598 No Doub (1/2)
Once the floating rock was snuggled up tight against the air harvester, the four powerful aerial screws started spinning and the airship attempted to drag the chuck of floating rock behind it. For a moment, the floating rock seemed to resist the efforts of the airship before it ever so slowly shifted away from its original position and obediently followed behind the airship.
Leon put down his binoculars as he turned his attention to the bustling town below him. The balcony of the inn they were staying at had quite a view of the aetherium mining town. A couple of airships that looked like skeletal arms dragged chunks of floating rocks towards the breakers where the floating rocks dragged down to the ground by muscle and steam power before broken down into smaller manageable sizes to have its aetherium ore extracted.
The mining town was called Ethan's Edge and they had stayed in this town for over two days and had learnt much. The people were of mixed races, from Elves as the hoomans called the people, Oerkins or Orks, Beastmen, to the short people called Dwarvans. There were more Beastmen compared to the rest and the Dwarvans seemed to prefer to keep to themselves up on the mountain cities.
The modest town boasted a permanent population of roughly half a thousand, while another thousand or two, were mostly hunters, contract miners, traders, and wanderers who came to the town of Ethan's Edge for opportunities. Smokestacks poked from almost every roof in the town and spewed dirty grey smoke out. The forests around the town had long been cut down and turned into farms or just laid bare with the remains of tree stumps with more logging camps further out.
Ugly mine dotted the sides of the hills where the trees had been cut down together with large mine pits where animal carts and steam powered carts moved resources up and down the well worn roads towards the town. All the resources that came out from the ground including the chopped trees were all feed into the town's hungry furnaces and resource ingots and charcoal were rolled out on the other end.
The town also had an Adventurers' Guild equivalent, called the Hunter's Association which deals solely with materials and parts harvested from monsters. The tiny seed sized mana stone was well received by the Association's appraiser who offered a price that was more than the total of the skins and other monsters parts' value combined.
Leon nodded as he gestured to the rolls of maps and scrolls, ”Make sure you guys wrap those up properly!”
The maps and other information gathered from the town were packed carefully into a waterproof bag. Leon sneezed as he returned into the room and closed the balcony doors, and blew his nose hard. ”The air here smells!”
”Not surprised if they had been constantly burning coal and wood,” Kat replied as she carefully cleaned her disassembled rifle. ”Seems like they like to burn things around here.”
”Different cultures, different ways of living,” Yill cut in. ”But in the end, everyone is just trying to live.”
Kat gave a shrug as she wiped down her weapon while Leon asked, changing the subject. ”Where are the kids?”
”They should be walking around the town,” Kat said as she reassembled her weapon.
”Call them back,” Leon said. ”We need to start planning for tomorrow!”
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The Old World, Cartel Highlands
”Weeeee!” Blue Thunder let out a gleeful cry as he swerved between the floating chunks of rock in the air. The floating rocks were covered in lichen and vines and were so surreal that even Stamford felt like they were in a dream.
Small colour wyverns clustered around the rocks and used them as nests, burst out and cackled angrily at Blue Thunder as he swooped over the rocks and even at times he half landed half hopped off the rocks, causing them to wobble wildly in the air from his weight. ”This is fun!”
”Too fun for my heart!” Dek called out from the rear. ”Please stop playing around!”
”Spoil sport!” Blue Thunder humphed and he flew out from the floating maze of rocks and rosed above them. ”I shall bring Rastraz and Saphia here to play!”
”Play play play!” Stamford sighed. ”All you can think of is play!”
”We are on a mission now,” Stamford added. ”I only approved you to use the floating rocks as cover and concealment!”
”I know...” Blue Thunder mumbled. ”I haven't had any fun since those two taken over my projector!”
”Who asked you to start a harem?” Stamford teased. ”Besides, you are the envy of many!”
”I... I assumed it would be like in those mangas and dramas...” Blue Thunder confessed. ”Urgh...”
”Hahahaha!” The aircrew laughed at Blue Thunder's distress. ”Those are fantasy you know?”
Blue Thunder let out a deep sigh and remained quiet while his crew laughed again. ”Anyway, keep your eyes open for any trouble!”
”There shouldn't be any monsters here that could rival me!” Blue Thunder replied grouchily.
”Not monsters,” Stamford replied. ”More like the locals here! I don't want them being alerted that there is a dragon in their backyard! And dragons are worth damn a lot to them in the Old World!”