As the airship soared through the vast sky, I sat on the captain’s chair. The hum of the engines reverberated through the metal structure, creating a sense of adventure.

We flew through the covers of the night, avoiding the gazes of the locals. With every passing cloud, the distance between the airship and the destination became closer than ever.

The moment our decision was sealed to embark on the journey to the Eastern Outpost, preparations fell into motion. We swiftly set out to secure additional chemical fuels, replenish our rations, and gather other essential supplies. I had exhausted my stock of compressed energy bars long ago, as I had been sharing them generously with Tuilë...

Regardless. Now that I had a sum of source crystals to spare, I decided to test how long could a single source crystal last in the flight. And after a bit of experimentation, a single source crystal would last the airship one minute of constant flight. On the other hand, twenty liters of chemical fuel were needed for the same amount of flight — both were not very cost-efficient, even though using chemical fuel was a tad cheaper.

Therefore, I proposed a solution:

“How about we make the airship absorb source energy in the air?”

Source energy was everywhere. Even the red fog that encroached on this land all over was filled with source energy, albeit impure. If we could utilize even a fraction of it, it would ease the airship’s consumption by a lot. Previously, solar energy absorbed by the airship for an extended period of time could provide sufficient energy, but now that there were four jet-like engines to propel the airship, it would be far from enough.

“Maxim,” Tuilë began, her voice tinged with a hint of concern, “I’ll be upfront with you. Absorbing the ambient source energy won’t be a simple task, and it’s not like I’ve never thought about this previously. Moreover, transforming a subtle, ephemeral form of energy into a solid state, like the source crystal, presents its own set of difficulties.”

She paused, allowing the weight of her words to sink in before continuing, “But perhaps there are alternative methods to delve deeper into the mysteries of source manipulation. If we are to succeed…” She continued on and on.

“I second that.” Lunaria gave a quick, affirmative dip of her chin.

“Darn, what a shame.”

It seemed that idea had to be pushed back for another time.

Minutes later, we neared the edge of Aquarine, evidenced by the red fog that became more and more visible from the window. Below was a forest as far as the eye could see.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the visibility deteriorated… Thankfully, the airship had an infrared camera, allowing us to navigate the night sky. Nevertheless, I concluded that venturing into the outpost would be better reserved for another day; It was time to sate our hunger with a satisfying meal and retire for the night, recharging our energy for the adventures that awaited us.

***

Morning arrived.

I awoke to the sound of the door opening. From there, a hovering spherical machine, roughly the size of a basketball, floated in — its appearance resembled that of a mechanical eyeball. As it was suspended in mid-air, it was accompanied by the voice of a girl.

“How much time are you going to spend sleeping? It’s eight o’clock, you sleepy head.”

“Wha? It’s you, Lunaria… Bwuh! How come?” The last time I remembered, after she transferred back her mind into her real body, the drone was no longer “her.”

“Let’s save the details for later. Now go do your things.”

“’Kay, Mom.”

“Geez, who’s your mom? Hmph, I guess I am.”

At any rate, I made thorough preparations, ensuring I did not overlook my essential morning routine: bathing, and breakfast, among other necessary tasks. Of course, the most crucial was a visit to the restroom. After all, I had no intention of resorting to relieving myself in the wilderness unless absolutely necessary…

It seemed as if I were grappling with OCD, but in reality, it was nothing more than a commonplace complaint of a man accustomed to the comforts of a highly civilized society. So spoiled I was.

Apart from that, none of us had much culinary prowess to speak of. While Tuilë and I could manage the basics, our cooking skills paled in comparison to the delicacies served at “The Gourmet Sanctuary” — it was as if we were settling for subpar meals after having to taste the outstanding lunch yesterday. However, even with our limited expertise, we still outshone Lunaria by leaps and bounds in the kitchen.

“So what? I know thousands of gourmet recipes from my nation, including the secret ones known only to the elite.”

“But what good is that knowledge if you lack the practical skills to execute them?” I replied with a nonchalant shrug.

“How rude,” Lunaria huffed in response. “Just you wait.”

“Don’t be too hard on her, he-he. But I already miss the food at The Gourmet Sanctuary…” Tuilë began daydreaming, her mouth on the verge of bursting like a broken dam.

“…” I didn’t know how to respond, so I finished eating my breakfast and went to the armory on the second floor.

As of this moment, only three grenades remained here, and no more than four hundred bullets piled up in the crate. I might have found a way to substitute bullets with my magic — {Air Pistol} — but It was debatable whether a similar thing would happen with the grenades. Got to use them wisely.

One of these days, I told my companions (Tuilë and Lunaria) regarding this matter, so they might find a way to make more grenades soon. Putting that aside, I filled the empty magazines in my backpack; among the ten magazines, five of them were empty and one of them was half filled, so it decreased the total amount of bullets to less than 350.

While I was at it, I checked my improved status.

Maxim Peterson (Raymond Orton)

[…]

Source Level: Tier-1 enhancer | Tier-1 evoker
Source Element(s): All (basic)
Vocation(s): [All Elements] | [The Survivalist]

Stats:

• STR: E+ (36)
• AGI: E+ (35 → 36)
• VIT: E (33 → 34)
• SRC: E (33 → 34)
• SPR: E- (22 → 23)

Accumulation Points: 23 → 24 [E]

These past few days I hadn’t been slacking on improving, but there was only so much I could improve in such a short time.

