[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 281 – The Eye of the Storm

Gray soon found himself swept up with the leadership of Sil’mara. Not only because he had helped to root out the bandits and kept Haman safe, but because Kai had been a vocal supporter.

“I only did what any decent person would do,” Gray said for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Nonsense, you kept my baby sister safe!” Kai said, putting one large, tanned arm around Leilani’s narrow shoulders. She looked happier than Gray had ever seen her on Relagia, but he could recognize the look of the tolerant younger sibling.

It was a look he knew personally. His heart ached for his missing family, especially his older brother. “She can defend herself quite well,” Gray told him, eyeing his protective arm.

The Hawaiian chuckled deeply and jostled his sister around before letting her go. “You cannot blame a big brother for wanting to make sure his little sister is safe and sound, can you?”

“Just so long as you do not forget that I am a grown woman,” Leilani told him. “I fought monsters on my own. I can keep doing that now, even with you here.”

“But my villa is much nicer! Kale will make the adjustments needed. Please don’t make me beg!” Just to add emphasis, the big Hawaiian put his palms together pleadingly.

Leilani rolled her eyes, but clearly softened at the gesture. “Very well. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.” She tucked her short-cut hair behind one ear. “You live near where the other lords do, yeah?”

Gray knew where this was going and took that as his cue to leave.

It was odd how many people talked about this Sam character and his cat, Komachi, as if they were some sort of living legend. Most people who lived in Sil’mara had never met the pair, and yet their legend persisted.

Even those who never met the two told stories about them. They were distorted and inflamed by typical human embellishment. If Gray ever met Sam and Komachi, he expected they would glow like the sun and be able to lift an entire Skyshard up with one arm.

Jealous, much?

Gray shook the thought away. He truly didn’t mind, but it was odd how much he heard about them. Almost as if everything was some strange, interconnected web.

Even Raiko talked highly of Sam and Komachi. No one ever had anything less than glowing praise to say of the lost knight and cat.

Leilani and Lisa, two women Relagia had saved alongside that bastard Darren, had originally been part of Sam’s initial group. Now it seemed as if everybody had come together only to find their friend missing.

Leilani asked about Sam nearly every day, much to her brother’s disappointment and pain. It was clear that the man wanted his little sister to show at least half as much enthusiasm about him as the man she clearly had a crush on.

On the other hand, it was obvious all the Sil’marans that knew Sam missed him dearly. The Queen, Raiko, perhaps most of all.

Gray understood the signs immediately after piecing it together. She threw herself into every task so completely that she likely didn’t have time to worry about Sam.

Not that he could blame her. Each day, Sil’mara grew a little more. Pieces of broken or destroyed Skyshards seemed to stick to the edges of Sil’mara like iron filings to a magnet.

As the days went by, Gray did his best to pitch in. Kai was always quick to put his plans forward, which elevated Gray in not only his own people’s eyes, but those of Sil’mara as well.

It was hard not to see the potential in this place. They had more resources than Gray could count. More importantly, they could procure rare and exotic materials that Gray needed for his Profession’s [Prototype] skill.

[Prototype]

(Inventor Skill) (F-Class)

(★ Common)

Inventions aren’t made out of thin air. Hard work and countless prototypes must first be made to work out the bugs. The more difficult the invention, the more prototypes will be necessary. Each prototype requires specific materials related to the eventual invention created. Each prototype increases the odds of a successful invention recipe and improves the rarity of the invention recipe. Grants a minuscule bonus to the effect of Dexterity, Awareness, and Control when using [Prototype].

Once word spread that Gray had the Inventor Profession, he was offered plenty of projects and supplies. Even the Queen granted him a quest. It seemed entirely by accident, but it made sense to him that a royal was capable of something so magical.

There was also the meaning behind it. Though Gray hadn’t been present, their king disappeared after falling from the Skyshard.

No one wished for such an event to so easily happen again.

