Well, it has been a day since the incident of the first log occurred. I had wanted to land immediately and start working on the formations. I could not take that risk though (even if I wanted to Trevor would not accept it.). The pirates of this region are very persistent. I would not be surprised if the two ships we have outpaced are still behind us steadily following, just beyond the range of my senses. We have had to face a couple of ambushes like that.

  Now comes the crappy part. Right now I am in the formation room. I will now have to inspect the entire room and every formation here. Then I will have to note down every damage and start working on it. (at least make sure that things are not worse than before.) Well, I can feel the damage in the formations surrounding me and our situation is not pretty.

  Well, I don't need to look to find the main problem here. The main problem right now is that the propulsion formation in front of me is on the verge of breaking apart. This time I do not know how to solve this problem on my own. There are fixes but the formation will fail, if not today then tomorrow.

  The problem with the formation is at a very fundamental level. To explain that I would first need to explain how exactly a formation core works. A formation at its core is a spell inscribed into a core. All the runes that you would need to make for casting a spell are inscribed into the core. All you need to do is to charge the core with mana to activate the spell. That is the simplest explanation of a formation core.

  Right now the problem that I am facing is that the core of the propulsion formation itself is collapsing. The material used for the core of this particular formation is a piece of sky bamboo. It is as far as I can tell, inscribed with some form of a wind spell. The thing with sky bamboo is that it is pretty good at boosting the power of wind spells but the material has such low durability. A propulsion formation has to run for days and months on hand. That must mean that it must have mana running through it all the time. The faster the ship, the more the mana that needs to be supplied.

  The simplest way to put it is that the sky bamboo is burning. The mana passing through the formation is causing the entire thing to burn up. After the fight yesterday I can see the runes burnt into the material.

  I have heard that such a thing could happen but It is such a rarity that I have yet to see it occur in real life like this. It is quite a risky endeavor too, to deal with a failing formation core. With the amount of mana passing through this material, you never know what can happen when it breaks. It will most likely create a hurricane in the middle of the room. It could also create a void in which none of us can take a breath. Worse things can happen but I just don't know what it is. The crappy environment formations of this ship will not be able to handle such an overload of mana.

  The problem with the propulsion formation is that I cannot predict when it will fail. If it were to do that in the middle of the flight we would plummet straight to the ground in the best case. As for the worst case, I don't even want to think about it. Let's just leave it at it is not going to be pretty.

  Well, the only real option that I have left is to change the core of the formation. Changing the core would essentially be creating a new formation. If I get a material that can act as the core of the new propulsion formation. I will still have to inscribe the formation. I will be able to do it but it is going to take a lot of time.

  Other than that, the only thing I can do is to rearrange the runes that are supporting the core of this formation. This will reduce the strain on the core, which I hope is enough for me to keep this thing flying for a bit longer. If I were to do it though, our speed would only be roughly sixty percent of what it is now. On top of that it is only a stopgap measure not dealing with the actual issue at hand. The formation will still fail.

  Well, I am sure that you are wondering how exactly I ended up with such a crappy ship. Well, there is not much behind the story. The ship that we are traveling on right now is a gift given to the black mountain by the snowwind empire.

  The ship was given to us more as a political statement than anything else. The snowwinders are such fierce warriors that nobody is willing to provide them with formation designs. These include combat airships and the method of building them. I don't know what they wanted to achieve by giving us the ship. Maybe it was meant to request more ships or it is a method of diplomatic threatening that I do not understand. (What, this all is pretty new to me.)

  The ship that I am driving is supposed to be the most advanced airship that they can build. (Supposedly.) The head office thought that using the very ship that they have provided would make us seem friendlier to the snowwinders. They hoped that it would make them less likely to attack us. I agreed to this thing like an idiot.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I don't know about Friendlier, but they would certainly see us as idiots for making us of this piece of crap. We have been barely making any progress with this damn ship. It would be quite embarrassing if we were to crash before reaching the frozen peak. There is a real risk of that happening right now, with the way this ship is.

  Regardless, I should go and inform Trevor about this development. The only reason that I am not in his room already is that the man is going to be in one of his moods.

