Heightened Focus

Xia Lun's eyes flew open. Warm droplets of blood from a whip tearing through flesh struck his eyes along with a wounded sailor's scream and the cold rain.

He blinked.

The gritty sting felt like liquor poured into his eyes, but Xia Lun trembled with sheer delight.

His heartbeat suddenly quickened.

He wasn't excited because he enjoyed pain or had lost his mind. He was excited because this game was real—far more real than current technology should have been able to make it!

No contemporary game, or even one from the near future, could simulate the senses this perfectly.

Calling it a fake game felt wrong. It was more like he had crossed into another world!

The game itself was the best proof that supernatural powers existed.

Maybe there really was a cure for his illness!

Xia Lun took a deep breath and forced down his elation. Then he surveyed his surroundings from the corner of his eye.

He was at the stern, beside a dozen or so captive sailors. Together, they hauled on a massive cable that stretched the length of the ship. Like a sling, it held up the forecastle, which was on the verge of collapsing.

Three armed pirates stood behind the sailors. His angle of view and the rain mist kept Xia Lun from seeing their expressions clearly, but he had the distinct impression that the short Black pirate was especially excited and bloodthirsty. The man's eyes seemed to gleam red.

Xia Lun made no rash move. He lowered his head and kept hauling with the sailors. He still didn't understand the situation, and acting now could have unpredictable consequences.

Soaked with rain, the hemp rope was especially heavy. Its thumb-thick strands bit deep into Xia Lun's palms, the coarse fibers scraping his skin like sandpaper. Burning pain and the wet chill of the rain flooded his senses together.

Talk about fire and ice, Xia Lun thought.

Then, in the middle of a pull, he abruptly stopped.

A faint, familiar, deeply unsettling sense of suffocation rose from his lungs, like an iron hook snagging a fish by the gills.

Suffocation. Pain. Dizziness...

Xia Lun's heart sank.

The special medication he had taken before entering the game had stopped working!

That meant his suppressed lung disease was about to flare up. Once it fully returned, he would lose all ability to move.

In a situation this dangerous, that meant death. The bloodthirsty pirates would probably throw him overboard!

What do I do?

His thoughts raced to the medicine for lung disease in the Wooden Box.

One bottle would keep the disease from affecting him for a month.

If he got the Wooden Box, he could temporarily escape its effects!

There was just one problem: the Wooden Box he had spent a fortune on wasn't with him.

First, I need to find the Wooden Box with my things in it. It can't be far. It has to be on deck, Xia Lun thought. But I can't just look behind me. If the pirates notice, I'm dead.

He endured the suffocating sensation and the wounded sailor's feeble moans, tightened his grip on the cable, and kept pulling.

An opportunity soon presented itself.

"Stop howling! You're driving me crazy!" the short Black pirate screamed. "Why do you have to keep making noise? Why? Shut up! Shut up!"

As he spoke, he furiously raised his whip and lashed the wounded sailor.

The captives instinctively looked back. Xia Lun turned with them.

For a moment, time seemed to slow.

The clamor around Xia Lun rapidly faded. Wind, rain, curses, crying, and the faint screams from the hold all vanished. He felt detached from the entire world.

He could clearly see the Black pirate's excited, vicious grin and every blood vessel in his yellowed eyes. He could see the rain shattered by the whip, round droplets of blood spraying outward, and shards of spectacles bursting apart like silver flowers.

His gaze swept over the three guards' rain-soaked matchlocks, throwing knives, signal flares, and whips.

He could even see the tiny changes in their skin as raindrops struck the backs of their hands. Everything was clear, and his mind absorbed it all at incredible speed.

Since his rebirth, Xia Lun had found it easy to enter this state of Heightened Focus. It took a considerable toll on his body, though.

Before he developed lung disease, he could enter it at most three times a day, even when well rested. Since falling ill, he had rarely used it. Exhausting himself could kill him.

