The crew

Sky was able to make it to Harbot's in a few hours without any interruptions. Along the entire journey he leveled up his water slice skill.

{Water slice: lvl 4: 30 damage (36 with 20% increase in damage) attack is longer, and can travel further}

"Woah." Sky let out his voice. From a distance he could see a large castle behind a large stone wall.

On the way he could see many ships sailing towards the kingdom.

There were many speed boats, ships, and even watchtowers surrounding the kingdom, many of them had an insignia Sky didn't recognize.

Few of the boats drove towards Sky, there was a man standing out signaling Sky to stop driving his speed boat.

Sky complied and turned off his motorboat. One of the motorboat's stopped beside Sky.

"What are you doing here?" A man with a long and thick beard asked, he was clearly bald despite wearing a uniform hat, and wore sunglasses.

"I want to enter Harbot's."

"If you want to enter Harbot's, go to the other side. There's a huge docking station there you can't miss."

"Thanks." Sky turned on his motorboat and went over the other side.

A few minutes later Sky saw many ships and boats docked. There were a surprising number of people there already.

Sky carefully docked his boat on the docking area. A man wearing a black uniform came up to Sky, he also had an insignia like the men Sky met.

The insignia had two snakes coiling around a sword that was pointing upwards. The snakes looked at each other while hissing.

In his hands he carried a black ledger. Beside him was a little boy in ragged clothes and a symbol on his forehead.

'Identify.'

{Little John}

{HP: 10/10}

{Mana: 1/1}

{Stats…}

Sky couldn't see it using his system but he could tell the boy is a slave. The mark on his forehead is proof he is a slave. The mark has the appearance of an arm with a cuff around it's wrist, the wrist had a long chain attached to it.

Many marks come in all shapes and designs when it comes to branding slaves, some even cover their entire faces, or just their backs, it could be however the buyer wants it.

Slavery is legal in this world, Sky didn't think of it much because it was basically a custom in this world for the rich to own slaves.

"20 shells to dock your motorboat here." The man said.

"How about now?" Sky transformed the boat into a card.

The man took a deep breath, as if this had happened to him numerous times before.

"Even if you don't have to pay the docking fee I still need your name."

The kid carried a bottle of ink for the man to dip his feather pencil in it.

{!!!}

{The skill {eye of truth} is being used on the player}

Sky frowned. The man in front of him was using a skill on him, but from what he could tell it wasn't a threat to him.

"Sky."

"Sky's your name? Well what about your last name?"

"Rouge."

"Rouge… How do you spell that? R-o-g-u-e?"

"R-o-u-g-e."

"Got it. Age?"

"Seventeen."

"Hm. Welcome to Harbots."

The man left with the little slave kid following him.

The entrance of the kingdom was grand. There were three gates that were of an outstanding size.

Two of the gates are located on the water. One is meant for transportation ships to enter, the other gate was for the ships to exit and deliver goods to other places.

The third gate is on the land for the common people.

Sky managed to enter the kingdom without any problems, they didn't ask anyone for identity or money.

However, the moment he stepped in the kingdom another skill was used on him.

{The skill {search} has been used on the player}

'Search?' Sky didn't know what that skill did exactly, perhaps they were checking if he was carrying any weapons on him?

Sky kept all his items inside his inventory, could they see that with the 'search' skill?

Sky made sure to keep his senses sharp, but from what he can tell no one was paying attention to him.

After walking for a while Sky could relax and focus on his goal, to send a message to his parents.

There is a tall building with a sign that reads 'delivery service' which can deliver items to most parts of the world.

Every building is made of stone. There were also several trails of water flowing around the streets of the kingdom where Sky saw some slave children were playing in. It is used for water to flow directly to the ocean whenever it rains.

There were also lots of houses and lots of shops. It was grand without a doubt, but the walls covering the entire kingdom, and all the buildings so close together made Sky feel that it was too cramped.

