Chương 18: And so Began the Great Pirate Era

Nihil stood on the beach overlooking the sunset as the gentle waves lapped onto the shore. The Heart of Water was held in his right hand, pumping away as if still attached to a blood circulation system. The inventory pouch from Floor 0 and now this. It was actually the first he'd come into possession of special items two levels in a row. It felt almost… Too easy. He snorted. If Hope and her brother had this much foresight and still hadn't managed to advance further up the tower than him...

His opinion on humanity's efforts to climb the tower had never been particularly high. Lack of cohesion, selfishness, arrogance, cowardice. To think that even someone with the advantage of foreknowledge had failed to achieve as much as him.

"I'm probably just special," he eventually decided, throwing the heart up and down in his hand as he ruminated. He wasn't too interested in the pouch or the heart to be perfectly honest. The pouch was useful for people who still needed to eat. The heart was useful for those who still needed to breathe. The only real use of the heart was the pacifying effect it claimed to have on aquatic creatures. The ability to blend in. Beyond this level it would become useless.

In the future he was planning on going underwater and fighting to his heart's content. It was just that he wasn't quite there yet in terms of strength. The marketplace though… Once that became unlocked... With his foresight… He would be able to have some unfair advantages. Everything was developing very well for the moment. It seemed that his strength would easily reach the required stage for the 9th and 10th floor. The place where the future would likely be decided.

All the climbers gathered together for two floors. The place where it all went wrong… He watched as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the world in darkness. It didn't matter too much to him. His new eyes were superior to those he'd given up. He flipped the heart in the air once again before catching it and inserting it into the hole he'd opened in his chest. Threads connected to the major and minor veins for all that there was no blood to pump.

"It seems the fishmen aren't interested in revenge," Nihil mused. He stepped towards the rock outcropping that he and Kevin had abandoned as a base and jumped on it. He'd been standing on the beach for many hours now. Just in case his killing of the mermaid could evoke some revenge. Unfortunately it didn't seem so. He would have preferred it if it had. He still hadn't fought too many enemies with his newly gained abilities. The plan could proceed then, without a gruesome battle on the beach first.

Nihil laid down on the rock and peeked over the edge with his head. Each of his limbs hooked themselves in different holes and crevices to maximise his hold. The dark water below beckoned and the heart pumped away at his chest where a real heart hadn't been for a long time now. Nihil closed his eyes and concentrated, never having practiced this particular manipulation yet. It sort of went against his ingrained instincts, to sacrifice his head like this.

But he was now a creature with no clearly designated weak-point. As long as there were threads, there was life. His head surged forward in a manner similar to how his fists often did in a fight. The only thing connecting it to his body was a thick jumble of threads. Before he could have the time to question himself, he'd already plunged all the way down into the water. The cold greeted him first, then the wetness. Nihil opened his eyes.

With the Heart of Water in his body, aquatic creatures were supposed to ignore him. For the moment… that seemed to be the case. He watched as a school of what looked to be piranha swam past him, not throwing him a second glance. It was as if he was a plank of wood. Dark brown hair floated in the water around him as he looked around. There was a razor-tentacled octopus. Some electric eels. All the animals that Kevin had already reported on.

To further test his newly gained artefact, Nihil lowered his head further until it touched the seabed. Once there he used the appendage to nudge at a particularly large crab which seemed to be playing with a rock. The crab remained unbothered, despite the fact that It's claws were large and sharp enough to simply snip apart the threads keeping Nihil's head attached to his body. Choosing pacifism definitely wasn't due to a lack of options.

Nihil narrowed his eyes, suddenly extending an arm to plunge into the water alongside him. He used the arm to snatch the crabs face and exert as much force as he could. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it The crab immediately retaliated. It managed to inflict a large cut into Nihil's hand, almost detaching all the fingers. Threads immediately surged out to stitch the hand together again. Soon the hand lacked any proof of injury, past or present.

The crab meanwhile was slowly ground into chunky paste under Nihil's grip. Further experiments confirmed the hypothesis. Aquatic creatures truly didn't care for Nihil while he was carrying the heart. Unless he initiated an attack first that was. Still, that was enough for him. He retracted his head and arm and unlodged himself from the rock to sit down in a more human position. Sea water dripped from his head as he considered the information at hand.

The issue that had prevented him from interacting with the sea was the aggressiveness and the danger of its creatures. Now this issue was seemingly resolved. Most levels had some sort of progressive cohesion. Solving the most glaring issue often enabled one to progress to more daring tasks. This he knew from personal experience. However, Kevin had already confirmed that there was nothing interesting on the ocean floor around the island. He'd scoured it with his creatures for a full week.

For all that Kevin likely didn't have the highest opinion of him, Nihil trusted his reports. Not because of any sort of brotherly bond or anything, but simply because Kevin was a few years of psychological hardening away from being successfully able to lie to Nihil's face. That left the exploration of any potential land beyond the horizon as the only option left. If there was nothing there, the reward being the Heart of Water wouldn't make any sense.

