The hunt

'There is no way there's a portal here. This has got to be some sort of trick.' Jericho thought as they entered the cave.

When she got to the other side of the cracked boulder she saw a massive underground tunnel.

"Woah." Jericho was flabbergasted.

"Yup, woah indeed."

The inside was dark and dry. It was a huge underground cave that stretched out far, they couldn't even see the roof of the cave.

Despite the area being a dark cave there was an unknown light source and they could see clearly.

"This is a portal! How did you know there was a portal here?" Jericho looked at Sky.

"Had a feeling."

"..." Jericho.

'Now, access captain controls.'

{Captain controls: As the captain of the crew you are able to give your crew mates a few benefits the system has}

{Crew's benefit 1: Crew Inventory: Includes a special inventory that is separate from the player's personal inventory. Crew members are able to see the contents stored in the inventory but they have no access to the inventory}

{Crew's benefit 2: Long distance chat: The captain and the rest of the crew are able to communicate with each other no matter the distance as long as they are within the party}

{Crew's benefit 3: Quartermaster: The most trusted person a captain has is his quartermaster. A quartermaster can access the crew's inventory and even access the ship's controls, they can even kick out crew members out of the party but not the captain, and can invite non-crew members to join the crew. There can only be one quartermaster within the crew}

{Crew's benefit 4: Crappy leveling up and skill grinding: Crew members will grow stronger faster within the party. Learning skills through books is not possible. Learning new skills through repeated actions is possible}

{Crew members will require more exp and time to level up compared to the player: this is a precaution in case a crew mate overpowers the player}

{Note: If a crew member leaves the crew all skills and levels that they earned while in the crew will remain}

{Crew members cannot benefit from any weapon or armor stats like the player can. They can never see their own or another's levels, stats, or skills, only the player has the benefit}

{Captain benefits}

{Benefit 1: Rank authority: You have the authority to give the quartermaster rank to anyone within the party. The position is important so give it to someone you know won't betray you}

{Benefit 2: Brig. If your ship has one you can teleport crew members, and non-crew members on the brig as long as they are on the ship and are not in combat mode. Those in the brig will have their abilities and stats bound}

{Benefit 3: Teleporting: If you command multiple ships you can teleport within each ship wherever and whenever you want with no cost and no cooldown: Note that if player is not within 10 meters of a ship you command teleportation is not possible}

{Benefit 4: Contribution system: You are able to see a list of how much each of your crew members have contributed by killing, earning loot, and exp}

'That's way more than I expected. Loot controls.'

{Loot controls}

{Loot share: disabled}

{Send specific crew members loot to ship's inventory: disabled}

{Send specific crew members loot to player's inventory: disabled}

'What? So I can have crew members basically give me all the monster and boss drops and they'll have no idea?' Sky smiled, he might abuse this method if he adds more crew mates.

'Access exp controls.'

{Exp controls}

{Exp share: disabled}

{Exp share percentage adjustment: 0%-100%: disabled}

'So if I wanted to, I can decide how much exp my crew earns, I can either have 99% exp from all the monsters they kill while they only earn 1%, or it can be the other way around, or I can give myself all the exp, or give them all the exp. This is great for me.'

He could even set it so that a specific crew member can receive more exp than other crew members.

Jericho was looking at Sky who was staring at nothing, wondering what was going on with him the whole time.

"Sorry, Jericho, but it's time we learned how to kill monsters, have you killed before?"

"Yeah, the fish I caught this morning."

"I meant people, or monsters."

"Oh... I haven't killed a monster before."

'So... she's killed humans already? They grow up so fast.' Sky patted her head.

"Perfect time to learn. You see that slime?" Sky pointed. There was a blue slime jumping their way.

"What's that?" Jericho had never heard or seen such a monster before.

"It's a slime monster and it's pretty weak. Stab it, kick it, or stomp on it."

Jericho was hesitant, but holding the knife with both hands she trudged towards the slime.

'Turn loot share and exp share off.'

