Kashi and the Maggots slowly set down their skycars on the skyboat’s deck. The daeben helped Lunette off and then disembarked. The daeben then followed Otto, who climbed to the ship using the ‘stairs’ he mentioned earlier.
Otto proceeded to give the group a comprehensive tour of the skyship. The skyship comprised of four main sections. There was the top deck, which travelers could climb up to during a flight to bask in the breeze. Otto pointed to a crystal construct at the center of the deck. The crystal powered an array responsible for creating a forcefield just above the deck but beneath the sails.
The forcefield blocked and then transformed incoming winds into a slight breeze. No matter how fast the ship traveled, passengers could always stand on deck to enjoy the view.
The second section was the captain’s quarters connected to the deck on a raised platform. The door to the captain’s quarters was a heavy iron door, opened by a specially crafted key. Otto explained that this was for security, to reduce the chances of a hijacking mid-flight.
Otto opened the door, leading the group into a small divided into two sections by a demarcating wall. The first, which Kashi saw upon entry, housed a giant steering wheel and some tall levers. A few rinks hung from the roof, allowing the captain to call different portions of the ship at once.
The second portion housed two small beds and a dining table when the captain needed to rest. The skyboat would have two pilots on board at all times, allowing the captains to switch out when either was tired or came down with an illness.
The two pilot system was especially important because the ship currently had a maximum cruising speed of about 150 km/h. At its current pace, a flight from Merriheim to Ederwood could take anywhere from 12-15 hours. That was a long time for a single pilot to keep vigilant.
However, Leila noticed a problem and asked, “How does the pilot see where they’re going?” They were currently in a room with no window, which begged how the pilots were supposed to navigate through the clouds.
“Jade-dono is currently working on that,” Otto replied with a confident grin. “She said it should be finished by today or tomorrow.”
“Oh, alright,” Lunette muttered as she sent Kashi a questioning glance. ‘Who is Jade, really?’
Kashi responded to her question with a shrug. He was just as clueless as she was. Initially, he thought he had an inkling of Jade’s intelligence when she helped Suzuki design the skyboats and trains, but this was on a whole other level.
With the captain’s cabin tour complete, Otto escorted the Maggots out of the room and then opened a trapdoor on the skyboat’s deck. The trapdoor opened to a small, spiral staircase, which Otto and the Maggots descended.
“Oh my,” Lunette softly exclaimed as she admired the lavish lounge that occupied the skyboat’s second floor. Guests could procure expensive drinks from a minibar to the right and then take a seat on beautiful couches and chairs, most of which could recline into a makeshift bed. Bookshelves with various novels and literature strategically placed around the room and breathtaking paintings on the walls completed the feel-good atmosphere.
“This is the Premium Lounge,” Otto explained with a bright smile. “Miote-san personally asked for this, and we decided to include it after Jade-dono’s agreement.” He then explained that the Premium Lounge would belong to passengers who were willing to pay absurd amounts of money for pleasure.
Kashi’s brows slightly furrowed. He had indeed given Jade full authority on the skyboat’s construction. But he had also specifically said he wanted the passengers to be comfortable during the flight. He feared that in pursuit of profit, Miote might have squished the regular paying customers together like real-life airlines.
However, luckily, a trip beyond the lounge revealed his fears to be false.
Kashi walked to a small area with another spiral staircase, cabinets on the walls, and a door to the right. Kashi took inspiration from modern airplanes and designed this location to house the inflight meals. The door served as the primary entrance into the skyboat. After docking, workers at the docks would push a gangplank up to the doorway to let passengers off and in.
Past this area, the rest of the floor’s seating arrangements were more familiar to the Maggots. Just like on an airplane, the floor consisted of a row of chairs on long columns. However, unlike modern planes, the chairs were moderately spaced out, preventing a situation where passengers would fight over an armrest. Furthermore, the legroom was akin to what one would find in a business class wing.
