[Skill gained - Navigation: Navel - 1 rank]

  ‘Seeing patterns others have missed, Intelligence increased’

  “I’m impressed.” Leaning forward, the Captain placed a golden token on the desk before me. “Even experienced navigators can miss that change in the currents. I must commend your teacher for they did you well in your education.”

  “Thank you, the midshipman did an outstanding job in explaining navigation in a clear manner.”

  “I’m sorry, are you saying you had no experience before today?”

  “Yes, Captain. Truly, this is the first time my eyes have set upon a navigation chart. Land maps I have read, but nothing like these charts… I have to give credit to your junior officers, and also to their seniors who taught them so well.”

  “Ha!” the Captain barked, clearly seeing through my attempt at flattery. “Maxwell!”

  A moment later, “Yes, Captain?” responded the officer from the outer room.

  “This lady commends your midshipman for her mastery of naval navigation.” The Captain said, gesturing to the golden token I had yet to collect. The Officer's eyes widened at the sight of it. “Lieutenant Maxwell here is the only one of my officers to have also located the correct island. He is responsible for the Midshipman’s knowledge in navigation. How well would those junior officers fare with this scenario?” he asked, holding out the log sheet.

  “Hmm,” the officer said as he reviewed the page. “Sampson and Jax should find the wrong island, which would meet the return journey,” he said, tapping the island I first plotted to before realising the sandbar would change things. “Sammy, I think, could find the right one, assuming he spots that smudge for what it is and he doesn’t let his nerves get the better of him. The Lady’s questions earlier teased more knowledge out of him than I realised.”

  “My compliments, Lieutenant, on your students. They do you credit.” I told him

  “Thank you, Ma’am”

  The Captain seemed to make up his mind on something. “Call him in, would you, Lieutenant?”

  The Midshipman stood ramrod straight before the Captain. He must have thought he was in trouble.

  “Midshipman Scardale, The Sandyval was on an exploratory sail and came across an island with a priority resource on the 5th day. It took them a further 8 days to return. The island they thought they were on turned out to be incorrect. Using this log, can you locate the correct island?”

  The teenager came alive; he went from a sullen ‘I ain't done nothing’ attitude to one full of beans. “Aye aye, Captain.” He stepped up and took the log page, his eyes rapidly taking it in. On his second read, he started measuring and tracking the ship’s route. He did a double check at the sandbar, corrected for the different tidal currents and in about a third of the time it took me, came to the same conclusion.

  “Where have you been hiding this, Midshipman?” the Lieutenant asked.

  “Sir?” the perplexed junior officer responded.

  “Thank you, Mr Scardale. Please return to assisting in training the newly integrated.” The Captain said.

  Once the lad had left the office. “Give him to Chalmers. Looks like we might have a very promising Navigator in that young man. Oh, and Maxwell, the boy, is two years younger than the others; he is probably worried about showing them up. Make sure they all get extra at meal time for their hard work today.”

  “Aye Aye, Captain.”

  He waited for the Lieutenant to return to his duties, “Good navigators are hard to find. Most of the other Midshipmen, good as they are, in all their other duties, don’t have the head for it. My experience of young Scardale, mostly, is that stiff scared boy he was when he first came in.” He sighed with a shake of his head. “My reputation, it seems, precedes me.” The Captain pulled something from his desk’s drawers. “You helped me find someone to help us find our way. Hopefully, this will help you find your own.” He placed next to the golden token a small brass compass. “Thank you.”

  “No, thank you, Captain. It truly was my pleasure.” I added both to my [Inventory] as I stood up.

  I looked around the deck of the Wayfarer to see if they had any other activities I wanted to explore. There was a crowd at the bow taking turns to retrieve a flag from the end of a greased pole. There were several players at the stern untangling, rolling up lines and returning them to storage. The prior, it seems, was just for fun; one of the players had suggested it, another had arranged it all, there were several sailors joining in, with a few officers trying to pretend to be disapproving, but I overheard them taking bets. The latter just felt like doing chores…It had been a couple of hours, and my friends would hopefully be finishing their dungeon. I should probably see about moving on from this tutorial.

  I headed over to the First Officer, who met me when I first came aboard, to see about how I would get back to the Indefatigable. Some players had swum across, twas an option I suppose, but if there was a quicker way…

  “Hello again, Ms Ravenscroft. Returning to the Indefatigable?”

  “If possible, First Lieutenant,” I responded, having heard his rank from another player.

