Chapter 19: A New Start [2]

When I woke up the following day, a sense of serenity came over me—like the sunshine before a storm.

Checking my phone, I saw a couple of messages from the group chat with Jin and Han.

[Jin: Dude, where tf did you go yesterday?]

[Han: Jin, are you braindead? Did we not just hear about the Djinn incident?]

Deciding it was too early for their bullshit, I sent a quick message before heading to the shower.

[Ren: What do y'all know bout revenge?]

After putting on a new pair of clothes, I sat down on my bed and stared at the system menu in front of me.

Entering Dreamveil could be done by simply clicking a button on the menu. However, this didn't mean people just entered Dreamveil as soon as possible to advance.

The survival rate for those entering Dreamveil while their body was not sufficiently prepared was less than 1%. For those adequately equipped, it's above 95%. This is primarily due to the Royal Family allowing all awakened, no matter wealth or status, to attend Hero academies for free.

It's scary how a simple button on your system menu can lead to your death.

There was no need for any further preparation. When entering Dreamveil as an E-rank, you are allowed to bring one item with you, and for me, my evident and only choice was my school-supplied daggers.

Acquiring any other powerful weapons would be impossible at my current level as they were all in the hands of powerful villains or dormant in some dangerous areas.

[Are you ready to enter Dreamveil?]

[Y] / [N]

After tapping the yes button, I felt the space around me distort. Various pieces of glass surrounded me in a pitch-black void, each with its own tiny world. There were rainforests with human-sized lizards walking around, upside-down mountains, and volcanoes filled with an odd blue substance instead of lava.

It seemed like my personal world was ready as all the glass pieces around me shattered except for one.

Reaching my hand, I touched the rough surface of the glass. Instantly, my surroundings distorted and changed once again.

After a few moments, I reopened my eyes, only to shut them immediately after.

"AH, THE SUN"

It was similar to that feeling you feel when you go outside after watching a 3-hour-long movie in a dark theater. I had gone from seeing a pitch-black void to looking directly into the sun.

With my eyes still closed, I attempted to move my arms to grab the daggers that were placed in my hoodie pocket; however, my arm didn't budge an inch.

 After attempting to move other parts of my body unsuccessfully, I felt a weird sensation envelop me.

That was when I realized I was moving! I wasn't moving forward or backward; I was moving up and down.

Succumbing to the confusion and frustration from being unable to move or stand up, I slowly opened my eyes.

In front of me lay an ocean. There were no pieces of land within my eyesight. Just blue everywhere.

Turning around, I saw sails blowing in the wind and a boat mast. I surveyed my surroundings and saw around 10 people, each equipped with a machete. The people wore shabby and torn clothes, resembling beggars, and they seemed to not care about their appearance as their beards were dirty and messy.

Upon seeing them, only one word popped into my mind.

"Pirates!"

Interrupting my observation, a loud voice sounded from my side.

"Captain, the feller is awake."

The loud sound of metal hitting wood entered my ears, and a figure straight out of a Hollywood pirate movie entered my vision.

A man with a white beard and a black pirate-tricorn hat walked up a set of stairs and neared me. In his hand was a longsword, and on his right shoulder sat a lively parrot.

Glancing at me for a second, the captain responded.

"Throw him in the cell."

Instantly, my body was lifted, and the two pirates beside me walked behind me before lifting me like a dumbbell.

Unable to do anything due to the ropes tied around my arms and legs, I accepted it and used the time to continue surveying my surroundings.

Besides the captain, I could see ten pirates on the ship's deck and one sitting on the crow's nest without any vision aid like a telescope.

None of them seemed to be awakened, but each one of them seemed adequately skilled with the machete.

Unlike the typical pirate stereotypes, none of them were drinking beer or slacking off as they all seemed focused on whatever task they were carrying out.

"What kind of captain could get pirates to work like this?"

As my body descended downwards under the ship's surface, I patiently waited until the two carrying me finally came to a stop.

My feet slumped to the floor as one of them let go of me and opened a door. After the door was wide open, the other threw me like a baseball into the room.

Unable to stand up due to the restraints, I laid on the cold wood floor until I heard two pirates' footsteps disappear.

The only thing in this room was me. There was no furniture, food, or even a toilet.

On the door, there was only a slight hole that was big enough for my hand to pass through.

The mission was pretty apparent to me.

Escape.

Escape where to? I had no idea, but I still knew what to do.

Thankfully, the pirates had done a poor job of searching for me, so my pair of daggers was still in my hoodie pocket.

Opening my mouth, I leaned down and bit into the ropes that were restraining my arms. I could feel my teeth aching and breaking down with every bite, but my body here was unrelated to my physical body, so I paid no attention.