Sky entered the delivery service building. There was a surprising number of people, about 40 not including the employees. There are five lines of people waiting to reach the counter. Sky had no choice but to wait.

After nearly forty minutes of waiting, Sky finally made it to the counter. Behind the counter is a bald, tanned, skinny man. He wore prescription glasses and wore a suit and tie which made him appear fancy.

"How can I help you today?" He asked, he had a bit of an English accent.

"I want to send a message."

"Where to?" The man grabbed a piece of paper. It was customary for the one working behind the counter to write the letter. The reason this was a thing is because there have been times where people send letters that could harm the kingdom or its people.

Sky didn't know about this custom.

"Peeves."

"Peeves? Oh!" The man remembered seeing an island with that name. He took a look at his chart to see what the price is to deliver to Peeves.

"To send a letter to Peeves, it'll take a minimum of 4-5 days to reach, and it will cost you 80 shells."

"Is there a faster way to deliver the letter? I have money." Sky said.

"No."

"It's just I need to get this letter to Peeves asap."

"There is no faster way. 4-5 days is already really fast for an island that's almost a month away."

"Fine." Sky pulled out some money from his pocket that he took out from his inventory before arriving.

"What would you like for me to write?" The man asked after confirming the amount of money.

"Write down: Mom, dad, it's me Sky, I'm still alive. I don't know how I made it here in the kingdom of Harbot's but I'm coming to Peeves, it'll take about a month or longer but please just wait for me. Also it is not Mrs. J or her family's fault that they lost me, they saved me when our home perished."

"Is that all?" The man didn't even care what Sky was saying. It was customary for the employee to never question the customer what they're delivering unless they thought it was dangerous.

"Yes."

"Who would you like to send it to exactly?"

"Um, my mom, her name is Jasmine Rouge, if it doesn't reach her then my dad, Ben Rouge, or if neither of them are there send it to Katherine Jade, also known as Mrs. J."

"Katherine Jade… is that all?"

"Yes, that's all."

The man sealed the piece of paper in a small tube. He grabbed an eagle that had his eyes covered with a metal hat, despite that the owl seemed perfectly calm.

He wrapped the metal tube around the bird's talon. After several minutes the man somehow managed to communicate with the owl to fly to Peeves.

"It is done."

"Thank you."

"Sky, will you be waiting for a reply in case one comes from Peeves?"

"Um…" Sky didn't think of that. What if his parents decide to reply back?

"How long until replies come back?"

"I'm afraid no one can tell. But I just need to know if you'll be staying in Harbot's in case a reply does arrive."

"I probably won't be at Harbot's for long."

"Very well. So long, Sky, and I hope you'll find your way back to your family."

Sky left the building. He checked how much money he still had left in total.

{Shell: 21,378}

'Still have a lot left over.'

Sky then thought his best course of action was to arrive at Peeves.

Sky sat at the edge of a street with a map on hand. There were some islands between here and Peeves but they were too far apart, even with his motorboat some of the islands would take days to reach.

He didn't want to find himself stuck out in the ocean in the dark unless he had a death wish.

The only way to safely cross the ocean is by boarding a ship. Sea monsters don't usually attack ships due to their size even at night. Even if a ship finds itself being attacked, the crew would protect themselves using cannons, weapons, and spells if they had any.

Sky headed straight to the docking area outside the kingdom's walls. But a few shops caught his eye.

There was a library that was grand and bigger than any building in the kingdom, not counting the castle.

Then there was an outdoor shop that sold scrolls that was owned by a short, old woman that covered herself in black clothes. He couldn't even see her face; she covered it with a black veil.

As far as Sky could tell, every single scroll was green rank.

"Are you looking for anything in particular?" The short, old woman asked him.

"Yeah, are there any scrolls that can give you flight or teleportation?"

The old woman looked at Sky like he was the dumbest human being she had ever seen.

