Chapter 434: Into Open Waters

Hoisting up barrel after barrel was interesting enough—quite the chilled work. All the other sailors were also in a pretty good mood, and anticipation hung in the air. Yet that nice feeling got dampened quite quickly as the water mage addressed him.

“You are first place on the leaderboard.” Her voice was shrill and, above all else, loud.

Around them, it was as if time had stopped. Every single sailor who heard her words froze, stopped what they were doing, and looked over. In the next seconds, a crescendo of identifies hit Thalion. The sailors had trouble believing that Thalion was really in first place, judging by how their eyes went wide, with some even starting to laugh.

Thalion had to hold himself back from saying something like,

“This is so typical and likely a bug in the system. People come up with this all the time, but I’m actually on place three thousand.”

Instead, he went with the more neutral option.

“Looks like you’re on the good team now.”

He didn’t like how most of the sailors were frowning now, and a few were already on their way to tell their captain about the news.

The water mage clearly didn’t like what she was hearing, as her already stern demeanor soured further.

“Do you have any idea what I’ve been through to reach this late stage? I had to kill, kill, kill—and guess what—kill even more. The last stage alone was an unending war, and I lost my whole party. All good people who worked their asses off, while an F-grade like you just smuggles his way to the top!?!”

If Thalion had cared about her opinion, it might have hurt a little. He’d heard so much crap back on Earth and within the system that his mind had long since solidified. Such a minor complaint wouldn’t faze him in the slightest. She could scream until she turned green for all he cared.

Still, he probably needed to say something to assert dominance over the situation. If the others thought he’d fold under the slightest pressure, they’d start pushing him around and give him the worst jobs on board.

“Hmm, unfair, you say? If you think it’s so unfair, we can fight it out right here. I’m first, but a few extra leaderboard points won’t hurt.”

This time, Thalion let a good amount of his killing intent roll out, infused with the Sanguis Impera’s desire to consume her blood.

The mage didn’t back down either and flared her aura. Her killing intent wasn’t even close to Thalion’s in quality, but with her level advantage, her aura turned out to be the stronger one.

Before things could escalate further, a loud voice from above interrupted them.

“Hey! Didn’t I say there are no fights within the crew? Anyone who breaks that rule gets fed to the fish.”

It was the captain, and he didn’t look happy.

“What are you all standing around for? We have minutes until the barrier drops.

Minutes

.”

The sailors immediately went back to loading the ship, and Thalion joined in again, not sparing the water mage a second glance. He had the suspicion that she would definitely stab him in the back the moment the captain got distracted.

“Hey, are you really first place on the leaderboard?”

The question came from a relatively young sailor with short blond hair who looked like he had just turned eighteen.

“Uh… yes,” Thalion replied, unsure what else to say. Bragging had never really been his thing.

“Wow, that’s so cool. I’m really looking forward to seeing you fight. I’ve never felt such an aura from an F-grade—really impressive.”

The blond sailor beamed as he hoisted the next barrel onto the rune on the harbor, which levitated the heavy load upward to where the sailors on deck took over.

There weren’t many barrels and chests left, and it didn’t take long before everything was on board. That also meant it was time to join the crew on deck and set sail to hunt the grand treasure. The barrier could drop at any moment now.

Everything on the ship was absolutely massive, and Thalion stuck close to the young blond sailor. It turned out that steering such a ship required a lot of people. Multiple runes were embedded in the sails, all of which needed constant infusion—something that alone required over twenty people at a time.

They had to fuel the sails for six hours, then they were done and the next group would take over. They were allowed one hour to recharge their mana in the magic circle on deck and two hours of free time before they had to help others at their stations.

The ship was also so packed with weapons and personnel that the provisions wouldn’t last longer than two days. This meant they needed to gather as much food as possible whenever they reached an island—or make a quick stop to go fishing.

From there on, everything happened very quickly. The experienced sailors untied the ropes binding the large ship to the dock, and the water mages began to slowly turn the massive vessel, guiding it out of the harbor.

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In the meantime, Thalion joined the blond sailor in the rigging. The young sailor explained everything—how to infuse the runes, how the ship was steered, the weapons, the other ships leaving from this island, and more. It didn’t surprise Thalion that their ship was supposedly the best—every sailor likely said that—but the information was still quite useful. He also liked that he could talk to the young man without being looked down on like he was by most E-grades.

“Hoist the sails! We’re heading out on a grand adventure, and we won’t return unless we’ve found the grand prize! Haha!” the captain laughed loudly from below, his voice amplified by mana.

That meant it was time for Thalion to work. Though he wouldn’t really call it work—it was pretty chill. He was sitting atop the yard, infusing mana into the rope connected to one of the four large runes that needed to stay charged at all times. The mana required wasn’t even that much, and if it continued like this, Thalion would regenerate mana faster than he spent it.

Wind mages continuously fed strong winds into the sails, which bulged under the power and nearly catapulted the massive ship forward. For Thalion, it was crazy how fast they were moving, considering they were on water.

