Snow was awed at what was happening as she watched. The airship hummed, turning on every thruster, lifting up from the very ground. It shot up into the air as it sped across the dark blue sky.
She didn’t know how high or big the sky was, but she was amazed at how big the dungeon was. The higher they went, the more she felt as if the cells were something more than she thought. A nagging feeling of it possibly being another world entirely, just like how the Players themselves were forced to merge over in some way.
This thought crossed her mind through the days. Every single one was like a different part of the universe.
Was this possible? Yes.
Meeting God of Light and Darkness had proven that there was something more to this than she thought.
The vast sky brought about change, making her excited. She had never flown before, and the airship felt like an extension of herself. She could hear and feel every ticking machine clinking in harmony, working together to keep it afloat.
She couldn't divide her attention to every single screen that she saw as her mind wandered around, taking a look here and there. Right now, her focus was flight, allowing the airship to take her anywhere. She didn’t know how, but she knew that their first destination was the small floating islands that harbored a variety of life.
She surfed through the airships memory bank, trying to figure out what else she could learn. It was as if she jumped into the very vast ocean of information that she could just maneuver with her mind, telling her what type of habitat, animals, bugs and possible dangers present.
Curiosity quelled her forward, pulling up anything that had to do with the dungeon itself. A blaring red sign impeded her mind, shocking her. She reeled back, protecting her mind as best as she could.
The blaring pain slowly subsided, allowing her to refocus back to her current self. She did not want to go through such a painful process again.
With a sigh, she pulled her thoughts back towards the flight.
Out in the distance, the morning sun was lifting up from the east, bringing a flurry of orange, red, and yellow color. Not too far away were large flocks of monster Rocs, Rocs flying in a V shape formation. She could even hear the honking of their voice, communicating with each other as they flew closer and closer to the ship itself, becoming more prominent in size.
Snow watched as the flock of Rocs came closer, becoming bigger in size. Not even a few minutes later, she felt dwarfed compared to the giant Rocs that flew next to them. The ship was already half the size of its body, and there wasn’t just one or two, but over twenty.
A blare of alarm sounded off in the ship, alarming everyone in a hurry. As Captain Gilmore's voice yelled, screams of order radioed in from the speaker to get ready for battle station.
It didn’t take long for the flock of Rocs to surround the airship, making everyone worried at their encroachment.
Snow felt her magic streaming out of her body as it traveled down the tubes. It spread out through every crook and cranny of the ship's machine, starting up many machines that she never thought were there.
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She even felt the churning of large magical gems powering up inside each engine, amplifying the energy power it has taken from her. Some even started to retract magic in the air, allowing her less stress with the amount of magic she was being dragged into the ship itself.
Eventually, the magical energy had become a small trickle, allowing her to breathe a lot better.
The clunk of machines could be heard, moving through the very hulk of the ship’s wall. It was as if Snow was feeling everything working and pushing into places. A breath of wind sucked into the very helms of the ship’s turbine, growling angrily. For some reason, Snow felt she could control its aim if she focused hard enough, but she didn’t. Instead, she waited for the Roc’s next action as she was too uncomfortable in her new position.
There was a big barrier stopping her from doing most things but pulling up the screens and connecting with the ship itself. She couldn’t quite fire off the main cannons and all the other intricate things that she had hoped for as the mental block was present.
Already, a few handfuls of red orbs stood guard, ready to attack her if she made the decision to destroy the restrictions that were placed on her. She ignored them as she focused back outside.
Hundreds of cannons were pushed out as it aimed directly at the flying Rocs.
The Rocs all stared, flying leisurely as it wasn’t such a big deal getting aimed at, which unnerved the whole crew.
“Captain.” A crew member came over worriedly, looking at his Captain and back at the screen that was out on display.
Everyone went silent, holding their breath in waiting for the attack.
Even Snow felt her heart and mind tighten as she felt like she couldn’t do anything by herself.
The Rocs squawked out loud a few times as their wings brought up a slight push of wind that shook the very airship itself. Eventually, the Rocs gave them a bit more comfortable distance, making everyone who was watching relieved that they were set free.
Snow was relieved that the monsters did not destroy them. She didn’t even know if they would have survived an attack as there were a lot of things that she was trying to figure out all the secrets she could in the period that the Rocs were eyeing them.
For the first time in a long time, her mind went into an explosive overdrive as information flowed through her mind like waterworks. She couldn’t contain the news as she filtered out the overflowing information.
Finally, her swirling thoughts that were entangled with information detached itself, allowing her to calm down. She was pleased that she was able to soften the blow of information that came into her mind.
Now that her thoughts were back in control, she felt around her body, trying to figure out what she can now do compared to the past. She noticed that she had a lot more access to the information of the ships itself, even nudging the ships A.I interface to her own beckoning, subtly pushing the ship to fly a bit faster.
Even the position of the starships’ course was slightly pushed off course, getting a bit closer to the Rocs that flew next to it. It startled the giant Rocs, flapping a few times to get away, which she personally chuckled.
“Sir!” One of the crew members was looking at his screen with disbelief and confusion. “Sir!”
“What is it?” Captain Gilmore was getting annoyed at being called at.
“One of our engine turbines pushed us towards the Rocs.”
“What?”
“I’m not sure what’s going on.”
“Find out the reason.”
“Yes, sir.”
Captain Gilmore glared at the image that was floating not too far away from him. He gripped hard against the chair, trying to stop himself from getting angry.
Snow, who was watching them, giggled. She was excited.
For the next hours, everyone was tense, but for some reason, the Rocs didn’t attack and instead flew alongside them.
“Why don’t I try a few more things.” Snow glimmered with a big smile that told her that she was up to no good.
“Maybe throw in some confusion here and there?” Snow waved her magic around, pushing a few things in a certain direction.
The engine inside the ship started to cue on, bringing more unused engines to life. This time, the engines began to speed up, causing the ship to start to pick up.
This time more Rocs squawked, and some even started to speed up to keep in the same places as the ship itself.
“Well, isn’t that interesting.” Snow replied with a hint of amusement. She thought these Rocs would fly away from being startled, but instead, they seem to glimmer with excitement at the thought of a possible race.
“Sir, our engine thrusters had increased in speed.”
“Then do something about it!” Captain Gilmore was getting fed up with their outburst. “You incompetence fools; use your brains instead of telling me this!”
The others focused on the problem as they didn’t want to get yelled at by the Captain.
Snow snickered, but she felt a sudden danger lurking in the system. It was like an irritating nagging feeling that she couldn’t get out of her mind.
Knowing that she couldn’t linger around the ship mainframe for too long, she pulled out. Snow didn’t want to get found out and possibly get in trouble. She didn’t know what they were going to do to her if they found out as she tried to get out as quickly as possible.
Detaching herself away from the mainframe, the thruster that she played with turned off, leaving the worried crew members with a sigh.
Snow zipped through the magical wired connection, hunting down the other guild members. There were many times when she saw the other Players diligently cleaning up the rooms that were once filthy with dirt and grease.
The days lazily went by. The Rocs stuck close to the airship as if it was one of its own flocks.