Surprisingly in this world guns had already been invented, archaists, magics and technology have been thriving, working in consort to better themselves, things like gunpowder have already been invented, and one of the academies has even created a railway.
The technology here is advancing slowly, the main reason being the power of magics and arcane power, why would you need a gun when a flick can blow away a building, why would you need a car when you can run faster, even flying isn't an impossibility for strong arcanists.
however it is still relevant in artifice, where arcane power is incorporated into the weaponry, but this is considered a completely different field by this worlds people, despite the similarities.
So, in a world like this, there's little drive to further technology, it's still used in laboratories, and in sterile environments, but even there it's limited to the weak, only archaists below level three need these countermeasures.
Covered in sweat I decided to return below deck to clean up, on the way I bumped into Earl, there I decided to inquire about the time it would take to reach the order, he told me It would take at least a week if we travel at a consistent pace, and there are no unforeseen circumstances.
"If we're lucky, arcanist Kite will activate the arcane machinery on board the galley to speed up progress, but someone of his personality, would avoid draining their own energy on such a task," he said in passing, before leaving.
The rest of the day passed quickly, nothing of note transpired, only the ship had passed through the cliff zone and is now drifting surrounded by open pains.
As we travelled the ship only passed one, similarly large ship, the reason for this is not only the pressure exerted by the river, but because of the monopoly held by the continent's powerhouses, they want a straightforward way to travel through the continent, uninterrupted, so they seized power, taking over, but if any stronger than them want to use it, they will bend their knees.
...
The next day passed in the same fashion only this day a dirigible, flew overhead casting a shadow over us, this wasn't the first time I'd seen one of these, the peak of magical technology, dispersed amongst the powerful, this one is the only one on this continent belonging to the emperor himself, the man I plan to kill personally.
Throughout that day I practised swordsmanship, toby joined me in training, and we sparred fiercely, before retiring to bed.
...
The next day was bland, nothing much happened onboard, the 'oceans bountiful grace', the ship's name was engraved onto a plaque, on this day arcanist Kite was nowhere to be seen.
On the fourth day a conflict broke out on the ship, two of the seniors both talented figureheads for their generation started fighting being stuck in one place was starting to get on their nerves, so they decided to start drinking, but because they were acolytes of the arcane path it had a lesser effect on them, but they were still touchy, so when one of them mentioned their old conflict, a dying fire was rekindled from the embers.
An opportunity came up for one of them to join an expedition, into a heritage land from a fallen family, they both fought for the position and ended up grievously injuring each other, making them both lose the opportunity permanently.
In this fight they ended up burning down one of the auxiliary masks, angering arcanist Kite who was forced to leave his cabin, he 'enforced the rules' on them, leavening them injured. After this I wondered how strong a true arcanist truly was, so I got the chip to scan him, I did not work and luckily, he did not notice my intrusion.
...
The fifth day was another mundane one, nothing much changed, I trained, the ship sailed, the sky was blue, and the sun shone its white brilliance.
...
On the sixth, second last day something transpired, a large creature reared its head from the river, gnarling and gnashing its teeth, lunging towards the ship surrounded by tumultuous waves, the creature resembled a shark however, unlike a conventional shark it had grizzled spikes protruding from its body, the spikes were angled backwards, the shark was grey, but the tips of the spikes were a deep grassy green.
the creature swam with fluidity, its fleeting form rocketing towards the ship, spikes reared through the waters surface, leaving a trail of ripples in the water fighting for dominance in its wake.
As the shark neared the ship, its massive gapping jaw hinged open, arcanist Kite appeared sneering at the shark, he took out his revolver spinning the barrel he aimed it, 'boom' a plume of fire burst out its muzzle.
Blood bloomed, resembling a red spider lily, my favourite flower, the shark continued rocketing forward, carried on by its leftover momentum it crashed into the bow of the ship a gossamer film deflecting its limp corps, in a spray of blood, brain matter and water.
After one last glance at the mountainous floating corpse, he ordered "harvest it's spikes, core and fin, you can cook the rest, it will be beneficial to you all." He gave one last scathing glance before leaving, his departure eased the tension allowing everyone to return to routine. Using the gun seemed to perfectly uncaptured his cautious nature, unwilling to use even a fraction of his power to dispose of the beast.
The clean-up for the shark stalled the ship for a few hours, as its hide was too thick for ordinary workers to dismember, needing the seniors to work on it, after that however we ate well, and whilst eating it I felt my muscle strength being augmented by the shark's remnant archaic power, it was though minimal.
...
The final day on the ship took us through a forest, deep into it, there were trees canopies looming overhead, vailing the sky, we soon moved to the outermost section where the ship anchored.
There was nothing visually special about the place the ship chose to anchor at, it was the same as the rest of the forest, with overhanging trees, mangroves, vines and thick foliage, but when we disembarked the anchored galley, in a grove led off the main river by a man-made canal.
I found that there was a faint cobbled path, covered with moss and weeds, it was cracked and craggy, splintered into a vague silhouette of a trail.
When arcanist Kite joined me and the others who had already found the remanent path, he said lethargically "the headquarters in this forest is based in an old relic, a sanctuary built in the past, a bastion of hope, passed down to our order, the illusion spells protecting it are strong and have been known to 'play little tricks' so make sure that everything your seeing is real."
he walked down the path pioneering the way forwards, as we walked a faint fog enveloped us, Kite droned "this fog is made manufactured, to make the unknowing lose their way, always pay close attention to the people surrounding you, or their backs might be the last thing you see and do avoid anything. Multicoloured, you don't want to end up a puppet of the guardians' wills."
Toby, who was beside me, whispered, "Alexander, I heard the order formed a contract with a clan, of Faes, they guard the forest, they're the ones who set up the illusion, they're also known as arcanist Kite said earlier 'playing little tricks' to them there harmless but the consequences on a weak souled individual like an acolyte, can be dire."
His caution was probably warranted so I paid more attention to my surroundings, using the chip to scan for abnormalities.