Part 1: The Declaration
The banquet had ended, but the echo of the alliance rang louder than any horn. As Elian lowered the Sky-Whistle, the sky above the Aerie—and every sky on every floor below—turned a shimmering, royal azure.
The System didn't just whisper this time; it roared.
[GLOBAL SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT]
[Major Faction Event Triggered!]
[The Guild Eclipse has formalized an Alliance with The Aerie.]
[New Territory Status: Shared Sovereignty.]
[The Glacial Spire and The Aerie are now allied domains.]
In the Starter Town on Floor 1, players dropped their weapons.
On the deck of the Dynasty's flagship in the middle of the ocean, Thorne smashed his telescope.
"They didn't just find a city," Thorne hissed, reading the burning text in the sky. "They weaponized a kingdom."
Back in the Aerie, Zephyr raised his goblet to the stunned Eclipse crew.
"Tonight, we drink," the King smiled. "Tomorrow, you learn to keep up."
Part 2: The Classroom of Clouds
The next morning, the Eclipse guild split into two distinct divisions.
Down in the manufacturing districts of the floating city, the Utility Team found their paradise.
Kael stood before a Sky-Kin Master Smith, holding a piece of Aer-Bone.
"It's light," Kael grunted, tapping it with his hammer. "But brittle."
"Only if you strike it with anger," the Sky-Kin smith corrected. "You must forge it with the grain of the wind. Teach me of your heavy metals, Dwarf, and I will teach you how to make armor that floats."
Kael grinned. "Deal."
In the Alchemy spires, Luna was vibrating with excitement. She was surrounded by Sky-Kin herbalists who were showing her how to distill storm clouds into liquid mana.
"You drink lightning?" Luna gasped, scribbling furiously in her notebook.
"In small doses," the herbalist laughed. "It sharpens the mind."
Caelum spent his days in the Great Library with the Sky-Kin mages. He wasn't teaching; he was learning. He studied the ancient mana-flow of the floating islands, learning how to expand his own mana capacity without burning out his core.
Even Sylvia was working. She wasn't filming; she was learning the basics of "Wind-Riding"—using her water magic to create aerodynamic shields for the riders.
"If I'm going to film the raid," Sylvia muttered, strapping a camera crystal to her forehead, "I need to not fall off."
Part 3: The Rodeo
High above on the training platforms, the Combat Team was having a much harder time.
"Legs tight! Mind clear!" Thal'dor, the Storm-Prince, shouted from the back of his massive black drake.
Elian, Valen, Jax, Roger, and Isara were strapped into saddles on juvenile Wind-Drakes.
"This isn't a horse!" Valen yelled, as his drake did a barrel roll, nearly throwing the Paladin into the void.
"It's 3D movement!" Roger laughed, loving every second of it. "Up is down! Left is loop-de-loop!"
Titan had the hardest job. Because of his immense weight and heavy armor, no normal drake could lift him. Thal'dor had assigned him a "War-Barge Drake"—a creature the size of a whale with a flat back.
"I am a turret!" Titan cheered, sitting cross-legged on the beast, banging his shield.
For five days, they did nothing but fly. They learned to dive, to hover, and to withstand the G-force of a supersonic climb.
Part 4: The Monster in the Storm (Flashback)
On the evening of the fifth day, the team gathered around a magical fire pit with Zephyr and Thal'dor.
"We fly well," Elian said, nursing a bruise on his arm. "But we need to know what we are flying against."
Zephyr nodded. He waved his hand, and the smoke from the fire formed a shape.
It wasn't a dragon. It was a humanoid towering fifteen feet tall. It had the torso of a man, but covered in thick, red scales. Massive, leathery wings sprouted from its back, and its hands were claws that crackled with constant electricity.
"Volcanis," Zephyr murmured. "The Storm King."
"He is a Hybrid," Zephyr explained. "Half-Giant, Half-Ancient Dragon. He does not cast spells; he is the spell. His blood is liquid lightning."
"You fought him?" Elian asked.
"Once," Zephyr said. "Decades ago. He challenged me for the Aerie."
The smoke shifted, showing a memory of the duel. Zephyr moved like a ghost, untouched. Volcanis swung wild, destructive haymakers of lightning that incinerated mountains, but he couldn't hit the wind.
"I defeated him because I am the Wind," Zephyr said simply. "Wind disperses lightning. I am his natural counter. That is why he stays in his peaks."
Zephyr looked at Elian's metal armor. He looked at Valen's shield.
"But you are groundlings. You are metal. You are flesh. You conduct electricity. If Volcanis touches you... you pop."
"So don't get hit," Jax summarized dryly.
"Exactly," Thal'dor growled. "Speed is your only armor. If you stop moving in the Thunder Peaks, you die."
Part 5: Synchronization
The next morning, the training shifted.
"Combat drills!" Thal'dor commanded.
For eleven grueling days, the Eclipse team sparred against the Sky-Kin elite.
They learned that swinging a sword on a dragon was useless unless you timed it with the wing-beat.
They learned that Roger was the deadliest unit in the sky—his sniper rifle, stabilized by wind magic, could pick off targets from three miles away.
They learned to drop Titan from high altitude like a kinetic bomb, let him smash a target, and then catch him before he hit the ground.
By the sixteenth day, they weren't just riders.
They were a squadron.
Elian pulled his drake into a steep dive, flanked by Thal'dor and thirty-two elite Sky-Kin warriors. They moved as a single entity, weaving through the stone pillars of the training grounds.
"We are ready," Thal'dor admitted, landing beside Elian. "Your movements are... acceptable."
Part 6: The Practice Target
The team gathered on the launch platform. They were geared up, rested, and mounted on their war-drakes. The Sky-Kin squad—32 elites led by the Prince—hovered in formation behind them.
"To the Thunder Peaks?" Valen asked, checking his sword.
Elian looked at the map Caelum had updated. Then he looked at a new notification blinking in his vision.
[Global Announcement]
[Guild The Dynasty has conquered the Iron-Root Archipelago (Floor 26).]
[Resource Grade: B]
Elian smirked. "Thorne is busy."
He turned to his team and the Prince.
"The Thunder Peaks can wait one more day," Elian announced.
Thal'dor frowned. "You wish to delay? My father said the Storm is rising."
"We need a live-fire exercise," Elian said cold. "Sparring is good. But I want to see how this formation works against enemies that scream."
He pointed to the coordinates of the Iron-Root Archipelago—a cluster of islands south of their position.
"The Dynasty just claimed a base. They think they are safe. They think they are catching up."
Elian mounted his silver drake.
"Let's go pay them a visit. We test our wings on Thorne's fleet before we face a King."
"A raid?" Thal'dor's eyes lit up, his warrior blood pumping. "You wish to hunt the other groundlings?"
"I wish to break them," Elian corrected.
He blew the Sky-Whistle.
"Eclipse! Sky-Kin! To the South!"
The squadron launched, a dark cloud of forty dragons diving toward the unsuspecting Dynasty base. They weren't just adventurers anymore. They were an air force.