A few days had passed since Lance and his group had sailed from Shells Town. Lance had been trying to figure out how to add or remove people from his crew page. However, he found that he could not add new members to his crew without first obtaining a symbol for it.
The rest of his crew were adjusting to their new living arrangements. Mary was getting all her new clothes organized in the crew bedroom. Alvida resumed her duties as helmsman. Kuina sat cross-legged against the railing of the ship. She was napping with her sheathed sword laid against her body.
Lance was currently lying on a beach chair he had put out on the deck of the Miss Love Duck. Walking next to his chair was Rika, holding a cold orange drink. "Hey! Mister Lance. I want you to try this. It's an orange smoothie!"
"Oh?" Lance looked over to her. He was shirtless, wearing swim trunks as he lay out in the sun. "Thank you!" The cold orange flavor spread through his body after the first sip. The drink was so cold he could feel it go through his system. "Wheeeew! That's delicious, Rika! You have a real knack for sweet treats!" Lance brought his arm back behind his head to lay on it. "You should make one for yourself after lunch!"
"Really?" Rika's eyes sparkled as Lance said that. "Thank you, Mister Lance!" Lance smirked as Rika ran back into the kitchen.
Now with a refreshing drink, he focused on the prompts that had been waiting for him since leaving Shells Town.
The first bunch of prompts were all skill prompts.
[Your Axes skill has increased to level 18. Damage dealt with axes is increased by 54%. And each strike with your axe has an 8% chance to cause a bleeding effect.]
[Your Dual Wield skill has increased to level 11 and 12. Attacks with your primary hand are -13% less accurate, while attacks with the off-hand are -38% accurate. Attack speed while dual wielding is +12%]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new skill: Axe Throwing. As a close-range weapon, axes pose the risk of placing your opponent's weapon just a thrust away from your vital organs. A few skilled axemen learn how to lob their axes across enormous distances. Only masters learn how to recover them from a considerable distance.]
As a sub-skill of Axes, this skill can only reach the same level as your main skill in Axes. The axe-throwing skill has increased to level 1-4. Thrown accuracy is increased by 8%.]
An axe-throwing skill? That could certainly be helpful. Though he didn't know how he was supposed to get his axes back in the middle of a fight.
[You have defeated an opponent with the Command Skill. Because they had a higher command skill than you. You'll gain a number of levels in your Command skill based on the defeated opponent's rank. The defeated foe was more than one rank above you. As this is the first time you've defeated an opponent that was more than one rank higher than you in the Command skill, you may choose your benefit. Multiply the number of levels gained by 2. Or gain 10% of all accumulated Command Points by your fallen foe.]
Woah! What a boon! Looking over the two options, he knew which one was better in the long run. Ten percent of however many points Morgan had gained would be a sizeable chunk. Even a dummy like him could tell that much. But… Lance was close to hitting the next rank in the command skill. He would have plenty of time to accumulate points. But right now he needed every buff he could grab. He chose to double his level gain. Otherwise, he might not gain enough levels to make his efforts worthwhile.
[Congratulations, your command skill has increased to level 9, 10, 11-22. As a pirate captain without a properly formed crew, you do not have access to any of the benefits of this skill.]
[Your command skill has increased to the ranks of Novice and Skilled. Congratulations, you have received a bonus of 2,500 exp for reaching the second rank of the Command skill.]
Lance choked on his drink as he read the prompts. Spitting out his juice, his arms flailed as he rolled out of the low-sitting beach chair. What the fuck? That single choice elevated Command to his highest skill level.
Looking down, he saw his orange drink all spilled on his chest. "Damnit… At least it's cold." Grabbing a towel, he began wiping down his chest as he went to take care of his level up. Which he had been neglecting since beating Alvida.
The one thing he couldn't deny was that life on the surface was far more dangerous than on Mari Geoise. He felt like he was constantly on the move. He recognized that his stamina wasn't enough to keep up with this frantic pace. Or at least…his regeneration wasn't. Lance needed more stamina to work with. So he put one point into body and two into will.
To increase his raw power, he allocated another 2 points to his power attribute. His last attribute point took a bit more thought. He wasn't sure which attribute he needed to increase. He hadn't really found a good use for his brain and instinct stats. And luck seemed a bit too nebulous for his purposes.
Instead, he was drawn to personality. While it was a more nebulous stat, like luck, his 'Natural Leader' ability made each point he invested into personality worth more. Out of all his options, he believed that personality was the one with the most potential.
The skill progression was the easiest to assign. Lance added 25% skill growth to his axe skill. Bringing it up to 61% percent.
As he finished with his prompts, the boat shook, causing him to spill the rest of his drink on the deck. "Ah. Alvida!" He turned to face the helm, but the ship took a swift left. "Woah! What the hell?" Lance fell, the left half of his body hitting the chair. His armpit collided with the plastic bar. "Ah! What's happening?"
Alvida was exerting a lot of effort to turn the wheel. But something was jamming the stern so she couldn't turn it in that direction. "We're caught in a current! It's jammed the wheel! I can't steer the ship!" The force of the turn from the current was so great it lifted Kuina into the air as she slept.
Lance was able to pull himself up so that he was semi-standing on the chair. But Kuina flew directly into him. Waking her up and sending them into the opposite deck. "What the hell is wrong with you? I was taking a nap!" Kuina grabbed his cheek and pulled it as she yelled.
"We have bigger problems, Swordhead!" Lance met her energy as she pulled on his cheek.