left his mouth as he returned to his seat, listening to the new symphony the cat started playing. The notes carried him through time and space. He felt at peace.
.
.
.
Tom opened his eyes only to feel that his surroundings were moving unsteadily. He noticed that he was in a small room. As he started to take his first breath in this place, the smell of water, accompanied by the smell of salted fish, filled his lungs.
Shortly after, new memories began to gush in like a torrent through his mind. He began to gather his thoughts while analyzing his surroundings. The sound of multiple men singing as if they were one entered his ears.
"Ships on the ocean, bound for the unknown,
Sailin' through storms, where legends have grown.
From distant shores to new lands, we roam,
Charting a course, we'll make it our own.
Oh-ho-oh
The whispers of the salty sea."
This song was accompanied by the music of a ship making its way through the sea.
As Tom merged with the new memories at an astonishing speed. He knew that this place had something that he had been desiring for a long time.
'Seven kingdoms, with each following a certain god. And a world where one knight can defeat an army of a hundred men.' Tom couldn't help but start laughing out loudly after receiving this revelation.
After his burst of excitement, Tom regained his rationality as he felt that something was off about this whole journey, 'sea voyage? More like death voyage.'
The identity of his body wasn't simple. He was the first son of the noble house of Flameheart, Edward Von Flameheart. However, while he had the birthright to the baron title compared to his younger brother and sister, he understood that he had a much lower political advantage than them, especially with the fact that his brother was a middle-rank Apprentice Knight while he was but a mortal.
'Death of the rightful holder to the title will naturally cause the position to move to the next male heir.' Tom thought as he smiled, 'I guess this is going to become a true death voyage.'
'Before I do anything… It has been a while,' Tom told himself as his smile grew. 'Noor, show me my stats.'
[Stats Panel]
[Name: Thomas Blackwood (Current: Edward Von Flameheart)]
[Gender: Male]
[Species: Human]
[Health: 63/68]
[Strength: 0.72]
[Agility: 0.74]
[Intelligence: 2.3]
[Unknown: 0.0]
"Shit, these stats are worse than a child." When he saw his stats, Tom knew that he would need to change his plans as he couldn't defeat all of the crew of the ship face to face. He knew that there was a knight among the crew, although he didn't know who.
'Let's see, Noor. Sort through my memory and find the quickest way to get stronger. If you can find a technique that would increase my strength, then that would be great.'
[Ongoing analysis…]
[Result: Zero memory of technique]
[Causes: The original body's host was trash, so he didn't learn any of his family's knight arts.]
When the thought of sinking the entire ship and running away on a lifeboat made its way to him, a new idea came to Tom. 'The cursed bottleneck which restored my stats to max two is now supposedly broken. This means... that even my mortal techniques will show greater results than they could ever display.'
Without hesitation, Tom's fingers moved swiftly and gracefully as he initiated an improved version of the 'Blossom Fingers' technique. This allowed him to boost the blood flow throughout his body for a short period.
Tom didn't wait as he began doing different weird exercises, from jumping to push-ups. His body did tens of push-ups in seconds. As he changed his form, he moved all around the room in a quick yet silent motion.
However, his momentum soon came to a halt, and he felt that his energy was thoroughly exhausted. After all, his physical stats were still trash.
Tom grabbed a piece of cloth and wiped away his sweat. He examined his body as he felt it had grown incredibly by simply doing exercises.
"It's time to gather some information." Tom made his way to the upper deck.
He wanted to see for himself the strengths and weaknesses of every crew member. While not all of them were out to get him, since some of them came as part of the ship-renting company to ensure its safety, they still would have to die so that he could keep his powers hidden for the time being.
Reaching the upper deck, the smell of the salty sea filled him with energy. He started to count every member of the crew. Whether strong or weak, young or old, they were all dead people in his eyes.
Amongst all of these simple folk, a man flipping the pages of a book shined like the sun's rays on a hot summer day. His build, demeanor, and confidence made clear that he was the knight who led the mission for his life, although he was unsure about which level he was. The only thing he was confident in was that the possibility of the man being higher than an apprentice knight was minuscule.
Hmm, since they outnumber him by 30-to-1. Tom decided to mow their numbers down by using the favorite weapon of righteous people: poison.