True to his word, the moment I depart the Bohan, the ship raises its sails and immediately departs to the cheering of everyone present. All watch as Valentine sails away at a speed no current ship is anywhere near an equal.

  Ohe Bohan is no longer in sight, James rushes up to me apanied by a rge throng of people.

  “Looks like he’s gone. Seems he mea-.”

  Before I even deign to finish my sentence, James and every single [Priest] and [Pilgrim] drop to their knees.

  “What?” I ask aloud.

  James raises his head. “The Tower-Ecclesiastibsp;thanks you, Apostle of the great one and Messiah of those loyal.”

  I blink and frown.

  Am I being worshiped? Again?

  “Nope. No. Hell, no. Don’t you dare worship me. Go worship yod-err tower. Just not me.”

  To my words, James grins, even tears up a bit.

  “Yes, great one. We will heed your will. But before that, please listen to my request.”

  I frown.

  Please, no cult again. I don’t want to be worshiped by crazies again.

  “What’s the request?”

  “e with us to our headquarters. The leaders of the Tower-Ecclesiastibsp;will wish to meet one who has such a deep e to the divines ear and a savior of the divines servant.”

  Yeah. I’m going to stay as far away from your leaders as possible. I don’t need religious crazies worshiping the ground I walk on. That gets old far too fast.

  “I dee. I have treasure to find and a long quest to plete.”

  “Then stay for a party.” James ences. “It’s the least thanks we give for saving us.”

  Fuo. I’m not about to be drugged, kidnapped, and put on an altar again.

  “I will respectfully dee. My quest is urgent, and every moment I wait leads to difficulty.”

  James nods uandably, albeit with a sad smile.

  “I uand. You have others that require saving. I won’t keep you, but know that I and my flock will voice ylory to all those that will listen.

  “You-uh, you do that.” I say. Then I quickly g my curious crew. “, grab your stuff a's head out.”

  _____________________________________________________

  Hours ter, the Timbergrove departs with full sales. The ship lurches lightly. The clouds are clear, the wind isn’t to, and the air is as fresh and mana rich as it could be. In the Mess hall, the eeam is sitting and situated around the [Captain] sitting in the middle of the table.

  “-and that's pretty much it. The tower is a test that gives me a card and a blessing. I o plete twenty more towers, or obtaiy more cards. Then, somehow, the final tower will reveal itself and I win the god games.”

  Myers leans back as he strokes his beard. “As I mentioned before, the towers are all separated. Going to them all will take a lot of time a in a great deal of danger. I’m not sure if I want to be putting mine and Cy’s life on the line for such a thing.”

  Quasi nods. He then walks to the edge of the table. “Yea, that is fair. Which is why we’re going to go grab some treasure to give us a bit more of an edge. Irmgard, spread the map if you will.”

  Irmgard unrolls the scroll and spreads it in the ter of the table. The map is smaller, and isn't actually a map of the world. Instead, it is a map of a quadrant of a world map. More specifically, the Quadrant they are currently on. On the map, there is an X marking ay p the map.

  “Myers, think you lead us to treasure?”

  The old man stands up. His firaces the map slowly. Then he nods. “We’re not that far. I’d say a week away at our speed.”

  “ we trust the map to be accurate?” Cillian asks.

  “Yes,” Myers answers. “As I mentioned before, Valeays by his word. There will be treasure, though I wouldn’t let yuard down. There could still be dangers.”

  “Then we best get moving. But first, I need some advice from you, Myers.”

  Myers frowns, but says nothing. He gives a slow nod. “Ask.”

  “Actually,” Quasi hops off the table. “It may be better to show you.”

  In a puff of smoke, the cat disappears and is repced with a Fenrimorph wearing gaus. Instantly, everyone present notices the ges. Quasi’s fur now has a purple hew color to it. He is rger, more muscur, and carries another set of horns.

  “You’ve evolved.” Myers says after a moment. He then g the gaus. “You leveled and got a skill too.”

