Learning the ropes
Author: Arch Angel
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

I let Khikall take control of the ship and slowly ease us into the pea soup fog that was quickly rolling into the harbor. It was hard trusting someone I had just met but he seemed like a straight sort of guy. Besides, I couldn’t do this alone, despite my capabilities.

“This is normal?” I asked.

“The mist? Yes, this is actually quite thin yet. The mists roll in and stick around for a few days before they dissipate again. Something to do with the mana fluctuations that keep the islands afloat or so I heard,” Khikall replied, reaching into his vest and producing what looked like the bottom of a glass bottle and holding it up to his eye.

“What’s that do?”

“Here, see for yourself,” he said, tossing me the item.

I snatched it out of the air and looked it over. It was obviously enchanted as could be seen by the visible magic circle around the edges. I held the item up and looked through it like I had seen Khikall just do. What I saw was the blank metal walls inside the ship. I frowned in con
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  • Mana System In The Apocalypse   Little fish

    “That could have gone better,” Khikall said as I reentered the command room.“Yeah, but I got the captain so it all worked out. Any idea why only three pirates tried to board the Retribution, I can’t imagine we incapacitated the rest of crew,” I said, running my hand through my sweaty hair after I put my helmet away.“The rest were probably slaves,” Khikall replied offhandedly.I froze, the bile rising in my throat as I realized I just damned a ship full of slaves to a watery grave. I had to grip the edge of my chair to remain standing. Khikall didn’t seem to notice my distress as his seat was farther ahead in the room.I didn’t know these slaves but just the thought of people being in a similar position as I had been not more than a year ago was sickening.“Khikall, how many of these pirates use slave crews?”I don’t know if it was the tone of my voice or something else, but Khikall turned to look at me, I could feel an underlying tenseness to his actions.“I take it you do not appro

  • Mana System In The Apocalypse   Port Of broken soul

    We slowly coasted into the small port that Khikall had told me about. He wasn’t lying when he said small. There was one dock with three slips for ships and that was it. Even the island wasn’t much more than a small rocky mass, floating adrift in the sky.There were a dozen buildings, all crammed together with tight walkways between them to maximize the usable space.“Gods, what is this shit hole?” I asked.“The port is called Hylatty. It's where people go when they have nowhere else.”“I can guess why. You sure there is going to be a portmaster here to even declare the bounties with?”“Every port is required to have one in the Avuilian Protectorate,” Khikall answered.I grunted, “what about selling the other items?”“Depends, they may buy those cannons to help ward off pirate attacks, or they may not. Sometimes it is safer to just give the pirates what they want so they leave you alive.”“Fine, let's get this over with and find someplace less depressing,” I replied.There were no ship

  • Mana System In The Apocalypse   Quest

    I waited on the deck, enjoying the sun as I watched him approach.It turned out Khikall was overly optimistic in his estimation on how long it would take to return. And when he finally did return, I noticed he was returning alone.Khikall stumbled his way down the rickety pier. The Jerboa was plastered by the looks of him but he still managed to jump from the dock to the deck, although, his landing wasn’t graceful and I saw him choke back some vomit before he stood on unsteady legs.“Want me to fix that for you?”He shook his head very slowly, “A cost of doing business,” he said with a burp. “Barcos agreed to join the crew on one condition.”“Oh, and what’s that?” I asked, curious as to what a man like Barcos would want for his cooperation.“You need to bring in his replacement.”“… That’s all? Why can’t he just contact his government and have them send one over?” I asked in confusion.“He did. But the man refused to come to the island and is hiding out at another, more prosperous por