  Regardless of what mood he is in. We have more immediate worries, which would be the ship. The man certainly does not seem to be aware of just how easily this ship might end up being destroyed. If that were to happen, we have about a couple of months of trekking before we might reach a city. That is if we were to survive the crash in the first place.

  He also does not seem ready to accept that the pirates attacking us like a bunch of wild bulls might have some link with the Snowwind empire. He doesn't say it to my face but it is clear that he considers them conspiracies.

  (After about five minutes.)

  I am standing outside Trevor's quarters right now, which is also his office. Entering into the room is an experience. To paint a scene, Trevor's room has a bed to the side, something that never seems to be used. His table though is the exact opposite, full of papers and documents. I am surprised it has not broken yet. He is always sitting in that chair, doing whatever he does. I do not know what it is and I do not dare ask. All I know about them man is he is supposed to be very important.

  The man has a higher security clearance than me after all. Granted, my clearance is lower than other people at my strength because I lack some knowledge that would be common among my peers. Still, the man opposite me doesn't have an iota of vital mana in him. Yet the man is somehow more important than me. Not that I care, I just want to know why.

  Even right now, he is so focused on this work that he has not noticed my entry at all. Focus like that is not easy to achieve.

  “Trevor, I have come to speak to you.“, I speak, looking at the man in front of me.

  “Well, captain. It is a surprise to see you here.“, he replies, still signing away.

  “What can I do, it is not like you would heed my summons anyway. Regardless, we have important matters to discuss on.“, I speak, taking one of the seats. “We need to figure out what needs to be done regarding the ship.“

  “Well, what can you do?“ Asks Trevor. “It is not like we can stop in some city somewhere to get the ship fixed anyway.“

  “That is true, but that doesn't change the fact that using the ship has become dangerous. It could fall any second.“, I reply.

  “Well, you are the expert. I am sure you have something to counter it already.“, he replies.

  "I have told you of my worries with the propulsion formations before as well. Most of them are coming true at the moment. I believe the formation core would burn out in a couple of days at the minimum and a week at the maximum." I speak, trying to emphasize to the man the gravity of our situation. “I can tweak the formation to make it more stable, but it will cost us speed.“

  "Well, how much time would we take to reach the frozen peak and how much time will the formation last then?" He asks.

  "I think that we can take a fortnight to reach now and this way the formation will last a month or even two, though it is still going to be risky.", I say.

  "Then it is a risk that we will have to take. Don't forget, Even If an attack does happen, you should be enough to deal with them. Right now we are pretty close to the frozen peak. There will be no pirates here. It would damage the snowwinders reputation too much, especially if you think that they are behind it." The old man speaks after a minute of pondering. “I will keep the two soldiers on patrol. That way nobody will be able to sneak up on the ship. I am sure that they have rested enough.“

  “Still, I am not comfortable. I have never heard of pirates in this region. This is supposed to be a very desolate area. What would they even be getting here that would be worth pirating.“, I speak. "I am telling you that the snowwinders are somehow involved in this matter."

  “Well, it is not as desolate as you assume it to be, captain. The frozen peak has at the very least ten thousand mages. Such a large group of cultivators consumes a lot of resources. On top of that, these people are right next to a mana desert. They will need a lot of mana rich fuel to keep running the frozen peak. I have to assume that the formations at the frozen peak must eat through their mana stone reserves.“, replies Trevor. “anyway, the Snowwinders have a very strong supply line in this area is my point. I am not surprised if a few thieves are active here.“

  “If that is the case, the snowwinders would have been the first to get rid of them.“, I speak. "They like to send messages as you said. If they had a strong supply line as you claim, they would have already destroyed all these ships to prove a point. You can't say that does not look suspicious."

  “Well, now is a sensitive time for them. Anyways I don't think these attacks have been accidental at all. The Snowwinders are behind them. I don't even need proof for it. The thing is that it does not matter. This is nothing compared to what the people here normally do. It is downright polite.“, Trevor pondered. “I have warned you enough times that it does not matter. We have made it this far and we will reach the frozen peak as well.“

  Saying that Trevor returns to his work. I quietly slip from the room, wondering sometimes why such a man of presence is working as my underling. He would make a killing in the legion or even as a bandit.