LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 7: Chapter 7
After waiting for a few hours until Sokka and Katara showed signs of sleepiness, I gave them instructions.
"Okay, guys, keep your distance. This might be a bit dangerous."
Since the siblings were getting sleepy, the same could probably be said for the soldiers who had come from a far distance.
There was a chance they'd leave someone on guard, but I doubted they would leave many. They were in the middle of nowhere, chasing after one man. It wasn't like that man was a one-man army to warrant extra guards.
After Sokka gave me a thumbs-up, I jumped into the water and swam toward the ship. Looking at it, I mused about how to climb the high metallic wall with no gaps in between. Then, an idea struck me.
As water wrapped around my hands, I placed my left hand on the metal and froze the water slightly around the part in contact with the surface. I pulled myself up, placed my other hand, and froze the water around it. Then, I melted the ice around my left hand, raised it, and froze it again.
I repeated the process several times and found it relatively easy to climb this way.
I could have taken less time by throwing myself along with water onto the deck, but that would've alerted everyone.
When I finally reached the deck, I opened my storage and pulled out a spear. I tiptoed toward the nearest chamber in the direction of the smoke. I assumed that was where the engine was. If I could freeze that, along with the coal, the Fire Nation soldiers would taste despair.
Somehow, I felt a guilty pleasure imagining their reaction when they realized what had happened.
Although they were on the "bad guys" side, I wasn't entirely on the "good guys" side myself.
It was obvious. I didn't want this war to end for some higher cause. I just wanted my freedom guaranteed.
As I got closer to the engine room, I noticed a soldier standing nearby, seemingly distracted. But as soon as I moved closer, he sensed my presence. His years of training must have paid off.
Before he could react, I thrust my spear—a weapon capable of hunting fast-moving fish with a 40–50% success rate.
[A skill has been discovered]
[Hunting]
[Hunting up to Level 2]
[Since Fishing is the foundation of Hunting, the skill with the lower level between the two will gain double experience until they match.]
[Defeating a trained soldier]
[+500 accumulated XP]
A trained soldier but not a firebender. I deduced this based on the notification.
As the soldier fell, I pulled out my spear.
Then, an idea struck me.
In the past few days, I'd tried storing fish. The system didn't allow storing living beings, but once they died, the fish became storable.
Curious, I approached the fallen soldier and attempted to store him and his gear in my inventory. It worked.
Another idea crossed my mind.
Why not store the whole ship?
I touched the ship and tried to move it, but the system displayed a message:
[Action isn't allowed. Storage capacity is too low. Try upgrading it.]
'How the hell do I upgrade it?'
In response, a tab about storage appeared:
[Storage Level 1 (0/20,000)]
It seemed I needed around 20,000 accumulated XP to upgrade my storage, which still wouldn't be enough to store an entire ship.
'Guess I should be glad I can loot the Fire Nation soldiers. Glad, huh? Since when did I start thinking of this as a game?'
I entered the engine room. I could see the fire burning, coal piled on the side, and other machinery. The engine was deep within the ship, and accessing it could result in burns.
'What if I throw water in quickly and freeze it?'
I opened my storage and took out a couple of leather barrels filled with drinkable water. I bent the water and moved it carefully. The heat caused it to start boiling, but I controlled the temperature using my freezing skill.
The higher my "Freeze" skill level, the colder the ice I could create.
I directed the water into the engine room, froze it, and bent the ice in random directions. I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, but I believed I was ruining their ship.
Next, I turned to the coal. I wrapped it in water and froze it as well.
[Freeze — Level 5 (500/1600)]
Satisfied, I exited the engine room. On the deck, I spotted a few scattered guards.
Thinking about further sabotage, I decided to target their food supplies.
I donned the gear of the soldier I had defeated. Luckily, the Fire Nation uniform covered most of the body. As long as I hid my tanned face and blue eyes, I should avoid detection.
Disguised, I wandered the ship until I found the kitchen. Inside, there was a locked storage room. Using waterbending, I manipulated water into the lock, froze it, and twisted it open.
Inside were grains, meats, precooked meals, and even canned food.
I thought, 'Lucky me for having storage.'
Feeling no remorse, only satisfaction, I stored all their food. They probably stole it from some poor Earth Kingdom village anyway. To me, these soldiers were already dead.
After finishing my work, I climbed down the ship and met up with Sokka and Katara at the boat. We began rowing back toward the tribe's location.
'If this works, I can drive the Fire Nation soldiers to despair. Fighting them would be so much easier.'
The trip was mostly silent. None of us dared speak until we neared the tribe.
"So, what did you do?" Sokka asked.
"I ruined their ship," I replied with a smile.
"Really? Does this mean you solved the problem and they aren't coming back?" Katara smiled widely. "That's awesome! You don't have to leave!"
Her delight reminded me of that goodbye kiss, and my heart skipped a beat. I kept my face neutral. I wasn't smooth with women, but I wasn't clueless enough to ignore what a kiss meant. Still, I couldn't talk about it in front of her brother.
"Well, maybe. I need some time to think before making a decision," I replied. "I'm only human, and I need to reflect before I risk making a mistake."
But deep down, I felt I might have to leave. Bigger troubles could be on the way.
"Okay, you sound like the grandmas from the tribe," Sokka grumbled.
"True," Katara agreed.
I crossed my arms. "What can I say? Wisdom comes with age."
"You realize I'm the oldest one here?" Sokka said.
"If you multiply your age by zero, it's still zero," I teased.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sokka asked, looking at his hands as if trying to count. "How can you multiply anything by zero?" He created a slit with his index and thumb. He then moved his other hand's middle finger in and out. "How does that even make sense?"
"Anyway…" I interrupted, resisting the urge to chuckle. "the battle with the Fire Nation isn't over. They might come here on foot. We'll wait two days and see."