“The wind mages won’t run out of mana,” the blond sailor explained, infusing his voice with a bit of mana so Thalion could hear him over the roaring wind. “Each one is standing in a magic circle, and we only really need them if there’s no wind at all—like right now.”

“You seem to know a lot about ships and the ocean. Wasn’t the open sea locked until this event?” Thalion asked, also infusing his voice with mana so he didn’t have to shout.

“Oh not at all. This only happened because we were allowed into this system event. Maybe after this, we’ll even meet again on the new planet. I’m Rid, by the way.” The young blond sailor smiled and held out his hand.

“I’m Thalion. Nice to meet you,” Thalion said, shaking Rid’s hand before adding more cautiously, “You should be careful. I doubt much of this ship and crew will still be around by the end of the stage, judging by how this system event is going. And on the new earth, humans are the weakest race. Elves, vampires, and orcs are all about to start a war over who gets to rule it.”

Thalion figured it was only fair to give Rid a bit of warning. There was no way things would stay as peaceful as they were right now.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve already been in more fights than I can count. And I’m not just some sailor—I’m part of the captain’s inner circle. Steering the ship is pretty boring, which is why I like this post. I enjoy the view and watching the water and horizon. The wind also keeps you cool, because when the sun gets really hot, you can get a heatstroke fast.” Rid explained with a smile.

“Then if this isn’t your main task, what is?” Thalion asked, slightly confused. Though he had to agree—the view really was amazing, and the salty breeze and spray reminded him of good old Earth.

“I command a boarding unit for when we encounter enemy ships. I’m also in charge of fishing operations if we start running low on supplies,” Rid said casually.

So Rid was far more important than Thalion had initially thought. He turned his gaze back to the open sea. They were cutting through the water at incredible speed, the small waves breaking against the hull.

Hours passed like this until another group of sailors climbed into the rigging to replace them. Thalion didn’t feel sluggish at all, but he still joined the others in the magic circles—just to make sure he didn’t stand out.

Rid was also doing fine, while many of the others had pale faces and used the full time in the magic circles to recover. Thalion and Rid left after half an hour to grab some food. Here, it turned out that food also massively improved regeneration. The ship even had a special cook who possessed a skill to amplify that effect, turning normal meals into something close to an alchemistic concoction.

It also turned out that the cook was Rid’s girlfriend, which meant they could get their meals a bit earlier than the other sailors. To be fair, with Rid’s standing, it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference anyway—but the fact that Thalion now had the same privileges was pretty damn nice.

Their meal was a delicious fish soup with something that looked like silver bread. All in all, it was incredible—probably one of the best meals Thalion had ever had in his life.

After that, they chilled on deck for a while, watching some of the water mages surf over the water next to the ship for short periods. The ship was simply too fast for them to keep up for long. That was also the reason Thalion hadn’t even seriously considered using the Tidecaller Serpent to dive into the ocean and hunt treasures on his own. The ship was just faster, and there was no reason to split off yet.

Thalion was confident that things would go south sooner or later. When that happened, he could still move on his own.

“By the way, we haven’t talked about this yet, but what’s your class?” Rid asked out of nowhere as they leaned on the railing, watching the others in the water. “So far it hasn’t mattered much, since I didn’t doubt you were strong—otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Still, if you want to be part of my special group, I need to know. The rest of us are all fighters with high water affinity, which lets us move fast underwater and use it to our advantage in fights.”

What Rid said made sense, but Thalion still wasn’t willing to share too much. The problem was that the blood and fire skills of his human form weren’t exactly ideal for ocean combat.

“I’m a shapeshifter,” Thalion said, deciding that was safe enough to reveal. Being part of the special group also meant first access to the good stuff—and if they could profit from him, all the better.

“A shapeshifter? Really? That’s unusual. What forms do you have?” Rid asked, clearly surprised.

“A water snake, a bird for flying, and a kind of human–insect hybrid for close combat,” Thalion summarized.

“Hm. Interesting. Just to be sure—you don’t have problems going up against E-grades?” Rid asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“I’ll be fine. So far it’s worked out pretty well for me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in right now,” Thalion replied. Yeah, E-grades were dangerous, and someone like the assassin from the last stage would still be a nightmare—but against E-grades in general, he could handle himself.

“Good. Then I hereby officially welcome you to the Waterstriders,” Rid said with a grin. “Let’s go below deck. I’ll introduce you to a few of the others. Not everyone has time right now—they’re still working, like we were earlier.”

The first three members they met below deck were two brothers and a woman. The woman introduced herself as Nysa. She had crystal-blue eyes and long green hair, and Thalion guessed she was some kind of water mage who preferred close combat, judging by how fluidly she moved.

The two brothers were clearly built for close-range fighting, their trained muscles standing out immediately. The most striking feature, though, was the large shark fin protruding from each of their backs.

All of them seemed pretty chill, and they were friendly toward Thalion. There were four more members, but he’d meet them later at dinner. So far, everything had gone smoothly. They were heading toward the treasure, and Thalion hadn’t run into any problems.

That peace didn’t last long.

Not long after Rid and Thalion started their second shift, a shout rang out from the crow’s nest high above.

“

SHIP AHEAD!

”