Draith
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Chapter 140 - The Old and The New
🕑 Added 2025-06-23 14:00:11 +0000 UTCThere was a lot of stuff on the interface that I'd missed. Bevel and I spent the next half hour sussing it all out. It seemed that other than the map, everything else was visible only to me.
Which, while good for security, did take some of the fun out of it for Bevel.
In addition to the functional Ascendancy landmarks, the Golden Halls, the Infinite Furnace and the Final Rest, there were half a dozen nonfunctional Ascendancy landmarks and dozens of non-functional, non-Ascendancy landmarks. Most of which seemed to have been important at the time. They were worth checking out, though it wouldn't be a priority.
Bevel was making a list of places she wanted to check out once the Howling season was over, ranked based off their names.
It took almost the full half hour for me to find what I'd been hoping to find the whole time. The actual status of the Waygate network.
“Found it,” I said with a sigh of relief as the display loaded, drawing Bevel’s attention away from her list. “For some reason, whoever designed this silly interface put it behind a label called Flow Control.”
“So… it really is like waves?” Bevel asked, tilting her head to the side, scrunching her brow. “That’s stupid.”
“I’m sure it made sense when they made it. But yeah, I figured it had to do with water levels,” I said. After all, the map's default setting showed rain and current water levels all across my domain.
As the display updated, there were indeed the expected reports for the local water flows. But at the bottom was an entry marked Tertiary Transfer Nexus. And when I clicked it, sure enough, the map flickered and only the locations of the Waygates remained. As I studied it, I realized something I could barely believe.
“They…”
“What?” Bevel asked, still staring at me.
“It used to be… you know how I set up that water filter in Verdant Point?” I asked, checking the labels of each of the Waygates again. They had a whole second set of names.
“Yeah. Egerta really likes it.”
“This… used to be a water treatment plant,” I said, running a hand through my hair.
“A what?” Bevel asked, squinting at me.
“Whoever built them, they didn’t build the Waygates to move people around. They did it to move water. Rags and oil," I muttered, pulling my hand away and causing the entire map to go dark.
I plopped down next to her, Bevel barely managing to pluck her list out of the way before I sat. “Do you know what this means?”
Bevel scrunched up her brow for a few seconds before asking, “The water got stuck between?”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “I thought this was a highly privileged area, one for their elites.”
Bevel nodded.
“But… we cracked the security like it was nothing. At the time, I assumed we were just better at it,” I said, avoiding letting my head lean against the crystal for the moment. “But… what if… what if this wasn’t considered critical infrastructure?”
“Nothing? The spell code was hard!” Bevel protested.
I chuckled softly, reaching over and ruffling her hair. “Might’ve felt like it at the time, but I bet you could crack it in less than ten minutes now.”
Bevel’s mouth twisted, as if she wasn’t sure how to feel about my compliment.
“Either way, I just… Keeper is a treasure. A library of untold knowledge, even. But… how common was that back when they built this place?” I asked. When I’d lived on Earth, everyone had a computer. Why wouldn’t an advanced civilization on Ro’an do something similar. There were better ways than a literal demon, but I was starting to suspect Balthum wasn’t the first person to attempt to use the existing ruins for their own purposes.
“Keeper’s a treasure?” Bevel asked, squinting as she looked towards the stairs. “He doesn’t look like very good treasure. Too many bones. Not enough sparkly bits.”
“Guess not. I wonder… If we went up and asked him, would he tell us his original purpose was to be a backup for the water systems?”
At that, Bevel nodded, as if that made more sense than him being a treasure. And maybe it did.
Or maybe… I thought of all the other enchantments I'd stumbled across in the depths of the mountain. The paths of runes whose purpose I couldn't begin to guess at. Maybe it wasn't just a water treatment plant, but the entire municipal heart.
After all, the crystal and beacons did track a lot more than water.
Getting to my feet, I dove back into the interface, letting Bevel return to organizing her list. I quickly came to two realizations. One, the Waygates were older than the Ascension Halls. Way older.
Two. Whoever had updated the crystal chamber had been as surprised about their original purpose as I was.
I discovered the notes on accident, brushing my hand over what I’d thought was a bug flying through the transparent interface. Each of the notes commented on the design, wondering what exactly the original builders had been capable of.
And, of course, complaining about how far their own civilization had fallen.
From what I could infer, the notes were left by the same people who'd built the Ascension Halls.
It was strange to me, because… honestly, with time, materials and after ascending to Pegasus, I was pretty sure I could replicate the Waygates.
Heck, I was pretty sure I could teach Xoth how to make them, even though he didn't have a lick of Worlds affinity.
Seemed we weren't totally backwards compared to our predecessors.
"So, you figure what’s got the gates unmoored?" Tamrie asked, having approached while I was staring blankly at the last of the notes.
“Water stuff,” Bevel replied, holding up her list. “We found new places to explore!”