{Loot share: off}

{Exp share: off}

As long as the exp and loot share are off crewmembers will earn exp and loot from monster's they kill without having anyone else benefiting from their kills, including the player.

'Wait, this is a green+ dungeon. Identify.'

{Blue slime}

{HP: 200/200}

'Yup, just by looking at its HP I know it's more than she can handle.'

When the blue slime was near Jericho it suddenly couldn't move anymore because there was a powerful force that didn't let him move.

Sky was helping her out secretly.

Jericho gathered her courage and stabbed the slime. It did nothing but dwindle a bit of its HP.

{HP: 191/200}

"Keep stabbing it. Around… a few dozen more times should do the trick." Sky urged her.

Jericho kept stabbing it rapidly. The blue slime could only accept its fate of being stabbed to death.

After 10 minutes Jericho finally killed the slime.

{Jericho Haydie has killed blue slime}

{Jericho Haydie has earned 80 exp, 50 shells}

{Jerichi Haydie leveled up}

{Level 4}

{20/80}

Jericho saw a purple shell appear right in front of her and fell to the ground. Next she felt a comfortable but powerful feeling surge within her.

Sky squinted his eyes. The system mentioned crew members in his party grow slower compared to him but is that really the case?

Above Sky the old man was staring down at him.

Sadly the majority of times system users before Sky have been betrayed by their own party members after getting the strength they sought for, most believed that if they killed the level-up system user they'll receive the system only to receive nothing but their final exp and loot.

In the past crew mates could level up just as fast as the player could if the exp share function was equal for all members. Most players before Sky always believed in equality and never liked to receive all the party member's benefits, that kind of thinking would lead to their doom.

'Damn, if it is true that the ones in my party don't grow as fast as me should I make it so that I receive all the exp benefits?' Sky thought. He knows he would benefit more from leveling up if that was the case.

'Identify.'

{Jericho Haydie}

{Level 4}

{HP: 150/150}

{Mana: 35/35}

{Stats: Str: 5. Dex: 9. Spd: 7. Int: 7. Mind: 8. Vig: 5}

'So when a crew member levels up their stats randomly increase as well. Why do I get the feeling the system hates and loves crew members at the same time?' Sky thought.

"I feel stronger." Jericho said.

"It's probably your imagination."

"I don't think it is. And where did the money come from?" Jericho held the purple shell.

'Remember, I'm doing this for my own benefit, so what if crew members take a bit of hard work to level up? Once she reaches level 75 I can reap all the exp for myself. Also, note to self, never recruit a low level crew mate again unless I want to spend time leveling them up.'

"Let's go. We have a boss to kill. Here." Sky handed her a handful of pebbles he kept in his inventory.

"Um…"

"Make sure you hit a monster with a rock before I kill it, it sounds weird, I know, but just do it."

Sky grabbed his trident and led Jericho deeper into the dungeon.

They saw another blue slime. Jericho threw the pebble at the slime causing damage.

{Blue slime}

{HP: 174/200}

'Because her strength went up so did her damage.'

Sky delivered the final blow to the slime.

{Jericho Haydie and Sky Rouge have killed blue slime}

{Received 80 exp, 50 shells}

Sky noticed he got 40 exp from that and 25 shells.

"Hey, more money dropped again!" Jericho pointed at the money on the floor.

'So because auto loot and exp is off, if we both hit it we both get half of the defeated monster's exp and loot. If that's the case.'

{Auto exp: on}

{Auto loot: on}

Sky made it so that both members would get half the exp, but he would get all the loot sent to his inventory.

Sky looked at her and said, "After this I'll make you train your ability."

Jericho nodded once.

Both proceeded towards the dungeon.

They killed more slimes, red slimes, and even goblins but they carried no weapons. Sky killed all the goblins in a brutal manner, just seeing them filled him with rage.

Jericho didn't even get a chance to fight a goblin, Sky was the one who wanted to brutally massacre them all.

Jericho thought that she would never get used to seeing Sky brutally murder monsters.