Kashi took a quick count and found there were five chairs on each row and forty columns in total, bringing the total count to 200 passengers. Kashi could up the capacity by increasing the number of chairs, but, perhaps because it was a fantasy world, the daeben wanted the passengers to be comfortable and happy while flying.
“The last two areas are the cargo hold directly below us and the engine room,” Otto explained. “The cargo hold can be entered through a trapdoor at the back of the ship, and there’s a hidden door in the hold that leads to the engine room. But for safety reasons, we don’t let unqualified personnel go in there.”
“Lots of delicate equipment there, I suppose,” Kashi said and then softly whistled as he looked around. “Still can’t believe you actually succeeded.”
“ We succeeded Kashi-dono,” Otto affirmed with a pleasant grin. “This skyboat would have never seen the light of day if you had not first thought of it.”
“I suppose you are right,” Kashi conceded and then added after a slight pause. “Still, I cannot thank you enough for bringing this dream of mine to life.”
Otto shook his head as he said, “It was our honor, Kashi-dono.” The dwarf looked around at the ship with warm eyes. “Every dwarf lives to craft something that will go down in history. Being a part of the team who built the first functioning skyboat is a legacy that I can proudly pass on to future generations.”
“Don’t get too complacent, Otto-san,” Kashi prompted with a wide grin. “This is only the beginning. There’s still so much we can accomplish together if you’re willing.”
Otto nodded and held out his hand. “It would be my honor to join your company when it’s set up.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Kashi laughed as he grasped Otto’s hand in a firm handshake. Otto Knutsen was the best craftsman among the dwarfs, and thus, having him on the Maggots’ side was better than a thousand dwarfs. Kashi, pleased by Otto’s agreement, decided to move on to his next agenda. He released Otto’s hand and then asked, “Where’s Jade, by the way?”
Otto’s brows furrowed as he said, “She’s been holed up in her lab with a couple of daeben working on an important project.”
Kashi’s brows rose in interest, “Any idea what?”
Otto shook his head. “She did try to explain, but I could not understand most of what she was saying.” The dwarf scratched his beard, eyes lighting up as a memory resurfaced. “However, I do recall something about moving pictures.”
“Moving Pictures!?” Kashi repeated in shock, eyes wide as he tightly grasped Otto’s shoulders. “Did she really say ‘moving pictures?’”
Otto nodded, stunned at first, but then his eyes began to shine as he smelled another great invention. “Is this something great?”
“Perhaps,” Kashi confirmed as he pulled away. The daeben softly murmured to himself, “Did she finally figure it out?” From reverse-engineering the rinks, Kashi was able to create sound crystals. These sound crystals could be used to store and playback sounds in the vicinity.
At the time, Kashi wanted to make video crystals but failed and eventually gave up. But it seemed Jade had found a breakthrough, which was why she called in the daeben who were skilled in runic manipulation to help her through the final phase.
Kashi was overwhelmed by curiosity. His eyes flashed as he glared at Otto and excitedly requested, “Let’s go see her right now!”
Otto shared the daeben’s excitement, but a part of his reasoning remained. He looked over Kashi’s shoulder at the Maggots and asked, “Your friends?”
Kashi impatiently glanced at the Maggots and then said, “I’m gonna go check out something cool. Keep up if you can. I’ll be back shortly.”
Before anyone could question where he was going, Kashi bent down, tossed a stunned Otto over his shoulder, and then dashed up the spiral staircase.
Shocked, the Maggots chased after him to the deck, only to see Kashi jump off the ship without a care in the world.
“Now, this I’ve got to see,” Syèl laughingly exclaimed as a pair of wings sprouted out of his back. He ran over to the edge, turned around, winked at Shokō, and then called as he jumped over, “Catch up if you can.”
Shokō snorted and then dashed to, and jumped over the edge.
Something flashed in Leila’s eyes as she saw the trio jump over the boat’s edge. The competitive spirit that generally lay dormant in her suddenly flared up. She walked over to the side, but unlike the trio, her sense of responsibility as a Vice-Guildmaster remained. With that in mind, she shot an arrow with a spool of rope attached to it toward the shore. She then stabbed another arrow onto the boat and securely tied the other end of the line until it was taut, forming a zip line.
