alwaysrollsaone

World Sphere. - 211 - Fleeting Moments

Added 2025-03-17 02:57:32 +0000 UTC

Chapter 211:

My negotiating skills still needed a little work. I suspected that the salesman who had joined us might be able to negotiate the best deal for himself, but I couldn’t detect that I was being influenced in any way. The dwarf master negotiator was Thorsten Lightmane, and he took great pleasure in the game. The old dwarven shipwright just built the ships; he didn’t do sales. I got lost in the discussion more than once but only had one real goal in mind: to leave with one of the ships.

After two hours of back and forth, I agreed to artifice an entire medium skyship for free to showcase my level of competency. After that, I would work on a second medium skyship, which I could purchase for one hundred thousand gold. My “bonus” was that any future skyships I bought would be at a 20% discount with no escalators for twenty years. Thus, the price of one hundred thousand for a medium ship and one hundred sixty thousand for a large ship would remain fixed for me for a time, and I would pay 80% of their price.

I was also going to be able to take the second skyship immediately rather than having to wait four to five weeks for it to be built. I think they would be shocked when I artificed both ships in less than a day. I was to return in the morning, and they would have the schema, gold, and platinum ready for me to start working. The contracts took more time to draw up and be signed before I was finally free to return to the Maelstrom.

I was mentally exhausted when I fell onto my bunk in my cabin. I thought Aelyn would have returned by now, but it was just Adrial twitching her tail and Kiara eyeing me silently. “Fine, will feed you two before I pass put!” I caved.

As the cats ate, I forced myself to do my daily artificing so I would not fall too far behind. I would send Remy into the city with a few simple weapons to judge the market. Without dungeons nearby, I assumed gold and platinum were more scarce. No one disturbed me under Bleiz broke my privacy wards in the morning.

“It’s time for the High Mage to gain another devoted fan,” he teased.

“Where are Remy and Rippon?” I said as I dressed. Adrial looked like she was coming with me today whether I wanted her to or not. She had taken a seat in front of the door. Kiara was on the bed watching me intently but had not spoken through the mind link in hours.

Bleiz cracked his neck. “Remy went with Aelyn for some comparative shopping. I don’t think Rippon came back from the shipyard yesterday.”

“Huh,” I grunted. Remy excelled with numbers and had an impressive memory. He could probably tell if Aelyn knew about any bargains in the bulk markets. I wish I had thought of using him. I had two short blades and ten daggers for him to sell in the city. Each had only one runic enchantment, but the steel was of superb quality. Before I left the Maelstrom, I told Neoma to entrust the weapons to Remy, and she could join him in the city as he peddled them.

Kiara and Adrial looked anxious as I approached the ramp. “You two can come. Just don’t eat anyone. The city is mostly safe.” The two phantom cats immediately rushed to flank me on my heels.

The echoes of hammers rang through the chasm as I descended to the shipyard. Thorsten was waiting for me with a large chest and four dwarven guards in heavy plate armor for support. My assumption about the value of gold and platinum was correct. “Master Artificer,” he nodded, but he was on guard due to the massive phantom cats behind me. I assumed Bleiz was either looking for Rippon or standing invisibly behind the cats. A little nervously, he gestured toward the chest. “This chest contains the usual allocation of gold, silver, and platinum for a medium transport.”

He opened the lid for me to inspect, and I was a bit shocked. The metal content was definitely silver-heavy. Platinum was a much better aether conductor for skyships. Using this much silver would mean the ship would need to be serviced after a few hundred hours of flight. If you could afford mithril, that would be even better, as it would never decay. Gold was the common insulator, so you wouldn’t have aether bleed. I touched the three piles of bricks in the chest and nodded. “There is enough.”

Thorsten arched an eyebrow. “Very well then. Two of my men will watch you as you work. The schematics are on the Resource Reaper over there.” Most sailors wouldn’t name a ship until her first flight, but apparently, the dwarves didn’t believe in superstition. “She’s set to be delivered in a week. I hope you can finish by then,” he said, doubtfully. I held back a grin as I looked at the bulky ship. Typically, a team of artificers would take a week to complete the ship.

The two dwarven guards carried the chest aboard for me and stood nearby while I studied the runic schema they were using. It was extremely basic and relied on terrible principles for artificing. I assumed this was because their artificers had trouble with the finer feedback runes. The schema also used a lot more metal in the runes than needed. I looked at the chest again and assumed it was just enough to complete the runic scripts.

I moved to the anti-grave ballasts first, taking the silver and gold in my hand, and it flowed into the woodwork. The wood was not sourced from a dungeon, so it would also rot over time due to aether exposure. The only way around that would be to use mithril as the conductor—or adamantine as the insulator.