  “The Gaus look tight.” Emma ents.

  Quasi growls. With difficulty, he removes the gaus from his arm, ripping and tearing fur and skin to remove the armor. He then chucks the bloody gauo Emma, who catches them with a grimace.

  Once removed, Quasi transforms bato a cat and hops up oable.

  “Gaus are a bit tight. I need you to make them a bit bigger.” He says to Emma.

  Emma twirls the gaus around her hands. “It will take some time to loosen it, but It be done.”

  Quasi nods. He then looks to Myers. “I’m an [Armament Shifter] now, which lets me carry a portion of my weight in equipment at all times. Hehe gaus. But that's less important than my evolution.”

  “If yoing to ask me what an evolved Fenrimorph entails, I’m going to have to tell you that I don’t know. I just know they are stronger and more dangerous.”

  Quasi traces a circle with his paw. “So, I got ied with the scorpis venom. A lot of scorpio venom. The venered my evolution, which as you saw, gave me physiological ges. But, it also gave me an odd title. It gave me a divine raitle called Mana Fur. Which is exactly what it sounds like. My fur increases my mana regeion based on how much fur I have. Currently, nearly a tenth of my mana regees every minute.”

  Myers goes stock still. He frowns hard while his hand firmly grabs his beard. “That is impressive. Very, very impressive.”

  “Mind expanding on that?” Quasi asks.

  The old man loosens his grip on his hair. “As I expined before, Runic items ressively higher quality have a signifitly higher cost to wield. It is not unon fendary items to require several pertages worth of mana regeion, with diviems rumored to be near or at the double digits. Because these costs are so high, only those whose bloodlines have a naturally infted base regeion have any hope of wielding such ons. Many a [Noble] will take wives or es who have such high regeion rates so as to produce such offspring.”

  “Yea, I figured that out already. What I want to know is if my current regeion rate is adequate enough, or do I o improve my vitality further?”

  Myers is already shaking his head. The old man leans into his chair and removes his hand from his beard. “For someoo get anywhere near double digits eion, they would o have extremely high natural regeion and then put nearly every attribute point into vitality until they are leveled in their seventies.”

  “And nobody would do that.”

  “On the trary, most royalty do exactly that precisely because vitality boosts lifespan. It isn’t unon for leveled royals to be garbed in numerous protective runes and powerful equipment.”

  “Heh,” Cillian chuckles. He swishes a gss in his hand. “So, if you’re rich, you live fu long and be fu strong.”

  “I see.” Quasi taps a paw oable. His tail swishes side to side in thought. “That’s good to know. Though, my question is in regards to my attribute allocation. Currently, I’m pushing all intth because it gives me the greatest quantity of tangible bonuses. But, I’m debating on shifting that to vitality so as to boost my regeion further.”

  “That would be a waste,” Myers says. “Yeion is already at the point where you wield multiple legendary runic items.”

  “My thoughts exactly. I just wanted a sed opinion.” Quasi pauses. “Also, how useful is [Minor Heat Resistance]?”

  “Useful.” Emma pipes up. “My father has it. He says it makes him less tired and makes it easier to work he fe.”

  “It is also a prided skill among the Wolven,” Myers adds.

  “The Wolven? Why? All it does is reduce the effect of heat.”

  The old man clears his throat. “I’m not sure if Fenrimorphs are the same way, but the Wolven do not sweat. Instead, their bodies burn energy to cool themselves. [Minor Heat Resistance] makes the cooling easier, faster, as in far more effit usage of stamina.”

  The cat’s mouth gapes open. “Holy shit, that expins so much.” Then Quasi grins. “Fuck yes. Always listen to yut!” The cat pumps a paw into the air.

  “A,” Boriss adds. “Mother says bear gut make you strong.”

  All eyes look at Boriss.

  “Vhat?”

  “Do you eat bear guts?” Quasi asks.

  Boriss frowns. He now looks very fused.

