Prime Originator

The airship quickly closed in on the Great Forest, flying overhead of the grey field of Wingrats. 

The loud propellers immediately drew the attention of the rat tide, causing them to glance into the skies. 

Shortly after, waves after waves of rats to leap into the sky, attempting to attack and destroy the airship that was the source of their irritation. 

The Wingrats were great leapers, but the best height amongst their large numbers did not exceed 180fts, causing them to fall short by 120fts from the airship.

Nevertheless, it still made the entire crew apprehensive.

The leaping rat tide moved like the ocean waves, except it was not the salty seawater battering against the sandy shores but a sea of death. 

The crew gulped nervously while the airship flew past the endless rat tide. It was not only a terrifying sight to behold, but the rats' incessant squeaks were grating to the ears.

Leon had no time to inspect the two rat carcasses he brought with him and could only leave them for later. After pondering for a moment, he recalled something.

"What is this?" Asked Supreme Elder Haldir after Leon pulled out two strange pendants from his interspatial storage space. 

"This?" Leon inspected the two enchanted pendants in his hands for a moment before he said, "Probably something that can help the airship fly over the Great Forest."

The enchanted pendants could shield people from the gravitational pressure of the sky, allowing Transcendents to fly freely without restraint within the sky suppression zone.

It was up to Leon to figure out how to increase the enchanted pendants' output coverage to encompass the entire airship.

If the gravitational pressure of the sky were removed, the flight altitude of all airships equipped with levitation devices would definitely not be limited to 600fts!

When Supreme Elder Haldir recalled the two Transcendents flying deep in the sky suppression zone previously, he quickly guessed the enchanted pendants belonged to them.

"How?" Supreme Elder Haldir asked curiously with great interest.

"Hmm…"

Leon pondered for a moment before coming up with a solution in his mind.

"I got it."

He quickly dispelled the wind current driving the airship forward and ordered the captain to reduce its flight speed.

"Give me a moment to tinker with these things," Leon said.

He took a seat on the flat deck and took out his special scribing pen and a few fat spirit stones. Before he started tinkering, he scanned the pendants with his divine sense and engraved everything into his mind.

Going a step further, he requested Maya to scan and record the pendant's diagram in the Archive in case he screwed up and destroy both enchanted pendants.

Once he finished his preparations, he began tinkering immediately.

Aria, Princess Faelyn, and Supreme Elder Haldir gathered around Leon, observing his handiwork with curious gazes.

The red crystals embedded in the pendants were scraped off with the special scribing pen, Ravenous Black. These red crystals were artificial-Spirit Energy in their crystallized form.

Although Leon was curious where the Geyser Kingdom procured them, he could only ponder about it later.

He shortly altered both pendant's socket sizes to refit the fat, round supreme-grade spirit stone.

Of course, the fist-size spirit stones were too big to entirely fit inside the pendants' empty sockets. Only a fraction of its side fitted, but that was all Leon needed to get it working.

Once he achieved that, he used a rope and bind the two objects together firmly, removing the possibility of the spirit stones falling out of the pendant's sockets.

In a short while, the alterations were completed.

"It's done," Leon exclaimed, appearing satisfied with his improvised work.

The three people glanced over at the object expectantly with curiosity. However, their expression quickly turned dubious with suspicions.

"Are you sure this… thing… will work, young prince?" Supreme Elder Haldir asked doubtfully while staring at the two enchanted pendants and jade-like rocks tied together messily with a flimsy rope.

It looked like something they would find at a roadside antique store after it was scrapped together by the owner in the hopes of increasing its artistic value to sell at a higher price.

Not only was it unpresentable, but its functions were also questionable—At least, that was the impression they were getting from looking at it.

"What do you mean? This is a masterpiece… Ahem, never mind." Leon slowly coughed and said, "We'll know once we test it."

The improvised tool was shortly activated after Leon drove the Spirit Energy inside the spirit stones with his Divine Will.

An invisible barrier immediately expanded from the improvised tool, sweeping past everyone and enveloped the entire airship in an instance.

Swoosh~!

Everyone's hair fluttered like a gust of wind had just blown past them before the airship shook and surged upwards, rising in altitude at a steady pace.

"Hahaha, so it's working after all." Leon chuckled lightly.

Everyone was shortly floored, having understood that Leon had no confidence whether it was genuinely going to work or not. 

Nevertheless, it worked out in the end.

They quickly recovered and glanced ahead with anticipation amidst the rising dense smoke coming from the Great Forest's outskirts.

Princess Faelyn shook her head and watched the burning forest with deep emotion and worry. Once the fire dies, the rats will sweep the place once more. 

Her people will have no choice but to face the endless rat tide with nowhere else to go. It was a long trek to the Great Wall by foot.

The rat tide would not leave them be if they tried to evacuate everyone towards the Human Domain.

Princess Faelyn sighed silently.

It did not take long before the airship rose above the Great Forest.

Once the airship reached roughly 1000fts altitude, Leon commanded, "Lower the levitation device's power outage, captain!"

"Yes, Your highness!"

Shortly after the captain relayed orders to the crew, the airship rise came to a halt. 

Leon did not doubt that the airship would rise to an incredible height if they continue to let the levitation device run at full power after the gravitational pressure had been removed from the airship.

"Where to now, Marquis Haldir?" Leon asked.

Supreme Elder Haldir glanced at the burning forest with great billowing black smoke for a moment, thinking that the forest will continue burning for a long while. 

Thus, the defensive line did not need their immediate assistance.

"Please take us straight to Elvengarde, young prince. I need to need to make a report to the council and plan for the tribe's evacuation. You have seen the rat tide for yourself. Their numbers are unending. My people will not survive if they continue to stay here."

"Sure, no problem."

Leon nodded in agreement.

Even he was not sure if the Great Wall would be able to hold out against such a large rat tide. Their numbers were simply too huge!

That being said, the Great Wall was still equipped with a better defense than the Great Forest had to offer.

 "You heard the Marquis, captain. Take us straight to the big Elder Tree at the Great Forest's center."

"Aye, aye, Your Highness!" The captain answered.

Shortly after, the airship made headway for the elves' home under the big Elder Tree at the center of the Great Forest, Elvengarde.