The two dwarven guards stared as I finished off the entire port ballast in just minutes. I even upgraded the runes for a faster response time from the bridge controls that I would later install. I moved swiftly throughout the ship, as the contents of the chest quickly dwindled. When I reached the bridge and began connecting all the feeds to the control panel, Rippon found me.

He nodded at me while I worked with the last bars of metal. “They are good ships, Storme. They could be even better with higher-quality dungeon lumber, but according to the shipwrights, it’s hard to find trade partners. Stone just isn’t profitable.” He gestured at the large canyon we stood in.

I had studied the ship extensively as I artificed the runes. “That is the impression I am getting as well, Rippon. Give me a few more moments, and we will be able to go see the old shipwright so he can inspect my work. They didn’t give me any aether power crystals, so we cannot take her for her maiden flight.” I returned to finishing the ship twenty minutes late. Certain she would fly, I had the guards summon the old shipwright who ran the yards and Thorsten.

The old dwarven shipwright did not seem intimidated by the monstrous cats. He walked throughout the ship, carefully inspecting the runes before entering the aether crystal room. Thorsten had joined us there to hear the verdict on my work. The shipwright spoke plainly, “He finished the entire ship.” Thorsten’s jaw dropped. “He did change a few of the runes.” The old dwarf halted Thorsten before he could object. “They are much higher quality, and I think these improvements may resolve the aether crystal drain during deceleration.”

The old shipwright produced a cracked tier six aether crystal and nestled it into the center of the distributor runes. He used a metal shaping stylus to secure the aether crystal in place. “If she flies, I consider the task complete.”

We all crowded on the bridge as the shipwright worked the controls. The Resource Reaper rose from its cradle smoothly but slowly. Its mass was just too great, and the aether crystal was too small to overcome the deficiencies of the silver runes. If he channeled more aether, he would only burn up the runes more quickly. I caught the shipwright smile as he settled the ship back into the cradle. He turned to Thorsten, saying, “You can tell the Unicorn Conglomerate their ship will be ready tomorrow. I will have my crews finish the cabins. A word in private.” It wasn’t a request, and Thorsten followed the aged dwarf to the captain’s cabin off the bridge.

I had a good idea of what they were discussing, and Kiara’s voice echoed in my head; her hearing was much sharper than mine. “Father did a good job. He wants you to do more metal writing.”

When they returned, both dwarves had impassive expressions. Thorsten spoke for the pair. “Your work is passable, but it will be difficult to repair since our artificers are unfamiliar with some of the runes.” The shipwright grunted disapprovingly at Thorsten. “But you have saved us some time. If you are willing to artifice a second medium transport, we can accelerate your discount to the first ship you purchase.”

I just laughed aloud at the proposal. “No, I don’t think so. I am guessing I saved you at least twenty thousand gold on this ship, if I did a second ship, I would expect a 50% discount.” Thorsten coughed like he had just swallowed something unpalatable.

The shipwright gave him a prod in the back. “Well, maybe if it was one of the large transports, it might be acceptable.”

“Agreed,” I said immediately. “Which skyship? And which one is the one I am purchasing?”

The shipwright foreman stepped forward. “The Lurching Whale over there is close enough to completion for artificing. The only other ship we have near complete is the Spicy Fortune over there.” I frowned at where he pointed; it looked less than half complete. “Don’t worry, I can call on a number of skilled shipwrights from the repair yard and have it finished in four days.”

I really didn’t want to wait four days, and the idea of him rushing the ship to completion sounded a little dangerous. “I can wait five days as long as it is done right. Also, I wanted to place another order.”

Thorsten immediately brightened. “Another medium? When do you need it by?”

“Actually,” I smiled. “I wanted to order another sixty. Three delivered annually.” Thorsten’s eyes went wide, not in happiness but in panic. Our contract allowed me to purchase each ship at eighty thousand gold. I would probably be close to their profit margins.

His tongue was stuck as he was computing the gold in his head. “Would you be artificing your own ships then?” He added quickly, “But no additional discount.”

I looked at Rippon. “Actually, I think we would like to supply our own dungeon lumber for the construction of our ships—lighter wood and more aether-friendly for artificing.”

It was the old shipwright who caught on first. “Dungeon lumber? Would you be interested in selling the surplus?”

“Possibly,” I hedged. “But all negotiations need to go through Remy to ensure we are getting good value.” Thorsten looked around and focused on Bleiz, sizing up the Wolfsguard. “Remy is out shopping. He will stop by later. For the rest of today, I will finish your large transport.”

“You can still go?” The shipwright said appreciatively. I nodded, and the cats followed me to the Lurching Whale while a chest of metals was gathered for my work.

Halfway through my work on the larger skyship, Remy and Rippon found me. I paused my work to listen to them. “Sixty-one skyships, Storme!” Remy said, exasperated. “How are we going to use sixty-one ships?”

“Delivery is over twenty years, Remy,” I said judiciously.

