I have to be honest. I am not in a good situation right now. The ship is running out of mana again, and I can't find a place to land the ship. The land just goes on like this, an infinite plane in all directions.

  Right now, the mana reserves are in a pretty good situation. We are going to have to land once the mana reserves of the ship are consumed, though. Then the strikeforce would be forced to fight once again. They had managed to protect us for almost six hours the last time we landed.

  They won't be able to maintain their defenses for that long now. Almost everybody has gotten injuries in the process of protecting the ship the last time. Injuries that they have not managed to recover from yet. That will certainly affect the combat capability of the forces.

  That means that they will hold on for less time before I am forced to take off. They will also get more injured in the process. Since my formations will have less time to recover mana, it will run out quicker. I will have to land the ship quicker this time due to that.

  This will lead to a vicious cycle that I don't know how I am supposed to escape from. After all, the undead are just increasing in quantity and strength the deeper we go into the bone pits.

  I am worried about this, but I am not too anxious about it. I have at least a couple of weeks to figure out a solution. I am sure that we will end up somewhere before it even becomes a problem. The main problem right now is that I don't know where exactly I am supposed to be going. I can't keep wandering pointlessly like this.

  We followed the necromancers into the bone pits. The bone pits are a massive place. I could spend months here and I don't think that I will be able to find the necromancers. Even my master would not be able to detect their mana in this place. There is just too much death mana in the air for us to track them like this.

  The necromancers can essentially allow themselves to disappear in this sea of undead. They would also be at risk, though. The undead here don't differentiate much between the living, it seems. If anything, their death mana would make the undead attack them even more.

  Right now, that means that we will need to figure out their position quickly enough. Thankfully, that is not my problem to solve. The scholars will be able to figure this out pretty quickly. This part of the bone pits would come under the territory of either the legion or the guards. That depends on whether the bone fort that is next to us belongs to an ally or an enemy.

  Well, I guess that I should explain what a bone fort is. It is basically a more powerful version of what the temporary fort was supposed to be. A bone fort is the only way that a person can survive in this place. (Especially during the death wave.)

  The problem is that bone forts are created and destroyed with quite a bit of frequency. This is to the point that nobody knows which area is under the control of which force most of the time. This place makes the Soldar Plains look tame.

  Right now, there are five factions here on this ship. Of them, only the guards and the legion have an idea of where we can go. The two factions are never going to agree to tell me anything about the place.

  That is why I have called on all five factions on this ship for a meeting. I am hoping the presence of the other factions might force them to open up. At least give me coordinates to go to.

  Since I am piloting the ship, I have had to call for them to my control room. I wonder how they will take something like this. I am more than sure that somebody will be insulted. That is a risk that I will have to take, though. The damn idiots can play politics when the ship is safe near a bone fort.

  Even right now, the people are gathering in this room. Right now, there are two factions present in this room. The first is the scholars, who are presently being represented by searcher Amelia.

  Similarly, the Mayfires are being represented by Alfred Mayfire. That is a good thing since things would have gotten very confusing for us if Amelia Mayfire had been in the room. There is also the fact that the lady is a pain to deal with. I naturally don't even need to mention that.

  At the moment, I am sure that both Anthony and John are giving each other the stink eye in some part of the ship. (As long as things don't go to swords.) After all, they are not fools. They know why they are being called here. While they are fighting with each other, I have to stare awkwardly at the two people who have come here on time.

  "So how are you finding this trip?" I begin. I feel like slapping myself the instant that I say this. I tend to just blurt stuff out when I am nervous.

  "Well, it has been a pretty interesting trip, captain.", Alfred speaks. "I have always heard much about the bone pits. I never thought I would get to experience it like this."

  "Well, I am sure you would have been sent here someday." I reply. "The mayfires are too close to the bone pits. What about you, searcher? You seem like you have something to tell."

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "Well, I have quite a few thoughts on this ship, young master." She replies. "Why exactly are the Formation Corps fielding a prototype ship here? This is a dangerous territory. What would you do if any formation were to fail in the middle of a battle?"

  "Well, the chances of any formations in this ship failing are minuscule, searcher." I reply. "Every single formation has been crafted by my master. Still, I am keeping an eye on these formations to catch any failures. You need not worry. Things are under control."

  "Well, I would not worry if you were to allow us to check these formations.", she says, finally coming to the point. "An outside perspective would always be helpful."

  "What you say is true.", I reply. At the moment, I am lying through my teeth. "The thing is that all the formations on this ship are in use. While I am sure that you will be careful, that is a risk that I cannot take. Captain John and Captain Anthony are coming in right now. We will speak about this later."

