I wake up in the morning, and unlike yesterday, my foxkin companion is still sleeping.
She is snuggled up to me with her head and arm on my chest, and her leg draped over my waist. Not wanting to wake her, I rest my arm on her waist and just enjoy the feeling of her in my arms.
After around 10 minutes, she wakes up, kisses me on the cheek, and runs to the bathroom so we can take a morning shower together.
We have breakfast, and then begin our pre-sailing checks. Her job is to check the weapons and ammo; seeing as the only consumable weapons we have are the torpedoes, it doesn't take long.
Yesterday, after her tutorial from the guys who installed the torpedoes, I explained about her console and linking her mana, and she learned the procedure quite quickly.
I walk around the ship to check that everything is good, and then I ask for a slot to leave the port using the communication crystal.
Only one other ship is ahead of us, so I strap myself into the captain's chair and prepare for our journey.
In the navigation crystal on my console, I had already set a course for the island city of Aurevela, so I don't imagine us getting lost along the way.
I reverse slowly out of our bay in the dock, and I can see from the seat that Kaelin is trying to contain herself. After all this time enduring this place, she finally gets to leave.
We get the all clear from the port authority, and I bring the ship about, facing the direction we need to be going.
I engage the aether propulsion system and the aether navigation system, and take us out into the open sky.
For a moment, I had almost forgotten that Kaelin had been on airships before, so this sight is nothing new to her. I can tell she is both nervous and happy that she was able to leave.
"Say goodbye to Nimbastra Kaelin."
"Good riddance!"
Her scornful tone tells me everything I need to know. "Well, now that our course is set and we are moving, we can leave the ship to do its own thing most of the way. All we really need to do now is be on the lookout for pirates and collisions."
"Do you need me to stay at the gunner's console for the entire time?"
"No, someone needs to be here at all times to keep an eye on things, but you don't need to worry. Unfortunately, while we are travelling, we are going to need to take turns on watch. Someone needs to be here to push the emergency button."
I intend to take the first night watch tonight, I can happily stay awake a little later so she can sleep, and then go to bed myself after she wakes up. This process will be far easier once we have more crew members, but for now, it is just the two of us switching off.
After checking the navigation charts against our mana navigator, I am fairly sure the trip will take around 2 and half days. We should arrive around lunchtime, which will give us almost 7 days before the combat tournament begins.
Considering how active the pirates have been in the region, it might be a good idea to use the port as a home base for pirate hunting. The bounties on pirate ships are no joke. On the way to Nimbastra, I took out a single pirate ship and earned myself 6000 GP.
On top of the GP to be gained from bounty hunting, I am in a unique position to level up doing it too, so hunting pirate ships is a win-win for us.
"How was your tutorial yesterday? Do you feel confident you can use the gunner's console and the mana torpedoes?"
"Yeah, in theory I understand how it works, I just need to be sure I can remain calm and handle it when necessary."
"Funny you should say that. This morning, I spent a skill point to unlock an ability in [Sky Captain] that should do just that."
In each of the classes on my system, there are a number of skills that can be purchased for skill points. I have been saving the majority of them as I anticipate hitting level 10 fairly quickly, and want to move into some better classes than just [Fighter] or [Resident]. Maybe I can unlock a magic class in the future; that would be cool.
While digging around in the menu for [Sky Captain], there was a selection of skills for buffing crew members. Eventually, I will unlock them all, but one of them really stood out to me.
[Skyborne Command - A sky captain doesn't just command the actions of their crew, they also instill discipline and inspire. Decrease levels of panic and increase levels of focus in crew members. Doesn't work if the crew member is in hysterics. - 10 MP - Can be upgraded to improve potential effects - only applicable inside ships]
I figure that the most important thing we need during a fight is a clear head. For one skill point, this is the perfect ability to allow us to stay calm under pressure.
I explain my skill to Kaelin, but also tell her that we should not rely on it, as she will need to get used to ship combat fairly soon. I would like her to be able to handle a situation alone in emergency situations, like if we are ambushed while she is on duty, but the crew is sleeping.
As she doesn't need to stay at her console the entire time, she decides to double-check the cargo and make coffee for us. She goes below deck for around half an hour and then returns with a steaming mug. She hands it to me with a kiss on the cheek and then returns to her console.
No more than 3 hours into our first day of air travel, I notice around 25 small dots on the mana radar. It seems a fleet of ships is nearby, but when I look out of the window in that direction, I see nothing.
Suddenly, the communication crystal at the navigators console starts flashing, and I can hear a squeaky voice coming from it.