The S.S. Midas

Story

Prologue

This story stars a ice-encrusted ship that called the frigid seas north of Biblioaltius home. a young Klassic used his permafrosted, albeit reliable ship to curate the his libraries across alathra, but this ships story really starts on a return voyage from Invictus. As an isolated Klassic relaxed inside, the ship rumbled and everything inside became weightless for a moment, before a wave of heat filled the cabin and a sizzle emanated from the hull. as Klassic rushed out, he noticed the familiar blue of the seas had been replaced with a hellish red from one of the nethers many lava lakes. the outermost layer of frost on the ship combined with the lava outside to form a protective layer of basalt. just as Klassic absorbed this information, a steam ships pulls up parallel to his own.

The Ship from Hell

The ship looked like a nether fortress with 6 massive smokestacks coming from its center. piglins clad in heavy armor then took him aboard. the guards lined him up before a large door, and then quickly made rank either side of it. as they muttered about "another one", a larger than life piglin, wearing a netherite crown studded with rubies and a robe of gold emerged. his shoulders spanned 3 blocks wide, and his gut spanned 5.

The Hog King's Proposition

The Piglin spoke with a big, nasally voice, "I am the ruler of the nether; the Hog King, and my greatest engineers have built me the fastest ship in existence. i have brought down hundreds of ships to race my own, and not one has beaten me in a race, especially not one as puny as yours". Klassic stayed silent, hiding the shock he was feeling. The King continued. "All the same, I challenge you to a race! If I win, I get your soul. And if you refuse, I will simply take it right now"" Klassic's eyes widened, and then narrowed on the hundreds of rubies in his crown. each one faintly displayed face of a sailorwho had not beaten his challenge. "what if I win?" Klassic Inquired. "Hoho, We'll cross that bridge if we get to it". Klassic returned to his ship, and just as he stepped foot on the deck, the hog king's ship bellowed out thick black smoke, and set off towards the distant goal

The Soul-Staked Race

Surprised by the sudden start to the race, Klassic rushed to the mast and lowered the sails. the thin layer of basalt under the ship crackled and crumbled, and as the hot nether winds filled the sails, a trail of basalt shards floated to the top behind him. the ice under his ship allowed it to slide swiftly atop the lake, rather than trudge through the viscous lava. Slowly but surely, it grew closer to the steamship. the Hog King had never seen a ship do this well, but he didnt worry yet, for the winds were calming. as Klassic closed the gap, the winds grew still, the Hog King was right, but Klassic had already built up too much momentum. he closed the sails, and continued gliding above the lava's surface. Klassic passed the Hog King's Ship as he increased throttle up to 100%. Klassic stayed ahead. The Hog King, in his raging, started grabbing crates of food and wine and throwing them overboard. and when he couldn't catch up, he threw bricks and cannons. and then guards. Just as the last guard sank into the fiery depths, Klassic passed the finish line

A Battle of Skills and Thrown Dollar Bills.

The king became enraged, he had never lost a race, and he wasn't going to let any living soul say otherwise. He unsheathed his large golden sword and leaped from his ship onto Klassic's. He swung precisely to destroy his sails, and then swung again at Klassic. His rage against the sails that bested him gave Klassic the time to brandish his own weapon. Each swing the king swung crashed with the power of a tidal wave. Klassic dodged each attack, but was only able to return two attacks. the first attack he returned stripped The Hog King of his golden robes, revealing a tumor-covered torso. his second attack, an upward strike, brushed his large, flat nose and knocked the crown off of his head, and like that, he shrank into an average piglin, where his tumors, which remained unshrunk, quickly caused him to collapse and turn pale.

A Wave Goodbye

Just as Klassic started to relax, the now unencumbered steamship crashed into the shore, stood upright, and then fell back into the lava lake, creating a massive wave. he quickly rushed to his ships wheel to keep the ship upright. the wave carried it twenty blocks into the air, then thirty, then forty. it continued up until the masts nearly scraped the nether's roof. Klassic grabbed the kings sword, climbed to the top of the tallest mast, and erected the sword upright. with the immense strength of the blade, and the force from the wave beneath, it cut a hole through the roof just wide enough to fit the ship through. after went through, the water and lava clashed, destroying the Hog Kings Blade and quickly resealing the hole.

The Ascending from Unmending

Klassic looked upward, and through the faint twilight from above was able to notice that he was underwater. he knew that he was too deep to swim upward, and so he took one last look around his reliable ship. the tattered sails that the Hog King had cut up, the kings golden robes, and the netherite crown that had created the Hog King in the first place. maybe if he used it, he could transform and make it to the surface. the tantalizing thought drew him closer to the crown, but just before he put it on his head, he realized there was a better way. he rushed under the ship, firmly grabbed each side of the crown, and snapped it in two. souls rushing from it brought the ship higher and higher, and with a loud splash, it resurfaced. Klassic reboarded his ship, simply happy to be alive.

Epilogue

Some souls fled to the heavens, understandably, but more stayed at the ship. these were the souls of old sailors, after all, and they had missed the ocean after being in the nether for so long, so they all enchanted the kings golden robe, and rigged it up as a sail for the ship. Klassic then returned home, less lonely than before, in the newly christened S.S. Midas. Today, you can find the S.S. Midas resting in the docks of Melius Tempus. If it isnt there, then its on another adventure.

Characteristics

• The S.S. Midas Is a small, 2 masted ship.

• The ships enchanted golden sail allows it to sail up tp 20x faster than a regular ship of its size.
• If you listen quietly, you can still hear the stories of old sailors from the ship.
• The ship smells faintly of burned hoglin flesh inside the cabin.