Chapter 44: Test Flights.

Ting! Summoner's Core has met the requirements for a breakthrough. Summoner's Core will now continue leveling past level 50!

Summoner's Core: You've managed to increase your mana production, letting you produce more mana1st Breakthrough: You've learned how to manipulate your core to increase how much mana you can hold2nd Breakthrough: You've entered the State of Core, Letting you Increase the effectiveness of your breakthroughs.3rd Breakthrough: You've learned how to manipulate your core to consciously produce essence mana, allowing you to produce mana needed for spells letting you tap your reserves less.4th Breakthrough: You've learned how to manipulate your core to consciously produce elemental mana, allowing you to produce mana needed for spells letting you tap your reserves less.5th Breakthrough: You've learned how to produce spell-like mana, letting you precast spells and enchantments.

Summoner's Core: 7/10(Action: 4/5 Knowledge 3/5)1st Breakthrough: 2/10 (Action: 1/5 Knowledge 1/5)2nd Breakthrough: 6/10 (Action: 3/5 Knowledge 3/5)3rd Breakthrough: 7/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 3/5)4th Breakthrough: 4/10 (Action: 3/5 Knowledge 1/5)5th Breakthrough: 6/10 (Action: 3/5 Knowledge 3/5)

Ting! Summoner's Core has obtained level 23!...Ting! Summoner's Core has obtained level 32!

Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner has obtained level 44! 15 status points awarded....Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner has obtained level 46! 15 status points awarded.

Ting! Mana Manipulation has met the requirements for a breakthrough. Mana Manipulation will now continue leveling past level 220!

22nd Breakthrough: You've managed to create a spell crystal, this will help you produce them faster.

Ting! Mana Manipulation has obtained level 185!...Ting! Mana Manipulation has obtained level 190!

Ting! Twin Minds has met the requirements for a breakthrough. Twin Minds will now continue leveling past level 50!

5th Breakthrough: You've managed to transfer your consciousness from one mind to the other. This will help you evade mental attacks.

Ting! Twin Minds has obtained level 45!...Ting! Twin Minds has obtained level 50!

The sails of the Valymo opens wide, air rushes under them, and the pilot channels the spell crystal to reduce the weight of the airship. The boat raised mostly out of the water but not quite light enough to ride on the winds.

If we can make it more efficient we may not even need to use magic to lift this. The enchantments still need to use mana to work, but with the sail operators feeding the sails mana, their enchantments should still work. The sails waver due to uneven winds, threatening to rotate out of control.

Going to need a locking mechanism for them before it actually takes flight.

Many people have crowded the piers and docks to watch the test flight. Despite that, the thing won't actually be flying today, this test is mainly for the crew to get used to handling the airship and to see if anything needs to be fixed, improved, and to iron out any other problems before the crew sends the airship headfirst into the sea.

The airship maintains its height for several minutes as the crew ran from post to post and adjusted anything that needed to be. Then the airship rose even further out of the water as gusts of winds powered by a spell lifted the ship out of the water.

"What are they doing?!" Tusile exclaims.

"Getting overconfident" Guklaro answers, almost as if she had expected this outcome.

"Idiots" I just shook my head.

After raising seven meters above the water one of the sail operators lost control of her sail and it starts spinning out of control, the airship starts to tilt and flipped over, landing upside down in the water.

"This is why we had to test it before flying it" Yukika sighs, folding her arms under her large bosom.

"Still impressive, perhaps in a few years every island will have an airship," Dad says, optimistically.

With the test flight over the rest of the day will be spent making stabilizers for the sails.

"That was so cool!" Yafel exclaims as we walked back to the shop.

"I wanna ride it!" Yafe says, stars gleaming in her eyes.

We made a stop at Efula's ice cream shop for a treat before getting back to work. Soon we are requested to make six stabilizers and given the dimensions needed.

"The Airship was your idea, know anyways for this to work?" Dad asks, standing over several blank blueprints.

I explain a ratcheting system, basically, the pitch and roll controlling sails will have a one-eighty degree rotating ratcheting system and a locking key mechanism to prevent movement when we don't want it.

