The hexmountain is the largest mountain on the continent. Somehow, those words don't seem to do it justice. Even standing here, it is hard for me to accept that the thing in front of me is supposed to be a mountain. I have been living here since I was a baby, and there are still days when I can't believe that it is supposed to be a mountain.
Nothing I have ever seen is as visually impressive as the hexmountain. The closest I would say would be the bone pits, though even that place I have only seen in passing, really. Well, the mountains in the Truelands cannot be forgotten. That place was impressive in its own right.
From where I am standing, the place seems to be a wall of stone that is covering everything in front of me. How do I describe the hexmountain to somebody who has never seen it? You can imagine that half of the world has suddenly been replaced by stone. The slope of the mountain is angled, but the mountain itself is so large that it looks like a wall in front of me. Right now, my senses are enhanced by the sensory formations of the ship. The only thing that I can see is the rock of the mountain in front of me. It looks as if the mountain was created by some giant that bent the ground towards the sky.
Though, to be honest, I would struggle to imagine a large enough giant to be able to achieve this feat. Maybe we could consider the titans of old.
From my vantage point, any building that I see looks like a toy. That is pretty misleading, though. After all, if it is visible from up here, then it means that it is the office or home of somebody important. Most of these are palaces that would make the frozen peak look like a commoner's house.
Just considering my master's palace. It is large enough that I can fit ten temporary forts in it. I can see it below me, though from this high it looks like a small toy house. It feels like I could hold it in my hands.
It almost feels like somebody has turned heaven and earth by ninety degrees. For a few moments, I wonder if this is what a man crashing to the ground would look at before his final moments. Well, that is a visual that will haunt me for a while. Falling is not a good thing to imagine while piloting a flying ship.
If possible, I would like to go higher than this. I would say that I am about half of the mountain's height. Any higher than this point, and even this sturdy ship will break due to the storms that rage in the mountains. Even coming this high was already a risk. I have almost reached the storm line. Any higher and I would be thrust right into the storm up above.
The hexmountain is plagued with storms. Killer storms that would make the storms in the frozen wastelands look like a breeze. These storms are capable of killing anybody who crosses the storm line. A group of scholars and formation mages maintains the storm line to contain the worst parts of the storms.
Even mages will die once the line is crossed. Below it, where I am, the winds can be considered to be strong. Up there, though, the storm is strong enough to rip through most ships like a sheet of paper.
I have heard that only the truly powerful (like my master.) can survive beyond the storm line, and even they have to be careful when they reach the peak of the hexmountain. Nobody would be stupid enough to try such a pointless act, though, especially the generals. Each of them are important men, all of whom are not presently here. Each of them must be out dealing with one of our enemies or to intimidate the less willing of our allies. All in all, they are busy men.
It is a wonder that my master is not already here. The man doesn't like to be this high up. He has a paranoid fear of the storms.
"Get the ship down, you have already damaged the ship too much.", a voice behind me speaks. There he is. I am surprised that he has taken this long. He seems to have been completely lost in his research this time. Looks like this "tattoo magic" is not as simple as it looks.
"I will, I will. I am sure that even you don't get many opportunities to appreciate the beauty of the storms.", I reply. "You can do with a bit of relaxation in your life, old man. Anyway, the ship is more than capable of taking care of itself."
The storms of the hexmountain are a sight to behold to those who have mana sense. It looks like a painting in which one could get lost for a few days, ever-changing and always unique. I could look at it for hours.
Sadly, at this moment, my mana sense is nonexistent. Honestly, I don't even know why I am up here. Old habits, I guess. Still, I heed my master's command as I tip the ship downwards. As we go down, the buildings down there grow larger and larger. Most of them have areas flattened out for the landing of ships.
My target is my master's landing square, which is one of the least used places in the mountain. My master is a solitary man, and I am the only person other than him that is allowed into his complex.
The only reason that the man even has a landing strip is that it was already there when he was given this place. The strip never came in the way of my master's renovations. Before I came to the building, the landing strip had never been used.
