Special Memories

The sea breeze was cool, and the coarse wind seemed capable of condensing salt crystals.

Xia Lun sat in the hammock, feeling the sea breeze blowing in through the window. He blinked, and then a tide-like soreness spread through his eyeballs and eyelids. When he closed his eyes, he seemed to hear the wet pop of capillaries bursting.

"How long has it been?"

He clutched his head. The arteries around his brain throbbed violently, while scenes of the dream sword fights flashed and spun endlessly through his mind like strobe lights capable of triggering epilepsy.

A full thousand rounds of fierce, unceasing sword fights had left him feeling somewhat detached from reality. At that moment, he even felt as though ages had passed.

"Breathe... in... breathe... out..." Xia Lun closed his eyes and focused on the flow of air through his nostrils, using meditation to slowly ease his current pain.

Only after quite a while did he manage to rein in the thoughts boiling from his battle memories. He took another deep breath and turned to look at the pendulum clock beside the hammock.

The clock's hour hand pointed at nine. It was currently nine in the evening.

"Last time, I also slept for exactly nine hours," Xia Lun thought. "But the time I experienced in the dream this time was much longer than before."

He shook his head, tossing irrelevant thoughts from his mind. Then he calmed himself and silently summoned the game panel.

"Time to take stock of the gains."

Although he was well aware of how much his swordsmanship had improved—after all, those gains had been earned bit by bit through countless sword fights—he still looked forward to seeing the quantified results.

[Proficiency Progress!]

[After prolonged, rigorous training, your mastery of swordsmanship has increased significantly.]

[Cold Weapon Use—Swords (Proficient) (0% → 2%): You are an undisputed master of the sword, capable of employing all manner of sword techniques with ease. You particularly excel at one-handed swords, and your fighting style is cold and efficient. In any era, you possess the skill to contend for a regional swordsmanship championship.]

"My swordsmanship has reached the Proficient level." Xia Lun nodded to himself. "Now, aside from firearms, I should count as fairly skilled in close combat with cold weapons too."

"That gives me even better odds against the monster. Even if it uses its tentacles to strike at me, I can dodge..."

"Still, judging by this, the higher the proficiency level, the slower the improvement. That fits common sense."

Xia Lun's gaze moved further down.

[During this dream entry, you did not enter a navigation-related memory. Therefore, the proficiency "Comprehensive Navigation" did not progress. Currently available memories: 1/2]

"It'd be stranger if endlessly fencing also improved my navigation skills."

Xia Lun complained inwardly as he casually continued reading.

Yet the next moment, he could not help blinking.

Beneath the countless streams of cobalt-blue information were several lines of golden text!

[You have significantly altered the original course of the memory. Additional proficiency progress!]

[Cold Weapon Use—Swords (Proficient) (2% → 28%): You have begun to gradually form your own personal style with the sword. Given enough time, your swordsmanship will be sufficient to reach the Mastery level.]

Seeing that exaggerated increase, Xia Lun was quite surprised. But he quickly realized that it was the reward for throwing himself wholeheartedly into the dream.

Even within a dream, the gains from training seriously with both mind and effort far exceeded the gains from merely wasting time and grinding proficiency.

"Judging from the proficiency values, I'm now a little better than the first mate." Xia Lun drew his shortsword and casually flourished it.

At that moment, the shortsword did not feel like an external object. It seemed to have become an extension of his body and will.

He sheathed the shortsword and continued downward.

[The memory's course has greatly diverged. You became the chief apprentice and fulfilled the wish of the memory source, the "First Mate."]

[Special Proficiency Memory Unlocked!]

[Special Memory: Courtly Tournament (1/1)]

[Note: When you fulfill the wish of a memory source within a memory, you may obtain a "Special Memory." A "Special Memory" is a possibility extrapolated from the memory itself. By completing a "Special Memory," you may obtain additional proficiencies, specialties, or even skills.]

"Huh?" Xia Lun was startled.

He impatiently continued reading.

[Special Memories cannot be entered through dreams in instances.]

"What a shame." Xia Lun shook his head, thoughts racing. "But I won't have time to enter dreams anyway."

