“Welcome to Okona Key.” Ewan shook hands with the Step-1 greeter, Blane, on the docks, lines of unmanned Astylinds patrolling the area, and took the papers that were their I.Ds. “You can request a guide if you want,” the spectacled man said. “Or you can contact me if you want help with something. Our colony offers full services for the Warships, from cleaning to repairing, you may want to try it, you won't be disappointed.”
“Thank you for your offer, I might take you up on that cleaning bit,” Ewan said with a smile, putting away the papers. “I’d like to roam on my own, can I trouble you to point me to the nearest market. Will it have the Warship parts and the potion supplies?”
“We’re running low on replacements, but you can try your luck, you might find what you want,” Blane said and handed Ewan a map, marking the parts with clusters; they held the best of the shops of Okona Key, according to him.
“Thank you,” Ewan said, folding the map away. “What about the Rigen? I heard you’re low on stock.”
“The supply transport is running late because of the current situation, we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel now,” the man said, thumbing his specs up. “You can still get some though, and don’t worry, the price hasn’t risen, we kept it at the original market price.”
“That’s very generous of you,” Ewan said. “Then if you don’t mind, I would like to buy what you have left.”
“Of course, I’ll start the process. You can pay once you’ve received the Rigen.”
….
Ewan became light of two hundred and fifty Novas while the Stormfalcon weighed ten kiloliters heavier once the filler snake pulled out of the hole. Though the total, from Vestal’s illegal purchase to the legal transaction of Okona Key, barely submerged the floor of the tank, it emanated a sense of security. Unless they pushed the Warship and became reckless with the distance and fuel management, this much Rigen would easily see them through to Nana and would even sponsor mistakes in the navigation.
“How is the situation with the sun here?” Ewan asked as Kidd came down to accompany him while Lance and Stefan stayed on the ship. “Do the shops open at night only?”
“We had that problem, but not anymore, or more like we’ll completely eliminate the issue soon,” Blane said with a smug smile, adjusting his specs again. “We have a proud member of the R&D team, the genius of Okona Key, Shaun Riggs. He single-handedly developed the method to keep the flares responsible for the spontaneous combustion away from our colony.”
Ewan lifted his brows and the group of workers in the distance caught his eyes. Towering but crude pillars scarred the beautiful colony’s earth and sky, each stabbed at a uniform distance from each other, layers of glimmering spell circuits skinning their surface, and the laborers worked on burying another.
Even the cloud-touching mountain in the middle of colony couldn’t keep its snowy charm, as the black pillars spotted its expanse and ruined its natural allure. Yet, this was what kept Okona Key safe, Blane quipped. This pillar attracted the dangerous flares from the sun within a certain radius and prevented the spontaneous combustion in the area. Weak Starons could come out in the day now, and normal life had resumed in the areas where the pillars announced their presence.
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“He really is a genius,” Ewan said under his breath, staring at the nearest pillar, his thoughts in turmoil. Even when he knew about it, he couldn’t guess the family of spell circuit that this man used for the feat. And the introspection gave him the brutal truth—he wasn’t capable of producing the solution in such a short period of time.
Geniuses existed in every corner of the world, there was always someone better out there. The problems Ewan couldn’t solve, someone in the distant regions of Airadia could answer in a heartbeat. Ewan went against and broke before the problem of the personal artifact, and the damage stole his smile. Yet someone might already have solved it ages ago…
The dawning sense of mediocrity humbled him, and the achievement of a genius before him opened his eyes. He also had his strengths, but at his core, he was an average man, struggling to hold the pride of a genius. The Governor’s words rang aloud in his ears, and the humility Ewan wore on his skin finally sank into his heart.
“Boss, let’s go,” Kidd said and nudged him awoke from his haze.
Ewan nodded. “Thank you for your help, I’ll take my leave now.” He shook hands with Blane again and walked away with Kidd. The dazzling pride and the ego of his past was no more, instead he donned a gentle and an unadorned halo now, and his calm gait reflected that.
“Did something happen?” Kidd asked, matching his steps.
“No.” Ewan smiled. “Everything’s fine,” he said. The acceptance shed his burden and lightened his shoulders, but his ambitions and dreams still lived. To reach his destination, he didn’t need the title of a genius, and he didn’t need to succeed in every venture, he just had to walk forth and never stop. And his tenacious mediocrity would take him to gaze upon new skies.
“Did you solve that problem?” Kidd’s eyes sparkled and he looked at Ewan.
Ewan chuckled. “Nope, it’s impossible for me, I give up.”
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Status: Healthy
Step-1 Severynth [Spirit-Nebula: Zeroth Surge]
Subtype: Step-0 Elementalist
Name: Ewan Ayres
Species: Human
Vitality: 7.0
Spirit: 25.4
Anima: [Fire – 25.4 | Ice – 25.4 | Blood – 25.4 | Mystic: 25.4]
Astylinds: 4 [Potential: 1]
Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-1 Severynth [Spirit-Nebula: Zeroth Surge]
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Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-B]
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Imp [Frost]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-B]
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Bloodthorn-Lotus [Iris]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-D]
Equipment: Common Clothes; Yurn [Neck Gaiter]; Moonkeeper [Crystal-Ball]; Rainwarden [Staff]; Blackfeather [Overcoat].
Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Unknown Book [Radon’s Legacy]; Anima-Crystals [Novas Coins]; Hub-Connector; Ingredients.
Novas: 24,895
Crelith: 1,014