With bated breath, Galdon watches as the Anadasta and Timbergrove get closer and closer to one another. All up until their broadsides are merely a foot apart. Just as he prepares to send out the order to board, it is the Timbergrove that boards first.

  Wary, Galdon watches as four hop off the Timbergrove and nd upon the Anadasta. One is a man wielding a runed hammer in one arm and holding runed gaus iher. Another is a woman covered in full runic armor. The third and probable [Captain] is a woman wearing a coat and wielding a runed cutss from the Raven Hunters guild- a clear sign of a bounty hunter.

  The st border is a puffy kitten that Galdon could find himself selling for a tidy sum. The rich tend to pay well for fluffy cats.

  Even so, with only three of them, he smell something’s wrong. With a blink, he focuses ohree.

  Irmgard Von Braun: Level 6 [First Mate]

  Emma: Level 2 [Chief Carpenter]

  Boriss Smirnov: Level 2 [Security Chief]

  No [Captain] is present and the crew is low in job level. He still ’t remove the sideration that their css levels are signifitly higher. Especially that [Chief Carpenter]. A full set of runic armor is something you’d normally find on a wealthy [Noble] or on someone nearing an expert css. Then again, runic armor is far cheaper pared to runic ons.

  With a deep breath, Galdon uhes his runed shamshir greatsword using his right arm and a tower shield with his left. Theeps forward.

  “Bold of you to e aboard my ship without your [Captain]. I only imagine him to be a coward.”

  The cat hops up on a barrel and faces him.

  “Seriously? Why are you talking shit the moment I board? I mean, I uand you’re all [Pirates]. Killing and plundering is your literal job description. But still, you should at least avoid insults until you’re absolutely sure your oppo isn’t some badass that could rip your ass open a new one.”

  The [Pirates] go silent as every single eye is now oten.

  The cat waves a paw. “Still, you're lucky I’m a fiving sort -um what's your name.”

  Galdon Forceward: Level 42 [Pirate Captain]

  “Galdon Forceward. Damn, that’s a pretty niame.” The cat shakes its head. “Right. As I was saying. Galdon, you’re lucky I’m a fiving sort. Most of my kind would have your head severed for inferring that they could be cowardly… after slowly t you for months at a time before allowing you eternal rest.”

  The cat taps its test with a paw. “But not me. I am more civilized and believe in redemption. Which I will offer you in the form of a plete surrender.”

  The rge man with a hammer frowns.

  “rade Fluffy, vhy no Prostate?” He asks the cat.

  Quasi sighs. “Boriss, my ignorant Russian rade, the st time I asked a crew of [Pirates] to prostrate themselves, I had to sughter more than half of them. After some ption, It has occurred to me that [Pirates] are far too uncultured to do such a thing. They ot prehend the sheer majestic superiority of myself.”

  “You’re a talking cat?” Galdon interrupts.

  Quasi rolls his eyes. “And you’re a talking human. I don’t see why this amazes ever- what the hell is wrong with your arm?”

  Only now does Quasi notice the oddity of Galdon’s right arm. The arm is bulging with muscle and is covered in glowing violet veins. The more he stares, the more it seems like the glow is pulsing to the rhythmic beat of the man's heart.

  Galdon grins. He swings the greatsword with the ease of a kit knife.

  “Just something I picked up in my travels. It's quite a modification. I imagine I could crush a cat's skull easily.”

  “Ohhhh.” The cat grins. “So we’re moving from insults to threats.” The cat looks back at one of its members. “Emma, know anything about his arm?”

  The fully armored female gets startled at the question.

  “I- um. I’ve only heard about it. There's a city that does runic modifications on flesh. The modifications work like perma runes.”

  “Anything else?”

  “That’s all I know.”

  Quasi nods. “Well Galdon, it seems we’re at an impasse. Boriss, y the gaus here.”

  Boriss pces the rune gaus in front of the kitten while the [Pirates] watch. They are fident, curious, while only Galdon is wary. Unless you’re a Buxon or extremely high level, then numbers matter heavily in a fight. The ce of a single individual with the capability to single-handedly wipe out aire ship is rare in these parts.

  The cat g the [Pirates]. “Last ce to surrender and keep your lives.”

  Galdon Chuckles. “No, I think you’re the one in need of surrendering.”

  The cat chuckles madly, which causes Galdon to take an unscious step back.

  “Good.” The kitten tilts its head clockwise. “I o level.”

  The cat pces its paws into the runed gaus and then disappears in a puff of smoke. When the smoke settles, a fenrimorph wielding said gaus is now standing is pce. Befaldon realize what's happehe monstrosity pouhe sound of shattering bone is followed up by a [Pirate] ragdolling.