"...you won't find those kind of skills in green ranked scrolls, perhaps in purple scrolls and very rarely in red scrolls if you're lucky."

"Right…"

Sky could see each scroll had a price labeled as well as what they contained.

Some scrolls can increase his stats, while others can give him skills. Each green scroll costs no less than 5,000 shells each.

It seemed that the best scrolls were already bought out long ago, or shipped off somewhere else.

Sky left to head to the library because at the moment he could only afford four green scrolls. There was a mature woman reading a book behind the counter, beside her was a mountain of books she had finished reading.

The library had rows of books neatly arranged on shelves, there seemed to be thousands of books of all types.

Sky pretended to be reading their titles as he caressed them with his hand, but in reality he was looking for one that would give him skills.

After three hours Sky finished browsing every single book, and he found a number of books that can give him skills. The best part is that all the books combined that he found were cheaper than buying one green scroll.

Sky carried a mere four books to the counter.

"Are you going to rent these books?" The lady asked Sky. She appeared to be visibly frustrated at something else.

"Is there any way I can buy these books instead?" Sky didn't plan on renting the books, once he is done with a book they'll be destroyed.

"Um… yeah, but, you should rent it, it'll be cheaper."

"I know, but I want to buy them."

"Hold on. I have to count it first."

"Sure."

The woman threw her book away as if she was angry with it.

Sky noticed the title of the book, "how to read the dead language: for beginners."

'I was looking for that book.' Sky's eyes opened wide.

"Can I also take that book?" Sky pointed to her book.

"Oh, this book isn't from the library."

"Can I buy it from you then?"

"You know what? Sure. I thought I could learn the language but it's very difficult to learn it." The woman placed the book along with Sky's.

The second Sky touched the book a new notification popped up asking if Sky wanted to learn the dead language, Sky grinned with excitement.

Sky finished paying for the books which were less than 200 shells. Without anyone looking he stored his books inside his inventory, only when he was alone he would use the books.

Sky reached the docking area which was outside the kingdom but underneath a tunnel big enough to fit multiple shops. There were a lot of ships and people, as well as many crates that carried a lot of stuff, animals in cages, and even slaves.

After asking around, Sky found one man who is in charge of delivering items to other islands; he could also give people a lift in a ship as long as they paid a fee.

"Hey, are you in charge?" Sky asked.

It was a man with a face that made anyone want to punch him. Two of his teeth were bigger than average that stood out, his nose was pointy, he was balding, his ears stuck out like two sore thumbs, and his eyes looked serious yet goofy.

He wore expensive, red clothing, and was incredibly short. Sky thought his expensive clothes made him look like a jester.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"I want to go to Peeves. I can pay for a ride."

"Peeves." The man looked at his chart.

"Hmm… yeah, you're in luck, I rarely trade with that island but soon I'll be sending a ship there to deliver some goods they asked for."

"When?"

"Five days."

"Five days? Any way you can speed it up?"

"That's not how it works. Every ship you see here is going somewhere even further than Peeves and they're all filled with busy workers, and Harbot's can't just send a ship to some island all because you want to. I don't know or care why you want to go to Peeves but it won't be for another five days."

"Fine... How much do I have to pay to board the ship?"

"I charge around 300 shells per person."

Sky left the docking area feeling dejected.

Sky decided he would be staying at a hotel. The hotel's in Harbot's charged more compared to the other island he was on, it was 140 shells per day. Sky paid for five days.

The hotel room inside Harbot's was grander than the last hotel and worth the price. The room was spacious enough for a family of 3, it had three beds, furniture, a view of the castle, a large decorated bathroom, and some magazines for the kids and adults to enjoy.

Sky sat down on top of one of the beds and took out the books.

{Want to learn this skill? Dead language: level 1}

{Yes} {No}

Sky tapped yes. Knowledge about the book flowed to his mind. It was no wonder the woman was so frustrated reading the book, it was a completely different language that was way too different from the language they knew.

