“Thank you two for taking some time to meet with me.” Lia said, smiling at Nailah and Alisha. “I just have a couple of questions about your navies, and then I’ll get out of your hair.”
“My Queen, you can stay with us as long as you wish.” Alisha said, a look of barely restrained longing on her face. “Do not feel pressured to leave early because of us.”
“I don’t think either of these bodies have much to do, Lia.” Nailah said. “So, really, it’s no big deal.”
Lia shrugged. “Well, we still have Amelia’s schedule to work around, so I’ll be making it quick anyway. Basically, I just want the two of you to describe the best ship you have to me. Alisha, as you may or may not have heard, we recently captured the dragon that Ira had trained, and I’m looking to make it into a flying ship. I’ve already had incredible success at making ‘regular’ living ships, so Rose has suggested that it would be worth using the best ship we can get for this, since it’s unlikely that we’ll get another dragon on this level soon.”
Nailah sat back in her chair, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “Most of the Glens’ vessels are mercantile in nature, so Aura’s flagship would probably work better if you want a warship. That being said, the Glens’ flagship is still much better than your run-of-the-mill warship.”
Alisha puffed out her chest pridefully. “I’m happy to say that I put a lot of effort into my flagship.” She said. “I wanted something that would be truly safe if I ever needed to take to the seas. I must ask, though, why not use both flagships? Surely more couldn’t hurt, right?”
“I’ve considered it, but I’m still on the fence.” Lia replied. “It’d be nice to have something worthy of being called a flagship for the sea, too.”
“If that’s the problem, I can just order another flagship built.” Alisha said. “It’ll take a few months, but as you said, this is going to be our only opportunity to make a flying ship this good for quite some time, so I think it’s worth going all-in. Did Mistress Rose have any input on the matter?”
“She left the decision up to me.” Lia said. “She said that either option is fine; the ships I’ve made are already a significant step ahead of anything anyone else has, so she doesn’t see us losing control of the water, but having an impressive flagship would certainly help drive home how powerful we are. On the other hand, making a veritable flying fortress would be incredibly intimidating and would potentially be useful in both land and water battles. So…if you think we can get a comparable flagship to the one you have online in a few months, then both is probably good. Nailah, what are your thoughts?”
“It really depends on how much overlap there is between our flagships.” Nailah replied. “If the Glens’ is just Aura’s flagship but worse, I don’t think there’s really a point to using both here. The Glens’ flagship has been kitted out mostly with gear that will amplify speed and defensive capabilities, as well as support gear for other ships. What about Aura’s?”
“It’s all about individual strength and firepower.” Alisha said. “Putting the two together should work just fine, then.”
“I’ll do that, then.” Lia said, giving the two a smile. “Would you mind telling me where the ships are docked?”
Once they did, Lia gave them yet another smile. “Thank you for your time.”
“Don’t mention it, my Queen.” Alisha said. “And remember, if you wish to end my monthlong ‘break’ from you early, then I am always –”
“That won’t be necessary.” Lia said quickly. “I’m going to go talk to Amelia now.”
“Let me know if you have any other questions.” Nailah volunteered. “I’d be happy to help where I can.”
Lia nodded, then left before Alisha could protest any further. She needed to get Amelia’s Mana expenditure out of the way quickly, so she could begin regenerating for her tasks later. That, and Alisha only had a week or two left of her “break”, and Lia didn’t want her backsliding. So, she hurriedly made her way back to her house, where Amelia was waiting to teleport her and get their work underway.
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Lia swallowed nervously as she looked at the gargantuan cocoon in front of her. Between the dragon and the two flagships, the size of the cocoon had far exceeded any cocoon Lia had ever seen. Just being near it made her feel small and insignificant, and if it was this intimidating as a cocoon…she could scarcely imagine what the final product would be like.
But she would be lying if she said she wasn’t excited. While flying ships weren’t exactly a new concept, they had never evolved beyond small-scale ships with horrible Mana efficiency, a novelty for the wealthy rather than a legitimate means of transport or effective weapon. If this worked, it promised to be the first actual flying ship to grace the battlefield, and it would be sure to make a splash. So, she laid her hand on the cocoon and began to go over her options. She let out a breath of relief as she confirmed that there were indeed a plethora of options for flying ships.
“It’s working, then?” Rose asked. At Rose’s suggestion, they were doing this conversion just outside of Aura’s capital, so they wouldn’t have to teleport the finished product to the battlefield and it could just fly there itself, and Rose and Amelia had chosen to stay with Lia while they worked. And, between their presence and the enormous cocoon, they had gathered something of a small crowd who were curiously watching the proceedings.
“Yeah, it’s working.” Lia replied. “Amelia, do you want to start teleporting the crew here while I get this going?”
“Already on it.” Amelia replied. They had decided that, if this worked, they would bring the crews of both flagships together to work on the new flying ship as quickly as they could in hopes of getting it operable nigh-immediately.
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While she did that, Lia turned her attention back to the options in front of her. There were many fine options, of course, but as she had come to expect, nothing really stood out until she reached the bottom of the list.
Scourge of the Skies:
The Scourge of the Skies is a unique Calamitous race, formed from the flagships of two nations and an incredibly powerful dragon. The insides of this monster have been hollowed out and replaced with a special alloy composed of dragon scales, dragon bones, and enchanted metal created by an incredibly powerful archmage, allowing for comfortable and incredibly safe travel for its occupants. All vital organs have gained two backups, and have been concentrated in several heavily armored compartments spread across the ship, increasing the durability of most parts of the ship at the cost of creating three potential weak spots.