He looked farther ahead. In the next instant, his pupils contracted.

He saw the Wooden Box.

The pale-yellow box sat atop a stack of barrels holding tools and rope, in front of the deckhouse near the bow. It was too far away. He couldn't reach it before the pirates reacted.

He needed to wait for an opening. When the next huge wave struck and everyone lost their balance, the deck would descend into chaos. That would be his chance.

Once he had a weapon, Xia Lun was confident he could take control of the deck. The pirates' matchlocks were useless in a downpour.

Xia Lun lowered his eyes and withdrew his gaze.

As he left the focused state, the roar of the rain came rushing back, accompanied by a fierce pain in the blood vessels of his head. It hit him like a tide.

At the same time, the mild tightness in his lungs became the agony of drowning. As he breathed in, he could almost hear the muffled pop of capillaries bursting inside them.

"Why are you standing there?" the pirate overseer barked behind him. "Keep it up, and you're next!"

He swung his whip as he spoke, catching Xia Lun across the back.

Flesh split open. Seawater ran along the blades set into the whip and into the wound. The moment the cold salt water touched raw flesh, scorching pain flared.

Xia Lun clenched his fists and made no sound.

Angry as he was, losing his temper now would ruin everything. It wasn't time to act.

"The mast's in trouble! Shorty, get over here and fix it!" the pirate captain called through the storm. "Stop fucking whipping people! If this wreck capsizes, none of us survive! Move!"

The Black overseer's excited, heavy breathing stopped. He instinctively took two steps back.

"Why not make Da Lun do it..." he muttered.

He really doesn't want that job, Xia Lun realized.

The mast stood amidships, already swaying precariously in the gale. A visible wedge-shaped crack in it seemed to be widening.

Reinforcing the mast would be difficult and dangerous.

But looked at another way, this was the perfect opportunity!

Xia Lun didn't hesitate. "I was the ship's carpenter," he called out. "I can fix the mast!"

He turned toward the pirates behind him as he spoke.

Thunder cracked, and stark white lightning lit Xia Lun's face.

The Black overseer jumped. A moment later, he recovered and broke into a delighted grin. "You're a carpenter?"

"He's not the carpenter! The carpenter died ages ago. He's the navigator!" a captive sailor shouted.

"We're short on time. To secure the mast, we need to tie another Pani Knot with the cable for now. Once we're through the storm, we can redo the counterweight."

Xia Lun acted as though he hadn't heard the accusation. He met the overseer's eyes and spoke calmly.

"You're a carpenter too..."

"Then do it your way!" The Black overseer was just as willing to ignore the captive's shout. He avoided Xia Lun's gaze and cut him off. "You heard the captain. Go!"

The first rule of a bluff was to say something people wanted to believe.

Xia Lun's story was full of holes. But if someone offered the Black overseer a way out of a dangerous repair job, he was ready to seize it.

"I need tools," Xia Lun said, deliberately slowing his words. "Where are they?"

"Stop dawdling like a little girl!" the female captain shouted through the wind again. "If you won't go, let the one with guts do it! Either way, hurry the fuck up!"

"Keep pushing me, and I'll kill you someday..." the overseer muttered. But as the captain continued shouting, he gave in.

"Over there, beside the deckhouse. That stack of barrels. The spare cable's there too!" The Black overseer made no effort to hide his displeasure as he pointed toward the deckhouse near the bow. "You can grab what you need on your way to the mast."

A vicious look suddenly crossed his face. He raised his whip and lashed the sailor who had spoken up.

Crack!

The overseer grinned with excitement again, his swagger restored.

"Thank you."

Xia Lun thanked him quietly and looked away. Then he hurried past the guard and walked steadily toward his Wooden Box.

He showed none of his excitement. Xia Lun knew that the closer he came to success, the more careful he had to be.

His boots splashed through puddles on the deck. Soon he reached the middle of the ship.

