CHAPTER 47: GULL’S THROAT, NO MERCY
FIELD NOTE:
If someone schedules a holy rite at sea, it is not worship.
It is logistics with incense.
Gull’s Throat looks exactly like the kind of place you would pick to make a person disappear.
The water goes unnaturally calm.
The wind stops teasing the sails.
Even the gulls refuse to circle, like the sky knows this is a bad scene and wants no involvement.
The priests call it a “still blessing.”
The sailors call it “dead water.”
My Detective skill calls it “a trap with good branding.”
The schedule said two bells before dawn.
Halfsea Rite.
Mercy Transfer.
White Candle.
Tonight.
I stand on the lower deck by the cargo hold and stare at the White Candle crate like I can intimidate it into confessing.
Two Crown of Nails guards still flank it.
The bell priest still does his rounds.
Everyone still pretends we are pilgrims.
Everyone is still lying.
Lyra leans beside me, arms crossed, eyes hard.
“We follow the handoff,” she whispers. “We see who they give it to. We follow them. Simple.”
Roth’s voice is low.
“Simple is rare,” he says.
Livi stands behind us, hood up, face calm, eyes bored.
Then she speaks aloud, clear as a verdict.
“Take whatever cargo or what you need because I’m sinking this boat.”
Silence punches the hold.
Lyra turns her head slowly.
“What,” she says.
Roth blinks once.
“…what,” he repeats, like he cannot believe someone out-louded the ocean.
I stare at Livi.
“No,” I say automatically. “We need the ship to see the transfer.”
Livi’s gaze flicks to me.
“I do not,” she says.
[Livi: I am bored. This boat reeks of cages. I will end it.]
Lyra steps closer, heat rising in her fingers.
“You can’t just sink a ship,” she hisses.
Livi tilts her head.
“Yes I can,” she says.
Lyra’s mouth opens.
Then closes.
Then she whispers, tight.
“I hate you.”
Livi’s mouth twitches.
“I know,” she says.
Roth looks at me.
“Can we stop her,” he asks.
I look at Livi.
I look at the dead water outside.
I look at the bell priest, the nails, the crate.
Then I look at my own inventory and remember something that makes me want to cry.
We are on a pilgrim boat.
We are pretending to be humble.
We are about to get Mina thrown into the sea like cargo.
And I have an S-rank skill called Hold My Beer.
There is no justice in the world.
I exhale.
“We can’t stop her,” I admit. “We can only control what we take.”
Lyra’s eyes narrow.
“So we’re doing this,” she whispers.
Roth nods once.
“Yes,” he says.
Livi speaks aloud, impatient.
“Hurry.”
[Livi: If you hesitate, I will sink it with you inside.]
Cool. Love that.
“Okay,” I say. “Loot sprint.”
I move.
Inventory brain takes over.
First, the crate.
I slam my palm on the White Candle crate’s wax seal.
Contact Reading tries to summarize.
It hits an Authority tag and stutters.
A cold blur fills my mind, like the system is censoring it on purpose.
Good.
That means it matters.
I swallow and do the only thing that makes sense.
I store it.
[ITEM STORED]
White Candle Crate (Authority-Tagged)
Warning: sealed destination metadata
Warning: opening may trigger logging
The crate vanishes into my inventory like it was always mine.
The bell priest turns mid-step.
He looks at the empty space.
He looks at me.
His eyes go wide.
“What,” he breathes.
Lying S hums.
“Mercy moves in mysterious ways,” I say softly.
His mouth opens.
No sound comes out.
He stares like his faith just got pickpocketed.
Roth moves next.
He grabs the route schedule board off the wall.
The cargo logbook.
The nails officer’s sealed pouch.
Anything that looks like orders.
Lyra grabs the bell.
Not because she wants it.
Because she wants it to stop ringing.
The priest reaches for it.
Lyra smiles.
Then she puts the bell in her pocket.
The priest makes a small sound like his soul cracked.
