Avianna [central lands of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1793.12.01]

The lands below slowly passed by. The grasslands, already yellow and dying at this season, were sparsely interrupted by clumps of trees still keeping the multicolored leaves. It was very scenic, if a little monotonic view.

He could see movement among fields, but no animal. If he had to guess, the grass itself would reach his chest in height – even ignoring the bushes trying to pierce the homogenous canvas to rise above it all. Many bigger animals could roam inside while keeping a low profile, staying unnoticeable.

A shame on them that he was looking from above.

Nonetheless, he was skeptical if he would be able to traverse this terrain on foot. The animals aside, after comparing the level of water in the nearby river to the height of the uneven ground around, it became clear the grasslands hid a treacherous terrain. Marshes and water pits were hidden below the yellow leaves, he was sure of it.

Zeph sipped from his drink while looking at it all. A strange mix of bitterness and sweetness started to fight for domination on his tongue.

It was quite pleasant, like tasting a chocolate brown cake right after drinking a mouthful of a coffee. A sublime taste.

The view was becoming quite boring, so he touched a black plate on his table and pushed his Mana in a controlled manner, rotating it to the right in a spiral.

The view displayed on the huge screen to his right started to shift upwards. The transition was slow but smooth. After taking another sip of his drink, he stopped feeding it with Mana. Now, the horizon touched the screen’s lower edge. A beautiful scenery, made entirely from strangely-shaped clouds filtering the light of the sun, now dominated the wall to his right.

He didn’t know how it worked, but considering their technology level, it was probably a scope and some convoluted mirror mechanism that were sending the light to the inside of the ship. He didn’t care, really.

Different from Earth’s, the sky didn’t have normal stratospheric layers. Also, the vapor and its density followed the Mana currents. The three-dimensional formations were truly mesmerizing in their shape and color. The light was not only changing the clouds’ colors due to the Raman scattering, but reflecting from surfaces of micro-crystals suspended in the air and creating a lightshow not even imagined by Rayleigh.

Instead of forming stratospheric layers, the clouds clustered in wild shapes, taking all of the skies and moving in patterns not possible on a normal planet. The density of gases was modulated by Mana, both for air and water particles, changing the dynamics entirely.

He was still clueless as to why so much light was able to touch the grounds below and why he could see stars at night. Even now, the sky above was the same azure color, the bright moon always visible no matter the time of the day. The same as on his mountain, he could only see singular clouds above, a preposterous notion. If he understood correctly, those vertical cloud formations were present for tens of kilometers above, populating the sky in a never-ending dance. It should be all dark down here. But somehow, they stayed transparent when looking from below.

I already saw examples of Mana emitting light… It seems there is a light-transferring effect that I don’t know about… Wouldn’t that mean that the stars I saw are all just warped images of the true celestial sphere? The thought felt right and concerning at the same time. It almost felt claustrophobic, too. Like having a massive illusion placed above just to imitate the real sky and placate him. It brought to his mind a certain old movie where the main character was living all his life in a closed-off dome, in a physically simulated life. All for the fun of viewers…

He shook his head. Those were just natural occurrences here; he shouldn’t compare them to Earth’s reality. It actually explained why the sky seemed like it was populated mostly by nebulae, if it was just a distorted or strengthened light of the stars. Mana was produced by living organisms – there was no way it could influence all of the close-by galaxies, or even stars. All in all, the physicality of this place was almost the same, if not the same entirely.

Even a small difference could still produce such effects… his inner dreamer spoke up. Change one of the basic constants by a marginal value, and the universe can explode…

He ignored the other Zeph’s voice. Realistically speaking – the chances of physicality being so different, yet only having effects on the celestial bodies, were the same as the chances of not fuck up a program by changing one of the basic functions in its code.

Impossible, that is.

Still, I wonder how much light this planet is getting from the sun’s radiation if everything here can be illuminated without problems… he mused, looking at the left side of the screen. A dark, long shadow was looming there. He initially thought that those were storm clouds, but after observing it for long enough, he knew that the object was much further away than visible clouds could be. It never moved, after all, no matter how long they flew. It was something much more massive than mere clouds.

It was a ‘strata two’ flying continent. Abrasta, it was called, as he learned for the crew. The closest one to these lands, too. Some smaller islands were flying around, especially on the ‘strata one’, but they couldn’t be spotted from their position. The finnicky light wasn’t enough for them, it seemed.

It was quite a headache to ask for that information without giving himself away, but yes, landmasses of that size actually cast shadows on the lands below, forming biomes drastically different from the surrounding low-lands. They were moving very slowly, though. It was much faster than continental drift, of course, but gave the life enough time to accommodate and travel along.

From the talks, he also deducted that most of the flying rocks conglomerated near the planet’s poles. The image of the spindle-like shape it has to have overall made him laugh a little.

