Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages.

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A beautiful day. The sea birds call their mates. The frolicking of the waves make music. The serene wind takes a yawn. The lukewarm sun shines its brilliant rays on to the deck of a ship. On to a young man who stares at the heavens looking upon this wonderous world. He would have been blessed to receive nature's prize and his thoughts would have been full of amazement. He makes the shadows move hither and tither as he slowly lifts the mop on to the ship's deck.

'I have been tricked!'

So much for important missions, exciting adventures and amorous women. If anyone tells you that being a shipwright learner and a page are important jobs, hit them. By any equation, all calculations, shipwright learner + page = slave.

Consider it. The addition of two lowest rungs in the job ladder results in being like the lower side of the lowest rung of the ladder. Kinda like negative number + negative number = a more negative number.

Raka sighed again, running the mop across the wooden floor of the ship's deck, remembering everything that had brought him to this.

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Raka stood wondering what to do. He had just been delivered the Annoying Parrot. It was getting late and he had to log out soon but he couldn't just leave it in the cage. He would be gone 2 days after all. In his shock, he had failed to see what was in the cage. 'Was there food and water?' Well even though the parrot was annoying, should he just let it die?!

After thinking a bit he decided on a course of action. He got out the ear plugs he used when he worked at the warehouse and put them in his ears. He hoped it would be enough although all his instincts warned him that if they couldn't protect him from Salmon's voice, they wouldn't help with the parrot.

But still, something was better than nothing. If only it would give him a few more seconds to react before he was stunned, he hoped. Slowly he lifted the cloth from the cage again.

".......," the parrot moved its beak.

"Um....wait. Before you start singing, wouldn't you like to get out of the cage." Thankfully, he couldn't hear its voice. The ear plugs were working. On the other hand, not being able to hear, he was sure it had not started singing yet. He could see its beak move though so....Well strike before it could get in its groove, as they say.

He put his hands on one side of the cage wall, finding a small latch and opened it. He tried lifting it and the cage wall lifted. All the while the parrot was watching his actions, incredibly with its beak closed.

"You are free now. Go on fly away. You see freedom, fresh air...go on!"

'Please do', he thought as well.

The parrot walked out of the cage, hopped would be a better word, with its wings flapping. It flew on to the tree monkey was on and landed. And then it stared with its beak open.

'Is it saying something?' The parrot simply nodded its head and shut its beak.

Raka wasn't sure what to do now.

"Go on...you are free, do you understand. FREE! FLY! AWAY!" He even shooed with his hands. But still the parrot just sat there.

It started moving its beak after a while. Not sure if Raka was out of danger yet. But there was no way to find out other than to risk it. Slowly he moved the plugs out of his ears, being cautious.

".........beneficiary. Therefore I shall in good honor of generations past." Thankfully, no singing, yet.

"Um, what?"

"Ah you are a bad listener in addition to being filthy sir. Why don't you get an extra pair of ears while you are at it."

"What?" Well it was still annoying.

"You gave me freedom. I owe you a debt. The clan Cackle does not take debts. We repay them in full. So I will serve you till I have repaid it."

"Ah no no. There is no debt. Please fly away. Go back to your home or whatever. I am sure your folks miss you."

"Definitely not! I am a proud member of the clan Cackle. Pure blood of 5 generations. We don't keep debts as I said."

"But I don't need you for anything. Besides don't you have an aspiration to be a singer? Don't you want to go somewhere else for that?"

"That is true. But dreams can wait. This Cackle shall honor his debts first."

"Why! As I said there is no debt. Even if there was, there is no reason to stay...you can resolve your debts some other day...like maybe next year."

"Oh no. The Cackle fatherlord said. We resolve our debts then and there. And we do not leave till we do."

'Now how do I get rid of this thing!!'

"So what do you have to do to resolve your debt? Like one favor and your done?" Maybe he could get rid of it another way.

