Battle at Sea (Part 1)

The crossing from Cerulis to the island where the tournament was held, would last five days.

Two nights and one day had passed since the fleet had departed from Cerulis's harbor.

Inside Daniel's cabin, Heimart, Ligart and Daniel had spent the past day and a half talking, and becoming acquainted with each other.

Unfortunately, no matter how long they waited for, they didn't have a single chance to interact with the fourth passenger of their cabin, as he seemed to move from his bed only when the three weren't present.

During the second morning at sea, Daniel and the two cousins were playing cards on the small table within the cabin.

Daniel had found a pattern within the interactions between the two cousins. The game the two played seemed to be a simple game of strategy and luck, but the truth, was that most of the times, Heimart would ensure the win thanks to a few sleights of hand.

Although he would never cheat when money was at stake, his winning streak had more of a purpose of establishing leadership between the two, instead of being a way to win money.

Daniel was untalented in many things, but dexterity wasn't one of them.

In fact, he could always notice and avoid falling for the older cousin's tricks, and ensure his victory. To a point, where the younger cultivator had started to root for him, as his personal champion of vengeance for the many humiliating defeats of the past.

The three played for the entire morning, when finally, it was time for lunch.

The ship they had boarded wasn't the most elegant, but it still had a dining hall and a kitchen within the hold.

Close to becoming a habit, right before leaving the cabin, Heimart patted on the top bed a few times, and asked "We are going to eat, want to join us this time?"

But as usual, he received no response.

After the expected response, the three left their cabin. They had been caught up in the game, so they had remembered of the dining hall opening hour a little too late. Causing them to need to walk through the many crowded corridors that separated their cabin and the dining hall.

Hundreds of people packed the corridors tightly, and slowly walked towards the dining hall in disordered rows.

Many, in order to avoid the chaos of lunch and dinner time, had opted for storing their meals in their luggage, and eat them in the spacious deck.

Daniel, was one of those people. He had purchased many rations from the shops of the harbor, and had stored them within his spatial rings, but since he didn't mind waiting in line for a bit in exchange of some company, he decided to follow the two cousins during meal time and eat together.

Unfortunately, they had underestimated the waiting time for being this late for the lunch.

An hour slowly passed, and they still hadn't managed to leave the corridors with the cabins.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Daniel looked at the two martial artists, and said "I have some ready meals in my spatial ring, want to go eat on the deck?"

The two, sick tired of standing in line, quickly accepted the proposal, and made their way towards the closest exit for the deck.

Finally out of that death trap, they inspired a large breath of sea air, then found a place to sit.

Daniel took three wrapped sandwiches out of his spatial ring, and handed one to each of the two cousins.

Once again, the three started to eat and chat peacefully, but before they could even start to relax, Daniel noticed a few members of the ship's crew run frantically to one side of the ship.

They were all looking at something in the distance, right behind the backs of Daniel and his two companions.

With half of a sandwich in his hand, and his mouth still full with his last bite, Daniel turned around.

Before he managed to swallow, he saw a huge warship just a few hundred meters away from the fleet, and it was rapidly approaching.

Daniel looked at the scared expressions of the crew members, and suddenly, he heard one of them screaming "PIRAAAAAAAAAATES!"

The ten ships which traversed from Cerulis to the tournament's island, usually didn't have powerful cultivators on board.

Each ship belonged to a different company, and aside from the weak crew and a decent captain, the only cultivators on board, where those who had embarked the ship to reach the tournament's island.

On this warship's black and tattered veils, one could see a white skull which held a knife in its teeth, and in its empty eye sockets there were red flames.

This particular group of pirates was known as Bloody Sea Pirates, and was a vicious group which attacked the various ships that set out from Cerulis's harbor.

Their overall strength wasn't high, but their expertise with navigating the seas had made hunting them down a really hard job.

The group's captain was a pirate at the fifth rank of martial cultivator, and was known as 'The Red Painter'. A name much more refined that its owner deserved.

In the past couple of decades, hundreds of ships had fallen under the hands of the Bloody Sea Pirates, and not many had survived the encounter.

After the first crew member shouted, a series of similar shouts resounded in the air, and a few moments later, many cultivators started to emerge from the entrances of the hold.

Daniel and his cabin mates were already on the dock, looking at the approaching warship.

The pirate ship had no intention of sinking them, they would instead approach a ship, and board it. They would then kill, rape and rob to their heart's content, before leaving.

The warship's target was, unfortunately, Daniel's ship. This traverse for the tournament's island hadn't been the first one for the pirate's Captain. In fact, he was fully aware that these ships would be packed with cultivators, so he had decided to attack the least luxurious one.

Their gains would still be great, even though not many young masters and mistresses would be present on board, but at least, they had no reason to fear for any powerful bodyguard.