  “You are in luck, Ma’am. We have just finished loading the Indefatigable’s longboat with the supplies we traded for.” I looked to see Henshaw just climbing up into the stern of the long boat. “Midshipman, do you have space for a passenger?”

  The boy in question looked around at the available space in the boat. “Yessir!” he responded, moving some of the ropes to clear a space in the stern.

  The young man smiled at me as I stepped into the boat. He stood, offering his hand for stability and then manoeuvred me towards the tiller.

  “If you would care to take the helm, Ma’am, we will get you back home in time for dinner.”

  The longboat wasn’t as heavily laden as it was when we delivered the food, though most of the space was taken up by ropes, planks, a few heavy-looking barrels and some folded sails. There were two sailors at the bow of the boat, two players in the middle, manning an oar each, and another large, burly sailor, who had hastily swapped his two oars for one.

  I do have to say, if you are going to take any position on a vessel this size, the helm is the best one. I got to see where we are going. Henshaw made sure I understood how to keep us aimed at the Indefatigable. The two players made a valiant attempt at keeping up with the sailors, but the midshipman’s calls to row came at a much faster pace than on our outward journey.

  Maybe he put me on the tiller because he knew I would slow them down…nah, that can’t be right.

  I brought us around towards the side of the Indefatigable; the oars on that side were brought into the boat, and the sailors ensured we didn’t collide. The lines from the crane were soon secured to their hooks on the longboat. Moments later, the longboat rose steadily from the sea, and the familiar deck of the Indefatigable came within sight once more.

  From what I’d gathered from the other players, going into the Indefatigable’s officer country would end the tutorial and move me into the game proper. Before I did that, I had two things I felt needed to be done. I headed for the stairs going below deck.

  Doc Amy’s smiling face greeted me when I knocked on the door. It quickly faded into one of concern when she saw who it was, which changed into one of pleasant surprise when she realised I was just visiting her. She waved away my thanks when I tried to give them.

  “Don’t be silly, lass. Besides, we still have a week of sailing before we get anywhere near Landing. Now off with you, I have more patients starting to wake up.”

  Cookie was my next destination, and the smell in the kitchen made my mouth water the moment I stepped into the room. The remains of a fish were on his butchering block, about the right size for the one I caught earlier. There was a pot of soup simmering on the hob; the smell alone was making me hungry. The moment he saw me, he quickly got me peeling and chopping vegetables. We talked about meals and the sorts of food that could be found at Landing. Supposedly, some nice herbs and spices which they had run out of a week ago. Once I had cleared the pile, he chucked a token in my direction, while shooing me out of his kitchen. He also wouldn’t take my thanks for his earlier help.

  “If you want to be thanking me, Girly, help me out in the kitchen each day until we hit Landing or my kitchen aids wake up from their integration. Too many more mouths to feed every day.”

  Stepping out onto the deck, I looked around for the Bosun. He was standing in the same spot I had seen him all those hours ago, directing players and crew in different directions.

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  “Welcome back, Ms Ravenscroft. How was the Wayfarer?”

  “Rewarding, Mr Haverson.” I showed him the Silver and Gold tokens.

  “Excellent Work, Ma’am. I’m sure the Captain will nominate you for more advanced training on the flagship.”

  “Advanced Training?” I asked, surprised. I’d not heard anyone mention that.

  “Not for me to say, Ma’am, I’ve probably said too much already. When you are ready, the Captain will see you in his cabin.” He nodded at the door which led into the rooms below the aft deck.

  There was a short corridor with two cabins on either side, which opened up into a much larger version of the Wayfarer’s officer space. It was very similar in a lot of ways, but the largest difference was that the central table was replaced with two tables about two-thirds the size, with a walk space between. This larger vessel clearly carried a lot more officers. A sailor was in the process of laying the tables for dinner, and at that moment was decanting a barrel of port into two port bottles. He nodded at me in greeting, but seeing I wasn’t here for him, he continued in his task.

  A knock on the Captain's open door resulted in a commanding “Come in.”

  This Captain’s space seemed more opulent than his contemporary on the Wayfarer. The room was larger, for a start, taking up the entire width of the ship, but it also had what appeared to be a balcony opening up behind the ship and much more ornate glass windows to bring in light. Several parts of the cabin had been curtained off, but on one side, the curtain was open, revealing a large, full bookshelf. Despite this, though, the thing which dominated the room was the man sitting behind the desk. His hat and overcoat rested on a hook on the wall to my right.

  “Ahh, Ms Ravenscroft.” He stated, looking up to meet my eyes. “I have heard good things about your progress,” he said, raising a hand to indicate the chair opposite him.