I hope the maps are popular here, I would like to try and make a globe out of them, he mused with mirth.

Abandoning his idle thoughts, he concentrated back on the ‘eye of the storm’ effect the clouds were making, just horizontally. The sun, moving along the ridge of spiraling clouds, produced not only a colorful display visible in the clouds themselves but also rays of light shining from right to left. Truly, it was like looking at the miracle of nature, an ascension portal, a well that ended in an infinity too bright to see…

A chair beside him scraped the floor and he turned his head in the direction of the newcomer.

“Yo! So, you are the one posting those ridiculous commissions?” said a lanky guy as he seated himself in the chair across from Zeph.

“Yes, that would be me,” he answered simply, keeping a straight face. “What do you mean by ridiculous, exactly?”

“No, no! Nothing, just surprised someone wants to tour our poor ship,” he immediately answered, raising his hands in a placating gesture.

Zeph found this ‘café’, if you could call it that, the previous day after evacuating himself from the weather deck, and immediately decided to make it his meeting spot. It was safe, cozy, and have a variety of really good drinks. And, most importantly, it has the screens.

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Sure, there were restaurants, or whatever they called them, on the lower levels that offered the same view. To be more exact, they offered a sitting inside glass observatories placed under the deck-0 and able to stick out of the hull.

He dreaded those places.

He would rather overpay and stay inside the deck in a comfortable armchair. The one gold for the whole ride, he could stomach for the comfort and views. Also, ship movements weren’t influencing this place nearly as much.

“Well, you can call it touring if you want,” Zeph said with a shrug. “I’m more interested in technicalities, though.”

It was the guy’s turn to shrug. “You pay, I answer. Gehrren, by the way,” he said, reaching with his calloused hand for a shake.

“Einar,” he answered, returning a firm grip. “You have 2 silvers’ worth for meals, so go ahead, I have some questions already…”

They chatted idly as Gehr ordered a cake and a weak alcoholic drink. Zeph was playing the role of an ignorant Fullangrarian who lived in a society with totally different technology. That excuse was working very well, actually, when he finally found a proper target for it. Only people more educated could tell that he was asking questions about things that he should already know about.

After the dishes and drinks were delivered, Zeph started to ask more meaningful questions, carefully. The first one was about the brass that he could see everywhere on the ship.

“Yes, the latten is quite Mana-resistant. But most importantly, it’s light! Especially when saturated. But… I am quite curious now, what were your people using for your ships?”

“I am not sure, but it’s silver in color. I don’t have much knowledge about aeroplanning, you know?” Zeph said, repeating some common rumors. “Anyway, do you know how much resistance it has?” Maybe it could help with our ‘material problems’…

“Nah, you would have to ask an ingeniator. Tho, it’s not that good. It’s better than other materials only because it can be so light,” his guest explained.

A shame… And also true. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the ‘ambient Mana leaking in’ problem… “And the wing?” Zeph asked instead.

“It’s just partially liquified ‘flying rock’, don’t ask me how it’s made. Well, liquified is a big word… Molded? I don’t know the tech terms… It’s enchanted with something that makes it flexible, but it’s a secret of the Aeropanners’ Union.” The indifference on his face slowly morphed into eagerness as he realized something. “Actually, it’s around for only 150 years, or something like that. It’s quite an ingenious construct – we were using the whole ‘flying boulders’ back in the day. Not like I was there to see it, haha,” he laughed lightly, but quickly started his story again. “You know, those old ships had a really restricted lift, and the sails had to push Mana at them at all times! The launching was especially horrible! It was basically a nose-dive until the ship gained enough velocity! Insane, isn’t it?! I can’t even imagine how people back then could do that repeatedly! The liquified version allows for much more lift because it’s not an unnecessary ballast on its own and…”

And so, he blabbered about the history of aerostats. Zeph smiled, it was actually quite fun to listen to a person with a passion for his work. Even if most of the information was useless to him, as he would be able to easily read about that from books and nothing was linked to actual aerodynamics, it was a nice way to spend his time.

“…That’s also how we managed to decrease the number of push engines, and only then we reached the barrier of maximum velocity!” he finished after a few minutes of monologue.

“Heh, aren’t you a knowledgeable fella?” Zeph laughed in a good manner.

“Meh, don’t even give me that,” he said in mock irritation. “You have no idea how difficult La-Gewong’s interview was. Good riddance to my pals, I was lucky enough to actually train for aeropanner for some time. And she still was unsatisfied!”