We start by making a wheel with holes for the key. The middle is made for the sail to set in and the ratcheting system is attached. The ratchet will be gravity fed so we won't have to make springs and it can be easily lifted to rotate the sail in the other direction. It is made so the most horizontal position for the sail can't turn without the aid of the operator and that if control is lost or the key is broken that the sail will return to the horizontal position. The only sails with full three-sixty movement are the drive sails, if anything happens to them they can simply be closed and an emergency splashdown can be made.

It took a lot of planning and few hours later we have a working blueprint. With Mom's water bond she made a water jet to cut out the needed shape in the metal. Being able to make quality steel is actually easy with magic so we don't actually need blast furnaces and all the needed technology for making great steel. However, the added complexity mana introduces means that making good mana steel is a lot more nuanced. You don't just have to worry about carbon content but also mana content and conflicting mana and empowering mana, I honestly don't know how smiths can do it reliably without good mana sight or mana sense.

As the workday ended we only had made two of the locking mechanisms. Seeing as how we are trying to get these done as fast as possible, we continue working after the bath. After we made the first we had to send it to the shipwrights so they can make adjustments to the ship as needed.

The upgrades are completed and implemented a couple of hours before the Lojyo.

The next morning we watch the next test flight. It went a lot smoother and while it was still in the water we tested the rudders or tail sails? Anyway, it worked as intended, they can only open or close so nothing needed to be changed. Now all that was needed was for flight training. There are three pilots, they may have to switch in case they run out of mana, twelve sail operators, and two rudder operators. With seventeen people needed to operate the airship, it is already a little crowded, and we need to fit at least another dozen more onto it. The Valymo might not have been made big enough.

The airship took flight and hover in place. It waits for a few minutes before the drive sails open halfway to allow for a slow movement forward. It slowly picked up speed and then they start to test turning with the tail sails. They turn slowly, then after a few moments close one of the drive sails for faster turning.

The pilots shout their orders as needed and everyone followed them, the test crashing must have humbled and dampened the overconfidence of the sailors.

Soon they made their way back to the village and splashed down. Cheers erupts at the first successful flight. But I knew that wasn't going to be the last test. Everyone was at their stations and there was no shifting weight as there will be once people start running up and down the ship. Constantly adjusting to the shift in weight will be the real test.

"The stabilizers seems to work wonderfully," Tusile says, smiling brightly.

"Everyone worked hard for this moment" Yukika nods.

"This doesn't mean it's battle-ready," Guklaro says holding a neutral expression, her comment brought everyone back down to earth.

"Under a controlled environment, many things can work" I agree.

"Let's move on to the next tests," Guklaro says.

The next tests didn't go as well as the second. Several more people carrying cargo moved on the airship while flying. The crew couldn't adapt to the changing weight and often overcorrects. The airship wobbles and bobs, tilting down then up, then to the side, and back down. The drive sails aren't even open, they are just hovering and still having trouble. The test ends with the airship capsizing again when the sail operators overcorrects as the weight shifted back.

"So this is what you meant when you said weight needed to be considered," Tusile say.

I nod. "Imagine archers needing to get more arrows and are running back and forth, we also overlooked that supplies will have to be tied down otherwise the crates will move and could make things worse or hurt someone."

Guklaro grunts in agreement. "This will take a while but once this is mastered we should be ready"

By the third test, most people had left to go back to work. I was called to help cull more Chayaotmos with the Kheshamo fighters, several were spotted getting close to the villages by the scouts.

It took two more days before the airship operators were considered "good enough" and that was with the rush to get the airship flying so we can deal with the monster nest. Needless to say, "good enough" meant keeping the airship stable while moveing and nothing else.

During those two days, I practiced and prepared. There was one breakthrough which I really needed, delayed [Fairy Explosion]. It was a lot harder than I thought. The unstable mana vibrated too much and I had to control that. I could just boost my wisdom but I didn't want to do that yet. Instead, I spent two days casting the spell over and over and over again, slowly gaining control over the stability of the spell. The only downside was that I couldn't use [Fairy Empowerment] as much. Due to the similarities between the skills I managed to get a breakthrough in both skills, so using Empowerment at all was thanks to that.

Ting! Fairy Explosion has met the requirements for a breakthrough. Fairy Explosion will now continue leveling past level 30!

Ting! Fairy Explosion has obtained level 15!...Ting! Fairy Explosion has obtained level 17!