  “Do you know what path you will take in the New World?” he asked as I took a seat opposite him.

  “I’m sorry?” I asked quizzically.

  “Are you a crafter? A hunter? An explorer? A Mercenary?”

  “Oh, definitely an Explorer,” I confirmed. “Though I will probably do a bit of the other to help ends meet. I’m hoping to study magic as well.”

  “Ah, the Arcane, yes, many are drawn to it. The Arcane institutes are calling out for bright minds to take on their challenges and help them understand the esoteric. Where are my manners? Can I offer you a cup of tea?” At my nod, he rang a small bell.

  The man who had been laying the table stood in the doorway a moment later. “Yes Cap’n?”

  “Tea for two, please, Mr Castle. Now, Ms Ravenscroft, do you have your tokens with you?”

  “Ahh, yes, Captain,” I responded before taking out the 14 wooden merit tokens I had collected, as well as the gold and silver ones.

  “Jais sang your praises earlier, said you caught a fish like an experienced fisher. I can see now he wasn’t wrong to have his high opinion of you.” He tapped the gold token. “Navigation?” he asked.

  “And the silver for the melee training,” I confirmed.

  “To explain…” He took a breath. “We have limited resources at this time for preparing and developing our citizens for the New World. It is a hostile land with many unknown dangers. Across the fleet, a number of challenges have been set to determine which of the Integrated are most deserving of the resources and to then funnel what we can to those we believe will bring back the best return on our investment.”

  Our conversation paused for a moment when Mr Castle returned with a pot of tea and two china cups on a silver tray.

  “Milk? Sugar? Ma’am,” he asked me politely, before serving my preference and the Captain’s without prompt.

  I sipped the tea. It tasted just right.

  “With your 16 tokens in a single day, I am recommending your transfer to the flagship.” He reached into a drawer, withdrew a wax-sealed envelope and passed it to me. He then continued after taking a sip of his own tea. “I will have Gig transport you tomorrow, after we break our fasts. They’ve our best trainers and should be able to prepare you much better than we can for braving the wilds. They will also have the ability to prepare you for the Arcane if you have the capacity.”

  We had a pleasant conversation as we sipped our tea, the Captain asking about my interests and then going into more detail about what I could expect to see, both on the flag and in training, once we arrived in Landing. We were just moving on to discuss the different factions in Landing when the Captain's steward knocked politely on the door to let the Captain know that dinner was being served.

  “I understand my first officer has already invited you to join us for dinner? Excellent. Let us celebrate your good fortune.”

  We entered the officers' dining room, and the steward had finished laying out the tables. I was led over to one side of the room where the more senior officers were congregating; the captain then took his seat at the head. I realised a panel had been added, turning the two tables into one more horseshoe-shaped one, which is where he sat. Once the Captain sat down, the rest of us followed suit.

  The first course was a delicious fish soup. Jais raised his glass to me, as it was my fish which became the base for it. It was served with a white wine. The second course was some kind of salted pork which had been slow roasted and cooked to perfection. The steward poured red wine into my glass. It was finished with a small selection of cheese and biscuits, and generous glasses of port. The conversations around me were merry and jovial.

  “Compliments from the Watch, Captain.” A sailor said from the doorway. “The storm has changed directions and is expected to hit us within the hour. Sir.” I could feel the room suddenly sober up.

  “Thank you, Mr Smith, please inform the Watch, we will join him shortly and then ring bells for all hands.”

  “Aye Aye, Cap’n!” the sailor salutes before rushing out.

  “Gentleman, you know what to do. Be about it.” Those whose plates weren’t clear hastily finished their food, and downed the remains of their port before filing out of the room and onto the deck.

  “I’d suggest getting below deck before the storm hits, but you are welcome to join me on the Poop before it does.”

  I saw the steward hastily cleaning and putting away the cutlery and glassware before I followed the captain out onto the now more demonstrably moving deck. I realised then, what I had thought was the alcohol, was in fact the ship moving. It seemed to me to be organised chaos. Seemingly conflicting orders were being shouted out, but there was clear method in the madness as men darting about the rigging were pulling up sails and lowering others.

  The helmsman was hastily spinning the wheel to turn the ship into the growing waves.

  “It’s coming in harder than we thought, Captain!” Shouted the man holding the wheel as we got up there. A huge boom followed as a wave crashed over the bow of the ship.

  “Damnation!” the Captain exclaimed. “Too late to get you below.” Using some of the lines over nearby pegs created a rope harness for me and secured me to the nearby railings before securing himself near the wheel, where he promptly joined the helmsman in keeping the ship heading into the waves.