Zeph nodded in understanding. “I asked her to be quite strict. Maybe she has gone too far with that… But back on the topic, I never saw the fight with avians? I heard it was quite a story, but I am not sure how your weapons work…”

“Ah, that is easy. They are just a variation of push engines. But sucking the air instead of pushing it out. They require a lot of energy, but the murder was incapacitated in seconds, most of them just dropping under the side, where the Mana canons could reach. The ones that managed to pass by were quite an attraction for the passengers! I am not sure if you knew, but Mazzel also has some Mana-barrels to lend – most of the central decks’ passengers used them. Then, there were people fighting in melee…”

“Wait, what with the ropes? They are placed all along the ship, how could they fight in melee?” Zeph interjected, imagining Aisha spewing damage all around on the deck. They would fall within a minute.

“No, no. You are mistaking something,” he started, shaking his head. “No one used weapons – the crowers are weak individually, there was no risk of damaging the ship at all after the murder was dispersed,” he assured but paused and started to think. “Well, maybe there was on a few occasions…” He smiled. “Let me describe how it went!”

Gehrren didn’t have much more to say in the technical aspects, even if he was more knowledgeable than a typical crew member, he wasn’t a specialist.

They spent the time visiting a few different leisure decks, where Gehr explained how the game tables worked. Like the one that was stirringly resembling an Air Hockey. Or the hazard tables, like roulette. They were all quite different from what he knew from Earth, though, and much less money-intensive in the case of gambling ones. The chances of gaining money were still miniscule, but Zeph had an impression that the games were planned in such a way that it was very easy to almost balance out the loss with gains. Excluding the entry fee, of course.

Then, reluctantly, Zeph allowed himself to be taken for a tour to the pushing engines, even though it was unnecessary. Yes, Zeph just wanted to see them, there was no other reason to do so. The fact that his temporary companion had on the equipment dedicated to safely traversing the weather deck, namely the enchanted boots, was the only reason he agreed to go there, though.

In the end, Zeph agreed to another, less ‘official’, tour in a few days. More like a drinking party with the rest of the crew. Gehr was quite talkative, so even if their worldview was drastically different, Zeph didn’t mind. Even if he was more of an ‘adventurer’ that wanted to test his limits and strengths in a new environment, while Gehr was more of a laborer guy with a stable future but an interesting background, they still shared some common interests. He would definitely be good company for a drinking evening – something inaccessible in Kwan’s gang, really. They were either too stiff and professional or too aggressive, those guys and gals.

Who knew humans could be this picky in choosing their drinking buddies?

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The next few days flew by.

The meeting with Aisha and Pavail was uneventful, as they all quickly decided to just write a new contract in the city after landing. Zeph escaped the room before Pavail exploded with questions, leaving Aisha to the fallout of her own popularity without remorse.

About that, his System-assigned guardian was able to make contact with the twins that were piloting Avianna. She used her heavy persuasive arguments to arrange a meeting after the landing. Zeph clued her beforehand as to what he planned to do, which flared her motivation to levels he wasn’t expecting.

He also spoke with Kwan a few times, but most of the decisions about their partnership had to be left for later, after everyone knew where they were standing in their new location.

During his free time, Zeph was often going back to his past, meditating. He could feel as his Will solidified, even if no System prompt confirmed the change. It was something he needed to do, anyway.

He did, indeed, spend some time testing things and reading from his Skills, but he treated his time on Avianna more as a vacation. There was much to unpack and analyze from the last few weeks, so he decided to take it slowly and balance himself internally first.

For some reason, this decision was met with the full support of all of his companions, Gru included. He was worried for a moment but quickly rationalized it as them worrying about him unnecessarily.

He wasn’t idle, though. He tested minor things, like if he could re-learn the ‘Lesser Metabolic enhancement’ Spell after getting its upgraded version as a part of ‘Willforce Morphon’, which was a hard no, or thoroughly testing the changes to his overall metabolism, with the help of Gru.

Sadly, the only conclusion was that he would have to test it in more… extreme ways to really learn anything meaningful.

Gru himself also wasn’t slacking off. He finally found ways to interact with Phleya. Even if it was simplistic at best, they could communicate, proving his concept was not baseless. Sadly, he was stuck with other endeavors – Zeph would have to provide more insights into the enchantments, Mana batteries, Phleya itself, and Energy Enhancements for them to continue. It was most infuriating, but they couldn’t just skip the reality check.

There was so much more to do that Zeph almost felt bad but he felt like he was becoming a workaholic. Not to mention, the more strenuous experiments could be continued in the city, in a better environment, with better equipment, and without a threat dangling above his head.

This ride – he decided to make it his vacation, and he would treat it as so. Never mind how short it was, the change of pace was nice.

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Nine days after the dramatic escape from North Tarak, as Zeph liked to narrate in his head, the walls of the city could be spotted. The gigantic constructs were visible even from tens of kilometers away, only fueling the anticipation and festive mood of the passengers.

They were nearing their destination, the majestic Lurona city.

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Meanwhile, something in Gru’s body was starting to bother him. There was a change. A change that wasn’t sitting well within him…