{!!!}

{Int increased by 1}

{Mana: 500/500}

"Neat."

Sky took out the rest of the books and learned them all.

{Skill level up: 1-handed swords: lvl 3: 30% damage increase, 10% higher critical chance and damage when using a sword}

{Skill learned: alchemy: lvl 1: potions brewed are 5% more effective}

{Cannot learn the skill: arc slash: lvl 1: player does not meet the requirements}

{Requirements: 12 Dex, 12 Str}

{Cannot learn skill {mana mastery: lvl 1} player already knows {mana mastery: lvl 4} }

{Skill is too low to level up {mana mastery: lvl 4}

"Bummer." Sky placed the last book on top of the drawer beside him.

He decided to read about the 'mana mastery' book; perhaps he can learn something from it.

{Player skill is too high to learn {mana mastery: lvl 1}

Sky continued to read it with the notification popping up every five minutes.

Sky placed the book back on the counter, and arc slash was stored in his inventory. Then laid down on his bed. What was he going to do for five days? He felt trapped in this situation.

'At least the mail will be delivered in five days, but I don't know if mom and dad will be there. I really hope they're fine. But I can't just stand here and do nothing!'

He decided to explore the kingdom. He had visited a few other places, a weapon's shop, a casino, and once again the shipyard.

The cheapest ships cost around 300-500 thousand shells. Aside from the insane price one needed a special permit to buy a ship which was new to Sky, and a crew to operate the ship because one man cannot operate a ship by himself but that is common sense.

The casino didn't let anybody under 18 inside…

But the weapon's shop was special. Inside the weapon's shop there were a lot of weapons but rarely were there ever guns in the store.

Behind the counter is an old man who didn't even look at Sky, he looked as if he didn't want to be disturbed.

Sky even found a few powerful weapons that caught his eye.

{Red-katana: requires 16 Dex, 16 Str to use}

{Damage 125}

{Scales with Dex D-grade, Str D-grade}

{Cost: 50,000 shells}

It had a red handle and it was beautifully curved. It also had a red sheath that came with it.

{Shark hammer: requires 20 Str to use}

{Damage 180}

{Scales with Str C-grade}

{Cost: 65,000 shells}

The shark hammer is a 1-handed hammer that is smaller than the katana. It was blue with no details at all, its handle was made of shark hide.

{Razor knife: requires 22 Dex, 6 Str to use}

{Damage 90}

{Scales with Dex C-grade}

{Cost: 45,000 shells}

The knife had two pointed tips and was very short and its handle was made of rubber. There was nothing more to say about the knife's appearance.

Sky raised an eyebrow. His slime staff has a D-grade for int, but is C-grade better? If so, how much better is it?

There weren't any mana weapons or long range weapons as far as Sky could tell. Even if there are mana weapons Sky didn't think he could afford one.

'I really want that sword.' Sky thought.

Then he remembers the time he fought against those baboons, then when he cleared the dungeon, he still vividly remembers how great it felt to take the lives of those innocent baboons.

'I want it.' Sky reached for the sword but he felt someone hit his head.

"Hey, I've been calling out to you for a while now, are you going to buy something or not?" The old man asked, he hit Sky with a rolled up newspaper.

"I… how did you get those weapons?"

"Most of them I made, but the ones you were drooling at I got them from a portal." He went behind his counter and continued to read his newspaper.

"A portal? Are there any portals here?"

"A few of them pop up near here from time to time."

"What exactly happens inside a portal?"

The old man lowered his newspaper while looking at Sky as if he was an alien.

"Where are you from?"

"Somewhere out west." Sky wasn't lying, in the west is where his home was.

"Oh… well if you want to know more about portals you can join some exterminator group you can find somewhere near the shipyard."

Exterminators are groups of people who sail into portals to fight the monsters in them. Once a portal appears after a single day monsters come out and wreak havoc.

It is said that that's how sea monsters came to be born, from portals, but nobody truly knows.

