The food was as exquisite as advertised, making Lucas regret that he had to leave the city so soon. But duty called, and his ship would soon be departing from the harbor.

  As he stepped onto the large wooden vessel that would carry him on his journey, he noticed a diverse group of passengers scattered across the deck. Apparently, the Hollowcrest Ruins was a somewhat popular destination.

  With a quick glance, Lucas spotted a few goblins—whom he had rarely seen in town—two members of the Hive, a number of elves, and two ordinary humans: an old man and a young girl.

  Even counting the sailors joining them, the ship wasn’t nearly as crowded as Lucas had expected, proving just how large it really was. In fact, this was the biggest ship he had ever set foot on—actually, it was the first ship he had ever set foot on.

  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if wood was really the best material for a vessel in that planet, considering the dangers they might face. Then again, in this world, one could never be certain—wood could very well be stronger than metal, for all he knew.

  After settling into a quiet corner of the deck, Lucas’s thoughts drifted to the piece of metal he had found in the woods just before arriving in Zoria. He had later given that metal frame to Aysha, who had turned it into arrows.

  That metal had undoubtedly belonged to a ship. Could it have been from one of those that used to make intercontinental voyages before such journeys were abandoned? Judging by the condition of the fragment he had found, he couldn’t say they were wrong to stop. Whatever had torn that ship to shreds was no joke.

  These thoughts kept him occupied for a few minutes until the ship finally set sail. For the first time in his life, Lucas experienced what it was like to drift across open waters—and it was surprisingly unremarkable.

  That wasn’t to say it didn’t feel nice. The sea breeze and the shimmering water made for a pleasant moment, but compared to everything he had been through on Ponos, this mundane experience didn’t impress him as much.

  The little girl nearby, however, seemed to think otherwise. She kept tugging at the old man’s sleeve—who Lucas correctly assumed was her grandfather—excitedly pointing at things in the water.

  “I guess the ocean is the same everywhere,” the old man muttered, his voice tinged with melancholy.

  “Have you ever seen the ocean on Earth, Grandpa?” the girl asked.

  “Ha! Of course! I was a sailor in my youth,” he replied with a nostalgic grin. Then, lowering his voice as he glanced around, he added, “Of course, there weren’t any of this peculiar crowd around back then.”

  The girl giggled, though her gaze soon grew wary as she observed the various figures aboard the ship.

  At that moment, almost as if on cue, a commotion broke out between the goblins and the Hive members.

  “Who do you think you are, pushing me, shorty? I could kick you off this ship if I wanted to!” one of the Hive members barked, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.

  “I’ll kill you, you fat-headed monkey!” the goblin snapped back, and just like that, a fight erupted between the two.

  The old man promptly pulled the little girl away from the scene, while Lucas remained where he was, watching.

  The goblin drew a jagged bone club nearly the size of his body and swung it at an astonishing speed, striking the Hive member’s freshly raised shield and sending him tumbling backward.

  The Hive member scowled as he got back to his feet with the help of a companion, his face red with fury.

  “Slimy bastard caught me off guard! I didn’t know you goblins fought this dirty!” he spat. In the next instant, a staff appeared in his free hand, and chunks of rock materialized in the air before hurtling toward the goblin.

  To his credit, the goblin handled himself surprisingly well, even managing to deflect some of the incoming projectiles with his club. Still, a few stones struck their mark, leaving behind bruises and cuts.

  Then, with a sudden stomp, his skin began to glow faintly, reminding Lucas of Axis when he activated his boosting skill. A moment later, his suspicions were confirmed—the goblin shot forward at an impressive speed, completely ignoring the rocks pelting him as he charged straight at the Hive member.

  Just as he was about to bring his club down upon his opponent’s head, however, a booming voice erupted from the front of the ship.

  “STOP!”

  It was the captain.

  Even though the captain was an NPC, the goblin still seemed to respect the man’s authority enough to halt his attack.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Interrupting such a powerful charge mid-motion wasn’t easy, and the pained grimace on the goblin’s face made it clear that stopping so suddenly had taken a toll on his body.

  “You can fight all you want—just not on my ship. If anything gets damaged, I’ll take every penny from your pockets to pay for it before throwing you both overboard,” the captain warned, his tone as firm as stone.

  Nobody doubted for a second that he meant every word.

  Despite the goblin enduring some damage for halting an attack in full motion, it was the human who suffered the greater humiliation. To anyone watching, there was no doubt he would have lost that exchange had the captain not intervened.

  His face was red—not just from rage now, but also from sheer embarrassment. The moment the captain left, he turned to the gathered crowd and yelled, "What are y’all looking at? Do you want to die?"

  Lucas considered staring him down just for fun but ultimately decided against stirring up trouble so early in his journey. Instead, he moved to a quieter spot on the ship.

  Still, the fight had been entertaining to watch, brief as it was.

  “Things are getting worse and worse around here, eh?” a voice spoke beside him. Lucas turned to see the old man from before.

  “What do you mean?” Lucas asked.