Well, it ultimately ended up benefiting me since the man is pretty unlikely to ever use it. I can use my master's castle to park the gentle sword. Since my master is unlikely to ever get a ship of his own, I can do so for as long as I want.
My master's complex is one of the closest buildings to the storm line. The reason for that has something to do with my master's ability to keep chaotic flows of mana in check. He has tried to explain it to me before, but I have only understood fragments of his explanations.
Incidentally, one of my very first challenges was to make my way here on foot from the bottom of the hexmountain. You have to remember that this was when I had just come under my master. I had barely begun working on the first foundation slab.
The journey almost killed me and resulted in me breaking both my legs. He told me that it was to prove my strength. Some kind of a tradition of my master. He has many of those. Whoever his master was, he certainly seemed to have taken pleasure in hurting him.
Now, with my present cultivation, I can easily reach my master's complex. I can even approach the storm line for a while if I feel like it. Maybe even cross it. I can't tell since I have yet to attempt something that stupid.
As I am thinking all this, I am landing the airship on my master's airship. It is not a particularly hard task, though the winds here are a bit stronger than is the norm. I don't need to worry about other ships, at least.
(After about a couple of hours.)
Right now, I am sitting in my room trying to get some shut-eye. Without anything to do, sleep is very hard to come by. My room is a pretty simple place, more a place to store my half-finished works and sleep than for me to stay in.
Without anything to work on here, the only things that are present in the room are my bed and my cupboard for my clothes. (Which is also quite empty since I mainly use it to store my formations as well.) Other than that, the room is bare. Even I have forgotten how plain my room tends to be.
Most of the stuff in the room has already been destroyed, though I honestly can't feel too bad about it. Most of it was meant for the legion, who already must have superior replacements. That is, if my master is to be believed. Well, he is pretty honest about stuff like this, and he never compromises with his work. He has no problem with breaking his disciples' stuff, though.
I guess that I am being too harsh on the man. In a way, I can understand his logic in destroying my work. It will allow me to focus on the fusion spell. I had a bunch of half-finished formations, each of which I had wanted to add to my kot. Every formation mage has an arsenal of formations with them. It allows the formation mage to adapt to almost anything that the enemy throws at you.
These would have nagged at the back of my mind like a half-finished puzzle. There have been days when I have forgone sleep in the process of completing a formation. Even if I tried to rest, these formations would have been going on in my head in the background. It would not have left me alone in my dreams as well.
The fusion spell is complicated enough and the process risky enough that I need to put my full focus on it. No distractions can be allowed.
Well, with that out of the way, I guess that I should speak about what my present situation is. Well, I have technically failed my first mission with the guards. After all, what I have done would look like I have abandoned the scholars and my troops.
I can argue that there was little that I could have done. They would argue that dealing with powerful people is the main task of a person in the guard corps.
Normally, failing the first mission means that I am going to be removed from the guard corps. After all, for most guards, the first mission is something taken on a probationary role. They certainly don't lead a mission like I do.
The only saving grace is that a new guard like me is not usually given a mission like the one that I was given. That is meant for somebody with at least a bit of experience. Especially for somebody with my background. Also, these people had not given me any training for my role.
I guess that I should be worried about the fact that I might be removed but I don't feel too bad about it. I had joined the guards in the first place due to pressure from my master. While being removed would still feel pretty crappy, I had wanted to be a part of the formation corps. After all, that matches more with my abilities.
Now that I think about it, the only reason that I am still trying to keep this job is because I know my master very well. He will lord this failure of mine for a very long time. Also, he is the leader of the formation corps. I won't be able to join the formation corps without his permission.
Still, I sometimes wonder why my master put me here. There has to be some logic to this, right? Knowing the man, he will not be sharing it with me. I don't know why, but my master got it in his head that I would learn more from here. Knowing him, he would mention another of his traditions with some kind of stupid logic.