{Sky Rouge}

{Level 60}

{Stat points: 40}

{Exp: 4666/8600}

{Jericho Haydie}

{Level 16}

{Exp: 100/1800}

Then they finally reached the end.

"Well, this is it, the boss room."

"Yeah…" Jericho looked at the wall beside the boss room.

"What's wrong with you?" Sky asked.

"Well… you see when I first learned how to use magnetism I can not only somewhat control metals, but I can also sense them from a distance so I can tell which metal I can manipulate."

"Okay?"

"And I sense some metal behind that wall." Jericho pointed.

Sky looked at the wall where she pointed.

"Are you sure?"

Sky knows that the dungeons sometimes contain secret passages, but no matter what he could never find one. The only time he found one is because Morgan could control the air and feel air currents, honestly Sky never understood Morgan's ability because he killed him off too soon.

"Yeah."

{Triple water slice}

The best part about using triple water slice is that it doesn't require a source of nearby water unlike water slice.

The triple water slice revealed a fake wall.

.

It wasn't a passage but a tiny room. At the center of the room is a silver chest.

{Congratulations: You have found a secret room}

{Secret rooms contain valuable rewards. Some rooms have a chest that is made out of copper, silver, gold, and dark gold, the higher the tier the more rewards a chest will contain. Some secret rooms also contain rare monsters that grant the user an abundance of exp. Some secret rooms contain a powerful item for the player}

"Um… Sky?" Jericho learned his name after spending time together in the dungeon.

"Yes?"

"I've never heard of silver chest's appearing in a dungeon like that."

"I know. Trust me, as long as you're with me you'll start to see a lot of weird things."

Sky opened the silver chest. The chest disappeared into millions of light particles.

{Found a silver chest}

{Received: 250,000 shells, gauntlets of vigor}

Sky saw a huge amount of shells pour into his inventory.

{Gauntlets of vigor: green+}

{1,000+ HP when worn}

{Requires: 50 str}

Sky equipped the gauntlets, his vigor increased dramatically.

{HP: 1950/1950}

Sky looked at Jericho. Jericho stepped back, he was looking at her like he was looking at those fishmen.

"Everything okay? The chest disappeared…"

"From now on you're coming with me on every dungeon run." Sky pointed at her.

He realized now that he didn't find a potentially powerful crew mate, but also a treasure hunter.

'I guess it's not a total waste of time to level her up.'

As a test, Sky had her try on the gauntlets, her stats were still too low to meet the requirements but she could wear them no problem.

Her health did not increase when she wore the gauntlets, but they did make her look funny.

After taking back the gauntlets Sky entered the boss room with Jericho. The room was a plain room made entirely out of stone. At the center is an oversized goblin with heavy armor, and carrying a heavy blade that was taller than its body.

{Goblin tank} {Boss}

{HP: 5,000/5,000}

{Mana: 45/45}

{Stats: Str: 70. Dex: 50. Spd: 10. Int: 9. Mind: 5. Vig: 200}

{Skills: Heavy weapon mastery: lvl 5: Heavy weapons deal 50% more damage. 20% increased chance of landing a critical hit}

{Skills: Heavy weapon smash: Lvl 3: Weapon deals 130% more damage: 30 mana cost}

{Skill: Sword arc: Lvl 4: 5 mana cost}

'Strange, with only 200 vigor his HP shouldn't be that high, is it because it's a boss or because it's wearing heavy armor?' Sky thought, but it didn't matter because he knew he could take him on.

"Wow, look at all. Want to take him on by yourself?" Sky looked at Jericho.

Jericho shook her head rapidly.

"Yeah I prefer to fight it alone anyways. Summon lightning birds."

Three lightning birds were summoned and they immediately attacked the goblin tank barely making a dent in its health.

"Slowness." Sky muttered.

{Goblin tank is 15% slower}

Sky ran up to the goblin and spammed his favorite attack.

{Triple water slice}

{Triple water slice}

{Triple water slice}

{Triple water slice}

{Triple water slice}

Each attack does 100 damage, and scaled with his 100 Int C-grade, it deals an extra 200 damage, making it 300 damage per water slice, and 900 damage in total every time he uses it because three water slices always come out of his trident.