{!!!}

{New quest detected}

{Join an exterminator group and clear out a portal}

{Clear a green ranked dungeon: 0/1}

{Rewards: 2,500 shells, 1,500 exp, 1 green scroll}

{Failure: none}

'Well… I have nothing better to do and this is perfect as well.' Sky smiled.

"Hey, can I put a down payment on the sword and pay for the full price later?" Sky asked.

"I don't do that."

"How about putting the sword on hold for now until I come back?"

"I don't do that either."

Sky left the shop and ran straight to the shipyard. Upon arriving he learned about the prices of ships after talking to a person who wouldn't shut up about ships, Sky just asked him if there were any exterminator groups.

After asking around, Sky managed to find one exterminator group.

The group had a nice but small ship. It had one mast, and 2 cannons on each side. It also appeared to be well maintained on the outside.

Sky got near the ship where a big, tanned, muscular bald man was standing guard near the wooden plank for people to enter the ship. He carried two scimitars on both sides of his waist.

"Whadya' want kid?" He had a deep voice.

"I want to join the exterminator group."

"It's called a 'crew' and we're already full."

'Great.' Sky thought.

"Are you sure? I am great at using a sword."

"Literally everyone in the crew uses swords."

"How about card transformation?"

There was a moment of silence…

"Wait here." He walked to the ship and entered the captain's quarters.

Sky kept looking at the ship, he wondered if he had enough money he would buy his own.

'Identify.'

{Megalen ship}

{HP: 20,000/20,000}

{A small ship big enough to fit 20 people. It's not great for battle or traveling long distances}

'Ships also have HP? I need to start using {identify} more often.'

Seconds later the bald man came out of the captain's quarters with another man. The new man was slim, wore a stylish red coat, black pants, and brown leather boots. He also had long black hair that made him look messy.

He carried a sword on his waist

'Identify.'

{Morgan Troust}

{HP: 1,300/1,300}

{Mana: 200/200}

{Str: 99. Dex: 50. Spd: 66. Int: 40. Mind: 60. Vig: 120}

'The hell is wrong with his stats?!' Sky couldn't believe it.

He was already level 19 and his stats were nowhere as good as his and he doesn't have a system.

There was only one reason Sky could think of that his stats were higher than normal, he must have consumed a large number of sea scrolls to increase his stats.

They walked up to Sky, sizing him up.

{The skill {search} has been used on the player}

{The skill {eye of truth} has been used on the player}

'This again?'

"What's your name?" Morgan asked.

"Sky."

"Roger here said you told him you can use the card transformation ability, are you telling the truth?"

"I can use the ability."

Morgan looked at Roger and nodded at him. Roger walked back to the ship to gather some materials.

"I believe Roger already told you we are full, while it is true we were just about to look for a scroll that has your ability after the last one crew mates betrayed me. Do you plan on betraying me as well?"

"No." Sky only planned to earn the benefits of joining a portal and earning levels, money, and items.

"Hmm… why do you want to join us?"

"For money, and to kill monsters. And also because you're the only exterminators here from what I heard."

"You know… most people are in it for the money and to get stronger, and lie to my face about it, but I can tell you're telling the truth. Also killing monsters? That's a new one. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"That's still young. Are you planning on joining us temporarily or…?"

"Just for one run."

Sky had thought about it and thought it would be best to go solo. The problem was that he had no idea how to find portals, how they worked, or what they looked like.

He thought if he were to join a crew who has experience he can solo a portal like he did with the dungeon and with all those baboons.

Once he figures out how to find portals he'll go solo.

"Follow me, I want to see how good your skill is."

Morgan led Sky on his ship. The crew mates looked at Sky.

With all the people staring at him Sky used 'identify' on all of them.

Their stats were somewhere between 25-30 each.

Roger came out with three empty barrels. Morgan placed a hand on top of one of the barrels.

"If you can transform all these barrels into cards, I'll let you join."