Fairy Explosion: You've sent a large burst of unstable mana to your fairy, causing it to explode.1st Breakthrough: You've managed to send multiple doses of unstable mana to one fairy, this will help you send even more doses.2nd Breakthrough: You've managed to send multiple doses of unstable mana to different fairies, this will help you affect more fairies.3rd Breakthrough: You've managed to delay the explosion, allowing you to control the stability of the mana better.

Ting! Fairy Empowerment has met the requirements for a breakthrough. Fairy Empowerment will now continue leveling past level 30!

Ting! Fairy Empowerment has obtained level 16!...Ting! Fairy Empowerment has obtained level 19!

Fairy Empowerment: You've learned how to send bursts of mana to your fairies, this will intensify their mana.1st Breakthrough: You've stacked empowerments, this'll let you stack even more2nd Breakthrough: You've managed to send multiple stacks at once, this'll help you send even more at once.3rd Breakthrough: You've managed to stabilize the extra mana intensity, allowing you to empower your fairies more.

Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner has obtained level 47! 15 status points awarded....Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner has obtained level 49! 15 status points awarded.

With this, I can delay the explosion by up to one second per level.

I board the airship. The twins are pouting that they don't get to join as Mom and Dad wave me off. I had to explain to them that even if the airship crashes right into the middle of the nest, I'll be safe. I told them that I could just cast a flying spell on myself, which is the truth, I probably won't make it back to the village before my mana runs out but I'd be out of danger.

Only mages are on board, we'll be flying high up so pretty much only magic will be able to reach the nest and the monsters.

We start sailing off, many people rowing with long custom-made oars, we'll only start flying once we get close. It is relaxing, being on a boat like this, but I kept looking for stray Chayaotmos. Every time I see some I blast them with an empowered fairy explosion, practicing my ability to explode the fairy at the very moment it reached its destination.

This, of course, attracted more which was part of the goal. More practice, more exp.

Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner has obtained level 50! 15 status points awarded.

Ting! New active skill available, Fairy Rush! Would you like to accept this skill?

Fairy Rush: Increases the speed at which your fairies can move by 3% per level

Ting! New passive skill available, State of the Summoner! Would you like to accept this skill?

State of the Summoner: Enter a state of focus that enhances all summoning based skills by 3% per level.

Now that one is strong. It says skills, does that also include my bond skills and general skills? Or just the class skills? [Fairy Strike] is summon based as well as beauty based, as is my clone and Familiar. But all my class skills are beauty and enhancement based, not summon.

Ting! You have gained the Fairy Rush class skill!

Fairy Rush: You've managed to increase how fast your fairies move, this will help them attack faster.

Ting! You have gained the State of the Summoner class skill!

State of the Summoner: You've entered a state of pure focus, this will improve all summons for the duration of the focus.

I feel like state wouldn't be great at the start, state breakthroughs need a ton of focus, and using it in battle may not work out too well, it'll definitely need a breakthrough to lessen the focus or allow me to use it during battle.

"Are you nervous?" Chyzu asks, walking up to me.

"A little, but all I can do is trust in my own abilities," I reply.

"You're so brave!" Chyzu pats me on the head and smiles. "I'm terrified. The Aydomr was minor tier, these monsters may not be at the same level but are major tier, they will be at least equal in power and there are a lot more of them. I keep envisioning everything that can go wrong."

"You have a water bond, even if we crash you can probably ride a wave of water back to the village fast enough to escape the Chayaotmos. I can cast a flying spell on myself, I can distract the monsters with illusions. If something does go wrong we aren't helpless" I say, letting Chyzu pet me.

"You think of everything, don't you? You plan around fail points and think defensively, It's no wonder you aren't afraid to take on tasks far beyond yourself, not to mention your age"

"You don't have to go into a battle headfirst. It's preferable to never being in the throes of combat yourself. No matter how tough your armor, no matter how strong the opponent. It doesn't matter if they can't reach you. That is why we are flying. We are safe in the skies, we can get them, and even if they have ways to get us we have made proper preparations. We'll be fine the airship just needs to remain stable, no crazy maneuverings, no quick movements. Just needs to stay in one place while we do our work."

Chyzu smiles again. "Thanks, Aly, you're right, we don't need to be afraid, we just need to trust in ourselves"