North Tarak [foot of the Torrent mountain range], local time [1793.11.29]
They walked unhurriedly in the direction of the ship, avoiding the crowd. As much as Zeph could call it a crowd – people were keeping their distance, strangely. The low parts of the ship’s hull opened up, forming ramps for people to go through.
They had no tickets, and Zeph felt lost. He just followed behind Aisha and Kwan, who were chatting lively.
How do they even know where to go? There are no signs or anything, he thought.
Then, a realization hit him. I don’t even know where we’re trying to go… There is no way everyone wants to travel to Lurona city…
But he kept his mouth shut. He would ask when the opportunity arises, not when everyone could hear him.
They entered the ship through a less-frequented ramp near the front of the ship. Or back, he wasn’t sure – the ship was symmetrical.
Inside, he could see two lines of people standing before service windows on the sides. The wide corridor was leading to a series of lifts at the back. A series of doors were set on the sidewalls, marked as different service rooms. Two doorless exits, that probably led to the staircases, were set in the middle.
The interior was simple but opulent. Dark wooden panels covered the walls, floral patterns engraved on them were filled with black and silver. A dark-red and fluffy carpet was covering the floor. The roof was made from black wood and simple chandeliers were hanging from it, illuminating everything in a warm light.
Their line was moving fast, but he could already see more people taking place behind them.
“Do you want to see the start from the weather deck?” Aisha asked him suddenly.
“…If possible?” He tried to keep his expression neutral, but he knew he failed at the same moment. After all, he definitely wanted to see how this behemoth was even able to fly. Who wouldn’t?
Aisha and Kwan giggled at the same time. A very unsightly and perturbing reaction in his opinion – Aisha, the granny, never giggled.
Ah, if only Skills could upload the knowledge directly to the brain… I always wanted some acting skills… he thought mockingly.
“The upper deck it is, then,” Aisha commented.
“It would be uncomfortable for us, so let’s meet at deck-2?” Kwan proposed.
“Sure thing, just send someone outside to guide us after the start.” They nodded to each other in mutual understanding. Of something.
A minute later, they were by the service window. A bored-looking man, as tall as humans here tended to be, welcomed them mechanically.
“Greetings, dear passengers. Identification, please.”
There was a moment of silence in which the two women sent their Effigies. Zeph could tell by the quickly transforming facial expression of the attendant.
“Ah, La-Gewong and La-Zora, welcome on board!” he said with a slight, stiff bow. “We will send the premium stamps right after you choose your rooms. I am sorry to inform you that around half of the middle-deck chambers are already taken. You should have come before the signal…”
“It’s not a problem,” Aisha reassured him. “We want an upper deck, as close to the prow as possible. Just leave the stamps there and give me backup keys – we want to see the start.”
“And we will take the deck-2. I would prefer if my personal quarters were directly under Zora’s. Also, make sure my group is not scattered.”
He looked at them with surprise written all over his face but didn’t comment. “Of course. La-Gewong, you already declared the M-3 stamps for your group. But we weren’t informed of additional guests?” he said, looking at P’pfel and Zeph.
“For those two, just the lowest grade, please. They are under me, so place them in neighboring rooms,” Aisha said dismissively.
“Understood” he vigorously said and started to check something on a black plate, similar to the one in the lift. Zeph could see that he only turned on some dots in a few rows.
Primitive electronics? No… The mechanism seems much too simplistic. But an analog signal network would be already impressive, taking into account how Mana behaves and how costly a ‘cable’ would be. Curious… he thought, observing intently.
The man took out two small, wooden boxes, a metal plate, and a stack of papers. They quickly signed the hand-over reports and started walking in the direction of the lifts.
The same as previously, only two people were entering each. Zeph was in the middle of checking the contents of the box, so he didn’t even notice he was paired with Aisha.
Inside the box was a silver medallion on a thin chain. On its surface, a meticulous depiction of the ship was formed from thin strands of metal, almost as if a spider was responsible for the creation. Under the picture, the name ‘Avianna’ was written in decorative letters. After a moment, he noticed a flier underneath. It was folded in half, so he couldn’t read anything yet.
