The hexmountain is the largest mountain on the continent. Somehow those words don't really seem to do it justice. Even standing here it is hard for me to accept that the thing in front of me is supposed to be a mountain and I have been living here since I was a baby.
Nothing I have ever seen is as visually impressive as the hexmountain. The closest I would say would be the bone pits, though even that place I have only seen in passing really. Well, the mountain in the true lands cannot be forgotten. That place was impressive in its own right.
From where I am standing the place seems to be a wall of stone that is covering everything in front of me. How do I describe the hexmountain to somebody that has never seen it? (Well, not that I really need to but hey you always have a few figures reading your logs that might not have witnessed the hex mountain up close.) You can imagine that half of the world has suddenly been replaced by stone. The slope of the mountain is angled, but the mountain itself is so large that it looks like a wall in front of me. Even with my senses enhanced by the sensory formations of the ship, the only thing that I can see is the rock of the mountain in front of me. It looks as if the mountain was created by some giant that bent the ground towards the sky.
Though, to be honest I would struggle to imagine a large enough giant to be able to achieve this feat. Maybe, we could consider the titans of old. (Not really though, after all the continent is supposed to be the corpse of a titan according to some religions.)
From my vantage point any building that I see looks like a toy. That is pretty misleading though, after all if it is visible from up here then it means that it is the office or home of somebody important. Most of these are palaces that would make the frozen peak look like a commoners house.
Just considering my master's palace. It is large enough that I can fit ten temporary forts in it. I can actually see it below me, though from this high it looks like a small toy house.
It is for this perspective that I am risking being this high up in this place. Looking at the mountain from this high, everything seems so small. From here, everything that we worry about seem to be so small.
It almost feels like somebody has turned the heaven and earth by ninety degrees. For a few moments I wonder if this is what a man crashing to the ground would look at. Well, that is a visual that will haunt me for a while. Not a good thing to imagine while piloting a flying ship.
Any higher than this point and even this sturdy ship will break due to the storms that rage in the mountains. Even coming this high was already a risk. I have almost reached the storm line. Any more higher and I would be thrust right into the storm up above.
It is a wonder that my master is already not here. The man doesn't like to be this high up in the mountain. He has a paranoid fear of the storms here.
One of the consequences of being one of the tallest mountain is that the mountain is plagued with storms, capable of crushing the bones of anybody that crosses the storm line. The Storm line is the point beyond which the storms on the mountain truly become crazy. Below it, where I am, the winds can be considered to be strong. Up there though, the storm is strong enough to rip through this ship like a sheet of paper.
I have heard that only the generals are able to survive beyond the storm line and even they have to be careful when they reach the peak of the hexmountain. Though nobody would be stupid enough to try such a pointless act, especially the generals. Each of them are important men, all of whom are not presently here. Each of them must be out dealing with one of our enemies or to intimidate the less willing of our allies. All in all they are busy men.
"Get the ship down, you have already damaged the ship too much.", a voice behind me speaks. It is my master who is quite annoyed by my daring. I am surprised that he has taken this long. After all, he seems to have been completely lost in his research this time. Looks like this "tattoo magic" is not as simple as it looks. Usually he makes his way here much earlier.
"I will, I will. I am sure that even you don't get many opportunities to appreciate the beauty of the storms.", I reply. "You can do with a bit of relaxation in your life, old man. Anyway the ship is more than capable of taking care of itself."
The storms of the hex mountain are a sight to behold to those that have the sight. It looks like a painting in which one could get lost in, ever changing and always unique. I could look at it for hours.
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Sadly, at this moment my sight is like that of a blind man. Honestly, I don't even know why I am up here. Old habits, I guess.
Still, I heed my masters command as I tip the ship downwards. As we go down, the buildings down there grow larger and larger. Most of them have areas flattened out for the landing of ships.
My target is my masters personal landing square which is one of the least used places in the mountain. My master is a solitary man and I am the only person other than him that is allowed into his complex.