Pyon blinks onto my hood.
…we stealing
“Yes,” I whisper. “Holy theft.”
Pyon looks pleased, like that’s a lifestyle.
Then Livi steps forward.
She doesn’t raise her hands.
She doesn’t chant.
She doesn’t glow.
She just looks at the floor like she is deciding where to break the world.
The water outside the hull answers her without being asked.
A deep pressure pushes through the planks.
The ship shudders.
A sailor screams above deck.
Boots thunder.
A bell rings.
Then the bell stops because Lyra stole it.
The Crown of Nails guards snap into motion.
Steel out.
Orders shouted.
I hear the captain scream.
“WHAT IS HAPPENING.”
I whisper.
“She’s happening.”
Lyra grabs my sleeve.
“Kenta,” she hisses. “Pilgrims.”
Right.
The innocents.
The normal people who paid coin for a holy ride and got stuck on the boat with us.
I look up the stairs.
Chaos already.
If we leave them, I become the kind of hero I hate.
If we stay too long, we become the kind of corpse I hate.
I swallow.
“Roth,” I snap. “Life boats. Now.”
Roth moves.
No hesitation.
He runs for the upper deck like a wall with a mission.
Lyra turns to Livi.
“Do not,” Lyra says, voice sharp. “Do not drown the pilgrims.”
Livi’s eyes flick to her.
“I did not say pilgrims,” she says.
[Livi: I said crew. They leashed me. They die.]
Lyra exhales like she hates that she feels relieved.
I sprint up the stairs.
The main deck is a nightmare.
The Gull of Mercy tilts.
The dead water becomes angry water.
The sea around the hull churns like something is chewing it.
Sailors shout.
Priests pray louder.
Crown of Nails guards shove pilgrims back from the rails to “protect them,” which is code for keep the witnesses contained.
Livi stands at the rail, hood down now, blue hair catching moonlight, face calm like she is watching weather.
The sea rises behind her.
Not a wave.
A wall.
The first sailor sees it.
He screams.
Then the wall hits the deck.
Water slams across planks.
Men tumble.
Lanterns die.
Ropes snap.
The ship groans like it’s begging.
A Crown of Nails officer yells orders at his men.
“FORM UP. CUT HER DOWN.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
They rush Livi.
Livi does not move.
The water under their boots turns slick.
Their feet slide out from under them like the sea is laughing.
One tries to stab.
A thin lance of pressurized water punches through his chest.
He drops.
Another tries to shout.
Water fills his mouth.
He chokes.
He falls.
A priest raises a ward charm.
Livi looks at him once.
The charm shatters in his hand like glass.
The priest’s eyes go wide.
Then he gets dragged over the rail by a current that should not be able to grab a person.
He disappears into black water.
Lyra watches, face tight.
“She is murdering them,” Lyra whispers.
“Yes,” I whisper.
Livi speaks aloud, bored.
“They deserved it.”
Roth reaches the life boats.
He hacks the ties, drops them, kicks them toward the pilgrim cluster.
“GO,” he roars.
That word hits different from him.
Pilgrims scramble.
Some fall.
Some cry.
Some freeze.
Lyra steps in, heat flaring.
She doesn’t burn people.
She burns ropes.
She melts a section of railing into a ramp.
She dries planks under stumbling feet.
She throws Heat Mirage over the crowd so the Crown of Nails guards see too many bodies and can’t pick targets.
I grab a terrified pilgrim kid by the collar and shove him into a life boat.
“Row,” I snap.
The kid blinks, shaking.
“I can’t,” he cries.
I slap an oar into his hands.
“Yes you can,” I lie.
Lying S hums.
The kid believes me.
He rows.
Another pilgrim grabs a prayer charm and tries to chant.
I grab her shoulder.
“Don’t,” I say. “Run.”
She stares at me, wild-eyed.
“You’re not a pilgrim,” she whispers.
I smile warmly.
“Mercy works through many masks,” I say.
