Well, it has been a day since the incident of the first log occurred. I had wanted to land immediately and start working on the formations. I could not take that risk though (even if I wanted to, Trevor would not accept it.). The pirates of this region are very persistent. I would not be surprised if the two ships we have outpaced are still behind us steadily chugging behind us. We have had to face a couple of ambushes like that.

Now comes the crappy part. Right now I am in the formation room. I will now have to inspect the entire room and every formation here to make sure that it is not damaged (at least make sure that things are not worse than before.) Well, I can feel the damage in the formations in front of me and our situation is not pretty.

The propulsion formation in front of me is on the verge of breaking apart and this time I do not know how to solve this problem on my own. There are fixes but the formation will fail, if not today then tomorrow.

Now normally the purpose of a propulsion formation is quite simple. That would be to convert mana into some kind of spell that would be able to push the airship forward. That means that they are usually simple formations that have a single core and a control stick. The core is any material inscribed with the spell runes that will be the thing that will run the entire formation. The control stick is where I can link myself to the formation if I do not want to control the formation using a spell.

Right now the problem that I am facing is that the formation core is on the verge of collapsing. The material used for the core of this particular formation is a piece of sky bamboo. It is as far as I can tell, inscribed with some form of a wind spell. The thing with sky bamboo is that it is pretty good at boosting the power of wind spells which makes it a good choice for this task. The only problem is that it has very low durability. Using it for an attack spell would be nice and would pack quite a scary punch but it would be consumed in a single move. To use such a thing as the formation core speaks of great stupidity or great desperation. Knowing the people who have created this ship, I would say it is a mixture of both. I am surprised that It has even worked for five years.

The sky bamboo is burning up. After pushing this formation to its limit yesterday, It has reached a state where the runes are physically visible. That means that the mana passing through it has begun to affect the material of the formation core. It is such a rarity that I have yet to see it occur practically though I have heard of it occurring a few times. It is quite a risky endeavor too to deal with a failing formation core. With the amount of mana passing through this material, you never know what can happen. It will most likely create a hurricane in the middle of the room. It could also create a void in which none of us can take a breath. Still, in either case the propulsion formation will stop working.

The problem with the propulsion formation is that I cannot predict when it will fail. if it were to do that in the middle of the flight we would plummet straight to the ground in the best case. As for the worst case, I don't even want to think about it. I will end up with nightmares for days. Well, the material of the formation has begun to burn up. There was simply no way for me to accelerate the ship like I did yesterday without consequences.

Well, other than changing the core of the formation I have no more solutions. Changing the core would essentially be creating a new formation. if I get a material that can act as the core to the new propulsion formation. I will still have to inscribe the formation. This will be the first time that I will be doing it practically for such a formation.

The only thing I can do right now is to rearrange the runes that are supporting the core of this formation. This will reduce the strain on the core, which I hope is enough for me to keep this thing flying for a bit longer. If I were to do it though, our speed would only be roughly sixty percent of what it is now. On top of that it is only a stopgap measure not dealing with the actual issue at hand. The formation will still fail. Well, stopgap measures are the only thing I seem to have.

Well, I guess that I should speak of the story of this crappy ship. Well, there is actually not much behind the story. The ship was given to us as a gift by the snowwinders when we had more friendly relations.

The ship was given to us more as a political statement then anything else. The snowwinders are such fierce warriors that nobody is willing to provide them with any complex formations. These include combat airships and the method of building them. They meant to use this gift to show their capabilities, maybe as a method to request for more ships or it is a method of diplomatic threatening that I do not understand. This all is pretty new to me.

The ship that I am driving is supposed to be the most advanced airship that they can build. The head office thought that using the very ship that they have provided would make us seem friendlier to the snow winders. I agreed to this like an idiot. Next time I will have to see the ship first.

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I don't know about friendlier, but they would certainly see us as idiots for making use of this piece of crap ship. Who knows, maybe they would be more busy laughing at us to bother attacking us on sight. There is a risk of that happening, you know. Them attacking us on sight. The frozen peak is the place where it is least likely to happen though.

Regardless, I should go and inform Trevor about this development. The only reason that I am not in his room is that the man is going to be in one of his moods. Trevor has begun to suspect that the snowwinders are involved in this scheme in one way or another. Well, I have my suspicions about it too, but I cannot spend hours talking about it like Trevor can.