"Laws of the Cackle clan state, I shall have to serve you for 10 new moons."

"Wait, that's almost like 10 months. You have to serve me for 10 months?!"

"Ah that proves it. You have an addled brain sir. In what world does the new moon happen ten times in ten months?"

"Eh...Oh!" Raka, like most people had assumed the game world was the same as the real world atleast with respect to the moon and stuff. Well more than assume, he hadn't cared about it.

"So when does the new moon happen?"

"Once a year. Everyone knows that. Ah life...its misery and the beauty of the moon...."

"Stop! Don't sing!" Raka shouted.

The parrot did stop. Guess the key was to do a preemptive strike before the bomb dropped.'That was close. I will have to keep listening to its words carefully. But still once a year..!!!'

"Um that would be like 10 years! Are you sure you did not get your law wrong? Maybe you heard it wrong?"

"Ofcourse not. The Cackle clan prides itself on its perfect memories."

"Really? Then how were you captured?"

"Ah...I got lost while going home and landed on a ship to spend the night. The next thing, I was in a cage!"

"So you forgot your way home. What's with perfect memories!"

"Do not belittle the Cackle clan, filthy addlebrained sir! Even the best Cackle makes mistakes."

"Seriously! Anyways what is this Cackle clan you are talking about?"

"Ah forgetful too aren't you sir! Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Sir Squaky Nobbington Poppington Cackle the sixth."

"Squaky? Seriously?!"

"Ah if the name is too much for your forgetful self, you may address me as Sir Pop Cackle the sixth!"

'Ridiculous!' On so many levels. But anyways he didn't have time for it today.

"Alright...Pop Cackle....whatever. I will be gone for the next two days. If you wish to leave you can do so. Or please do anyway. I have left some food for monkey, if you want to eat."

"The proud Cackle clan hunts its own food. We do not take someone else's."

'And didn't you eat the food served to you in the cage?' It was annoying in more ways than one.

"Ok then. Well good night monkey."

The monkey moved his head and made a small sound, almost like a whine and a light screech.

"Ah he says good night to you, sir! He also says please glue his mouth together before you go. Ah why does he want to glue your mouth? Rude little ape, isn't he."

"Oh...ok. Wait! He says that? You understand him?"

"Yes. It reminds me of the time when I first visited the island of the apes...ah the beauty of the trees..."

"Don't sing."

So the parrot understands monkey language. Raka sighed and logged out.

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Swamy sighed again. He was having trouble paying attention to anything the prof said. In fact for the first time in his life, he suspected he had found himself in that proverbial fire and fire pan situation. Or was it the well and valley situation. Anyways he was having the perennial problem most film makers have. How to get their characters be at two places at once.

If he did not go to college tomorrow, his Aunt who lived next door and through her, his parents, would know. If he did go to college tomorrow, he would miss his quest. The ship would sail.....literally. And if he was not on it, well..! He did wonder though, how virtual reality games get a character log on and off from a moving platform. I mean you get back online the place you died or logged out. But if that place was a ship, do you log on to the ship or to the exact place above water you logged out at. This and other nonsense thoughts pervaded the domain of his mind in his search for the solution to a very complex problem.

Swamy sighed again. He tried to focus his attention back on his lessons but every few minutes some other nonsense thought would come invading.

During lunch...

"Hey Swamy, what's up pal?" Rohit asked.

"Hmm...what?"

"You are looking so lost today. In fact you weren't even listening in the lessons. Dude, if you doze off what will I do?"

"Well it would help if you showed as much interest in class as you do in Long Island forums," Sneha quipped.

"Oh come on. I can't help where my interests lie, can I now?" Rohit replied with a smile.

"Ha Ha...you will have to try harder than that!"

'Ri~ght....and ignore me will ya,' Swamy thought.

"Any~ways back to Swamy. So what's caught up in your sleeve? I mean I haven't seen you staring out of the window...like I have never seen you stare out of the window in class," Manish added.

