Once again, the window that appeared for Dan had a personalized feel to it.

  Class chosen, Bonded Captain.

  Bonded Captain: Attaining all the requirements for bonding with your ship is quite a feat in itself, but to go even further and gain the full acceptance of your ship, that's almost unheard of. Especially for someone from a mana-less world like yours. Good luck to you two, work together and survive.

  As that window flashed and disappeared, a gentle rumble passed through the whole ship, followed by the flickering of the lights and screens around them. All the people stopped what they were doing and looked around in apprehension and not a small bit of fear. Some even looked towards Dan, with questioning expressions. Dan didn't acknowledge their gazes though, he was lost in the sensations that suddenly sprung in his mind.

  He had a weird feeling that he was surrounded by a gentle warm... something? As if a warm comforting breeze was all around him. It wasn't the best explanation but he couldn't come up with any better. He also felt as if he was connected to the ship in a way he couldn't explain, there was something that wasn't there before, yet he couldn't put it into words.

  He mentally brought the next up, and the window flashed again:

  As a Bonded Captain, you and your ship are one yet at the same time, separate. You will get a skill choice every level, while your ship will get one every three levels. Your ship's skills are upgrades that are going to affect your ship. The choice shall be made by you.

  "Ca- Captain!" A shout was suddenly heard, dragging Dan from the state he was in. Jolted to his senses, he turned to the source of the shout and noticed Keith, the ship's First Officer, with her face pale and eyes wide pointing at the bow with a trembling hand, "Something is coming, it's coming in fast, it's just ahead!"

  Dan was a bit confused, but he didn't question anything, he just turned to the screens to see what she saw. Weirdly enough though, the screens were still off after the black out that had just happened.

  "No," Keith had calmed down a bit by that point and continued, even though her hands were still trembling she pushed through with the level-headedness expected of someone in her position, "It's not from the readings it's from- from a skill."

  "What the-" Dan heard someone whisper. But he ignored that and instead asked back:

  "How fast is it moving? How far? Can you recognise what it is?"

  "I-" Keith started before closing her eyes and frowning, "I'm unsure, this is new for me and I find it hard to understand what it's sending me," A long sigh later, she continued, "it's moving underwater and fast, going to arrive soon at the rate it's going, less than a couple of minut- oh God!"

  "What is it?" Dan hurriedly asked at her exclamation.

  "Its size," Keith trembled, "It's- it's bigger than us!"

  Dan almost couldn't believe what he was hearing, Voyager wasn't a small ship by any means. As what could be considered an excellence-class cruise ship, It had a length of more than 340 meters and a height of more than 60. For anything at sea to even come close to her size was incomprehensible.

  "Behemoths..." A word from the Abyssal Captain's description flashed through his mind as he finally came to understand the true meaning of that word.

  "Captain..." Robert nudged him from the side, "What is that...?"

  He looked where he was pointing and he could almost hear the blood drain from his face. Right ahead, something was speeding towards the Voyager at a breathtaking speed. All he could see from that far was the water being cut as if by a knife and splashing to the side. The only part of the that could be seen was its fin. The greenish appendage was tens of meters high, gleaming from far away.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  "It's getting closer!"

  "We are going to collide!"

  As people started shouting and screaming, unsure of what was happening and what to do, the monster stopped around a hundred meters or so away from them with just its fin out of the water. Suddenly the water started churning as the monster slowly lifted its head. The monster's head was almost half as big as the whole Voyager. The visage of such a monstrosity looking at them with its big unblinking eyes made everyone's blood run cold and hold their breaths. The sea monster looked like a huge sea serpent, its green scales full of old scars and the entirety of its body hidden underwater. Weirdly enough, a faint black fog seemed to be circling it.

  ROAR!

  Just as they were frozen there wondering what was going to happen next, the monster opened its mouth and a deafening roar sounded. Dan had to put his hands on his ears in surprise as he involuntarily took a few steps back.

  Losing himself in the fear and panic that started bubbling from within, he almost joined some of his crew, crying on the ground, but then something else spread from deep in his heart. A gentle warmth calmed his nerves and brought back his rationality. When he was finally sound of mind, he noticed something he hadn't been aware of, the Voyager wasn't normal.

  He could feel a certain type of aura emanating from all around. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, the whole ship had that aura, and unlike the gentle warm aura that was inside of him, what the ship was emanating was dark and heavy and was getting more and more agitated by the second.

  After the monster's roar, it just kept on looking at the cruise ship without blinking, as if waiting for something. Dan noticed that the monster's body started swaying more the stronger the Voyager emanated that threatening aura. Yet the monster didn't move or retreat, it just kept on glaring at the ship. On a hunch, or compelled by something he couldn't understand, he half ran to a certain small red button and pressed it without second thoughts.

  BWAAAAA!

  The Voyager's horn sounded, the unique, unusual foghorn tune splitting the calm sea air. The people were so on edge, that once the horn sounded they shouted in surprise and some even jumped in their place. Dan didn't remove his hand from the button once he saw that, he kept his hand on it while his eyes were trained on the monster.

  Usually, the horn would only be used in short intervals as pushing it further was, first, not that good for the horn itself, and second, not even legal in most ports. A cruise ship's foghorn was never something that should be sounded for a long period of time. Dan didn't care for that at the moment, he kept the horn going. His resolve to do so only grew stronger once he noticed how the monster seemed to be showing signs of retreating, as if it hadn't expected such resistance and opposition from the ship.

  The longer the blare sounded the more the monster's hesitation appeared. Finally, the monster released an angry hiss before turning its head, diving back to the water and disappearing far away.

  Dan still didn't let go, his hand almost stuck on the red button, as if a drowning man grabbing at a lifeline. Only around a minute or so after the monster disappeared, did Dan's thundering heart calm down enough for him to consider removing his hand. With his whole body shaking and his brows covered in sweat, Dan turned slowly to his crew, just to come face to face with pale and frightened faces. Their hands still on their ears. The worst among them was Jackie, who instead of covering his ears, covered his daughter's.

  Because of the weirdness and unnaturalness of the system announcement and all that happened after, everyone was lost in their system profiles, their class choices and their skills. The monster's intervention served as an anchor that finally snapped them back to their senses, grounding them in this new reality of theirs.

  It was as if Pandora's box was opened, everyone wanted to say something, arguing and questioning each other, as if any of them had any idea about what was happening. It didn't help that due to the foghorn, their hearing was affected, turning the bridge to a shouting arena.

  "Everyone," Dan shouted as he tried to bring everything under control again, "Calm down, we need to be level-headed about this."

  As Dan shouted that, he again had that weird feeling of something at the back of his mind asking for his attention. He instinctively knew that it was another . Just this time it wasn't linked to any option or the like, it was an independent . Ignoring it for the time being, Dan looked at his crew and continued shouting. Once he had everyone's attention, he said with a serious expression.

  "I guess we all saw what that system sent us. It's hard to believe but the- that monster from before was all the proof we needed..." Taking a deep breath and keeping a serious and determined look on his face, he said, "We are in a different world, we are alone and most likely, no help is coming for us."