"Huh?” I said, blinking as I saw Tamrie standing next to us. “Right. Like Bevel said, kinda.”
At Tamrie’s raised eyebrow, I chuckled as I explained what I’d found in the notes. “Turns out that the mana channels the Waygates use aren't as insulated from the storm as they used to be. When the storm kicked up its intensity, the safety overrides kicked in to prevent people from getting turned into paste," I answered distractedly.
"That's… good?" Tamrie asked, stepping up next to me and peering into space as if she could see the interface I was staring at. "Is that something we should be worried about?"
"Nah. Everything nearby is plenty insulated. Not as much wear," I answered before suddenly registering her closeness. "Uh. Not that the other Waygates are dangerous either. Technically, I could bypass the safeties, turn them back on. There's like a ninety percent chance everything would be fine, even with the storm. No reason to do that though. They'll be safe once its passed."
"Hmm. Well, if that's all sorted, Inertia'd like your assistance with the airship. Seems a couple pieces got a bit banged up on account of the sudden shuffle dance," Tamrie said, patting my elbow.
“I wanna come too!” Bevel said, carefully folding up the list before tucking it into her pocket.
"Sure,” I told her, before turning to Tamrie. “Not too surprising some stuff got scuffed. Just glad we didn't lose anything important." I stepped away from the crystal, letting the map go dark. "We were pretty much done here anyway."
We made our way up the stairs behind one of the work crews, with Tamrie taking the time to inform me of a couple other minor leaks I'd need to address. Once she got me to commit to that, she left, leaving us to watch the crew as we waited.
The group ahead of us was carrying one of the specially cast frame pieces that would help channel the effects of the tier-3 Granitas engine throughout the ship. On its own, it was little more than a third of a circle, a silvery arch of engraved metal.
A lot of enchanting had gone into the airship's design. More than we usually did, but then, it was more than just a vehicle. It was a statement of what we wanted Cape Aeternia to represent.
When we got to the top, it was as Inertia had said, a couple of pieces had gotten banged up. One of the frames had even been bent nearly in half. Bevel charged past, running towards where the crew was lowering the first piece onto the scaffold that hung around the edge.
I reached out towards her, but lowered my hand as she stopped next to one of the anchor points.
Then my attention shifted back to the bent frame.
"How the…" I mumbled, not really expecting an answer as I kneeled down next to the damaged piece. Inertia shrugged, then motioned at it. "Yeah, you might as well bend it yourself. I'm going to have to redo the enchantment anyway."
Inertia hissed at that, almost a sigh. Then she shook her head and with a quick yank, straightened the frame out. Holding it up, she shook her head again before making her way over to one of the workbenches that'd been carried up while I'd been distracted.
The peak was more crowded than ever, and already there were Tethered moving along the scaffolding to either side. They were all tied off. I watched one of them show Bevel how to use one of the little balloon-like sacks they'd breath into.
“So, it’ll only last for a couple minutes before you have to come back?” Bevel asked, squinting at the sack.
The Tethered nodded, smiling as they waved outward.
It was horribly inefficient but also kinda clever. And neither me nor Inertia had been involved in their development. Much as I hated to rain on their parade, providing them properly enchanted masks would be much more efficient.
For a second, I stopped to consider the fact that I had so much enchanting material, it was literally more efficient for me to make magical items than for our labour to spend half their day moving back and forth so they could breathe.
Supposed it was what being rich felt like.
Then I suggested the idea to Inertia, who called the Tethered who’d shown Bevel how to use it over. After we were pointed to her apprentice Bolt, who'd apparently come up with the idea.
After a minute of discussion, it was decided that we could set up a couple exchange stations instead. A lot less enchanting, and they'd still be using the sacks, but they'd be able to refill them nearly instantly and would be able to move the station with them on the scaffolding.
Bevel was helping by recharging the sacks as they worked, able to use her magic to refill them easily. While she did that, I did the enchanting. Only took me half an hour.
Took us twice as long to design a base that couldn't be knocked off the mountain. We’d realized how important that was after the first one was sent tumbling down towards Mistvale when Inertia turned around and smacked it with her wing.
We also implemented a no-Inertia near the edge rule, since neither Bevel or any of the Tethered had dropped anything. Probably helped they had a lifetime of living on the nets and if you dropped something there it was pretty much gone.
Even as we worked, my gaze would occasionally drift towards Verdant Point. I knew I'd be informed once the Waygates were working again, but I couldn't help but feel annoyed. Maybe it was worth looking for Soaring Wolf. Calbern hadn’t returned yet, though Tamrie had informed me that Fang had ended up in the bottom of the chasm next to Tetherfall.
Which meant he’d taken his glider into the storm.
Shaking my head, I returned my attention to restoring the enchantments that'd been damaged. Once that was done, many of the pieces were being slotted into place, which meant I needed to check their connections and ensure the enchantments had remained intact.
We spent the next day working on the airship, the storm continuing to rage beneath us. Calbern made it back, letting us know that there’d been some damage, but everyone at Verdant Point was okay.