Movement made blood seep from the whip wound on his back. It fell with the rain onto the deck and trickled down into the hold.

Xia Lun ignored the pain. The Wooden Box was much closer now.

"Fuck, why hasn't Da Lun brought up the sextant yet?" the captain's voice cut through the rain. "Why's it gone quiet below?... Something's wrong. First Mate, take some men down and check."

Another flash of lightning briefly illuminated the pitch-black deck.

A strange sound, like flesh squirming, suddenly rose above the pounding rain.

"What's that?" a pirate cried behind him. "Old witch's fingers, look to leeward!"

"Off the side, seven o'clock! There's a monster!" the usually silent Black first mate called from farther away.

"Attack!" the captain roared.

Everything changed at once!

Xia Lun knew something had gone wrong, but he didn't even look. He bent low and charged forward!

Whatever was happening, getting the medicine and a weapon mattered most!

As he sprinted, he saw a pirate snatch up a short-handled harpoon and rush toward the ship's side with a howl.

Less than two seconds later came the sickening crack of bone. Half a mangled corpse flew back, trailing a long string of entrails like a blood-soaked kite with its string cut. It slammed into the mast ahead of Xia Lun.

Boom!

Thunder tore through the rain. The already failing mast groaned under the impact, its wedge-shaped wound widening rapidly. It was about to fall.

In the white flash, Xia Lun saw a huge, writhing, lurching tentacle. It seemed to belong to some kind of mollusk. Its slick, viscous black surface looked half like muscle fiber and half like rotting fat. Rows of short, quivering, barbed feelers lined its sides like bristles.

This was plainly some kind of supernatural monster.

Several pirates tried to fire, but the rain kept them from lighting their matchcords.

Then the monster opened crimson compound eyes like an insect's. They were packed across its crawling bulk like slashed wounds. The tangled array fixed on the enemies ahead, and in the next instant, slick tendrils struck like spears, smashing several heads apart.

Red, white, and pink matter spattered across the deck with the rain.

Xia Lun stepped over a headless remnant still twitching on the planks, snatched a short-handled axe from the corpse's chest, and kept running.

Warm blood still coated the handle, but the axe's solid weight gave Xia Lun a little comfort.

At least he had a chance to fight back now.

"Gunner, get a cannon from the second deck! Blast this thing!" The captain's voice came and went amid the storm and the monster's squirming. "First Mate, spread everyone out!"

The captain's orders made sense, but the entire ship had descended into hysterical chaos. No one obeyed.

The most reckless were already dead. The timid scattered like headless chickens, wailing as they ran. Most of the others had yet to realize the monster was there.

Xia Lun hurried toward the forecastle, closing the distance in quick strides. Only a dozen or so steps separated him from the Wooden Box.

Then he caught a terrible sight from the corner of his eye. All seven of the monster's compound eyes had turned toward him.

Xia Lun looked at the enormous creature. Man and monster stared straight at each other, nine eyes in all!

It had singled him out, and for the first time, he saw its main body clearly.

The monster looked like an irregular mass of black tumors. Bursting, horny cysts sagged from its bulk, coated in whitish mucus. Four giant tentacles emerged from an abdomen made of cysts and tumors, drifting slowly like ribbons in a girl's hair.

The powerful creature looked ready to attack!

Thump, thump... Thump, thump...

His mouth went dry and his vision narrowed. As his heartbeat sounded far away, fear, defiance, and a trace of despair surged up with a chill from the soles of his feet.

In the next instant, anger and a savage urge to fight drove those thoughts away!

Xia Lun gripped the short-handled axe tight.

Better to die on his feet than on his knees!

Kill!

He never wasted time pitying himself. In that split second, he made his choice.

Adrenaline surged, and he entered Heightened Focus again.

Warm blood seeped from his nose, the corners of his eyes, and his pores. He had no time to care.

His gaze swept over the monster's thrashing tentacles, its crimson compound eyes, and the failing mast in front of it.

