"Look look, he's waking up. See, I told you! Gimme the crystal!"

"Tsk, fine."

Those were the first voices Hao Xuan heard when he came to, stranger's voices. He slowly opened his eyes and a ray of light almost blinded him. he tried to get up but his hand slipped and he fell back down.

"Slowly big guy, relax," Hao Xuan felt a hand grab hold of his shoulder and catch him.

"Who...are you?" Hao Xuan mumbled. His mouth was so dry that every word sounded like knives in his throat.

"Haha, we can talk later, sit."

Hao Xuan still hadn't opened his eyes because of the blinding pain so he could only allow the person to guide him. He walked a few steps and sat down on a soft surface.

*Rumble*

The sound of rumbling thunder came in from his left and the ground shifted slightly. It was like the thundercloud was just a few meters away from him.

"Here, drink," the same person handed him what felt like a bottle. Hao Xuan took it but didn't drink. Instead he circulated his Qi throughout the body and attempted to reopen his eyes. Another wave of pain spread out from the eyes but this time he persevered and put up with it.

"Arghh!"

*Riip*

His eyelids were stuck together and as he attempted to open them they split open, spraying blood on his clothes and the surroundings.

"Woah, that's brutal," a young voice said with interest.

Hao Xuan wiped his eyes and looked around to see four people standing around him, staring. All of them had different masks hung around their necks.

"Hey there, nice to meet you," one of them came forward. It was a man of about 28-30 years of age by the looks of it. Hao Xuan recognized his voice as the person that gave him a hand earlier and the bottle.

He had a burn mark on the left side of his face that covered that entire side. With combed black hair and his attire which was the same as the other 3, a black and white formal suit, he kind of like a butler.

"I'm Alte," he extended his hand which Hao Xuan shook.

"Hello um, Alte? Where am I?" Hao Xuan inquired while looking around.

They were in a relatively small room with four beds, one window, and a door. He looked towards the window but could not see anything other than darkness out there. It was probably night time.

"Oh, he really doesn't know?" someone spoke from behind Alte. Hao Xuan raised his head and looked at the speaker. It was a teenager of around 15-16 years at most. He had dark red and a wide smile on his face. When he saw Hao Xuan looking at him he grinned.

"Yo, I'm Beruh!"

"U-Un," Hao Xuan nodded back at him.

"Oh yeah, let me introduce everyone first," Alte patted Beruh's shoulder and stepped back. He then pointed at him first, "This, as he just said, is Beruh. She is Kayin, and he is Vasu," he pointed at the other two.

Kayin was a girl about the same age as Hao Xuan. She had dark blue hair that came down to her chest and a very pretty face. She seemed quite innocent from a first impression.

Vasu was a slightly plump man of the same age as Hao Xuan as well. He was bald and looked like a Buddhist monk, minus the suit. They both waved at Hao Xuan and he waved back.

"Hello...I guess. Can you tell me where I am now?" Hao Xuan looked at Alte.

"Oh my bad, of course," Alte smiled apologetically. "You're currently on the transport ship Aruna. Your friend said you guys were headed to the Academy of Sollertia so we decided to give you a ride since we were also going there."

"Ship? This is a ship??"

Hao Xuan jumped off the bed and ran to the window. He focused his eyes and stared in the darkness for a few seconds. A bolt of lightning struck something in the distance, lighting up the surroundings for a few seconds, just enough for Hao Xuan to see the numerous clouds right outside the window and two other ships in the distance.

*Crackle*

Each of those ships was at least 10 kilometers in length. It looked they were made from some kind of a metal and had dozens of large cannons placed almost everywhere. (Reference pic in author's note)

Right below the ships were hundreds of smaller flying beasts, flapping their wings as fast as possible to stay in their slipstream.

"Holy shit..."

This was Hao Xuan's first time seeing something like that so he like a child who had seen an airplane for the first time.

"Hahaha," Alte's group saw his amazed expression and couldn't help but break out in laughter.

A couple of minutes later Hao Xuan finally calmed down and remembered to continue his line of questions.

"My friend, where is he?"

"He is at the deck. Around this time he usually plays cards with the crew. Do you want to go see?"

"Yes please!" Hao Xuan nodded at once.

****

Authors notes:

Short link: https://urlzs.com/h6PH8 https://static.planetminecraft..com/files/resource_media/screenshot/1224/Airships_2587580.jpg

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