perizou
patreon
Chapter 487 - Moving Day
🕑 Added 2022-07-18 13:01:05 +0000 UTCMonday finally arrived, and it was time for them to return to Boothudurn. Adriel had confirmed that he could carry everything but that they would need to assist him while protecting the cargo. Hera wasn't sure what that meant until the day of the move came. The reason for that was simple. In order to carry all the boxes, Adriel would use a set of three drones that would follow him by using an app on his tablet. The drones were modified by him, and they had a few enchantments to help the machines' carrying capacity and resilience. Unfortunately, doing all that also took a toll on their speed, meaning they were far from being able to run from a monster. That fact was doubled when they were close to the weight or size limit since those details would increase the tax on the enchantments that would help keep everything in place.
Everyone met in Helena's lab, which was now just a place filled with empty shelves, desks, and the giant mana crystal. The mage was walking around, touching the tables and different spots of the lab, with a sad expression on her face.
"Are you ok?" Hera got closer to the mage.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. It's just… I used this place for a very long time. Leaving it for good feels a bit sad," Helena smiled, the light from the windows shining against her ebony skin, revealing a small trail of tears that had yet to completely dry.
"Do you want to forget all this? Can we tell whoever is managing this place that you're going to stay?" Blue suggested.
"No, no. It's a good idea for me to leave here. The reason why I got this lab was that I needed that giant mana stone, and I wanted to make something to change the fire mana in this place to water. This was all to make the elemental mote spell that someone beat me to," Helena gave Bonnie a side eye glance but chuckled when the researcher started apologizing, "You don't have to say sorry. I knew that this was a possibility when I talked to you guys about it, and this is how spell research works. People might just have better ideas or get there faster than you would. Anyhow, this is just the end of a chapter in my life. I'm just taking it in."
Everyone understood what she was saying and gave her a moment to say her goodbyes. During that time, Adriel arrived, and Bonnie just asked him to start setting up for what he needed. There was just one problem. In total, the lab with all the books, notes, and equipment ended up turning into 54 boxes. Each of them was at least 60 cm wide, 100 cm tall, and 80 cm deep, weighing from 14kg to 150kg. The heaviest boxes, oddly enough, were the ones that contained equipment instead of books. In total, everything weighed just a bit over a ton. The problem wasn't the total weight but that for the drones to carry everything, they had to spend the entire charge of the enchantment, and doing so inside wouldn't allow them to pass through the door. One of the spells in the machines would create a container underneath it to allow for the items to be placed inside and then to carry it along, but that had to be tweaked before every use. And every time a change in the angles of the projection had to be made, the drone would lose the ability to use that enchantment again until the next day. So, for starters, they would have to carry or push all the boxes to the hallway.
While Helena was still walking around, everyone started carrying the boxes outside. Adriel stayed in the corridor to set everything up on the platforms and spread it among his three drones.
"And you're the one who made them?" Hera asked. Once upon a time, she looked at drones to carry her loot, but they ended up being too expensive for her. She even asked Daskka if she could get one in her court, but drones were complicated machines, and the legacy wouldn't be able to recognize them all as a single entity. Even if they had daggers or blades attached to them, she could only take those pieces and not the entire drone.
"Sort of. I bought the drones, but then I made some modifications to fit what I wanted to do. You know some big companies are dealing with this kind of delivery service for large things. But if people want to move from one room to another, it's surprisingly complicated to find someone who will do this kind of thing. That's why most people just sell everything and buy new things when they move. So, I wanted my piece of the pie. I figured this could be a feasible way to make some money and so I invested in the drones, then enchanted them, and now business is booming," Adriel had yet to start the skills. He was doing one last round of checkups since when the drones were active, they would stay that way for a long time.
"I see... and are you a crafter? I don't remember if you told us," Hera asked. She was curious about how someone was able to upgrade drones like that. The elf made it sound so easy.
"Not quite. I'm an explorer, and I have the crafter role. I got to say, the blueprint skill that I got from the role was essential to make this all work," Adriel nodded.
"Really? I was thinking about getting that role next. I've been doing some engravings on my weapons, and I wanted to push that forward. Not to mention that maybe the system considers making spell circles as part of the role or something," Hera replied as she put another of the heaviest boxes on the ground. Along with Blue, she was one of the two strongest members of the group, and that's why they were in charge of those.
Since this place was made with laboratories in mind, the hallways were very wide, and they even had a cargo elevator for exactly this type of thing. Eventually, Helena finished saying her goodbyes to the lab, and they managed to gather all the boxes for the drones to lift them up. A green-ish energy came from the machines, almost like a tractor beam from a sci-fi movie. It was just barely enough to lift everything from the ground and create the transparent green platform under all the baggage. The drone motors started to move faster, making some noise as the tractor beam stopped and let the boxes rest on the newly created ground. Next, Adriel tapped a few buttons on his tablet, and another beam of light came out of the drones. Instead of creating another beam or another platform, this energy spread and became a net covering all the boxes and latched itself on the green layer underneath them. This was a way to ensure the baggage wouldn't shift and would keep steady even when moving.
"Ok, I'm all set. Just a small heads up. Ideally, we will be keeping a steady pace, but if things go wrong and we get attacked by a monster or something, I can push the engines on max for a little while. But that might mean that we need to stop to recharge earlier than expected, and that might take a few hours," Adriel explained as they moved to the cargo elevators.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't think so. If we had horses or something like that, we could kind of make a wagon situation. Then the horse focuses on the movement while the drones just keep everything afloat."