“You will have to pump your Mana into it for the duration of the travel,” Aisha said as the lift started to slowly ascend. “The amount isn’t much. Just make sure to fill the day’s quota.”
He lifted his head to look at her. “So, it’s the same as a city’s transfer amulet?” He asked. They didn’t use them in this town because he and P’pfel never registered in the first place. “Are there designated hours for the Mana transfer, or something?” he continued, scanning the flier.
His eyes widened. “What the…” he murmured in shock.
Half a million Mana per day?! he exclaimed internally after noticing the quota. No, wait… It’s just 6 Mana per second for the whole day… I could send that much in around 4 hours. But that means I am… Yea, I am producing around 7.5 million Mana per day, so around 375 million Joules. Holy shit, no wonder they tapped into this energy resource…
“Hm? Something’s wrong?” Aisha asked, tilting her head.
“No, just… Getting used to things…”
She shrugged. “To answer your questions, it’s the same technology, but the methods are different. I think you will like this one better,” she explained, smiling mysteriously. “Just put the stamp in the designed slot by your bed before you go to sleep – it should be more than enough. Although, you probably could use some exercise. In a city, you will have to additionally power an amulet during the day, after all. And no, hours don’t matter.”
“So, there is a storage for Mana on the ship?” he asked, thinking. How could hours not matter otherwise?
“If you can call a big Spell construct as that… You will see.”
She stopped speaking when the lift stopped.
As they moved through the wide corridors, covered by a simple wood and with minimal decoration, he finished reading the flier.
When the stamp was powered with heat Mana or placed in a slot, a curved bar above the ship’s visage, partially hidden under a net of metallic strings, would start to glow from temperature. It roughly represented the amount of Mana sent in the last 24 hours in relation to the quota. After the first day, it should be kept at full at all times. The overflow would keep it full for longer, but the… enchantment? Material? Device was ‘forgetting’ what happened 30 hours ago.
Definitely an analog system. Maybe even partially mechanical, he analyzed, disappointed by the fact that he couldn’t dissect this thing.
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The letters underneath the visage would heat up if the Mana from the ship was overflowing. Because the writing wasn’t covered, it was easy to feel the change in temperature.
As it was, overflowing often happened if the ship was met with too high ambient Mana density, so it was necessary to follow the emergency instructions if that happened. Nonsensical, at least for him, evacuation and crash protocols were also shortly explained.
Aisha stopped, forcing him to look up. She was inserting her plate into the slot at the side of a door. A metal panel with an engraved number 109 was hanging above them.
He quickly looked at the back of the stamp. On the slightly convex surface, the number 108 was engraved in big letters.
“Don’t take too long, the aerostat will fly off soon,” she said, tapping a metal contraption on her doors. People were walking around, so he guessed she was trying to be inconspicuous.
“Sure,” he nodded.
The next room was his. After pushing the medallion into the metal mechanism… nothing happened. He fed it some Mana, and the doors opened.
Breathing out in silent relief, he entered his quarters. The room was bigger than he expected, around four meters long and wide. This was the place he would spend the next 7 to 10 days. At least according to Aisha.
As it turned out, they didn’t change their course. Even if Lurona city wasn’t the capital of the Fuminao Legacy Kingdom, it was a better place for the relocation. It was bigger, richer, and less restricted by politics – the strange state of ecopolitics in this world showing up again. Anyway, the council of the city was doing good work in developing the area.
After closing the door and placing his backpack on the ground, Zeph checked the furnishing. It was made of the same brass-like material as the pipes in the waiting hall. A big closet, a table with an armchair set on rails, a few shelves with glass doors, and a wide couch. Well, it was a bed, but rimmed with low walls all around. A sturdy, gray material covered every part of it and after checking, he found some cushion underneath. Everything was bolted to the floor and walls, like on a real ship. He could tell that below the wooden panels a metal frame or surface was present.
