Chapter 174: Power of Perception

Chapter 174: Power of Perception

“There are things known, and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”

Jim Morrison

The lesson Namir had knocked into me the hardest was to focus my senses while maintaining an awareness of sudden changes among the ridiculously wide range of sensory data my stats, traits and skills could provide me. It helped me have the mental stats to process them and the clarity to do it quickly. The beastkin’s build was first based around his senses, second dexterity to act on what he had sensed while tied for third and fourth came his mind and the clarity he required to make his reflexes instantaneous.

Unable to assign my free points, I lagged far behind his actual attributes, but my unheard-of traits helped me practice the lessons he had taught me. It did not hurt that I had more than one mind to calculate my options, and I spun them up. Together with Kai, Callen, and Caelus, we worked through my skills, building a HUD that displayed as much information as we could glean from the rapidly approaching enemies. Each mind spun up a different skill and added it to the HUD, building layers of information on top of my vision.

Retreating to my mental war room, I built the scenario—first sight. I attempted to inspect and attach levels to my opponents. Most slaves strapped to their oars were hidden from sight by the hull, but from the few on deck, they did not look like they would be a significant threat provided I kept out of their immediate reach.

Name: Saava

Level: 20

Metier: Slave

Age: 22

Strongest stat: Endurance

Name: Theodulus

Level: 20

Metier: Slave

Age: 24

Strongest stat: Endurance

My inspect skill had continued to level over the last year, and I could now understand how much health and stamina they had left. A vital skill when wearing down my cousins and galleys, it appeared. We had worn them down a lot, but they had more stamina left than we had mana, and rowing was not an option for us on our sailboat.

What was more interesting, though, was the captain's levels and his ‘advisors’ on the ship's prow. They had left the helm to another sailor to crowd the prow as they ran us down. Not only their levels but their metiers as well were unusual.

Name: Sinbad

Level: 52

Metier: Merchant Captain

Age: 35

Strongest stat: Dexterity

Name: Junaid

Level: 41

Metier: Warrior

Age: 35

Strongest stat: Strength

Name: Ramil

Level: 43

Metier: Sorceror

Age: 31

Strongest stat: Magic

Name: Farris

Level: 36

Metier: Rogue

We were certainly sailing against the current /watch?v=R4hDcd9fzRk&list=RDMM&index=1)

“Legends never die

When the world is calling you

Can you hear them screaming out your name?

Legends never die

They become a part of you

Every time you bleed for reaching greatness

Relentless you survive

They never lose hope when everything's cold

And the fighting's near

It's deep in their bones, they'll run into smoke

When the fire is fierce

Oh, pick yourself up, 'cause

Legends never die

Legends never die

When the world is calling you (the world is calling you)

Can you hear them screaming out your name?

Legends never die

They become a part of you (they become a part of you)

Every time you bleed for reaching greatness

Legends never die”

Against the Current, League of Legends and MAKO

After moving to the boat's prow, I pulled a fiddle from the storage, facing my audience for a quick bow before starting the subtle strumming that would slowly grow until it filled the air with its sound. Over the last year, our attempts to build a full orchestra have resulted in using magic to fill the most obvious gaps created by nearly no musically gifted individuals residing on our humble island. Lady Acacia was happy to experiment with building us wooden instruments and then enchanting them. Once played, this fiddle had been enchanted to continue with or without its musician.

Lowering myself out of their sight, I began drumming the rhythm on the hull itself. A little magic ‘Pulsumno’had the hull vibrating alongside my hits, amplifying the drums to sound far louder than they were once more helped along with my Spellcraft, ‘Amplificare’. My beats bounced across the waves to the galley following behind. I could tell by the shudder in the rhythm of the oars that I had caught their attention.

This was reinforced by the words overheard.

“I thought the halfling mage was a cleric, not a bard, based on his prayer earlier,” Sinbad complained. I was still focused on so much, and the immediate response to my rhythm caught my attention.

“Spellcraft and Spellsong both benefit from a little charisma,” Ramil answered. “Have them make a final push before he brings anything else into play. He is nearly within my range.” He promised.

But I was only starting the next stage of our plan; the monsters from the depths had yet to appear beneath us. Despite gaining a new skill, Sonar, something still needed to turn up on it. Biting the hand that feeds it was not working for me; it would take my whole body. At least getting wet was also the plan's next step, provided they didn’t swallow me whole as soon as I stepped into the water.

I also had to avoid being plucked from the water by the human monsters or slavers; as they passed, I needed a distraction, leading to my impromptu performance in the boat's prow.

“Legends never die.” I softly began the song, swiftly growing in strength and volume. Hopefully, I would be one after this performance and not another dead idiot—the difference is often only ever measured by success.

The drumming continued as I applied repetson to the hull. It was another hunting trick of Namir. You can record a sound, conversation, breathing into the stone and activate it far from your side as a diversion or as a lure; it was the magical evolution of a thrown stone. That did not stop me from developing it further, and with Lady Acacia’s help, it could now continue the rhythmic drumming on the hull with or without me.

I repeated this once more with my voice with another repetson.

I now had instruments, percussion and voice playing independently and out of sight of the enemies behind us on the galley. With my decoy built, it was time to slip into the water and make my move. Leaving them following my father and the sound of my voice, I rolled overboard unseen as he tacked once more. I watched from under the waves as he sailed out of sight, but not out of my senses

Now came the tricky part as the galley closed in on my position following in the wake of my father.

It was boy against boat!