The only reason that the man even has a landing strip is that it was already there when he was given this place and the strip never came in the way of my masters own renovations. Well, it ultimately ended up benefiting me since the man is pretty unlikely to ever use it. He is of the strong belief that he does not need to know stupid things like driving an airship. I am sure if things become that serious that he needs to go anywhere quickly, my master is faster than any airship.
My master's complex is one of the closest buildings to the storm line. The reason for that has something to do with my master's ability to keep chaotic flows of mana in check. This is only my guess though, as my master completely shuts me down everytime that I ask about it.
Actually, one of my very first challenges when I became his disciple was to make my way to his office on foot. The result was that the young me was almost blown into the air due to the strong winds in the place. (While the winds here are not as strong as near the storm line, they are still stronger than you would expect especially when you don't have cultivation yourself.)
It almost killed me and did result in me breaking both my legs. Some kind of a tradition for my master. He has many of those. Whoever his master was, he certainly seemed to have taken pleasure in hurting him.
Now, with my present cultivation I can easily reach my master's complex. I can even approach the storm line. Maybe even cross it. Can't really tell since I have yet to attempt it. This particular challenge of my master certainly left me with a healthy respect for the mountain.
As I am thinking all this, I am landing the airship on my master's airship. It is not a particularly hard task, though the winds here are a bit stronger than is the norm.
(After about a couple of hours.)
Right now I am sitting in my room trying to get some shut eye. without anything to do, sleep is very hard to come by. My room is a pretty simple affair, more a place to store my half finished works and sleep than to stay in.
Without my works here, the only thing that is present in the room is my bed and my cupboard for my clothes. (Which is also quite empty since I mainly use it to store my formations as well.) Other than that, the room is bare. Even I have forgotten how plain this area actually was.
Most of the stuff in the room has already been destroyed, though I honestly can't feel too bad about it. Most of it was meant for the legion, who already must have superior replacements. That is if my master is to be believed. Well, he is pretty honest about stuff like this and he never compromises with his work.
In a way, I can actually understand his logic in destroying my work. It will allow me to focus on the fusion spell. The bunch of half finished formations would have only worked to distract me from that work.
They would have nagged me at the back of my mind like a half finished puzzle. There have been days when I have forgone sleep in the process of completing a formation. Even if I tried to sleep during such a period, it would be short and even my dreams would be related to the formation I would be dealing with.
Still, the destructive approach taken by my master is not ok. Anything that he does in the name of tradition is something crazy, I have realised. Sometimes it makes me wonder if he uses it as an excuse.
Well, with that out of the way I guess that I should speak about what my present situation is. Well, I have technically failed my first mission. After all, what I have done would actually look like I have abandoned the scholars and my troops. While I am sure that they won't be charging me for abandoning my post, it is not a good look to have.
That means that I will have to face the judgement of the guard corps. The head office also might end up meeting for this review. If that were to happen, things will become very annoying to handle for a while.
Normally, failing the first mission means that I am going to be removed from the guard corps. After all, for most guards the first mission is something taken on a probationary role, with somebody else leading the mission. It is meant to see how well you might be able to manage on a mission.
The only thing in my favour is that I got my mission due to my master's interference. If I manage to convince them that my master is an asshole and the situation was completely out of my control, I might be able to save my position. Even with that there is a pretty significant chance that I will be removed.
The only saving grace is that a new guard like me is not usually given a mission like the one that I was given. That is meant for somebody with at least a bit of experience. Especially for somebody with my background.
I guess that I should be worried about the fact that I might be removed but I had joined the guards in the first place due to my master. While being removed would still feel pretty crappy, I was supposed to be a part of the formation corps. After all that matches more with my abilities.
I don't know why but my master got it in his head that I would gain more experience if I were to work in the guard corps. Knowing him, he would mention another of his traditions with a stupid logic.
Well, if I am to be removed, then I might just be able to convince him to let me join the formation corps. (The chance of that happening is pretty low, if my master gets it in his head to do something then the man is like a little kid about it.)