"Um...I am in a bit of a fix. I got this quest in game, but it will happen tomorrow in the day time."

"Ok. So skip class tomorrow. I have done it once already," Rohit said.

"Well he is not you obviously!" Sneha replied back.

"Well its not like we are graded for attendance. You could skip, if you wanted to. Is this quest really that important? What kind of quest is it?"

'Do I tell them?' Swamy thought. He had never got a chance to really talk about his game character. Well he did, but no one was particularly interested at those times, so he had politely stayed quiet. Was this the moment of reckoning. What would happen if they found out he was Raka? More specifically the Raka. Would they be upset? Or like Christopher, they would think it was clever that he hid it. Maybe the middle path would be best for now.

"Umm...the quest has a difficulty of E. But if I get it done I might get to learn the woodworking skill, I think. It does not have many rewards, but it gives me the basic shipwright commission."

"Wait...whats a basic shipwright commission?" Rohit pricked his ears at the new knowledge but it seemed everyone else was also interested in that.

"Ah, the shipwright commission allows you to work on ships. The basic one allows you to work on the ship. The intermediate one allows you hire other shipwrights to work for you. And the advanced allows you to design and build ships. But you have to have the previous one to get the next level. So getting the basic one could be important. I think you will be able to get it through some other means as well but..."

"Ah that is an absolutely excellent information you have uncovered Swamy." And Rohit was already moving his fingers on the cellphone. Maybe he will check up on this new information. Or maybe he will post it.

"So you need this shipwright commission to actually travel on the ship as well? I mean can someone not travel if they don't have that? Can't they do other jobs which are not related to the shipwright thing?" As usual Himali came up with the most interesting questions.

"Actually I think you can. Not sure what other jobs there are. But I doubt the captain would be a shipwright as well. It is one of the positions on the ship. Knowing the ship is made of wood, the woodworking skill could become very important, I think." Swamy replied honestly.

"Hmm...we never thought of that did we Himali?" Manish said.

"Yeah. After all, this game has a lot of islands. I think we forgot it due to being stuck in one place for so much time. Now we can go to the capital and see the sea right." Himali answered.

"So should we spend some time learning the woodworking skill you think?"

"Well we can if we want. But there should be other jobs to do on the ship as well. Lets find out more about it by asking around, before we decide."

"But you use the bow as a weapon. It would be good to have someone know this skill in our guild."

"Yeah. Oh lets not forget we need to find out how to make our guilds when we get to the capital. I think the road's open now. I asked the guards and they said that the guards from the capital would be going back today. Once they get there the road will open for normal traffic."

"Oh I heard that too. It seems Lady Altia will also go with the guards. The battle school instructors were talking about it. Come to think of it, I haven't seen her around lately."

"Could it be a continuation of the event quest you think?" Himali asked.

"Not sure. Do you think we should hurry to the capital in that case? Maybe the next event quest will take place there." Manish added.

"Well even if we hurry after the road opens, it would take us a few days to get there. Not sure we would be able to take part." Himali explained.

"Oh yeah. That's true."

"Oh did you know I got a blessing yesterday." Finally Sneha spoke. It seemed she had been dying to get this out but looking that the talk never turned her way she had waited. The water had finally broken through the dam and she eagerly blurted it out.

"Really what was it?" Rohit quickly looked up from his phone.

"Oh just some silly thing actually." Sneha gave a knowing smile to Himali.

Rohit looked at the exchange between the two ladies perplexed. Thankfully Manish explained.

"Well Himali's cooking instructor, who's a female npc by the way, kissed her cheek when she was blessed. Her blessing is kind of embarrassing so I don't think I will disclose that. I think something similar happened to Sneha."

"Wait you were learning tailoring if I remember right? That instructor was a guy. Did he kiss you on the cheek as well?" Rohit asked.

"No. In my case he went down on one knee and kissed my hand like a knight. It was so romantic." Sneha replied.