  Another wave crashed over the bow, knocking four sailors from their feet. Three had been secured, and the fourth slid across the deck and was caught by another before the water washed him over the side.

  “Secure yourself!” The Captain ordered him in a loud booming voice.

  This was quite possibly the most extreme thing I had ever been in. Despite only a few sails being aloft, we were moving at an incredible speed. Each wave felt like a rollercoaster ride, going up steeply before sliding down the other side, increasing our speed in the process. I was thoroughly soaked from the heavily pounding rain and the constant spray. Trained officers shouted orders, the sailors hauled at lines, loosening and tightening the sails from barely audible signals from the Captain and his lieutenants. And there was I, secured to the railing, riding the whole thing with a prime view…

  Then it went calm. All sound seemed to fade. The rain disappeared. I looked up. I have never been, but I heard that there are places so remote in the world that there is no light pollution. That, at night, you have the most majestic images of space. The pictures of it are breathtaking. It’s claimed that they don’t do it justice. I felt they might have been right. Behind us, there was a wall of storm, above us, we had hit the eye of the storm, and it was as clear as a cloudless night.

  And it was like nothing I had ever seen from Earth…but it was still so very, very beautiful. Damn! This game was good.

  I was mesmerised looking up that I missed what was happening on the deck.

  “KRAKEN!” shouted out a panicked voice. I took my eyes off the heavens to see a large black tentacle crashing down onto the deck with a large, ground-shaking boom. Oh! So glad this hadn’t been spoiled for me.

  There were several cracks, as some of the officers fired black powder pistols at the hentai nightmare. It made no difference. Neither did Lieutenant Jais and several other sailors attacking it with cutlasses, belaying pins or anything they could get their hands on. It was pulling the ship down. Another tentacle rose up and wrapped around the foremast. I turned at a sound to see a third coming over behind the aftmast. There was an almighty crack as the ship's hull could no longer take the strain of this monster and broke apart into pieces.

  The deck I had stood on had broken into multiple parts, and one managed to keep the bit of railing I was attached to with it as it rapidly sank beneath the waves. I had managed to take a deep breath before my head went under, and I was struggling to release myself before I got too deep. There was little light where we were, and I couldn’t tell how the Captain had secured me. It didn’t feel like a knot which could be released by just tugging one end. I could feel the pressure on my ears, indicating my rapid descent. In desperation, I retrieved the knife Jais had given me and started sawing at the line. It was almost a shock when I felt the line go loose as my blade cut through it. I returned the blade to my [inventory] and tried to relax. To conserve as much air as I could. I couldn’t tell up from down, and if I tried to swim up, I might in fact be doing the opposite. Just hoping my buoyancy would get me to the surface before my involuntary need to breathe would cause me to exhale. Without air in my lungs, I’m sure I would have sunk.

  Breaking the surface to see that sky again, just before my lungs gave out rapidly, takes the top spot of my ‘awesome things to see’ list. I managed to take half a breath before I went back under. But I was oriented now, and was able to tread water. I managed to get a few breaths in, my head cleared, and I was able to start thinking again, my drowning-induced panic subsiding.

  Around me was the wreckage from the ship. Which had been buoyant enough to float up on their own, some rising out of the water not too far from me as they broke away from the sinking vessel and the currents in its wake. I can only assume the railing, as it spun away from the vessel as it broke apart, had moved me out of the ship's drag. I swam myself over to one of the barrels, which seemed to be floating on top of the water, as if it were empty and took hold of it to rest. I was sure this wouldn’t be sustainable, though; the moment of rest did invigorate me somewhat. There were other ships around. The fleet was huge. I just needed to last long enough. I needed a raft.

  Some of the wood still had lines attached. Snapped lines, not hugely long in length. But it was enough for me to secure a few planks and even a door to three barrels. I hoped in a way which would help me keep my head above water. I had just finished it and secured myself to it with my vague childhood Boy Scout memories of knot tying, when I heard the roar of thunder and the first strikes of rain hitting a staccato on the surprisingly loud wood around me.

  I kid you not. The world faded to black.

  Ok, I admit it, I couldn't resist posting this one as soon as completed it, and not just setting it to go up the following morning so I have time to change my mind after sleeping on it. With this one I hit the 25,000 words needed for the first milestone though... and I'm really happy about how it finishes. This chapter ends the tutorial arc, and the MC will finally be out in the games main world...

  If you are enjoying this please let me know and if not...well for my continuous amateur development as a writer, any advice on where I'm going wrong would be also be appreciated.