Leila, however, did not utilize the zipline but rather also jumped off the edge of the boat. If Kashi could do it, why couldn’t she?
Shadow looked at his sister and said, “I’m going.” With those words, he jumped onto and then ran down the zip line.
“That’s not how you use a zip line,” Lunette playfully reprimanded, but she pulled out a violin’s bow as she ran over to the zip line. She jumped over and then used the bow to slide down the line to the shore.
Seeing everyone rushing over, Larsial made up her mind and ran along the rope, chasing after the far away figures.
Meanwhile, Absalon looked over at Brock and then said with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Children.”
“Mm,” Brock nodded with a knowing smile as he held out his right hand. Absalon’s eyes went wide as Onyx slid off Brock’s writ and grew into a ten meter long, two meters tall stone serpent. Brock then walked into Onyx’s open mouth and sat down. A moment later, he looked at Absalon and called, “Coming?”
“Ha! Of course,” Absalon conceded, giving in to his inner child as he walked over and sat beside Brock.
Moments later, Onyx shut its mouth and then flew off the boat, slithering through the air to the exit.
Meanwhile, a dwarf returning from his lunch break had this to see as he approached the shore.
First, a daeben jumped off the skyboat with his boss. The daeben ‘kicked’ the air, releasing explosions that blasted him forward until he landed on the shore. Once on the shore, he blasted past the dwarf, releasing a gale that almost sent the dwarf reeling.
Before the dwarf could relax, hot on the daeben’s heels was a halben with giant bat-like wings who breezed past him with a silly grin on his face.
Following the halben, a cerulean woman ‘jumped’ through the air until she too landed on the shore and gave chase.
A few moments passed, and just when the dwarf was about to regain his faculties, a giant arrow suddenly stabbed into the ground half a meter away from him. The dwarf cursed out loud as he immediately backed up. For a split second, his entire life flashed before his eyes.
The dwarf looked up at the ship and saw a wisben ‘jump’ down clusters of silver petals that magically appeared beneath her feet with each step. The wisben dropped to the ground, gave him an apologetic nod, then chased after the others.
No, wait. That wasn’t entirely chasing. The wisben was elegantly walking, but somehow, every step seemed to move Leila a couple of meters ahead of where she should be.
If Kashi saw that, he would have complained about how Leila wasted time learning useless stuff to keep her ‘elegant’ image.
“Move.”
“Lord Aygor!” The dwarf screamed at the top of his lungs and jumped to the side, just in time to see a short, white-haired assassin run past him. How, and where the hell did he even come from!?
Before the dwarf could figure out an answer, a beautiful cry drew his attention back to the ship, where he spotted a beautiful, blue-haired, Masonian girl hurtling towards him.
The dwarf stepped out of the way, his heart warming as the girl flashed him a sweet smile and then chased after the assassin. That warmth quickly died down when another daeben slid down the zip line and ran past. It took all he could to not attempt a light tap on her head with his hammer.
The dwarf took a deep breath and patted his chest to settle his rollercoaster of emotions. It was at this point that a giant snake suddenly flew over his head, beady grey eyes glancing at him for a split second.
Plonk!
The dwarf’s hammer dropped to the ground, and he fell to the ground, unconscious, as his soul took a formal leave of his body.
Meanwhile, unaware of the trauma they’d caused to a poor dwarf, Kashi and the Maggots continued to spread chaos as they raced through the forge at breakneck speed.
At the head of the group, Otto struggled to contain his nausea as he roared out directions, “Do you see a cauldron pouring molten iron into a cast?”
“You mean the giant one ahead of us?” Kashi excitedly called back as he looked at the giant cauldron ahead of him, which was in the process of pouring melted iron into casts placed below.
Otto looked over Kashi’s shoulder, his eyes watering from the opposing wind. “Yes, that one! Jade-dono’s office is just beyond that cauldron. Go around it, and you will see the door by the wall.”
