The sacrifices

The crew were casually eating the food made by Jay. It was a bunch of sandwiches with mayo, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, ham, all wrapped in giant leaves to keep it intact until it was time to eat.

There was a barrel in front of them. On top of the barrel were twenty sandwiches piles for anyone to take.

"Hm, Jay, I love the sandwiches but not the tomatoes." Jericho was picking off the tomatoes in her sandwich.

"Ooh, gimme." Sky said and Jericho handed him the sliced tomatoes.

"It could use onions." Jules said.

"Oh, onions, yeah I'll buy some if I see it. I also want some pickles." Jay said.

"If I see someone with a chef talent I'll employ them." Sky said.

"You don't like my sandwiches, Cap?"

"What? No, I'm saying that-"

"I'm kidding, Captain, you should definitely hire a chef." Jay said with a smirk as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"..." Sky.

Just then the dwarf's wife returned while dragging a young man by the hand.

"Mom! You gave me permission to hang out with my friends!"

"I know but this is important and we need your help."

"At least tell me what… hooooooooooooooooooooooooooly…" The young man noticed the large pile money on the desk, beside it was his dad counting all the gold shells.l

"Were you saying something?" She asked.

"Screw my friends! We're rich!" The young man practically ran to the money, if his dad weren't there he might've jumped into the pile as if they were a bunch of leaves piled.

The woman walked to the money and they began counting the money as well.

"How long do you guys think this is gonna take?" Jericho asked, taking a sip of water.

"Hmm, they're not even halfway done, so a few hours?" Sky said, grabbing another sandwich.

"We could stock up on items, onions and pickles for example. I believe we may need more lemons, fruits, and vegetables." Jay suggested.

"Yeah this is a busy island with a lot of people. I'll go see if I can bring in a new crew member or something like that, Jules will stay here. Call me if something happens."

"Captain, I need some money to buy the necessary items."

"Oh, right, here's 100,000 shells." Sky handed him a single card. He liked to store money in his inventory as cards as it was convenient.

Sky grabbed a few more sandwiches and exited the store.

"Wanna go with me, Jericho? Captain gave me the card transformation scroll so I can store small items as cards." Jay asked as he got up.

"Nah, I'll stay here with Jules."

Jay nodded and exited the store as well.

Sky, instead of walking through the busy streets, he appeared on top of a building identifying everyone he saw.

'I know it's a slim chance but I might find someone talented. Identify. Identify. Identify…'

Three hours later…

Sky rubbed his eyes. He did not find anyone talented nor did his identify skill level up, it was still at level seven.

The busy streets were now less crowded.

"I got so lucky I found Jay and Jules who each have a talent. But it doesn't look like I'll find one here, but maybe…"

Sky had an idea.

He jumped down from the building and walked around looking for a specific shop.

After twenty minutes of walking he found the shop he was looking for, a slave shop. It wasn't a shop but rather a sign that pointed to stars leading to an underground shop.

'Wow… they really are using up all the space this island has to offer.'

Sky walked down the stairs. It wasn't a long flight of stairs. There was no door or a building, just a bunch of jail cells with people in chains locked behind.

"Welcome, valued customer!"

A bald man approached Sky with a smile.

Sky looked around. There were people hiding in the shadows hired to protect the shop.

"Is there a specific slave you're looking for? Because we have all types, men, women, fishmen, sexy ones, sex slaves, pure ones, bulky ones, hard working ones, muscular ones, fat ones, brown skinned, blonde ones, busty ones, we have everything, except mermaids."

"Can you show me your strongest slaves with the highest stats?"

"Oh, yes, of course! Please, follow me!" The man treated Sky with utmost importance and led him to a cage.

Behind the cage were men and women chained up to a wall.

"These prisoners have the highest stats out of everyone here, because of that their stats have been bound to that of a small child."

'Identify.' Sky quickly identified all of them. They all had stats of five each that were colored red, when the stats are red it meant those weren't their real stats.

