Chapter 9: Bloody Jack, Nicholas POV (Patreon)

Chapter 9

Bloody Jack

Nicholas POV

Nargus was full of surprises. Not only could he see anything he wanted just by thinking about it and focusing, which was very helpful as a helmsman, but he could also tap into my Domain to sense quests and determine their usefulness. The moment Pan discovered Nargus had this ability, he asked him if he could sense any quests that could give me a lot of followers. The attempted assassination had Pan on edge, and he wanted us to grow stronger.

Nargus told him that he couldn’t sense any quest that could achieve what he wanted but would keep looking while he chased the Horde’s second fleet. Losing communication with the first fleet had spooked them and they had turned tail and run through the transit ring on the far side of the system.

News of a second fleet running had excited the crew, so there were barely any arguments or fights as we passed through the system, skirting what remained of humanity’s fleet to arrive at the other transit ring. However, there were a lot of arguments after we passed through the transit ring, and Nargus announced he’d found a quest that fit what we needed.

Extreme violence on Pan’s part calmed down the most disgruntled crewmen and let us slide into orbit around the second-largest habitable planet without a mutiny. FTL cut out as we reached the edge of the planet's gravitational field, bringing the empty, dark universe into sight. The Pantheon hummed as if catching the wind, skimming the upper atmosphere in a fiery streak before slowing and matching the planet’s rotation.

Pan stood beside me on the balcony, looking down at the planet, and pointed toward a group of mountains ten thousand kilometres below us that were a hundred kilometres from a city that had been bombed into rubble. Until a few days ago, this planet housed nearly twenty million players and eleven billion NPCs. There was very little left to show for it.

I didn’t need my Domain to see the destruction. From orbit, I could view everything as easily as my own hand. It wasn’t like I was in a low-flying aeroplane looking down at the landscape. It was like I was in a car and looking out the window at something on the ground. So, none of the planet's destructions escaped my notice, and with the number of tiny bodies I saw, I had to remind myself that this was only a game.

“How do they do it?” I muttered as I took it all in.

“How do who do what, my Liege?”

“How do Transcendent beings outside the Game show us such mercy when we create such horrors? My instincts want me to track down the Horde who did this and make them pay. I know I can do it. I know it will be simple. And I know no one can stop me. And if no one can stop me, it’s up to me to stop myself. So how do they do it?”

Pan shrugged. “I don’t know, and we don’t have enough time to indulge your thoughts. The crew is getting restless.”

He was right about the crew.

They were glaring in our direction. Pan turned and walked off to deal with a fight that was breaking out.

I put my questions and anger aside and projected my Domain outwards, taking in the planet. I saw only a few million survivors left. Most of them were NPCs. Everyone else was dead, many having shot themselves recently when the sector fell to Simple Mike.

I found the NPC we were searching for sitting alone in a cave in the mountains Pan had pointed to. The mountain was locked up like a fortress, with hundreds of traps and shields in place. A literal fortune filled the chamber he was inside: gold and silver coins, hard currency, sitting next to piles of fist-sized jewels. A feast was laid on an ornate table as service droids navigated the room, catering to the little king’s every need.

Extremely handsome by any standards, our quest giver wore a dower expression as he sat on his throne, staring at the banquet before him with troubled blue eyes. His long black hair rested on his shoulders as the smell of roasted meat and vegetables wafted over him.

Through my Domain, I looked into his eyes.

Jack was a con man. A man obsessed with lying. Convincing someone to part with something precious to them gave him a thrill stronger than sex, drugs, or any achievement. It was a compulsion that drove him through every waking moment, and the higher the stakes, the greater the thrill.

That thrill turned coning a pirate captain out of their ship and crew into a lifelong obsession. Once he tasted that thrill, coning his way up the pirate food chain was his only natural path. Until recently, he’d been Bloody Jack, a pirate king. Then, someone saw through his lies, and his empire fell apart.

