Born in Blood



The Darkwood ship steadily gained speed over the coming days, cutting through the ocean with ease.

It seemed as though the waves grew larger and more tumultuous the closer they got to the Korsan lands. The ship rocked and swayed chaotically, but the cabin within remained perfectly balanced.

Liam kept to himself, preferring to focus on his own training rather than interacting with the others. He knew he would have plenty of time to do that once their journey truly began.

Still, the thin walls of the cabin gave him some indication of what the others were up to.

Nord was obviously training, judging by the sounds of things breaking and crashing in his space. Rin was experimenting with something involving fire, or perhaps forging something. Nessa was studying in silence, while Gerald worked on his formations.

Meanwhile, Liam finally experienced a breakthrough.

He had passed the lower-stage of the third Rank body!

Thanks to the pills he had taken, his body's absorption rate had increased by twice its normal amount for a short duration.

The difference in strength wasn't immediately obvious, but it was still significant.

With each sub-advancement, his regeneration capabilities grew stronger. Now, both his arms could be turned into dark mist up to his shoulders.

To test his new strength, Liam took one of the inscribed blades and made a deep cut on his bicep.

Blood poured out onto the wooden floor below, but after just four minutes, his wound had completely healed – compared to before when it would take six to eight minutes for even his deepest wounds to reform.

His progress with his mental sphere and core were less dramatic, but he still hadn't used all of his pills and elixirs.

'Damn it,' Liam cursed in frustration. 'I always feel like I'm close to a breakthrough but it just never happens. I may have overestimated my progress.'

What Liam was forgetting was his age.

He was only three months away from his thirteenth birthday, yet he already possessed physical, mental, and battle prowess far beyond those of his peers.

'Well, it's only a matter of time,' he thought to himself. 'I'll get there eventually.'

Meanwhile, his skills in inscriptions and forging were slowly improving.

Liam had shifted to using basic sharpness inscriptions. They were a whole lot more complicated than the simple brightness enhancements, and he was nowhere near to succeeding in one.

It required him to visualize how sharp and precise the blade needed to be, how it would react to flesh or metal, and its rigidity. All these elements, and more, needed to be in harmony.

A failed attempt resulted in just weakening, or even shattering the entire blade.

…Compared to that, forgings were a lot more simpler. Liam used his original black blades Rogan had forged him as a reference, since he could see the beast-will inside it with his vision.

A week passed, and Liam left his cabin after a night of heavy training.

It was dead dark outside, but the view was breathtaking.

Nothing clouded the night sky, leaving the constellations in plain view, reflected across the seas. The sounds of waves crashing gave that sight a serene audio, and Liam found himself lost in the stars.

"You're finally outside," Jack said, leaning against the railing with a smoke-pipe in his mouth. He looked a bit worried seeing Liam's bloodshot eye and pale face. "I thought I'd never see you leave."

Liam waved his hand and leaned against the railing himself, peering out into the endless, dimly-illuminated ocean.

"Just busy."

Jack took a huff out of his smoke pipe and nodded.

"I can imagine. You're the youngest youth I've seen with a strength almost matching mine. Hardworking and talented ones are always rewarded, though."

Liam let out an inward chuckle.

Talent?

He wasn't talented in the least.

Everything he did was by his own two hands.

A tolerance for pain, an ambitious mindset, and indifference to killing helped.

Before Liam could reply, an ominous feeling washed over his senses, making him frown.

He shifted his furrowed eye to the oceanside. Jack did the same, a stern frown on his face.

There were only waves as far as they could see – nothing out of the ordinary.

Mental energy couldn't pierce through thick depths of water, but his eye picked up a shadowy figure trailing behind the ship right before—

BOOM!

A pack of sharks almost as big as the Darkwood ship burst from the water and smashed against the hull, knocking Liam and Jack upwards and chinking the ship.

As he flew through the air, Liam unsheathed his blades and ran them across the darkwood just in time to stop himself from falling overboard.

"Sharks!" Jack shouted from the top of his lungs, making quick gestures in the air that sped up the ship.

…Not fast enough, though – the sharks slapped their giant fins against the waters, propelling them forward.

Now that they were above the water, the true form of the sharks was clear to see.

Their bullet-shaped bodies were covered in dark-blue, hardened skin, with streamlined fins and large gills lining their sides. On the top, was a giant bent fin that glowed with a blue light.

Tiny, human-like eyes were set on either side of their massive heads, fixed on the ship with unrelenting focus.

With their maws wide open, rows upon rows of razor-sharp black teeth were visible inside.

As if their explosive strength wasn't enough, the sharks shot powerful beams of water from their mouths, each stream weakening the chinks in the ship's armor.

Panic and dread spread across Jack's face as he frantically pressed against the flat marble surface of the control panel, but to no avail.

"The controls… they're broken!" he cried out in despair.

Liam let out a grunt of annoyance, followed by another crash that violently wobbled everyone.

"Can you fix them?" Liam questioned with a hard frown.

Jack quickly nodded as he looked over the helm.

"I can, but I need time. The defense system of the ship could easily take care of them if I can fix it."

Liam nodded, then shifted his attention to the others.

Out of all of them, Nessa and Gerald looked the most scared, but Rin and Nord narrowed their eyes in focus.

'There's five of them. They're all peak Rank 3 Dozer Sharks, but their weaknesses are their fins and gills. We can win!'