Kashi nodded. “Got ya.”
After a few brief moments, Otto’s brows furrowed as he realized they were still going dead-on straight. “Kashi-dono? You have to go around the cauldron.”
Unfortunately for the poor dwarf’s sanity, Kashi replied with, “Why? I think straight through’s the better option.”
“Wait! What!? No! Kashi-dono no, Kashi-sama, Great Lord Kashi, please stop!” Otto quickly rattled off platitudes at the speed of a machine gun, but that did nothing to deter the daeben as he fearlessly charged into the fiery waterfall. “Kashi! NOOOOOO!”
Otto shut his eyes and grimaced as he awaited his pain.
Whoosh!
Moments later, Otto opened his eyes. He looked around, shocked to realize that not only was he unharmed, but they had passed through the molten iron unscathed. He looked above and understood why, when he saw a dragon’s ki image surrounding himself and the daeben.
Kashi, meanwhile, was pleased to find that just as Otto said, a single door lay on the wall behind the cauldron. However, rather than go straight through, he turned around, curious about whether the others would pick the challenge.
Vwoom!
Kashi was not disappointed as moments later, the molten waterfall ‘split apart’ as if controlled by a hidden hand.
Syèl flew through the opening with a massive shit-eating grin and then landed in front of the daeben. “No entrance can beat that,” he challenged as the wings folded and then disappeared behind him.
Kashi laughed and pointed, “It’s not over yet.”
Boom!
No sooner had Kashi said that did the waterfall explode outward as a sword cleaved through the center, forcefully opening a hole. Shokō slid, burst through the tight opening, and landed in front of Kashi and Syèl with a smug grin. “I get bonus points for mortal danger, right?”
Kashi and Syèl looked at each other. Indeed, in either of their cases, getting hit by the molten iron was an inconvenience, not a danger. This was not the case for Shokō and the others.
“Sure,” Kashi agreed.
“But you lose points for messiness,” Syèl finished as he pointed at the puddles of molten iron on the ground.
“Tch.” Shokō clucked her tongue as she stood by their side. “So, who’s in the lead now?”
“Style and precision,” Syèl answered as he pointed at himself.
Shokō looked at Kashi for confirmation. The daeben smiled and shrugged, showing he agreed with Syèl’s decision. Miffed, Shokō snorted and said, “Just wait, someone will definitely beat you.”
Syèl laughed as he rubbed his nose. “Impossi— What the?”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
An arrow shot through the lava, giving Syel pause. The arrow left a pea-sized hole in its wake. But then a cluster of petals suddenly blossomed along the edges of that hole and slowly expanded until it grew to the size of a human-sized tunnel.
Syèl swallowed in despair as Leila elegantly stepped through the tunnel and then appeared in front of him. The wisben looked up at Syèl and said as she tucked her hair behind her head. “…You were saying?”
“HAHAHAHA!” Shokō burst out laughing as she took in Syèl’s mortified expression. “Now That is Style.”
“I concur.”
“What the actual fuck!” Syèl cursed out loud as he jumped and spun around, glaring at the white-haired assassin. “How did you even do that!? We were all watching the cauldron. You could not have gone through.”
Shadow blinked, stared at Syèl like he was the biggest idiot in the world, and then answered, “I went around.”
“Pffft… Hahahahahaha!” Shokō could not hold it in any longer and bent over, clutching her stomach and wiping her tears as she laughed her mind off.
Even Kashi and Leila had to turn their heads to hide their amusement at Syèl’s reddening face.
Meanwhile, Larsial and Lunette eventually joined the group after going around the cauldron while wondering what the fuss was. When they heard about the competition, they looked at each other.
Lunette tentatively said, “I don’t think any of you stand a chance.”
Leila, whose victory was all but in the bag, blinked as she asked, “What do you mean?”
Gururururu!
A strange sound suddenly came from the cauldron, and Lunette looked over as she pointed and said, “That.”