  • Mana System In The Apocalypse   Sha'Stis

    Doniger’s place looked like nothing more than a run-down warehouse from the outside. If it wasn’t for the animated illusion of a woman spreading her legs above the door, we may have walked right past it. I would probably still walk past it if we weren’t here to find someone.There were two burly-looking guards outside, both level seventeen. They gave us the once-over but didn’t move from their posts. Khikall walked up to one slipping a cred stick into his palm. “Is Sha’Stis here tonight?”The man looked over to his buddy, who was looking put out for not getting the bribe and Khikall tossed a stick his way as well.“Yeah, he’s here, been with Minisa most of the night. If you got beef with him, don’t start it inside.”“No beef, just wish to talk.”The other guard snorted, “sure.”As we entered, the noise and smells of the place assaulted my nose. There was some rubber-armed creature with four limbs banging away what would generously be considered a song at one end of the bottom floor. I

  • Mana System In The Apocalypse   New crew

    Despite Barcos’s desire to leave the island, we didn’t leave right away. Well, we left the island but stayed near the port. I wanted to get a measure of the man’s abilities before I accepted him as crew. If I didn’t like what he offered we would just drop him at the next nearest port and go our separate ways.When I told Barcos this, he laughed. “Any port beats this dump. You will have to forgive me if my skills are a bit rusty, I haven’t had to use them in almost a decade,” he said as he stretched.Despite his words, I knew he couldn’t be that rusty, going by what I had seen of his knifework. Also, just how old was he, the man didn’t look to be older than his mid-thirties. That would mean he did all this leveling in his twenties.From what I knew of other worlds, they were much tamer and leveling was far harder than it was on Earth. It's one of the reasons so many factions were trying to gain a foothold on our planet. It didn’t help that huge swaths of land and entire kingdoms had be

  • Mana System In The Apocalypse   next target

    My concern over being singled out and bullied didn’t come to pass. It seemed the fight had been left at just that and nobody came to harass us after. That gave me time to restock all the food and alcohol that had been consumed during our journey so far.Food was cheap, I didn’t splurge on anything fancy. I wasn’t nearly a good enough cook to waste good food, not that the others seemed to care or ever complimented or complained about what was provided so far.Barcos and I arrived back aboard Retribution before Khikall. With nothing else to do, I asked the man if he wanted to spar with me again.“I would, Captain, but we have enough eyes on us as it is.”“Wait… we do?” I asked in surprise.“You didn’t notice the additional glares or furtive looks?”“No, I mean, other than the normal amount.”Barcos chuckled, “that was hardly normal. No, I suspect word has already gotten around about your ship's exploits and at least part of your crew.”“What! All this extra attention because I offed a f

  • Mana System In The Apocalypse   Polishing off the rust

    Barcos sighed and stored the bottle of alcohol away as he heard the Captain announce there were boarders on the deck. He unstrapped himself and loosened his shoulders as he opened the hatch and stepped out. He avoided the blade aimed for his throat and left a dagger in the man’s throat in return.He wasn’t surprised someone had been waiting to attack the only entrance to the top deck.He heard one of the boarders hiss, “who let you out of your hole, Blademaster?”“Does it matter?” Barcos replied.“No, you’re as good as dead anyway.”All ten men rushed Barcos as he danced between them, whistling softly as his blades carved through his opponents with ease.The dirge of defiance was one of his favorite songs from his Bladesinger class and he hadn’t had a reason to use it in far too long. He cut through the riff-raff sent against him. They weren’t true opponents, only meant to weaken him for the rest. The pirates had sent forty people aboard the Retribution. Some were trying to damage the

  • Mana System In The Apocalypse   Chumming the water

    “Director Tolish, here are the weekly reports,” his assistant said, handing him a stack of papers.“Thank you, Vetor, anything of note I should look into first?”“I have arranged them by significance, Director,” the man preened.Tolish smiled, happy to have such a competent assistant as Vetor in this strange new world. He did frown slightly when he read the first page. It was a BOLO for a native enchanter. The request came from another Guild representative that Tolish was unfamiliar with.“Tell me about this Lord Vik’t?” Tolish asked.“He is from a small house of no real repute. Their family expended all of their capital and secured a Guild loan to come to this world and claim one city. Their family's only claim to fame is enchantments that mimic mind reading. It was debunked by the Guild as a parlor trick and they were censured for misleading classification. The items only let the users see possibilities a few seconds into the future and it is easily countered with a mental block art