Next, I looked at the mission to whether there were any changes.

Mission: The Coming Storm

An abomination has its eyes on Aquarine and will soon bring carnage upon this land with its wicked army. Be prepared to the teeth to face them, be that building your own army or anything, as they are not your ordinary enemies.

Difficulty: B

Force Assembling Progress: 0,5%

Time Limit: 45 days

Remaining Time: 43 days 9 hours 45 minutes

Reward: Unable to measure

Failure: ???

…

“Hmm, what’s this? Force assembling progress? Does it tell me how much of a chance I got to clear the mission with my current force?” This had never happened before, but so long as I completed the sub-mission, the progress should increase.

Above all, 0,5 percent was so pitiful that it was basically zero. This meant that I still had a lot to do to complete this… As I thought, this wouldn’t be simple.

Once done preparing, I was about to rendezvous with Lunaria and Tuilë, when a pretty girl with silver hair stood before the door of the armory. Oh yeah, about Luna-1—

“Maxim,” Lunaria called, her hands hiding behind her back.

“Y-Yes?”

“Here.” She presented a furred army jacket to me, clean like it was brand new. “I have washed clean your jacket. You can have it back.”

“Thank you, Lunaria.” I gracefully slipped into the jacket she had offered. “It feels as good as new.”

“Mhm. Now let’s go to the hangar.” Lunaria quickly turned on her heels and led the way.

Standing before the hangar door was Tuilë holding her baggage in a huge sack and a large wrench hefted on her shoulder. Was she seriously going to bring “that” with her?

I decided to ignore her antics and inquired, “Are you done with the preparation, Tuilë?”

“All done! I'm like, totally ready, just as much as you are!”

On this adventure, Alfredo the mechanical golem wouldn’t be accompanying us and was left on the ship to guard it. Since we came with the purpose of increasing our power, there was no point in having external help.

“Good, let’s descend then.”

“Aye! My fists are aching for some fight.” Without hesitation Tuilë swiftly pressed the button to open the hangar door, beating me to it.

As the hangar door slowly lifted and revealed the green landscape outside, Lunaria unexpectedly stated from behind, “Um, I won’t be coming with you this time.”

“Why is that? Are you by chance scared?” I teased and chortled.

“Not in a million years! The ship needs someone to keep watch, and I'll gladly take on that responsibility,” retorted her.

Typical Lunaria. She had always been the one to protect my rear since I first came to this world.

“I guess that’s logical.”

“Don’t be discouraged. Look.” Lunaria pointed at a certain corner of the hanger.

In a moment, Luna-1 emerged from the shadows, soaring toward me, and within its presence, Lunaria's voice echoed forth.

“Instead, I will accompany you.”

“Luna-1, huh?” I held my upper lips. The drone would be exceptionally useful in this endeavor.

“What, what?! Maxim, didn’t you say that Lunaria’s consciousness has…” Tuilë stared at Luna-1 like she had found a new interesting toy.

“It’s all thanks to my Vocation, and it’s actually quite simple to do. Of course, there are limitations based on the shape, size, and number of objects involved,” Lunaria explained.

“Ooh, neat.”

“Agreed.”

It wasn’t like she would be able to send her consciousness to the airship itself. That would be utterly bizarre. Or could she? After all, the original airship had an internal computer system, which had been replicated in the reconstructed version. So, perhaps it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility.

Wait, doesn’t that mean that even if Alfredo wasn’t controlled through the runic inscriptions back when we had our little scuffle, she might have used her Vocation instead? Though she was frozen in liquid Nitrogen at the time…

Asking myself would prove to gain no answer, so I checked the description of her Vocation.

[Soul Binding]

An ability that allows the user to bind their soul or even any other soul from the realm beyond to a designated target. Furthermore, the user may also divide their own soul, although this ability comes with certain limitations and restrictions.

The question of how I ended up in this world was pretty much self-explained here. In spite of what preceded, I doubted that her Vocation was the only reason, and there might be a third party responsible. I mean, summoning a soul from another world was not something a mere Vocation should be capable of. But I presumed this was not too important right now.

“All right.” I explained, “Tuilë and I will tour the outpost before venturing into the interval zone where the ruin of the city is located. At least that’s the plan for now.”

“Mm-hmm! Be sure to keep this baby safe, Miss Lunaria!” Tuilë waved her hand at Lunaria.

“Leave it to me. Besides, you don’t have to tell me this; my consciousness in Luna-1 will be able to inform me, so long as we are not too far apart that is. For your information, the range is about one hundred meters.”

“Oops.”

“Farewell then.” I waved at Lunaria.

“Mhm.”

With determined steps, we descended from the airship using the sturdy boarding ramp. Before us stretched an expansive forest, its towering trees standing on the precipice of the eerie red fog. Just ahead, there was a well-trodden trail, which seemed to be a path frequently traversed by people. Recognizing it as our desired route, we set forth in that direction, our sights fixed on the unknown that lay ahead.