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Salt and Blood - Chapter 138
🕑 Added 2025-03-14 15:23:58 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 137 | Table of Contents | Chapter 139 >>
2.44 - When an Ant Bites a Giant
In an ancient land and a far gone time, there was once a great battle between an undefeated giant and an unimportant shepherd’s boy. That giant led an army, while the boy knew nothing of war and conquest. Yet, with just a simple sling that shepherd’s boy felled the giant and freed his people from enslavement.
-Excerpt from ‘Lessons of Historic Fables and Fantasies’ by Professor Delinah West
Rose stood in the bowels of the metallic ship, staring at the circuits etched into the metal plate that sat at the base of the tidestone engine. She could understand the flows of arcane energy somewhat, but the actual material workings of the engine eluded her.
Without an education or understanding of arcane engineering or shipbuilding, knowing what was supposed to do what was almost impossible. Luckily, she had Daniel to handle that side of things.
It had taken him another four days, but the boy had eventually awakened his core. With that done, all four of them had cores. It wasn’t much, given that all of the officers in the Minenblum Royal Navy also had cores, but they were stronger than before.
More importantly, now that Daniel could wield arcane energy, he would be able to truly comprehend how the tidestone engine worked and help Rose to modify it. It was currently running as the ship was carrying them back to the Emerlan Isle.
However, observing it in action made it easier to understand than studying the intricate workings in an inert state. Daniel had been pacing up and down, tapping random parts of the machinery and muttering to himself.
“I think I understand it now,” he suddenly announced.
“You do?” Rose replied, raising an eyebrow. “All of it?”
“No. About fifteen percent,” he replied confidently.
Rose’s jaw dropped. Was the boy a fool? “You idiot, all of that just to say you only understand fifteen percent,” she replied, cuffing him around the temple.
“Ow!” he exclaimed, a wounded expression on his face. “You don’t understand. This is ridiculously complex engineering. Even understanding five percent of it would allow me to make small modifications. Fifteen percent is enough to completely shift the function of the engine. I could even replicate it on a smaller scale to power something else,” he explained.
“Oh…” Rose muttered. “Sorry. That’s amazing!”
“At least you can acknowledge my genius,” he scoffed, but he couldn’t hide his wide smile.
“So you reckon you can make changes to the ship? Do you think you’d be able to build another ship using a similar design, but on a smaller scale?” she asked.
“No chance. When I said a smaller scale I meant something along the lines of a recording device or perhaps a machine that can store images, not a ship. I’m no Elmer Saff,” he replied with a sigh.
“Oh.”
Rose was a little dejected, but she tried not to let it show. After all, Daniel being able to understand this crazy technology was actually incredibly impressive given his background and age. She didn’t want to discourage him.
And even if he couldn’t build them a smaller ship, it wasn’t like they needed one. They already had this gigantic warship. The only issue was if they had to use such a big ship, they would need an equally large crew.
That was partly the reason why they were heading back to the Emerlan Isle. Having a smaller crew had worked in their favour until now, but a direct attack on Minenblum was a different matter entirely.
If they wanted to truly deal a devastating blow to the monolithic nation, they would need to bring a strike force of elites. Four people couldn’t bring a city to its knees.
Well, one person could… just not us. We’re still too weak, even with my advancement, Rose thought to herself.
Having seen how devastating a single person could be when they reached a sufficient level of strength, she understood how scary the world was. Trent could’ve levelled Eastfel Bay with one of his strikes—at least the ones he’d used against the Shadow King.
“What sort of modifications could you make to the ship, then?” Rose asked Daniel as the boy took a small metal rod from his pocket and started tapping it against the huge tidestone.
“Hmm? Oh, quite a few,” he replied, standing up straight. “Increased speed, better manoeuvrability, stronger cannons, higher arcane energy efficiency,” he started rattling off various upgrades to the ship he could make.
Rose was impressed. It had only taken them a few hours of observing the engine for Daniel to say this with such confidence. However, stating it was one thing, actually implementing them was another.
“Alright, when we get to the island you can start working on the ship. I’ll need to travel to Greengate for a few days so you should have plenty of time. Will that be enough?”
“Hopefully. Most of the upgrades shouldn’t be too difficult. I do have one idea that might be tricky, but I’ll have to see how possible it is once the rest is finished,” he replied, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
“Sure. Sounds good.”
