The six crewmen of the Charizard returned with bruised faces and swollen noses.
They had been dragged back by one man.
When Captain Manny heard the alarm, he rushed onto the deck and saw his crewmen facing off against a disheveled man.
"Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Can anyone tell me where this friend came from?"
Smiling, he stepped forward and strode toward Skyl.
The Eldritch Blade in the warlock's hand flickered with a dim glow, stabbing Captain Manny's expression into brief stiffness.
The mage apprentice looked like he was about to cry. He had the lightest injuries, and now he shouted, "Captain, this man is a warlock!"
One of the veteran crewmen had blood all over his face. He lifted his head and shot Manny a look.
Manny's enthusiasm did not fade. He greeted the man again, but the other party gave no reaction. He only stared at him coldly.
"We need a translator. Is there anyone who can speak with this gentleman? Mr. Gus, you came at just the right time. We need a scroll of comprehend languages."
Stan appeared on the deck alongside Gus. The moment he saw Skyl, he immediately shouted in surprise, "It's you, Skyl! We finally found you."
He was speaking English, and Skyl could understand him perfectly.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Stan. Stan Lee. Holy Mary, I've been looking for you for a year. That bastard Ao finally let us meet."
Skyl frowned. "I don't know you."
The blond bard's smile was warm and bright as he strode forward. He stopped in front of Skyl, looked him up and down, and clicked his tongue. "You're way too hard on yourself. Look at the state you ended up in."
"You know my past?"
"Of course. I didn't erase my own memory."
"My memory? Wait, I remember now. I'm a twenty-sided die! I'm an incarnation of Skyl!"
In Ao's apartment, Skyl stared at Stan speechlessly.
"I spent so many days playing Bear Grylls, and one sentence from you just wasted all my effort."
Stan waved a hand lazily. "Admit it. The Robinson Crusoe story doesn't fit D&D. This is an adventure fantasy story, and you spent more than a year drifting through space. Aside from hiding in a cave like a caveman and carving a pile of broken rocks, you didn't do a damn thing."
"..." Skyl looked at Ao. "Shouldn't you say something fair?"
Ao stroked his beard and smiled. "At least you're already familiar with the rules. Start your adventure properly sooner rather than later."
"Fine, then. Time to head for Toril."
On the deck of the Charizard, Skyl blinked at Stan, revealing a reproachful expression. With a casual motion, he released the ropes of force, and the six captives in front of him regained their freedom, stumbling and running back toward the captain.
"Stan, you bastard." The warlock and the bard gave each other a warm hug. "You really are an old son of a bitch."
"You have no idea how many stories you missed, Skyl. I followed the fleet to Krynnspace. The story of Dragonlance happens there. If you had been around too, we could have gone in and gotten involved."
"All right, we can talk about that later. How did this ship get stranded? The spelljamming helm is broken, isn't it?" Skyl smoothed his hair, casually shaped a ring of force, and tied his hair back into a ponytail. It revealed a thin, pale face, bright eyes, and a friendly smile. He looked completely different from the cold survivor from moments ago.
The surrounding crewmen looked at the two of them with uncertainty and surprise.
Skyl took a few bottles of dittany potion from his pocket and handed them to Captain Manny. Stan explained for him from the side, "Mr. Manny, my friend is a kind and good wizard. These are healing potions he is giving you. Hurry and apply them to your crewmen. While you're at it, use some on the fellow lying in the infirmary too."
"I don't quite understand, Stan. You know this guy?" Boss Gus suspected the two of them were putting on an act.
"Of course. He and I go way back." Stan laughed loudly. "Do you still remember where you found me? My friend and I were brought into Wildspace by a portal, but unfortunately, we were separated from each other. Now, at last, under the arrangement of fate, we have met again. He still can't speak Common, but don't worry. He has always learned quickly. On top of that, my friend is also a master alchemist who knows how to make spelljamming helms."
Stan's smile was deeply reassuring. The bard's excellent charisma allowed him to win people's trust with a few smooth words, and that speech not only made Boss Gus beam with joy, but also left the captain and crewmen visibly excited.
Skyl was respectfully invited into the bow's control cabin.
Thunderclap Pami, the tinker gnome, was crouched over the damaged spelljamming helm and tinkering with it. All he had done was remove even more parts.
"Pami, please move aside. The expert is here." Gus smiled so widely that his gold tooth showed.
"What expert?!" Pami turned back and saw the crewmen surrounding a man dressed in rags. "Where did this beggar come from?"
Skyl did not understand his words, but following the other man's gaze, he also noticed the embarrassment of his own tattered clothing. He casually said, "Reparo." Then he remembered that he was only an incarnation now and did not have the wizard bloodline from the Harry Potter world.
Stan said, "Leave the clothes to me. Take a look first and see whether this spelljamming helm can be repaired."
Pami curled his lip. "This guy looks kind of stupid. He can repair a spelljamming helm?"
Skyl stepped forward to inspect it. When he saw the internal condition of the spelljamming helm, he frowned slightly too. "If there are enough materials, it will take at least five days. I need pure gemstone powder to reconstruct the magic circle, and two natural lodestones to cast the cantrip [Mending] and restore the physical damage to the components."
Stan repeated his words faithfully.
Gus agreed readily. Before long, he had gathered all the materials Skyl requested and even brought him an elegant plain white mage robe.
Skyl did not rush to prove his value. Instead, he borrowed the helmsman's cabin, took a comfortable bath, shaved his stubble with his Eldritch Blade, changed into his new clothes, and went to the kitchen to eat and drink his fill.
He casually opened The Guide and tapped the cover. A green eye opened on the black leather cover, and a sinister fanged mouth grew out of it, releasing a voice so flattering it sank into the bones. "Ah, great master, you have finally awakened! Even the stars are singing hymns to praise your return!"
Skyl gave a cold snort. "You had some pretty beautiful ideas, didn't you? Collecting my thoughts and turning them into lights inside my skull. Were you planning to borrow this shell and become a god?"
Mora's Book panicked and hurriedly defended itself. "I've been wronged, master! I merely borrowed your power to guide this frail incarnation onto the path of the arcane. I absolutely had no private schemes. You must believe me!"
Skyl had only said it casually. Of course he knew Mora did not have the courage to rebel.
"Pull up the Common dictionary."
Mora obediently called up the information and did not charge any candleflames at all. The Tower of Tomes' information was open to internal members and had never demanded wealth of any kind.
These candleflames were condensations of thought strings. If they were offered to the gods of Realmspace, those gods would surely be delighted and would grant divine power to the contributor in exchange for more candleflames.
Such useful things were something Skyl intended to save. Perhaps they would come in handy in the future.
The crewmen of the Charizard seemed to know that this newly arrived warlock could not understand their words, so they muttered behind his back.
"Could this guy be a fraud?"
"He's Stan's friend, but Stan is a bard. Everyone knows a bard's mouth could even fool the undead."
The warlock holding the black notebook suddenly turned his head toward the two crewmen in the hallway and said, "Hello."
They jumped in fright and hurriedly stood straight.
"Hello!"
Skyl smiled and strode toward the control cabin.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.