Finally, the rope's strength seemed to have deteriorated, so I wiggled around my arms. Seeing that the rope was weak enough, I wiggled my right hand into my hand pocket until I felt the cold, steel dagger.

Grabbing it, I carefully maneuvered it out of my pocket and placed its hilt into my mouth. Tilting downwards, I cut down all the ropes on my arms, freeing them.

Taking the dagger out of my mouth, I freed my legs and walked towards the door.

I had no idea how long it would take for the pirates to check up on me, so I immediately assumed a ready position and stood beside the door with my daggers tilted.

After a minute of standing in that position, I relaxed my posture and began to sit down.

10 mundane humans shouldn't be that hard to take down. However, the real problem was the captain. I had no gauge on his strength, so he was a complete unknown.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, the sound of footsteps descending entered my room through the hole in the door.

Instantly, I assumed a ready position and awaited the door's opening. It would be impossible for the pirate to see me through the window in the door, so he would have to open the door to check on me.

After a moment, the door slowly creaked open, revealing the pirate's body. The pirate's head peeked into the room as he glanced around it. His gaze slowly paused on the torn ropes.

"Wha-"

Immediately, I grabbed him with my hand and pulled him into my room. The door slammed shut, and the pirate was in the room alone with me.

Before he could react, I placed my right dagger to his neck and said.

"Make a noise, and you die."

The pirate fearfully nodded his head, so I searched his body for a moment, but to my surprise, there was nothing.

"How did you get in the room?"

"t-the k-key i-is o-on the ou-outside."

"..."

This idiot had left the key outside!

Leaving the pirate in the corner of the room, I walked to the door and attempted to open it, but it did not budge an inch.

How the hell did these pirates have auto-locking technology?

Tearing a hole in the door in my daggers would alert the entire ship of my escape, so my only other option was to wait for another pirate.

Walking back to the corner, I continued with my interrogation.

"Who is your captain?"

"h-hes Captain Sparrow, o-or J-jack s-sparrow."

I was right; this guy did come straight out of Hollywood!

After removing my dagger from his throat, I continued with the interrogation. It was really annoying to hear this guy spasm every time he spoke, and I doubted he would dare to try anything.

"Tell me about his strength."

"H-hes t-too st-strong, you can't b-beat him."

"Have you seen him fight?"

"No one has ever survived to see him fight... He k-killed everyone who w-witnessed his fight with the previous captain."

Interrupting our peaceful conversation, a loud voice yelled.

"Hey Gram, everything alright down there?"

My dagger instantly appeared next to the pirate's neck, and I nodded my head. Quivering, the pirate spoke up.

"e-everything i-is f-fine, h-he just needed some punishment."

"Don't have too much fun, Gram. You know Captain needs him alive."

After a couple more useless answers from the pirate, I decided he was worthless, so I knocked him unconscious to prevent him from messing with my plans.

Although killing him would be easier, I knew nothing about the captain's abilities. At this point, I assumed that the captain was at least an E-rank power, so it wouldn't be impossible to smell the blood with his enhanced senses.

Leaving the unconscious body in the corner of the room, I once again assumed my position beside the door and waited patiently for the next visitor.

After a couple of minutes, I could hear the sound of footsteps again. The footsteps stopped right before the door, so I tensed up in preparation for the sneak attack.

However, the door remained shut.

Instead, the pirate moved a small tray with some food through the small hole in the door.

Instead of panicking, I decided to improvise. I had no idea how long the Captain was planning to keep me locked up, so I was gambling by simply remaining in the room.

Quietly walking to the corner of the room, I dragged the pirate's body until it could be seen through the hole in the door.

On the other side of the door, the pirate, curious as to why I wasn't taking the food, leaned towards and peeked through the hole in the door.

However, it wasn't the prisoner he saw, but his very own crewmate lying lifelessly on the floor.

Instantly, the door swung open, and the pirate rushed inside with his machete out; however, I had long expected this.

When the pirate's head peeked through the door, my daggers were already there.

In a single swift motion, my daggers decapitated the pirate as his head and body dropped onto the floor.

He was permanently silenced.

Now, I was truly on a timer. Would the captain notice the smell of blood and death, or would I kill all the other pirates first?

Rushing out of the room, I quietly walked up the staircase until the sunlight was visible once again.

Observing my surroundings, I saw 8 pirates, all facing away from me, working on some task. Each of them could be taken care of in one blow; however, there was one problem.

Above everyone, on the crow's nest, I could see the pirate surveying the sea in front and the ship's current situation. I was sure he would immediately report to the captain if something were amiss, and I wasn't confident dealing with eight pirates alongside an unknown entity suspected of being as powerful as me.

Thus, I decided to use the pirate's trust in his eyes against him. Due to distance, the pirates couldn't see the specifics of the situations on the deck, so all I would need to do is make the pirates appear alive.