Closer and closer came the ship, until the cultivators on board of Daniel's ship were able to see the multitude of cultivators on the warship's deck. They all had bloodthirsty expressions, and seemed to be ready for battle.

The many cultivators within Daniel's ship weren't unprepared either. After all, they had departed in order to take part in a competition. If they were to fail before even getting to the island, that would be a great shame to them.

Amongst them, the only calm person was Daniel.

While Daniel looked at the pirate's ship, he didn't saw the threat of sinking at the bottom of the sea. Instead, he saw many red numbers above just as many heads.

A chance to gain many.. many karma points, and the first thing to do was..

-----

*Primary Quest started: Everything Helps*

-Description: Offer your help to people in need.

Second objective set: Survive the pirate assault.

Optional: Kill the pirate captain.

Optional: Keep 20% of the passengers alive (218/1090)

Optional: Keep 40% of the passengers alive (436/1090)

Optional: Keep 60% of the passengers alive (654/1090)

Optional: Keep 80% of the passengers alive (872/1090)

Optional: Keep 100% of the passengers alive (1090/1090)

Reward: Karma +500(+2000)(+1000)(+2000)(+3000)(+4000)(+50,000)

Countdown: 2 hours and 56 minutes.

-----

"Oh.. this is going to be fun." Thought Daniel after noticing his new quest's rich rewards.

His clothes started to flutter in the air, and right after, his whole body followed suit and started to float. Underneath his feet were two thin slabs of ice which kept his balance stable.

Ignoring the surprised looks of his two companions, Daniel unlocked his full power of a rank four spiritual cultivator, and approached the warship before it could manage to get near the ship.

Many magical attacks grazed past him, but his control of wind essence, due to the long exposure to the pure wind comprehension of a rank 9 spiritual cultivator, had turned his own comprehension of the wind element into a deep one, and his flight ability into an exceptional one.

Unwilling to play the target for other spiritual and martial cultivators, Daniel created a wind sphere around himself, and dived into the water and under the pirate ship.

The pirate ship kept moving towards Daniel's ship, and as the two ships were less than thirty meters away, numerous cultivators started to jump from the pirate ship's deck and onto the other.

A fierce battle between young cultivators and seasoned pirates had started.

Many of the cultivators which clashed against the much more experienced and ruthless pirates, died during the very first assault. And when the young cultivators managed to kill a few pirates, more would jump from the pirate ship's deck and into the fray.

The person who was doing the most damages, was a very tall and thin man. He wore a leather long coat, and in his hands, he wielded two sabers. This man, was 'The Red Painter', a nickname which the pirate captain had earned, by painting the surroundings with blood whenever he wielded his sabers.

Meanwhile, Daniel was at the bottom of the warship, and in front of him, various stone drills which he had summoned, were rotating rapidly and perforating the pirate ship's hull.

After two long minutes, six large holes, from which no water whatsoever passed through, appeared on the ship's hull. Daniel, still within his air bubble, flew out of the water and jumped on his ship's deck.

He then formed a stone mask with his spiritual essence, covered his face with it, and unsheathed his sword.

Without a minimum of hesitation, he started to reap lives left and right. At times he would dash right in front of an enemy, leaving him no time to react, while in others, he would quietly approach them from behind, and silently go for the kill.

Daniel ignored the messages that appeared within his mind, which reminded him of the karma points he acquired from each kill.

His intention was to be noticed by the pirate captain, but when he turned towards him, he noticed that the tall and thin captain, was engaging in battle against what looked like a petite girl.

This petite girl wore a mask as well, and her body was completely covered in a grey coat. The only thing that had made Daniel think that she was a girl, were the long and straight black hair, which danced in the air from under her hood whenever she made a sudden movement.

With Daniel on the battlefield, the pirates started to lose the advantage, and fall one after the other.

Noticing this, the pirate captain tried to quickly end his fight with the petite girl, but after realizing that doing so might take long, due to her extraordinary agility, he stepped back from direct confrontation, and shouted. "RETREAT!!"

As if hearing an emperor's order, every single pirate within the ship abandoned their fight, and jumped back into the warship.

The retreat gave the many cultivators a chance at revenge, as they assaulted and killed a big portion of the lower level retreating pirates.

"CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!"

From somewhere within the crowd of cultivators, a loud shout resounded through the entire deck. With newly found courage, the cultivators started to pressure the pirates out of the ship.

After remaining on the ship's deck to try to lower the losses within his crew, the pirate captain finally decided jumped back on his warship.

His assault had been a humiliating one, and he couldn't help but look hatefully at the two youngsters who had ruined his plans.

While his warship slowly distanced itself from the ship, a vicious look appeared on the captain's face. He turned towards his crew, and barked through gritted teeth "Prepare the cannons!.."

Unfortunately, dreams of revenge hardly go as planned, as the very moment the pirates started to get busy loading the cannons, the warship started to sink.