The kingdom needed magic enhanced gliders, grapnels, and the like. Things that would make traversing across floating isles much more accessible. With multiple Professions cooperating, it was more than achievable.

“The next step,” Queen Raiko had decreed with an excited grin. “Will be airships.”

Multiple people requested to learn from him. They wanted to become Inventors, though Gray wasn’t sure how he could teach his Profession to anybody.

He had tried before on Relagia, and it never worked.

Still, there was no reason to give up. With all the resources and materials the Sil’marans threw his way, Gray would give it his all as he usually did.

Haman patted him on the leg encouragingly. “You can do it, fren.”

Nearby, multiple women squealed girlishly about how cute Haman was. Glancing over, he was hardly surprised to find several men part of that group. Few people could endure Haman’s adorableness.

While it might not seem like much, Haman’s encouragement did a lot to dispel the doubts that plagued Gray as of late. There was something so wholesome and sincere about everything that Haman did. It almost made the devastation of Relagia seem like a minor thing.

It didn’t help that Sila refused to leave his side, as if he was still in command. All he could see when he looked at her hopeful face was all the people who trusted him to keep them safe. People who had died because when push came to shove, he lacked the strength necessary to save them.

“Dude, when are you going to kiss her?” Matt asked him out of the blue one day. “I swear, you’re as bad as Sam and Raiko.”

At least he didn’t bring that up in front of Sila, who was off enjoying some relaxation in the bathhouse.

“I get why you get put in a hole,” Gray told him without looking up from the drafting table Kai built for him. “Don’t you have some slime training to be doing? I distinctly recall you asking me if I can create ‘like a slime corral or something, I dunno’ and I believe I did.”

Matt put up his hands and backed away. “Damn, you really are just like them. In fact, I wanted to come by and say ‘thank you’ so…thank you. Plus, Kai had a message for you.”

Gray was used to this by now. Matt was like a lot of players he used to know. They liked to drag things out. Partially for the drama of it, and partially because they were children playing at being adults.

Not that Gray begrudged Matt at all. Gray’s “career” had been built on playing games, so it wasn’t like he could talk.

“Which is?” Gray finally asked.

“Oh, right! My bad.”

Gray turned, curious what had caught Matt’s attention so fully.

The man was staring at all the sketches and drawings pinned to the walls and interior columns. Gray used nearly every surface of his villa as a sort of extended planning board. He found it easier to work with than tablets or notebooks, though it did have the downside of making him look a little unhinged.

Case in point, Matt was now staring at a series of sketches stuck to a Roman column that led to a small garden at the center of his villa. Kale had called it a peristyle. That man was obsessed with Roman architecture.

Gray had initially been more than a little worried about the Roman inspiration. Once he realized it was only Roman architecture and not the whole “let’s make a slave out of everybody we conquer” he was significantly less concerned.

The Sil’marans treated him and his people with kindness and hospitality, but he had learned how quickly people could turn. Darren was an excellent example. Weak and whiny, you never would have thought he would have been capable of such vile destruction.

Matt fished in his jacket and pulled out a slip of parchment. “Here you go. If Kai or yourself ask for me to deliver a message again, I will do horrible things to your bedrooms, got it? I’m Lord Matt. Not Lord Messenger Matt.”

Gray chuckled and unfolded the note. “Duly noted, Lord Matt.”

Matt frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t like the way you said that.”

“Shocking.”

“Nor that.”

“Oh, really?”

“This is rank insubordination!”

“I’m just a lowly peasant,” Gray said, a smile appearing on his face.

Matt huffed and stormed out.

Gray unfolded the note and read it, growing more interested with each line. Kai was able to find some wood with the exact properties Gray needed for his latest invention. In truth, it was more like a reinvention. With Kai’s Carpenter Profession, Gray could create things bigger and better than what Relagia had.

He was appalled at how poor Sil’mara’s sightlines were. They were strong enough to deal with any threats that came at them, but they were hardly aware of most threats until they were on top of them.

