Salt and Blood [A Pirate LitRPG]

No one really knows why the second stage of core advancement is so different to the rest. Chalk it up to a quirk of the tide

-Excerpt from 'A Study of the Arcane Core' by Professor Biller

Rose had never felt a pressure this great. Not inside her body, anyway. It was insane and she felt as if she might sink into the sand.

Awakening her core had nothing on this. It wasn't quite painful. Instead it felt as if there was a huge gravity in the centre of her abdomen that wanted to compress her entire body into a ball and squeeze it until it was as small as a grain of sand.

That would be painful, of course, but it wasn't yet. All of the energy which had gathered to flow into Jason now hungrily surged towards her.

She wasn't quite sure how to proceed. She'd been compressing her energy as a makeshift way to free up space in her core, but was that actually the correct path forwards?

Given that it had triggered her advancement it should be. Rose didn't have any other ideas so she decided to simply pursue what she'd begun.

Either she would fail and explode or she would advance to the next stage, emerging far stronger than before. The timing was a stroke of fate, really.

Given their recent exploits, Minenblum was sure to send an officer stronger than a mere Commodore for their next invasion. As strong as she was for her age and origins, she was far from ready to contend with a rear admiral.

With a flowing core, that is. If she advanced her core then the quality and quantity of her arcane energy would increase exponentially. That in turn would make all of her techniques far more powerful.

Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 20 > 21

So, she threw her focus inwards and allowed everything outside her body to fade away. The last thing she noticed was Everyn rushing over. He wouldn't be much help, but it was heartwarming nonetheless.

If only Trent, Nasar, or Yasmin were here to help her. She clenched her teeth. They never would be. Well, Yasmin was still alive but she'd made it clear she wanted nothing more to do with piracy.

No, Rose was alone.

And in a strange way, that was perfect.

Her goal had always been to become one of the greatest pirates to sail the seas and forge her own legend. So, why shouldn't she claw her way to every achievement with her own strength?

A pirate needed a crew, but when it came down to it, they only had themselves to rely on. More and more energy flowed into her body, pushing open the entryways in the violent scramble.

All of it was directed in a smooth flow through her circuits and towards her core, where she gathered it towards the centre and compressed it more and more. At first it was like a liquid, but the more she squeezed, the less it flowed.

Rose tried to remember what they'd called the next stage. It eluded her. Knowing the names might give her an idea of what to aim for.

So she just continued to compress her arcane energy, as it had seemed to be working until now. It wasn't too hard at first.

The energy was liquid, all too easy to squeeze into a denser form. However, it was too slow. Energy surged into her body faster than she was able to make space for it.

It didn't take long for her arcane circuits to swell under the pressure. Even improved as they were from her blessing and usage of divine energy, along with her plethora of traits, Rose winced at the pain.

However, there was nothing for her to do but persevere. What was the alternative, to die an ignoble death because she was too cowardly to attempt her advancement without guidance?

Stolen story; please report.

Rose wasn't a coward. She was a pirate.

And yes, many pirates were cowardly scumbags, but she intended to follow in the footsteps of Saltbeard. He was a hero, a man who never turned down a fight.

So Rose would fight against the world itself and forge her core anew. With the strength she gained from this, perhaps defeating Minenblum wouldn't be the foolish hope of a naive girl, but an achievable reality.

Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 21 > 22
Arcane Attunement 24 > 25

You have earned a new trait!
Arcane Body: You have bathed in the power of the arcane and it has left its mark. The energy of the world spills from your circuits and empowers your flesh, tempering it against damage and decay. Even your body can become a conduit for the arcane arts, if you know how to use it.

Rose smiled. Then she immediately coughed, pain wracking her chest. The new trait would help her immensely. It had come at a perfect time.

Fragments of knowledge entered her mind, telling her how she could use her new trait. It was strange. It felt as if she'd known her entire life how to open orifices in her circuits to spill magic into her muscles and bones, yet the ability had only been granted to her moments before.

It was a strange ability. Painful. The moment she opened holes across her body, allowing arcane energy to flood her muscles and bones, they erupted in fiery agony.

It felt as if a thousand burning needles were being pulled through her flesh. Rose cried out in pain, falling backwards. However, she refused to give in. What was a little pain?

She had suffered far worse at the hands of her enemies. She had fought a colossal sea serpent in a convergence. She had bested three commodores in single combat and she'd never had a lick of formal training.

Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 22 > 23
Endurance 15 > 16

Rose clenched her jaw and sat upright, continuing to compress the energy in her core. At the beginning, when she'd been idly messing while helping Jason awaken, her arcane energy had the consistency of water.

It flowed through her circuits and dispersed in the air around them, seeking the areas with the least magical pressure. Manipulating it wasn't difficult, but it often meandered on its way to follow her commands.

Would compressing it make it more difficult to manipulate? Logic said yes. A solid was immovable. However, it felt right. So Rose continued to squeeze.

The pressure in her abdomen increased to the point that she felt as if the lower and upper halves of her body were two separate entities. Below her chest it felt as if her body was being ground and wrung out like a wet cloth, forced into a shape it didn't wish to hold.

Above that, the pressure was entirely mental. Her temple throbbed with pain and she felt a migraine coming on. However, giving in now would mean death. Not only for her, but for everyone close enough to get caught in the detonation of her core.

The pain in her body from allowing arcane energy to leak from her circuits had lessened. It was now a background sting, rather than an all-encompassing inferno of agony.

A closer inspection revealed this to be because her flesh had started to absorb some of the energy. In doing so, it seemed to strengthen it against the damage caused by unchecked arcane power.

What the benefits of this were, Rose was ignorant. However, the description of the trait had said her body could become a conduit for the arcane if she utilised it correctly. The implications of that statement were vast, but not something she could spare focus for right now.

All that mattered was that allowing the energy to temper her body in turn gave her more freedom to continue compressing the energy in her core. And, thanks to the new trait's assistance, Rose had finally made some progress.

Rather than struggling to handle the energy flowing in, she had compressed the energy to the point that there was empty space in her core. She had taken the first step towards advancing.

Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 23 > 24
Arcane Attunement 25 > 26

The tide clearly approved of her determination, as it was constantly splashing in her ears. Every level in the two skills lessened the burden of pain and slightly improved the deftness of her control over the rampaging energy in her body.

The sudden advancement had taken her by surprise and thrust her into peril, but now that she had wrested control away from the chaotic energies, Rose was satisfied. The next step was to continue compressing her energy until… she wasn't sure. She would follow her instincts.

That was the smart choice. Rose remembered one lesson that Trent and Nasar had drilled into her more than any other when she was about to awaken her core.

Every advancement is an opportunity to determine your strength. Don't grow greedy, as arcane energy can just as easily tear you apart as forge you into something greater, but the more energy you can absorb, the greater your power.

So, Rose, being the smart and diligent girl that she was, followed the advice of her seniors. She had brought the raging energies to a standstill and found a path back to safety.

And she tossed it away. No ordinary advancement would give her the power she needed. Legends weren't built by average pirates. Rose reached out, feeling the endless mass of arcane energy in the air that hadn't yet been drawn in by her advancement.

Then she pulled.