Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Pureblood Qualifications
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It took a bit longer than expected. Duke Nortis's airship was finally completed the next morning. In truth, if they hadn't bothered with security measures, it could have been done by evening the day before, but they had no choice but to pour considerable effort into preventing any technological leaks.
The core of the airship was the massive spell that lifted such a huge structure into the air—a nucleus engraved with floating runes and absorption mana circles. Of course, just looking at it wouldn't allow anyone to replicate it exactly.
Without knowing the Erkamon formulas used in the magic, there was no way to create a proper nucleus. Still, you never know. So, they deliberately nerfed the nucleus's functions. They shrank the mana circles and severed the infinite flow, capping its performance at about half the original.
'Tweaking the mana circles took half a day...'
And that was the finished product: the floating nucleus for the lord's airship.
With its performance halved, the user would have to supply the shortfall with their own mana, and without the infinite flow, they'd need to constantly feed mana into the nucleus. Most mages probably couldn't even move the airship while operating it.
Of course, a lord-level mage could probably manage daily activities while powering the nucleus.
Next came the propulsion nucleus. For direction changes and acceleration, they boldly omitted the mana circles entirely. Instead, they boosted the output slightly, which massively increased the total mana required during operation.
'They'll figure this out...'
If he couldn't handle it alone, he could just assign other mages to manage the propulsion nucleus. The lord commanded plenty of soldiers and blood mages, so it shouldn't be an issue.
In any case, I had upheld my end of the deal. The lord had asked for an airship, not one identical to my Black Feather Hawk.
"Alvern~"
I called out to Alvern, who was outside the cabin after installing the finished nucleus. But there was no response. Thinking she might have gone off to play, I stepped out—and there she was.
-Fwoooo...
She had fallen asleep hugging her golem, Wolf Queen. She must have waited for me and dozed off. As I stood quietly looking down at her, Alvern blinked her eyes and sat up.
"Ugh... Are you done?"
"Yeah, it's done. You must've been tired."
"A little?"
Rubbing her eyes, Alvern hopped right onto Wolf Queen. Without me saying a word, she seemed to know what needed doing. I smiled faintly and said,
"Could you head to the mansion and let them know it's finished?"
"Of course! I'll be right back!"
With an energetic reply, Alvern spurred Wolf Queen and leaped off the deck. Thud-thud-thud—a dwarf girl riding a large-dog-sized golem sped away rapidly.
The lord arrived in a flash. He was so rushed he'd even left behind his usual blood mage bodyguard.
"It's finally complete..."
"You've arrived."
Landing gracefully on the platinum hull, Nortis murmured as he looked around. I followed beside him, starting to explain the airship's functions one by one.
"The wind runes on the underside of the hull will assist with directional changes. The golem nuclei at the front and rear serve as propulsion engines for speeding up or slowing down. The most important part is here in the cabin..."
I continued the explanation as we moved slowly together.
"This nucleus. It handles the primary flight capabilities."
"You've incorporated golem nuclei for the magic... Mind if I give it a try?"
"Just be careful not to rise too high and hit the ceiling..."
It shouldn't be a big problem. Before I could finish, the lord placed his hand on the floating nucleus. A massive surge of mana poured from his body, and the platinum airship rumbled to life with a low ku-gung.
"The mana...?"
Surprise flickered across the lord's face. Watching from behind, Alvern nodded smugly. She was probably recalling when I'd shown her a raw mana circle nucleus.
"It's like... swimming underwater with someone supporting your body. So this is the core technology of the airship?"
"You could say that."
"Without this function... most mages couldn't even activate the nucleus. It provides substantial assistance, yet the mana consumption is still enormous."
The lord didn't hide his admiration. He removed his hand from the nucleus and wandered out of the cabin in a daze. The massive vessel was now hovering about three meters off the ground.
"I want to take it for a spin right now. No issues, right?"
I nodded. As if there'd be problems with something I made. Beaming with excitement, the lord scampered around the hull, familiarizing himself with every function. Then he declared he'd take it for a flight and shooed Alvern and me off the ship.
"For the propulsion nucleus, it'd be better to have other mages aboard to assist..."
"No need."
Right after the lord cut off my advice, the natural mana in the air churned violently, then got sucked into his body in vast quantities. After circulating once, it enveloped the airship.
'What a monster...'
The sheer volume of mana he could wield at once was staggering. In terms of mana handling alone, he was on par with Hiyar's nameless elf.
"Whoa..."
I'd apparently underestimated the lord.
"Hmm... So the propulsion nucleus works like this. This is..."
Pouring out immense mana to control the airship, she nodded. Moments later, a colossal shockwave erupted from the rear.
Kwaaaaa-!
"Eek!"
"Ugh...!"
Right after the airship shot out of the workshop. Alvern got flung into a corner by the backlash, and I had to flatten myself on the floor until the wind died down.
The lord returned about three hours later, thoroughly satisfied. He named the airship after himself—the birth of the world's second airship, the Nortis.
On the day we departed Delmure, the lord came to see us off personally, looking quite reluctant.
"You could stay longer..."
"I'm not one to linger in one place. I'll visit again next time."
"I'll be waiting for that day..."
-Master! We're all set!
Durel's voice rang out from the deck. Seeing Simo and Alvern waving too, it looked like preparations were complete. I leaped lightly onto the deck.
The moment my feet touched the Black Feather Hawk's deck, mana flowed out, placing all the mysteries within under my control. The released mana activated the floating nucleus, propulsion nucleus, and the wind runes on the lower hull. In an instant, we shot away from the ground.
Kwaaa-!
"Where to this time?"
"Levan Poll's capital, Bellar."
I pulled out a map from my pocket in response to Durel's question. Our destination was right in the heart of Levan Poll—the capital city of Bellar.
"How long are we staying?"
"Who knows. Two days at most?"
Of course, the stay would depend on the pureblood Lord Nortis had introduced us to.
"Oh, right—where's your hometown, Simo?"
It hit me that I'd never asked about Simo's origins. We'd come all the way to Levan Poll, so shouldn't I at least visit my disciple's hometown? Simo scratched his head with a perplexed look at my question.
"Didn't I tell you?"
"Nope."
"My hometown... it's there. Where we're headed. Bellar."
"Oh..."
I'd picked up some info while traveling through Levan Poll. All the Dracain living in this country's capital were wealthy elites. Looked like my Dracain disciple came from a pretty well-off family.
"So we get to meet Senior Simo's family?"
Simo didn't answer Alvern's question. He just leaned against the railing with a complicated expression. Alvern tilted her head, watching him.
We arrived near Bellar on the fourth day of sailing through the skies since leaving Delmure.
"It's huge."
An exclamation slipped out naturally. How could it not? Viewed from the sky, Bellar's scale was immense—about three times the size of Delmure, by rough estimate.
Beneath the low-hanging fog clouds, Bellar scattered dreamlike lights. The black glow encircling the city's outer walls writhed continuously, almost like slithering snakes at a glance.
Overall, it was a city like the night sky. Ethereal lights twinkled softly within the dark walls, and towering spires blazed brilliantly, resembling constellations.
"A city like the night sky."
"Not wrong. Legend says it was designed mimicking the order of the heavens. Of course, few Dracain have actually seen the real night sky. It's all shrouded in fog clouds—what 'heavenly order'?"
Simo frowned and muttered as he gazed down at the city. He'd finally returned to his hometown, but he didn't seem thrilled.