Southern Cravian Ocean

***

‘Ocean’

I don’t know what it was about the blue ocean that had always fascinated me. Maybe it was my curiosity.

I was born into the family of a small village, Lemlin. It was located to the north of the Xander Kingdom much towards the central region of Cravia. Living in the inner regions of Cravia, naturally, I had never had the opportunity of ever seeing the ocean.

But the tales that I heard from my grandmother were enough to let my fascination towards it grow.

Growing up I never knew who my father was. Mother and grandparents were the only family that I knew. Sure I was eager to know who my father was, but it didn’t matter much.

Running freely through the ripe barley fields with no tomorrow to think about. Stealing favourite sweets under the eyes of mother and sleeping to her lullaby was all that I knew. But my carefree life that I had aspired to live was soon burnt down in front of my own eyes.

‘They’ came and took it all away from me.

I still remember.

The sky was dyed red. One could see the grey and black smoke that rose from the ruins of the village from a mile away. I remembered venturing out deep into the forest that morning. My younger foolish self wanted to find a flat rock to make it skip in the river. Running back home, I found my village. My home. Burning.

“Kyle…”

A hand waved in front of me trying to draw my attention.

“Hey lost soul !”

“Ah! Hi there, Camron.” I snapped back to reality.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Camron asked, looking at a pitiful smile hung on my face.

“Nah, I’m fine.”

“You sure? It looked like you were kinda sad.”

“No, no. I am fine. But what about you? Did you hit it off with Sherry?” I tried to change the subject.

“Ah, now that you mentioned it. She and I had a pretty long conversation about…” Taking a hint, Camron played along.

This is why I liked him. Camron and I knew each other too well.

Seeing him blabbering on and on, I don’t know why but it always felt good. He was the only one left that I could describe as my family. Though if it weren’t for those lustful eyes that lecherously wandered around for girls. He might have been a better friend. But you gotta make do with what you have, Right?

While I was deep in my own thoughts, I hadn’t noticed but Camron was now nowhere in front of me.

And lo and behold!

One moment he was talking to me, now he could be seen ‘tailing’ Sherry.

“Haha…”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Hearing me laugh, Camron turned towards me and gave me a friendly salute as he went back to his berth.

‘He was my best friend.’

***

At the speed we were heading, the Captain predicted that it would take us more than a month to cross over to Galia.

Many of the students were starting to get sea sick. I had heard from the crew members that it was a fairly common phenomenon during long voyages. This calmed them down. To be honest, I felt quite bad for them.

Seeing all their green faces, I instinctively knew that I never wanted to get sea sick.

Walking upto the hull, I looked in front of me. I had to admit it, travelling in a ship didn’t felt bad at all.

“Status.”

[Name : Kyle Menderz]

[Race : Human-50%, ??? ]

[Health Points : 150/150]

[Stamina : 200/200]

[Mana Points : 0]

[Class : Amateur Swordsman]

Allows the host to learn and master the way of sword faster by 100%

The weight of the sword is reduced by 5%.

[Skills]

>>[ Pierce: |Common| ]

The strength of a stab is increased by 10%.

The precision of the stab is increased by 5%.

>>[ Sword Flash: |Rare| ]

The host can utilise the reflection of light on their sword and momentarily blind the opponent.

Effect time: 1 sec.

[Combat Art]

>>[ Mystique Sword: |Epic| : First Gate Mastery]

The path of a swordsman can’t be walked by those who lack willingness and determination. To hone your sword skills, you need to bear the sword with the same intent and determination. Old martial artists of Cravia have walked this path successfully.

For wielding your sword you don’t need magic. You need yourself and your unwavering will. Walk the path of the real swordsman who take pride in wielding a sword without the help of mana.

[Mana Artefacts: ???]

***

‘It seems nothing has chang-’

BOOM

A loud explosion rocked the balance of the entire ship.

“What the…”

My balance faltered and I fell butt down. Sitting on the cold hull, I saw multiple men draped all in black wreaking havoc throughout the ship. They were armed with swords, spears and one particularly large man was wielding a huge menacing axe.

They were going around vandalising the ship but didn’t seem to be particularly interested in hurting someone, which was quite peculiar taking the whole picture into consideration.

“Hah? What is going on?”

You could hear a scream every now and then. I was sure that those people were probably paranoid or scared. All the people on the ship were either the students or the crew of the ship. It was only natural that none of them were prepared for such a situation.

If it weren’t for the surprising time that they chose to attack, I was sure that all of us could overwhelm them with our strength. We weren’t the best hundred students of Cravia just for name.

Some of the students and crewmates grouped against those men and tried to fend them off the deck. But there were only ten students and five members of the crew that were currently fighting. I reckon most of them didn’t even get out of their cabin.

I grabbed a mop laying around in the corner. Kicking the fibrous part of the mop, I took out the stick with the sharp end sticking out. I joined in the fun.

Though we had the number advantage as there were only eight of them. They still somehow managed to hold us off for quite some time. Nearly an hour later, the intense tussle finally came to an end, and as expected we succeeded.

Backed into a corner, they jumped off the ship into the ocean. Peeking off the railing, I looked down to check if they were actually gone. I had suspected something wasn’t right from the moment I saw them not attacking any of the students or crewmates with the intention of outright slaughtering them.

But when I found out that the men had suddenly disappeared into the sea, just as silently as when they had crept in, it piqued my suspicions.

If those men were pirates or some kind of thieves, they would have had another ship and we would have seen them come miles away. But there were no ships or even boats anywhere near us. So, it was clear that pirates or thieves were off the list.

Besides there was also the intriguing fact that they were trained fighters. They did not use mana and without using mana and still continuing to fend off the attacks of more than twice the amount of people wasn’t the work of an amateur or a total novice.

Brooding myself, I walked back to my cabin. On the way back, I met with Camron.

“Where were you?” Raising an eyebrow, I asked him.

“O-oh a-a.. You see I was in the washroom when all of the fight was going on. I couldn’t possibly come out naked now, could I? And besides I heard that you along with the rest managed to scare the pirates away so it's fine. Right?”

“Grr… Fine.” Showcasing my displeasure, I walked past him.

When I said that we knew each other too well. It went both ways and I knew Camron. He was a total wuss. I still don’t understand how he even managed to make it through school back in Cravia.

I turned the knob to open the door. When suddenly I came face to face with a black mask. And in a single quick motion the man in front of me took out something from his pockets and injected it directly into my neck.

I tried to scream but before I could do so I found my mouth had been covered by his other hand. And in less than a second heavy drowsiness started washing over me and finally I lost my consciousness.

Two words whispered into my ears reverberated throughout my body.

“SLEEP TIGHT”

!!!