"Entering dreams consumes a great deal of energy, and the ship is only two days from Perilous Earth Island now. The nearest island is even just over a day's sail away. The monster could make its move at any time. I need to preserve enough energy."

"I'll think about this so-called Special Memory after the instance ends."

He took a deep breath, stood up, and walked to the door.

"Time to check on the final preparations."

The night was deep, and clouds concealed the stars and moon. The ship crashed through dark waves, spray splashing across the deck with a rush of water.

Because the pirates rested in shifts, there were not many people on deck. Even so, the deck remained busy. After all, a dozen or so sailors were still far too few for such a large ship.

Xia Lun stood by the door and observed everyone's movements.

Near the bow, the old man was squatting on the ground, carefully fiddling with a wooden barrel. Only one person stood beside him, and that person looked extremely nervous, his gaze drifting toward the barrel from time to time, as though the old man's barrel was very dangerous.

Could it be a barrel of gunpowder? Xia Lun thought.

As he pondered that, he continued forward.

Midship, the priest, who should have been resting during his shift, was not resting. He stood before an enormous cooking pot, gripping a ladle and vigorously stirring the food inside.

People crowded around the priest. It was impossible to tell whether they had come for the food or for the priest's morale-boosting speeches.

The soup in the pot burbled, and the air was filled with the smoky aroma of cured meat and the fresh scent of sage.

Xia Lun felt the rolling heat in the air seep into his skin, slowly warming and melting away his mental exhaustion and the sense of detachment brought on by dream training.

He stopped for a while. Amid the mouthwatering scent of meat, his connection to this world grew close again, and the world seemed to come alive once more.

When the pirates saw Xia Lun, they all waved to him, and he returned every greeting.

To some extent, many of the surviving pirates had come to recognize Xia Lun. In three days, he had already gained a bit of prestige.

He shook his head and continued onward.

Near the cargo grating not far from the priest, the doctor still looked foolish with his pointed head. He was currently tying ropes alongside a crewman whose face was covered in rotten flesh, pimples, and boils.

Perhaps because the doctor often made mistakes, the pockmarked crewman would occasionally berate him, his expression as dark as a storm. Yet when the pockmarked crewman saw Xia Lun, he immediately put on a smile.

Xia Lun gave the pockmarked crewman a friendly smile, and the crewman awkwardly waved back.

"My respects to you," the crewman said rather awkwardly.

Xia Lun's smile did not change. "My respects to you as well. By the way, I've been a little forgetful lately. I've forgotten your name."

The pockmarked crewman froze for a moment before saying, "Daolunte."

"Come to think of it, you really do look like the old captain now. You're even the same when it comes to forgetfulness." Daolunte lowered his head. "Undying Sacred Flame... what kind of fate will we fall into from now on?"

The doctor suddenly hugged his shoulders and began chuckling softly, trembling all over. His "heh heh heh" laughter was strange and gentle.

Xia Lun glanced at the doctor, then cast a sidelong glance at Daolunte before asking casually, "Do you know who aboard this ship used to study occultism?"

The monster had the Prayerbook of the Drowned stuck in its body, so its original identity was very likely that of an occult researcher.

"Why are you asking that?" Daolunte said instinctively. "Hmm... as for occultism, those passengers from Scarlet Lantern Island seemed to know quite a lot. I remember stealing a human skull from their room once."

Xia Lun narrowed his eyes slightly. "Thanks. I'm rather interested in occultism too."

"Heh heh heh, the Abyssal Hand truly exists." The doctor chuckled softly, still speaking in disjointed fragments. "A living example, freed from the shackles of matter... it's hard not to be interested. The Path of Ascension..."

Xia Lun nodded and walked away.

Thus, he continued walking and observing until he returned to the stern.

Under the pitch-black night sky, a point of orange fire flickered faintly at the helm above him.

Xia Lun looked up and saw Captain Geliide holding a pipe in her right hand and flint in her left, staring sideways at the dark sea as though her soul had left her body.

Perhaps hearing Xia Lun's footsteps, Captain Geliide slowly turned her head.

"You're up pretty early." She spoke in a teasing tone. "What, want to switch shifts already?"