Every word out of this man’s mouth would be a fabrication, an illusion of words that he wanted others to believe were real. He was despicable, remorseless, and dangerous to almost anyone he met, but sadly, he was still better than 80% of my crew. And if I could work with them, I could work with him.

“You look bored, Jack,” I said, disabling his defences as I projected my voice into the chamber.

Jack tapped his bracer, activating a personal shield surrounding himself with a deep blue energy bubble. He then looked around the chamber.

“Who sent you?”

He had a gruff way of speaking that spoke of poor education. It was an act. He was a highly educated individual.

“No one sent me, Jack. I just find you interesting. You have every luxury a man could want, yet you seem disappointed.”

He rose to his feet and drew his blaster. “I’m not interested in playing games. Show yourself.”

I conjured a hologram of myself, placing it right before him.

He fired, scowling as his energy blast passed through and struck an expensive-looking painting. “Quit playing.”

I chuckled at him through the hologram. With my Domain, it was like I was in the room with him. “I’m not the one playing, Jack. Now, are you going to answer my question?”

He lowered his pistol. “Who are you?”

“I am Nicholas Thistlebush, God of Pirates.”

He laughed in my face, sliding his blaster into his holster. “I suppose you are here to claim the soul of Bloody Jack for my life sin.”

I shrugged. “Perhaps I am. Or perhaps if you interest me, I’ll help you get what you want.”

He snorted. “And all it will cost me is my soul, right?”

“That depends on what you ask for?”

His gaze swept the room, and then he lied to me. “I want my wife back?”

A quest notification appeared.

Quest Received

Lost Love.

With the loss of his fleet and men, Jack’s wife has run off with another Pirate King. Help him raise a fleet and reclaim his status, so he can woe his lost love back to his side.

Rewards:

Jack’s Loyalty

Tokens: 1,000,000

I stared at the notification.

Nargus hadn’t been able to tell me exactly what the quest was, only that it was a quest related to pirates and that I could use Jack to help me gain more followers.

What had I got myself into? This quest sounded like the plot of a daytime television drama.

I decided to play along. “What exactly do you need to get her back?”

He paused to think. “A fleet, a big one. Power turns her on, really gets her engine going if you know what I mean.” He laughed at his own crude joke.

I saw a way to make his request work for me. “If you need a fleet, I can help arrange one.” I opened a small portal beside Jack, which led to the railing beside my hand. “Bring whatever you want through the portal. We won’t be coming back.”

Jack frowned and tapped his bracer, causing a whole host of androids to activate. He then walked through the portal as they began packing everything away.

Jack stopped after his first step and slowly looked up, taking in my immense size. His eyes widened as he stood there on the railing, processing what he saw. His gaze eventually swept The Pantheon, and then he started to hyperventilate from excitement.

A fierce grin transformed his handsome features as he suddenly roared with laughter. He tapped a few more buttons on his bracer and even more androids activated.

He turned back to me, meeting my gaze. “I’ll need at least a thousand ships to tempt her. When can I expect the delivery?”

This suited my needs perfectly. Jack needed a good reason to convert the planet’s inhabitants for me and turning them into the crew of his new fleet solved that.

I smiled at him. “There’s a Horde fleet moving through this system. I’ll open portals to the bridge of their vessels and allow you and your crew to invade.”

He returned my smile. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a crew.”

“You don’t have a crew yet. But you can change that.”

“How?”

“In a moment, I’m going to make it possible for you to speak to survivors of the world below us. Anyone you convince to serve me will join your attack.”

Jack scratched his chin, thinking it over. “Even if we take control, I doubt we’ll be able to pilot their fleet. Horde technology is too foreign to us.”

“Then I’ll make them human vessels.”

He met my gaze. “If you can do that, why don’t you just make me a fleet? Why do I have to bring one to you?”

“I have no use for pirates who cannot find their own ships.”

“Yet you said you could arrange a fleet for me.”

He was trying to twist my words. “I said I could help arrange a fleet for you, not arrange one for you. There is a difference.”

