Markets and Multiverses

It took another ten seconds for the boat to reach us. In that time, Felix, Erik and I bobbed up and down in the ocean, taking a moment to hack some water out of our lungs and savor the feeling of being alive. Now that the adrenaline rush had started to fade away, the pain and exhaustion from our desperate flight in the Ocean started to kick in, but we had made it.

Once the boat was close enough, I opened a gate beneath us, shoved us down a little, and teleported us directly onto the boat. Then, I took a look at Erik and Felix, to assess the damage they had taken.

Erik’s leg was gone, and so was a big part of his pelvis and stomach. I had healed his body fast enough that he hadn’t died, but I had no clue if he would live for more than a day or two after this. Some of his intestines had to be missing, and I had no idea what that meant for him in the long run. Through sheer force of will, he was remaining conscious and keeping the pearl hidden, but that was basically all he was doing now. I shuddered as I looked at him, feeling a sense of horror as the consequences of my actions caught up to me. I had wanted to explore the ocean, but I hadn’t wanted someone to die because of it. 

I took another, longer look at Erik, intending to apologize, even though it was nowhere near enough. As I opened my mouth, he laughed, a burbling, broken sound, as he looked me in the face.

“It wasn’t your fault, Miria. I got injured because I volunteered for this, and I volunteered because I want to protect my friends and the village I care about. Don’t… don’t look down on my determination. And don’t blame yourself for this,” he said, before letting out another broken laugh. he gestured towards his missing leg, as well as the minced remains of his stomach, before coughing. “It’s a lot worse for you. The left half of your face… doesn’t look so good anymore. Your mother was one of the prettiest women in the village, and now her daughter has become like this. Both of us suffered because we wanted to protect the people we care about. So don’t blame yourself. If I didn’t get hurt here, maybe I would get hurt or die fighting an Outsider, and maybe they would hurt some of my friends too. My injuries are my responsibility. Not yours.” 

I stopped, the pain in my head starting to clear up. It wasn’t fully gone; I still couldn’t help but wonder if I could have done something differently, or thought more quickly and saved Erik from his injury. But with the adrenaline of the fight, our successful mission, and the time I had spent training and thinking about this mission factored in, I realized I had done my best. I still felt some guilt, because Erik had gotten hurt while I was leading our group, but he was right. He was an adult who had volunteered to join us, and all of us had known from the very beginning this mission was risky. 

Seeing my face relax a little, Erik laughed again, although it sounded more like a burbling cough. “You get it now. Nobody joined this mission thinking it would be perfectly safe, and we came anyway.” He didn’t say anything else.

After Erik finished talking, I realized he wasn’t the only one. I still couldn’t see out of my left eye, and I doubted that was going to change. My arm was much worse.

The flesh and bones of my left arm were corroded beyond repair. My arm no longer resembled a human arm, so much as extremely chunky red soup. I didn’t feel any pain from it when I moved it with my other arm, which was how I knew I was probably never getting my arm back. Even the nerves were completely destroyed. I couldn’t move it at all. I shook my head. At least I was most familiar with one-handed swordsmanship. I could still fight, with or without my left arm. 

Finally, I took a look at Felix. Felix, unlike Erik and I, was practically unscathed, and was staring at me in shock.

“Your arm… and your face… both are pretty bad,” he said, visibly taking efforts to calm down as he looked at me.

I hesitantly reached out to touch the left side of my face with good arm, and felt my coarse, scarred skin. The left half of my face was lumpier than it used to be. It didn’t hurt, because I had healed my flesh as it melted, but it was definitely more distorted than before. I did my best to smile.

“It’s not a big deal. I knew what could happen,” I said, and as I said it, I started to understand Erik’s words more. I had made my own decision to go into the deeps. It might have been risky, and if I had done things differently, I might not have ended up with a scarred face and a ruined left arm. But my decisions were my own, and I had done what I needed to in order to protect the village I had grown up in. My scars weren’t just an ugly imperfection; they were a mark of honor. 