  “Da.” He raises his hand to mimic a rifle. “Mother hunt bear.” He uhes a knife from his belt and moves it in a cutting motion. “She cut bear and make bear sausage. Is tasty, yes?”

  ________________________________________________________________

  With the meeting over, and a quick pampered bath from Cy, I make my way to my [First Mate]. Upon my arrival at her door, I am met with the urge to squeeze my paws underh. A strong, subscious urge not dissimir to the urge to watch things fall off a table.

  I fight the urge by only allowing a single paw uhe door, while the other taps on the door.

  When I hear Irmgard move, I hop away from the door. After a click, the door opens.

  “e.” She says.

  I walk inside her private room, and pause in utter surprise. Dozens of maps, books, and scrolls smother the shelf covered walls of her room. Everything is ordered, beled, aremely well anized.

  I hop on the bed while she takes a seat on the singur chair.

  “That’s a lot of books.” I read some of the titles, all of which are pletely diverse in topics. There are books on history, ships, bat, leveling, and even magic.

  “Before I improve myself, I must improve my uanding of this world. An arduous task, but a necessary one.”

  So that’s what she’d been doing the eime.

  “How much of this have you read?”

  “Nearly all.”

  I whistle. “That’s impressive.”

  “No, it is not. During my studies at Harvard, I could read all of these books in only a week. My time as a prison warden has made me weak and ineffit. I must regain my edge.”

  “Riiiight. You do that. Anyways, what did you want to speak to me about?”

  “Myers. He isn’t what you think he is.”

  “I already know that. The old farts gots history and a lot of levels on us too.”

  “I believe he is an [Admiral]- one whose level is at or near Valentines.”

  I frown. “Capable? Sure. But as good as Valentine? I don’t think so. Unless you’ve got evideo the trary?”

  “While you were gone, we were pnning an escape in case you perished. Myers said that he could provide a distra if he was given leadership of all ships.” Irmgard grabs a book called Fleet position Tactibsp;She raises it up in front of me. “Only a [Fleet Captain] or an [Admiral] are able to lead multiple ships. My bet is that Myers is a former [Admiral]. Now, a normal [Admiral] alone couldn’t hope to create ae distra against Valentine.” She grabs another book named The Most Dangerous Pirates as it dowo me. “That means that Myers isn’t normal. In sideration of the fact that he refuses to take any job. “Irmgard grabs another book as it dowo me. The book is called On The Subject of Names. “I believe that Myers is named. If he gets any jardless of what level he starts at, his Name will be revealed. And, if he has a hat means he also has aremely powerful activatable skill or powerful passive. My bet is on the former. An activatable skill from a named person is going to be potent enough to rival Valentine.”

  I frown. “Alright, You’ve vinced me. The old fart is very capable. Why does this matter?”

  “Because we know he is being hunted, and whatever huhat will be sent after him is going to be at or he level of Valentine. He is a liability trowth and safety. It may be best to remove him from the crew sooner rather than ter.”

  Ahhh. That’s what this is about.

  “Now that I know he’s even more capable than I thought, I think I’d rather keep him with us longer. Yes, we risk exposing ourselves to more danger, but I think having his wisdom will help us grow stronger and faster.”

  “You are taking a dangerous risk.”

  I shrug. “I am. I agree. It is a risk, and it is one I'm willing to shoulder.”

  She nods slowly. “If I was in your shoes, I would not. But, I’m not the [Captain], you are. So, I will abide by your decision for the time being.”

  “Good. Now, if you , this information stays between us. When Cillian is drunk, his tongue is loose. And Boriss has a tendency to blurt out things he shouldn't. Holy, he’s kinda a shit spy when you think about it. Probably keep it from Emma too.”

  “I’ll keep this informatioween us.”

  “Good. Anything else you wao talk about.”

  “No. That is all.”

  “Alright then.” I hop off the bed. “I’ll be seeing you ter.”