"Really? How much strength would the horse need to do that?" Hera asked.
"Well, it depends on the horse. As a rule of thumb, it's like between 1 and 2 times their body weight. Since the drones would act like they were wheels but with a bit less drag."
"So if I have a mount that can carry, let's say, 300 kg, would it be able to drag this along?"
"It depends on what you mean by carrying. If it's like carrying 300 kg on their back, then yeah, absolutely. Usually, mounts, in general, can carry about 20% of their weight on their backs. While, like I said, they can pull things even heavier than they are with the proper setup. Can you summon it now so we can check?" Adriel pressed the button on the elevator.
"I think it's better if we do this outside the city. It's a bit big, and I don't want people freaking out. Not to mention that once I summon it, I can't re-summon it right away. I have to keep the cooldown in mind," Hera already came up with this kind of excuse to make Nimbus a bit more believable as an item. If it was something that you could summon and send her away willy-nilly, it would be a bit suspicious. She even bought a whistle that was somewhat similar to the one she had before to pretend it was just an item evolution that she got as a hidden reward in the MAZE.
"Ah, that's fair. We'll wait till we are out of town," Adriel nodded.
Hera glanced back and got a few positive nods from the rest of the group. They had discussed at length what she could do to hide her legacy, and this was one of their best ideas about it. When they reached outside, they moved through the city without much of an issue. Hera even saw Gorth moving towards the dungeon and waved him goodbye. She had thanked him with a beer and a few potions since the ones he gave her ended up saving her life.
As soon as the group arrived outside the city, Hera blew on the decoy whistle and told Nimbus to come out in his griffon shape. Little by little, the whistle produced some gray smoke, and the griffon began to take shape. His feathers were mostly white with small notes of green around the edges, and the claws were pitch black against gray feet. Oddly enough, Nimbus still wore his sash even in this form. He was also considerably bigger than before. Previously, the mount was about the size of a donkey, but now it towered over everyone else like a moose.
"That is a beautiful mount! What is their name?" Adriel gasped when he saw the construct.
"Nimbus, he is amazing!" Hera felt proud seeing the Sentinel like this.
"He truly is. Where did you get it?"
"It was a big mess of a combo. In Boothudurn, there are two dungeons. The first one is called Woolly Plains, and that's where I got the first version of him. It was a much more basic mount, but then as a first-time reward for the dungeon hard mode, I managed to give him an upgrade. Then I went to another dungeon called Sky Rulers Nest and got yet another upgrade. Then, by accident, I ended up completing a hidden quest in a room called Waperath Jungle, and one of the possible rewards was an upgrade to an animal-based item, and I chose him," Hera replied with her rehearsed answer.
"Wow, that's a lot. But it makes sense, especially if he can carry 300kg. Constructs that can do that are hard to find. Usually, people would tame monsters for this kind of job. Can I put the harness on him?" Adriel had his tablet open again, waiting for the confirmation.
"Just a moment," Hera turned to Nimbus and whispered, "Are you ok with that? If you are not, we can stop this."
'I am, Empress. I wish to help you, and staying in this form is more comfortable than you might think,' Nimbus replied in her mind to avoid showing he could talk.
"Ok. If it hurts, let me know, and we'll stop, ok?" Nimbus just nodded in response.
"You are surprisingly careful with him," Adriel had an amused expression.
"I know. He started off as a cloud griffon, and even small gusts of wind could make it lose its shape. I guess I'm just being overzealous. But he's all ready to go," Hera nodded.
"Right, just step back so the straps won't mix you up," Adriel tapped his tablet, and from the front drone, a series of green lines appeared and wrapped around Nimbus. After a few moments, they tightened, and the elf gave a satisfied nod, "All set. Is he ok?"
Hera looked towards Nimbus, 'I am. This is not an issue, and I think you can even ride me if you so wish.'
"Later," Hera whispered before turning to Adriel, "We are ready."
"Ok then. Tell him to start pulling."
Nimbus started moving slowly at first, but it didn't take long for him to pick up the pace a bit. When they were just walking around the city, everyone had to walk slowly for the drones to keep up. If they were going at that speed the entire trip, it should take them about 4 hours to reach the doorway. But with Nimbus, they could cut that time to just 2 hours.
Blue kept staring at the griffon with a confused expression as they started walking. Hera noticed that and turned to her friend, "Is everything ok?"
"Yeah... I'm just thinking. Since he's so life-like now… does he have a dick?" Blue asked.
"Blue!" Hera gasped while Alex just started laughing.
"If a construct has a dick, I don't even want to know what he uses it for," Adriel laughed along.
"Don't ask those things," Hera huffed, feeling that she was stepping into something very personal. Unfortunately, her curiosity got the better of her, but she asked him in his mind, refusing to say those words out loud, 'Hey, Nimbus… You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but….'
'I do not have genitals, Empress. Nor a digestive tract so you won't have to worry about feces.'
Hera's reaction might have been a bit too bashful for the explorer, and Blue started teasing her about it. Bonnie and Alex also joined in the fun while Helena just walked as if she was taking a stroll. Adriel looked around, realizing that this trip wasn't going to just be good money, but it would also be very fun.