{HP: 450/2,100}

The boss lost all but 450 of its health in seconds. Each water slice pierced through his armor like cutting butter.

'So it was the armor that gave him that huge HP boost!'

His max HP went from 5000 → 2,100 as soon as he tore his armor.

"What's wrong? Not going to use any of your skills on me?" Sky began taunting it while keeping his distance.

The boss couldn't understand what he was saying but it could tell he was being taunted.

He slashed his sword creating an arc slash towards Sky, Sky didn't move at all.

"Sky!" Jericho screamed.

Sky extended his hand towards the attack and absorbed the attack.

{Mana absorption: lvl 1: Any mana attacks from foes that are weaker than the player's Mind can be absorbed and turned into mana}

{Recovered 200 mana}

"Wait what?" Jericho said. That powerful attack is gone.

"Wanted to try that for a while, it's as cool as it sounds."

He wanted to see how much mana he can recover from that attack, from what he can tell the more powerful the attack the more mana he can recover.

{Triple water slice}

{Goblin tank has been felled}

{Received 2,500 exp, 2,000 shells, 1x heavy blade}

{Exp: 5,916/8600}

{Jericho: lvl 16}

{Exp: 1,350/1800}

A wooden chest appeared in the center of the room. Sky opened it and received its rewards for clearing the dungeon.

{Received 1,000 shells, 1 green scroll}

{Green scroll identified by using {Dead language: level 2} }

{Receive 8+ Vig}

"Activate."

{Vig: 58}

{HP: 2,030/2,030}

Sky looked back at Jericho, who had her mouth wide open, and said, "let's get out of here. If you can solo a boss I'll let you keep the rewards."

"Um… are you not going to take the boss's corpse?" She pointed at the dead boss.

"Why?"

"I heard that exterminators gather monster corpses and sell them at a price, boss corpses fetch for better prices."

"Yeah, I know, but it's better if we leave it here."

'I can't possibly sell this corpse since it's a monster nobody has ever seen.'

Sky already learned of this after four days of clearing dungeons.

"Oh… what about its sword?" She didn't even mention the armor because Sky's attacks made it useless.

"Try taking it if you can." Sky suggested.

Jericho grabbed the sword, the moment she did it disappeared into a million light particles.

"What?"

Sky chuckled. He tried to do the same when he fought the baboons, every time he killed one he would receive their meat, but once he tried to carve their bodies for extra meat they disappeared.

Boss corpses don't disappear, but their items do as soon as another person touches it because the system already gave its weapon to Sky; the same rule applies for the baboon meat.

"Let's leave and sleep. Tomorrow I'm taking you to an island where we can buy clothes for you. I can't stand to see you wearing my clothes all the time. After that we train."

They left the dungeon and exited through the way that they came. Looking back at the boulder there is no crack anymore as if it was never there to begin with.

"I don't understand…" Jericho said.

"You'll get used to it."

On the way back Jericho heard some rustling and some noises behind a bush.

"Leave them." Sky said.

Once they made it back Jericho fell asleep right away on the bed in the captain's quarters. Sky grabbed a few blankets and lied on the deck, the Warlord's men were still looking for them, and he needed to be prepared if they were found.

Looking at his inventory he couldn't help but smile at the huge amount of money he got from that dungeon Ron.

{Shells: 365,312}

"The system mentioned about higher ranked chests, perhaps if we go on more dungeon runs we can find more hidden chests but not very likely."

Not only was the money good but the gauntlets gave him 1,000 plus HP.

With a smile on his face he fell asleep on the deck.

Sky woke up and the sun was just rising.

He got his map out and clicked on an island a bit far and sailed away.

'Something I still don't understand about this island, it said it was a level ??? island, whatever that means. but it should be more like a level , not to mention that those fishmen were pathetically weak. Did the system make a mistake?'

