They easily soared up the deep well and into one of the side access doors of Truck-kun. About halfway up the well Nelva finally stopped screaming, instead opting to yell at Jack. “Look, thank you very much for carrying me up the well rather than making me climb, but you could have at LEAST given me some warning!” She croaked out giving him quite the glare with her large eyes.

“Sorry, got a bit excited to show you, our ship.” He admitted with a chuckle. He also didn’t want to admit it, but he knew that she would ask a ton of questions if he had tried to explain what was going to happen first. It was far faster to just launch and let the flight explain things for him.

Soon they were slowly landing on one of the ships, two side platforms facing the side access doors. The ship only moved a tiny bit as they sat down with the grated floors letting most of the heat and flames of their thrusters passing through. Once they were set down Jack let Nelva down who quickly checked herself over to make sure she didn’t drop anything before letting out a huff at Jack.

“I will warn you next time. I promise.” Jack said as John slipped off his helmet revealing his strong square jaw, short brown hair, and piercing black eyes. As they walked to the door it let out a hiss before sliding open revealing the metal interior of the ship. She nervously followed the men inside and looked around.

Inside it was fairly small with a hallway leading from a strange seating area at the front of the ship to a large door at the rear. Along the stretch there were a few doors to the left and right of the hall besides one part that had four strange large tubes close to the middle with two on each on each side of the hallway. Each door was labelled in a language that she not only didn’t understand, but had never even seen before.

“Welcome to the Truck-kun!” Jack proudly proclaimed as he motioned to the metal around him. “She is nice by the way. Apparently has a bit of snark though.” He warned before a female voice drifted through the ship.

>“Welcome to… me! I am the ship herself. Think of me like a sentient golem ship.”

The soft female voice cooed out. That was the last straw that finally snapped Nelva out of her amazed stupor. Nelva nearly threw her book with how fast she pulled it out. She did splatter some ink on the floor as she quickly got her quill out and put ink in it before noting down as much as she could with her head and large eyes moving on from one thing to the next.

She amazingly managed to keep most of her composure as she slowly walked up and down the hall swapping between writing and drawing as she tried to record as much as possible. She didn’t bother to keep it organized though. There would be time later to sort it out into one of her spare notebooks, but she didn’t know how long she was going to be aboard.

As she walked, she finally saw Jack and John standing in the tubes hanging up their weapons, armor, and packs only for their gear to be lifted up into the ceiling of the ship. She paused to examine the two men who were now shirtless both to take in the view of their muscles and the things that were written on, no IN their skin. Tattoos were all over their skin that had once been hidden by their armor.

She looked at John first, but even she could tell what his tattoos were mostly for. Many stories told of the marks soldiers wore. Their name, mark of rank, and symbols of the group they served. Words decorated his chiseled chest and his right shoulder with lines and a strange animal that looked like a bird of prey around it. Overall, he had far more muscle than markings.

Jack, however, had a bit of a gut, but his chest, shoulders, and back were covered in tattoos. On his right arm a long serpent coiled around it with its head ending at his wrist. On his left arm were more crude markings showing a strange canid breaking a chain. There were lines surrounding it showing a count of something with some letters by his shoulder blade. On his chest was the face of a dragon in brilliant reds and blacks with eyes that seemed to look into one’s soul. Its tail wrapped around his waist with its wings on his back curled up. Overall, it was one of the most elegant and beautiful tattoos she had ever seen in her life. Her eyes drifted back to the crude lines counting 25 of them, however one was different. It was off the side of the collection that was clearly far more carefully done. While the others were black it was a brilliant blood red with a tear drop beside it.

“Hey Nelva, woulda thought you would be enjoying John’s show more.” Jack joked as he turned to face her. His smile was softer than normal as he knew exactly what she was looking at.

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“Your body. It is like a gallery of art.” Her eyes once more traced the dragon’s mighty and elegant features before looking at its powerful eyes. “It must have been very expensive and taken quite the long time. I can only imagine how skilled the artist was.”

Jack chuckled watching as John slipped on a shirt and walked to the mess. “Ah, the snake is the only one I really paid for.” He calmly explained, motioning to the snake on his right arm. “The rest were… gifts.” He slowly rubbed the dog on his right arm with a smile that did not meet his eyes.