Clicking each stat their true stats were within the hundreds.

Sky frowned. He had this ability, ritual sacrifice, that can steal 10% of a single random stat from anyone which is why he's looking for strong slaves.

Then, he saw someone worth stealing.

It was a brown man with long black and had the body of a jojo character.

{Erick Euro}

{Str: 2001 Dex: 120 Spd: 402 Int: 1020 Mind: 888 Vig: 1320}

"How much is he worth?"

"Oh, you have a good idea, he's the strongest one here. His worth is 2 million."

"That's cheap, and he's your strongest?"

"We only bound his stats but not his… cheap?" The man tilted his head, 2 million was not cheap.

"I don't care if only his stats are bound, I'll buy him, and all the other slaves in the cell as well."

"Valued customer, I have to ask, are you serious?" The man asked.

"Yes, how much is it?"

"32,200,000 shells, but if you're buying all of them I'll lower it down to 32,000,000."

"Good. Also I want some weaker slaves who are good at cleaning. About ten of them."

"Yes, I have the perfect ones in mind."

"Also is there one that knows how to cook?"

"Hmm… I think I know one but I forgot if he was already bought. But I first need to examine the money before we discuss any further."

"How much will it all be?"

"32,000,000 plus the ten additional cleaning slaves, plus a cook is roughly… 35,000,000."

Sky handed the man some cards he pretended to take out from his pocket. Each card had a million each.

"Please count the money. I'll wait."

"No need for that. Inspect."

The man's eyes glowed blue.

Sky read about this ability in a book. It's a red ability that is similar to his 'identify' ability, Sky believes both abilities are different but he doesn't know as he hasn't found the ability yet

The slave owner uses this ability because people like to carry money around in cards as it is convenient. The inspect ability lets him know exactly what can be found in a card he examined, including the total amount of money. But it is also used to see the quality of an item.

Eye of truth turns your eyes yellow. Inspect turns it blue. Search turns it green.

The man was flabbergasted. Each card had exactly one million shells each.

"Valued customer… where shall I ship the slaves?"

"To my ship. I'll come back in a few hours for my slaves."

"Of course! Of course! Please take your time and we'll handle the slaves for you." The man was bowing to Sky, treating him like a king.

All the slaves looked at each other. They were being sold off to a young man with a lot of money. They looked at Sky, trying to figure out if he was going to be a good master or a horrible one.

Sky was about to leave before the man spoke again, "please be sure to come back next week! If you are in more need of slaves a new shipment will arrive at that time. I heard strong ones will appear."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Sky left feeling fulfilled except for his wallet.

{Shells: 48.3m}

'From 130 mil to 48… wait, that's still a lot.' Sky hadn't realized it but there was a time where ten thousand shells was a lot, not anything less than 100 million was cheap.

He could have bought more slaves but he refrained from doing so. The Merchant may have an item for sale he may need, and so it wasn't wise to spend all of his money.

Sky would walk around the island to see what it had to offer.

Two hours later, while eating some fried tentacles, he received a call from Jericho.

"Sky, it's done. The ship is ours."

{New ship acquired: Melody}

"Hmm… I'll be there in twenty minutes." Sky was happy to see the ship was under his command.

What Sky did first was go back to the slave shop to receive his slaves. 

He saw the muscular slaves all chaines together even to their feet and necks, there were fifteen in total. On the other side he saw eleven more slaves, ten of which are women with average looks. They did not look like experienced fighters like the other slaves.

"Valued customer! These are the beautiful cleaning slaves, and that one is the cook." The bald man pointed to the fishman who was a male.

"The fishman knows how to cook?" Sky asked, he did not think fishmen were capable of cooking human foods since their diets consist of raw fish, and sometimes fruits.

"He has been a slave his whole life till his masters were killed by another slave. He's got years of experience."

