With enough information to understand what they were dealing with and how skills and the system worked, Dan was ready to choose his skills, or skip them if needed. At that moment he had 2 level-up notifications and two skills to choose. He still wasn't that clear about what to choose or whether to skip, but he guessed he would deal with that once he saw what he was given.

  Dan wouldn't lie and say that he didn't regret skipping the last skill choice he had. Especially Scale Armour, the ability that gave him, as the name suggested, an armour made of scales that could stop some knife and sword attacks.

  At that time, the ability didn't seem that strong and he decided that he wouldn't risk it. But after knowing about the tier system and all that, he was a bit grumpy. Who knows what that ability would have evolved into, and how much stronger it would have been? At higher tiers, it might even stop bullets.

  Sighing as he realised that that was out of his control at the moment, Dan finally interacted with the system in his mind. The now familiar skill choice screen coming up again.

  Personal skill choice available, you may choose 1 of the next three skills, or skip the current skill choice all together,

  -Weather Sense

  -Steady On Deck

  -Advantage

  Dan released a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He had been anticipating what choices he would be given and finally getting to see them calmed him a little. Taking a second to calm his racing heart, he went through the skills' descriptions.

  Weather Sense and Steady on Deck were just as their names sounded. The first made it so he could have an instinctive sense for the weather and how it's going to be in the next few hours. While Steady on Deck was a skill that would make him balanced and his footing steady no matter the weather or how hard the ship rocked.

  Advantage on the other hand, wasn't exactly what its name made it to be. The skill didn't give him an advantage against something specific. As Dan read the description, he guessed that a more precise name would be Home Advantage. Its main purpose was to strengthen him in every way possible while he was on the Voyager. The augmentation didn't sound that strong for now, but he had to think about the future.

  Dan scratched his chin as he considered the skills he had. The first skill he discarded was Steady on Deck. The skill was interesting, and he knew that it had its use, but he couldn't bring himself to choose it, it just didn't seem as useful as the other two, even at higher tiers.

  That left him with the two remaining skills, Weather Sense and Advantage.

  Weather Sense was an obviously good choice. Any captain would love to know how the weather was going to be in the next few hours. And that was just the skill at the lowest tier, at higher ones, that period might get longer, reaching days even.

  Advantage on the other hand didn't only carry a great usefulness at the moment, Dan also considered it for its future potential. Who knows what such a skill would grow to, and how strong it would make him? It even said that it would strengthen him in every aspect, that was too wide of a range to just ignore. Just from the top of his mind, he could think of strength, speed, health and maybe even his regeneration would get stronger!

  And while the advantage was only locked to while he was on the Voyager, that was enough for him for now, he doubted he would leave the Voyager much anyway.

  Dan again found himself unsure of what to do. Other than Steady on Deck, he couldn't choose between the other two skills. And with the last level up as an example, he feared skipping them altogether, regretting it and not seeing any of them again. Dan felt a new level of respect for how hard it must be for the people who decided to go for only 10 tier 10 skills. The commitment to their choices must be a pain.

  In the end, what it came to was him considering the possibility of anyone else getting something similar to those skills. He wasn't sure about Advantage, as it was a personal skill and affected him, and even if someone else got it it would be their advantage. Weather Sense though, he could see it being something Keith, Robert, or Freddie, their second officer, would be getting.

  His choice making itself, Dan stared at the screen, just a thought away from getting the skill. He found it hard to commit to it though, he kept second-guessing himself and wondering if it was the best one.

  Realising that he would achieve nothing if he kept at it like that, he took a deep breath before choosing the skill, a new screen jumping at him as he did.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Skill registered, Advantage.

  Advantage: As long as you're on your Bonded Ship, you will be noticeably augmented in all aspects.

  Dan brought up his profile and breathed out as he noticed the new skill in his skill tab. At the same time, he felt a warm sensation all over his body. He felt more energetic than he had been in years.

  With the first choice finally done, Dan called the system again and initiated the second skill choice.

  Personal skill choice available, you may choose 1 of the next three skills, or skip the current skill choice all together,

  -Calming Aura

  -Roar of the Ocean

  -Favourable Winds

  Once he read the descriptions for the skills he had to choose from, Dan's heart calmed down. He felt that his choice this time would be much easier than the last. It was basically made for him.

