Asd came up from below the airship's deck, flinching a bit as he took on the full blast if the wind, as the airship coasted beneath clouds. He was somewhat tired, after his talk with Gaia he had been practicing his mana manipulation skills, and so far, his abysmal control has been a pain in the ass for him. And also his mana pool for some reason has not increased, not since he advanced into the 1st circle. But he had to put that under the list of a lot of things that did not make sense to him, one prime example was his class of royal alpha.
Within his mindscape there was the foundation and arch that depicted the appearance of the [Rune-Smith] class. But apart from knowing he had the class, there has been nothing else to show its effect on his life, he wasn't exactly sure what it was anyways. He was probably the first of his kind, though he couldn't be sure on that front. If there was a Were that had learnt and used magic and became an alpha, whilst owning a mana interface/ system before him; then there was a chance he could understand more about what he could do with his classes and how his Werelion genetics and abilities meshes or combines with magic.
"You! Lion-boy!" a voice called out as Asd turned to his left, at the back of the ship were a couple dozen pipes peaked out of the wooden and steel deck, a stout dwarf with a black beard filled with dried food, bolts and nuts beckoned him over. Asd was reluctant, because there was probably something living in that dwarf's beard. But who knew, this was probably the most unkempt dwarf Asd has ever seen in his life. He rightly fit the stereotype of dwarves within the western Albion empire; dirty, crass and disgusting… amongst other things.
Asd walked up to him with apprehension on his face, not at all sure what he was being called for. And it was hard to notice all of the eyes that were on him as he crossed from one end of the deck to the other, rapidly acclimating to the drafty atmosphere and the rush of the wind in his ears. They gave him looks of mockery and pity, and some had extreme amusement on their face, as if waiting for something unfortunate to happen with Asd being at the receiving end.
"You must have good hands and be good with your eyes Lion-Boy! Come! My giant dwarf hands can't seem to get this bearing fitted in the Anemometer. It's completely out of alignment and fucking up the readings of my Barometer. It would be bad if I can't track the speed of the wind and we end up in a compression pocket without the barometer to warn us of the change in atmospheric pressure, do you know what would happen to us should we find ourselves in such a situation?" the dwarf asked, as all of a sudden the entire ship went silent, and everyone looked on, waiting to hear Asd's answer.
[Master an Anemometer measures wind speed, it helps sailors track and identify air currents, and air streams that can help the airship travel faster. An Anemometer is one of the most important instruments on a ship, even if it's just one that sails the seas. But there are dangers in the skies just as they lay on land and in the oceans. Mana tends to get clumped up, and here where the wind is supreme, wind or air element mana gather together to form what is known as a compression pocket.
Atmospheric pressure is raised so high in a particular area that anything unfortunate to be caught in it would be crushed to pieces. There a records in the academy archives of a compression pocket that was 25,000 feet high and wide. It had completely obliterated an ancient civilization of elves that were capable of off-world travel. One of their engines went haywire and exploded in the atmosphere, the flux of mana created a compression pocket big, large and powerful enough to wipe out an entire civilization…. So yeah… should we find ourselves in any one of those pockets we… and I'm quoting you on this master… are effectively screwed.]
Asd blinked as he shifted his gaze from the dwarf to the panel of blinking lights and screen displaying glitches out numbers. At the side there was a compartment that was opened with gears shifting and a ball on the ground that seems to be missing from a chain of similar balls. At a glance it seemed they all have to be moving, but there was a missing link in it, but the ball was small, about the size of quarter and dwarves, much like the ever elusive and rare Halflings had larger than normal hands, it wasn't built for delicate actions.
"I suspect that we would be crushed into a million tiny pieces, an amalgamation of blood, guts, tissue, visceral and bloody as our remains rain down from the sky unto the unforgiven embrace of the earth below, nestled in the embrace of crushed wood and metal and the after taste of mana…. In summary, it means we're effectively screwed." Asd said to the dwarf as the silence on the airship seemed to get even more deeper.
He bent down and picked up the bearing and crouched down to face the compartment that was open. His fingers were slim enough to place the bearing back, and there was a sort of magnetic effect between all of the ball bearings. He watched closely Asd the bearing seemed to slip out of his hands and into place. The moment it fell into place a sort of electrical charge seemed to go through, passing from one ball to the other, as a hint of mana tickled the tip of Asd's fingers. A dull hum quickly followed as they started moving, going deep into the compartment and coming right back out after a few seconds having an orbit of its own. He pushed the compartment back into the panel, and then pushed the pane back into a slot on the deck, where a screen slowly began to read and show a few numbers. He turned to the dwarf and then cleared his throat, putting an end to the awkward silence that had come about due to his rather bleak answer to the dwarf's question.
"I like you Lion-Boy! Ye not right in the head, that much is clear about ye! But damn if ye do not have a colorful way with words. My name is Boris, Big Balls Boris! But if I hear ye calling me big balls behind me back ill string ye up the main sails. Now how would you like to be my assistant, you seem to have a good head on ye shoulders and I need all the help and I can git around here. The captain has been sending wet behind the ears whipper snappers with no respect for their betters! Stupid the lot of them, and I need someone with some good head and even better balls in their nut sack. Ye crazy, but ye'll do just fine." Asd blinked at the dwarf then back as the ship before saying.
"Sorry not interested." And then he walked away, leaving a shocked dwarf behind with his jaw hanging way too low than could be considered normal.