Lance was sitting on the deck of the Miss Love Duck. It had been about a day since they began sailing towards Shell Island. He was left alone to kill time until they got there. He decided to review the last few prompts he received from his fight with Alvida. The first one started off really well!
You've defeated nine enemies. You have gained 455 exp. Congratulations! You have reached Level 7. You have 6 attribute points to distribute. You have 25% skill progress to assign. You have one week to assign this level-up progress, or it will be assigned randomly.
Hell yeah! Level-ups were always welcome news to Lance.
[Your Axes skill has progressed to levels 16 and 17! Your axes now deal an additional 51% damage. And each strike of your axes has a 7% chance to cause a bleeding effect.]
[Your Unarmed Strike skill had progressed to level 10! Congratulations, you have advanced from the Dabbling rank to the Novice rank! As such, you will be awarded an additional 1000 exp!]
He supposed the toss he gave Alvida accomplished more than just making him look cool.
[You have defeated a foe with the Command Skill. As their command was higher than yours, you will also gain levels in the Command Skill. And as this is the first time you've gained command points from a battle, you will gain double points.]
[Your command skill has increased to levels 6, 7, and 8. You have gained 18 command points. (Base 9 x 2) Note: As you have formed a pirate crew, your command skill has become linked to your crew. Until you finish the creation of your crew, you won't gain access to the benefits of the command skill.]
Lance grumbled at that. Why did so many things have to be held back by that stupid flag? Thankfully the final prompt explained something that had been bothering him.
[As a pirate captain with access to the slaver skill, your slaves can be added to your crew without consent from the slave.]
Nodding at this information, Lance opened the slave screen and attempted to add Alvida. He got a red prompt in response.
[You cannot add this person to your slave list. For a person to qualify as a slave, they must have a mark that shows your ownership over them.]
And yet again art has stifled him. He would need some way to mark his property on the fly! He did suppose it made sense. You couldn't really claim a slave if there wasn't some way to show ownership. It was strange that Mary's Celestial hoof tattoo counted for him. Maybe the hoof was used so slaves could be transferred?
"Land ho!" Alvida called out from the wheel. Indeed, Lance directed his gaze towards the sea. There was an island closing in the distance. "Oh! Hot damn!" Lance jumped up to his feet and looked out. Excited to get to the first island on his adventure.
Mary soon came out from beneath the deck. Wearing her full maid outfit. "Geez. So loud." She massaged her ear a bit as she walked to Lance. "Lance. Since we're going to this island specifically, I can shop for clothes. I thought now would be a good time to bring it up." She reached into a hidden pocket on her dress. Mary pulled out five slim daggers. Each one is only as wide as the first section on Lance's pinky. Each dagger bore a design reminiscent of a leaf.
[You have found 5 ornamental steel daggers. Damage 8-10. Class: Uncommon. Quality: Polished. Durability: 48/50. These weapons deal an additional 100% damage when dealing a critical blow.]
Lance marveled at the blades as Mary continued talking. "I lost one back on the cruise ship. I only realized I had lost it when I was getting ready just now. Do you think we can try and get some spare daggers?" There was a twinge of disappointment in her voice. She felt awful about losing one of her prized daggers.
Seeing the disappointment in her voice, Lance put both of his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry. We'll find you some new daggers." Lance grabbed a briefcase from the sloop he stole from the Celestial Dragons. Going to his loot from the cruise ship, he grabbed the million and change in cash he took from the cruise raid.
Alvida docked at the island's pier. He anchored the ship next to a dock at the less populated port. Lance threw down a plank of wood to give the three of them a path down to the port. Lance let Mary walk down first. Following behind her. The plank was too narrow for Alvida's large frame to walk down. So she jumped from the side of the railing. Cracking the stone underneath her. Shaking Lance and Mary as though they were in an earthquake. "This island has weak floors. We should be quick."
Lance and Mary gave a quick combined glare before continuing onto the island. Walking up the street from the port, they began climbing the hill the town was built on. They made their way through the market area that was next to the port. Out of a fruit merchant's stall, Lance grabbed and bought a green pear. "Alright. Mary, I trust you to shop responsibly." Lance handed her the suitcase. "You go and get yourself some clothes while I and Alvida go check things around here."
Mary accepted the case and was visibly grinning as she took the case with the million berri in it. "Ok! Thank you, Lance!" Standing on her tiptoes, she leaned in to kiss Lance on the cheek.
"Mmh. Just meet us back at the ship. Alvida and I are going to go see if we can find this Kuina chick."
At the mention of the Pirate Hunter's name, all the civilians around them jumped back and turned to look at Lance with shocked and scared faces. The three pirates all looked around confused. "Um…ok! I'll meet you back at the boat!" Mary ran off in her maid uniform. She swung the briefcase wildly while cheering like a maniac.
Lance watched her for a minute before Alvida began walking up the street towards the two large Marine base buildings. "Come on, Captain. If we're going to do this, let's be quick about it!"
He took a couple of steps backwards to keep Mary in his sight. But soon he turned around and followed Alvida with his hands in his pockets. "Alright, alright. You act like something terrible is going to happen. Haha!"