"If you're tired, we can indeed switch now. After tonight, the monster may turn hostile at any time. There won't be much time to sleep then." As Xia Lun spoke, he leaned against the railing.

The captain raised her pipe and took a shallow puff. "So tonight is our last safe window—forget about switching shifts. I was joking. I've long been used to this kind of nonstop high-intensity work."

As she spoke, her nostrils twitched and she slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke. "Want to talk?"

"What, are you nervous?" Xia Lun turned to look at Captain Geliide.

"Nervous?" Geliide scoffed and shot Xia Lun a sidelong glance. "At worst, we'll get our guts ripped out. Either that Black Sea Cucumber dies, or we die. What's there to be nervous about? We made our bet, and we'll accept the outcome."

Xia Lun said nothing. Silence fell between them. Captain Geliide swallowed smoke puff after puff, so quickly it was as though she were eating. Between the flickering orange embers, a gloomy and restless atmosphere quietly spread.

"Fuck." Captain Geliide suddenly cursed under her breath. "Fine, I am nervous. Execution isn't scary. Waiting for execution is the irritating part. Whatever fate is coming, let it come already."

"Anxiety is normal." Xia Lun looked out at the boundless ocean beside the ship, his tone calm. "To be honest, I'm a little anxious too."

"Can't tell at all." Geliide shook her head and took another hard drag. "If you ask me, you're the type with no emotional fluctuations at all. Hey, I'm not judging, but you don't smoke, you don't drink, and you don't have any hobbies. You're practically like those self-torturing ascetics the priest keeps going on about..."

"Don't slander me. I have hobbies." Xia Lun shook his head.

Geliide deliberately used an exaggerated tone. "Don't tell me you simply enjoy killing people?"

"..." Xia Lun was speechless. "Of course not. For example, I really like telling jokes."

"But those jokes aren't funny at all." Geliide complained. "Come to think of it, we won't need to change course for the next few days. We can just let the ship drift with the wind, so no one really needs to stay at the helm anymore."

Xia Lun did not respond. He thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you know what the Commodore is afraid of?"

—Although much of the evidence now pointed to the monster being the Commodore, Xia Lun still had some doubts, because the timing of those clues was too strange.

Before he heard the title "Commodore," there had been no way to trace clues to the monster's identity. Yet after the doctor mentioned that title, all sorts of clues had begun surfacing as though they had been delivered straight to him.

This could certainly be attributed to good luck, but Xia Lun felt that it did not quite make sense.

Still, aside from the Commodore, there were no other reasonable possibilities for the monster's identity. So despite his doubts, Xia Lun ultimately asked the question.

Geliide did not answer immediately. She took a deep drag from her pipe, then excitedly licked her cracked lips.

"That monster became the Commodore?" Her voice trembled, unable to hide her excitement. "Fuck, that beast isn't dead? Wonderful!"

"Wonderful?" Xia Lun was immediately taken aback.

"Do you know that during these twenty-odd years on the run, every single moment, I've wanted to cut that beast's throat open with my own hands?"

Geliide's voice grew more excited. At that moment, all her usual scheming was gone, leaving only pure emotion and killing intent.

"When I took this whaling ship and found no trace of that bastard, I was actually disappointed. I deeply regretted not being able to skin him alive myself. So, is that monster the Commodore?"

"At present, there's a strong possibility that the Commodore is the monster."

Geliide abruptly raised her head. Her chestnut eyes widened, and her scar-covered face twisted into something savage and terrifying. Not a trace of anxiety remained. "Good, good, good! Wonderful!"

"New grudges and old debts, we'll settle them all at once." She muttered darkly as she pulled a doll made of dry willow branches from her jacket.

"The Commodore fears the Wicker Man." Geliide suppressed her excitement. "It took me more than a decade to figure that out. They say he finally lost power and fell because he saw the Wicker Man and briefly lost his mind. When do we make our move and kill it?"

"At the latest, the day after tomorrow. At the earliest, tomorrow." Xia Lun fell silent for a moment before continuing. "Also, I have another idea. I roughly know the range of the monster's infiltrators now, so we can make some preparations and catch them with a counterattack."

Geliide nodded excitedly. "I'll follow your lead. I can't wait to have my revenge!"