Airship Maintenance

After their conversation, Richard and Ellie's relationship grew considerably closer.

After that, Richard practiced Wizard language with Ellie during the day and meditated at night.

Although Richard had memorized the Wizard language through extraction, he still needed practice to use it proficiently in actual application.

And so, time passed until Richard's fifteenth day aboard the Airship.

The Airship would occasionally slow down during flight, and the wizards aboard would use that time to inspect and maintain it.

During this time, the apprentices aboard the Airship were free to move about.

"Richard! I connected to the Sea of Souls last night."

Early in the morning, Ellie patted Richard's bed and excitedly shared her progress.

Ellie's talent was not particularly outstanding. Her Spiritual Power was only twelve points; what Richard had accomplished in a short while had taken her a full seven days.

But it was still worthy of praise.

According to the books, many prospective apprentices needed Meditation Incense and Magic Potion assistance to connect to the Sea of Souls for the first time. Ellie's achievement of connecting to the Sea of Souls in seven days was already considered average at the Academy.

An apprentice like Richard, who could connect after a single meditation session, was rated excellent by the Academy.

There was one rank above that: those who were born connected to the Sea of Souls, naturally gifted Wizard Apprentices whose innate Spiritual Power had already reached twenty points.

However, such apprentices were exceedingly rare in the Academy's history and generally only appeared among wizard descendants.

"Congratulations, congratulations. Boss Ellie has finally become a Wizard Apprentice."

Richard sat up in bed with a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he offered Ellie his congratulations.

"Looks like I'll have to count on Boss Ellie to look after me during this exam."

At those words, Ellie puffed up with pride.

"Don't worry. Big sis has got you covered this time."

Knock, knock, knock.

There came a knock at the door. When Ellie opened it, she found that the puppet delivering breakfast had, for some reason, brought their meal early today.

"Room 225. Breakfast for two. The Airship is undergoing inspection and maintenance today. Apprentices may move about freely."

The puppet's voice was as strange as ever, but the news it brought made the smile vanish from Ellie's face at once.

"Move about freely?" Ellie asked.

The puppet did not answer. It mechanically pushed its meal cart toward the next room.

Ellie shut the door, her expression turning utterly miserable, as though she were about to cry.

"It's over, it's over, it's over. I only just connected to the Sea of Souls—I haven't even formed Mana Circulation yet. Th-this, this, this..."

Ellie anxiously paced back and forth around the room. Richard was rather curious about her reaction.

"Isn't being free to move around a good thing? We've been cooped up in this room for so many days. Don't you want to go out for a walk?"

He had already been on the Airship for half a month. Staying in one room all day made him feel as though his joints were about to rust.

"You don't understand. If we're allowed to move around freely, those bastards can come out too."

Ellie looked as though she were about to cry. In a jumbled rush, she told Richard what had happened aboard the Airship before he had boarded.

"So that's how it is."

Richard stroked his chin, his expression somewhat subtle.

Had he looked that weak when he boarded the Airship?

"Then stay in the room. I'm going out for a walk."

Richard swung himself out of bed and wolfed down his breakfast in a few bites.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but Richard felt that his body had grown much stronger after connecting to the Sea of Souls. His thin, malnourished body from years of deprivation had actually begun to develop some muscle.

Could it be that wizard food was mixed with supplements?

"Hey! I've taught you Wizard language these past few days, haven't I? Can't you help me out by not going outside?"

Seeing that Richard was about to leave, Ellie bristled like a startled cat.

Richard waved a hand dismissively. "Relax. It's not like I'm going outside and shouting that I have a beautiful female roommate. Just stay quiet in here. It's not as if those bastards are going to break down the door, right?"

The Airship was not particularly small. Apart from the passenger cabins where they lived, there was also an Observation Cabin several dozen square meters in size at the rear of the Airship.

This cabin was usually reserved for wizards, but since the Airship was undergoing maintenance today, apprentices could also enter and admire the view.

Richard stood by the window, his heart surging as he gazed upon the boundless sea of clouds.

The walls of the Observation Cabin were made of something like glass. Through them, the sea of clouds outside the Airship stretched out in full view.

Before long, the Observation Cabin was filled with apprentices. Some were nobles, some commoners. The nobles formed one circle, while the commoners formed another.

Though no one had forcibly separated them, the two groups stood apart as clearly as the Jing and Wei rivers.

Except for Richard.

