The night's sea breeze felt like a cool maiden's kiss.
Aboard the drifting ship, the captain stood at the bow. As the vessel's only Awakened, he was like a guiding beacon.
He had paid a hefty price for this island's coordinates, acquiring them from a captain incapable of exploration, so he naturally valued this venture immensely.
The first mate, second mate, chief engineer, and the exploration team leader stood behind him. They had just concluded a pre-landing strategy meeting, and now, with the sea breeze on their faces, they gazed out at the island. It was an island that could provide them with vast supplies and treasures, and they admired it like a work of art soon to be in their possession.
Local specialties, ore, meat from land creatures, and most precious of all, the blood of powerful sea beasts...
All of it was within reach.
Right now, they could see the light of a fire on the island without even needing a telescope.
It shone in the night like a bullseye.
"These slaves are so fucking stupid! They actually dared to light a fire on the island."
The second mate spat.
The others shared his exasperation.
The captain, however, showed no emotion.
"This just proves that sending them to explore the New Island was the right choice. If everyone were cautious and afraid of death, who would act as the minesweepers? Their value lies in their ability to uncover the island's hidden dangers for us."
"But Captain, if we let the slaves act as the vanguard, what happens if there really is an exotic beast on the island that can cause an Awakening? What if they get to it first?"
The first mate voiced his greatest concern.
"Don't worry. Sea beasts capable of causing an Awakening are never easy to deal with."
The captain lowered his telescope, his voice devoid of any emotion.
"Back in the day, I had to fight a bloody battle. It was only with the help of four predecessors that I managed to hunt down a Deep Sea Black Shark. I bathed in its blood and, by a stroke of luck, Awakened a rare D-rank ability: Godspeed."
"But even now, if I were to face that same black shark alone, I would still have no chance of victory. The ocean is the sea beasts' domain, and the land is humanity's. Fortunately for us, our next battlefield is on land. And we have intelligence, as well as weapons."
"The difference between man and beast is that man can use weapons."
"Slaves are a type of weapon, too. Each one could be sold for 300 Sailing Coins, but as long as we can conquer this island, it will all be worth it."
The crew members all nodded in agreement.
Everyone hoped for another Awakened to join their ranks.
Over the years, they had encountered their share of powerful sea beasts. But forget capturing and killing them; simply avoiding defeat was a struggle.
And even on the off chance that a sea beast was overwhelmed by their firepower, it would often just turn and dive into the deep sea, making it impossible to hunt.
But as the old saying goes, a dragon in shallow water becomes the shrimp's plaything. The sea beasts on the island might be even stronger, but as the captain said, land has always been humanity's domain. They still had a chance to win.
Wars of attrition, human-wave tactics, traps, poison, firearms... Humanity had plenty of methods, strength, and resources.
Most humans hoping to Awaken relied on drifting ships to explore New Islands. Once ashore, they would hunt the island's amphibious, reptilian, or even rarer avian sea beasts.
This was the most reliable method. The only difficulty was that land was so scarce.
But what the crew didn't know was that humans could Awaken more than once. And this opportunity would not be for them.
Godspeed was a D-rank ability. Though powerful, this captain would never be satisfied with the status quo.
This time, he would take another step on his path to power.
No one could stand in his way.
He watched the distant firelight, the gleam reflected in his eyes burning even brighter.
...
「Near the firelight.」
"Bro, that's a neat trick. Drilling wood to make fire... you actually did it. It's much warmer now."
"Heh heh, I've seen some wilderness survival videos before! You know, videos! The kind only the upper class gets to see! It showed everything: how to make fire by drilling wood, by striking rocks, all sorts of little science experiments, which foods taste like chicken and are full of protein, which foods are poisonous... it was all in there!"
"Wow, I never took you for an intellectual!"
"You bet! If this were still the age of land, I'd at least try my hand at being a politician. Who knows, I might have even won the... what's it called... the United States of America's election!"
"You'd have my vote!"
"My man!"
Beneath a low-hanging tree, a few slaves huddled together around a fire they had built, using the light and heat from the burning leaves and branches to stay warm.
The nights here were freezing. The stars were exceptionally bright, but unfortunately, you couldn't warm yourself with starlight.
But now, thanks to the intellectual's "little science experiment," they had a fire to warm themselves.
The men laughed and chatted.
"Oh yeah, you guys remember that guy on the ship? The one the new group leader did in? My god, when they carried him away, all this... white and gray stuff was leaking from the back of his head. All brains. Tsk, tsk. That was just brutal."
"That guy's a hardass. Best not to mess with him."
For the slaves, life on the ship had been oppressive, and they often went hungry. Here on the island, however, they had a rare chance to be themselves. They enjoyed a brief period of freedom to move and speak as they pleased, with endless fruit to eat and none of those detestable captains or exploration team members barking orders at them.
If every day could be like this, they would gladly live on this island forever.
Unfortunately, their freedom would last for only a day.
In fact, not even that long.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"Do you guys hear that? A... RUSTLING..."
"Nope. What sound?"
"Bucket! On your head!"
The slave nicknamed "Bucket" rolled his eyes upward in terror. He saw only a massive Fierce Moth that had landed on his head at some unknown moment. It extended its sharp proboscis and, like pulling the trigger of an executioner's pistol, easily plunged it through his hard skull. SLURP, SLURP, SLURP. It began to suck.
"AHH!"
Of course, Bucket could no longer scream. His eyes wide with terror, he collapsed silently beside the fire.
The other two slaves realized that, under the cover of night, innumerable Fierce Moths were flying toward them.
They were a flurry of claws and fangs, like legendary harbingers of death.
"The fire! The video said bugs are afraid of fire! Get closer to the fire! We need to make it bigger!"
What they couldn't have imagined, however, was that moths are drawn to flames by instinct. The warm fire had become a target—and their death warrant.
The Fierce Moths swarmed them, wave after wave, causing the bonfire to erupt in a shower of sparks. Some, acting on pure instinct, didn't seem to mind their fan-sized wings catching fire, but most were more interested in the fresh meal.
The warm brains and flesh couldn't compare to the meat of a Xuanwu, perhaps, but the texture was far superior.
The feast was over in a flash. The extinguished fire glowed no more.
A moment later, all that remained were the charred carcasses of a few self-immolated Fierce Moths and a pile of dry bones, picked clean of every last scrap of flesh.
...
Aboard the drifting ship, the crew watched as the bright firelight gradually faded.
"Analyze their current status based on the slaves' chip data."
"Captain, three of them just died."
"Less than twenty minutes passed between the fire starting and it going out. All the slaves survived the day; their heart rates barely even fluctuated. But as soon as night fell and they lit a fire, three of them died."
"Keep a close eye on the data. Analyze everything!"