:)Ch46
A pop-up informing me that [Geppo] has reached Lv.2 startles me and almost breaks my concentration but thankfully the home stretch is less than 15 meters away now….wait how do I slow down?
'Slowdownslowdownslowdown'
[Skill] Failed! [Skill] Failed! [Skill] Failed! 'Slow dow-'
I crash face first into the central mast of The Marjhanand my ears fill with the sickening crack of my nose fracturing on impact.
-17HP!
'Oww...landing could use some work...'
I slid down onto the deck of the ship and simply lay there as a crowd gathered 'round, many of their faces boggled in disbelief. "Jack..? How did you..? You were just..."
"I'll explain later. What happened to the Witch?" I slur slightly as one hand reaches up and pops my nose back into place. 'OH SWEET LORDY THAT HURTS!'
"Drove her off." Waldstein muttered. Still blinking dumbly at my miraculous return.
I turn my head slightly towards Guilford. "You get your guy?" "No." The man said with a frown before it slowly morphed into a small smile. "Got his eye though."
"Cool...got my guy in the eye too." I replied after taking a long heavy breath.
"You going to be alright?" "Yeah...just...just give me a minute."
The Next Day
'Again.' [Skill] Failed!
'Again.' [Skill] Failed!
'Again.'
Gravity's really starting to pick up now. That downward acceleration is no joke. 'I wonder if it's still 9.8 m/s2. I don't know how this worlds mass -and therefore its gravity- compares to Earths. Questions for later.'
'Again'
Skill Lv Up! Rokushiki Technique #3 of 6. (Geppo). Lv. (5/50) → (6/50)
-One of the vaunted 'Six Powers'. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. By kicking out at incredible speed, users of this technique are able to generate an impulse off of the air itself and launch themselves in a desired direction. Masters of this [Skill] can use it to hover in place, perform it with only a single leg, or even combine it with other techniques.
Note: Due to your low level with this [Skill] there is a 55% chance the [Skill] will fail on use.
A sizable puff of white air erupts beneath my feet once more and my direction is reversed back towards the beautiful sunny sky hanging overhead.
"Heeeey. Jaaack." Korka calls from the deck below. His hands cupped around his mouth to augment his voice. "Are you going to be doing that all afternoon!"
A jubilant child-like laugh escaped my throat as I ignored another '[Skill] Failed!' notification.
"You're damn right I am!" I hollered back, letting another jump push me even higher towards the clouds. My fellow crew members on The Marjhan were nothing but blocky outlines at this distance.
I threw my arms above my head as I hit my zenith and cheered louder than I think I ever have in either lifetime.
"This is amaaaazing!" Health: 2,300/2,300 Exp: 580/3,900 Money: 12,159,060 Beri STR: 135 VIT: 115 DEX: 190 INT: 78 WIS: 66 LUK: 42 Points to spend: 0 Click here to see list of [Skills]
-Current number of [Skills]: 39 Click here to see list of [Perks]
-Current number of [Perks]: 3 Centaurea, Revolutionary Base
"Come on...come on, work dammit..." My foot blurs ever so slightly as it kicks against the ground but I feel no reaction. No force propelling me forward.
It's been four days since The Marjhan's encounter with 'Red Witch' Mira-Jane and we've made port once again in Centaurea to unload supplies. While we were occupied at sea, there have been some rather major developments on the war-front. A Marine Commodore by the name of Torsten sailed into the harbor with three warships at his back in an attempt to recapture the territory. To hear the base soldiers tell it, he was damn near successful and had certain revolutionary officers not been present to repel him, it would have become a massive loss for the R.A. If you peer closely enough, you can almost see the outlines of the ships sunk in the battle resting at the bottom of the bay. Deep in the mainland of the country, the capital has fallen under a heavy siege, forcing the World Government-aligned royal family to bring all their nearby forces behind it's protective borders. Many members of the lower nobility have fled north, holing themselves up in the last of the countries six provinces that is still solely under the states control.
In the western town of Kelna, a ragtag army of civilian militias clashed against a host of royal troops in what has now become the bloodiest affair of the entire conflict to date. Although it was eventually the royals who were forced into a 'temporary tactical retreat' as the newspapers called it, the death toll was at such a high cost for both sides that any man would agree there was no winner that day.
The night before we sailed in, a Cipher Pol #2 assassin was captured and executed by firing squad, which I suppose is good, but taking into account that the agent was only discovered after poisoning five members of the bases command structure makes it a rather hollow victory for the revolutionaries. Three of the men were able to receive medical attention quickly enough to at least be pulled away from deaths door but the remaining two were...not as fortunate.
The only purely positive news available is that what was once a trickle of deserters abandoning the royal forces, is slowly growing into a steady flood. They're hemorrhaging men, money and morale at an unsustainable rate. Many are coming to believe the war will simply end by itself before the year is out. No climactic final battle required.
As for myself? I'm a bit more skeptical about these things. Violent revolutions seldom have such nice clean endings.
We only have a few days of shore time before it's 'back on the water', and while everyone else is busy indulging in the comforts of dry land, I'm down on the far end of the beach trying to correct the obvious hole I now have in my [Skill] set.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you enjoy reading? Visit my site on Tiendup! There you will find the advanced chapter in PDF format, ready for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/