Right beside Richard, a group of nobles were mysteriously exchanging secrets from within their circle.

To keep commoners from eavesdropping, they even spoke in Wizard Language.

"Are you sure, Emily? Your brother really connected to the Sea of Souls?" a blond noble asked.

"Of course. Would my brother lie to me?"

Across from the blond noble, a freckle-faced girl with the same blond hair replied smugly.

Emily's words drew a chorus of astonished cries from the nobles. All of them were studying How to Become a Wizard Apprentice, but very few had seen any real results.

For the vast majority, connecting to the Sea of Souls without the aid of incense and Magic Potion was as difficult as climbing to the heavens.

"Speaking of which, didn't Medici's people hire a wizard to teach them? How did they turn out? That cost ten Magic Stones."

"Ten Magic Stones?" Some nobles who had not heard the news were thoroughly shocked.

"The Medici family really is rich. Those Magic Stones would probably fetch a hundred thousand gold coins."

"The kingdom's annual tax revenue is only five hundred thousand gold coins. The Medici family truly is as rich as a nation."

"But I heard they didn't succeed. The wizard taught them, sure, but there's no incense or Magic Potion on the airship. Without anything to assist them, they're just like us."

"That's simply wonderful." Someone gloated.

The gap between a knight and a wizard apprentice was no less than that between bare hands and a weapon.

One fewer wizard apprentice meant one fewer predator. That was a very good thing.

Richard listened from the side, putting on an expression as though he understood nothing at all.

These arrogant nobles believed lowborn scum like them could never understand Wizard Language, so they spoke without the slightest restraint.

Richard got quite a satisfying listen out of it.

But just then, a scream came from the passenger cabin not far away.

"Tsk, tsk. Those Black Bear Gang people are at it again," one noble clicked his tongue.

"They must have played with every pretty lowborn woman on the ship by now," another noble chimed in.

"These lowborn bastards really are beasts. They can't even keep their crotches under control."

The freckled girl named Emily wore a face full of disgust, half-covering her nose and mouth as though she could smell the stench of the Black Bear Gang.

Yet for all their talk, not one of those nobles moved to deliver a bout of justice.

What did it have to do with them nobles if the lowborn fought like dogs biting dogs?

"Ah!"

The woman's scream came again, but why did it sound so familiar this time?

Realizing something was wrong, Richard quickly left the Observation Cabin.

That seemed to be Ellie's voice.

The Observation Cabin was not far from Room 225, so the moment Richard stepped outside, he saw a muscular man with a scar across his face slamming into the door of Room 225.

Several lackeys stood beside him, egging him on. Though they were not as burly as the scar-faced man, they were still considered strong among commoners.

"Woman, you'd better open the door right now! Otherwise, you'll have a hard time of it later!"

"That's right. If you let us in now, we can still be gentle with you. But once the boss breaks down the door, just wait until you can't close your legs!"

The lackeys shouted threats outside while Ellie desperately braced the door from within with a table.

The rooms on the airship had only a simple bolt. Without something bracing the door, a strong man could smash it open in two or three hits.

"Ellie, you big idiot. Why did you have to stick your head out?" Ellie gritted her teeth as she held the door shut, blaming herself all the while.

Not long after Richard left, Ellie had become restless too. They were all young—who wanted to stay cooped up in a room forever?

So she opened the door and poked her head outside, thinking that if no one was around, she could hurry to the Observation Cabin for a look.

But the instant she opened the door, she ran into the Black Bear Gang, who had come out to find someone to vent their lust on.

The Black Bear Gang had been fretting over not being able to find women to satisfy themselves with. The moment they saw such a beauty peeking out from a room, their little heads naturally took control of their big heads, and they rushed straight at Ellie.

That was how the scene from earlier came to be.

Crack.

With the sound of breaking wood, the bolt on Room 225's door was finally smashed apart.

"It's over."

Ellie's heart sank to the bottom along with that sound. Without the bolt, there was no way she could hold those men back.

But strangely, even after a long while, she did not hear anyone come in.

Instead, she heard several screams and a burst of pained groans.

Had a wizard stepped in?

Ellie emerged from behind the table and brought her eye to the crack in the door.

The Black Bear Gang members were all lying on the ground, while a thin figure stood with one foot planted on the Black Bear Gang Boss's face.

As he stomped, he cursed.

"Fucking queer, fucking queer! Smashing my room's door, bullying my roommate, and you fucking dared to set your sights on me too!"