Behind his bed, sitting on the left side of the room, he found a black panel. After funneling some Mana into it, a part of the wall sunk back and opened up to a nice bathroom. It had a brass interior, to no one’s surprise. The interesting part came from how it was set up. The shower was open-up, and he could see the sinkhole at the center of the floor. A toilet and a few sets of washbasins, set at different heights, were present in the room. All was made from the same goldish metal.
Leaving his backpack behind, he entered the hallway again.
Aisha was impatiently waiting for him. She managed to clean her face, but the rest of her person, alongside the warhaxammer she was still carrying around, were still covered in soot.
“Took you long enough.”
“I thought you would… Never mind,” he bit his tongue and closed the doors behind himself. Hearing a latching sound, he started to walk down a hallway, exclaiming with fake enthusiasm and raising his fist. “Let’s go!”
She sighed. “The staircase is in the opposite direction…”
~~~
They were standing on the lowest weather deck, the only one spanning the length of the whole ship. The higher ones were set as shrinking ovals, symmetrically set to keep the uniform shape of the ship, and formed the superstructure of the ship at the center.
He could see as the crew secured ropes all around him. Thick, metal ropes.
Figured. Cables, steel ropes… They already have all that, he thought depressingly.
They were lying inertly on the floor, leading to the cranes on the sides in straight lines. Now he knew why Aisha wished for a room close to the prow – it was one of a few places where passengers were allowed to stay. At least for now. Something new decorated the rims of the ship, though. Big, black cylinders, at least 5 meters in height and half that in diameter.
“We are a little late,” she said.
Zeph looked at her, then followed her line of sight.
The roof of the hangar that enclosed the ship didn’t look normal. It was weaving, like a folded canvas. Still, he was sure it was made of some kind of metal… or maybe rock? It was quite uniform and dark gray in color.
Looking to the side, he could see the ropes being slowly pulled upward by thinner lines. Technicians were securing them along the edges of the roof, maybe 30 meters above him.
The clanking of metal parts was echoing through the hangar from multiple directions. A feeling of anticipation, like before a start of a plane, filled his chest.
Aisha hit him in the arm weakly, taking his attention. “We should move to the railing. You won’t be able to see what’s happening on the sides otherwise.”
After a moment of consternation, he smiled widely. “Thank you,” he said, realizing she chose the quarters just for him. They were closest to this observation spot, the best one on the whole ship, allowing for a limited sighting in all directions.
They were near the prow of the ship. The ropes were connected to the ridges, leaving the floor empty.
Looking down, he could see more cylinders sticking out from the sides, like cannons would. They were much smaller, though.
Finally, people left the cranes and scaffolding around the ship. It wasn’t even 10 minutes after they came here.
The cimbalom sounded once again. Workers and passengers started to quickly leave the area. The ones high up weren’t present for some time already.
“You better tie yourself to the railing,” Aisha said with mirth in her voice.
He looked sharply at her and started to back off. “Why don’t we—”
She grabbed his shoulder and forced him to fold over the railing. “I am sure you will love the sights! Let me help you…”
Before he could scream for help, she already secured his torso firmly to the brass rod with a rope and covered his mouth.
“Now, now, there’s no need to scream,” she sadistically whispered into his ear, waving to the technical team below, before locking his hands when he tried to use them. “You will thank me later.”
The cimbalom resounded again, and the ship hummed. The deep vibration flowed straight through his bones, giving him chills.
A low sound reverberated in the hangar, resonating with his body and slowly raising in pitch, like a loading energy gun but on a scale he never imagined. The last people below removed themselves from the vicinity, closing the glass doors between the waiting hall and the hangar.
He more felt than heard as the black cylinders powered up. Aisha removed her hand from his mouth, but it was too late to scream.
The deafening sound of displaced air, uncannily similar to the sound of a rocket engine, drowned down everything else. Above the cylinders, a red and blue hue could be seen, not reminiscent of a fire at all – it looked more like a weak plasma beam.