"What! He did that! The nerve of him!" Rohit said aloud.

"Calm down. I will let you do that as well, if you like it so much." Sneha teased and Rohit had the good grace to blush a little bit.

"Well anyways, you should just skip class Swamy." A lame attempt by Rohit to change the discussion and everyone smiled, but they let it drop.

"Yeah. But I think you may not need to do that. I was talking to one of the seniors I know. She said that during the start of long weekends like this, usually they end class early. And in some cases the profs themselves take the day off. Last year they had the whole morning off and in the afternoon the profs let them leave early." Sneha said.

"Ah that would be nice. But I guess I still have to come down tomorrow to check it out. Well lets see what happens." Swamy could finally see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. Ofcourse that would be very lucky and he had a feeling his luck ran out in the game. But if it had happened before, there was a good chance it could happen again. If not...'Well I will think about it when I get there.' Swamy sighed again.

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Raka logged in by the beach. He took a deep breath of the salty sea air of the night. He had logged in a little early today, it was still like dark in the game. Monkey was still hanging by the tree and it looked asleep. Parrot...or Sir whatsitname seemed to be missing. 'Did it go away?' Raka smiled for a moment. But then sighed his hopes away. He was not that lucky. It must be somewhere around, probably hunting for food.

'Anyways I will let them do what they want. The people don't seem to bother them so I think it should be alright if I just let them be here.' Thinking that he headed to the library. His addition to his usual routine would be reading about his new found skills in the library. Well the only skill he had practiced so far was Massage. And he hadn't learnt it yet. But then he had been practicing on Monkey so it might not count anyway.

Pushing his thoughts aside, he found the book on herbal medicine again and started learning it slowly. He even took out a few empty sheets and started making notes. 'I will have to buy more paper soon.'

A few hours and a bunch of notes later he stood up from his seat and stretched a bit. 'Ah the sun's up already.' He had been so engrossed in studying that he had not realized that the sun had come up a couple of hours before. 'Well lets head down to the docks.'

Salmon wasn't there today. 'Hmmm whats up?' Raka asked one of his colleagues and found out that Salmon won't be coming today. Raka sighed. 'Couldn't he have just told me. He knows I come up every 3 days.' But not telling him seemed exactly like Salmon's nature.

Well he had no work today. So instead he made his way down to the one thing he could now do, because he had found a little bit of fame. The bow maker's shop. In his regular routine, he visited all the shops he knew.

Ofcourse going to all the shops in Thelmova everyday was not possible. There were so many. But Raka had quickly found out that intimacy counts for more with merchants than fame. Yes, fame helps. Especially if you are selling stuff like bones. But for profit margins, its better to have high intimacy. So he had identified the few shops which liked to buy at higher margins. He had also found stores which liked to sell just a little cheaper. And then he visited them regularly. Oh and he noted down the prices of the items every time.

With intimacy came another distinct advantage. He could now ask them about things in their shop. Once he got more information, his Identification skill could work and improve. Unlike other skills though, improving Identification skill did not remove or reduce the requirement for information. He still had to find out about things or figure out things before his identification skill took effect. It was more for converting general information into specific data. Like how he figured out age and the skill gave him a number.

"Ah aren't you the young man who came here before? What was your name again? Heard a few people talking about you getting a Queen's medal now, is it true?" asked the young bow maker.

"Ah yeah, last time we were not introduced. My name is Raka and yes it is true that I was rewarded with a Queen's medal."

"Hahahaha now I remember. You were trying to sell bones to me, right. At that time I couldn't help thinking what kind of loon had arrived...sorry about that. Name's Boyle. So how can I help you today?"

"Well I came today for the same reason as last time. I wanted to sell all the rabbit and wolf bones I have."

"Ah yeah. I agree you can sell them now but I got no need for those bones right now. No demand for basic bows see."

Raka thought for a bit.