290 - The Lightning Kirin
The Silent Mermaid glided through the choppy waters like a shark in the night. It was invisible to the naked eye. And to the rudimentary sensors of the three battling ships.
The Great Victory, the Albatross, and the Lady Oceania were locked in a chaotic three-way exchange of cannon fire. Their hulls groaned under the impact of iron balls. And the smell of sulfurous smoke hung heavy over the waves.
They were too preoccupied to notice the drop in temperature or the eerie silence that trailed Jack's vessel.
Jack stood at the helm. His eyes were fixed on the Gilded Swan. The nobleman's ship was in bad shape. Its masts had snapped. Dragging a tangle of rigging and canvas into the sea like a broken wing. Fire licked at its stern.
It was a corpse of a ship. Waiting to be picked clean.
"Time to move." Jack said.
Rune, the fairy guide, hovered near his shoulder. Her body pulsed with a steady, pale green glow. Signaling her readiness. She didn't speak. But Jack understood the flow of her light.
Reina stepped up beside him. She looked as elegant as ever. Her long black hair was now tied back in a simple ponytail for the mission. She adjusted her clothes.
"It's close enough." She said. "I've got the spatial coordinates locked, Dear. I can take two people with me there with my [Absolute Blink] anytime."
"Good! Take Leon and Chloe there. I want to try a new method I've been thinking of to get there." Jack nodded. "Leon, Chloe, get ready!"
Leon Drake checked his grimoire. A wide, curious grin was on his face. He loved this part. The adrenaline pump excitement of treasure hunting.
Chloe Chase, the teenage mystic scholar, looked more reserved. She wasn't as nervous as she once did. But her eyes were still scanning the burning wreck of the Gilded Swan with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation.
Reina placed her hands on Leon and Chloe's shoulders. The air around them began to ripple like heat haze. In a silent puff of smoke, the three of them vanished.
They didn't appear on the open deck of the Gilded Swan immediately. Reina was prudent enough to teleport them into the shadow of a partially destroyed bulkhead to avoid immediate detection.
Jack didn't wait. He had an idea he would like to try. He activated his [Mysterious Anomaly]. Coating his body with illusion of invisibility. His physical form blurred. His edges bled into the surrounding air until he was nothing more than a distortion in the light.
He stepped onto the railing of the Silent Mermaid and looked at the gap between the ships. It was actually quite far. Leaping there in one jump was definitely a hard thing to do.
Still, he jumped.
While in mid-air, Jack's hands snapped forward. Two [Chains of Vengeance] erupted from his bracers. Glowing with a dark, fiery flame. The iron links hissed through the air. Controlled by his will.
The chain tips at the ends bit deep into the charred wood of the Gilded Swan's upper deck.
Jack swung. He moved with a predatory grace that defied his muscular human appearance. The chains shrank. Pulling himself across the gap like a certain red and blue spider hero from his previous world's movies.
He landed silently on the tilting deck. His boots made almost no sound on the charred wood.
Jack looked around. Reina, Leon, and Chloe were already moving. Reina had activated her localized illusion, making them appear as nothing more than smoke and debris to any dazed survivor who might look their way.
Chloe had shifted into his shadow-meld state. Her form disappeared in the shadows.
Jack surveyed the carnage. The deck was a mess of splintered timber, shredded sails, and fallen men.
The [Eyes of Judgment] flickered to life as Jack activated it. To his vision, the world seemed to be overlaid with information and numbers. Jack filtered the information. Focusing only on health, karma, and sins.
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He walked toward a group of three sailors who were pinned under a fallen spar. They were unconscious and their health condition was definitely bad.
He observed them. Tommy Miller, neutral karma, injured. Hanser Vane, neutral karma, heavily injured. Salash Brown, negative karma, injured.
The last one... Jack focused his observation power. Unveiling his sins... Theft. Fraud. Murder. Betrayal. Human Trafficking. Sexual Abuse. Rape...
Jack didn't continue reading. Instead, he took out a small mirror from his [Spatial Backpack]. Activating his [Mythical Mirror Realm], he took Tommy and Hanser unto his Mirror Mansion. His personal spatial dimension.
He turned to Salash Brown. The man's karma and sin were too heavy. Too disgusting. Jack walked past him. Not killing him was already good enough. No way would he save him. In Jack's judgement, aided survival should be a privilege for those who hadn't forfeited their humanity.
Jack moved toward the center of the deck. Near the remains of the steering wheel. There lay Earl Aldenair. The nobleman's fine silk clothes were charred and bloodstained. He was also unconscious. A heavy blow to the head had spared him the sight of his ship’s destruction.
