Chapter 94: Evacuation
"It's just one thing after another," Tusile says, after Alysara has left.
"We can use this. As manipulative as it sounds, we can simply tell the truth. The priestesses disturbed the ruins and awakened a monster that the Guardian is currently holding back. This will help limit the support the priesthood has." Guklaro says, hand on her chin in a thoughtful pose.
"We need to send messengers to every village in the inner islands as soon as possible. It is fortunate that they are sparsely populated after the superstorm."
"It was Papuyo who disturbed the ruins, not the current priesthood; we don't need to place guilt onto them," Verako says.
"Do you honestly believe that?" Guklaro says bitterly. "Gutaly was in on the whole thing; she only rebelled against Papuyo because if she didn't, they would have all been exiled. They still intend to fight, but they know they will lose right now, so they hide behind pretense."
"What about everyone else? Those who joined after exiling Papuyo? They'll be caught up in those implications; we can't place blame on them!" Verako fights back.
"If they are truly innocent, they'll show it. Regardless, we should focus back on the issue at hand. There is a monster, and we need to get to someplace safe and out of the way. So, how do we manage that? Building an airship large enough will take too long." Tusile says.
"We have a portal that Alysara made; perhaps we use that?" Guklaro suggests.
"Tusile, I would appreciate it if you didn't just dismiss my concerns; we need to properly discuss the issues with placing blame onto the priesthood!" Verako says, trying to bring the discussion back.
"Verako, need I remind you that you have not been formally accepted as an Elder?" Guklaro says in a warning tone, "Our number one concern is the safety of our village, not others, especially an organization that continues to break our customs. Temple Island is supposed to be neutral ground, and that can't happen if someone wants to set up a sovereign village there. They still won't allow people into the dungeon, which means that they aren't neutral."
Verako looks down in resignation.
"The priesthood is supposed to represent Myrou and her tenets, nothing else. They are to have no say in other matters." Tusile adds. "Papuyo was just a young apprentice priestess who had yet to fully understand that, and Gutaly and the other priestesses came in after the superstorm. In short, no priestess understands their role. Now, going back to Guklaro's suggestion; the portal won't work; it uses too much mana to bridge the distance we need it to."
"Well, we certainly don't have enough boats; it will take days for us to make enough, not including the cost of proper building materials." Guklaro says.
They go back and forth several times, running out of ideas.
"I hate to say this, but it seems like just building an airship will be the fastest method," Tusile says.
"Why can't we just use normal boats?" Verako says.
"One: because we only have enough for a fifth of the village population. Two: because we want to evacuate to an outer island, not a middle island, so it will take days to fully evacuate everyone by going back and forth. And three: with a chance of our village being destroyed, everyone will want to bring their valuables, so that will make the whole process take even longer, at least an airship can travel faster."
Silence takes over the room until Guklaro speaks up.
"We have a lot of liquid space mana, right? Why not have Alysara turn all of that into an airship that is larger on the inside? We save on materials, and hopefully, we can evacuate everyone and their stuff within three trips."
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"Because we don't have enough mana," I explain. The Elders have called me back to their meeting and proposed I make an airship out of pure mana, which is a good idea but comes with some problems.
"First, mana is massless; while it does mean we can make a larger airship, there are also a few drawbacks, primarily retraining the pilots to adjust to it. Then there's the issue of actually getting all of that mana: we'll need double the amount we have for the evacuation and quadruple for an airship that can house the entire village. It's why we originally opted for having the Mana Arc produce it for us. Then it will take weeks for me to actually shape the airship with the proper mana structure for enchanting."
"Your cursed skill produces the mana you work with, right? What's the ratio?" Tusile asks.
"It transforms my mana reserves," I correct her, "and it uses one point of mana for every three I manipulate, which is a lot considering I have to work with not millions, but tens of billions if not hundreds of billions of points of mana. I simply do not have enough."
"So, while we could supplement the lack of workable mana with the cursed skill's side effect, the biggest issue is the amount of mana you have; you'll use all of your mana very quickly." Guklaro summarizes. "We can have people give you mana through the battery you made for the portals. With an average of fifty thousand mana production between all the villagers, roughly to three hundred people now, there is a combined total of about three hundred million mana produced every day, and you can manipulate three times that with that amount, that is almost one billion points of mana that you can work with every day. Also, you just need to make the shell and floors of the airship, which should reduce how much you need."
"It's still weeks of work," I say; even with the mana problem mostly solved, the time it takes to work it is still too much. "I'll need a strong enchanted item that boosts my manipulation, ideally a Domr pearl with space manipulation. I've spotted a few small ones and a mid-sized one near the middle islands. However, even if I manage to make something that doubles my space manipulation, it'll still take too long."
