Part 1

"W-Why is it like this?"

"Hmm?"

The both started making a clueless face when the dwarf asked a random question all of a sudden.

"Hey guys you're sure that this is an Aptum Corus right? Who am I kidding this is an Aptum Corus but why is it.. this.."

"Strong? Overpowered?"

Aria's eyes started shining greedily as she said those words. Aptum Coruses besides the ability to adapt to any kind of ship has a unique characteristic that it only possesses.

The manufacturing process of this device is still a top secret of the Favonius Empire and only the Royal Family can distribute them.

Normal Coruses however can be created even by students of the academy. They serve as a requirement to pass the graduation exam.

The process of creating the two differ like heaven and earth.

"..weak."

"W-What?"

Filled with disbelief, Valion started questioning the skills of the dwarf.

"You're kidding right? This is an Aptum Corus it should possess some unique ability or else the Dean wouldn't hand it to us if it's worthless."

"Well it does have something like that but it's weird and impractical."

"What is it then?"

"Let me demonstrate it to you instead. Here I'll use the Corus to conjure magic. I'll also activate it's ability."

"Please do."

She placed her left hand on top of the Corus and raised her left hand. She then started gathering mana to create a magical attack.

"I'll be using mana orb."

mana orb is the simplest magic attack in the arsenal of any magic user. As a pre-requisite any student of Sky Reacher Academy should have learned this upon enrollment.

Even though they are learning how to fly Sky and Air Ships here, they also need some offensive magic for self defense if ever there is a situation that requires it.

A Corus can also be used to amplify the magic of a person and that's why during war or any kinds of battles, soldiers use small Coruses to amplify their magic.

Their weapons are commonly imbued with small Coruses that increases the sharpness or durability. You can say that the Corus is the greatest invention of mankind since time immemorial.

As she shaped a ball using her magic, she suddenly used the Corus to amplify the attack which to their surprise did something truly surprising.

The magic ball suddenly turned huge and the concentration of magic increased exponentially but all of a sudden it shrank back to the usual size.

"Do you understand now? This Corus can increase the strength of any magical attack but only for a moment."

"Interesting."

While saying that, Valion placed his hand on his chin as if he's in deep thought and Aria went silent as well.

Their actions clearly surprised Etsa because she thought that the two of them were always fooling around but when it comes to this they're quite serious.

"Aria.. We need to test this as soon as possible. Hey miss would you like to help as well?"

"I don't think I can help with fixing this Corus but if there's any ship related things you need of me I'll lend a hand."

"Who said anything about fixing?"

"Do you have an idea Val?"

"Yeah but it requires testing. Let's head to the hangar."

"Okay."

"W-Wait you two! Don't leave me behind!"

The two hastily left the room while Etsa struggled to catch up to them.

Part 2

The announcement that the freshman will pitted against the sophomore while the junior with the senior created such a buzz that even onlookers from other cities can't help but watch the battles that are about to transpire.

These yearly tournaments are not just for show, the final battle between the two victors today will have a match in front of the Emperor and the Royal Family two weeks after.

The winner of that fight is commonly invited to join the Heaven's Fleet even without graduating at the academy so it's a great opportunity for those who'd like to graduate as soon as possible.

A few days have passed since the appraisal of the Corus. Since then they've been practicing nonstop, Etsa even swore that her lifespan shortened due to the amount of tinkering she had to do on the spot.

They don't know if all the effort they put into honing their skills is enough but they're confident that if they pull this off a chance of victory is not that far in sight.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"Ely, are you ready?"

"Yes. Leave the combat to me. I'll be sure to put them down swiftly. I swear it on my house!"

"You don't need to be so uptight about it. This is just a practice match and not an actual battle.

At best, this is a battle of pride so let's just do our best okay?"

"Yes."

On the other side of the field is Valion and Aria. They're putting last minute modifications to he sip that they'll be using.

"I hope this works."

"Just don't tell Etsa that we're doing this. She'll freak out if she knew that all the stabilizing she did was for naught."

"Seriously Val, why did you make her do all those stabilizing stuff if we're not gonna use it in this battle?"

"I had three ideas on how to take advantage of this Corus but the two of them take time to work out so we're going with the last one for now."

"And that is?"

"It's better to show you. Just give me the control of what I ask whenever I request it okay?"

"Fine."

The two sky ships suddenly started powering up their coruses while waiting for the start of the match.

Sky ships generally don't need to be powered by a person's own mana.

The general power used in operating Sky Ships are called stilled mana.

The difference between it and Pure mana released by the crew on the spot is that stilled can only provide the basic functions while the pure ones can be harnessed and altered.

In a sense, stilled mana serves as a backup to a crew that exhausts their own.

"3.. 2.. 1.. Start!"

Elias started flying their ship named Squall at full power.

Squall while flying straight to the enemy started being surrounded by mana orbs that revolve around the ship.

These balls revolved ferociously as if guarding the ship itself.

"So this is what they'll use as both of offense and defense?

That's a really efficient way of using basic magic spells but managing that many requires great control of mana."

Valion said this as he distanced their ship Stella away from Squall.

At the rate of speed Squall was approaching it was clear that they wanted to end the match as soon as possible.

'He wants to end it quickly but I have other things in mind. I'll use this battle to test out the limits of this Corus.'

"Aria focus on defense and don't use our Corus just give it your all. I need you to give me 3 minutes. Here I'll give you the Main Control."

"Making me use the three of four controls right off the bat huh?"

"You think you can handle it?"

"Don't underestimate me!"

Aria's handed blurred as she controlled three of the ships functions while Valion handled the Combat Control.

In a basic Sky Ship, there are commonly four controls: Main, Flow, Shield and Combat.

These four are necessary to fly a sky ship and each of them serve an important purpose.

The Main Control is in charge of navigating through the skies. It is also responsible when it comes to evading or chasing enemies.

The Flow Control is what keeps the efficiency of the controls in check. The less focus the crew has in the Flow, the more sluggish the actions of the ships will become.

The Shield Control is the primary defense of a Sky Ship. The release of mana which serves as an armor can keep attacks at bay until it breaks or is depleted.

The Combat Control is the primary offense of a Sky Ship. A ship is generally equipped with a magic gun or a magun that can deploy magic projectile that can be fired to an enemy.

There are also other ways of using Combat Control. The Squall is a primary example of this.

Instead of using a magun, it releases mana orbs around the ship to act as an immediate offensive and defensive arsenal.

Squall caught up to Stella after a few minutes of chase. The distance between them is closer than a few meters.

In this distance, Squall started a barrage of mana orbs hitting Stella efficiently.

If it weren't for the barrier put up by Aria, the battle would've been already lost.

"You don't deserve to be in the sky! You're place is on earth! No in hell! Disappear from my sight Notos!"

Slowly but surely, Stella's barrier started producing cracks.