Her face goes slack like her brain gave up.
She runs.
The Crown of Nails captain sees us helping pilgrims.
He screams.
“SEIZE THEM. THEY ARE NOT FAITHFUL.”
Lyra turns toward him with fire in her eyes.
Roth turns toward him with death in his posture.
Then Livi ends the conversation.
The sea rises again.
A whirlpool forms under the Nails captain’s feet.
It eats the deck.
Wood splinters.
The man screams once.
Then he is gone.
The whirlpool keeps going.
Sailors try to flee.
Currents grab ankles.
Pull them down.
Priests cling to mast lines and pray.
The mast line snaps.
They fall.
And the sea accepts them.
My stomach twists.
I keep moving.
I keep pushing pilgrims into boats.
I keep telling them what to do.
Roth heaves a life boat into the water and throws a rope down like he is saving people from a cliff.
Lyra uses heat to seal a leak in a boat hull with a quick melt.
The wood smokes.
It holds.
Pyon blinks from boat to boat, nudging frozen hands, tapping faces, somehow herding humans with teleporting rabbit authority.
…go go
“Yes,” I whisper. “Go go.”
The ship tilts harder.
The sea is inside now.
The Gull of Mercy starts to sink.
Not slowly.
Not gently.
It sinks like Livi is personally offended by its existence.
Livi speaks in my head, satisfied.
[Livi: I will not leave survivors among those who caged me.]
I swallow.
“We’re leaving,” I shout.
Lyra grabs my arm.
Roth grabs Lyra’s arm.
We run for the rail.
The last life boat slides away, packed with shaking pilgrims.
I throw one last lie across the water, loud enough to carry.
“PIRATE SABOTAGE. ROW EAST. FOLLOW THE STARS.”
The pilgrims scream and row like fear is an engine.
Lying S hums, greasy and effective.
Then we jump.
Livi catches us.
Not with hands.
With water.
A rising column.
A lifting surge.
A cold shove onto her back as she transforms mid-motion into leviathan form.
Scale meets my boots.
Salt air hits my face.
The ocean becomes a living mount.
Behind us, the Gull of Mercy makes its final sound.
A long groan.
A crack.
A sigh.
Then it disappears into dead water.
No crew left.
No priests left.
No nails left.
Only floating debris.
A few life boats in the distance.
And one leviathan carrying three idiots and a teleporting rabbit toward the far east.
Then my system loses its mind.
[WORLD EVENT]
GULL OF MERCY SUNK
[ENEMY DEFEATED]
Crown of Nails Escort x19 (Lv 61-69)
EXP +3,420 each (Party Share)
[ENEMY DEFEATED]
Ward Clergy x11 (Lv 54-66)
EXP +2,980 each (Party Share)
[ENEMY DEFEATED]
Ship Captain, Gull of Mercy (Lv 63)
EXP +18,600 (Party Share)
[ENEMY DEFEATED]
Sailor Crew x37 (Lv 18-38)
EXP +520 each (Party Share)
My vision turns into chimes.
[LEVEL UP]
Kenta: 68 -> 69
Kenta: 69 -> 70
[LEVEL UP]
Lyra: 52 -> 53
Lyra: 53 -> 54
[LEVEL UP]
Roth: 47 -> 48
Roth: 48 -> 49
[NOTICE]
Reputation shift detected
Nails Authority: Hostile
Clergy Authority: Hostile
Suggestion: do not return to Verena soon
Lyra stares at her windows, then looks back at the sinking spot.
“We just,” she whispers, “sank a holy ship.”
“Yes,” I say.
Roth’s voice is flat.
“It deserved it,” he says.
Lyra looks at him.
“You don’t get to say that calmly,” she mutters.
Roth blinks once.
“Yes,” he says.
Lyra makes a small sound of pain.
Livi, beneath us, swims east with contemptuous speed.
She speaks aloud.
“Finally. Silence.”
