I am starting to hate the mosquitoes in this forest. Well, the creatures are not leaving even my master alone. Not that the pests can even get close to the man. (They simply pop like pimples when they get close to him.) I have no benefit like that. The creatures are biting me everywhere.

  There is no way that I will be slapping myself this time. My master already thinks that I am a fool. There is no need to confirm it for him. (Which means I have to tolerate the buzzing bugs.)

  Well, I will be honest. I am not exactly sure why we are back in the forest. My master claims that it is so that he can fix the ship that had crashed down here. I don't know how he plans to do that. Large chunks of the ships have been destroyed in the crash. Fixing it would take months.

  Well, the man did try to explain what he planned to do. Let's just say that my master is not very good at explaining things. By the end of that failed attempt, he just told me to my face to just wait.

  That is why I have somehow ended up in the forest looking for where the ship has crashed. Well, I guess Trevor or the other two would have a better idea about where the place is. My master was insistent that it should be me. He has something to show me, the man claimed.

  Well, he at least managed to explain to me why I would suddenly require the ship. He wants me to make use of this ship to take the strikeforce to the bone pits. You cannot go very far in the bone pits without a good ship.

  I guess I should speak about the strikeforce. It is going to be a formidable little force. You see, the four factions of the black mountain tend to work with each other rarely. When they tend to do, though, they are a formidable little force.

  The guards and the legion especially tend to go all out against each other. I would not be surprised if the elite of both factions were to appear here. For the guard corps, that would be one of the aegis. The aegis are the elites of the guard corps. They tend to be trained to work in active combat zones.

  The places where the guard corps is supposed to call on the legion, technically. The ironic thing is that the name of the group was given by the legion. I think it was meant to be some kind of an insult from the upper echelon of the legion. Nobody expected the guard corps to accept it and make it the official name of the group.

  Well, if one of the aegis is coming from the guard corps, then the legion is going to send one of their sentinel troops. The sentinels can technically be called the elite of the legions.

  Well, the work of the sentinels is to keep our surroundings clean. Our job is to kill any creature that can infiltrate our lands. These usually tend to be creatures like vampires or werewolves.

  This time, even the scholars are going to be serious, it seems. The reason for this is my master. My master has certainly managed to piss off the scholars this time. My master's relationship with the scholars has always been pretty rocky.

  After all, the scholars are the ones to decide what should be researched in the hexmountain. They also decide what should not be researched. They decide what is too dangerous to let the general public know. What are usually ironclad laws for everybody are more like suggestions to my master.

  I don't know what my master did this time, but he certainly managed to piss off the scholars completely. They are also sending somebody pretty formidable. Well, I am telling this based on Trevor's reaction. The man shat his pants when he heard about who they were sending.

  Not that Trevor is willing to share anything beyond that. The man shuts up completely whenever I ask him about the scholars. Well, I normally don't ask him much about the scholars. I need to know what I am dealing with this time.

  After all, I am supposed to be the representative of the formation corps in this strikeforce. This is very ironic because I am officially not even a part of the formation corps.

  Well, I am still the youngest disciple of the master of the formation corps. In terms of status, I match every person who is coming here. You could even say that I am more important than they are by a bit.

  Now the only question that I have left is if I match them in terms of strength as well. Each of them is going to be stronger than me. I could maybe fight them if I had focused on my cultivation. Fighting them will not be easy even at my full head.

  As if that was not enough, my master had put me in the worst position. I would have to be at loggerheads with all other factions to keep them on track.

  The entire strike force might just end up failing if I do not manage to keep the people under control. Well, I guess that I should have expected it. My master is never one to give a shit about things like this. Still, there is something that I want to ask the man.

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  "Why exactly did you make the patriarch make me a representative?" I ask the man. "It is not like I did not need to get involved in that argument."

  "Well, I did not expect you to speak up in this meeting, kid." He replies. "I needed you there for different reasons."

  I just keep staring at the man. I stop moving as the man glances back at me.

  "Why are you stopping now?" the man asks, as the realization hits him. "Do you need to do this here and now?"

  "Well, I am not moving as long as you don't tell me why you needed me in the council.", I speak. This is the only way that my master tells me anything.

  "Seriously, I wonder why I entertain you sometimes.", he replies. "I needed you in that meeting room because they can't speak about certain things when you are there with them. Some treaties prevent them from doing that."

  "Well, what is it?" I ask.