"I see. But why are all the cleaning slaves women?"

"I mean why not?" The bald man smirked. He knew what he was doing.

"You have a point."

The bald man handed Sky fifteen contracts. There were different types of contracts, one of which binds one of their stats, this type of contract was easy to write compared to a slave contract.

With the contracts on hand Sky could now control their stats but not their bodies like Jules.

"All of you, follow me. If you run away… well try and see what happens." Sky smirked believing none of them would dare to run.

He dragged them in chains to the store. On the way he saw the attention of many people as it wasn't normal to see a young man lead 26 slaves in chains.

Sky kept a close eye on the slaves. They were all chained but he was careful no one escaped.

There is no law against a master killing a slave if they escape, but it is illegal to kill someone else's slave even if they escape because it is not their property.

All the slaves never said a word. Most of them were still trying to figure out what Sky wanted with them, and how they were going to be treated, and how they could escape.

Sky circled around the store with slaves on hand. There he saw his crew talking to the dwarf and his family.

"Everything alright?" Sky asked.

His crew members were shocked to see Sky with so many chained people.

"Sky, you bought twenty slaves?" Jericho did not expect that from him, he thought Jules was more than enough.

"Ten of them are here to help Jules with the cleaning since cleaning the entire ship by herself seems unlikely. One of them is a cook."

"Oh thank god." Jules said.

"What about the rest of the slaves, Captain?"

"Oh, you'll see." Sky smirked.

Jericho knew that smirk all too well, it was his sinister smirk, meaning he was going to do something horrible.

"Hello, this is for you." The dwarf handed Sky papers as proof that the ship he owns was his and was obtained legally.

Sky skimmed through the papers before turning them into a card and placing it in his pocket.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you for your purchase." The dwarf couldn't help but hug his wife and son in each hand.

"We gotta go now. Everyone on the ship."

Using a ramp they walked on the ship. The entire crew was amazed they own such a grand ship. 

Once everyone was on board Sky pulled the ramp to his ship. The dwarf and his family were waving at him goodbye as if they were friends.

"Jericho, set sail to a dungeon."

"On it!"

"Oh, Captain, I was able to buy an abundance of stuff including blankets."

"Thanks, Jay, do you have change?"

"I do."

"Keep it."

"Thanks, Captain."

Sky took a closer look at his slaves. Sky walked up to them.

"You eleven, over here." Sky led the cleaning slaves to the other side of the ship. Confused, they did as they were told.

Sky walked up to the fishman, he was feeling nervous and sweating profusely.

Jericho, Jay, and Jules looked at him wondering what he was gonna do.

"Why are you sweating?" Sky asked.

"I… I do not know." He said.

Sky's eyes glowed a dim yellow color as he activated the eye of truth.

"See my eyes glowing? If you lie to me I'll break your hand and fix them again. Tell me, why are you sweating so much?"

"I… I do not know."

{He is lying}

Sky grabbed his hand and crushed his wrist.

"AAAHHAHAHHHH!" The fishmen grabbed Sky's hand to break free from the pain.

"Rejuvenation."

{Slave's hand has been restored}

Sky let go of his hand. He looked at his hand expecting it to be broken but it was fine, he could move it but the pain was still lingering. He was crying.

The cleaning slaves were starting to sweat as well. They realized they had a cruel master. The stronger slaves weren't afraid and acted tough.

"Sometimes I forget the kind of person our Captain is."

Jericho nodded.

Jules looked at Sky. She thought he would be kind to his slaves like he was with her, but it seemed she was a special case.

"I thought you knew better than to lie to your master considering you had years of experience. Now tell me, why are you so nervous?"

"I… I… I am afraid."

"Of what?"

"Of what you'll do to me!"

{He is telling the truth}

Sky got closer to the fishman.

"You think I'll hurt you for no reason? I only hurt you because you lied to me. Do you think I hate fishmen?"