It was sometime during the next night that the storm seemed to run out of breath for the first time all season. Wasn't quite a whisper, since there were occasional gusts of wind, and the clouds were dark on the horizon.
With the Waygates working again, I went out to inspect the damage.
Verdant Point had survived mostly intact, thanks in large part to Vetrov. Egerta's lean-to was gone though, smashed to pieces. Which meant she'd finally moved into the shelter Vetrov had made for her over a month earlier. It was the same mix of stone walls and wooden interior as the rest of Verdant point, yet apparently that felt too fancy to Egerta. I noted that Vetrov had thickened the exposed surfaces of all the standing buildings.
Over by the bluff, the greenhouses had been all but destroyed. More than half of the heartwood had been shattered into smaller pieces. Restoring everything would be a hassle, but we'd been stockpiling extra throughout the storm, so at least we wouldn't be short on food. Even once Nexxa arrived, we'd have plenty to get us through the next few months.
Now that the heartwood was broken up, it'd be more effective with smaller custom jobs. But that would require significantly more enchanting. It'd be better in the long run, but would take too much time to get done anytime soon.
So we didn't even try. Vetrov and I gathered all we could, storing anything that could otherwise walk away in a secret stash. Then we restored the greenhouses best we could.
As we worked, each day, I’d return to watch the airship come together.
It slowly wrapped around the peak, until the walls rose up, blocking off the view. It almost felt like we were wrapping the peak in a rich walnut-coloured wall. The wood was broken up by the silvery frames where they hadn’t been covered.
The week passed with my day split between repairing the greenhouse and doing spot enchantments on the airship, and my nights spent with everyone outside, enjoying the reprieve from the storm. Even snuck in another visit to Conflict and traded the favor to get a bunch of lightweight components for the airship.
By the time we were done restoring the greenhouses, the airship was mostly finished, only waiting on me to check over and complete the last of the enchantments.
The design was mostly in line with our original plans, though we’d made several adjustments along the way. The design made the interior feel a bit like a long curved hallway, with the only private place along the interior.
The hall was littered with attachment points, serving double duty as a cargo storage area. It was probably the most spacious feeling aircraft I'd ever seen, even in movies. Unfortunately, windows hadn't been something we'd been able to add in bulk. While we could make very sturdy transparent materials for the greenhouses, that stuff was heavy. I wasn't even sure what it was, exactly, other than some sort of crystal.
We'd included some windows, of course. We did need to be able to see where we where going. They just weren't wall to wall like I'd wanted. Instead, they were mostly hidden away in the detail work that dominated the outer panels.
The Tethered had taken it as a point of pride that our first airship was made out of wood. And they'd engraved the outer hull to resemble a pack of howling wolves with wings, charging through the clouds.
Much like with the tavern, whose name was still being decided on, there'd been a vote to name the airship. I'd overruled their choice, which shall never be spoken aloud, and decided that the name of the ship would be The Howling Defier.
Inertia had backed my choice, and that had been that.
Inertia walked the main hall just a few paces in front of me, Tresla at her side as we did the final inspection.
"She needs to be marked," Tamrie said, from my elbow as we toured the ship. "It's bad luck for a ship to launch without being marked by her builders."
"Marked?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Ya know, marked, like with your name," Tamrie said
"Mark," Inertia rumbled out, pointing to a panel that had what looked like some sort of mathematical formula on it. After a second, I realized it was the formula for the Inertia of a sphere. The simple fact I could recall that detail was more surprising than the fact she’d chosen it.
"Inertia says you should really have marked the panel earlier," Tresla noted, shaking her cowl. "She also wants me to remind you that you could've if you weren't off playing in the dirt."
"Must be nice, not needing to eat," I said, kneeling down next to the panel then drawing my scribing pen. It was a little excessive, but considering my contributions had mostly been in the enchanting, it felt appropriate. I scribed my actual name, Percival, beneath her formula.
Felt right, now that most people actually knew it now.
"Quite an elegant mark, master Percival," Calbern said, inclining his head in my direction.
"Better than Perry, at least," Tresla said, a glint of red escaping her hood.
"Yeah, I think-"
I cut off as something caused the Howling Defier to shake.
Moving over to the nearby porthole, I looked outside. Unfortunately, there was nothing to see except clear sky. So I ran towards the back, where the actual viewing bubble was setup over the steering. As I rounded the corner, coming up on the enchanted image floating there, I came to a halt, staring up at what had just buzzed us.
It was Selvi and her squad of scouts.
Shaking my head, I tapped the controls, spinning the view around with the oversized wooden wheel, just to make sure they were all that was in the area. Calbern had been right behind me, though the others had come at a more sedate pace. No one wanted Inertia running inside.
I grinned as Tamrie came over, putting her arm around me as I adjusted the controls.
The Howling Defier was ready. It was time to go find Nexxa.
