CHAPTER 12

A/N: If you want to donate or read up to 15 chapters ahead, you can visit my p-a-t-r-e-on/kurowashi

If you see grammar errors, please let me know so I can fix them and I'm always open to constructive criticism.

I would like it if you guys left some reviews.

Thank you for your good words and support.

------

CHAPTER 12

All Gally could think was this shouldn't be happening. This was supposed to be a soft target. It was just a regular passenger ship, but from the second that light went off, everything was going wrong. First, this asshole in front of him started killing his best men, and the regular sailor started slaughtering experienced pirates like they were regular men.

The flashing light blinded all of them, and most of them couldn't even defend themselves, and this young man was so fast. His vice-captain and first-mate couldn't even respond. The young man dashed to them like he was flying and killed his vice-captain, then he pulled his other sword, then did a slash so fast he barely saw it and blocked it. The second their swords touched each other; he felt a painful flow enter his body. It was like low-volt electricity.

With great difficulty, he managed to dodge, but his other man was not lucky enough and got cut down. Gally could feel the cold breath of death breathing down his neck. He lost almost everything in this raid, but he was going to let all of this go for nothing. Now he has to do what is necessary. He took his stance and readied his sword.

He could see the young man was getting ready to attack too. He was looking at the young man without blinking. The air felt so heavy and explosive that it was like the tiniest of sparks would set it off. he knew it was now or never.

He threw down his sword and got onto his knees, and put his head on the ground so fast it was like he teleported.

"Please, great warrior, I surrender. Someone with so much honor would never strike a man without a weapon."

Kreegan was flabbergasted, this asshole had acted so high and mighty a few minutes ago, and now he was kneeling and begging for his life. Kreegan's eyes became as cold as ice, and he said.

"How many people begged at you like you are doing now? Ten... one hundred... one thousand, how many?"

Gally said fearfully.

"I don't know. I surrendered. You can't hurt me!"

"Who the fuck says so?"

Kreegan opened the wanted poster and found Gally. He showed the words "DEAD OR ALIVE" on the poster and waved his sword. Although Gally didn't move, she noticed that her field of vision had changed. He wondered if the ship was moving, but at that moment, he saw his headless body, and his eyes darkened as he thought that this shouldn't be the end of me.

"I don't need all of you for the bounty. Your head is more than enough, and I don't spare murderous pirates."

Kreegan picked up the severed head of Gally and lifted it up, then shouted with all his might.

"Your captain is dead. Drop your weapons or join him on his journey!!"

If Kreegan didn't promise the sailors that he would do everything in his power to save as many of them as possible, he would have continued to fight until all the pirates were dead, but if he had done that, many sailors would have died, and he didn't want innocent people's dead on his conscience.

Seeing the severed head, the pirates started to lay down their weapons one by one, and the sailors gave a great cry of victory, then tied the pirates who surrendered with chains and ropes.

No sailors miraculously died. Using flare was a big tipping point for the ambush, and the pirates were so surprised to make any coordinated attack. Three sailors will most likely lose an arm or a leg, and the other three were seriously injured, but they weren't considered life-threatening as they managed to stop their bleeding in time.

If the ship's doctor could keep them alive for two more days, they would be able to get better medical care when we reached the Gao kingdom. Just then, he heard a voice in his mind.

-Trring-

The status window suddenly opened in front of him, and Sword Saint was level 1, proving that his thought was correct. Swordsmanship can be increased with training and sparring, but magic mastery is only increased in real battles. He didn't have much time to play while he was on Earth, but there were some games Darius played at the pc cafe from time to time. This status window was just like in these games.

One big difference is that leveling up didn't increase his stats. But leveling up brought him four things. The first was a thing called feats; these were basically things like passive buffs and special abilities. Status window was saying that because he's human, he can choose two feats at level 1. After reviewing all of them, he decided to choose.