[Livi: Now we go where you wanted. Without the boat smell.]
I stare at the horizon.
We lost the transfer.
We lost the chance to follow the recipient.
But we kept the crate.
We kept the logs.
We kept the schedule.
And we kept ourselves.
Half of that was luck.
Half of that was Livi being petty.
Which is its own kind of luck.
---
The sea voyage after the sinking is faster.
Also worse.
Because now we are exposed.
No hull.
No lanterns.
No priests to pretend we belong.
Just open ocean, night wind, and a leviathan that swims like she’s trying to bite the horizon.
Lyra sits on Livi’s back with her cloak flapping, looking like an angry flag.
Roth sits forward, scanning the sea like he expects a second ambush to be hiding inside the concept of water.
I sit in the middle, clutching a rope harness and trying not to think too hard about the fact that my inventory currently contains a sealed Authority-tagged crate that everyone is willing to kill for.
Pyon blinks between our shoulders and the spray.
…cold
“Yes,” I whisper. “Cold.”
Lyra hears it and mutters, “I hate the sea.”
Livi speaks aloud, sweet as poison.
“The sea hates you too.”
Lyra’s fingers spark.
“Levi,” she growls.
Livi’s eyes narrow.
“My name is not Levi.”
Lyra smiles.
“It is when I’m miserable,” she says.
[Livi: I will drown her.]
“Not now,” I whisper.
Livi’s mind presses back, amused.
[Livi: Later.]
Great.
We run like that for hours.
Then the sky changes.
The stars sharpen.
The air thins.
The horizon goes weirdly clear.
My Star Bearing skill hums.
Navigation hums.
And then something new hums.
Not a skill.
A wrongness.
A pressure in the air like the world is holding its breath.
Roth’s head tilts up.
Lyra’s eyes narrow at the sky.
“What,” Lyra whispers.
A streak appears above us.
Bright.
Fast.
Green-white.
A falling star.
Except it doesn’t fall like a rock.
It falls like something aiming.
Livi’s mind slams into mine.
[Livi: Move.]
“MOVE,” I shout.
Livi dives.
The meteor hits the sea where we were a heartbeat ago.
The impact is a sunburst.
Steam explodes.
Water vapor turns into a screaming cloud.
The sea boils for a second.
Then the steam clears.
And something climbs out of the crater like it’s angry it missed.
A living meteor.
Not metaphorical.
A rock body the size of a wagon.
Molten seams glowing.
Crystalline veins pulsing like nerves.
A core that looks like a star trapped in stone.
It floats.
Not because it’s light.
Because gravity is optional for it.
My system flashes hard enough to hurt.
[SUPER ENCOUNTER DETECTED]
Astral Core Meteoroid
Level: 74
Traits: Gravity Pulse, Starburn Dust, Molten Regeneration, Ore Body
Weakness: Rapid Cooling, Shatter, Purity, Precision Cuts
Lyra laughs once.
Of course she does.
“Of course,” she says.
Roth’s voice is low.
“Worth it,” he says.
I stare at the word Ore Body.
My crafting brain drools.
My survival brain screams.
“Please don’t say worth it,” I mutter.
The meteoroid lifts one jagged arm and the air bends.
Gravity Pulse.
My stomach drops.
Not metaphorical.
The world pulls downward hard.
Livi sinks lower, forced.
Water depresses.
A trough forms.
Lyra’s knees slam into scale.
Roth grips the harness rope and stays anchored.
Athletics SS keeps my body from folding like paper, but it still feels like my bones want to apologize.
The meteoroid fires.
Not fire.
Shards.
Starburn Dust sprays out like glitter from hell.
It hits my coat.
It bites through fabric.
It burns like acid and sunlight had a baby.
[STATUS]
Starburn: Moderate
HP -1,420
MP Drain: Minor
Lyra yells.
“Oh I hate that,” she snaps.
She thrusts her hands out and unleashes a controlled heat burst, not to burn, but to blow the dust away.