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    Fight For Affection

    Was the person in the mirror really Henry and not an international supermodel?Henry could not help but wonder.However, Mia's reaction told Henry that it was not an illusion.Mia's mouth was wide open as she walked to Henry's side in shock. She looked at him in the mirror and was amazed."Oh my God, Henry, I never realized that you're so handsome! Gosh, you look so good."As Mia spoke, she couldn't help but touch Henry's firm chest."Oh my God, these firm pecs are worth dying for…"Henry looked at Mia, who was acting like a pervert. He shook his head helplessly and slapped her hand away."Alright, now that I've changed my clothes, let's hurry to the banquet before we go late. I'm not known for attending any events late." Hearing this, Mia finally came back to her senses. "Ah, yes. We have to hurry over. With such a handsome companion by my side, I'd like to see if those little b*tches will still show off in front of me," Mia proudly said as she pulled Henry's arm.After that, they q

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    Epilogue

    Martin strode down the hall of the capitol building with a worried smile on his face. He was a bit greyer now but he still oozed charm and confidence. Time had been kind to him.The city had become a booming metropolis in the ten years since Paul returned, after his year and a half of being missing. Martin knew something had happened because one day a bunch of massive flying ships had come from nowhere and obliterated the ships that had been harassing the city non-stop for over six months. They had quickly taken care of Lord Vik’t and his remaining forces, the man managing to flee back to his homeworld before the Guild caught him.When Paul had returned, he had returned a quiet man. You could see the loss in his eyes. But the man pushed on and his businesses flourished, producing the Earth’s mightiest warships and most advanced runic items. Then five years after Paul returned, he took a fleet of ten of his capital ships and vanished for another year.When he returned again, the ships

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    The devil you know

    As soon as the pirates realized the Guild ships were approaching the island, they broke off the fighting and retreated toward the edge of town to dig in. They weren’t stupid enough to attack the Guild but it seemed they wanted to ensure there wasn’t an accidental incident.One of the Guild ships docked and the Captain stepped off to greet the three of us. I had been carried over by Barcos and Em’ah on the same chair she plopped me in the night before. My legs were looking less like mashed potatoes now and instead looked like mushed putty. It was hard to ignore the sensation of the bones moving around within my shattered legs but I was managing.“Captain Paul, I hope this wasn’t a last-ditch attempt to hold off your enemy. I can assure you, we will leave for safer shores immediately if it was.”I ignored the man’s condescending snark before replying. “You have the agreement from the Director?”“I do,” he smiled. “Do you wish to review it?”I nodded and he produced a stack of documents

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    A Valuable Lesson

    Groaning, I opened my eyes. All I saw was darkness. I tried turning my head or moving but it seemed like I was pinned in place.I fought down the urge to panic as I evaluated my condition. My arms were still broken, the sharp stabbing pain when I tried to move them told me as much. I could breathe though so my organs had healed after the beating I had taken. That was something at least.Seeing as I was in no immediate danger of dying, I checked my skills. My blood ran cold as I saw what remained of my abilities.[Rejuvenate][Multicast][Eye of the Storm][Aura of Rage][Calcifying Strike]Frostwave][Orb of Darkness][Energy Lance][Overcharge][Tempest Ball]That was the sum total of all the skills I now had. They had stripped me of every ability I had stolen from them along with every ability my second class gave me by default, making it impossible to recover skills by stealing them from others.I let out a morbid little chuckle as I lay there. Tears of frustration leaked from the