  "There are limits to what I can speak about that particular matter.", he says. "You want to stay here, be my guest. I am sure the mosquitoes will make a fine meal out of you if you just keep standing there. I can look for the damn ship myself."

  "Fine, fine.", I reply as I begin moving.

  I wonder just how many of my records he has been reading. We are pretty close to our target. My master would have found it on his own. His waiting for me is more of a formality than anything else.

  "I am sure that you must be able to give me some hint about it.", I reply. "Maybe you can tell me how the necromancers ended up in the castle."

  My master just keeps walking for a minute. Finally, he speaks.

  "I was testing a prototype for a teleportation formation.", he replies. "Now don't ask me anything beyond this. I am not supposed to be talking about this stuff."

  "Fine.", I reply as I keep moving.

  Well, that certainly explains why the scholars got so hostile.

  Teleportation formations don't exist anymore. The main task of the scholars is to figure out these formations.

  It is supposed to be the most important type of formation created by the elves. It lets them hold the continent. They were supposed to be able to travel from the northern wastelands to the bone pits in moments.

  "There it is.", my master speaks, as he looks into the distance. "I will be near the ship in a bit. Catch up to me."

  Saying that my master simply disappears.

  (After about a couple of minutes.)

  Well, I have finally reached the destroyed ship. My master must still be somewhere inside the thing. Looking at the ship, I almost want to find the archer and strangle the damn bastard to his death. The ship is in front of me, feeling like it has lain in the ground for the last few centuries.

  The only thing breaking the illusion is the trees that have all been shattered to their stumps during the crash. Much of the front part of the ship has been broken apart like pieces of twigs.

  If I were to look at it with my mana sense, the destruction would be even more profound. The entire ship is on the verge of collapse. If the ship had an actual mana battery in it, the damn thing would have exploded by now.

  Well, I have delayed going enough for long enough now. I enter the ship. As I go in, I find that the damage to the ship is even more than I had remembered from leaving the place.

  I don't know how my master's plans to fix all of this. Creating formations from scratch is much easier than trying to repair formations. Especially ones that have been damaged like this.

  Well, I finally reached my master. The man is in the formation room, sifting through the formations in the place.

  "You have done a pretty good job in preserving the formations in this room.", my master speaks. "Not many people tend to keep their cool in such panicked situations."

  "Well, we all were in the very room when it fell.", I reply. "Damaging it would have meant that we were putting our lives at risk."

  "Well, whatever your reason is, you have done a good job.", he replies. "You managed to protect the most important formation in the ship, after all."

  "Well, I guess we should get started with fixing the damn ship.", I speak.

  "Cool your head, kid." My master speaks. "You sulk like I have stolen all your toys."

  "You kind of did that by destroying all my formations.", I reply to my master.

  "Well, you really should let that go now, kid. You must have already begun working on a new kit by now.", he replies. "Anyway, I am surprised that you haven't asked me to explain what the formation does. You hound me like a madman if I don't explain anything."

  As he continues, the man points at the incomplete formation. The one that would have let me learn about the stage beyond.

  "Well, have you ever answered when I have asked you something?" is my reply. "You either get all cryptic with me or you just delay it to some other time."

  "Well, I can't refute that now, can I?" my master replies. "It is about time that I show this to you."

  As he speaks, I can feel the mana emanate from him like waves.

  Suddenly, it feels like I am back in the truelands. Except in this case, it is not ice mana but my master's mana.

  It flows around me like I am a rock placed in the middle of a river. All I feel from it is warmth. Like my master has covered me in a warm blanket.

  Looking at my master flex his mana control, I almost forgot to look at what he is doing. What he is doing is just as wonderful.

  I can feel the man work the formation. I can barely understand half the runes he is activating. Even the order of activation doesn't make any sense to me at all.

  I can see the effect of the formation activating, though.

  I just need to flex my mana sense to see that the ship is fixing itself. The most obvious change to me is the crack on the wall.

  They are filling up like somebody had reversed time on them. In front of my very eyes, I see that the ship is returning to its normal state.

  "This is the reason that I gifted this ship to you, kid.", my master suddenly speaks. "This is the ability of heartwood. As long as you can activate its ability, the ship will never be damaged. It will always remain in its present shape."

  "What about the formations, though?" I ask. I look around me at the ship that looks like it was built only yesterday.

  "Well, we will have to fix on our own, kid.", my master replies. "We have about a couple of weeks to get it completed."