He paused, trying to gauge if I was being honest with him. “Fine, I’ll be your preacher. Just make sure they hear me clearly. I’ll need a lot of them to pull this off.”

I rolled my eyes and used my Power and Domain to project his voice across the planet. “You’re on in three, two, one, go.”

Jack nodded. “Listen up and listen good, because Bloody Jack has a proposition for you useless mongrels. You know who I am and what I do. I might be a right bastard, but I’m nothing compared to the Horde.”

Nargus glanced down and snorted at Jack.

Jack didn’t notice. “Look at what those bastards did to your world. Look at how they destroyed your homes. Look at how they left you with nothing, killing your friends, family, and children. What will you give up for a chance at revenge? What will you give up to make those Horde bastards pay? Swear to the pirate life and give your souls to Nicholas Thistlebush, the God of Pirates, and he will fulfil your wish. For every loved one they took from you, you will take a hundred from them. I can’t promise you a long life, but I can promise you revenge.”

One by one, all across the planet, NPCs dropped to their knees, lifting freshly tear-stained cheeks to the sky, swearing themselves to a pirate life and my service. For every person who had completely given themselves over to their anger and grief and was willing to do anything for revenge, there were five that hadn’t. Still, there were more than two million people on the planet, so the number of my faithful quickly skyrocketed.

You’ve found 386,243 followers.

You have reached a milestone.

You have reached a milestone.

You have reached a milestone.

You have reached a milestone.

You have 386,301/1,000,000 followers needed to reach your next milestone.

Jack noticed my expression and grinned. “How well did I do?”

“You converted over a quarter of a million,” I said, honestly impressed.

He chuckled. “Good to see I haven’t lost my touch. Now, get my crew onboard. I need to arm them.”

This time, I projected my voice below, but only to the faithful. “Collect all you wish to take with you and head outside without anything above you,” I said. “You may bring your families. You have five minutes.”

“We need to go get my fleet,” Jack said.

***

Testing whether or not the Horde ships were responsible for Nargus’s transformation turned into a public event. I needed to distract my crew while Jack and my followers attempted to take control of the Horde fleet, so instead of attacking their fleet with The Pantheon, I flew ahead, captured four cruisers, and then brought them back.

Pan stood with the crew on the main deck, faking his disbelief as he watched me stand on the balcony and use four F-1 cruisers to make an F-3-grade cruiser.

It took the rare materials of two F-1 cruisers to manufacture the technology needed for an F-2 cruiser and the rare materials of two F-2 cruisers to manufacture an F-3. This doubling continued all the way up to E-grade technology and then the rare materials needed changed.

With my Wisdom, F-3 technology was my current limit. But even with that limit, I could combine the cruisers nearly instantly if I wanted to. The key point there being if I wanted to.

So far, I’d managed to drag the process out for nearly twenty minutes, and I was pretty sure I could manage another ten without the crew losing interest.

Pan had informed the crew that I was looking for a volunteer to be upgraded, and the crew were fluctuating between terrified and excited. This was an opportunity for them to become stronger without having to earn a reward. However, they had to be willing to risk turning into a Horde to gain it.

With my Domain, I heard their whispered conversations as they jumped back and forth in their willingness to volunteer depending on my expression and the amount of strain I showed. As I performed for the crew, I watched Jack’s progress. He was having a lot of success taking the frigates and destroyers but none with the battleships and cruisers. They had much heavier internal defences, and he’d lost the element of surprise.

I’d warned him if he didn’t take control of them soon, he would lose his opportunity, and he’d decided to throw bodies at the problem. The portals were acting as a little meat grinder as hundreds of people rushed through every second.

Ten minutes later, I gave a fake, weary sigh as I finished infusing power into the F-3 cruiser. The light surrounding it faded, and the crew got their first look. The cruiser was exceptionally advanced and sophisticated compared to anything else they had seen. I hadn’t skimped on the materials, so it looked more like the flagship of a wealthy aristocrat than something designed for active service.

It was the right kind of incentive for pirates.

“I’ll let you take it from here, Quartermaster.”