The Maggots stared, wide-eyed in shock as a giant snakehead slowly and creepily slithered through the molten waterfall. The 2000 degrees metal slush harmlessly slid across the snake’s rough skin as its beady eyes regarded the Maggots.
Onyx’s nose released steam as it slowly opened its mouth, shrouding the figures of two men as they descended from it. The smoke slowly cleared, revealing Absalon and Brock as Onyx reared its head high above them.
Brock raised his arm, and Onyx slid through the waterfall, reducing in size as he rotated in the air a few times. The snake slowly descended onto Brock’s arm, growing even smaller until it took the form of a stone bracelet clasped around his wrist.
Brock lowered his hand and then looked curiously at the Maggots who were giving him weird looks. “Is something the matter?”
“He won, right?” Shokō absent-mindedly muttered.
“No one can beat that,” Leila confirmed with a stiff nod.
“Damn it.” Syèl inwardly cursed.
Kashi, meanwhile, turned around and headed to the door while muttering under his breath, “As expected, nothing beats a giant snake.” The daeben cleared his mind as he reached out and opened the door.
Before the daeben could even register the room, Jade’s extremely loud, excited exclamation struck him in the face, “Fuck Yeah! Get in there, Bitches!”
A stunned Kashi looked into the room.
Jade’s workshop was a large hall with several crafting tables and junk materials, seemingly haphazardly thrown around. Several female daebens stood at these tables, working on inscribing runes onto mana stones and other items.
However, upon hearing Jade’s shouts, the daebens rushed over to the young woman, eyes glowing in anticipation. It seemed they, too, anticipated the results of Jade’s experiments.
The daeben women surrounded Jade. Moments later, they also broke out in cheers and celebratory hoots as they hugged each other and congratulated the young scientist. Jade, meanwhile, took her celebrations to another level, dancing, imitating guitar riffs, and raining curses at some object on the table with a smug expression.
Kashi had seen this kind of behavior before. But that was in the age of console and PC gaming when Streamers finally defeated a tough boss. For the life of him, the daeben could not figure out what could get Jade so excited that she went all out like this.
“Yo, Jade!” Kashi called out, right hand raised as he flashed an awkward smile. Right on cue, Jade paused in the middle of an air guitar reef, eyes flashing when she spotted Kashi. ‘Is she embarrassed? I would be.’ Kashi wondered and then tried to defuse the tension, “Been a while, hasn’t it?”
Contrary to Kashi’s expectations, Jade only faltered for a second before her eyes went wide with crazed joy and excitement. The halben screamed, “Kashi! You’re Here!” as she ran up to him. Grabbing his hand, Jade grinned as she beckoned with a heavy pull, “Come on! You’ve got to see this!”
‘It’s my fault for thinking you would know embarrassment,’ Kashi mused as he let himself get pulled by Jade.
“Yo, you’re not forgetting us, are you?” Syèl mockingly scolded as he walked into the room with a snarky grin. He looked around at the messy workshop and then turned to Jade, “You’ve been busy.”
“You have no idea,” Jade replied with a wide grin. The little halben’s eyes lit up when Shokō and Leila walked, and she excitedly exclaimed, “You guys are all here? Perfect! Come on. The more, the merrier.”
Kashi’s brow rose as he let himself get pulled over to the crafting table Jade had been using. The daebens who surrounded the daeben retreated, allowing the Maggots to take their place. Kashi examined the two objects on the table. The first was an opaque glass screen in front of a thin wooden box, like a TV, while the second was a spherical mana crystal resembling a rink. The only difference was that while rinks were sky-blue, this one was bright yellow.
Kashi’s brow rose as he looked at both devices. “What am I looking at?”
Jade put on her best presenter’s grin as she lifted the yellow rink. “I call it the video crystal.”
“Video—”
“Crystal?”
Kashi and Lunette questioned in order, disbelief in their eyes.