Xia Lun stopped short. He lowered his shoulder, bent his arm and wrist, and pressed his thumb lightly against the edge of the axe handle.

Then he drove off the deck and twisted at the waist, sending the force up through his spine as he hurled the axe at the failing mast several yards away!

Striking the monster wouldn't help. Bringing down the mast would!

The instant he threw the axe, Xia Lun dove forward without waiting to see if it hit.

Whoosh! Something sharp cut through the air above him as he fell.

The tentacle, bristling with barbed feelers, swept over his head. Round drops of blood and strands of hair sprayed across the deck.

A tremendous crack of splitting wood followed. The heavy mast collapsed, falling straight toward the rampaging monster.

The whole ship shook!

A piercing shriek burst out, so sharp it hurt his ears!

"Screee—!"

Xia Lun struggled to lift his head. Half the mast had driven straight into three of the monster's compound eyes like a dragon-slaying lance.

Thick, sour-smelling fluid gushed from the wounds like a fountain. Pus and writhing, rubbery matter splashed onto the rain-soaked deck.

The monster wasn't invincible. It could be hurt!

Startled cries rose from the panicked crowd.

That had some impact, Xia Lun thought.

Boom!

Another bolt of lightning lit the darkness.

The monster staggered backward. Perhaps the pain kept it from noticing the captain poised atop the forecastle.

"Nice work fixing that mast, Carpenter!" the captain shouted, snatching up a long-handled axe.

A second later, she jumped from the forecastle and landed astride the monster's head!

Her boots pressed against its black, horny hide. She swayed twice, then found her balance.

With a savage grin, she swung her axe and smashed another of its eyes. She hauled the weapon back, hooking the blade through the wound. Black gelatinous matter sprayed everywhere!

She swung again!

The monster thrashed its tendrils wildly, shredding the curtain of rain above it. But no matter how hard it struck, it couldn't reach the top of its own head. That was a blind spot in both its sight and its attacks!

For the moment, the monster had no time to deal with Xia Lun.

Only then did Xia Lun let himself breathe easier. He closed his eyes for two seconds, feeling the cool air squeeze down his windpipe and into his lungs, and recovered a little strength.

He opened his eyes.

Between his lung disease and repeatedly entering a state of heightened focus, he looked as though he were drenched in blood. The terrible bleeding had left pool after pool of steaming blood on the deck.

Xia Lun wiped the blood seeping down his face with the back of his hand, planted both hands on the deck, and hauled himself up from its slick, blood-soaked planks.

Then his bloodshot eyes locked on the Wooden Box just inches away.

He pressed the latch with his forefinger and nudged the lid open with his thumb.

Xia Lun snatched out the medicine bottle and drained it in one gulp.

The sweet, cool liquid ran down his throat. The next instant, a roar seemed to erupt in the back of his skull, and a chill poured down his spine.

"Thump, thump... thump, thump..."

His heartbeat grew steady and strong again. The weakness brought on by lack of oxygen faded beneath a swelling sense of vitality, as though every cell in his body had been nourished and renewed.

The agony that had seemed to seep from his very bones vanished. Even breathing felt free and effortless.

"Phew..." Xia Lun let out a long breath. He felt reborn.

The process had been rough, but he had accomplished what he set out to do.

After a brief look around, Xia Lun picked a weapons belt off a corpse and fastened it around his waist. Then he took out the bullets and slotted them into the belt one by one.

Finally, he took the Revolver and Short Sword from the box.

Gun in his left hand, sword in his right, he felt the cold grips against his palms and a rush of exhilaration.

He glanced at the edge of his vision and discovered that a long string of messages had flashed across the Game Panel during the fierce fight.

[Specialization detected. Specialization confirmed: Cold Weapon Throwing (Basic).]

