Chapter 82. Whirlpool
Chapter 82. Whirlpool
As the boat sailed into the ocean, Orion looked at the inside of the boat and thought of something.
'If we are going to that mountain, then why are we going in a boat?'
From the moment they had climbed the boat, he had this question. He had thought previously that maybe they would go around the land and climb the mountain from other sides, but the boat didn't go around the mountain; instead, it set sail in the opposite direction of the mountain.
This made him wonder if the guard was lying to them when he said he would want them to go to the mountain.
"You kids!" the man shouted at them. "Listen to me."
Hearing him, Orion came to his senses and turned to look at the one who called out to them.
"Tightly hold the boat, lest you fall, and we will lose some manpower." The man warned them with a sneer on his face. "Now go to that cabin and don't come out if I don't say so." He pointed at the cabin in the middle of a boat.
It was a large cabin, and it should be able to hold all the kids effectively.
"Now go!" the man shouted impatiently.
Orion and the others didn't think much and headed to the cabin. Reaching there, they opened the door to it and went in.
Inside the cabin, there were nothing but chairs lined up, and seeing that, Orion felt there would be around a hundred chairs, if not more.
At that moment, the kids from the other group didn't hesitate and sat down on those chairs.
Watching them, Orion also went to one of the chairs and sat down peacefully, followed by his group.
For a moment, nobody talked in the cabin, and a very tense silence ensued. Orion didn't care about any of that and opened his status.
'Status.'
[Name: Orion Darkwood]
[Rank: Bronze]
[Talent: Copy Curse: 9%]
[Curse: Null Body, Electrostatic Disruption, Dimensional Dissonance, Velocity Burst, Sacrificial Renewal, Burdened Gravity, Frozen Torment, Detonating Flesh, Shattered Precision, Unbridled Fury, Unyielding Encasement, Energy Overload, Equilibrium, Constant Pull]
[Strength: 12]
[Stamina 11]
[Agility: 100]
[Perception: 11]
[Constitution, 11]
[Mana: Nil]
[Skills: Nil]
He then saw the new curse he copied from Runo when they handshaked last time.
[Curse: Constant Pull]
[Description: The curse of Constant Pull affects individuals who have the talent to manipulate gravity. While they can control gravitational forces around them, this curse ensures that their own body is continuously subjected to an increased gravitational pull. This makes every movement a struggle, significantly limiting their physical capabilities and causing chronic discomfort.]
As Orion read the description of the curse he copied from Runo, he felt it was similar to the Burdened Gravity he got from someone who had the curse of weight manipulation.
'Maybe my weight will increase or decrease even more if I activate the two curses at the same time.'
He thought as his eyes were drawn to his mastery of talent, which had reached 9%, one percent shy of the required mastery to reach the iron rank.
'Now all I need to do is increase all my attributes to the max and find five mutagens for five of my attributes. But where am I going to find monsters to hunt, and those five mutagens? I have no idea how I would get my hands on them.'
He thought as he looked at his talent. He felt that his strength would increase significantly in the iron rank, and maybe with that improvement in strength he could do something about the situation he was in.
But the irony was that this very situation made it difficult for him to upgrade to iron rank.
As Orion thought about all of that, someone interrupted him.
"Hey, why are you so serious?"
Moving his head up, Orion saw that the voice belonged to a lady. She appeared to be two to three years older than him.
She had long, dark blue hair, matching blue eyes, and a face as beautiful as any actress Orion had seen on Earth. However, the most striking thing about her, in Orion's eyes, was her clothing. She wore a black full-sleeve shirt and black jeans, a stark contrast to what a woman would normally wear.
As for the question she asked, Orion wondered if she was an idiot. Who would ask such questions in the situation they were in?
"Because I will die, I think," he also replied like an idiot.
He thought that if the other person was teasing him on purpose, there was no reason for him to hold back from teasing her in return.
However, the response he got was rather interesting.
"Don't worry," she said, smiling. "I will not let anything happen to you."
Orion smiled as he heard her. He felt that the girl was really interesting.
Meanwhile, Famir and Ryfin were also smiling slyly from the sides. They felt that there must be something going on between them.
"And why would you do that?" Orion asked her. "It's not like you know me or anything."
Her face became sad all of a sudden as Orion posed the question.
"Because you remind me of a brother I had," she said, her face full of melancholy. "He looked just like you, and seeing you so serious, I couldn't help but come over to see you."
As Orion heard her, he understood the reason behind her stupid question. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"Well, I am not your brother," he said as he introduced himself. "I am Orion Darkwood."
"I am Lisa," she said, extending her hand. "It's nice to meet you."
Orion nodded as he shook hands with her.
"Look! What's that?"
At that moment, someone shouted.
Everyone in the cabin turned to see that a kid was pointing at the only window available in the room.
"Let's go see what it is," Orion said to Famir and Ryfin as he made his way towards the window.
Nearing the window, he saw that almost all the kids were looking at the window, trying to catch what the commotion was about.
Seeing that, Orion also went closer to the window, but he couldn't get too close because of the other kids gathered there. However, it was enough for him to see something in the distance.
But what he saw in the distance caused him to break out in a cold sweat.
He saw, just a short distance from the boat, a whirlpool spinning at an incredible speed. It wasn't an upward whirlpool but a downward one, sucking all the water into its vortex as it rotated.
What made Orion break out in a cold sweat was the size of the whirlpool—it was almost ten, if not fifteen, times larger than the boat he was on. To make matters worse, the boat seemed to be drifting towards it, oblivious to the impending danger.
'Are we again going to drown? Is it because of my sh*t luck?
He cursed his luck, fearing they would drown once again. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. The immense size of the whirlpool should have been noticed by the others steering the boat. He couldn't comprehend why they hadn't taken any action. If they had simply altered course a little earlier, perhaps they could have avoided this predicament altogether.
But it was all hypothetical now; they hadn't done what needed to be done, and the boat continued its course straight towards the whirlpool, teetering on the brink of being swallowed at any moment.