“Yeah, video crystal,” Jade confirmed, and then winked at Kashi as she added, “I took inspiration from the sound crystals Kashi crafted to store and play music. Like Kashi’s sound crystal capture sound, this captures light and sound, or in layman’s terms, records videos. Not only that, but it can playback and transfer videos between rinks.”
Kashi’s eyes flashed in shock as he stared at Jade without breaking eye contact. “Transfer? You definitely said transfer just now, didn’t you?”
Jade nodded with a bright grin. “I recently figured it out. How rinks can transfer sound to each other.”
By this point, Kashi had long since forgotten anyone else in the room. Transferring sound from one rink to another was a problem that annoyed him to no end while designing the sound crystals. The inability to move sounds was why current headphones needed two mana crystals in both ears to function correctly. Of course, having the ability to transfer sound also meant they could start crafting new rinks, allowing any regular villager to own one.
Kashi’s impatience showed in agitated eyes as he all but begged, “Well, spill it already!”
Jade laughed as she took a pair of rinks out of her inventory. “I figured out by accident, actually,” she confessed as she bent under the table and lifted a small metal box. “I was messing around with this Dimertium box, trying to figure out why it can stop mana flow.”
Jade placed one of the rinks in the box. “Initially, I used an empty mana crystal and tried blasting my mana through the box, but when I checked, the mana crystal did not have an ounce of mana in it. Out of curiosity, I tried with a pair of rinks next.”
Jade closed the lid on the box and handed the other rink to Kashi. “That rink’s only linked to the one in the box. Try calling it.”
“Okay…” Kashi doubtfully replied as he injected his mana into the rink. Just like Jade said, he could only ‘feel’ one contact. The daeben attempted to connect to the other rink, but to his surprise, his efforts kept failing. Kashi frowned and looked to Jade for answers.
Jade took the rink from Kashi with a knowing smile. “I was just as confused as you, but after numerous experiments, I finally figured it out. Rinks have a complex array in them that converts sound into mana. That mana is transferred through the air to the linked rink, and another array converts the mana back to sound and plays it.”
“Through the air?” Leila questioned in disbelief.
“Mana, to be exact,” Jade confirmed. “Mana in the environment acts as a medium for it to travel. This is why it can’t pass through Dimertium.”
“Wait, can mana pass through solid objects like earth?” Shokō asked with doubt. “We’re underground now, but I can still contact Rosendun.”
Jade laughed as she looked at Syèl. “Have you ever punched someone with pure mana?”
“Yeah, multiple times,” Syèl confirmed with a sick grin. “It’s pretty fun to see them blow up from the inside.”
The room paused as everyone stared at the bloodmage for a second.
“Leaving your madness aside,” Jade muttered, shaking her head to regain her focus. “Have you ever noticed that sometimes, your mana explodes out of their backs?”
“Oh!” Syèl clapped, eyes wide. “You’re right. It happens to some of the tougher guys. I never really thought about it. Just thought it looked cool.”
“Most people don’t,” Jade confirmed. “That happens because the human body is a great conductor of mana.”
“Mana conductor?” Shokō repeated. “You mean like the way we conduct electricity?”
“Exactly!” Jade confirmed with a clap. “Most items in this world conduct mana to varying degrees. The earth is no different.” However, a moment later, she frowned as she said, “But there’s a problem. The earth is not a good mana conductor. The air is only slightly better in comparison.”
“Huh? What are you talking about now?” Syèl asked, confused.
“There is something engineers call attenuation,” Jade explained as she pointed at the rink in her hand. “It’s the gradual loss of data as it travels through a medium. The material used for the medium greatly affects how much data is lost as it travels.”
“And earth is not a good medium, I take it,” Kashi proposed.
Jade nodded. “It definitely is not.” She sighed as she continued, “I copied the transfer array from the rinks into a couple of sound crystals. I was indeed able to create new rinks, but their range is only about as large as Aygorzi, and it’s even worse when trying to contact the surface.”
“So how are the rinks able to contact each other on either end of the continent?” Kashi asked.