  “Attack!” Galdon Roars. He rushes towards the monster. By the time he reaches the Fenrimorph, two [Pirates] y broken at its feet.

  With a grunt, he swings his on with the io sever the monster's head.

  _______________________________________________________________________

  Aboard the Timbergrove, Myers watches the fighting unfold. He’d kept out of sight until bat had begun. Now that it has, his has on the ship's core in case the worst happens.

  Which, sidering the ongoing bat, shouldn’t take too long. Quasi starts the fight with a punch that crushes a man's chest and sends him flying. By the time the enemy [Captain] reaches him, the Quasi has dealt with two more [Pirates].

  The [Captain] slices towards Quasi, but the Fenrimorph redirects with a gau and then punches Galdon with the aldon raises his shield and blocks the strike, but the sheer force of it pushes the [Captain] back. By the time the [Captain] regains his footing, another [Pirate] goes down.

  Watg Quasi fight, he 't help but reminisce about his younger days. He had crewmembers that could board a ship and single-handedly fight the [Captain] and crew. Using [Griffin Riders], he’d transport these bat specialists and drop them aboard the enemy vessel. From there, he only o wait until the crew was dead or surrendered.

  But, this is different. His fighters were trained expert [Knights], while Quasi isn’t even an advanced csser. If the cat were to bee an expert, Myers expects him to be as dangerous as one of the Corsairs.

  Shifting his sight, he focuses on the rest of the crew. What he finds is that other than Boriss, the others are struggling. Emma is panig and swinging wildly while taking hits that bounce off of her armor. Irmgard is on the defehe woman is great at dueling, but anything more than a single oppo is forces her on the backfoot.

  Now Boriss, the man would be a prime [Knight] didate. Moving, blog, and attag. He dances with both skill, instinct, and a grin on his face. While watg, Boriss’s hammer glows for a moment before he swings. The [Pirate] blocks with a shield. The shield cracks and the [Pirates] arm shatters as the vibrations rips through the metal.

  With a thought, he calls up the hammer.

  Name

  Reverberating Warhammer

  Rarity

  Exceptional - 10 Runes.

  1(1-Durability)1(1-lightweight)1(8- Reverberating Strike)Description

  This hammer is +30% more durable, +30% lighter i, and cast Reverberating strike at will.

  Sustain

  0.02% Mana regeion per minute.

  Reverberating Strike: 203.37 Mana to activate.

  When he’d first seen the ohought it to be a rare quality on on at of the two basies and the more advanced one. What he’d not expected was that the advanced rune is far more powerful than expected. So much so that the on needs only one more ruo enter Epic quality. If that were to happen, the on’s price would skyrocket expoially even though the ability is mediocre at best. Reverberating Strike is a devastating ability designed solely for hunting rge beasts. Uhe cost is brought down signifitly, then most could only activate the skill once or twice before running out of mana.

  Regardless, Boriss doesn’t o use the skill to be effective. The man is a skilled fighter and [Pirates] are dying at his feet.

  When Myers gnces back at Quisi, more bodies lie around the Fenrimorphs feet while Galdon tio swing his greatsword at speeds few could hold to match. But Quasi blocks and diverts them with expert precision. Not without wounds, though. Quasi’s back is covered in cuts, wounds, and crossbow bolts. Having only gauo defend isn’t very effective if you’re surrounded by enemies.

  Myers 't help but lean forward to watch the battle unfold.

  _______________________________________________________________

  He swings that shit like a toy!

  I divert the bde with my left gau, only to block with my right as the on attacks again. I tihe dail I see an opening. I twist my hips and put the full momentum into my punch.

  The man's shield blocks my attack, but he is pushed back.

  Who the fuck carries a goddam tower shield to a fight? And why the fuck is that shield so goddam big. We’re fighting on a ship, not sieging a castle!

  With the [Captain] pushed back, I take the opportunity to a corpse a it at the damn [Pirate] with a crossbow. Corpse and [Pirate] meet with such force that both [Pirate] and crossbow are yeeted overboard.

  Not even a moment after, I’m ba the defensive as mister glowing arm is hammerih his sword. Literally hammerih a sword. The mans speed and the weight of his sword makes it feel like I’m getting hit with a block of heavy metal that just so happens to also be sharp enough to cut easily.

  Once again, I create an opening, push him back, and then take care of another harasser. I do this several more times until the only o is Galdon.

  The man, seeing his [Pirates] at my feet, warily steps back.

  I reveal my teeth with a grin.

  He grimaces.

