The System Seas

Marco wasn’t sure if the system had saved him or if he had just won that roll of the dice, but either way he was still standing. That counted. It counted double, he found, when his friends turned out to be okay too.

Boots clattered up from below decks. Elisa emerged first, her hands still crackling with electricity and ready for anything. Aethe came after her, bow still in hand, scanning the deck for more threats and looking legitimately surprised not to find any. Riv lumbered out last and by far the worst for the wear, his clothes stained with blood and char.

“Marco!” Elisa’s eyes locked on him, wide with alarm. “You used the buff. We thought you were dying up here.”

He waved her off, swaying a little but refusing to drop his rapier. “I had to. It was him or me. It turned out to be him.”

“You look like it was both of you.” Aethe moved closer closer, steadying him with a hand at his elbow. Her tone was dry but her grip was firm. “Next time, maybe dodge. Wait for backup before you duel someone obviously stronger.”

"He was fast." Marco sat down on the stairs leading up to the bow. "Too fast. It was all I could do to keep him from killing me, let alone dodge. I had to use the skill crystals."

"You should have done that days ago. I told you not to save them," Elisa said. "You got a skill?"

"Two. And waiting worked out fine. It let me surprise him. Though it almost wasn't enough anyway."

Riv just grunted. “Worked, though. We’ve got the ship.”

—

Looting the ship was equal parts grim and exhilarating. Enemy bodies still smoked on the deck where lightning bolts and exploding cannonballs had knocked them dead. The smell of burnt oak lingered where Elisa’s lightning had seared cannon planks and hull.

It wasn't all ugly, though. Everywhere they looked, they found wealth of various kinds waiting for them. There were exotic woods, unknown metals, and furs galore, all harvested from islands that might not even have had names.

They found enough to make the settlement they were protecting rich in the hold, but the captain’s quarters were still the real prize. After Riv kicked the door off the hinges, they found a chamber dripping with luxury. Whatever else this captain had been, he was successful. They found gold coins spilling from overpacked pouches, casks of wine still intact despite the fighting, and weapons mounted on the walls of a quality that implied they came from a long, storied line of defeated captains.

“Gods,” Aethe whispered. “This is more than a haul. This is a fortune.”

Elisa bent over a desk in one corner, fingers brushing delicately over the woodwork until she suddenly pushed. The desk clicked, swinging open a small door. “Not just money, either. There are skill crystals. Two reds.”

"Oh, he was lying. Weird." Marco walked over and looked down at the crystals. "He said this was his pay for taking us out. I wonder why he didn't use them?"

"There are things you can do to make them more likely to take, they say." Elisa held one out to Aethe and kept one for herself. "But we aren't waiting. Aethe, use that now before Marco has to take it midfight to get the upper hand in a fight with a sea dragon."

They both gripped down on their crystals, destroying them in an instant. From the look of them, they had done well. Marco left Elisa to make her notes on what they had gotten and stepped open to help Riv ravage the rest of the room.

Riv shouldered open another trunk, grinning wide when the lid fell back to reveal bars of raw silver and gold packed like firewood. “I’ve never seen this much. We could build a town with this. How did this guy get this?”

"From what I gathered? Decades of hoarding. He didn't seem to leave this area much."

"The crazy thing is that he was probably right to not spend it." Elisa looked up. "After a while, you've bought the best of what gold will buy in a particular area. Honestly, I don't think gold is going to have as much value the further and further we get out from civilized places. Think about how much gold it would have cost to buy the wood your ship is built of these days, Marco. I'm not sure we could have fit it in the boat."

Marco leaned on the doorframe, too tired to fully share the other's glee.

"We'll just share some of it with that town then. And keep the rest. Even if it's not useful right now, it should be useful later, somehow."

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"That doesn't seem like the most interesting thing, anyway. Didn't you two just get better? Why aren't we talking about that?"

"Oh, be patient." Elisa scribbled for a few seconds on a few pieces of paper, then ripped them out of her book and handed them over to Marco. "Here. Take a look."