Jack appraised him. Earl Aldenair, neutral karma, injured. Just as what he had expected. The Earl was a typical aristocrat. Smug, entitled, and perhaps a bit greedy. But he was not a monster.
He needed to be rescued. Especially since they planned to take his treasures for the price. Jack drew the mirror, activated his skill again, and touched the Earl's shoulder. The man immediately vanished into the Mirror Mansion.
"Leon, find the treasure vault. And anyone that could still be saved." Jack commanded.
Leon gave a mock salute and disappeared down a hatch. Jack wasn't worried about him facing trouble. He was the inheritor of fate. It was more likely that he would be the one who gained the greatest benefit here.
Jack, Reina, and Chloe moved toward the captain's cabin. The door had been blown off its hinges. Inside, the room was surprisingly intact. Compared to the rest of the ship.
In the center of the room, standing atop a mahogany table covered in maps, was the mythical creature.
It was small. No larger than a spring lamb. But it possessed an undeniable majesty. Its body was a pale, shimmering blue. Almost translucent.
It had the delicate legs of a deer, a single horn that curved elegantly backward from its forehead, and a long, swishing tail that ended in a tuft of white fur. Small sparks of electricity danced between its hooves and the wooden table.
Jack immediately knew it was the hatched... [Lightning Kirin].
The creature's ears flicked. It looked at the door. Jack and Reina were still under the cover of illusions of invisibility. But the Kirin's wide, golden eyes seemed to see right through them.
It didn't panic. Instead, it turned its head and focused on the shadow moving along the floor.
Chloe emerged from the shadow. Her form solidified. She looked at the Kirin with wide-eyed wonder.
"Is that the dragon? It doesn't look like one." She whispered. "It's beautiful, though."
The Kirin let out a soft, melodic bleat. It hopped off the table and trotted straight toward Chloe. It didn't show any of the wariness a wild animal should have. It nuzzled its head against her knee. Its horn were crackling with a harmless, tickling static.
Jack stepped forward. His silhouette shimmered back into visibility. He looked at the creature and focused his [Eyes of Judgment].
[Name: -]
[Affiliation: Chloe Chase]
[Karma: Neutral]
[Power Level: Very Low]
[Species: Lightning Kirin]
[Current Status: Baby Stage]
[Specialty: Fortune Sense, Lightning Spark]
[Personalities: Innocent, Curious]
[Inheritance: Lightning Essence]
Jack raised an eyebrow. "It's a [Lightning Kirin]. And it has already chosen you to be its partner, Chloe? It actually made a choice fast."
Reina smiled. Her eyes softened as she watched the baby mythical beast interact with the teenager. "You're truly lucky, aren't you, Chloe? Kirins are known to be creatures of luck and purity. Truly mythical creatures. They were as precious as dragons and phoenixes."
Jack nodded. The baby kirin had a [Fortune Sense] ability. And Chloe was the inheritor of fortune. It probably felt her aura and was drawn to her the moment they stepped onto the ship. It knew where it would be safe.
Chloe looked up at Jack and Reina. Her expression was a mix of excitement and worry. "Captain! Is... Is it okay to—"
"Keep it!" Jack interrupted. "It's a mythical beast. It's better with you than with the Earl or those pirates out there. Take care of it, Chloe. It's part of the team now."
Chloe nodded vigorously. Immediately picking up the small creature. She did it easily, as if it weighed close to nothing. It curled into her arms. Looking perfectly content.
They navigated the tilting hallways of the Gilded Swan. The ship was groaning louder now. The timber was screaming as the water levels rose in the lower decks.
They met Leon at a massive brass door. A strange thing in this wooden ship. Steam hissed from the pipes surrounding it. This seemed to be the Earl's private vault. Reinforced with both tech and runes.
"Leon, status?" Jack asked into the air.
"Done and dusted, Captain!" Leon said. "Found six more living sailors. I put them there. The rest of the crew was unfortunately already dead."
Jack looked at the place Leon had pointed out. His [Eyes of Judgement] quickly scanned them. All unconscious and injured. Five had neutral karma. And one, a ship doctor from his attire, had positive karma.
Without hesitation, Jack took his small mirror out once more and dragged them all to his Mirror Mansion.
And then he returned back to the out-of-place brass door.
"It's locked." Leon told him. "With both mechanical and mystical ways. I can crack it, but it would need time."
"Which we don't have." Jack cut him. "Let's just use brute force here..."
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