Heat Control.
Flame Thread.
She makes the air move.
Roth pulls an Impact Bomb and hurls it.
The bomb hits the meteoroid body.
Pop.
Shatter pulse.
The meteoroid cracks.
Then the cracks seal.
Molten regeneration.
It heals like a liar.
I grit my teeth and pull a salt strip.
Purity.
I slap it onto my ofuda and throw a Purify flare at the cracked seam.
The salt flare hits.
The molten regeneration stutters.
Lyra’s eyes sharpen.
“Now,” she snaps.
Flame Thread slices into the seam like a surgical cut.
The meteoroid screeches.
Not a sound.
A vibration.
My teeth ring.
Livi rises under us and opens her mouth.
Not to bite.
To breathe water.
A jet of pressurized seawater slams into the meteoroid seam.
Rapid cooling.
Steam erupts.
The seam freezes for half a breath.
That half breath is everything.
Roth moves.
He leaps.
Yes, off a leviathan.
Into open air.
At a floating meteor.
He is insane.
He lands on the meteoroid body, boots scraping on hot rock.
His coat starts to smoke.
He jams an Impact Bomb into the frozen seam and pushes off.
Pop.
Shatter pulse.
The meteoroid splits.
A huge crack runs down the body like lightning in stone.
The core inside flashes.
A star heart.
My system chimes like a bell.
[NOTICE]
Core exposed
I don’t think.
I move.
I pull my katana.
I inhale.
I do the thing that my life has become.
“Hold my beer,” I whisper.
Hold My Beer triggers even with only us watching.
The buff hits.
The world gets dumber.
[SKILL ACTIVATED]
Hold My Beer
I sprint along Livi’s back and jump.
Air.
Heat.
Steam.
Stars.
I land on the meteoroid’s cracked surface and my boots sizzle.
Starburn eats at my soles.
Pain Filter kicks in.
Luck goes narrative.
I slide, catch myself, and drive my katana into the core.
The blade meets something that isn’t rock.
It’s metal.
Bright.
Impossible.
I feel the resistance.
Then I feel my crafting obsession turn into violence.
I twist.
The core cracks.
Light spills out.
Not holy.
Cosmic.
The meteoroid convulses.
Gravity Pulse spikes.
The air slams me downward.
I bite my tongue.
Blood in mouth.
Keep grip.
Lyra screams and throws Heat Mirage, splitting silhouettes in the air like it will confuse gravity itself.
It doesn’t.
But it buys a beat.
Livi surges upward under me, water lifting my falling body like the sea is catching its own mistake.
Roth reaches out and grabs my wrist mid-air.
Threat Grip triggers.
Stable.
He yanks.
I slam back onto Livi’s scales, breath knocked out of me.
The meteoroid floats for one heartbeat longer.
Then it dies.
Not quietly.
It detonates into chunks.
Rock fragments.
Metal fragments.
A rain of glowing ore.
Steam roars as chunks hit the sea.
Some sink.
Some float.
Some hover for a moment, still pretending gravity is optional.
My system turns into fireworks.
[ENEMY DEFEATED]
Astral Core Meteoroid (Lv 74)
EXP +92,000 (Party Share)
Loot: Astral Mythril Ore x84 (Legendary)
Loot: Starsteel Slag x31 (Rare)
Loot: Meteoroid Core Shard x1 (Mythic)
Loot: Starburn Dust Gland x2 (Uncommon)
[LEVEL UP]
Kenta: 70 -> 71
Kenta: 71 -> 72
[LEVEL UP]
Lyra: 54 -> 55
Lyra: 55 -> 56
[LEVEL UP]
Roth: 49 -> 50
Roth: 50 -> 51
Lyra stares at her window, then at the floating ore chunks.
“You got a meteor,” she says.
Roth’s voice is calm.
“Worth it,” he says.
Lyra turns on him.
“Stop,” she snaps.
Roth blinks once.
“Yes,” he says.