Pan turned around. “Listen up, I’m looking for a volunteer.” Half the crew raised their hand. “If there’s more than one, we’ll settle this with knives.” All but a dozen lowered their hands. “Those who aren’t fighting, step back.”

The crew backed up, making a large circle on the main deck. The twelve who were willing to draw blood for the chance to grow stronger were all the most violent members of the crew. Pan was hoping their injuries would keep them docile for a few hours.

While the combatants got into position, Pan walked up the staircase to the balcony and opened the chest on the ground beside my feet. Inside the chest were dozens of short shanks. They were long enough to injure and cripple but not long enough to easily kill. Hopefully, the combatants would make a bloody mess of each other before giving up.

Pan tossed a short shank to everyone who wanted to fight and then kicked the lid closed. “Have at it.”

The twelve exploded into action, needing no more permission than those three words.

Pan leaned over to me and lowered his voice. “Was the con man worth the trouble?”

“Is that your way of saying you’re here to give me advice?”

“That depends on the answer to my question.”

“I’ve passed my first four milestones.”

Pan paused and then sighed. “You want to invest in your Domain, don’t you.”

“The buff would raise all our attributes to F-7. That’s not a small jump.”

He nodded. “It’s not.”

“But?”

“But nothing.”

“I thought you would object.”

“You only needed one milestone worth of attributes to secure our position and keep the degenerates in line a little longer. Investing in your Domain achieves this.”

“Investing in my Might and Power would completely stop the crew from being a threat.”

Pan sighed again. “It would, but you no longer need The Pantheon or her crew to achieve your goals. With an A-1 Domain, you can help humanity however you want.”

I realised why he was upset and patted his shoulder. “I’m not abandoning you yet.”

“Why not?”

“The Pantheon is still the fastest way to save Sector 3, and if I play this right, I can use Jack to gain another milestone.”

“How?”

“The Horde has massacred dozens of planets in Sector 3. I’m sure there are a lot of people who want revenge.”

“After that?”

“I don’t know. Everything changes so fast that I don’t want to make long-term plans.”

I pulled up my stats.

Name: Nicolas Thistlebush

Race/Class: Transcendent

Transcendent Might: F-1 (F-3)

Transcendent Power: F-1 (F-3)

Transcendent Wisdom: F-1 (F-3)

Transcendent Domain: E-1

Unspent Transcendent Points: 40

I dumped all 40 points into my Domain, increasing the grade to A-1.

Domain Buff Improved

+6 sub-grades

My perception swelled quickly, rushing past the other planets to the edge of the system, showing me everything everywhere all at once. It wasn’t overwhelming or even annoying. It was like someone had switched on the hallway light, and suddenly, I could see the other end.

As my Domain reached the transit rings, I got the impression that I could now pierce its wormhole if I wanted to. I pushed more energy into my Domain, and the impenetrable force that had held me back in the past gave way, letting me expand my awareness through the next system. I reached the edge of that system and pushed through to the next transit ring, heading for the next.

A notification appeared.

You have found the remains of a unique corvette.

This vessel can be used to upgrade a crewman and will become: ??? grade, Special Cabin Boy.

A powered-down corvette lay in a cave deep within a distant moon. I got a distinct impression that the corvette was of human design from the human skeleton sitting in the command chair. Without the skeleton, I would have no clue what its origin was. The technology was so advanced that I couldn’t understand any of it.

“Pan, there’s a corvette with an unidentifiable grade of technology three systems from here.”

Pan turned to me as the fighting between the crew grew more intense. “Can we get it without the crew noticing?”

“No. It’s on an asteroid near the edge of the system.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Should be leave it there?”

“No. I’ll think of something.”

Crewmen, covered in stab wounds, began to yield, which freed their opponent to attack someone from behind. Three refused to yield despite their injuries, their egos unable to accept their inferiority. They asked for no mercy, and they received none, dying brutally and violently. Twelve quickly became two as the combatants used every dirty trick they could.

