Titan: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 4) by Jez Cajiao (beach books .txt) 📗

decks up, somehow blending sections of wooden timbers together. It had found a crack in the hull, and its hands had begun weaving the sections of wood together like it was sewing the material together, fixing what could have been a problem and making it into a strength instead.

I couldn’t explain how I did it; I simply impressed a sensation of Elise, her personality, the ‘taste’ of her mana, and all that I had seen of her into a single tiny ball of identity, then attached it to the Golem. I was careful to add it under me in the structure of authority in its mind, but after a handful of seconds that seemed like hours, the Golem knew to seek her out if it needed further orders.

“I’ve ordered the Servitor to obey you for now. Use it as best you can,” I said to Elise, opening my eyes and looking at her. Her face froze for a second, then the biggest grin I’d seen from her yet spread across her cheeks, and she turned, about to run straight for the Golem.

“Wait!” I ordered, and she froze, clearly half afraid I was about to take her toy away. “Don’t panic…” I said reassuringly, smiling and reaching into my bag to pull out ‘Mana Engine Integration’. It was one of the three Skillbooks I’d promised to Elise, Finbar, and Viktoria, the other two being ‘Magical Device Creation’ and a choice from the ones I had back at the Tower. “…I swore I’d give you and the other two a book each, remember?” I asked. By the way her eyes were suddenly glued to the book, she clearly did.

“Well, I’d say with all you did, you’ve earned the right of first refusal. Do you want this, the other book, or to wait until you reach the Great Tower in order to look through the library there?”

“Ah… uh… ah…” she stammered, staring fixedly at the book.

“Want time to think about it?” I asked her, and she shook her head fervently.

“I told ye, I only made it ‘cause th’ others helped…” she whispered.

“You made it happen,”  I said firmly. “Yes, they helped, but I bet you had to direct them and make things work, so as I said, the right of first refusal…”

“I’ll have it, so help me god, even iffin it pisses off Finbar an’ Viktoria, I’ll have it!” She reaching out eagerly. I passed the volume to her, and she grabbed it from my hand like it was her firstborn, yet coated in gold at the same time.

She slowly and reverently opened the pages of the book, eyes widening as the book began to glow, words lifting off the pages to shiver in the air before her, and light seeping into her eyes and mouth as the book dissolved into golden smoke and sank into her.

She collapsed to the floor, twitching, and I swore, dropping down next to her and turning her on her side, hoping she wasn’t having a fit.

“Jax!” Oracle said, dropping down next to me and reaching out in reassurance. “It’s okay. It’s just an information overload. Her brain has taken a hell of a lot of knowledge in, that’s all.”

“Like Amon’s gift?” I asked and she smiled, shaking her head.

“No, it’s okay. Amon gave you a lot of information and knowledge, more than anyone should get in one go. That’s a Skillbook, on the other hand. It’s designed to be used. It’ll have limits on the amount of information stored in it, but it’ll be sparking off things Elise already knew. She’s having the mother of all inspirations right now, as the knowledge triggers other ideas. She’s probably…” Oracle was cut off as Elise suddenly gasped, jerking upright like a landed fish and sucking in great lungful’s of air.

“Hot damn!” she cried. “The stanchion! It be in th’ wrong place!” She shoved me back, tumbling me onto my ass as she struggled to her feet. “Whut ye all lookin’ at?” she growled, before realizing what she’d done. “Oh… ah... sorry an’ all, Lord Jax… but… yer see…” She gestured awkwardly to the ship and began backing away. “I… well I need to…”

“Just go, it’s fine!” I laughed, taking Romanus’ proffered hand, and letting him pull me to my feet. I shook my head at the way Elise ran to the ship, pushing people aside and almost sending someone toppling from the gangplank that led to the hatch. “Wow, she’s really excited, isn’t she?” I murmured with amusement.

“Engineers…” Athena said, shrugging. “You do know you’ve probably extended our stay here, right, Jax? I mean, she’s going to be tearing half the ship apart if she’s found a better design now…”

“Three days,” I replied. “She can have three days. That’s enough time to do the basics and make the hull a bit more secure, right?”

“It’ll do. That will mean I can get the bridge and helm all connected up properly,” the captain agreed, nodding approvingly. “I don’t know if you noticed, but the helm literally has to be guided constantly, and on a ship this size, that’s not ideal. Engines are fired manually, rather than in series or groups. And that landing… well, it wasn’t exactly my finest.” She gestured behind the ship, and I turned to observe the effects our descent had on the environment.

A trail of devastation lay behind the Airship, leading all the way down to the beach. Dozens of trees had been snapped in half, branches and debris strewn everywhere, and at least a dozen sections along the sides of the ship where planks and entire sections were broken and damaged.

“Shit…” I sighed. “Can we fix all of that in three days?” Athena snorted a laugh.

“We’ll have that fixed by tonight; don’t worry,” She reassured me. “It’s just the outer hull. Most of it wasn’t even attached properly. Entire sections aren’t even closed off yet. With those Golems holding the sections in place, and the Engineers bolting them down? The work will get done at a