We have more immediate worries, which would be the ship. The man certainly does not seem to be aware about just how easily this ship might end up being destroyed. If that were to happen, we have about a couple of months of trekking before we might reach a city. That is if we were to survive the crash in the first place. Well, regardless of how annoying it is, it is time for me to talk to the man.

(After about five minutes.)

I am standing outside Trevor's quarters right now, which is also his office. Entering into the room is an experience. To paint a scene, Trevor's room has a bed to the side, something that never seems to be used. His table though is the exact opposite, full of papers and documents. I am surprised it has not broken yet. He is always sitting in that chair, doing whatever he does. I do not know what it is and I do not dare ask. Opposite him, he has two empty chairs. Even right now, he is so focused on this work that he has not noticed my entry.

“Trevor, I have come to speak to you.“, I speak, looking at the man in front of me.

“Well, captain. It is a surprise to see you here.“, he replies.

“What can I do, it is not like you would heed my summons anyway. Regardless, we have important matters to discuss.“, I speak, taking one of the seats. “We need to figure out what needs to be done regarding the ship.“

“Well, what can you do?“ Asks trevor. “It is not like we can stop in some city somewhere to get the ship fixed anyways.“

“That is true, but that doesn't change the fact that using the ship has become dangerous. It could fall any second.“, I reply.

“Well, you are the expert. I am sure you have something to counter it already.“, he replies quite nonchalantly.

"I have told you of my worries with the propulsion formations before as well. Most of them are coming true at the moment. The formation core is too fragile to handle this kind of strain again. I believe the formation core would burn out in a couple of days at the minimum and a week at the maximum." I spoke, trying to emphasize to the man the gravity of our situation. “I can tweak the formation to make it more stable, but it will cost us speed.“

"Well, how much time would we take to reach and how much time will the formation last then?" He asked.

"I think that we can take a fortnight to reach now and this way the formation will last a month or even two, though it is still quite risky." I say.

"Then it is a risk that we will have to take. Don't forget, Even If an attack does happen, you should be enough to deal with them. Right now we are pretty close to the frozen peak. There will be no pirates here. Even if there are, they should be the variety that we can handle. I will keep Jacob and Andrew on a patrol." The old man spoke after a minute of pondering. “I am sure that they have been coddling the scholars for long enough.“

“Well, was that really necessary? It is not like I have left any of the boarders alive for them to truly be a threat.“ I ask, pondering on what could have led to this.

“Well, the scholars are a fickle bunch. They might be able to take care of themselves, but still it would be wise for you to assume that they are made up of glass.“, he says. “They can make a small complaint seem life threatening and the head office is always looking for excuses to penalize us guards.“

“Still, I am not comfortable. I have never heard of pirates in this region. This is supposed to be a very desolate area. What would they even be getting here that would be worth pirating.“, I speak.

“Well, it is not as desolate as you assume it to be. The frozen peak are at the very least ten thousand strong. Such a large group of cultivators consume a lot of resources. On top of that, these people are right next to a mana desert. They will need a lot of mana rich fuel to keep running the frozen peak. I have to assume that the formations at the frozen peak must eat through their mana stone reserves.“, replies trevor. “Anyway, the snowwinders have a very strong supply line in this area is my point. I am not surprised if a few thieves are active here.“

“If that is the case, the snowwinders would be the first to get rid of them.“, I speak. "They like to send messages."

“Well, now is a sensitive time for them. Anyways I don't think these attacks have been accidental at all. The snowwinders are behind it somehow. I feel it in my bones.“, Trevor pondered. “I shall not bore you with my conspiracies, as you have put it captain.“

“Well, I didn't call them conspiracies, trevor.“, I reply. “I just don't have the time to worry about what someone so far away can do to me, when the very ship I am on can end up causing my death.“

“I shall have the two soldiers on a patrol then," he replies. “We shall not face any more problems from the snowwinders until we reach the frozen peak. You worry about the ship until then. Do you have anything else to speak about.“

Saying that Trevor returns to his work. I quietly slip from the room, wondering sometimes why such a man of presence is working as my underling. He would make a killing in the legion or even as a bandit.