Mottled flecks of light drifted across the water’s surface, sunlight refracting down into the depths — and what filled her eyes was layer upon layer of pristine azure.
She swayed her body, gliding past coral after coral, then bits of broken driftwood.
The scenery flickered past her eyes, accelerating, accelerating still — and the sense of unrestrained freedom that came with it filled her body and soul with sheer delight.
THUD!
After a sharp burst of pain, Lara clutched her head and sat up off the floorboards, wincing.
The last thing she remembered was the oak-colored underside of a ship’s hull.
She braced herself against the edge of the bed and stood, the blanket sliding off and pooling on the floor.
Miss Lara had just swum out of her bed and onto the floor in her dream.
Lara shook her head, trying to fling the dizziness loose, and once she was a touch more clear-headed, she queried 83 about her current situation.
“83, what’s the situation right now?” ‘Master, your current location is the rest cabin of the cargo ship.
A short while ago you came under attack by a monster, and after the battle you lost consciousness due to exhaustion and oxygen deprivation.’ As 0083 laid out the events, Lara gradually recalled what had happened — falling into the water and being forced into combat with a sea serpent, walking the line between life and death yet again.
But if she remembered correctly, she had definitely heard 83 say something during the fight.
She silently invoked her status panel — and saw that her grip strength had climbed to 251kg and her mana to 16.
A single monster had boosted her mana by roughly 80%.
It felt almost unreal.
Then there was that dream…
’83, I just had a dream — I saw that serpent…
no, it was more like I was directly experiencing the serpent’s past.’ ‘This is normal, Master.
It means you have gained its abilities, and the strength you were able to extract from it has nearly reached its ceiling.’ Lara curled her hand into a loose fist, feeling out her enhanced strength.
Ever since she’d woken up, the memories from the dream had been growing more and more indistinct — like memories of a past life that had been sealed away.
Maybe this was simply the brain’s own protection mechanism, preventing her from spiraling into cognitive dissonance.
Leaving the room, she made her way to the bow of the ship and saw a sailor with a wooden board repairing the railing where she’d gone overboard.
Standing around him were a mercenary and that same middle-aged man.
When the mercenary saw Lara walk out of the cabin, he broke into a smile and waved.
“Yo, if it isn’t our very own goddess of war — you’re awake already, huh?
Do you still remember me?
Name’s Olla — I’m the one who hauled you out of the water yesterday.” The mercenary had short-cropped hair and wore a set of cloth armor.
His weather-darkened face carried a touch of guileless honesty.
The middle-aged man beside him, on the other hand, had hair that was a little disheveled, tied into a small braid at the nape of his neck, and a scar that ran clean across his lower jaw.
Combined with his weathered features, he carried a distinct wanderer’s air.
“This is our company’s Captain Wendell.
He’s the one who jumped in to save you yesterday.” Lara gave a slight nod, indicating that she did remember what had happened the day before.
Olla wore a face puffed up with pride, as if he himself were the one who’d dived in to rescue her.
Wendell, meanwhile, was busy looking into the cause of the railing’s collapse and didn’t seem particularly concerned with her condition.
“Yesterday’s accident was caused by a lack of maintenance on the railing.
Under normal circumstances, even wood doesn’t shatter from a single impact.” “This particular section was probably made with lower-quality material to begin with, and combined with the lack of upkeep and a fairly heavy impact and pressure, it just broke apart.
Look at the break point here — it’s almost all splinters.” “The impact point yesterday must have been right underneath this spot.” The sailor explained the situation to the others as he reinforced the board, but Wendell seemed to catch something in his words, and only then did he start to scrutinize Lara.
“You have real talent.” Wendell said it just like that — short and full of weight.
Unlike Uncle Haiven, Wendell — being a mercenary — didn’t consider possessing strength beyond an ordinary person’s to be abnormal.
He’d seen people who could take on a hundred opponents single-handedly and bend wind and weather to their will.
Even he himself possessed physical capabilities that far exceeded those of normal people.
And yet he was still genuinely surprised by Lara’s gift — because there wasn’t a single visible trace of training on her body.
Humans, as a species, weren’t exactly known for their physical strength to begin with.
Lara let out a small breath of relief.
