"Welcome to the Global Maritime Survival Game…"
"You will spend the rest of your life on the sea…"
"Don't worry about diseases or disabilities, this system will heal all your ailments and give you a fair starting point…"
"You are free to sail across the sea, and do whatever you desire…"
"Will you remain a nameless nobody or become famous across the seas? It all depends on you…"
"The ocean will offer endless possibilities, but there is one thing you must remember."
"Keep moving forward, and never let the black fog catch up with you."
"The black fog is currently moving at a speed of 10 knots!"
...
A strange voice echoed in Lucas Hall's mind.
He awoke to find himself lying on an old bed.
As he attempted to get up, a cloud of dust was kicked into the air, causing him to cough.
Looking around, he found himself in a dim, narrow room.
Not far away, there was a table with a dried-up skeleton on it. The left hand of the skeleton still clutched a rusted matchlock pistol, and half of the skull was missing, seemingly from a self-inflicted death.
"What is this...?"
Lucas didn't show fear. Instead, he looked at his thin, bony hands.
He had actually stood up. This was nothing short of a miracle!
Just moments ago, Lucas had been completely paralyzed. Now, he had miraculously recovered his health!
At the age of twelve, Lucas had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. By the age of twenty, he was fully paralyzed.
But he never gave up on his life. He continued to play games with his mouth and live-streamed, using the money he earned to support himself, all the way until he was twenty-five.
He often played horror games, so seeing the immobile skeletons didn't faze him much.
"The voice… it's true!"
Lucas muttered as he looked out the window.
There was an endless expanse of the ocean, with waves rising and falling every now and then.
At the same time, the strange voice echoed again, difficult to tell if it was male or female.
"You should all know where you are by now!"
"Indeed, you are all on the sea. Each of you is over five hundred nautical miles away from one another, and you won't be meeting anytime soon."
"There should be a small booklet near you, titled 'Navigation Log'."
"It has many useful functions that will allow you to communicate without barriers. You can try it for yourself."
"As for other information, it will be announced later. Stay tuned…"
The voice disappeared.
Lucas looked down and found the small booklet on the bed. The cover was black, with the words "Navigation Log" written in bold.
It emitted a faint glow, almost as if it were calling to Lucas to open it.
He picked it up and opened it. The first page contained the rules.
[1. No one can board your ship without permission.]
[2. Your ship's belongings cannot be stolen by other players unless you are dead.]
[3. Every ship is equipped with grappling hooks, which are infinitely durable. Feel free to grab drifting objects!]
[4. You need to upgrade and strengthen your ship to make it look sufficiently secure.]
[5. Be cautious during the night. Beware of the mist. Once you are caught by the black fog behind you, you will die.]
[6. This manual is soul-bound. You can browse it in your mind.]
[7. On the sea, you will never feel lonely.]
The booklet felt like skin. Lucas flipped to the next page.
The second page displayed the weather report for the day, which he skipped for now.
The third page showed his status information.
Lucas Hall
Status: Healthy
(A large human figure in green)
(Attributes for adults are all averaged at 5. They can be improved to a maximum of 10 through training.)
Strength: 3 (0/50)
Mental: 7+1 (0/8000) (The higher your mental state, the stronger your resistance to insanity, and the faster your sanity recovery.)
Agility: 4 (0/100)
Constitution: 3 (0/50)
Perception: 5 (0/200)
Sanity: 100/100 (If your sanity falls below 50, you will go mad; below 30, suicidal thoughts will occur; below 10...)
Energy: 100/100 (If your energy falls below 50, you will feel drowsy; below 30, you may faint.)
Health: 100/100
Talents:
Iron Will: You never give up. Your mental limit increases by +1. You will always retain at least 1 sanity, and you will not commit suicide. If your sanity drops significantly (below 50), you will enter a state of madness.
Lucas looked over his attributes, feeling a bit relieved.
The required experience for the low attributes was quite low, so upgrading them shouldn't be too difficult.
He flipped to the next section, which contained the chat channels.
There were three categories: World Chat, Regional Chat, and Private Chat.
The world channel was the most active, with messages coming in rapidly.
"Is anyone here?"