Gray wanted to change that, even with how fast the Skyshard’s land grew in all directions.

He spent the next several days finding the perfect location for his first prototype.

“We’re being drawn in,” Gray said, looking out from the top of the lookout tower. Based loosely on the model from Relagia, but bigger and better in every way, this was his fourth prototype. Good enough to use, but not perfect.

Not yet.

Still, it afforded them a view unlike any other except perhaps on the floating Aker Academy above them, but that was too exposed. A proper lookout tower needed to be defensible.

“Like water swirling down a drain,” Matt agreed. He looked around at the solid structure of timber and stone. “This lookout tower was a solid idea, Gray.”

“If only Relagia had the crafters you have in such numbers…” Gray said with a dour shake of his head. “Anyway, this is just a small version of something grander I hope we can construct. Up on the Aker Academy would be best, but I understand that it’s not entirely safe yet.”

“Still, being able to see in all directions is pretty good,” Kale said, looking around proudly. The tower had been a joint effort between himself, Kale, and Kai. With a solid stone base and stout supports, the tower hardly swayed despite the rising winds.

Even with a heavy dullahan standing up there with them, the tower only creaked slightly. The metallic creature was adorned with battlefield vestments and modified gear earned through its defense of the allied Skyshards. The hilts of multiple types of weaponry poked past its shoulders, conspicuously visible due to its lack of a head.

Like all dullahans, it was unwaveringly loyal to the Sage Queen and the Sil’maran Lords and Lady. They would accept orders only from the leadership.

However, this one was on friendly terms with Gray. He enjoyed many nights playing various games of strategy with the paradoxically headless yet thoughtful giant.

Interestingly, it too had a pillar of light spiraling skyward. When the dullahan slept, its pillar disappeared as if its consciousness went somewhere else during sleep.

Gray never could figure that out.

Most pillars diminished while an individual rested. Except Raiko’s. Hers towered over the Skyshards, alongside the Sacred Tree and the Sourcestone.

Somehow, for reasons Gray didn’t understand, the settlement cores had auras of potential too.

He turned back to the image of the Maelstrom. What was left of it, in any case. The black wall of death, with its scything winds and green lightning, was gone.

The eye of the Maelstrom was easily visible, though it made little sense to Gray. A tower of gleaming white stone pierced the middle of the Skyshard. It gleamed like hammered moonlight and extended infinitely above and below.

There were lakes, hills, and rolling forests on the Skyshard along with ruined villages the size of small cities. However, that wasn’t what caught Gray’s eye.

Standing with arms crossed as if waiting for somebody, a massive blue ogre stood vigil in front of the entrance to the tower.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the Maelstrom had changed and that it was now drawing every Skyshard in the First Layer to both the tower and the ogre.

“The tower of ascension,” Lenal announced, peering skyward. “The path to the next Layer.”

Gray craned his head back but could not see the top of the tower. “That’ll get us out of here?”

“Provided we can get past the guardian.” Lenal gestured to the ogre. “He looks familiar, wouldn’t you say?”

“He’s going to wish he stayed dead,” Matt muttered darkly.

Kai put his large hand on Matt’s shoulder. “We’ll get our chance to avenge Sam soon enough.”

Gray looked at each of the people there. “That’s not what I think it is, is it?”

Matt nodded. “The same ogre from the starting island? Yup. It’s been one hell of a roundabout reunion.”

“It looks like we’re being pulled in for a final confrontation, obvious as it seems. If this was a game, I’d say this would be the boss before a bonfire or checkpoint of some sort. We should get all the people who fought the ogre the first time to go over what they know. We need to be ready.”

Matt frowned and Gray immediately realized his mistake.

The person who knew the most about fighting the ogre was the only one missing.

“There is one other person,” Lenal said. She flinched slightly when all eyes turned to her. “Xero fought the ogre before Sam.”