It was the first time Zeph could observe Mana emanating light without a Spell involved. Heated air didn’t explain the blue hue, so he was sure Mana had a hand in the effect. He followed the stream of hot air and Mana with his eyes, looking upwards.
The roof was slowly unfolding, moving up. Silently. He held his breath.
If it’s like a balloon and expands this close to the rockface…
A mechanical sound from behind him took his attention. The back wall of the hangar was moving down, releasing a part of the “balloon”.
It unfolded almost immediately, trying to drag the ship with it but managing only to tilt it.
He would have slid down if not for the rope restraining him. Strangely, Aisha was still standing in place behind him, looking at the just-revealed sky. She didn’t seem to have any problems with the tilt of the floor.
As the ship moved slightly upwards, thanks to the lift powered by the engines, mechanical arms from the other side of the ship started to disengage. He could hear as they did, and felt it in the movement of the deck. They were now held in place only by the cranes and scaffolding on his side.
He had a bad feeling about this, so he hugged the railing with all of his strength. Righteously so.
The ship was released.
It swung in the air. Relatively slowly, because of its size, like the titans of its size tend to. But the acceleration was strong enough to flatten him on the railings.
Zeph couldn’t see it, but the other two walls dropped down alongside the swing, releasing the ‘canvas’ above them.
As it swung, the sheer momentum pushed the whole aerostat away from the cliff. The dome above them unfolded in all its glory, even as the ship was losing altitude.
He looked at the ‘parachute’ above him in awe. It was at least two times the length and width of the ship, creating a perfect shell above. The cylinders were still at full power, trying to rise them up, but there was a problem.
The ship’s swing reached the maximum altitude, and it started to move back.
At that moment, jet engines on the side, facing the port, powered up. He could not name them any different – instead of producing hot air rich in Mana, they actually pushed the avion. Ever so slowly, the ship evened out, its main body kept in one place by the engines while the wing moved above them in a balancing act. The distance from the rockface increased once again, and the ship stopped dropping.
Then, the umbrella-like constructs unfolded.
Behind him, on the back of the ship, a vertical, white sail, hidden behind the metallic framework, unrolled itself between the mechanical ‘fingers’. A keel, so to say. On the mast, he saw two additional sets of ‘fingers’ ready to unclench in the direction of the ship’s movement, for whatever reason.
Four sets of ‘umbrellas’ set on top of the ship formed this shape, the last one almost touching the back of the dome. Every one of them had an additional, folding ‘fingers’ set in the direction of the ship’s movement.
A creaking sound made him look down. The sides of the ship opened up, forming a series of air-catching vaults protruding at an angle from the hull. Then, side ‘arms’ unfolded.
Four on each side, the gigantic sails slowly opened like a hand of an amphibian. They stayed at a low angle, lowered at the front but bent upwards at their ends. The first and last pair were almost touching their counterparts above the deck, as the ‘fingers’ encroached above it.
He could feel the oppressing density of Mana even from the distance of a dozen of meters away. After consulting with Gru, they resonated and concentrated on Soul perception. The Air-Mana was almost tangible, but they still weren’t able to decipher what else was inside of the gigantic sail-Spell construct.
Zeph felt it had something to do with Space, when Gru felt something connected to the Metal… All in all, it was impossible to tell.
The sails started to move rhythmically, almost like a living being’s hands, but much, much slower, pushing the enormous amounts of Mana away from the duo. He immediately became lost in the scale of events. The Spells’ constructs were gigantic, after all. It was too much to observe after the initiation.
Every ‘finger’ of each umbrella had at least 3 joints, allowing for very life-like movements.
Something hummed again, this time from the back of the ship. The vibration wasn’t that disrupting this time, but… As the ‘fires’ above the cylinders set around the ridges died down, he knew where the power was redirected.
After cooling down, the cylinders started to descend into the ship’s structure, and he was sure.
He also recognized the sound. The same jet engines were speeding up the vessel, probably powered by the moving air and Mana, flying through the opened vents.
And he quickly understood. In all its glory, the ship was moving…
Fucking slow!