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    Unexpected arrival

    Those two words seemed to freeze everyone in place, but it wasn’t magic that caused it, it was fear. My body was frozen along with everyone else but my eyes rose into the air, tracking two creatures as they forced the magical fog away from the entire area with some ability.It was hard to tell by their alien physiology but I got the distinct impression they were looking directly at me. The initial fear was subsiding and people were starting to move again until the larger of the two squid-like creatures cast a spell. I managed to get off an Identify before the spell hit.[Ulq | Void Hunter/Maw of the Void | 47/41][Xiph | Psy Commando/Maw of the Void | 45/42]My body shook as I realized they were here for me but not a single person or even the entire pirate armada currently assembled here would be able to kill these two creatures.I felt the spell wash over the area and everyone was frozen again but a halo of golden light burst into existence above my head, washing away the spell’s eff

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    Beachhead

    The meager fleet of ships I was now in charge of, rose from the dock and slowly spiraled into the air to get above the mist. The chaotic coloration of the mana storm was visible in the distance even through the mist. That meant the enemy was almost upon the island.The Retribution was the first ship to breach the thick covering and it was no surprise to see the enemy ships had spread out in a crescent shape to surround the island. Enemy fast attack craft zipped toward our location and I double-checked that everything was working as it should. I had also turned the mana accumulator back on.I sometimes wished I had been able to fit multiple layers of shielding on the ship. But my experiments in that regard had not gotten anywhere. Shields that close together acted like soap bubbles. Either they popped completely or merged together, but it didn’t increase the strength of the shield when they did. The only way to prevent this was to have separate bubble shields that only covered a certai

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    The Storm

    After weeks of sitting around, the Retribution finally got to fly again.Knowing we were leaving, the harbor was a beehive of activity. Cobbled together crews were drilling aboard the other captured pirate ships. The people knew it wasn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when another enemy would appear.As soon as Khikall got us away from the docks and any possible collision, I engaged the cloak. It was far more effective now that I could enable and disable the automatic recharging system. The massive disruption of mana we used to leave in our wake was now a tiny trail.I hadn’t had time to figure out a way to smooth our passing completely but this would have to do. I also had Em’ah watching for trails from a crudely assembled periscope. Now she didn’t need to be on the deck to use her Mana Sense skill.Speaking of skills… I had picked up a few from the last fight. I also managed to finally hit level twenty in my Maw of the Void class. I stuck two of my stats in Strength, one in Endura

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    Troubled water

    I watched as the workers placed the last armor panel in position and began to weld it into place. It had taken a few weeks to repair the damages from our fight but the Retribution was looking almost new.The replaced sections were clearly visible by the heat transfer in the titanium. I could easily fix that when I turned the thermal defenses on. It should make everything a uniform color. Paint would work too, I suppose, but why cover up the beauty of the metal.It was a good thing the ship was complete, over the last few days, we had been getting reports from the Guild merchant ships that were stopping to trade, and they weren’t good.Large fleets of pirate ships spotted raiding islands. The Capital of the Avulian Protectorate was sacked and all of the leadership missing. The remaining fleets of the Protectorate were attacking any ship that wasn’t theirs or the Guild's. Cities burning due to the slaves I helped free, it was madness and it was spreading.Already I could hear concerned

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    Turncoat

    Captain Grulaine hissed in annoyance as his second in command handed him his “orders”. His second flinched back and hurried out of the room. If he hadn’t, Grulaine may have cut him down in a fit of pique. It galled Grulaine to be under the thumb of another. He had gotten rid of his father for that very same reason. And now thanks to a series of unfortunate events, he found himself beholden to the damn pirate king Black Gar’s lap dog.How was he to know the repair yard where he went was controlled by that snake. If he had he certainly wouldn’t have agreed to the loan to effect repairs to his cannons and ship. Repairs that had taken far longer than necessary, and left Grulaine on the sidelines as the entire protectorate seemed to be crumbling around him. An opportunity-rich environment he wasn’t able to take advantage of.But that wasn’t the most galling part. He found that his repairs were delayed on purpose so Gar could tighten his stranglehold on the local pirates. By the time Grulai