Last time, she’d been outright suspected of not being human, and she’d been planning to hide her abilities more carefully going forward — so it seemed not everyone was going to assume she was something abnormal.
“I’m going to go rest for a bit.
I’d recommend you and your friends stay off the deck for a while, to avoid a repeat of yesterday.” Olla yawned and walked off the deck looking thoroughly languid, waving over his shoulder at them as he stepped into the cabin.
“Oh, and your friend is in the kitchen.
If anything comes up later, you can just talk to the captain.
See ya.” The ship pressed on southward, and after just a single day, the salty tang in the air had grown noticeably heavier — which meant the port wasn’t far off now.
After Olla left, only the three of them remained on deck.
Taking advantage of the lull, Wendell casually leaned against a railing to enjoy the sea breeze.
Lara, meanwhile — determined not to panic in the face of future danger — decided to consult someone with experience.
“Captain Wendell, are you a mercenary?” Hearing this, Wendell looked at Lara with the kind of expression one reserves for a complete idiot.
What a nice kid — pity she’d gotten so much water in her brain.
After a single beat of silence, Lara realized she’d misspoken, and hurriedly waved her hands, awkwardly trying to recover.
“Ah, that’s not what I meant.
What I meant was, how long have you been a mercenary, Captain?
See, I’m an adventurer, but lately I keep running into all kinds of unexpected situations — like yesterday’s.” “It’s probably because I’m a bit on the cowardly side.
Whenever I run into something like that, I get tense, and my mind goes blank.
So I wanted to ask, Captain — if you were in a situation like that, what would you do?” Twenty-three years.
That was how long Wendell had been clawing his way through the mercenary trade — every scar on his body bearing witness to the stories of his past.
In his eyes, Lara was a piece of uncut jade.
From what he’d seen of her performance the day before, she wasn’t lacking in strength — she simply hadn’t yet developed a way of fighting that was her own.
After a long pause, Wendell pushed off from the railing and spoke to Lara slowly.
“Feeling afraid in the face of something stronger than yourself is a good thing.
It’s proof that you still want to live.
In fact, you’re already stronger than most people — your innate gift may well be something an ordinary person couldn’t match even after pouring an entire lifetime into the effort.
Your problem lies in experience.
What you need is a weapon — maybe it’s a sword, maybe it’s a fist style.
Only once you truly become aware of your own ability will you be able to shake off that fear that doesn’t belong to you.” As he spoke, Wendell drew the sword at his waist and laid it before Lara.
“Let me give you an example.
Right now, I have a sword in my hand.
If you and I were to fight, do you think you could win?” “No.” Lara answered without a moment’s hesitation.
There was no way she could defeat an armed Wendell.
Then Wendell pressed the sword into Lara’s hand.
“Now the sword is in your hand.
If you and I were to fight, what then?” Holding the sword in her grasp, Lara replayed yesterday’s battle in her mind.
Without Wendell’s intervention at the critical moment, she’d have been dragged away by the sea serpent.
Granted, she had been lacking a weapon — but in her own estimation, Wendell’s grasp of combat timing, and his combat technique that vastly outstripped hers, were not things a single sword could close the gap on.
After a short while, Lara gave her answer.
“Still no.” “You didn’t answer me right away — you hesitated.
That means once you had the sword, you began to weigh the gap between us again.
And what allowed you to make that judgment was your experience.” “Don’t worry.
Your talent is rarer than rare — you just need to slowly accumulate combat experience, and before long, you’ll surpass me.” A gust of sea wind blew past, carrying with it a faint clamor.
The cargo ship had officially crossed the river mouth and entered the open sea, and the distant port was already visible to the naked eye.
“If you need to, meet me at the Silver Spear Tavern at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.” Wendell smiled, took the sword back from Lara’s hand, and strode off the deck.
The crew began emerging one after another from the cabin to prepare for docking.
After Wendell left, Lara first headed to the kitchen to check in, but didn’t find Nina.
So she went back to the cargo hold to wait, intending to help Uncle Haiven unload the cargo once they made port.
Light spilled in steadily as the cargo doors opened, and along with it came the cries of seabirds, the noise of voices, and the sea wind.
Vit Harbor had arrived.
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