A Curse of Competence

17

^^ Sea-Dragon (Lion-Fish) ^^

The Lady's Flight was faster than expected, due to its, -dare I say,- perfect design, so the trip south for the winter lasted only a set of weeks. Two long months of travel by ox cart was shortened severely to fifteen days, due to the average speed of the ship being 200kph. An unthinkable speed by any of the other transportation methods of this world except Magic, but with the barriers in front of the ship moving the air around the ship and thinning out the air in front of the ship to not only prevent drag, but also increase lift under the ship as a low-pressure zone was magically created. The Mages and Wizards and Druids we'd picked up in Zeres took shifts with the Diamond, pouring their Magic into it every day, and although it was technically unnecessary, (the massive number of soul gems in the ship's Magical/electrical system prevented any shortages of Mana before they could happen,) they were still paid well for their work by Father, who was still technically the Captain until I was of age. We took a delivery job from Zeres to Aphasia to pay for the voyage, and while father was directing the ship under Cenir's watchful eye, I was working on Alchemy.

If I could create Silver, Gold, or Platinum, I could fund my operations rather easily: far from destroying the economy, our continuous traveling would instead stimulate the economies of the various city-states of the Aphasian Empire and beyond, as we were Treasure Hunters! Treasure Hunters having access to silver and gold wasn't an unfamiliar concept, so besides being a target for thieves, there would be nothing suspicious about it, and it would actually help, given the fact that Silver was obtained from the Second Planet, currently, and that was a dangerous prospect: adding weight and mass to a planet was not wise, but why would I expect the scientists here to understand that? Thus, if I offered an alternative, I could stabilize both the planet and its peoples!

'I also want to be filthy rich. Honesty is important.' I smirked at my own lofty, haughty thoughts, pulling the reigns a bit to pull myself back to task, and looked at the diagram in front of me, of a cauldron made of platinum. "What are the chances of success from using my own knowledge of atomic reconfiguration, without the need for a Dragon's Soul?"

The Tome of Remos, currently shaped like a laptop, lit up blue and silver. '30%. Your knowledge is sufficient, but your Mana is not. Even with 4000Mp, you are a pittance, compared to an Ancient Dragon.'

"And using the storage function of my Soul Gems to store up my 4000 a day into the Diamond? That hasn't managed to gather up enough Mana?"

'For one transaction, yes, if you only intend to create the platinum cauldron, and nothing else.'

I nodded slowly, leaning back to stare at the wooden ceiling of my library, wherein all of my knowledge had been parsed into easily-understood lessons and scrolls, enchanted to dissolve into ash if they left this room; the ceiling contained a depiction of the story of Prometheus, from his rise to his fall. "So by creating that platinum, I have the first ingredient for my Philosopher's Stone?"

'Correct.'

"And all I need after that is the soul of a Dragon?"

'Correct, with caveats: you also need the Dragon to agree to work for you.'

"And any dragon will do?"

'... any Adult Dragon would be Sufficient, though you should aim for an Ancient if you want the best results.'

"Mm... when we go back north, I'll go see if the Ancient Blue Dragon Cenir knew is still alive... if he cannot fly anymore, it's likely that he would appreciate the opportunity to work with me and with Cenir again."