After dinner, I join the kids in playing on the cat tree until they are worn out enough to sleep. Then I open the soulscape and play with all my kids as Lin and Brightfire watch. Myria was invited but she chose not to join us, she is probably worried that she is in trouble.

Lin and Brightfire don't watch for long before they shapeshift and join in. Of course, as soon as they do they gather up the kids and then they all gang up on me. In the end they win, but I make sure to make them work hard for it and it wears them out.

Not long after that I end the soulscape and Lin and I head to be together. However, things don't go the way I was expecting them to because Lin has remembered my promise. So, I end up having to explain some of the various kinks that humans came up with in my old world.

Some of them make her laugh, some of them make her thoughtful, and some excite her. She doesn't try to hide it either, which makes me start getting excited as well. Needless to say, while we don't get much sleep, we do have a lot of fun before morning.

We get woken up by the kids whining outside our door, but Lin just covers her head with a pillow. Looks like it is my job to feed the kids, so I get dressed and grab the food pouch. The kids mob me as soon as I open the door, but the promise of food lures them downstairs.

Once they are fed, it is easy to convince them to go play and then I close my eyes and meditate. After a while I am brought out of my meditation by a weight on my lap and my shoulder being bitten. Of course, when I open my eyes I find that it is Lin who is sitting on my and biting me.

"If you are that hungry, you could have just taken food from the pouch."

Lin says "That isn't as fun. Besides, after last night I have every right to bite you."

"Fair enough."

Lin laughs and kisses me, then I take out some breakfast for her to eat. She stays sitting on my lap as she starts eating and to distract myself I start talking about the platform. Soon we have an illusion of it created so we can plan out the formations for it.

Lin says "You said you got gold and silver for the formations, but what stone did you get for the platform itself?"

"Um."

Lin says "Don't tell me you forgot to get some stone? Did you plan to just take some from the castle?"

"Yes, I forgot. No, I can't take it from the castle. That only works with the ship because I packed extra mass into it when I built it."

Lin smiles and says "Idiot. I will keep working on this, go fetch us some stone to test it out with."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Lin takes control of the illusion and moves to a chair allowing me to get up. I head outside, drop shapeshift, and take off, then I fly towards a mountain I scanned yesterday. I think I remember sensing some marble somewhere around here.

Lin is right, I should have gathered it when I was out here mining, but I didn't think of it. I was too focused on looking for metals and didn't even think about looking for anything else. I was almost right, there is marble, but it is in the next mountain over.

Now that I know where it is, it doesn't take me long to fly over and gather some. I collect enough stone to make four or five platforms and still have some for other experiments. I probably won't need that much, but I will use it for other things eventually.

When I get back to the castle, before I head inside, I take out my forge and refine the metals. That way everything is prepared and we can start the experiment right away. Once the metals are processed, I put the forge away and head inside the castle.

The kids are still playing and Lin is still sitting at the table playing with the illusion. I join her at the table, take a look at what she has done, and offer a few comments. By playing our ideas off of each other we are able to make a few more improvements to the design.

Once a few minutes pass without either of us being able to think of anything new, we begin the test. First I take out some stone and form it into a ten foot square platform. Then, I add the formations according to the final design we came up with.

When it is done, I have Lin check it before I fill the formations with gold and silver. The major formation is to gather and store the mana, the rest are to boost the gates. Everything else is done through normal enchantments, including the air bubble.

"You know, I just had a crazy idea."

Lin says "Oh no. What now?"

"If we add the air bubble enchantment to the ship, it would be able to go underwater."

Lin says "While that is probably true, what would be the point? The sails wouldn't work underwater."

"True, but the propellers would. It would be slower, but the ship would still be able to move."

Lin says "Alright, but again, why?"

"To explore beneath the surface, or sneak into an enemy port. It would also help protect the crew once the ship can fly."

Lin says "Okay, I guess that makes sense, but how would you control making the ship sink?"

"The same way I will control its altitude when flying. By modifying its weight through enchantments."

Lin says "It would be interesting to see what the ocean depths look like. Although, you should probably think of ways to fight beasts underwater before you try it."

"True. The ballistas would work, but with a very limited range. That is something I will have to think about."

Lin says "Until then, how are we going to test this platform?"

"We won't be able to fully test it until we get back to the peninsula. For now, you can gate to the ship to get more books and test it when you gate back. If it works, I will make a second one to keep in the castle."

Lin says "More books is good. I love the idea of having a personal library that would make any mage jealous."

"That is a given. Once you become archmage of the tower, the entire tower's library will be yours."

Lin says "Are you sure Yui will be okay with that?"

"Trust me. Yui is the spirit of the tower, she will be absolutely thrilled to have someone inherit the tower."

Lin says "Okay. Are you ready for me to test it?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Lin gates back to the ship and then a few minutes later a gate opens above the platform. However, we run into a problem, Lin can't pass through the bubble of air around the platform. It seems that I made the enchantment a little too strong so I have to quickly modify it.