“I’m fine,” I said, turning to my father and Sallia. As I spoke, I realized that my voice was also messed up. It sounded more raspy than usual. I touched my throat, and realized some acid had gotten my throat as well, although I hadn’t noticed it before. I was lucky it hadn’t ruined my ability to breathe or killed me on the spot. 

My father, however, looked the most devastated.

“Miria. You…” he looked at me, and I could see tears glimmering in his eyes as he looked at my arm and my eye.

“Sorry, father. I tried to get out intact, but a new sea creature showed up,” I said, before laughing. “But we succeeded. Nobody died, and I managed to get out alive, and with a black pearl. Sorry for worrying you,” I said, before I took a step closer and gave him a one-armed hug. I heard him sniffle, before he gently returned my hug, making sure not to disturb my ruined arm.

“You’ve… you’ve done enough, Miria. No matter what you look like, or how weak you become, the village won’t forget your sacrifice for everyone’s safety. And if they do, I’ll make them remember,” said Olav, gently ruffling my hair. “And if this works, you might save dozens of lives with your actions.”

Edel, and Claus also nodded, and I felt a surge of warmth in my heart. Even though I knew the village chief would look after me when we returned to the village, and the village had a strict policy of caring for those who got injured while protecting the village, having my friends, family, and co-workers reach out to me still made me feel happy. I was protecting the right people. My actions hadn’t been in vain. However, we were also wasting time.

“Quickly. We need to get the pearl to the outsiders.” I said. “Even with my fish cores, Erik’s mana will run out sooner or later. We need to get the pearl to them before that happens” 

Olav and the other sailors nodded, and we began quickly flying towards the meeting spot with the village chiefs and hunters. 

Sallia and Felix, who had the least to do right now, were still looking at me with concern. Sallia gently reached out her hand partway towards my ruined face, before hesitating. “Are you really okay?” She asked, more softly this time.

I laughed. “It’s not so bad. There are plenty of scarred women in the village, right? Felix’s mother is doing just fine for herself. It’s just a shame my left arm is ruined. And I was really looking forward to being a knockout beauty in a few years. I guess I’ll have to wait until next life.”

Sallia also let out a rough, half-choked laugh, before she smiled and hugged my good arm. 

“Even in this life, you’re still my amazing, beautiful best friend,” she said. “Including me in this mission was hard, and you and Felix have spent so much time and energy finding a way to get me a good keyword ability. I don’t know if this will get me one, but I won’t forget what you two have done. Both of you are the best people I could have had with me after my first life, and I’m so… so happy that you’ve been with me all this time.” After that, she gave Felix another, lighter hug, before the three of us also lapsed into silence. 

The boat made good time towards where the village chiefs and hunters were waiting for us. During that time I took the opportunity to look at my System notifications I had been ignoring up until now.

Slaughter: Assist the locals in killing a transparent fish for the first time
Influence: Steal a Greater Fragment of the Ocean’s Heart from under the watchful eyes of Al’thalus, the Slumbering Arms of the Ocean

Wealth: Own a Greater Fragment of the Ocean’s Heart

Achievement +85, +700, +500

I let out a chuckle. Adding nearly 1,300 Achievement to my total from this whole fiasco was pretty good. It put me at 9,941.06 Achievement. My miniature goal of getting to at least 10,000 Achievement would almost certainly be accomplished, as long as the rest of my plan worked out.

I was also more than a little surprised to see that I got an assist for killing the transparent fish. It must have been killed by the worm. Perhaps me distracting it, reducing its mana, and running it in circles still counted as me contributing to the fight, even though it had been killed by another monster instead of a human? I hadn’t realized I could get an assist if a monster got the kill.