“Still, we are going to need crews, trade routes, aether power cores, making sure their holds are full and profitable on each leg, defending them…” His head was spinning.

“It will be fine. If we don’t need them, we can just sell them in Skyholme for a substantial profit.” Remy’s eyes widened in realization. How did the lumber negotiations go?” I asked to stop Remy’s ranting.

Rippon was smiling. “Well, as long as I’m not the one building them all. I’m all for starting a fleet. The lumber negotiations went well. Remy worked out an exchange rate that should reduce your cost for hulls down to forty thousand gold if you supply material to build four ships, with the fifth being yours.”

“Can we maintain that level of supply?” I directed my question at Remy.

“Dungeon lumber in that quantity will be tricky and shipping it here... As long as none of our shipments are intercepted and raided, I think it’s feasible. We’ll have to start scaling up immediately…” He continued to talk, and I tuned him out as I returned to my artificing. It took concentration, and I was getting mentally exhausted. So far, things had been working out well for us. When we left the shipyard later, dwarves were already swarming all over the Spicy Fortune.

As we walked, I asked Remy about the runic weapons. "What's the market like for runic weapons?”

“Terrible!” he spat. “The local Adventurer’s Guild is the size of a privy, and without any dungeons nearby, the demand for quality weapons is dismal. Not many threats enter the canyon, and the quarries are already well-guarded. I can get about half of what they’re worth,” he lamented.

“Sell them anyway; maybe it will spur a market. Do you know if the Skyholme trade envoys are looking to buy ships as well?” I asked, as Adrial growled at someone who had gotten too close.

“No, they’re just looking for quarried stone contracts. The capital island is experiencing a construction boom due to an influx of new wealthy residents who all want to outdo each other. Cheap, easily quarried stone is in high demand,” Remy replied. That was good, as I didn’t want to compete with Loriel for skyships. Remy was right; it was going to be difficult to keep all the skyships employed, but we could also use them like the first skyship: as transport and overwatch for the delve teams exploring remote dungeons. Right now, I couldn’t imagine having over sixty ships, each with two delve teams aboard, traveling the Sphere.

I was too exhausted to do my evening artifice after spending nearly sixteen hours on the pair of skyships. I fed the cats, hit us with a cleanliness spell, and fell asleep. I was awoken a short while later as the cats broke my privacy screen. The Maelstrom was rattling and being knocked around a bit. We went to the cargo deck to find Aelyn directing the loading of a lot of crates. It looked like her and Remy’s shopping had been productive. She waved happily, directing the dwarves to move the large crates into the hold.

When she entered our cabin she ignored the fact I was exhausted as she explained everything she had purchased. It seemed heavily focused on fabrics an luxury goods. She had been toying with the idea of opening a fashion clothing store in Skyhold, so this may be a step in the direction. After I listened to her regale me with her shopping marathon, she asked, “So, did you purchase your little skyship?”

“Yeah, and sixty more as well,” I replied, rolling over on the bed and casting a privacy screen to go to sleep. I liked trumping her spending spree, and I was smirking, knowing what her reaction would be.

Aelyn immediately broke the screen and sat on top of me. I made her earn the story as we wrestled playfully. She was enthusiastic and seemed to get a thrill from my victory. She wasn’t even disappointed that they were being delivered over twenty years later.

Even though the Spicy Fortune was not complete, I started working on her the next day. I was going to use my own stock of mithril for the runes. It was still a very heavy vessel, but I believed I could get the transport up to at least a speed of a thousand miles per hour. That should allow us to return to Skyholme in a day once it was complete.

I planned to temporarily use two of the synched aether crystals from the Maelstrom to get the ship back and purchase something suitable for the ship in Skyholme. I expected the aether crystals to power the Spicy Fortune would cost three times the fifty thousand I was paying for her. The dwarven shipwrights stayed out of my way as I worked on the ship, and being slightly paranoid, I never revealed that I was using mithril for the aether conductor in the runes.

Thorsten was much more amiable toward me now that I was potentially a supplier of dungeon lumber. The excess lumber could allow the shipyard to start producing higher-quality transports, which should sell for significantly more. When we left Bherturm, I piloted the Spicy Fortune with Bleiz, Rippon, and the cats on board. After I gained altitude, I activated the invisibility runes and accelerated the ship. The Maelstrom was being piloted by Neoma, Thibault, Remy, and Aelyn and had the returning trade delegation on board. They had successfully negotiated continuous supplies of stone to Skyholme, but they would need to transport it themselves. This meant Bherturm was about to start receiving more regular trade ships from Skyholme. I was glad I had my contract in writing.

“We have been gone a few days; I hope you haven’t failed out of your own Dungeon Academy,” Bleiz said mischievously.

I rolled my eyes at my friend, “I am sure no one even knew I was gone.”