After examining them all, the feats he decided to choose were Weapon finesse and Fencing grace (Katana). Weapon finesse was a really good skill, and it provided a magical ability that applied his speed to his weapon strength, meaning as long as he got faster, his sword strikes got heavier.

Now he didn't need to get his str stat up anymore, and he will keep getting stronger as long as his dex stat gets up. Fencing Grace did almost the same thing, but it also provided +2 to his dex stat when he was in a battle if he used a katana. This feat also gives one more dex every five levels at the 5th, 15th, and 20th levels.

After choosing his feats, it was time to choose traits called skills. There were six skills: Persuasion, Perception, Stealth, Trickery, Mobility, and Athletics. Athletics provided physical prowess such as leaping, scaling walls, and swimming speed. Mobility provided talent for balance and coordination, including aerial maneuvers, gymnastics, and tumbling.

Trickery basically provided lockpicking and disarming traps. Stealth provided talent for avoiding detection, allowing the character to slip past foes or strike from an unseen position. This skill covers hiding and moving silently. Perception provides an acuity of senses and allows one to notice fine details, such as feeling danger coming and being able to tell one someone is lying or acting suspiciously. Persuasion provides manipulating other people through negotiation, deceit, or intimidation.

Kreegan had four skill points and could only put one point for every level, so he would be able to choose 4 of those skills. He started contemplating and reached a decision after a while. His sword style was not suitable for stealth, and he didn't care about lockpicking or disarming things. It left him with Persuasion, Perception, Mobility, and Athletics. As he put one point to them, he felt a tightness in his body, like someone was squeezing him. After this uncomfortable feeling disappeared, he felt something was different. His stats didn't get higher, but he could feel he had better control over his body.

After distributing the skill points, Kreegan began to study the abilities that came with the level-up. Sword Saint class had four abilities at level 1: chosen weapon (katana), arcane pool, spell combat, and canny defense. Chosen weapon provided the ability to use spells through his swords. He was already able to use cantrips with his sword, but without this ability, he couldn't use higher spells through his swords.

The arcane pool was a useless ability for now, but it would be really powerful in the future because it enchanted his weapon up to +5. But right now, he didn't have any enchantments first one would come at level 3, and he would be able to add one more every four level up. This skill didn't have infinite uses, and he had a finite amount; right now, he has three uses.

Spell combat was basically his ability to cast spells but to cast spells other than the Touch spells that he could add to his weapon. He needs to have an empty hand, and he can only use touch spells if he has a weapon in his hands.

Canny defense, as the name states, is a defensive ability, and it provides a passive defensive force around Kreegan's body. It was basically like a watered-down version of armament haki's defensive ability. He wouldn't be able to catch bullets and swords with his body, but his body would have a better defense than a normal human, and he would have higher pain tolerance.

Finally, it was time for the spells he could use, he could choose five spells at the moment, but he could only use one of these spells because he only had one slot for spells. He needed to be out of combat for 6 hours to change his spells. This was a big disadvantage, but as he leveled up, he would have more slots for magic.

Kreegan's first five spells were Shocking Grasp, Shield, Burning Hands, Corrosive Touch, and Expeditious Retreat. Shocking Grasp was a touch spell that added lightning to his attacks and stunned his enemies. The stun chance was higher than the cantrip jolt. At the same level, it was 100%, +1 level was 50%, +2 level was 20% effective, and at +3 level, it would fail to stun.

The shield spell provided +10 AC for 2 minutes. Burning Hands was a fire attack spell with a 5-meter cone. Corrosive Touch was a touch spell like the Shocking Grasp but provided acid damage but nothing else. Expeditious Retreat was a buff spell that provided 50% movement speed for 1 minute, and like every other spell, it could be used once every 6 hours.

Kreegan couldn't decide what to put in the spell slot and was torn between Expeditious Retreat and Shocking Grasp. Ultimately, he decided Expeditious Retreat was the best choice for now. He already had a weaker version of the damaging spell, so it was more efficient getting a buff spell for now.