  Well, they are not interested in checking if the formations are failing, by the way. That is just their excuse to get their hands on our formation designs. There is a reason the formation corps does not like to deal with the scholars. We have to face the brunt of their curiosity.

  A couple of moments after, the door to our room finally opens up as John and Anthony enter the room. Both of them are busy intimidating each other in any manner possible. I am sure that they would have gotten into a fight already if we were not here.

  The two of them take positions to my left and my right, exactly opposite to each other.

  Well, I guess that I should be happy that they have yet to draw swords on each other. That would have made my work a bit easier, though. (My ship would have to take the brunt of that fight.) The two factions fighting each other means that it is more likely they will spill secrets.

  "Well, you certainly took your time.", I speak. The two men finally look at me.

  "Why have you called on us?" Anthony speaks. There is an irritation in his voice that makes me wary. "I would think that you would be busier keeping this ship afloat."

  "Well, as you can see, I am already doing that." I begin. "Right now, the question that I have is where exactly am I supposed to be going?"

  "I don't see how we would be able to help with that." John speaks. "We haven't even seen these necromancers that you are chasing. There is certainly no way that we can track them."

  "Well, I will ask my question directly then." I speak. "Where is the nearest bone fort to us? What are the coordinates to the place?"

  "Why are you asking about that?" Anthony asks. The man reaches towards his sword even as he asks me this.

  Looks like the place is under the authority of the guards. I have to assume that this means the place belongs to an ally. That means he knows where the bone fort is.

  "Well, what about my question?" I ask the man. I turn in his direction now. "Where is the nearest bone fort? Even you know that is the only place that the necromancers could have gone to. Even they can't survive in this place otherwise."

  "Why should we tell that to you?" Anthony snaps at me. The man still looks dangerously close to drawing his sword. "The bone fort in this area belongs to an ally of ours. We have managed to keep it hidden for so long from the legion. There is no way that I will betray that location to you or the legion."

  As he says this, he gives a very pointed look towards John. As he does so, I realise what the fucking issue is. The guard corps is of the very strong belief that the legion targets our allies. They believe that the legion attacks the bases of our allies whenever they can get away with it. The guard corps has never really been able to prove it, though.

  "If we don't know where we are going, we won't be able to survive here for long.", I reply. I must admit that I have remained pretty cool in all of this. "Even you know that the bone fort is the only way that we will progress with this mission."

  "Why are you so sure the necromancer is at the bone fort. It is more than likely they have a base in the bone pits. Most necromancers have one here." The man speaks up. "If that is the case, then the bone fort's location will be revealed needlessly."

  "Well, how do you propose to find them then. If you can't provide that, then the bone fort is the only hint we have." I reply to this.

  At this, the man finally shuts up. He begins to ponder for a bit before replying.

  "Fine, I agree that this is a valid demand.", the man replies. "I have requirements of my own, though."

  "Tell them.", I reply. "I will fulfill any that are in my power to fulfill."

  "I don't have a requirement of you, young master", he replies, as he looks at John. "My requirements are for the legion."

  "Why are you involving me in this?" John growls at the man. "You know that we don't operate in your territory."

  "Who are you convincing with those stupid lies, I wonder?" Anthony growls back as he grasps his sword.

  "Who are you calling a liar?" John growls back as he also grabs his sword.

  "Enough.", I find myself screaming. "Now is not the time for this. This is a matter of survival, Anthony. State your demands."

  "Well, what we are asking of the legion is nothing too out of the way, young master.", Anthony replies. There is a cool edge to his voice now. "We just want the legion to be blindfolded and confined to their room. They must have no idea where our allies are. You must swear not to give them the coordinates of this place."

  "You are not imprisoning us just because you are a paranoid person. How do we know that you won't demand us be blindfolded at the bone fort?" John speaks while getting up.

  "John, what he is asking does seem to be reasonable.", I reply, getting up myself. "Please accept it for now. Unless you know of someplace where we can camp without a thousand undead attacking us?"

  "Fine, we will remain in our rooms.", he replies, pointedly not answering what I had asked. "We are not blindfolding ourselves, though. If you force that on us, we will fight."

  "How can we be sure that they will remain in their rooms?" The man asks me.

  Seriously, I feel like smacking the man now. John is on the verge of drawing that sword. Before he can, though.

  "What about this? I will leave formations outside of their room. As long as that door is open, the formation will ring out an alarm." I reply.

  "That works for me." he replies. "We will provide you with the coordinates once this has been done."

  The man just gets up and leaves after he says this. That leaves me in an awkward silence as I look at the three people still surrounding me.