Despite Barcos’s desire to leave the island, we didn’t leave right away. Well, we left the island but stayed near the port. I wanted to get a measure of the man’s abilities before I accepted him as crew. If I didn’t like what he offered we would just drop him at the next nearest port and go our separate ways.

When I told Barcos this, he laughed. “Any port beats this dump. You will have to forgive me if my skills are a bit rusty, I haven’t had to use them in almost a decade,” he said as he stretched.

Despite his words, I knew he couldn’t be that rusty, going by what I had seen of his knifework. Also, just how old was he, the man didn’t look to be older than his mid-thirties. That would mean he did all this leveling in his twenties.

From what I knew of other worlds, they were much tamer and leveling was far harder than it was on Earth. It's one of the reasons so many factions were trying to gain a foothold on our planet. It didn’t help that huge swaths of land and entire kingdoms had been transported to Earth either. The Isles were a prime example. Not only was it a kingdom, but it was multiple kingdoms and a damn Guild haven.

Barcos finally finished stretching and a dagger flashed into his hand from the sheath on his belt. “Ok, I’m ready.”

I nodded and accepted the duel request. I was already wearing my full armor and had my staff in my hand.

“Oh, a staff fighter, don’t see many of those. Let's see what you’re capable of, Captain,” the man said with a cheeky smile.

Since we were on the deck of Retribution, floating only a few feet off the ocean, a lot of my spells wouldn’t be useful for this fight. Some I didn’t want to use for fear of damaging the ship and others I wouldn’t be able to use as there was no earth around for me to manipulate unless I managed to get off Calcifying Strike. But I wouldn’t let that stop me from trying.

I started off by rushing the man and casting Pearlescent Vortex. I hadn’t had much opportunity to play with the spell. At least it turned out more useful than the spell I got from Sha’Stis’s goon. The spell looked like a tornado of glittering light-refracting dust as it swirled about Barcos. The man stumbled back and swiped at some figment with his offhand as I rushed in.

That… turned out to be a mistake. The smirk I saw at the last moment told me he had been bluffing and my spell failed to take hold. At least that told me his Perception was above twenty-five or he wouldn’t have been able to resist the magic’s effect.

I wrenched my body sideways trying to avoid his dagger to no avail. I grunted in pain as three quick jabs perforated my armor. By the time I recovered my footing, the man had moved to the opposite end of the deck.

“Not bad, not good though either. You shouldn’t assume your magic is effective on a target and while you are fast, that will only get you so far,” he lectured.

I grunted as I cast Rejuvenate on myself, getting a quirked eyebrow from him in reply.

“Well, that just means I’ll get to dust off some more skills.”

The humor in his voice irked me. Maybe it was because he was still drunk and yet still managed to wound me.

We circled each other and the man seemed fine with letting me make the first move. I saw an opening but didn’t take it.

“Tsk, tsk, Captain. Don’t second guess, sure it was a feint but if you’re quick enough you can still take advantage, like this.”

Before he even stopped speaking, a dagger slammed into my shoulder with so much force it spun me sideways. I choked off a scream of surprise as I hadn’t even seen him draw a second dagger, let alone throw it.

I spun to face him again, pulling the dagger out and throwing it back. The man laughed and easily caught the weapon, palming it. I didn’t understand where he was hiding the weapon, he didn’t have any storage ring or device that I could see. The one he had as the dockmaster had to be turned over to the new dockmaster.

“Watch the hands, watch the feet, but most importantly, watch the eyes. The eyes will tell you what's happening before it happens.”

“That some sort of ability,” I grunted, adjusting my shoulder to let the healing magic work.

He shook his head, “no, just years of observation.”

The duel went on for another half hour and I failed to land so much as a blow or magical strike on the man. It was a bit pathetic if I’m honest. He was only marginally faster than me but not as agile as Ska. He also couldn’t have more than five base stat points over me, unless he had gotten as lucky as I had and raided multiple horde dungeons. No this wasn’t all stats, the man was just way more skilled than anyone I had ever fought before. He never even used any abilities as far as I could tell.

“You did good, Captain. But you’re probably gonna die out here, especially if you want to go up against some of the larger pirate fleets. Those people have been fighting for their lives for decades and one false step is all it’ll take for them to gut you.”

“You sound so sure of that,” I said, panting after our match.

“It comes from experience and losing many allies along the way.”

I nodded, “fine. Let's say you’re right, how do we fix that?”

Barcos chuckled. “I doubt fixing it is an option, but perhaps with daily training, you may improve enough not to strand Khikall and me to a watery grave right beside you.”

“If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. I’m going to take a shower.”

***

Barcos chuckled at this strange turn of fate his life took as he headed out of the galley with a bottle of something called ‘tequila’. He had expected to die an ignoble death on the barren stretch of rock that only the most desperate dared to visit but this strange human with his strange ship came along.

Barcos plopped down in the chair next to Khikall and popped the top off the alcohol, taking a long pull before letting out a satisfied burp.

“So, did you tell the Captain why you really joined his crew?”

“No, well, not all of it,” Khikall grunted. “What about you, did you tell the Captain about your past and why you were stuck on Hylatty?”

“Gods, no,” Barcos replied. There was a silence that stretched on for a bit before he added, “at least this’ll be an interesting trip.”

They both laughed and Barcos tossed his feet over the arm of the chair and drank while Khikall steered this strange vessel and their rookie captain “showered” of all things. This tub was going to make Barcos soft, he thought as he finished off the bottle and pulled another out from his invisible storage.

***

The next few weeks went by quickly. Each day I would spar with Barcos, getting my ass handed to me over and over, and getting pointers on what I was doing wrong. I still hadn’t been able to land a hit on the man but at least I wasn’t embarrassing myself as much anymore. It reminded me of my early training with Fiona.