  “Humans, goblins, elves... we were never meant to live together. And in a place like this, where people can use magic and all sorts of powers—” the old man sighed and shook his head. “Bad things will start happening soon. Actually, that’s why we’re here, trying to find somewhere quieter to settle down.”

  “And you think you’ll find that in the Hollowcrest Ruins?”

  “Well, not in the ruins themselves, but somewhere nearby there must be a place without so many people,” he said, sounding both weary and hopeful.

  “I don’t know exactly what you expect to find, but life in the wilderness might be just as hard, if not harder,” Lucas warned. “At least in cities, there’s some semblance of civility—beasts won’t argue before striking.”

  The old man nodded, as if he had already considered that.

  “Still, there’s got to be a place for folks like me who enjoy a little peace and quiet—maybe a hippie camp or something,” he chuckled, and Lucas smiled.

  Lucas then glanced at the little girl peeking out from behind her grandfather. “I’m guessing the cities don’t have any schools for kids?”

  “No. The little one follows me to the shop—I suppose I’m a smith now,” he shrugged. “What about you?”

  Lucas actually had to think about that before answering. What did he do, really? He had inherited a fortune from some long-dead necromancer and had never needed to work since arriving on this planet. But he couldn’t exactly tell that to the honest old man in front of him, so he chose the simplest answer.

  “I’m an alchemist.”

  The old man looked at him as if he had just seen a unicorn.

  “How did you learn that? Were you a chemist or something? You don’t look that old…”

  “No, nothing like that. I just found the opportunity during a quest and took it,” Lucas shrugged, as if it weren’t a big deal. And, in truth, it had been that simple.

  “You were lucky, then. I hear alchemists can make a fortune with how well potions sell,” the old man mused.

  “Smithing isn’t bad either. There’s a lot of demand for swords and arrows these days.”

  The old man nodded. “I only became a smith because I used to work with iron before retiring. Of course, we didn’t make blades, and we had machines to do most of the work for us,” he laughed.

  “My grandpa makes the best swords!” the little girl chimed in, her face emerging from behind the old man’s back.

  “Is that so?” Lucas asked, smiling, but the old man shook his head.

  “Not at all. I bet you’ve seen plenty better than mine,” he said, though Lucas suspected he was just being modest, which piqued his curiosity.

  “Can I see one of them?” Lucas asked. The old man looked around cautiously. “If it’s not too much trouble, of course,” he quickly added.

  “No, it’s not that. It’s just—some people lack common decency these days. You never know what they might do. Let’s move somewhere quieter, and I’ll show you.”

  The three moved to a less crowded part of the ship, where the smith pulled out the weapon he seemed most proud of. Lucas’s eyes widened as he used Identify on it.

  Cyclone Edge

  A masterfully crafted blade that seems to cut through the air with unnatural ease. Its momentum builds with each swing, allowing for increasingly powerful strikes in rapid succession. +15 Strength, +5 Agility.

  Rising Tempest: Each consecutive swing within 3 seconds increases the weapon’s damage by 5%, stacking up to 5 times.

  Required level to use: 25

  His eyes nearly bulged out at the description of the sleek black sword in the old man’s hands. How had he managed that?

  Equipment for level twenty-five was already rare—likely because few had reached that level yet—but that special trait was nearly unheard of. And he wasn’t mistaken; the smith himself was only level ten.

  “H-how?” Lucas finally asked, once his shock gave way to curiosity.

  “I told you he’s the best,” the little girl said proudly, satisfied with Lucas’s astonished reaction.

  The old man laughed. “I just enjoy making them. And every time I do, I learn something new,” he shrugged.

  Lucas sighed. “With craftsmanship like that, I can’t believe you didn’t make enough money to buy whatever protection you needed,” he said bluntly. The old man’s expression turned stern.

  “It’s tough to grow purely on skill alone in a place like this, where the powerful make the rules,” he said, shaking his head as if he had suffered his share of struggles.

  Lucas simply nodded in silence. If he hadn’t devised an entire plan to get rid of the mayor’s son, he wouldn’t have dared to start a business either. He suspected the old man had faced similar challenges. But that gave him an idea.

  “Say… if you don’t find this hippie camp you’re looking for, you should consider coming to the city I came from,” Lucas suggested. “There are lots of people, but most of them are NPCs. And quite a few are helping humans settle in—there are even some activities for children from what I’ve heard.”

  That was true. John had told him a few teachers from Earth had volunteered to help children adjust to their new world and way of life in exchange for food and money.

  “I could even help you set up shop. I’m sure plenty of people would be interested in your swords.”

  The old man looked intrigued but remained skeptical, only grunting in response.

  Before Lucas could say anything else, the ship suddenly lurched as if it had collided with something massive. The only reason the old man and the little girl didn’t fall was that Lucas caught them.

  Ignoring their thanks, Lucas quickly moved to the railing to see what had happened. A horrified crowd had already gathered.

  There, causing massive waves in the water, he saw it—a colossal sea monster had found them. And it didn’t seem ready to make friends.