It does not take me long to reach the formation room. On entering the room, the only person here is Trevor.
"You really should be more careful, kid," Trevor begins. "You have forgotten about the scholars. The bastards tend to notice stuff like that."
Fuck, I had really forgotten about them.
"Well, I am sure that it won't be too much of a problem. After all, they should be able to take care of themselves," I reply, hoping that I don't sound too defensive. I really don't want to listen to another of the man's lectures. "Even the weakest of them is a fifth-stage foundation mage. I don't know why we are needed to protect them."
"Maybe, but I would suggest that you think of them like phoenix eggs. Scholars are the type that do not like to be disturbed from their wor,." Trevor speaks. "If they are disturbed too much, then they will start to complain to the head office, and right now you don't need something like that."
"Fine, I will be a bit more careful the next time," I reply. "Where are the others?"
"Yeah, I have sent them to guard the scholars. If the enemy had boarded that is where they would have gone first. They are the enemies target. It was not wise to leave the place unguarded," he replies, with a sagely tone. "They will give some peace of mind to the scholars as well. Since you are here, I assume that the boarders are also dealt with. What about the two ships behind us?"
"One second," I reply.
Even as I say this, I connect to the sensory formation or what remains of it. As I do so, the world suddenly becomes smaller in my vision like I have become a giant. The surrounding twenty kilometres or so appear in my vision. (And my other senses.) This time the world is occupied by grey voids.
Focusing on the voids, I feel like puking my guts out. I guess that I should have expected this. This is an active sensory formation. Not getting into the technical details, this formation links directly to my soul allowing me enhance my senses. Such a formation gives you the best results of such formations, but they tend to be a pain to use. Only those with strong enough souls should use something like this. Now, with so much of it damaged, the thing is downright dangerous. (Like stepping on a piece of broken glass.) Even now, I can feel a familiar headache return.
I ignore the voids to the best of my ability as I look out. (I still feel queasy.) The first thing I note is the fiery debris out there. Looks like the excess fire mana that was keeping them in the air has finally started to run out. Even now, I can see pieces of the debris beginning to fall. I am presently quite far away from the few pieces that are still afloat, so we are pretty safe.
The only negative of this is that it allows the enemy ships to come closer to us now. Speaking of enemy ships.
"Well, those fuckers might still be following us," I speak. At the moment I can't help but feel annoyed. I really don't like uncertainity. "They are still out of range of my sensory formation. I will inform you about them the moment that they show up."
I focus on the sensory formation again, looking at the very edges of the formation. (This area has the most voids, by the way. I can feel my stomach heaving as I push my food down.) Until they appear on the formation there is little that I can do. Well, that leaves me with a certain amount of time to kill.
That means that I need to tackle the issue of my introduction. I know it is supposed to be the very first thing that you are supposed to do as a guard. I also know I am a month late already on this particular task. Well, I can't really help if I couldn't use my thought logger.
I am sure that the Head Office is not going to be forgetting this delay in a hurry. They are already looking for methods to kick me out. If they find enough small reasons like this, they will kick me out.
Okay, let's return to the issue of the introduction. Now there are four questions that I need to answer in my introduction. "Who am I?", "Who are the people in my group?", "What is our mission?", "Where are we going?"
Let's start shall we then. Even before my issues with the thought logger, I had dreaded introducing myself. The issue with introducing myself is due to the sensitive nature of my identity. Let's just say that this area will instantly become a thousand times more dangerous for me if my identity is revealed. I normally would not have been sent to this place, if it weren't for my master's insistence.
My name is Antonio Sevenstars, of the Black Mountain. I am a formation mage. I am also a captain of the Guard Corps. Beyond that, I don't think that I dare to describe myself. Just this bit of information might end up revealing things I don't want known. I guess I could introduce who my master is. Let's not do that. After all, he has a reputation throughout the continent. If they know about him, they might as well know about his most scandalous disciple.
It is easier for me to answer who is in my group. I have already introduced my troop. We have me, Trevor, Andrew and Jacob. As for why I have such a small troop. That is something I will have to leave for the future. It involves gossip that won't be suitable for a formal introduction.
Other than my troop, we also have the scholars. There are presently four scholars on this ship. The four of them are "Leonah", "Zave", "Cofia" and "Ivis". I don't know any more about them. (Trevor has a better idea than me about them, you can refer to his introduction about them.)
Trevor is interrupting me right now. He says that I also need to introduce the Scholars and the Guard Corps. I don't really see the need to. Which person doesn't know about either of them. Oh..... OK. Trevor wants me to record that rumours and information are not the same thing. That just because everybody has heard of us doesn't mean that everybody knows of us. (Well he has started another lecture which I am tuning out.)
The Scholars are a bit easier to explain. I think that the word researchers would be the most descriptive for them. I have to admit that even that is a lacking word. I think that you can call them, archeologists, spies, military strategists and a thousand other words and it would work for them.
The Black Mountain has the greatest repository of information in the continent. The Scholars are a large reason for that. We have everything from historical records of how the elves and the dragon fell, to what dirty deed the mayor of a small town did. (Something that he can be blackmailed with.)