We really didn’t have a destination in mind, just a goal of hunting pirates but they had been scarce for the time being so after two weeks of fruitless searching Khikall brought us into a medium-sized port city by the name of Nooixa. This was a Jerboan Federation port, although the Jerboa just called it the Federation.

It was one of the three kingdoms that controlled the Isles of Mist. The last group being the pirate kings'. Unlike the Protectorate, the Federation was a very loose alliance of clans. But even they had a tighter alliance than the dozen or so pirate kings that Khikall mentioned to me. They would fight amongst themselves as much as they fought off attempts from the other two kingdoms to put them down.

The only group that got a pass was the Guild because nobody wanted to piss them off and lose access to their shipbuilders. And the Guild fully knew that and took advantage of the situation to sell to all sides.

The port of Nooixa was busy but not to the extent of some of the others I had seen. The day was clear so most ships were coming or going. We found a decent spot to dock and shut the boat down. Well, Khikall and I did, Barcos was passed out in his cabin. I was pretty sure the man had gone through two-thirds of my alcohol stock in two weeks. If it wasn’t for the fact that I still couldn’t touch him while he was plastered, I may have told him to lay off the alcohol.

Then again, I wasn’t paying either of them. I should probably talk to them about pay.

“Captain, I have a few contacts here, one of them should be able to point us to a pirate hideout. You and Barcos should resupply, it won’t take me long.”

“You sure? Won’t the locals give you shit about the ring,” I said, pointing to my ear.

“They won’t bother, I might as well be a dead man walking in their eyes.”

“Alright, but I think I’ll leave Barcos aboard. I don’t feel like curing his drunken state will do me any favors.”

Khikall grunted, “hmm, in that case, stick to the non-Jerboa merchants near the pier. It won’t be the best deal but it will keep you out of trouble. The Jerboa will see you as an outsider and at the least try to swindle you, or they may try to steal from you as they consider non-ringed people to be easy targets.”

I laughed. “I would love to see them try. I could use a win, getting a beat down from Barcos each day is depressing.”

“I imagine it is. Just be aware, killing a Jerboa in a fair fight is considered legal here. As is getting killed in a fair fight but the survivor or their friends will determine if the fight was fair. If they say it wasn’t you may be heavily fined or worse.”

I sat up in my chair, “Is that a common issue?”

“It is if they are pirates. It’s a good way to get away with murdering your rival or so I’ve heard.”

“Well shit, maybe I will wake Barcos up, just as a backup.”

“A wonderful idea, Captain, now I must go and find my contacts.”

I managed to get a grumpy Barcos out of bed without having to use Cleanse on the man. He didn’t appear too happy about the situation but perked up slightly when I told him we were in a Jerboa port. Apparently, he was aware of their reputation, not surprising given the fact that he knew Khikall.

I secured the ship and the two of us walked down the dock toward the merchants. I was quick to notice there were two types of Jerboa, at least in this port. Those that ignored you as if you didn’t exist or were below them somehow and those that actively went out of their way to make nuisances of themselves, by bumping you and trying to shove you out of their way.

It was quite comical to see the larger beings stumble when they ran into us and not the other way around. Barcos was making a game of it by angling his body just right to make some stumble and outright fall.

I just shook my head and kept walking. At least the pushy ones were smart enough to not start something when they realized we were stronger than we looked.

The docks and market were packed. Thankfully, there were more non-Jerboa about in this area. Still, the Jerboa outnumbered all others by three to one.

I found a stall selling food stock and purchased enough to replace the stuff aboard the ship that we had already gone through. Part of Barcos’s agreement to accompany me on this little field trip was the acquisition of more booze. I sighed at that and rethought my idea to pay him, maybe he would just be happy with drinking away his coin.

I had just spotted a merchant selling what we needed when a massive dark-brown Jerboa slammed into me, causing me to stumble.

“What the fuck!” I yelled, annoyed and angry.

“Watch where you’re going, unblooded,” the large Jerboa sneered.

“How bout you watch yourself, you giant pile of shit.”

The Jerboa froze and turned to me, “what did you call me,” he spit through clenched teeth as he drew a wicked-looking falchion.

Had I known the man was so sensitive about his coloring, I may have chosen a different response… no probably not.

“You heard me, shit for brains, you wanna go? Let's fucking do this.”

The fight did not go in the large Jerboa’s favor. He was big and strong but slow as fuck. I ducked under a swipe of his blade and punched him under the arm with my metal fist. There was a crack of breaking ribs and an exhale of breath as the large bastard tried to topple over on top of me.

I sidestepped his girth and kneed him on the same side. The Jerboa was slow to get up after my attack and retrieve his sword that had clattered a few feet away. But when he did, his face was a mask of rage as he came at me again.

If I thought he was slow before, he was glacial now. The broken ribs hampered his swing so I grabbed his arm, locked it in an armbar, then flipped into the air and locked my legs around his neck, carrying him to the ground and dislocating his shoulder. I kicked him in the side of the head and rolled away before coming to a stand. The Jerboa was on the ground groaning in pain.

Nobody seemed inclined to help him.

Barcos took this opportunity to whisper into my ear, “It’s to the death, he won’t stop until one of you is dead.”

I grunted in annoyance at this news as I took a breath and walked over to the fallen Jerboa. I straddled his back and wrapped my arms around his neck, giving it a sharp twist. There was an audible crack as the body went limp and the crowd that had formed, dispersed, except for three other Jerboa. One grabbed the body and stored it in a ring while the other two spit at the ground where the body had been.

“They are showing contempt for the loser,” Barcos said.

“Yeah… I got that much. Come on, let's get this shopping done.”

The whole encounter had left me annoyed and angry. I didn’t relish having to kill but I wasn’t about to stand back while someone tried to use me as a door rug.