After all, more than anything, the survivors would have appreciated an artefact that spat out some diverse food. That would have made the stay on the island more convenient. Even with the newly gained access to the hunting grounds, a balanced diet meat and coconuts did not make. The heart could thus only be a way of progressing the storyline of the level then. In a way it made sense. The first thing you had to do after being stranded on a deserted island was secure your survival.

The second thing was either wait for help, or escape on your own. He wondered what lay beyond the vastness of the sea. He'd thought that dealing with the fishmen would be his greatest accomplishment on this floor. Now it seemed that he'd been too narrow-minded. The heart in his chest wasn't beating with excitement per say, but it was beating with something. Nihil couldn't wait for the next day to come. -/-"The heart works, you could simply swim, no?"

Kevin asked as the two men discussed their future plans in the clearing. Far enough away from the other survivors to not risk interaction.

"I will if we don't finish the boat in time," Nihil replied with a grunt. He watched his employee eat the smoked snake meat they'd still had saved up. It would be gone now, necessitating another hunt.

"You said you wanted to take me along so I could gain experience," Kevin said after finishing his food.

"But then why not bring the other survivors? Or at least use them for the construction process."

"You have some potential in my eyes," Nihil replied.

"But the others… Maybe one or two might ever amount to something. Their biggest contribution will be dying to a monster to sate its appetite, preventing it from eating someone with an actual future." Them being alive was already good enough. Having some information about skills, hidden quests and the reality of the tower to spread to others was the best they could hope for. Trying to drag them kicking and screaming towards a higher purpose would simply delay his own progress.

"As for why I decided that we should build a raft on our own. It's because of sabotage. If someone manages to sabotage the construction, I'll be safe, but I doubt I could carry you back to shore. Better safe than sorry. Don't rely on people you shouldn't rely on. Most people in history were only good for tilling fields and digging holes. Let's not pretend that changed just because some of them can suddenly lay claim to being educated, thinking it distinguishes them in front of the shepherd."

"I can't believe the world is ending and I'm still listening to Nietzsche quotes," Kevin said sadly with a far away look in his eyes. He shook his head.

"Some things never change."

"Shut your mouth before I turn you into a Nietzsche quote. The one about the whipped horse," Nihil grumbled. A rustle interrupted any further conversation and he looked up at one of the bushes at the edge of the clearing. A decomposing hand scrambled into the clearing, kicking up leaves and grass as it stumbled around. Not far behind followed a rather wild-looking red-head. Aliyah had seen better days. Although to be fair, so had everyone else on the island.

Showering didn't come easy and washing one's clothes had become a luxury. She'd cut off her jeans to be as short as possible and tied up her crusty shirt -which had only been washed in salt-water- so as little of it touched her skin as possible. She'd lost whatever flab modern life had inflicted on her and was now showing off the barest hints of a six pack and remarkably muscular arms.

"That's gross," Kevin commented with a green face, looking at the detached hand. The hand flipped him off. Kevin hesitated for a second before returning the gesture.

"Finally, I found you!" Aliyah exclaimed tiredly, hands on her hips.

"What?" Nihil asked curiously. Aliyah had joined the digging without having been forced, but hadn't acted as close to him as at the beginning. He'd thought she'd chosen a side.

"The others, they're fighting again!" the woman exclaimed.

"Fighting about what now?" Nihil complained, before throwing Kevin a look and rolling his eyes as if saying.

'See what I mean?'

"Musk somehow managed to regrow his tongue. I think he upgraded his skill after finishing the quest. There were a lot of mosquitoes delivering blood to him now that we're in the middle of the island and are nearer to the wildlife." Aliyah explained briefly.

"He's trying to convince everyone to go after you two." Nihl listened and shook his head while Kevin threw his head back and laughed. Nihil really didn't know what to say anymore.

"I'm at a loss for words," he eventually said truthfully. Then he shrugged.

"Anyway, we're building a raft and leaving. There's something a few dozen miles out at sea. Another island. Maybe some fruit, maybe some experience, definitely some adventure." Aliyah frozen, wide-eyed.

"Take me with you!" she blurted out suddenly.

"Well, I guess six hands are better than four," Nihil mused. The detached hand on the floor jumped up, as if trying to draw attention to itself.

"Seven," Nihil corrected himself. Aliyah beamed at him.

"You know, you're a bit of a psycho, but I was right. At least you have a plan." She stepped forward and held out a hand.

"And thus began the great pirate era," Kevin narrated softly in the background as he joined the girl and put his hand on hers. Nihil looked at the two dubiously, hands on his hips. Putting his hands in a huddle while listening to One Piece quotes. It didn't really fit his image… Just a few more floors until he regained his necromancy skills, he told himself. Just a few more floors. He took a step forward and put his hand on those of his companions.

The detached hand jumped up to rest on his, making them now a team of four. +1 Exp"Find it! I left everything this world has to offer there!" Kevin exclaimed grandly.

"I will hurt you," Nihil reminded the art student who'd grown too comfortable in his presence recently. Kevin fell silent and the huddle stopped. Nihil turned around, shaking his head as he started off towards the beach. Invisible to all, a small smile hushed over his lips.