With my only remaining arm, I shrugged. It wasn’t that big of a deal either way. With my body’s current state, I probably wouldn’t be doing any more adventuring into the deeps of the ocean, sadly. I was too badly injured to keep searching for what made this ocean so unique. I had uncovered some of the mystery of the deeps, but I had left many mysteries behind. I felt a sliver of regret at the thought, but I pushed it aside. I had done as well as I could, given our starting conditions in this world. To be honest, I was amazed I had gotten as far as I had, considering my average Stats and potential. 

Soon, we arrived at the meeting location with the village chiefs and the hunters. Most of them had a relaxed, bored look on their face as they waited in their respective boats, likely since they weren’t sure if we would successfully secure the pearl today. However, my village chief’s face warped when he saw me.

“Miria! Ocean Mother’s grace, are you all right?” He asked, quickly flying off of his boat and speeding towards us. He alighted on our boat, before taking another step towards me; that’s when he saw Erik.

“Erik? Is he…” The village chief turned towards me again. Erik, however, chuckled, despite the state of his body.

“We got it, chief. I’m pretty badly injured. Don’t let my injuries go to waste, all right?” The village chief looked at Erik, and then took another look at my ruined face, before he nodded. Instead of an expression of sorrow, the village chief’s face became more and more determined as he looked at our injuries.

“I won’t. When we get back to the village, both of you can retire. I’ll look after you and your families for the rest of your lives. The village won’t turn its back on those who got hurt protecting it.” The village chief paused for a moment, before looking at our boat, as well as Erik’s hands. They were still clutching a wooden net, although both the net and its contents were hidden by Erik’s stealth ability.

“Then we’ll proceed with the plan.” The village chief turned towards the other boats, where the bored looking hunters and chiefs had begun preparing their weapons and armor. He raised his voice, so that the other boats could hear him. “We’re going to see how many of their boats we can sink and how many of their sailors we can kill before they reach our islands. Since Miria and her boat has seized a Black Pearl, we will first let the outsiders who see it go insane, and if things go well, the great ocean monster will then attack a few of their boats before retreating with the pearl. If we’re lucky, we should be able to take out a bunch of their crew members before the fight even starts. Make sure to avoid looking at the black pearl, unless you have nine runes. And don’t join the fight until the great ocean monster strikes; we don’t want to get caught in the aftermath of its attacks, or Miria’s plan might backfire. Understand?”

The other hunters and village chiefs nodded, and I heard a few voices of assent in the background as well.

Once everyone was ready, the boats began to fly towards the outsiders. Once they were close, the other boats stopped, while Erik made our boat and its inhabitants invisible for one final push.

Our boat sped up, as the sailors gave the boat everything they had to speed up the flight of the boat. We needed to get everything done before Erik ran out of mana. Before we entered hearing range of the outsider boats, I whispered to the other crew members that I was taking the pearl, and to make sure not to look.

Then, I grabbed the Black Pearl from Erik’s hands, and handed it to Sallia. I felt her hands tighten around the wooden net, before we got ready.

A few moments later, we reached one of the outsider’s boats, and began floating a few hundred meters above it. Below us, I could see dozens of Megailian sailors, going about their duties as they worked to mess with the sails, observe their surroundings, and polish their weapons. It was time.

“Down with Megailia!” Yelled everyone in the boat, drawing a bunch of gazes directly towards us. At the same time, our boat flickered back into visibility, and Sallia lobbed the black pearl towards the boat. Since everyone was already prepared, we closed our eyes, making sure the madness of the pearl didn’t influence us.

Influence: You have driven several Megailian Sailors mad, contributing to the battle of the ocean by a [Minor] amount.

Achievement +???

 

Influence: You have driven several Megailian Sailors mad, contributing to the battle of the ocean by a [Minor] amount.

Achievement +???

 

Influence: You have driven several Megailian Sailors mad, contributing to the battle of the ocean by a [Minor] amount.

Achievement +???