Lyra’s face does the painful thing again.
Livi watches the ore rain hit her sea.
Her voice is flat.
“This is trash from the sky.”
[Livi: It is shiny. He will scream.]
I am already screaming internally.
My crafting brain is doing laps.
Astral Mythril.
Legendary.
Eighty-four pieces.
That is not ore.
That is an entire new life.
I start grabbing chunks as they float.
Inventory.
Inventory.
Inventory.
[ITEM STORED]
Astral Mythril Ore x84 (Legendary)
[ITEM STORED]
Starsteel Slag x31 (Rare)
[ITEM STORED]
Meteoroid Core Shard x1 (Mythic)
Lyra watches me loot and shakes her head.
“You are a disease,” she mutters.
“Yes,” I say happily.
Pyon blinks onto a floating chunk, taps it with his paw, then blinks back to my shoulder.
…shiny
“Yes,” I whisper. “Shiny.”
We ride east again.
The sea calms.
The stars return to normal.
The meteoroid crater steam fades into the night like it never happened.
My arms ache.
My boots are half melted.
My heart is still pounding.
Lyra sits back, breathing hard.
Roth checks his hands for burns and doesn’t comment.
Livi swims like nothing happened.
Then she speaks in my head, almost casual.
[Livi: You are close.]
“Close to what,” I whisper.
[Livi: Land that smells like lantern oil and human longing.]
Mizunagi.
My throat tightens.
We crest a long swell.
And there it is.
Far ahead.
A faint glow on the horizon.
Not sunrise.
Lanterns.
A coastline with lights.
A harbor that wears night like decoration.
Mizunagi is a smear of warm color in a cold world.
Lyra stares at it and exhales.
“Finally,” she whispers.
Roth’s voice is low.
“We’re not done,” he says.
I reach into my inventory and pull out the route schedule.
HALFSEA RITE.
GULL’S THROAT.
DO NOT DOCK AT MIZUNAGI.
The plan was to transfer before arrival.
But the ship is gone.
The crate is with me.
And the question now is simple and terrifying.
If the White Candle was supposed to disappear before Mizunagi, what happens when it arrives anyway.
My inventory hums faintly.
Not magic.
Not a skill.
A tag.
An Authority tag that feels like someone, somewhere, just looked up and realized their package is missing.
Lyra notices my face.
“What,” she asks.
I swallow.
“The crate,” I whisper. “It’s… pinging.”
Roth’s eyes narrow.
“Tracking,” he says.
Livi’s voice is quiet.
“They will come.”
[Livi: Good. I am bored.]
I stare at the glowing coastline.
Mizunagi is in sight.
The White Candle is in my pocket.
And something in the world just noticed.
---
POST CHAPTER PARTY STAT BLOCK
(Status: Open Sea, Eastbound)
(Last Major Events: Gull of Mercy sunk, Astral Meteoroid defeated)
KENTA YAMADA
Class: Hero (Standard)
Level: 72
HP: 12,480 / 12,480
MP: 6,910 / 7,240
Stamina: High (Sea Legs D)
Titles:
- Temple Breaker
- Cinderpot Champion
- Monster Island Menace
- Harbor Maintenance Hero
- Unregistered Disaster (Passive effect: attracts trouble faster)
Core Stats:
STR 1,420 | DEX 1,980 | END 1,610 | INT 1,260 | WIS 1,140 | LUCK 1,880 | CHA 1,110
Combat Skills:
- Athletics (SS)
- Swimming (SS)
- Katana Mastery (S)
- Iaijutsu (S)
- Buckler Use (B)
- Threat Grip (A) (Stability under impact)