With that, Rose left the boy to his own devices and returned to the deck of the ship. She wanted to push her occupation as far as she could before they arrived back home.
***
Skill up!
Writing 22 > 24
Reading 16 > 19
Focus 18 > 19
Your occupation has advanced!
Apprentice Scholar 46 > 51
Halfway. Not bad, she told herself. Thinking back to the days where she only had Fishing, Rose was satisfied with how far she’d come. Actually, it’s been a while since I had a look. Let’s take a peek.
Name: Rose Everblue
Blessings: Blessing [Sylack]
Race: Human
Occupation: Apprentice Scholar 51
Title: Quintessential Skill
Available Titles: Slaughterer, Apprentice, Quintessential Skill, Ambitious Harvester, Godtouched, Traitor, Arcane Adept
Bound Items: Sunsplitter 51 (Damaged), Divine Serpent’s Lure ★27
Skills:
[General]: Cleaning 12, Fishing 26, Butchery 10, Cooking 8, Herding 2, Crafting 12, Sailing 15, Arcane Field Medicine 3
[Cerebral]: Reading 19, Writing 24, Focus 19, Drawing 24, Appraisal 3, Precision 12, Whispers of the Deep 3, Arcane Engineering 2
[Physical]: Swimming 10, Endurance 16, Athletics 20, Toxin Resistance 2, Climbing 6, Stealth 8, Acrobatics 5, Toxin Resistance 6
[Martial]: One Handed Weapons 11, Blades 29, Pistols 12, Firearms 6, Unarmed Combat 9, Dual Wielding 17, Two Handed Weapons 4
[Arcane]: Arcane Attunement 27, Light Attunement 22, Arcane Resistance 24, Water Attunement 7, Frost Resistance 1, Beast Attunement 6
[Divine]: Divine Attunement 11, Divine Resistance 4
Traits: Sensitive Line, Deft Hand, Good as New, Tunnel Vision, Endless Inkwell, Quick Consumption, Knot my Problem, Reliable Duelist, Steady Slash, Smooth Strokes, Agile, With the Grain, Ambidextrous, Thick Skin, Energetic, Inventor, Seductive Lure, Keen Eye, Radiant, Acolyte, Favoured Strike, Studious, Worldtouched, Arcane Body
Her list of traits seemed to grow thicker every time she checked it. It took her a few seconds to count, but Rose worked out that she had twenty four now. A ridiculous number.
Thinking back to Fairwater Bay and how people were seen as experts if they earned more than the four which mastering their single skill gave them, she wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
What would those grumpy elders think of her now? The thought was both painful and warm. She had fond memories of those grumpy old grandpas and grandmas, but many of them were nothing more than ash and bones now.
She clenched her fists. Her desire to destroy Minenblum was unquenchable. She reached the poop deck, where Everyn was guiding the ship.
“Everything okay, Rose?” he asked, seeing her expression and white knuckles.
“I’m fine. I just…”
“I get it. Don’t worry, we’ll show those bastards how it feels to have your home razed to the ground. Every life they took, we’ll pay back threefold,” he declared, his brow hardening.
She nodded, but couldn’t find it in herself to feel motivated by his words. More than any of them, Rose knew what the price of their attack would be.
Those lives that Everyn wanted to reap were mostly innocent ones. Perhaps it could be argued that by supporting their King, they were just as guilty when it came to the destruction of the Emerlan Isle, but Rose wasn’t convinced.
Even so, she wouldn’t give voice to those thoughts. She was scared that if she did she would break her own resolve.
***
Rose and Everyn were mounted atop two war-doori which they had borrowed from some soldiers stationed in the local garrison. Jason and Daniel were standing at the edge of the harbour, waving goodbye to them.
“I expect that ship to be twice as fast and thrice as deadly when we return, Daniel,” Rose quipped.
“Are you underestimating me?” he replied, painting a feigned expression of insult on his face.
“Never,” she replied with a smile. Turning to Everyn, she kicked her doori gently in the sides. “Let’s go. The faster we can get a unit assembled the faster we can set sail.”
Everyn nodded and followed after, the two war doori starting at a slow trot but speeding up once they left the walls of the town behind. Their destination was Greengate, to petition the king for soldiers to undertake their suicidal mission.
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