The ship didn't just shake, it quivered.

The floor trembled. The racks fell. The walls shivered. And the mortals were shocked awake.

A moment of silence passed as people realised that something had happened. That something was wrong. But before that moment could even end, the ship quivered again and the mortals lost their footing.

People shrieked, their voices trembling. People ran amok, directionless in the darkness of the night. People scrambled, running around in the green moonlight. But there was nowhere to run. Nowhere to go. There were just the crying ship and the endless waters.

Something broke the surface of the water at that moment. Its seemingly endless body made an arc that just kept on increasing. The creature reached its zenith and while its body was still coming out of the water, its other end started to descend.

As the other met the water again, the creature didn't create a splash. Instead, it created waves that were at least a meter high. The waves crashed into the trembling ship and the mortals fell once again.

“This is your [Ship Captain]. We are under monster attack. Please maintain calm.” A deep voice broke through the moments of terror. Its depth seemed to awaken the mortals and the people calmed down as if a spell had been cast.

“Tier 1, Level 20 and below, to me!” The deep voice announced and many a mortal ran to the captain’s chamber. As they ran, a white-robed bald man trembled in a corner as he tried to control his shivering body.

No sooner had the mortals gathered than the ship quivered a third time as the creaking sounds resonated all across the ship and the mortals began trembling again.

“[Link]!” A man walked out of the captain’s chamber. He had a moustache and a light beard covered his jawline. “Send your Physical and Mental Attributes.”

As he finished speaking, of all the mortals gathered around captain’s chambers, around 65 of them received a single notification.

Ting.

[[Link] has ended. Penalty applied. All the Attributes decreased by 10% of their original value for the duration of the next 1043 hours, the sum of Class Levels of all the people connected. The penalty is stackable.] [Yes] [No]

None of the mortals hesitated and they all allowed the [Ship Captain] access to their Attributes.

Instantly, the man’s presence seemed to grow deeper and the rest of the world paled in comparison. It was as if, he was the only one that mattered and everything else was but dust and passing winds.

He did not glow. He did not shine. He did not change in any perceivable way. Yet, he seemed more.

“[Set Sail]!” The voice that had been deep, seemed to have become deeper. Its pitch had lowered and almost seemed to resonate with the ship.

The moment the spell was cast, the ship resonated for a moment and then it ran.

The ship did not merely speed up. It sped up to such a degree that it vibrated. It had accelerated from a speed of some tens of kilometres per hour to several hundred in a matter of seconds under the effect of the captain’s Spell.

This was the effect of the Tier 2 Spell, [Set Sail], which increased the speed of the vessel by a factor of the [Sum of all of the Attributes] Km/hr as the cost of [Sum of all of the Attributes] MP/Min.

And as the [Ship Captain] had used [Link] hand, the speed had been increased by [Sum of all the 6 Attributes of the 65 people connected with [Link] and all of the captain’s Tier 3 Attributes.

The ship vibrated as it ran across the surface of the water, seemingly splitting the liquid apart. The monster tried to give chase but the speed granted by the [Ship Captain]’s Spell was a magnitude of several hundreds of kilometres per hour.

The creature monster simply couldn’t keep up.

0.0

Kiran couldn’t believe it. They had survived!

Yet he still couldn’t believe it. How could he? In front of that monstrosity, they had been nothing but ants. Maybe not even that!

Facing the unfathomable monster, he truly understood why the ocean’s denizens were called calamities made flesh. Kiran had merely caught a glance at the humongous creature and it had left his mind shaking.

Remembering the creature, his body trembled. His hands shook. His heart pounded while cold sweat covered his palms. Goosebumps erupted on his body and his breath came up short and fast.

Kiran did not even know what that creature had been and yet his mind trembled.

He still didn’t completely understand what had happened. At one moment they had been shivering where they had stood, dreading for their lives and in another, they had been speeding away on the water like nothing he had ever experienced.

Fighting that creature had not been an option.

“We thank everyone for cooperating during the time of need.” At that moment the captain’s deep voice boomed across the ship. “The danger has passed. Everyone can rest now.”

A collective sigh of relief seemed to escape from everyone on the ship. And at the same time, the man’s presence seemed to fade and his connection to the people dissipated as the skill [Link] was released.

At that moment, another notification was received by all those that had connected their Attributes to the [Ship Captain].

Ting.

[[Link] has ended. Penalty applied. All the Attributes decreased by 10% of their original value for the duration of the next 1043 hours, the sum of Class Levels of all the people connected. The penalty is stackable.]

Kiran sat down and breathed deeply to control the trembling of his limbs.

[Link] was a Mortal skill. It meant that all mortals, no matter their species, had some version of this skill. And it was because of this Skill that Mortals had any chance of surviving. It was often said that this Skill was Gods’ gift to the Mortals. It was their pity and their grace.

Kiran did not know much about Gods so he didn’t debate on the subject. He was no priest, after all, he was an ascetic.

Yet, it was true that this skill formed the base on which Mortals survived even today. It allowed mortals to add their one or multiple of their attributes to a single person who could then cast a Spell using the combined strength of all the connected mortals.

This Skill transformed a group of people, waiting to be slaughtered, into a power that could hunt the hunter. Yet this skill was not without its limitations. As after each cast, all the attributes of all the people connected decreased temporarily as a penalty.

Kiran knew all of this, thus he walked up to one of the returning people and asked about the penalty time. The number made him wince. ‘Almost 43 days. Captain’s Skill must be quite high to [Link] with this many people.’

Kiran breathed deeply and felt his taut muscles give in.

Even though his heart had calmed down a bit, the tension from having survived certain death had left his legs week and body sore.

Still, he could not rest now. Working for the ship’s [Healer] had been one of the conditions under which he had been allowed to board, and if there were any time to help the older man, it would be now.

Thus, with shaky legs, he made for the old man’s office.

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-