{New quest has been created}

{Transform 3 barrels into cards to join the 'pirate exterminators' crew}

{Rewards: 100 exp, 100 shells}

{Failure: unable to join the 'pirates exterminators' crew}

'That's their name? Do they also kill pirates? Or is it just the name?'

Sky walked up to the barrels and transformed every single one of them into barrels.

Sky remembers reading about a famous pirate crew who went by the name of "Happy, Jolly, Holy, Sailor, Fun, Boys Club." despite the cute name, they spend all their pirating years killing, enslaving, kidnapping, stealing, rap**g, pillaging, destroying everything and everyone in their path.

There's probably only a few other pirate crews who were as bloodthirsty and as evil as they were.

{9 mana used}

{9 mana used}

{9 mana used}

{Quest complete}

{Exp: 337/700}

'This is by far the easiest quest I've done.'

Morgan looked at Sky as he picked up the cards.

"Well, you're already better than the traitor. Aren't you tired?"

Morgan knows that the skills consumed a ton of mana depending on the size of the item and weight.

"Not really."

"Your mana must be pretty good. Roger, fill the barrels with fish to the brim." Morgan tossed the cards to Roger.

{!!!}

{Morgan is impressed by your ability and wants to see how high you raised your ability}

{Transform 3 barrels full of fish into cards}

{Rewards: 300 exp, 300 shells}

'I haven't even entered a portal and yet I'm already earning good exp… this isn't a trick, right?' Sky felt that this was getting too easy.

Surely if his system is giving him quests from these people they can be trusted, right? Or would his system warn him in advance if these people wanted to harm him.

By the time Roger came back with three barrels full of fish Sky's mana had already recovered.

{36 mana used}

{36 mana used}

{36 mana used}

{Card transformation level up: lvl 6: can store items up that are within a 10 meter radius}

'10 meters? That's a lot.' Sky smiled to see his skill level up. It took

{Quest complete}

{Exp: 637/700}

Roger rubbed his chin as he nodded slightly in amazement. The rest of the crew members looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Welcome to the pirate exterminators." Roger said. He commanded his crew to get ready to leave.

{Joined the 'pirate exterminators' crew}

{You are a {crew member}}

{Player rank is too low to operate {captain's manual} }

{Ship does not belong to player: cannot access {ship controls}}

{Exp share controls} cannot be fully accessed by the player as the player's rank is too low within the crew}

{Exp share is turned on. Can be turned off or disabled in the exp share controls or by the player's thoughts}

{Loot share controls} cannot be fully accessed by the player as the player's rank is too low within the crew}

{Loot share is turned on. Can be turned off or disabled in the loot share controls or by the player's thoughts}

'Exp share? Loot share? What?' Sky squinted his eyes, what does that mean? He clicked the exp share and loot share and sure enough it gave him more information.

{Exp share and loot share can only be turned on, off, disabled, or adjusted by the player once the player has joined a party/crew/group with members. Exp share controls and loot share controls can only be fully accessed by the player if the player has a high enough rank within the party/crew/group}

{Exp share: a party system where members of the player can grow faster by gaining exp}

{Loot share: a party system where members of the player can earn items and money}

{Members within the player's party/crew/group will grow faster by leveling up. Members do not have full access to the system like the player. Members can never see the entire system. Members are granted the ability to level up}

{Note: this is the only function where the player can see another's level}

'That's a function as well?' Sky was shocked.

As soon as the notification popped up something else happened: above the heads of the crew Sky could see their names. They're in the form of white letters hovering over their head.

On the left side of his line of sight, he could see seven things that he couldn't properly explain that were neatly arranged in a vertical line. Each of the seven things had the faces of the crew with Morgan on the top of them.

Each had two bars with different colors beside the crew's faces: red and blue. Red represented their HP, blue represented their mana.

They also had their levels assigned: the captain was at 36 while the rest of the crew were around lvl 20-25.