“Gifts from who?” she asked, moving just a little closer to get a better view. “Such wonderful art on your chest and back, they must have really liked you.”

“They did. I still consider both to be my friends and the only family I ever had.” He then took a deep breath before slipping on a shirt. “I know I made the right choice in leaving them behind.” He then motioned her to follow him as he took a few more deep breaths with each bringing back more of his smile.

“Alright, how about a bit of a meal? I assume you want meat?” he asked as John walked by sipping a soda and happily munching on a bowl of what looked like beans and pasta with a scent that seemed to burn the air around him. “We have quite the store of food and the means to grow our own. Even meat!” He held up a finger. “Don’t ask how we do the meat. I don’t know.” He said already knowing fully well she was about to ask about it.

“Here. Lets start off with something basic.” He tapped on the screen a few times and what looked like shredded meat fell into a pan. “Alright. Let’s just do a basic burger sans bun and leafy bits.” He quickly sculpted the meat into a disk before mixing in enough spices it would make a merchant jealous! She blinked a few times as he worked wondering just how wealthy these men were to afford all this before remembering they were from another world.

He flipped it a few times before measuring something with a metal spike inside the meat. He shook his head and kept cooking it before starting up a second one for himself that was a little smaller. “Been awhile since I cooked for someone.” He admitted before he put her meat on one plate and his own creation on a second one. She had to admit he looked better with his meat between bread with cheese and plants, but she knew the plants and bread would not agree with her. She tried one time with a band of adventurers she teamed up with for a bit and got so sick they had to leave her behind in town.

“Let’s eat over here.” He offered before he put the food down on a nearby table that sat between two cushioned benches that looked like they were covered in the purest leather she had ever seen. Once she slid into the booth across from him, she let out a deep sigh as she relaxed into the wonderfully soft and comfy seats. It was certainly not leather, but she didn’t mind at all since it felt so cool and smooth after weeks of stone and grass. The metal plates clinked against the table as he put hers down in front of her before sitting down himself.

She looked over at the smiling human who was happily taking a bite out of a burger as he sipped some black potion that bubbled. She used a knife and fork that was solid metal to cut into the meat and happily took a bite. She shivered and let out a long rumble as the meat melted in her mouth soaking her tongue in its fresh juices. The spices swam in the warm juice coating her mouth in wonderful flavor that drew out a gentle rumble from her. By the stars this meat tasted as if it was just carved from the cow!

“Glad you like it!” he said with a laugh. “I had to just kinda wing-it since I couldn’t use any plants or dairy stuff since I didn’t know what you could eat.” He took a huge bite of his burger as he kept watching her.

“Oh, I can eat dairy.” Nelva told Jack as she took a bigger bite. “So, why are you being so kind to me?” She asked once she swallowed.

Jack could only chuckle. “Well, John wasn’t lying. I am interested in you since you are the first person we have met in this world. On top of that you are a mage, nonhuman, and clearly smart.” He managed to hold in a few more compliments to avoid flirting even more. For now. “Besides. I could tell you were not exactly with anyone. I know what its like to be alone so didn’t want to just leave you.” He admitted with a laugh. “So! Your turn! You know what we are here for, what were you down there for?” he asked as he took a big chomp of his burger.

“Well. I wanted to leave my village and see the world. Our shaman had picked my sister as the next shaman leaving me with little else to do but teach and study. I quickly realized if I was not bound to the village, it would be far better to learn about the world by travelling it. As for being in the dungeon we are still trying to figure them out so I wanted to see if I could learn anything myself. Besides, I also needed to get some levels to be safer on my own and some treasure to fund my journey.”

She let out a sigh. “I had been with some, but they had to leave behind after I got sick. Thought I could go through a lower-level dungeon by myself, but clearly was wrong. Dungeon beasts are nothing like the things that swim around the swamps I am from.” She took a deep breath before finishing her meal. She would rather not like to think about how close it had come to her winding up some monster’s meal.

“Well, you are still welcome to travel with us! Will be nice to have someone with a fuller education on the team. Not to mention someone with magical skill to boot!” He reached out to shake her hand. She paused, looking between his hand and his eyes before giving it a good shake.

“Happy to be a part of a team again.” Nelva rumbled out before the ship pinged out.

>” ALERT! Bandit activity was detected nearby. High speed trader cart robbery in progress. Do you want to intervene?”