I heard sailors start to scream as they lost their minds, and a few moments later, I started to hear splashing sounds as they jumped off of the decks of their ship and into the waters below. Despite all of that, I didn’t open my eyes. Meanwhile, I felt our boat lurch upwards, before it started flying in a random direction. We needed to get as far away as possible from counterattacks if we wanted to live until the other boats reinforced us.

A few moments later, I got my first new notification.

Slaughter: You have assisted the locals in killing a human with between 7 and 9 runes

Achievement +125

The first outsider had died. I didn’t know what killed him. Maybe he accidentally jumped into a weapon or got eaten by a sea monster. Either way, my plan was working even better than expected, after the struggle to get the black pearl out of the ocean.

Then, I felt something slam into the boat, sending us in a random direction for a few moments before we stabilized. I frowned. The outsiders were firing abilities at us, even if a lot of them had already been taken out of the fight. If the great ocean monster didn’t come soon, we would probably be barraged out of the sky.

Our boat began to fly more erratically, zigging and zagging in random directions in a desperate attempt to throw off the aim of the Megailians. I clenched my teeth, keeping my eyes closed as I counted seconds and prayed for the great ocean monster to come.

Moments later, I heard a call that nearly broke my mind, but that I had been waiting to hear. My perception of the world distorted, and I felt closer than ever to the secrets of space. I heard, rather than saw, something massive tear itself out of the ocean, and I heard a massive crunch in the distance.

I grinned, opening my eyes, and saw two outsider boats turned into splinters in the blink of an eye. I had estimated the great ocean monster would destroy at least one boat if it came, but the fact it hit two out of eight was a pleasant surprise.

Influence: You contributed to the battle of the ocean by a [Significant] amount
Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 1 humans with 4-6 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 5 humans with 4-6 runes.
Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 25 humans with 4-6 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 10 humans with 7-9 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 40 humans with 7-9 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 1 humans with 10-12 runes.

Slaughter: You have assisted in killing 5 humans with 10-12 runes.

Achievement +???, +40, +125, +220, + 200, +300, +400, +700

My Achievement instantly increased to 11,926.06. However, before I could celebrate how effective my Ocean Pearl ploy had been, something else slammed into our boat.

I looked beneath us, and saw our boat splitting in two, as a golden drop of blood drilled through the wood of the boat.

Oh, crap.

A barrage of wooden spikes ripped apart the front of the boat, and then a metal arrow tore through Olav’s head. He didn’t even have time to scream before he died. Meanwhile, the boat was thrown out of the sky, and began falling towards another of the boats. I briefly saw a man standing at the front of the boat, glaring at us with enraged eyes, before we slammed into the deck.

Crunch. 

I heard one of Sallia’s legs break as we slammed into the hard, wooden deck. Since I had two higher grades of Fortitude, my bones didn’t break, but the pain from bruising still nearly made me pass out. I gasped in pain, before using my good arm to prop myself up, and look around.

Sallia, Felix, Claus, my father and I had landed on one of the outsider boats. I had no clue where Edel and Erik went.

Staring at us was a very, very pissed off crew of Megailians soldiers.

acaswell

Shameless plug! You can read up to 21 chapters ahead on Patreon!

Heads up on scheduling stuff:

First of all, my schedule for the next week MIGHT be a little wonky. Some follow up to the big project from a month or two ago that I probably should have realized was coming, but failed to take into account until just now. Hopefully it doesn’t take up that much time or energy, but if it does, expect a chapter or two to be delayed or something from either or both of my stories. But in a few months I should be able to share what’s happening. It’s exciting!

Second, I have jury duty in mid-April. Schedule might, obviously, get messed up during that time period if I actually get selected. I’m hoping it doesn’t mess up my schedule, but we’ll see.

Finally, from June 8th to June 10th, I will be dealing with some family matters that are about a year overdue, due to a variety of weirdness and some scheduling stuff. I am going to TRY to have my chapters for that week out early, but if they end up instead not happening or getting delayed instead, I’m just letting you know in advance. I’m not entirely sure what my mental state will look like around that time, so… expect some weirdness, basically.