Ripper and Savage stared at each other across the circle, covered in blood from head to toe, and then Savage yielded. They didn’t even try to pretend they hadn’t been working together. Ripper strode towards us and raised his arm, placing his hand against the F-3 cruiser that floated next to the balcony.

The two were enveloped by a blinding flash of light as their technology merged. Ripper was left standing with this arm raised and his hand touching nothing but empty space. He’d successfully grown stronger without becoming Horde.

Pan didn’t give him a chance to celebrate. “Get back to work. We’ve got a fleet to destroy.”

***

Jack sat on his tiny throne in front of my throne, glaring up at me, trying to pretend he wasn’t intimidated by the fact that Pan and I could squash him with our feet. “Why can’t I take the battleship as my flagship?”

I leaned over and placed my elbow on the armrest to rest my chin on my hand as I looked down at the would-be pirate king. He was beginning to get on my nerves. “Your people didn’t capture the battleship, Jack. We did.”

The battle with the second Horde fleet had been a minor inconvenience on our way to pick up the corvette.

Jack raised his hand to his heart. “That hurts me to hear after I went through the trouble of converting those followers for you.”

“No, it doesn’t. If it did, you wouldn’t have got more than one hundred thousand of them killed.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t enjoy sending them to their deaths, but I needed one of the battleships.”

He wasn’t lying.

“Why do you need one so badly?”

“Do you know about the pirate paths?”

“No.”

Jack scoffed. “Some pirate God you are.”

“Watch your tongue, or you’re liable to lose it,” Pan said. “If I hear another disrespectful word going forward, you’ll lose your life in the most creative manner I can imagine.”

Jack swallowed, eyeing Pan nervously. “The pirate paths are a series of natural wormholes that lead to systems that aren’t connected to the transit rings. They’re believed to be linked to the Builders. You know who the Builders are, right?”

“They’re the race that built the transit rings,” I said, reciting the most common lore. There was a time when we thought that they might have built the mothership in the desert.

“The pirate paths are a leftover relic from before their transit ring era. These were either the original systems they settled or the systems they plundered for resources to build the transit ring network. Either way, they have their own network of natural wormholes similar to how the transit ring network works, only much less stable.”

“While that is interesting, what does it have to do with why you need a battleship?

“I know the locations of strongholds for several dozen pirate lords and several other pirate kings. If you give me the battleship, I’ll have enough credibility to sell them information on a big score, a treasure fleet worthy of plunder. Everyone knows the human sectors are falling and that the military is weakening by the day, so they won’t be surprised to learn that the people are trying to get their wealth out.”

“You want a battleship to draw out their fleets so that you can steal them?”

He gave me a sly smile and bowed his head. “I do, but I’m willing to forgo such a plan if you provide a fleet instead.”

Capturing an actual pirate fleet and converting their crews would increase my follower count and spread my influence. However, offering revenge to those in the crippled systems would increase my follower count faster. It would also give me the people I needed to replace the pirates unwilling to convert. I could use his plan to my advantage.

“Which sectors do these wormholes lead to?” I asked.

“Most of them. You can get to the other side of this branch of the galaxy in less than a month if you know the way. I wouldn’t recommend it, though. Human pirates don’t even control all the wormholes that lead to human space. And you would have to fight through dozens of pirate factions to get there.”

“Where do you intend to tell them this treasure fleet will be located?” Pan asked.

Jack swallowed, more intimidated by Pan than he was by me. “Give me three days, and I’ll get a few lords to the far system in Sector 3.”

I wanted to be long gone by then. “Which falling human sector has the largest wormhole?”

“Sectors 6 and 27.”

“How long will it take you to get every human pirate ship to Sector 6?”

His eyes widened. “For something like that, they would check and double-check everything.”

“So, there would, in fact, have to be a treasure fleet?”

“Yes.” His eyes widened with excitement. “But if you could make one, I could definitely convince them to come after it.”

“Continue converting followers until we leave Sector 3, and I’ll help you acquire a battleship and treasure fleet.”

Jack grinned.