City of Generosity Bayam, Seaweed Bar.
"Hey, did you hear? Silas Draven is dead."
A pirate whispered to the people at the small table. One of them began to laugh as he waved his beer mug.
"Hahahaha, finally, that bastard was crazy."
"Who killed him?"
The pirate telling the story took a big gulp of his drink before responding in a hoarse voice, as if trying to add some dramatic effect.
"No one knows, but some say it was some kind of spirit that killed them all."
One of the pirates at the table caught a certain keyword and repeated it in surprise.
"Killed them all? Are you saying that Draven's entire crew died?"
"That's what they say."
Instantly, the air at the table became heavy as the people at the table digested what their companion had revealed to them. He, for his part, smiled at their surprise and continued telling the story, maintaining the same hoarse tone as before.
"And not only that, they say they all died in their beds while they slept, and that they all had expressions of horror on their faces."
The pirates at the table paled at the thought of such a scene; a sense of indescribable fear began to rise in their hearts. Meanwhile, at the bar, a young man with slightly curly black hair and blue eyes listened to everything they said as a smirk appeared on his face.
'So now I'm a spirit, huh?'
Lewis thought as he took a big swig from his beer mug.
He had killed the entire pirate crew silently and without anyone noticing; even he was surprised by his feat. He had underestimated the abilities his new powers gave him to blend into the shadows; when he did so, his presence became extremely faint; even if he stood a few feet away from a person, they would not notice him at all.
"The money problem was solved; those pirates had deep pockets. The problem now was to obtain a new identity; this body was dead and didn't know anyone, so I shouldn't have to worry about running into any of his friends by coincidence."
He had been lucky; once he killed the pirates and freed the caged people, he realized he had no idea how to navigate a ship. Fortunately, the pirates seemed to be close to their destination, so it didn't take them long to reach Bayam; however, he had to slip away quickly so that the coast guard wouldn't catch him.
After finishing his beer, he got up and paid with a few pennies before leaving. Walking through the dark streets of Bayam, he couldn't help but let his thoughts wander.
"Today is July 2, the year 1349; that means I transmigrated on the same day as Klein; perhaps he has already become a Nighthawk and founded the Tarot Club."
This left him pensive, and now that he had solved his immediate crisis, he couldn't help but ask a very important question.
"Should I intervene in the plot?"
This was something he greatly doubted; he had extensive knowledge of this world, knew its secrets, its characters, and the course each would take. Although most of those memories were blurred, he had no doubt that he would gradually recover them as he grew stronger.
Besides, that was another point he had to be mindful of: his own strength to be able to stand up to the powers of this world, and from what he knew, following Klein was one of the best ways to gain power; the poor guy was a magnet that attracted all kinds of trouble and powerful beings.
"Join the Tarot Club? I don't think that's a good idea; poor Klein will surely have a heart attack if he realizes that someone is praying to The Fool. It's either that or get some of the objects that were connected to the gray fog, although I don't remember anything about them, nor am I sure what the connection is in the first place; I could end up alerting some existence that I don't remember and die on the spot."
For the moment, the plan he had put together was to go to Tingen and be present at the important moments in the plot and take advantage of them to become stronger, but he realized several problems when he thought about this.
First of all, he was sure that his intervention would change several future points in the plot, something that would completely nullify his greatest advantage, which was his understanding of the future events of this world, in addition to the danger of alerting the powerful existences behind each of those events.
"But there are things I would really like to change."
As long as he acted while wearing the Waver Mask, he should be safe from most problems, and as long as the issues weren't too troublesome, he could change them without too much trouble and without affecting the future too much.
As his train of thought continued, he gradually reorganized his ideas until he finally put together a preliminary plan.
First, he would find someone to create fake identities; he couldn't keep going around without official papers, he wouldn't be able to sleep in inns, and he could end up in jail if a police officer found out.
Second, he would stay in Bayam for a while; he had decided this for one reason only.
"I'll use this place as an exp farm."
There were all kinds of pirates here, and he was sure none of them were good, so he could kill them without feeling too guilty or upset, and even though killing a human gave less exp than killing a murloc, he still wasn't sure about the Beyonders; there should be some among the hundreds of pirates in Bayam, he just had to look at the bounty posters.
"Sigh~ This world really changes a person... To think that one day I would be thinking about killing a bunch of people just to 'gain exp'..."
Third, he would learn to fight and use his powers better; this went hand in hand with the second, since as he killed pirates he would gain combat experience. He managed to kill the Kraken Bloods only because he took them by surprise, but he was aware that he couldn't always do something like that, and if that day came and he wasn't able to defend himself properly, then he would be dead.
"Well, this will work for now, but it would be best to get an identity before curfew."
With his plan of action defined, Lewis continued walking through the dark streets of Bayam under the glow of the crimson moon. He had no idea what the future held, but he would try to be as prepared for it as possible.
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A/N: A short chapter, but let's say this is the end of the "introduction." I repeat, I don't have a plan. I'll write as I go along and when I have ideas. If you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know.