Prologue - The Dragon's Gale : Path of the gunslinger

The smell of cheap rum and salt air couldn't mask the heavy stench of fresh blood clinging to the deck of the Dragon's Gale.

Lewis "Deadeye" Steel leaned against the quarterdeck rail, feeling the slow, rhythmic roll of the wooden hull beneath his boots. They were at sea. He flipped a tarnished silver coin through his knuckles.

'This is my life now...', he thought

Behind them, the burning wreck of a Swadian merchant galleon was sinking quietly into the dark water. They killed them all. Captain Byron's policy on merchant ships was absolute. Dead men tell no tales. Dead merchants don't file claims with Swadian lords.

It was not like the Dragon's Gale was an unknown pirate ship. It was local terror. However, their strength made the local Baron of the northern sea unwilling to send his navy, preferring to put a bounty on their heads.

'Two years...', Lewis thought, 'It took me two years"

Lewis's eyes were sharp, scanning the phantom blue text flickering in his peripheral vision. Floating over every soul on the ship was a floating ledger of stats, levels, and threat assessments. He had confirmed this. Nobody besides him could see it.

[Eric - Level 1 Seaman | NPC Deckhand | CR 1/8]

'Poor bastard', he thought, watching the kid scrub crimson water off the planking with trembling hands, 'He's terrified out of his mind'

Eric was fifteen, the exact same age Lewis currently was. Or rather, fifteen in the body he now inhabited. To the world, he was Lewis Steel, the boatswain's mate who could put a bullet through an apple at fifty paces. To himself, he was a former lead game developer, trapped inside the very code he had spent eighty hours a week writing for the Swadian Seas expansion pack.

He remembered the endless nights at his desk, balancing stat tables and tweaking character templates. Then came the launch flash, the suffocating darkness, and the burning sensation of salt water in his lungs as he washed ashore on the coast of Swadia two years ago.

It was a nightmare scenario. Lewis knew the expansion's lore timeline better than anyone, and he knew Swadia was a doomed kingdom.

'In less than a year, the Orc Warlords breach the Southern Wall and raze the countryside,' Lewis calculated silently, his thumb tracing the hammer of his holstered flintlock, 'Right after that, the Swadian kingdom falls into a civil war with the orcs gaining territory and corruption being exposed. Players would then have to flee the land by boat'

He was just like a player, except he was not. He was an NPC. His only play had been to flee to the sea, grind levels as fast as humanly possible, and secure a place on a ship fast enough to outrun the impending horde.

Lewis was anything but righteous. He was egoistical and pragmatical. Becoming a merchant would bring him few opportunities to level up a combat class. Becoming a pirate, however, provided many opportunities. Mentors to advance classes. And more importantly, prey to gain levels.

Players possessed a great advantage. Unlike NPCs who could only level up by training and achieving feats, players could simply level up by killing creatures. And unfortunately for the world, humans also qualified as creatures.

This meant that the shortest path to strength and survival was to become a pirate.

It was a choice. Lewis could have tried to enlist as a soldier in the Baron Kaliweir's private army, or even as a seaman.

However, he opted for the lawful evil pirate path. To kill. To loot. To drink rum.

Two years of blood, black powder, and ruthless discipline had carried him from an abandoned, starving urchin to one of the four Boatswain's mate of the notorious pirate vessel: the Dragon's Gale.

"Lewis! Get these greenhorns sorted and count the haul!"

A rough voice echoed from the quarterdeck. Lewis raised his gaze toward Captain Byron, where a familiar block of text hovered in the air.

[Captain Byron - Level 7 Swashbuckler | Pirate Captain | CR 3]

Byron was a brute, but he understood authority. The captain gestured toward a cluster of fresh recruits who were nervously stacking looted wooden crates near the capstan, their eyes darting around as if expecting the sea itself to swallow them.

However, the captain was the one reason why the Dragon's Gale was so successful at sea. As a Level 7 powerhouse, he was the strongest individual on the ship. With a challenge rating of 3, this meant that a party of at least four Level 3 adventurers would be needed to defeat him. That was the same rating as a yeti, except that humans were inherently more wicked than monsters.

"Tell 'em how the world works, Steel," Byron barked, taking a heavy mouthful of rum and watching the men work.

Lewis straightened his shirt, letting his twin flintlocks clink audibly against his belt. He adjusted his stance and stepped toward the recruits, his own internal interface settling into view.

[Name: Lewis "Deadeye" Steel

Template: Level 3 Gunslinger (1 245 / 1 800 EXP) | NPC Pirate Boatswain's Mate

Category: Medium humanoid (Human), Chaotic Neutral

Attributes: STR 14 | DEX 18 | CON 12 | INT 10 | WIS 10 | CHA 14

Languages: Common, Thieves' Cant

Abilities: Quick Draw, Deadeye Aim, Head Shot, Firearm Proficiency (Pistol)

Feats: Sharpshooter, Criminal III, Pirate Boatswain's Mate

Challenge Rating: 3/2 (300 XP)

Assessment: "You keep crew in line with a cracking whip and a loaded flintlock. Up close you are dangerous, but at range, your marksmanship can turn the tide of a boarding action before the ships even touch"]

Level 3. Challenge rating of 3/2. Balanced attributes and extraordinary dexterity made the gunslinger class an evidence. He quickly rose from seaman to gunslinger, and eventually got promoted to boatswain's mate after being especially deadly in combat. Captain Byron was a brute, but he recognised talent. And Lewis had plenty of it.

In the whole ship, there were 120 pirates. All of them had a class. This was one of the requirements to enter the ship. Even the cabin boys who were handling the chores. Yet, among them all, there were only three individuals that had a higher level than him.

Captain Jack Byron, level 7 Swashbuckler (duelist subclass).

First Mate Helena Cross, level 5 Axe Thrower (range subclass).

Chief Boatswain Morgan, level 4 Wave Breaker (tank subclass).

There were four other individuals besides him that had reached level 3, namely the surgeon and the other three boatswain's mates.

And even if they initially raised their voice against him becoming a boatswain's mate initially, his performance in battle and leadership made them acknowledge him. A year passed already, and he had not only caught up to them in level, but he had also surpassed them in terms of contribution on the ship.

He glared at the cluster of greenhorns, deliberately triggering his [Boatswain Intimidation] skill. Two of the men shifted instinctively. The other started to tremble.

"Keep your hands moving", Lewis spoke, his voice carrying a cold weight that belied his young face, "Three chests of Swadian silver, forty barrels of spiced wine, and two bolts of silk. Pry open that last crate carefully. Dare break the velvet lining and trust me, you will be shipped overboard and become a nice greasy meal for the sharks"

He stepped closer to a trembling young recruit who was struggling. He gave him a push, prying the wooden chest open and sending him fly onto the deck.

He looked down at the open chest, his [Loot Valuation] skill highlighting the silver coins in faint yellow text, calculating their total worth in an instant. The haul from this single merchant run was solid. Enough coin to keep the crew happy for another month.

'I need to reach level 4 faster', Lewis thought, sliding a heavy silver bar out of the crate to inspect its weight, 'We'll rest stock up at the next port, sell the silk, and head further west. As far away from Swadia as the tide will take us'

From afar, the captain revealed a smile.

Who would have thought that the cabin boy he had taken in two years ago would become one of his best officers and fighters. Such growth rate was completely unprecedented.

Chapter 2 - Prologue