34 Vol 1. pt. 34 Patch 6.0: The Voyage South (1/2)
After being chased around the ship by Cassiel, dodging whatever she could get her hands on to throw at him, Fenrir feels like he must have leveled up his speed and evasion.
Unfortunately, Cassiel's ability at throwing things has increased just as much as his ability to dodge them.
The two eventually settle down and collapse on the deck. He's pretty sure that he wasn't even this tired when running away from Coastedge that first night.
”Alright, alright, truce. Let's call it a tie,” Fenrir offers.
Between heavy breaths and calling him a bastard, Cassiel agrees to his offer and sheaths her sword.
”How much longer do you think it's going to take until we're there?” he asks.
”It's on the southern coast of this region, so… just over three days in-game if we keep this speed,” Cassiel answers.
”How long does it take to cross the ocean?”
”About the same. It's just going to take so long to get to Port Tugator because we have to go around the coast instead of straight to it.”
Fenrir stands up and looks over to the coast. ”I just realized something. How come there aren't more coastal villages down here? We went past a few more south of Coastedge, but I haven't seen any since crossing the strait.”
”Do you think building a small coastal town with a jungle full of dinosaur monsters right behind you is going to work very well?”
”You know, you might have a point there,” Fenrir says before stretching. ”Hey, if you plan on staying on for a while, want to train? I figure that we might as well try to gain some more practice fighting – wait, do you get equal experience and skills and all of that by dueling a friend? I know it usually doesn't count in other games unless it's an actual enemy.”
”As long as you're pushing yourself, it doesn't matter who you're fighting. Just like in real life,” Cassiel explains. ”But just know that I won't take it easy on you, and you're not going to be able to beat me.”
”So confident in yourself. Come on, I'm sure I can win at least once.”
”So confident in yourself,” Cassiel mocks him.
After finishing off the small cannonball that Fenrir gave Rock, she has returned to the first ball and is trying to jump up onto it to balance on it. Jumping onto it is the easy part. Staying balanced on it instead of tumbling off is not. It doesn't help that the ball is constantly rolling around thanks to the shifting ship.
Both Rock and her master are training in different ways.
Unfortunately, they are both failing horribly at it.
”Told you,” Cassiel says, standing over Fenrir with her foot on his head and sword pointed down at his neck.
”How… how long was it between when you got reset and met me?” Fenrir asks. His vision is almost entirely black and he can't move either of his arms.
”Seven days in real life, so two weeks in-game. I fought every monster I could find to practice on my way back to Coastedge and had duels in every town I stayed in. We'll need to get cards when we reach the city so you can see just how far behind me you are.”
”Cards?”
”It's a player-run way of knowing stats and skills. I'm not even going to begin trying to explain how it works. The stuff in those crates down there should be enough to pay for us to get cards.”
”I guess theorycrafters always find some way of making things boring and learning everything.”
”God, thank you, I know. Too bad that, unless you're famous, you're going to need a card to prove anything to anybody. I only had one because it was required to be eligible for becoming an angel.”
”Speaking of angels, how about you heal me so that I can beat you already?”
She heals him just as he suggests.
And then she wrecks him again.
And again.
He does a little bit better on his fourth try, but in the end, it is him lying facedown on the deck of the ship.
”I call hacks,” Fenrir groans.
”I call you being stupid,” Cassiel retorts.
Standing up once more, Fenrir looks out to the west over the ocean. Small, desert islands devoid of anything but palm trees are scattered about. Some look fairly sizeable, but most are clearly worthless without a bottled map that has a red X on it.
”What happens when you sail to the edge of the world? Does it loop around like a real planet, or do you just fall off?” Fenrir asks.
”Nobody knows. We think there's just more continents out there, but there are huge world bosses that attack you if you try to go too far in uncharted waters,” Cassiel explains.
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”So basically, to unlock more of the world, we have to either kill the bosses or find a way past them?”
”That's what most people think.”
”Has anybody ever tried?”
”Yeah. Indra and Blackstache actually teamed up with their navies to try and take out the Southern Serpent, but Blackstache stabbed her in the back during the battle and wiped out most of her navy back then. They've been at war ever since, and if the two strongest navies combined couldn't take out the boss, who could?”
”Somebody with a really big fishing rod?”
The fifth sparring bout begins.
Rock barks and runs over to the stairs. When Fenrir looks over, after being healed again, he sees Serra crouching down to pick up Rock and give her some love.
”Hey, Serra. How was your date?” Fenrir calls out to her.
Serra pouts. ”It wasn't a date; it was just lunch,” she explains. Rock barks at Fenrir as if to back her up.
”Can you believe that this bastard is the guy who got kicked out last night?” Cassiel asks, looking over at Serra.