Myria says "No problem. Sorry I didn't understand the complicated stuff Yui tried to tell me."
"Don't worry about it. I probably wouldn't have understood it either. You told me exactly what I needed to know."
Myria says "If you say so."
After that Myria joins the rest of us in playing with the kids until they are worn out. Everyone leaves and I end the soulscape, which leaves me and Lin alone in the cabin. A look tells me that Mushu, Mulan, Nala, and Albion are all sound asleep.
Lin says "What's with that look in your eyes?"
"The ship is done and underway, meaning I can finally relax. I was thinking we could have some fun, but I don't want to rush things. Not to mention, after days without sleep, I need to get some rest."
Lin says "You are right, there is no need to rush things. How about, for tonight, we just share the bed?"
"Alright, sounds good."
I shapeshift into human form with restricted stats and then follow Lin to the bed. We don't go to sleep right away, we spend quite a while kissing and cuddling. When I finally fall asleep, with Lin in my arms, I sleep better than I did in the tower's enchanted bed.
Even though we didn't do much, I still wake up feeling amazingly refreshed and relaxed. The only disappointing thing is that I am alone in the bed when I wake up. However, from the sounds from the main room, it is because the kids are awake.
There are curtains drawn over the windows so I can't tell what time it is, but the sun is up. What confuses me is that I know I didn't put up any curtains, it must have been Lin. Not that I mind her making changes, this is her home too, but did she have to make her chair pink?
I lay in bed feeling lazy for a half of an hour before I finally decide to get up. After a really good full body stretch I walk out into the main room where Lin greets me with a kiss. Now that I can see out the windows I realize that it is no longer morning.
Lin says "You looked like you were sleeping really well so I didn't want to wake you."
"Thank you. I slept great! What time is it?"
Lin says "About an hour after noon, the kids have already had lunch. Are you hungry?"
"Starving!"
With a laugh, Lin starts taking out dishes and putting them on the table for me. As I start eating breakfast she goes back to playing with Mulan and Mushu. I am already on my second helping when Nala and Albion return with Brightfire.
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Brightfire says "Hello, sleepyhead. I talked to Silverstream and Silverleaf, and they agreed to watch Mulan and Mushu."
Lin says "Since you were sleeping, I went ahead and talked to her about it."
"Oh, okay, good."
Brightfire says "So, when are we leaving?"
"Let's plan on tomorrow morning."
Brightfire says "Alright, I will be ready."
Brightfire then leaves and I convince Nala and Albion to take the babies out to explore. Once they are gone Lin sits down with a smile and keeps me company while I finish eating. When I finish eating Lin moves over to sit on my lap and we kiss for a while.
Lin says "I'm surprised that you didn't want to leave right away."
"I wanted to rest up a bit more. Besides, I am still worried something might go wrong with the ship."
Lin says "Well, you have certainly earned some rest. I went and took a look at the core earlier, everything looked fine to me."
"That reminds me, I still need to set up the mana gathering formation and talk to some friends."
Lin says "What friends?"
"They are ancient elves who after death became elemental spirits."
Lin says "They sound interesting, can I meet them?"
"Sure, you can help me with the formation too."
Lin says "Alright!"
With a smile I stand up, holding Lin in my arms, and leave the cabin as she laughs. Instead of asking to be put down, she wraps her arms around my neck. I head to the middle deck to the room that is directly between the bridge and engine room.
This area is currently being used by the elves as living quarters, but I move some walls around. I manage to make a small room that is directly beneath the core, where the pipe comes down. Surprisingly, none of the elves complain about losing some space in their rooms.
The room I make is only about four feet square, basically a large closet. I couldn't even fit inside it if I was in my normal form, but it is just big enough for my plan. I draw a circle on the floor with the pipe in the center and Lin then helps draw the symbols.
The symbols are a little bit different from the ones Lin originally taught me. I improved the mana gathering and also set it to directly feed mana to the core. Once the symbols are done I double check them and then carve them into the floor using my knife.
Normally, I would use my claw, but I can't do that since I won't fit in the room. Once that is done I take out some silver, liquify it, and mix in some gem dust. Then, with Lin's help, we carefully fill in the circle and the symbols with it.
Even before we are done, I can feel the mana in the surroundings being pulled into the formation. It is then purified by the formation and fed upwards into the core, exactly as planned. The only problem is that the range is fairly weak, but I have a plan for that.
I am going to put six smaller formations on the outside of the ship to boost the gathering. One above, one below, and then one on each side of the ship, but they need to be precisely placed. That is the hard part and that is where I am going to need Lin's help.
First I create an image of the ship and put the formations on it where they need to be. Then I make a communication amulet for Lin so we can keep in touch. After that I create threads of mana that pass through the ship in the directions for the formations.
I head up and get on top of the bridge, then I grab the thread and pull it taught. Then I move it around until Lin tells me that it is in the right position. Using that point as the center I draw a small circle and draw the runes around it.
When the runes are completed the formation activates and starts drawing in mana. The thread of mana disappears, but it successfully links the two formations. Once Lin verifies the mana is entering the main formation I carve it in and fill it with silver.