You can naturally guess that such curiosity also results in the Scholars gaining a lot of enemies. That is where the Guard Corps also come in. We make sure that the Scholars are allowed to do their work safely and peacefully. (Among other duties.)
Well, now let me speak about the mission. I have to escort the group of Scholars to an old draconian ruin known as Documented Ruin Number 32. I am supposed to guard them while they do their research.
Now, a documented ruin is one of the safest ruins out there. That is because the Scholars have an idea about everything in the place. (That is literally why it is called a documented ruin.) Every danger, they have mapped and every threat they have documented. Normally, the Scholars don't tend to ask for a guard troop for such places, but this ruin is presently in a very risky position. While the ruin itself is not dangerous, getting to it will be.
That is why we are assigned to guard them. Well, guard them would be the wrong word. After all, the weakest scholar is in the fifth foundation stage. They also have one of the finest mana control in the continent, allowing them to cast spells well beyond their cultivation. We are here to make sure that they are not disturbed.
As for where we are going. We will be going to a fort that is close to our target. A place that they call the Frozen Peak. This is the northernmost fort that is under the control of the Snowwind Empire. From there, the Scholars will go to the ruin, while I will be doing whatever is needed of me. (Let's just say that I have treaties to fulfill.)
Trevor is telling me that I need to speak about the seven temples incident. Now how the fuck am I supposed to do that. Ok let me think about it. Even as I do so my vision travels to the horizon, which feels oddly empty to me.
This place is one of the rare locations from which the Hexmountain is not visible on the horizon. Elsewhere on the continent, the Hexmountain would stand as a part of the horizon. To not see it is indeed a strange sensation. Okay, okay I am getting to the point. (Trevor is scolding me to stop getting distracted.)
To speak about Seven Temples, I will have to briefly discuss the Snowwind Empire and our relation with them. To speak of them, it is important to speak about the land they come from.
The Frozen Wastelands is one of the most prolific mana deserts in the continent. (Only the bone pits come close to it.) This land that borders it is one of the most inhospitable places in the continent. The Snowwind Empire is the only power that has managed to carve out their territory in this place. This was not easy even for them.
They still have to face extensive threats both to their north and to their south. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that every inch of land here has been acquired by shedding enough blood to flood that piece of land.
Due to the harsh nature of this land, the Snowwinders worship their ancestors. (They are considered as heroes that tamed and civilised these wild lands.) The graves of their ancestors are considered to be pilgrimage spots. That is why the seven temples incident managed to completely wreck our relations with the empire.
The Temple of the Seven Stars or the Seven Temples is a tomb complex. It contains tombs of people from the seven oldest noble families that occupy this land. This includes the present royal family of the empire. It is not an exaggeration to say that the place is the most important pilgrimage site for the empire.
Much like the ruin we are going to now the seven temples was a place that our Scholars could access and study. (This actually came to be due to extensive negotiation done by the guard corps.) They were actively encouraged to do this, which is not really common with anything involving the scholars. After all, the words of their ancestor are very important to these people. To understand it better is a worthy goal to them.
As for what exactly happened. Even I don't know the exact details. What I do know is that one of our Scholars got impatient and ended up blowing up the entire seven temples. The seven temples have many formations that are supposed to be ancient. Ancient enough that they can be traced back to the time of dragons. (That is why I even know this happened. I tend to keep an eye on anything related to formations.)
These formations are legendarily unstable. So if the problem was that a scholar blew up a ruin, it wouldn't have grown so big. I certainly would not have been sent here. Somebody much more powerful than me would be here. (I wouldn't be surprised if that somebody was from the Aegis.) The focus would be on rebuilding the alliance.
I am here because that is not possible. The Head Office has concluded that there is no use to waste any resources here. (Let's just say that my death wouldn't affect the head office much.) The people here are unlikely to try and rebuild this alliance. The reason that things have gotten so bad is that the scholar in question was under the influence of a certain potion. Do not waste your time asking me what the potion is.
The scholars are supposed to be masters of crafting different kinds of potions. These enhance the performance of their minds. That is their secret, though, one that they rarely share with others. (Even as their allies, we get our hands on their potions rarely.) All I know is that the potion made the scholar look drunk.
You can imagine what a drunk scholar destroying their temple would have looked like to the people here. It is a wonder that they have even allowed the Scholars back. I am sure that a lot happened behind the scenes that I don't know to get them here.
Still, that leaves me in a dangerous situation. I can tell you that my identity as a formation mage affords me some degree of protection. After all, the Snowwind Empire has a lot of use for a formation mage, especially one as skilled as me. (That is the official reason that I am being sent here, by the way.)
Well, It won't be of too much help, I assure you. I will be held back at the frozen peak so that they can kill me the instant that anything happens at the ruin. After all, executions are the best way to keep an angry mob happy and that is what will form if anything happened to Documented Ruin 32.
Well, overthinking about this particular fact is not going to lead to anything productive. With this I have completed my introduction. Now that this work is over, I will be shutting down the log for now. I can't do anything until the two ships appear in my senses. (The both of them are still beyond the range of my sensory formations.)