  Now, how should I deal with him? His right side has that stupid tower shield and his right has the stupid greatsword. I 't exactly break past the shield, and the greatsword is too heavy, long, and fast to riposte and ter. Tiring him out is an option, but that could take far too long. I mean, the guy isn’t very skilled. He likes to turtle half his body behind a shield while the other half threatens with a greatswood idea, but that shields far te.

  I rush forward, he attacks, but I blod divert while applying pressure. I weave into his left and rain punches into his shield as he struggles to attack me with his right greatsword. He tries to turn, but I tinue following the shield. Though I’m not doing any notable damage to him, his movements are being more sporadid panicky. His shield is far te to see me over it, and the only knowledge that I’m oher side of the shield is the stant impay gau.

  Then, after this dance goes on a bit longer. I immediately swerve left while he tiurning right. He overits the turn. With his right side now pletely exposed, the man panics. He sshes forward, but I easily intercept the bde upwards with my right gau. With my left gau, I put all of my momentum into an upunch right into the man's exposed elbow. I hear a d scream. The greatsword flies out of his grip and imbeds itself into a nearby barrel. Before the man fully realizes what’s happened, I kneel and sweep his legs from under him. He falls to the floor. As he falls, I y a foot down on his chest and then rip the shield out of his arm.

  I then raise a fist to finish him off.

  “I Surrender.” He pleas.

  I snort. My fist es down on his fad I feel the ch of his skull. His body instantly ceases to move.

  Then I feel it. The urge. My head whips up. My mouth opens and I howl into the sky as loudly as possible.

  _______________________________________________________________

  Shortly after the howl, the rest of the [Pirates] surrehose surviving are tied up to a post while the dead are stripped and thrown overboard. Once all is done, Quasi transforms bato a cat. A dozen crossbow bolts ctter on the floor. He grins at his crew.

  “Whooo. That was fun.”

  “Da, is good exercise.”

  “Exercise! I thought I was going to die.” Emma pins.

  Irmgard puts a hand on Emma’s shoulder. “You survived against three [Pirates] and held your own. That is more than most aplish.”

  “I survived because of my mothers armor. They were wailing at me the eime. I don’t think I even hurt them at all. I anig the eime!”

  Quasi snorts. “I wish I had armor. Then my back wouldn’t have bee a pincushion. Speaking of armor, would you be able to smith some for me?”

  Her fear and memory of the battle is quickly fotten at the prospect of work. “I- yes. But I’d need a rge fe and a lot of time. Even more time if you want it runed.”

  “I might, but that's for ter.”

  Just then, Myers rushes to them. “There’s a problem.”

  Quasi raises an eyebrow. “roblem?”

  “That ship you saved. It’s heading towards us. They’ll be here in half an hour at their speed.”

  “To fight?”

  “Doubtful. [Mert Captains] tend to avoid bat as much as possible. He probably has [Sense Pirate] and doesn’t sense [Pirates] anymore.”

  Quasi looks at the men tied up. “They’re not [Pirates] anymore?”

  “Once a [Pirate Captain] dies, all [Pirates] lose their jobs unless a new [Pirate Captain] is chosen immediately. Usually a [First Mate] if their level is appropriate.” Myers expins. “You probably killed the [First Mate] if they had one.”

  “Huh. Now that I think about it, why do they all have the [Pirate] job instead of some specialist job?”

  “The [Pirate] Job is one of the most impressive jobs avaible. [Pirates] are able to level from any position on a ship and gain boosts towards all those positions. They aren’t going to be as good as a specialist, but they are going to be far more diverse and higher in level.” Myers points at Boriss. “For example, your [Security Chief] has [bat Authority] which improves all traits by half the [Captains] level. All [Pirates] get [Minor bat Authority], which improves traits by a fourth of the captain's level.”

  A fourth? That seems like a pretty strong force multiplier.

  “. I kinda want to be a [Pirate Captain] now.”

  Myers grunts. “You’ll o level [Pirate] to at least twenty-four or be aowledged and hunted as though you are ohen the job will be avaible.”

  “So anyone bee a [Pirate]?”

  “Correct. But, they could also lose the job if they are no longer aowledged as one.”

  “Um,” Emma raises her hand, “If we’re not going to tinue fighting, I take my armor off?”

  “Keep it on until we deal with that [Mert Captain].” Quasi says. He looks to Myers. “You said we have half an hour, right?”

  “At current speed. They could speed up and it would be sooner.”

  “That's fine. Boriss, take Emma and search the ship for any stowaways. Irmgard, get me Cillian.”

  Quasi grins. “We’ve an opportunity to make a profit.”