A few hours later 20-30 fishmen would emerge from the water. They all wore armor made of a special type of coral material accessible mostly to mermaids and fishmen. Many had many battle scars on their bodies.

They all carried tridents and spears made of the same material as their armor. Some even dragged sea monsters using metal chains for food.

They all appeared to be stronger than the fishmen Sky murdered.

One fishmen stood out from the rest, he wore a crown made of coral, and was noticeably taller and muscular compared to the other fishmen.

"We're here!" He said, loudly at the island.

After a while they sensed something was wrong when they didn't see their friends or family greet them after being away for so long.

"Are you sure this is the correct island where they're hiding?" The fishmen in charge asked another fishmen.

"Yes, sir. After we barely escaped from 'him' they all swam here to hide on this island. I then swam back to you guys to lead you here while you were fighting off 'his' elite soldiers."

Some circumstances led to them being chased off their own home and they had no choice but to hide on a far away island where there weren't many threats. They were originally 200 strong fishmen fighting off a powerful enemy to protect their loved ones, but now they were down to less than 30.

"It's only been a month since we haven't seen them, surely they couldn't have left the island. Or…"

The one in charge quickly ran to the island where his family was. Along the way they saw a number of trees cut down, and then they saw the bodies of their people brutally massacred.

Most of fishmen were cut perfectly in three fine slices of water pressure, some had burn marks from lightning attacks, others were stabbed by trident and bled to death, others had their necks broken.

The living fishmen didn't say anything, they couldn't process what they saw.

One of them recognized a head lying on the ground. With tears coming out of his eyes he hugged the severed head as he said, "my daughter!" over and over again.

The one in charge was looking around, he sensed some beings hiding in some bushes, something weak and small.

Searching the bushes he saw a bunch of tiny, fishmen children huddled together and scared for their lives.

"Over here!"

The fishmen in charge didn't see his son, it was driving him crazy.

"Where's Tic? Where's my son?" He held onto one of the kids. One of them pointed to a body behind them.

There was a man there with his head twisted the other way.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!"

He began crying, denying that this was just a horrible nightmare, but it wasn't a dream.

Some time later the fishmen would bury the remains of their loved ones under the sea. They couldn't bury everyone because some were missing.

When night fell and the kids were feeling somewhat better, the one in charge talked to one of them.

"Did you see who did this?"

Most of the kid's were unresponsive, after all they had just witnessed a brutal massacre of everyone that they knew and loved. They will forever be scarred for life.

"It-it-it was a-a hu-human with-with tan-nnned skin!"

"Did you see his boat's flag? Or if this man had any irregularities on his body?"

The fishmen already knew it was a human after gathering the evidence from the island.

"N-no. He carried a trident, and j-j-j-just start-ed kill-ki-ki…" He began crying again after recalling his memories.

"Anything else? I know it's hard but the more details you can give us the faster we can make this man suffer!"

"Wait! I saw something!" A little fish girl said.

"What?"

"After he left, he came back with a little human, and they both went somewhere. I didn't follow them because I was scared he would kill me. After that they left."

"And also!" Another fish girl added, "he… he was killing everyone without even touching them. He made them swim in the air and just killed them."

"He made them swim in the air?" He didn't quite understand her.

"Yeah!"

"He… made them float in the air, is that what you mean."

She nodded her head.

"He also shot out three slices of water out of his trident!"

"He was also very fast!"

"He was wearing a hat with a feather, a green shirt, and blue shoes."

"Oh, and when he came back with the little human he was wearing some shiny metal gloves!"

"He also had three lightning birds!"

Little by little they started recalling certain things about Sky.

He started scratching his chin.

"This helps us a lot. Spread out! There are only so many people here who can pose a threat with our strength on this part of the world! We'll find a man who is tanned, has a trident, wears those kinds of weird clothes, and has a kid by his side. Three of you will stay and protect the kids! Two of you will find another uninhabited island for the children, if there are animals or humans there kill them!"

Aside from three fishmen soldiers, everyone swam at rapid speed, faster than a motorboat