[Cold Weapon Throwing (Proficient) (Progress: 2% → 3%): You know how to throw axes, daggers, darts, lassos, and other cold weapons correctly, but you are not yet an expert. Still, if you entered an ordinary darts or lasso competition, you might have a shot at the regional title.]

[Note: Combat is a shortcut to rapidly improving Specialization progress. Memory Points are another.]

Even before entering the game, Xia Lun had trained in a range of skills. Cold Weapon Throwing was not one of his strengths.

What he truly excelled at was shooting. He estimated that his Firearms Use was at least a tier above his Cold Weapon Throwing.

[Specialty detected. Specialty confirmed: Familiarity with Pain.]

[Familiarity with Pain: Physical pain and mental torment have long been old friends of yours. Your pain threshold is far higher than most people's, making you unlikely to go into shock from pain.]

Xia Lun touched the blood-soaked back of his head and quickly scanned downward.

[Skill detected. Skill confirmed: Heightened Focus.]

[Heightened Focus: At the cost of severe, permanent damage to your Mental Health, you can voluntarily enter a state of Heightened Focus. In this state, your awareness and ability to think improve, and your thoughts accelerate. Given your health, you can safely use this skill up to three times per day.]

[Safe uses remaining today: 1/3]

[Note: Give yourself another Revolver and you could play a sharpshooter in a Western—high noon has come!]

Severe, permanent damage to his Mental Health?! Xia Lun was stunned.

Before falling ill, he had entered a state of Heightened Focus almost every day while working. If the Game Panel was telling the truth, his mental state must already be on the brink...

He instinctively checked the panel's reading for his Mental Health—"Mental Health: Serenity."

"Maybe living two lives made my mind a little tougher than everyone else's?" Xia Lun wondered.

He shook the thought away and resolved not to enter Heightened Focus again unless he had to.

After briefly taking stock of what he had gained, Xia Lun drew a deep breath.

By his reckoning, if the pirates won at a heavy cost, he could conserve his strength.

Once the monster was dead, his earlier contribution and the overwhelming firepower of his Revolver would let him take charge—perhaps even seize control of the entire ship.

If the badly wounded monster gained the upper hand instead, leaving the pirates on the brink, his new equipment would give him a fighting chance.

Whatever happened, once he had the Wooden Box, he had effectively secured his position.

And once the monster died, he could search carefully for supernatural clues. After all, his main reason for playing this game was to cure his disease.

Perhaps a supernatural creature like this held some clue to curing his terminal illness...

In short, his reckless move had put him in a position of enormous advantage. The risk had paid off handsomely.

Put simply, the advantage was his!

With that thought, Xia Lun turned back to the battle, feeling rather at ease.

The captain was still attacking the monster at point-blank range.

The monster seemed to have changed tactics, though. It had closed the eye on its main body, and the axe, its edge already battered dull, could no longer hurt its slimy, hornlike hide.

Even so, it looked as though the pirates would beat the monster down eventually.

Just then, Xia Lun spotted something strange.

The First Mate exchanged a glance with one of her trusted followers, who nodded.

"Da Lun and his lot are finished. Geliide has no one left to back her up. Do it."

The next instant, a flash of bright silver spun through the corner of Xia Lun's eye.

A Throwing Knife cut through the rain straight toward the captain. Caught off guard, she took the spinning blade in her shoulder. It tore through her cloak and sank deep.

The captain cried out in pain. Her weapon slipped from her hand, and she fell from the monster's head!

Xia Lun recognized the Throwing Knife. It was the short Black overseer's backup weapon!

Almost simultaneously, the Black First Mate atop the deckhouse pulled a flintlock pistol from her coat. Black powder flared, a deafening shot cracked, and blood burst from the captain's back.

Xia Lun froze for a moment before he realized what was happening.

The pirates had mutinied!

The monster was not even dead, and the First Mate had already started fighting her own side!

Xia Lun stared, dumbfounded. He could not help making a dry joke. "I don't understand!"