“Signal boosters,” Jade answered with a frustrated expression. “If I had to explain it… Imagine those regular crystals throw the mana to each other, while rinks use cannons to send their mana. The mana sent from Rinks are compressed and much stronger; therefore, they can last longer over long distances before breaking off.”
“How do they do that?”
Jade laughed as she said with a shrug, “God Power.”
“Huh?”
“There’s nothing in their embedded arrays that causes them to be so strong, so what else can it be except a god’s power?” Jade affirmed with a weak smile. “Way I see it, the rinks are either blessed by the messenger god, thereby boosting their power, or the messages go through the messenger god, and he boosts the power, so they reach their destination.”
Kashi frowned but did not find any faults in Jade’s logic. “That might explain why the rinks did not work until we freed Fermes. He must play a major role in how the messages are sent.” The daeben looked at Jade, “So, do you have any potential solutions?”
“For now, I’m planning on using mithril or silver wires as mediums,” Jade answered. “The attenuation is much smaller along these compared to the air and earth.”
“What happens if the intended destination is further than the attenuation can allow?”
Jade nervously laughed. “I’m still working on that.”
Kashi paused, brows furrowing.
Jade’s eyes lit up as she saw the gears turning through the daeben’s eyes. “You’ve got an idea, don’t you? Lay it on me!”
“Just a vague idea,” Kashi replied with a shake of his head. “I need a few more minutes to make it clear.” The daeben then turned to the screen and said, “So, what’s the deal with the video crystal?”
“Ah! Yeah,” Jade exclaimed as she dropped the rink and picked up the video crystal. “As I said, the sound crystals absorb sound, so all I had to do was change the runes, so the crystal absorbed light, and modify your array, so it released the absorbed light rather than sound.”
Jade raised the video crystal and pointed it at Kashi. “Say cheese.”
“What?”
Kashi barely had a chance to do anything before Jade set it down and said, “Done.” She then tapped the crystal and pointed it at the ceiling.
Kashi and the Maggots looked above, eyes wide as they watched a three-second playback of Kashi blinking and saying, “What?”. The image repeated several times, reminding them of a gif.
Jade looked at Kashi and said, “I gotta thank you for the Runes book, manual, whatever. There were so many runes in there I needed for the scripting. Would not have been possible without it.”
Kashi waved his hand. “No problem. You need it more than me. More importantly,” he said, pointing at the screen, “Does that work?”
“Does it work?” Jade grinned as she tapped on the video crystal.
“What?” “What?” “What?”
The black screen suddenly blossomed to life, repeating Kashi’s little gif over and over.
Kashi’s eyes widened as he pointed at the screen. “How does that work?” This was different from projecting an image on a surface.
“There are thousands of tiny little modified magelights lined up in a neat matrix inside that box,” Jade answered with a proud grin.
“Magelights?” Lunette asked, not seeing the connection. They had been talking about crystals this whole time. Where did magelights come from?
“Yeah, magelights,” Jade confirmed. “Magelights are just crystals which have been charmed to emit light. People don’t realize because rarely crystal-shaped.” The proud halben puffed out her chest as she continued her explanation, “The magelights in here have been modified to produce all ranges of colors on demand.”
“And how did you manage that?” Kashi asked, stunned. Magelights usually emitted white light. Their color only changed depending on the color of the glass surrounding them.
“RGB spectrum,” Jade replied with a triumphant grin. “All colors can be simulated through a combination of Red, Green, and Blue. All programmers know this. Figuring out how to code color is something we love and hate when first picking up programming.”
Kashi grabbed his head, suddenly suffering a headache. “Wait, let me get this straight. You coded the crystals to combine red, green, and blue to create a color? How…”
“Simple, convert the colors to numbers,” Jade answered with a smug grin and then proceeded to groan as she stretched. “You have no idea how difficult it was to create a whole new language using runes. I had to teach the video crystals how to convert the light they absorbed into numerical data representing color and position, and then convert that information into mana.”
