Sometime later, Kai tied up the servant with his eyes and mouth blocked, leaving behind a warning of not telling anyone where he was going.
Kai had already used time extension on his ash devil skill.
He decided to not wear clothes for now, after all, he'd be getting into ash form.
'Man, I hope to get the space dimension thing to store objects. It exists in celestial expanse, right?'
[Yes.]
'Cool.'
Kai opened the window and sucked in a deep breath as he looked down.
The wooden part of the building he was on curved inwards as it was closer to the ground. Clearly, he was on a ship. But why was the ship docked on land?
He shrugged and didn't ask the system; it was better to explore certain things himself.
Kai got up on the table and activated his skill.
[Ash Devil]
[-25 Mana]
[Time Remaining: 00:59:59]
'So the mana consumption increased with the time, huh.' While thinking about it, the ash devil got near the window's isle, closed his eyes, and jumped down.
Just as he jumped down, at the same time, in the workout room the elf had just finished doing another exercise.
She suddenly looked in a certain direction and frowned.
Moments passed and her frown deepened. She walked towards the door of the room and picked her bag that hung there.
She took out a crystal tablet and tapped on it… She seemed to be watching something and then her expression changed.
"Impossible." She muttered, her voice soft but full of shock.
She kept the crystal piece back into the bag, and immediately took out a jacket and pants; she hastily just wore her new clothes over her workout one, clearly something urgent happened.
The elf dashed out.
Her figure bolted through the ship's corridor with familiarity and she soon was in front of a huge dark door, just as she opened it.
A beam of light flashed and she let out an alarmed cry.
She fell back on her buttocks as the peculiar beam of light whooshed past her, its target unknown at least to the dumbfounded elf.
It took a few moments for her to get out of her stupor. She looked inside the room, it was dark. And then rushed back, faster than she ran here. Back in the workout room, she took out the crystal plate again, her hand trembling slightly, more sweat dripping down her forehead than when she was working out.
A 'tak' was heard from the crystal.
She immediately said, her voice still a bit soft, but anxious. "Cap-captain."
A woman's voice sounded from the magical device. "Cap is busy. It's me, Freya."
"Sister Freya, it flew away… I don't know if it just vanished?"
Freya yawned from the other side, "What did?"
"The Ship Aatma… it flew away… I don't know where." The elf was clearly panicking.
"…"
"Wh-what should we do? Captain spent so.. so much time to get its approval but it… it…"
Freya's casual tone became solemn. "Elaine, listen to me, close your eyes."
Elaine sniffed, and nodded as if Freya was standing in front of her.
"I have closed them."
"Now, take deep breaths."
"Hah. Hah."
"Good, calm down. It's okay. It's true that whoever gets the approval of the ship's aatma becomes the owner of it, and can also use its power. You say it flew away? Such cases have happened in history, though rare, they have happened."
"Yes."
"You panicked because you thought we would blame you?"
"No, I—"
Freya chuckled gently, "Don't worry, dumb girl. I'll handle it. We will handle it."
The elf had her fist clenched, her breathing labored… but soon she calmed down and softly thanked her.
"Amy is preparing for the big thing… so I won't tell her for now. I'll handle it here. You find out what changed in the ship, if it's something dangerous, you know what to do, right?"
"Yes, I do."
"Alright"
Freya suddenly said, "I do blame you though," startling Elaine.
She heard her grumble from the magical artifact. "I hate working and because you panicked like a little kid, I got emotional and stepped forward to work… man, pay me later with something. Fine with it?"
"…"
"Are you listening to me?"
A small smile appeared on her pretty face as she nodded. "Yes, thank you, Sister Freya."
The connection disconnected.
At the same time, another connection was made somewhere else.
Or to be more exact, it was made the moment Kai jumped from the ship's window.
Like previously, the fall made his body scattered around, his vision disoriented, but soon recovered as the ash gathered back. This was the moment that the beam of light struck his body.
The ash devil got stunned by the system screen that had popped in front of him.
[Congratulations, Kai Vincenzo! The arcane airship 'Aetheris Wing' has chosen you as its suitable master.]
[You need to complete a mission to get its complete acknowledgment and be able to use its powers.]
[A quest has been issued.]
[Quest: Become the Master of the Sky]
[Description: The Aetheris Wing is still in a dormant stage and requires a surge of magical energy to awaken its full potential. To speed up its growth, you must gather two high grade Ether Crystals from the floating islands of the celestial expanse. Each crystal must be infused with your own essence to bond with the ship and accelerate its awakening.]
[Reward: 500 Skill Points, Control of the Aetheris Wing]
[Time Limit: None]
'Wait...what? What floating islands? An airship???? The hell happened here.'