"Yes, I do! My old masters were kind before they were killed by other humans. They were great people and I have seen what other people do to my kind, and it is never good!"

{He is telling the truth}

Sky grabbed him by the face.

"Hmm, that sucks. Unless you give me another reason I won't hurt you again. Now stand up."

The fishman stood up still massaging his hand.

Sky ignored the cleaning slaves and focused his attention on the strong slaves.

"Jules, release that one from his chains and bring him to me." Sky handed Jules a key that unlocked the chains.

Jules did as she was told. She brought Sky the youngest slave, another man around Sky's age. He had a great build, and was relatively short. He breathed heavily and angrily when looking at Sky.

"Are you gonna use me as an example to show everyone what a big tough guy you pretend to be? I ain't afraid of death! And I am certainly not afraid of you!" He said.

Sky almost wanted to laugh.

"Good."

Sky grabbed him by the throat and pinned him on the ground. His stats were bound to five each. Even if Sky had a few hundred stats it was large in comparison to the slave's bound stats.

The slave tried to fight back and even scratched Sky's hand and face, but Sky couldn't even feel it.

'System, if their stats are bound, will I receive the bound stat if I use that ability?'

{No. Even if their stats are bound you will receive one of their unbound stats}

"Amazing." Sky said.

"What? What the fuck are you talking abou-"

Before he noticed his mouth was frozen shut. Ice had formed on his lips preventing him from talking as well as causing great pain.

Using his telekinesis he spread the slaves limbs like an 'X' and froze them in place using his cryokinesis.

The slave felt so cold, it was so cold he could not even feel his limbs and face anymore.

Sky grabbed his head with one hand while placing his other hand on his stomach. Everyone was watching, wondering what the hell he was going to do

"Ritual sacrifice."

A black pentagram appeared underneath the slave. Sky made sure to keep him in place because if he resisted the spell would be canceled.

{Ritual sacrifice timer commenced}

{30}

{29}

{28}

'I thought it had a 60 second timer?'

{The dexterity stat lowers the timer by 50%}

'Oh, even better.' Sky didn't expect his dexterity stat to come in handy.

The slave didn't feel anything at all. It seemed Sky was doing nothing but held him down in place.

Everyone stared in silence…

{3}

{2}

{1}

{0}

The slave arched his back before his eyes went white and his body went limp. Tiny particles of light exited his body and entered Sky's body.

{Received 16 strength}

Everyone staring realized what just happened, Sky just killed him.

"Next!"

Jules nodded slowly before dragging another slave. This time the slave was fighting trying to flee but Jules wouldn't let him.

"NONONONONONONONONO!" The man screamed in horror not wanting to die.

"Don't worry, it's painless." Sky said.

"I don't think that's why he's saying that." Jericho said.

Like last time the slave was pinned down and Sky kept him in place for thirty seconds before he died.

{Received 21 dexterity}

The cleaning slaves were starting to get worried and scared. But Sky looked at them and said, "I won't do this to you. As long as you clean and don't escape you'll get to live. If not, you'll end up like them." Sky said loudly and seriously.

The cleaning slaves were backed up to the edge of the ship on the verge of falling off.

Sky pulled them closer using his telekinesis and forced them to sit down. He walked towards them which only made them more afraid.

"Do I make myself clear?" Sky looked at them. They all nodded and were even crying.

"Jericho, destroy their chains for me."

"Um, sure."

Jericho used her magnetism and the metal chains fell off their hands.

"Anyone here want to run?" Sky asked his slaves.

Nobody answered. Instead they just hugged each other.

"That's what I thought. Next!"

Jules brought the next slave and he too died, but Sky got a surprise out of it.

{Received 24 spd}

{Skill level up}

{Ritual sacrifice: lvl 1 → lvl 2: Steals 20% of one random stat of the sacrifice}

Sky knew this skill would level up, but the huge jump from 10% to 20% was greater than he expected.

"Next!"