Jade clapped as she pointed at the screen. “That mana is sent to a crystal I call brain box in the TV, which is connected to the thousands of light crystals. The brain box converts the mana back into a series of numbers, with each position representing a tiny light crystal. The light crystals at each position receive the information on the amount of red, green, and blue light and then light up with the correct color.”
“For pictures, the crystals maintain the same color,” Jade said as she wrapped up her presentation. “But for videos, the crystals can change color several times per second determined by the information given by the brain box.” The halben then dared to pout as she leaned in close. “It’s not perfect yet. If you look closely, you can see jagged edges from obvious pixels. The crystals we’re using are still too big, and the screen quality is not the best, but you know, those can be fixed in time. The important thing is, it’s working.”
“What do you guys think?” Jade asked as she looked up from her presentation.
The halben’s answer was silence. Stark silence. The loudest silence anyone in history had ever witnessed. You could practically hear the shock, disbelief, and quite frankly, a bit of fear in the eyes of all the Maggots present.
Syèl, the first person to snap out of his shock, reached across the table and pinched Jade’s cheeks. Much to Jade’s mortification, he pulled and stretched her cheeks, a frown on his face as he muttered, “Hmm… She does appear human.”
Pa!
“Of course, I’m not human!” Jade cried as she slapped Syèl’s hands. Rubbing her cheeks, she looked at the shocked Maggots and then clarified with a wink, “Clearly, I’m a halben.”
Jade’s absurd response instantly defused the tension in the room. Kashi, whose heart had risen to his throat at her first sentence, suddenly felt his legs weaken at the second. The daeben’s knees buckled, forcing him to hold on to the table for support.
Next to him, Syèl was no better. The bloodmage stared at Jade with a blank expression as he listlessly replied. “Ah… of course. You’re a halben. My bad.”
Pfft…
No one knew who laughed first. But the sight of these proud men looking like they’d just dodged a bullet as a result of Jade’s teasing caused the Maggots to erupt in uncontrollable laughter.
It took a good full minute for the Maggots to regain their posture, much to the detriment of Kashi and Syèl. They were forced to stand through the humiliating experience.
Luckily, Jade rescued the duo from further humiliation by changing the topic, “So, Kashi. That idea of yours. Have you figured it out yet?”
“Hmm? Yeah. Though I’m not sure how I’d get it to work,” Kashi hastily replied, glad to have something to push the conversation away from his embarrassing state.
Jade tapped the video crystal with a grin as she soothed, “No one knows how to get stuff to work at first. The important part is the idea. We can figure out how to make it work afterward, so spill it.”
Kashi nodded and, after taking a moment to articulate his thoughts, looked at Jade and said, “Wireless signals in the other world weaken after some distance. But signal boosters are used to strengthen and then send the signal even further, right?” The daeben folded his arms, gaze thoughtful as he proposed, “What if we build a signal booster, but for mana? It would collect mana signals in the atmosphere, strengthen them, and then send them on their way. Not that I have any idea how we would design such a thing, though.” Sighing, Kashi gave up and asked, “What do you think?”
“…”
“Jade?”
This time, it was Jade who stared at Kashi in silence. The halben scientist swallowed hard and then slowly walked around the table until she stood right in front of the daeben.
Jade looked into Kashi’s eyes for ten seconds, and then suddenly reached up and pinched his cheeks. Like Syèl earlier, she stretched and pulled Kashi’s cheeks every which way, and then commented while glancing at Lunette, “He does seem human.”
“Pu… Hahahahaha!”
That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, as even stoic figures like Leila could not help but double over in pained laughter from the total absurdity.
Meanwhile, Brock, chuckling, glanced at Absalon, who stood next to him and said, “The Hopeful Maggots, is it? I don’t know about the maggots part, but I understand why this guild has Hope in its name. It is a thing of beauty.”
Absalon laughed as he folded his arms and looked at the laughing young adults making fun of each other. Pride and joy simultaneously rose in his heart as he replied, “Ah, Joining this guild was the best decision I have made in all fifty-five years of my life.”