The air around Dock 13 carried a different weight now. The scent of salt and smoke clung to the harbor, but it wasn't just the sea anymore—it was preparation, urgency, and tension thick enough to choke on. The alliance with the Sirens had bought Ethan time, but time in The New World was always fleeting.
By the time the Sea Fang returned, word had already spread across the stronghold. Players clustered near the docks, whispering about the Siren Tidecallers glimpsed in the distance, their sleek figures cutting through the sea like shadows. NPCs murmured prayers to ward against betrayal. And the rival factions—the Magisterium Arcanum and the Shadow Consortium—had surely heard by now.
Ethan disembarked with Brandon, Kaela, and Harnic at his side. His boots struck the reinforced planks of Dock 13 with grim purpose.
"Look at them," Brandon muttered, nodding toward the crowd. "They're not celebrating. They're waiting. Wondering when the Sirens will slit our throats in our sleep."
"They'll fight," Ethan said, his voice hard as iron. "And that's all that matters. Fear will fade when they see what we can build here."
[Main Quest Update: Dock 13 – Stronghold of the Abyss]
Objective: Fortify Dock 13 to withstand the Abyssal Leviathan's assault.
Build Tier III Walls around the dock perimeter.
Establish a Sirenforged Armory for advanced equipment.
Train and deploy mixed faction units (Iron Bastion + Siren Tidecallers).
Progress: 0%
Forging an Army
The next three days were chaos turned into order. Ethan oversaw the construction personally, his interface glowing with constant system notifications.
[Dock 13 Upgrade Menu]
Walls (Tier II → Tier III): Requires Abyssal Iron (120), Siren Coral (80), NPC Labor (50) → [In Progress: 36%]
Sirenforged Armory: Requires Coral Heart Core (1), Iron Bastion Engineers (10), Siren Craftsmen (10) → [In Progress: 12%]
Training Grounds Expansion: Requires Abyssal Timber (50), NPC Labor (30) → [Completed]
NPCs bustled around the site—dwarven masons from the Iron Bastion hammered abyssal-iron plates into walls while Siren artisans wove coral into glowing wards. The mixture of cultures caused tension. One dwarven engineer spat on the ground as a Siren Tidecaller swam past.
"Can't trust the finned folk," he growled. "Mark me words, they'll drag us all down."
The Siren didn't respond, but her eyes flashed with something dangerous.
Ethan stepped between them, his presence enough to silence both. "We're not here to like each other. We're here to survive."
Training the Tide
On the second day, Ethan and Brandon supervised combat drills. Rows of Iron Bastion axemen clashed with training dummies, their blows shattering wood with raw force. Across the field, Siren Tidecallers summoned waves of water to smash targets, their voices weaving spells that echoed like hymns.
"Too different," Brandon muttered as he watched. "Dwarves fight like mountains. Sirens fight like water. How do you make that work?"
Ethan smirked. "Mountains carve rivers. Rivers wear down mountains. Together, they crush anything caught between."
He called out: "Pair them! One Siren with one Bastion soldier. You'll learn to read each other's rhythm or you won't survive at all."
Grumbling, the pairs began sparring. At first it was chaos—axes clashed with waves, timing mismatched—but slowly, grudgingly, a pattern emerged. By sunset, the first true synchronized strike shattered a reinforced dummy, splitting it down the middle.
[Unit Synergy Unlocked: Tidebreak Formation]
Siren Tidecaller + Iron Bastion Warrior → Combined Skill: Wavecrash Cleave (AoE water + physical damage, bonus vs. Abyssal foes).
Supplies and Raids
Ethan's push for domination over resources continued. With Verdant Mines running at full capacity, shipments of abyssal iron flowed in daily. Kaela led expeditions to nearby forests to harvest abyssal timber, while Brandon coordinated hunting parties against deep-sea beasts to gather rare oils and scales.
But the enemy was watching. On the fourth night, a Shadow Consortium raid struck the supply line. Masked assassins burst from the treeline, blades dripping venom.
[Enemy Raid Detected!]
Shadow Consortium Assassins (Lv. 46–48)
HP: ~4,900 each
Skills: Shadowstep, Bleeding Edge, Poison Strike
Brandon led the defense. He activated Storm Lunge, his spear piercing one assassin clean through. Damage: 1,235 (Critical).
Kaela unleashed Radiant Burst, searing three assassins at once for 872 damage each, burning shadows from their flesh.
Ethan clashed with their leader, a tall figure cloaked in black flame. His Abyssforged Greatsword roared with hunger, each swing carving into the assassin's HP: -1,153, -1,087, -1,321.
When the leader finally fell, the system chimed.
[Victory: Shadow Consortium Raid Repelled]
Loot: Shadowsteel Daggers (2), Venom Vials (3)
Reputation: Shadow Consortium Hostility +15
Dock 13 Morale +10
Political Pressure
The following day, emissaries from the Magisterium Arcanum arrived uninvited, their robes embroidered with runes that burned faintly in the daylight. Their leader, Archmage Soryn, looked down his nose at Ethan.
"So. The boy with the mythical class courts Sirens and dwarves alike. Do you fancy yourself a king of the sea, Cross?"
Ethan crossed his arms. "I don't fancy myself anything. I'm just making sure we don't drown."
Soryn's lips curled. "You meddle in powers you do not understand. The Leviathan is not a beast to be slain. It is a tide to be endured. If you do not yield Dock 13 to us, you will not endure it."
The Shadow Consortium's threats had been blades in the dark. The Magisterium's threat was fire to the face. Ethan met his gaze without blinking.
"Then come and take it."
For a heartbeat, the air between them sparked with unspoken violence. Then Soryn turned away, his robes whispering like flames.
"They will break you," Kaela murmured once they were gone.
"Maybe," Ethan said. "But we'll make them bleed first."
The Sirenforged Armory
By the week's end, the armory was complete. Coral spires jutted from reinforced walls, glowing faintly with enchantments. Inside, weapons unlike any crafted before lined the racks: axes edged in siren coral, spears wrapped in abyssal iron and woven kelp wards, crossbows that fired bolts infused with tidal energy.
[Crafting Station Unlocked: Sirenforged Armory]
New Recipe: Wavecleaver Axe – ATK +410, AoE water damage on hit.
New Recipe: Tidecaller Spear – ATK +395, +10% vs. Abyssal foes.
New Recipe: Coral Ward Armor – DEF +560, 15% resistance vs. Mind attacks.
Ethan tested the Wavecleaver Axe himself, watching as the blade split a target dummy and a wave of water rippled outward.
"This," he said, handing it to Brandon, "is how we turn fear into strength."
Final Preparations
By nightfall, Dock 13 no longer looked like a vulnerable outpost. Tier III walls bristled with harpoon launchers. Mixed squads patrolled in Tidebreak Formation. And the armory's glow painted the night in hues of blue and green.
Yet unease lingered. Beneath the waves, the chains on the Leviathan were breaking. Ethan could feel it in his dreams—the pressure in the deep, the hunger rising.
As he stood on the seawall once again, Kaela joined him quietly. "Do you ever think we're just building walls of sand before the tide?"
Ethan's grip tightened on the Abyssforged Greatsword. "Then we make the sand into steel."
The sea roared, dark and endless. The countdown ticked on.