Chapter 8: Pirate Elite

The pirate lackeys had dropped a leather chest piece and a basic stat ring(+2 dex). While we waited on the new Pirates to get close to us we split the loot. I only wanted the ring, so I gave the rest to Bloom.

I had a goofy smile on my face which caused Bloom to ask, "What's your deal? You ok?"

I laughed , "Yeah, I'm just having fun. Typically I just lay in a bed, but now I feel....super-human."

She smiled, "Oh yeah, you wouldn't know. Those in the pro circuit call the effect different things. It's one of the reasons so many people sign up for these wars, they are addicted. Twenty years ago was the first war they implemented the system. You probably noticed that when you first logged in your reaction speed was about normal not diminished right? "

I nodded, "Yeah which was strange . It was like I had my old ability again. ".

The pirates were now nearing the shore.

Bloom continued since we still had a minute, " So if you were a pro athlete you would start with your physical stats and normal reaction speed, but as you gain stats the game assists your brain in becoming above average. This is why you feel super-human. You just wait till later in the game when you have real high stats, things become crazy. ".

"That's awesome." I replied. "

With this new information at my fingertips I decided to try and test the limitations of this increased proficiency. The pirates were now upon the shore, but I was curious as to the range of nature bolt. Drawing upon the nature energy within me, I cast a bolt of green energy at the pirates as they hit land. The bolt hit the biggest one in his face, causing him to yelp and cry out in pain as the poison bubbled up.

Yes! It worked! Even though nature bolt only has a range of ' ten meters' it continues on in a straight line for a while before dissapating, which made a 50 meter shot possible.

"Wow, you hit him. Nice shot. " Blood said, impressed, "You made the leader real angry too. "

Indeed, the pirate leader was fuming mad as he yelled at his crew to attack us.

Pointing to the ground I asked, "Do you need to cast that spell again?"

She shook her head, "Nope, it seems to be permanent. "

I couldn't help but laugh. " That's broken."

Focusing on the now rapidly approaching pirates I used the same strategy as before. Right before they entered the quicksand area I cast my root spell(now titled entangling vines) at the ground beneath them. The vines sprung from the ground, entangling and poisoning the men. Bloom set into motion, flinging fire from each hand with every second. Like before the vines burst into fire, setting the pirates ablaze while also intensifying the poison through the gaseous fumes made in the process.

In order to further taunt the pirates I loudly said to Bloom, "These pirates are really stupid. "

Bloomed laughed and taunted as well, "What idiots! Ha Ha! "

Surprisingly the childlike taunting worked, making the pirates even angrier than before. They broke free from the vines only to sink waist deep in quicksand.

I laughed loudly exclaiming, " Quick! Stupid pirates! Move quick or you'll sink!"

Their rage caused them to come at me with the exception of the leader who yelled at them to " stay still!" By this point Bloom had caught on to my scheme, so she threw a ball of fire as I cast a nature bolt at the distracted pirate.

The leader took both attacks to his unprotected face at the same moment. Poison bubbles up from his now burned and disfigured face causing him to scream out in agony. The pirates panic, flailing about as we bombarded them with spell after spell. Within a few minutes we had gained 400 experience from defeating four of the pirates. The leader was the only one left, but had sunk down to where only his head was above ground. Somehow despite all of our attacks he still had 90% health. Who was this guy?

Observe!

Captain Abernathy[Boss][Lord]Level 7[Hp-7000]