The Scourge of the Skies retains all abilities from the dragon used to create it, strengthened greatly by the support capabilities of one of the flagships used in its creation. Likewise, it retains all defensive and offensive capabilities of the ships used in its creations, strengthened by the aforementioned support capabilities. In exchange for these strengthened abilities, the Scourge of the Skies is no longer able to buff allied vessels.
The Scourge of the Skies is capable of comfortably flying at 1,000 km/h, and is able to reach burst speeds of up to 1,500 km/h, and can ascend to heights of 20 km without significant loss in air-to-ground accuracy, and up to 30 km while losing accuracy. The Scourge of the skies is capable of effortlessly hovering in place.
The Scourge of the Skies is fully capable of functioning as a naval vessel, and can even submerge itself in depths up to 1 km for up to three hours, unaffected by the temperature or salinity of the water. The Scourge of the Skies insulates its crew from all effects of barometric and hydrostatic pressure, and keeps the interior at a comfortable temperature. A magic membrane prevents crew from falling out of the vessel so long as the Scourge of the Skies is alive.
The Scourge of the Skies is treated as an aircraft, a ship, and a monster for the purpose of Skills that affect any of the three. The Scourge of the Skies has outstanding Strength, Magic, and Dexterity, and phenomenal Defense, Magic Defense, Mental Fortitude, HP, Stamina, and Mana.
Lia only had to take a moment to skim the other options before locking in the Scourge of the Skies. “I think you’re going to like this one, Rose.” She said, beginning the process of deactivating Mad Swarmentist and reactivating Conqueror of Death as she did.
“Oh?” Rose said. “Do tell.”
Lia pulled up the description on her tablet, then handed it to Rose, who began to read. As Rose read, Lia was pleased to see Rose’s eyes grow wide, a smile creeping across her face. “Well, if this doesn’t strike terror into the hearts of our enemies, I don’t know what will. We wouldn’t even need to spend effort teleporting it anywhere, it’d take only half a day to get from the battlefield to my tree, and it can fly so high that most people wouldn’t be able to see it, let alone interact with it.
“If we can get it to have some sort of Skill that lets it fire modeling wax from up high, then we can just rain it on our enemies, and so long as we have someone scrying the ground below us, we can accurately strike deep within enemy lines…”
Rose handed the tablet back to Lia, who then handed it to Amelia. “Take a look when you have a moment.” Lia instructed. “I know you’re curious.”
Amelia nodded thankfully, but didn’t make a move to check the tablet until after she had finished teleporting half of the crew, complete with their luggage, to their location. “Alright, that’s all the people from the Glens, I’ll need a bit more time to regenerate Mana before I can get the people from Aura. Unfortunately, bound as I am, I can’t teleport all two-hundred something people and their luggage at once, even with discounts for teleporting in bulk and teleporting unresisting people with no obstructions at the source or destination. Thanks for handing this to me, it’ll be a nice read while I wait.”
Amelia quickly read the race’s description, then handed the tablet back to Lia. “That’s sure to get you a literal boatload of EXP, how close are you to evolving?”
“The ships I converted before were worth a lot of EXP, so I’m pushing level one-hundred out of one-fifty, but the EXP requirements are getting pretty steep. Even if this is worth ten times the total EXP from all the ships I’ve converted so far, I’d probably only get to around level one-forty if the EXP requirements kept increasing at this rate.”
Amelia nodded. “So, if we convert all the other ships we have access to, as well as the remaining monsters Ira raised, do you think you’d be able to evolve?”
Lia frowned. “I don’t know, it’ll all depend on how much experience this thing gives. I’m hoping to get two or three times as much EXP as I did for those boats, and if that’s the case, I think that, after converting the entire navy and those monsters, I’d only have a couple of levels left.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Rose said. “I’m sure you’ll have some great options available this time around.”
They chatted a bit more until Amelia’s Mana had refilled enough to begin teleporting the rest of the crew, and by the time she had finished there was only a couple more minutes until the Scourge of the Skies finished converting. Lia waited tensely, and eventually the modeling wax of the cocoon began to melt, accompanied by a message informing her that she had leveled up about twenty-five times. It was less EXP than she would have hoped, coming in at just under the total EXP she had gained from converting all of those ships, but even that was still an absurd amount for a single conversion.
As the cocoon finished melting, the Scourge of the Skies finally came into view. It was…not at all what Lia had expected; the dragon had morphed, becoming something of a cross between the quadrupedal dragon it used to be and the snakelike dragons Lia had occasionally seen in pictures. Currently, it was all coiled up, so it was hard to make out details, but it seemed that while it had the general shape of a snakelike dragon, it was almost more like a worm in that it was segmented, each segment seeming to have a pair of legs and wings that folded up against the body.
The Scourge of the Skies opened its eyes then uncoiled itself, stretching out hundreds of legs and wings as it turned its enormous head to face Lia. As it did, Lia was able to get a better grasp of its color; it wasn’t a solid color, but instead a gradient that ran down its body, giving it the appearance of the sky at sunset.
“How…do we get on?” Lia asked, looking up at the vessel in front of her. “I can’t see a deck or anything.”
The Scourge of the Skies shuddered, and then a series of hatches opened up, one every few segments, unfolding into staircases that allowed for access to the inside.
Lia glanced back at the assembled sailors, then to Rose and Amelia. “Shall we all go check it out?” She offered.
“We won’t get in your way, my Queen.” One of the sailors, one of the two captains by the looks of her uniform, said. “You and your lovers go explore it on your own, we’ll hash out the chain of command out here while you do.”
Lia flashed her a relived smile. “Thanks.” She said, then turned back to Rose and Amelia. “Shall we?”