- Battle Sense (B)
- Item Slot Combat (A) (Buckler slot synergy)
- Hold My Beer (S) (Hero Momentum conversion)
- Survival (B)
- Pain Filter (B) (Temporary mitigation, stacks with Momentum)
Magic and Ofuda:
- Water Magic (B)
- Light Magic (D)
- Healing Magic (C)
- Ofuda Craft (A) (Snap Mend, Pulse Mend, Bind, Lanternflash, Shock Needle)
- Purify (B) (Salt based)
- Sealcraft (A) (Rune muffle, contamination wraps)
Crafting and Economy:
- Crafting (S)
- Forgery (F)
- Haggling (A)
- Gambling (S)
- Cooking (S)
- Knotwork (D)
- Seamanship (D)
- Navigation (D)
- Star Bearing (F)
- Clerkwork (D)
Investigation and Social:
- Detective (B)
- Case Threading (F)
- Logistics Sense (F)
- Cipher Sniff (F)
- Crowd Sense (F)
- Tell Reading (C)
- Lying (S) (Non-party deception: very high)
- Affection Sense (B)
- Flirt Deflection (B)
Resistances:
- Heat Resistance (B)
- Mental Resistance (B)
- Poison Resistance (C)
- Starburn Resistance (New) (F) (Exposure adaptation started)
Inventory Highlights:
- White Candle Crate (Authority-tagged, unopened)
- Astral Mythril Ore x84 (Legendary)
- Starsteel Slag x31 (Rare)
- Meteoroid Core Shard x1 (Mythic)
- Blue Thread Hazard Samples (sealed)
- Cargo Logs, Crown of Nails seals, route schedule
LYRA
Class: Pyromancer (Core)
Level: 56
HP: 8,420 / 8,420
MP: 11,980 / 12,300
Titles:
- Ember Idol (Unwanted)
- Heat Discipline Specialist
Core Stats:
STR 640 | DEX 1,120 | END 810 | INT 2,160 | WIS 1,740 | LUCK 980 | CHA 1,090
Magic and Combat:
- Pyromancy Core (A)
- Flame Thread (A)
- Heat Mirage (A)
- Heat Control (D)
- Burn Suppression (C) (Collateral control)
- Elemental Analysis (B)
- Resistance: Heat (A), Cold (C), Starburn (F)
Utility:
- Intimidation (B)
- Team Sync (C)
- Sea Legs (F) (She hates it)
ROTH
Class: Bastion Captain (Shield Line)
Level: 51
HP: 15,900 / 15,900
MP: 3,120 / 3,120
Titles:
- Saltspine Liberator
- Bastion Captain
Core Stats:
STR 1,960 | DEX 920 | END 2,220 | INT 610 | WIS 980 | LUCK 740 | CHA 620
Combat:
- Bastion Captain (Passive)
- Shield Wall Aura (A) (When equipped)
- Counterbrace (A)
- Guard Timing (A)
- Blade Fundamentals (B)
- Pain Tolerance (A)
- Stevedore (D) (Yes, really)
- Fear Discipline (B)
Utility:
- Threat Assessment (B)
- Rescue Handling (C)
LIVI
Companion: Rivermouth Leviathan
Form: Leviathan / Tide Avatar
Level: ??? (Authority-class creature)
Disposition: Contemptuous (Bonded)
Core Traits:
- Shapeshift (SS)
- Water Magic (SS)
- Pressure Lance (SS)
- Current Dominion (SS)
- Abyss Sense (S)
- Human Ritual Comprehension (B) (She will deny this)
Notes:
- Confirms ability to sink ships and selectively drown targets
- Threat rating: “Do not annoy”
PYON
Companion: Blink Rabbit
Level: 39
HP: 3,880 / 3,880
MP: 2,140 / 2,140
Skills:
- Blink (A)
- Scout Sense (B)
- Panic Herding (A) (New, yes)
- Morale Ping (B)
- Loot Sniff (C)
QUEST STATUS
White Candle Investigation
- Cargo secured: YES
- Planned transfer disrupted: YES (Ship sunk)
- Destination: Mizunagi (confirmed)
- New problem: Authority tracking ping detected
- Next Objective: Land in Mizunagi without getting immediately murdered
