Chapter 5.5 - The Shipwrights

Hassan stood still. In front of him, as well as the 10 best sailors from his homeland, were two ships on dry docks. The first was small, sleek in design, preferably meant to be manned by no more than two personnel.

The other, the largest vessel Hassan had seen in this world, sat with sails furled, awaiting its maiden voyage.

"You made a Sloop and a Cutter. Never thought I would see these ships again."

Hassan looked around, "But you are missing a very important piece for vessels this big, and that is the open sea. Where did you find a place to pilot it? Have you found an inland sea nearby? Or maybe a large enough river to take us to the open ocean?"

Hassan looked at Serin and Shurik. Serin smiled and said "Shurik, remove one of the locking anchors."

Shurik nodded and disconnected a device on the ship and Hassan watched as this large cargo vessel lifted into the air. And began to rock back and forth, as well as glide side to side, still bound by the countless anchors that held it.

Hassan was awestruck. "A ship through the air?! No wonder you called us. You boys don't even know the trouble you have gotten yourselves in."

Serin chucked, "Oh we know we are in trouble. We have had several smaller prototype dinghies built but at best we can keep from falling over. They do not act as normal seafaring vessels. At least not what we have gotten from the stories you told."

Hassan then shook his head. "You are missing a key element lad. And that is the sea. We are experts in our craft but even I would have trouble piloting something like the Sloop without major modifications."

Serin was confused. Hassan continued, "you see, the sea carries us, and keeps us. Without that water, your ship will glide to and fro without guidance. We could help you make some adjustments to the sloop so that it will work with one of us as a pilot, but the Cutter you have built, it will need something to act as the sea, even if it traverses the air."

Hassan walked over to a display table that had one of the small floating discs hovering over it. He gently pressed the disc's side and it continued to slide without resistance until it fell off the table. "I understand that the spell has removed vertical resistance from the object, but you now need something to reintroduce horizontal resistance."

Serin then thought for a minute. He remembered a spell he had learned at Ephraim's that he had never used, 'Slowing Fog'. It is meant to be billowed out from the castor to reduce the speed of anything trying to move through it. In a spark of inspiration, Serin cast it over the table. Hassan then took the disc and gently pressed it. It continued across the table but came to a stop shortly after being pushed.

Hassan and Serin smiled. Shurik, watching, let out a grin as well. Hassan looked, "This will work for the larger ships. For the smaller ships, you can use their low horizontal resistance in their favor by making fast attack vessels that the Skygge were famous for back in my day." Hassan pointed to one of the other older sailors, wearing an old military coat who then spoke, "I was one of the best windrunner pilots before the armistice. I could easily help make and pilot this craft, but I should warn you, they will travel very fast. So fast that we did not even wear life vests because hitting the water at that speed was death."

Serin thought about life vests. He would have to create some trinket that activates the slowfall spell if someone falls overboard. Serin then smiled as a military application came to mind.

With that Hassan and his team worked with Shurik and the Gole to finish the designs of the world's first airships.

***

"Are you sure you want us to walk in front of the window? It is the full day sun."

One of the Dhamphir volunteers stood hesitantly in a different area of Shurik's lab. Serin had decided to see Shurik's progress on assisting with the habitability issues of the Dhamphir. Shurik smiled, "Just place your hand in front of it then. I do not want you to worry."

The Dhamphir volunteer nodded and anxiously moved his hand in front of the window. His eyes were closed as he expected the immediate pain and blistering the dhamphir encountered under the light of the full sun, but surprisingly, there was none. No pain, no blistering. The Dhamphir, confused, walked fully in front of the window, and other than the light being too bright for the dhamphir, there was no pain.

Shurik smiled, "It was as we thought. Through experimentation we determined that it was not the light we can see, but the light we cannot that allowed for our plants to grow. It is also the same light that causes the Dhamphir such pain. After much trial and experimentation we were sure we had found the answer, but we needed volunteers to test the theory."

The Dhamphir, relieved that the experiment did not result in him feeling anymore pain, smiled and said "I just wish there was something for my eyes. Even if it is not damaging, it is still too bright for me to stand in direct sun, even with this special glass."

Shurik smiled, and pulled out a pair of dark spectacles. Serin had seen similar glasses in the hands of high ranked artificers who needed to increase their vision without expending mana, except these looked darkened as if they were made partially of volcanic glass.

"Besides being forged with the same protective properties of our blocker glass, this glass has been artificially darkened to block the majority of light on the visible spectrum. It should make the outside light tolerable. After discussing with Master Tyber what the world is like through your eyes, I have determined that this should allow you to see perfectly, however they will make most of the rest of us unable to see much."

Shurik handed the spectacles over to the dhamphir volunteer. When he placed them on, he looked around. And even looking into the noon day outside, a tear fell down his cheek. "When I look through these lenses, it is as if I look upon the land of twilight we came from. I still cannot look into the sun, but I can look around and see the world as I once saw it. Thank you Master Shurik."

Serin was impressed. For a dhamphir to address another by the title of 'master' it meant recognition of expertise in their field. But it made sense. Shurik had solved one of the Dhamphir's bigger issues with habitability. He did so when his own people suffered.

The Gole could not find a way to solve their issue without Serin's permanent magic helping them endure the elements. Even with that spell, the Gole avoided going outside on chilly days, hot days, rainy days, and dry days. The weather had to be perfect for them to brave the outside. The only exception was the guardian class Gole. The few that plated this were able to learn to encase their entire body in a golem of rock and while inside they were unaffected by the outside elements. Serin did not know if the same would be true for the other 2 classes. Until such a time that the Gole could create a way to put the elements in perfect stasis, they would have to make do spending most of their time indoors.

Shurik looked at the Dhamphir, "If you have any recommendations on the best way to design the spectacles we can work on that before you leave. Then I can push the designs to the crafters, who would then begin production of these materials. With this specialized glass it means that the Dhamphir domiciles no longer have to be underground, and with the smoked lenses it brings your people one step closer to being home."

***