"If you have all of your minds working on the airship, how fast can you do it? Assuming mana isn't an issue." Tusile says.
"Half a month at the shortest," I reply.
"It just needs to fly, right?" Guklaro says. "It doesn't matter if it needs to make several trips to fully evacuate everybody. If we forgo nonessential enchantments and only have you make the hull – the floors we can make with mundane materials – how fast can you make it?"
I think about it for a few moments. Just a shell with no enchantments, all my minds working on it with everyone donating mana. "It'll take three days at the shortest."
"Then we'll get you your Domr pearl; we'll start work immediately," Tusile says.
Following a village meeting where the announcement of evacuation and plans for the airship take place, everyone starts offering help. After all, the sooner the airship is made, the more things can be brought with them. Of course, there are a few naysayers who think the Guardian will handle everything, but with the ruins so close most are aware of the danger. Carpenters start work on making the airship flooring; others are helping by getting the materials from the warehouses. Barrels of liquid mana are brought to the worksite, where I start shaping the mana, slowly expanding the liquid mana into a dense metallic state. With my real body, I explain to the foreman the dimensions the floors should have. Tailors and mana weavers make the sails, and the enchanters enchant the sails for more effectiveness.
Just like when the village was half burned down, almost everyone is pitching in to help build the airship in record time, even if it's only to give me mana so I can continue my work. It's going to be the largest airship yet, our Titanic, albeit hopefully with a better ending to its tale.
The work is done in haste, meaning no decoration, but that's fine as the airship won't technically be completed, just in a flyable state. The control crystals are taken from storage as we have a large stock of them.
Late in the day, the Domr pearl I requested is retrieved and given to me. The pearl is the smallest; they had to kill all three of them to get a pearl with the right magical effect. I immediately start to work on a long staff of space essence. I use several space crystals that I previously prepared to hopefully offset the size of the pearl; more material to make a reinforcing enchantment. In addition, I grow a crystal spiraling up the staff like vines with crystalline leaves sprouting at the top.
Next, I enchant the staff after carving out mana to make room for the enchanting mana structure; even in the crystals, I make sure that the enchanting mana is unimpeded, and then I refill any gaps to seal in the enchantment.
Staff of Space Manipulation:(Enchanted)Made by a master of Mana Manipulation using a tiny pearl of a weak monster as a seed, this staff shows that even the weakest has the potential to become great. Enhances space essence manipulation by 135%.
It takes several hours to make the staff, but I am quite pleased with how it turned out. Could it have pushed two hundred percent with a better Domr pearl? If I had more time to prepare better materials, study natural space gems, and figure out the best way to make a space manipulating staff? Yes, but we are in a time crunch, and we have to settle with what we have now.
The next day we work with renewed vigor. I burn through my mana much faster now with the staff, as I am working faster, but with people supplying me mana, I don't have to stop. With five minds working on shaping the mana, I get a lot done, and since it's all just me, they all benefit from the staff.
The other villages in the center and inner islands are already evacuating, sending boats back and forth. The middle islands are on high alert, and some are even preparing to evacuate too. The Runalymo will not suffer another disaster like with the superstorm again, this we promise.
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Tanafyam looks around at all the work being done. What can he do? He doesn't know how to work bamboo nor forge nails; neither does he know how to weave sails or enchant them. All he knows is how to fight, and even in that, he is weak and inexperienced. He has never felt so useless before. He tries to keep his mind away from his parents, but he can't help but wonder why they joined the mad priestess and the criminals; he can't understand why they were so horrible the day they left.
Tana shakes his head to clear his mind and looks around to see if there's anything he can do. Esofy is helping the carpenters, Chyzu is donating mana to Alysara, something that he can't even afford since he produces vitality instead. No matter what, Alysara shines brightly in everything that she does; whether it's making something or fighting, he will always be far behind her.
Tana sighs and sits down next to a wall, watching everyone work while he can't do anything. The only thing he can do is practice fighting in hopes of one day finally being useful. With another sigh, Tana walks away from the worksite and to the empty combat academy, where he draws his sword and starts swinging. With a slash, a wave of negative vitality shoots out.
Ting! Slash Wave has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 90!
8th Breakthrough: You've learned how to send out vitality and negative vitality; this will help you heal or damage anyone at a distance.
Alysara had said not to use this, as it will corrupt his evolutions, and that possibility is why he only gets a few breakthroughs per evolution, not enough to be a major factor. Yes, one or two have been corrupted, but there has been an alternative of equal tier. He will get four more breakthroughs once evolving.
Tana then starts practicing with Class skills, making sure to cap each one if he can. He will prove himself one day; he will challenge that beautiful girl and prove he can stand by her side.