"What's going on?"
"I was in the middle of taking a shit, and the next thing I know, I'm on a ship!"
"I'm the only one here! Can anyone help? I need to call the cops!"
"Who kidnapped me? Do you know who my dad is?"
"Maybe your dad's here too!"
"Son, is that you?"
"Don't be silly."
"My broken arm is healed…."
"Is this not a dream?"
...
There were tens of billions of players online. It seemed like everyone had been dragged into this.
Lucas didn't rush to speak. Instead, he observed the chat, gathering potential information.
Each person could only send ten messages per day on the world channel. Anything beyond that would require using "Sea Shell Coins." A hundred Sea Shell Coins for one extra message.
He didn't know what Sea Shell Coins were yet, and he didn't have any.
After about ten minutes, the chaotic messages slowly began to settle down, and the conversation started to become more meaningful.
"Are your manuals also seven rules?"
"Anyone want to team up? I'm looking to form a group!"
"We're too far apart, and there are no coordinates. We can't team up yet!"
"We should share information and help each other out!"
"Did you check your ship? I found some equipment."
Below was the equipment's description.
Name: Blood-Stained Harpoon
Type: Relic
Quality: Good (Item Grades: Common, Good, Fine, Rare, Epic, Heroic, Master...)
Description: Very sharp, capable of dealing minor damage to the Cthulhu beasts and agitating them.
Note: Using relics comes with the risk of sanity loss.
The world channel exploded with comments.
"What are Cthulhu beasts? Is there a monster in this world?"
"I don't have anything! I just found some fresh water, bread, and vegetables in the ship's cabin."
"You have vegetables? All I got was sausages!"
In this world, vegetables were more precious than meat.
"My ship, how big is yours? My ship's over a hundred meters long, it's huge…"
"What! My ship is only ten meters long!"
The person quickly sent more details about the ship.
Iron Heart
Level 1, Durability 5000/5000, Capacity 8000 units, Speed 5 knots
Ship Ability: Full Throttle – Increases the cannon firing rate by 200% for 15 minutes.
Triple Harpoon – Can pierce through certain objects.
Description: It may not be fast, but you better make sure you're faster than the black fog!
"Damn! This game is so unfair. His ship has cannons even though it's level one!"
"Special ships have abilities. My ship is a blank slate."
"I'm going to reroll! Is there a microtransaction shop? I have money!"
"Are you idiots? His ship's speed is only 5 knots, slower than the black fog!"
"Right! The black fog is 10 knots! He's doomed, hahaha!"
At this moment, an announcement popped up.
Maritime Announcement:
"All of you start with different conditions! Your ships, items, talents, and starting positions are all tailored to your personality and experiences. No objections allowed!"
"Who's going to believe that? There must be some shady dealings! Some people started with weapons, I only got food!"
"Some are hoarding food while others are hoarding guns! They're my food warehouse!"
"Could it be that the ones with cannons will face monsters nearby, and you won't?"
Lucas closed the log and began searching the room.
He found that the matchlock pistol in the skeleton's hand was a piece of equipment.
Name: Rusty Matchlock Pistol
Type: Relic
Quality: Fine
Description: This was once a masterpiece, but it's badly rusted after being submerged for too long. There's a 50% chance it will fire. It deals moderate damage to Cthulhu beasts.
It doesn't require bullets and has an auto-loading time of one minute. The magazine capacity is 1.
"Fine equipment?"
Lucas' expression became grim.
Just as the announcement had said, everyone's starting conditions were fair.
He pushed aside the bones on the table and discovered a piece of paper hidden beneath. The paper was badly decayed, with only a few words still barely legible.
"...There are no supplies on the ship, I'll have to try fishing."
"...I got lucky today and caught a tiger bass, enough to last two days."
"...Hehe, I caught an antique pistol. The sound it makes is strange, but it looks like it's worth quite a bit!"
The rest of the paper was stained with large patches of blood, and only the last line was still readable.
"How could something like this be in the sea?"
Lucas frowned slightly after reading it and stood up, walking out of the captain's cabin.
Outside was a deck corridor, and he raised his head to carefully inspect his ship.