  He removed the one he didn't care for at all, Favourable Winds. The skill made it so that for a few hours each day, he could have the wind's direction be favourable for his ship. An all-in-all good skill, might even be one of the best for any other captain in this new world, but the Voyager didn't depend on sails, which didn't make it that useful for him.

  He did consider what the skill might grow to be in the future, total wind control might even be possible. It might take ages before that though, and he would have a useless dead skill on his list, he didn't need that.

  The other skill he discarded was Roar of the Ocean, a skill that made his shouts heard all over the ship. Which again, might be useful for other captains, but the Voyager had other means for that. The speakers and, well, even their Walkie-Talkies could be used to get his orders around, so it wasn't that important for them.

  For future advancements and tiers, he guessed that the skill would maybe weaponize his shouts. Again though, they already had the LRADs, perfectly functioning acoustic weapons that didn't need him to wait for an unknown period of time before becoming usable.

  That left him with the last skill, and the one he was most likely going to take, Calming Aura. Just as its name suggested, it was an active skill that made him emanate a calming aura that would calm the crewmen who were close to him and lower their stress levels for a short period. Dan could see great use for the skill, having his crew be calm in the face of anything was something any captain would love.

  He didn't forget that if the Voyager didn't interfere and calm him down when the Behemoth appeared, which let him think rationally for a second and use the foghorn to scare it off, they might have been already dead.

  The limited time frame and distance were a bit of a disappointment, but that was just its tier one version, he could see it evolving and lasting longer and longer with each tier up, the same could be said for the area of effect. So that problem wouldn't last long.

  Having his sight on that skill, he willed it to be chosen, with much less hesitation this time. He felt much more confident about his choice.

  His choice finalized, his system screen flashed again. And on the back of his mind, he got the feeling of a new notification. Ignoring that one for a bit, he started with the new window,

  Skill registered, Calming Aura.

  Calming Aura: Calm the nerves of nearby crew, and make them more rational. Radius: 10 meters. Duration: 20 minutes. Cooldown: 4 hours.

  He read the description again and shook his head a bit at the long cooldown, but it was already done, and he didn't regret it one bit.

  That dealt with, he willed the new notification up, with an inkling about what it might have been. And as expected he was met with a familiar window he only saw once before,

  Bonded Ship's skill choice:

  Linked.

  As expected, it was the Voyager's choice. But the skill was kinda weird. Dan didn't know what he should expect from that. Not keeping himself waiting, he brought up the description,

  Linked: connects chosen members of your crew to the ship.

  Dan's mind drew a blank once he saw that sentence. He had no idea what it meant. He even tried to activate it but nothing happened. Looking at the description again, the word chosen caught his attention. Figuring that the skill might need a target to activate, he looked at old William who was standing with his wife and willed the skill to activate. Unfortunately, nothing happened either.

  "Big girl, what kind of skill did you choose?" shaking his head in confusion, Dan murmured as he patted the wall next to him.

  Putting the Voyager's skill aside for the moment, Dan turned his attention to his own new one, deciding to try it.

  He first counted the hours they had before the sun went down, realising that he had enough time for a small test.

  While they were gathering info, they found out that the days in this new world were just as long as in their old one, with the same day and night cycle.

  Dan's eyes scanned everyone on the bridge as he searched for a good target for his new skill. Soon, his eyes fell again on a group of people standing on one corner of the room. The group was the one his old friend William was with, it had his wife and a few others from the families of the crewmen. The group had the perfect mix for what Dan wanted to check, so he made his way towards them.

  "Hey William," He greeted, "How are things going? Is everyone alright?"

  He noticed how some of the people there looked stressed. Their expressions, their manners and even the faces of some of them showed clear signs of tiredness. It was clear that these people weren't in the best frame of mind. And even though he hated to think of it, that also made them the best subjects for his skill test.

  "We are holding on," William said. Mary, his wife, patting him on the shoulder.

  Dan nodded as he discreetly activated his new skill. Calming Aura activated without any fanfare. If not for the instinctive feeling he got that it was running already, he would have suspected that nothing was happening.

  Dan kept the conversation going with the group as he watched. And he was happy to see that not only William seemed to be relaxing and his face loosened up, but even the families and his wife had the same reaction. He couldn't help but smile at the results.

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