The shipyard was silent, save for the distant, rhythmic thrum of the Caribbean tide and the far-off echo of Tortuga's nocturnal revelry. Alone on the canted deck of his derelict sloop, Hugo felt a strange, electric hum vibrating through his very bones.
"System activated," he whispered, his voice barely a breath. "Show me the Classical Shipbuilding tree."
[Scanning Vessel: "Sea Fairy"...]
[Progress: 1%... 15%... 45%... 88%... 100%]
[Scan Complete. Rendering Structural Model.]
In an instant, a translucent, golden wireframe of the ship materialized in Hugo's vision, rotating slowly in the dark air. It was a masterpiece of data, every splinter, every patch of dry rot, and every warped timber was highlighted in a pulsing, sickly red. To the side, a stream of clinical assessments scrolled downward:
[Current Vessel: "Sea Fairy"]
[Classification: Single-Masted Sloop (Late Carrack variant)]
[Structural Integrity: 17%]
[Keel Status: Heart-Oak core. Slightly warped due to immersion (Repairable).]
[Main Mast: Fractured at 10-foot mark (Irreparable; total replacement required).]
[Hull Plating: 73% necrotic or splintered.]
[Primary Rigging: Lost or rotted.]
[Armament: None.]
[System Assessment: A floating graveyard. Better suited for a bonfire than a voyage.]
Hugo let out a short, dry chuckle. The System's "personality" was as blunt as a boarding pike. "A pile of firewood, eh? We'll see about that."
[Data modeling complete.]
[Confirming "Sea Fairy" as the primary platform for Technological Integration?]
[Note: Once bound, all unlocked shipbuilding techniques will be applied specifically to this vessel.]
"Confirm. Bind the ship," Hugo commanded.
[Binding Successful. The Foundation of the Great Navigator is set.]
The massive, sprawling web of the technology tree reappeared, but this time, the icons at the base, once grey and lifeless were glowing with a faint, inviting blue light. Hugo's mind raced. After the split of the Santa Trinidad's treasure, even after Barbossa's predatory cut, his personal share was substantial. He had over two hundred gold doubloons hidden in the straw of his shipyard shack. In this era, it was a fortune; in the eyes of the System, it was raw fuel for evolution.
"Unlock the foundations," Hugo said. "Give me the basics."
[Gold Coins: -3]
[Basic Carpentry, Foundational Materials Science, and Structural Mechanics: UNLOCKED.]
A sudden, violent surge of information slammed into Hugo's consciousness. It wasn't just a list of facts; it was a sensory overhaul. For a moment, his knees buckled as the weight of centuries of craftsmanship was hammered into his brain. He felt the phantom sensation of a hundred different wood grains against his skin, the "math" of tension and load-bearing weight becoming as intuitive as breathing.
When he opened his eyes, the shipyard looked different. He looked down at the deck beneath his boots and instantly knew it was white oak, roughly sixty years old, and that the salt-saturation had compromised the lignin in the fibers by precisely forty percent. He looked at the broken mast and saw the hidden knot in the timber that had acted as a natural fracture point during the naval battle.
It was as if he had been granted the eyes of a master shipwright with a thousand years of experience.
"This is it," Hugo whispered, his hands trembling with a new kind of power. "This is how I change the world."
He turned his focus back to the tree, looking for the next level of evolution. To fix the Sea Fairy, he needed the ability to manipulate the hull and preserve what he built.
[Hull Plating Reconstruction: Costs 3 Gold Doubloons. Unlock?]
[Bio-Sealant and Wood Preservation: Costs 2 Gold Doubloons. Unlock?]
"Unlock both," Hugo ordered.
[Gold Coins: -5]
[Technologies Integrated. Blueprint "Heart-Oak Sealant" synthesized.]
A fresh wave of knowledge settled in his mind. He now held the formula for the galagala sealant he had planned to make, but refined by the System's precision, a mixture of tung oil, crushed limestone, and specific resins that would make the wood practically impervious to the Teredo worms and rot that plagued the Caribbean.
He walked to the largest breach in the port side, where the Spanish chain-shot had torn through the oak like wet paper. In his mind, he could already see the new ribs he would need to steam-bend, the precise angle of the mortise-and-tenon joints that would lock the new planks into the old keel without the need for unreliable iron nails.
Suddenly, a new prompt flickered in his vision, bright, glowing, and deceptively helpful.
[HULL INTEGRITY CRITICAL.]
[System Offer: Instant Structural Restoration. Restore "Sea Fairy" to 100% Seaworthiness using System-Synthesized Materials?]
[Cost: 500 Gold Doubloons.]
Hugo stared at the number and let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Five hundred doubloons? You're greedier than Barbossa, you mechanical vulture!"
He knew what the System was doing, trying to bait him into a shortcut. If he were trying to build a modern destroyer or an aircraft carrier in 1720, he might have to pay the premium for "impossible" materials. But for a wooden sloop? He had the knowledge. He had the manpower. He had the raw timber of Tortuga.
"No," Hugo said, his voice cold. "I'll build it myself. Keep your shortcuts."
He turned away from the interface and shouted toward the small shanty at the edge of the shipyard. "Gibbs! Billy! Get out here!"
A few moments later, the two pirates emerged, blinking sleep from their eyes and clutching their jackets against the night chill. They walked toward the wreck, looking at Hugo with a mixture of confusion and loyalty.
"Master Hugo?" Gibbs asked, scratching his beard. "The sun's not even up. Are we moving the treasure?"
"The treasure stays put," Hugo said, gesturing toward the skeletal ruin of the Sea Fairy. "Starting at dawn, we begin the work. We aren't just patching holes, Gibbs. We're rebuilding her from the keel up."
Billy looked at the ship, then back at Hugo. "Just us, sir? This ship is a carcass. It'd take a team of twenty master shipwrights a month just to get her to float."
"We have something better than twenty shipwrights," Hugo said, stepping toward the bow and placing a hand on the rough wood. He felt the golden lattice of the System's scan still humming beneath the surface. "We have the plan. And before we're done, this 'pile of firewood' is going to be the fastest thing in these waters."
He looked at the broken mast, his eyes burning with a fierce, visionary light.
"She needs a name," Hugo continued. "The Sea Fairy died in that naval battle. This ship... this ship is for something more. From this moment on, she is The Explorer."
Under the silver moonlight, Hugo looked less like a castaway and more like a conqueror. Gibbs and Billy didn't understand the science or the system, but as they looked at the wreckage of The Explorer, they felt a strange, undeniable premonition.
The legend wasn't just beginning. It was being forged in the mud of Tortuga.