Taking flight.

Seth finished teleporting everyone on the ship and looked at the large gathering waiting on the deck.

Most of his students’ families already knew each other, being part of the inner circle of the Oath Kingdom, so they were already talking with each other in hushed whispers. There was a mix of emotions on everyone’s faces, ranging from excitement to fear. 

The most scared and pessimistic about everything appeared to be the members of the Oconner family, for which the change was the most sudden out of everyone there.

The Ashley and Howell family members tried to reassure everyone since their family heads had informed them of a few things beforehand, but that did little to ease the others’ fear. Seth knew it would be impossible to do it right now, and he also didn’t have time for it. It was time to leave. Before Iris got hold of their plan and things turned dangerous.

Looking at everyone present, he cleared his throat loudly to gather their attention and started speaking to the group.

“I know some of you are uneasy or even afraid about the sudden decision of your family’s heads. I know you have many questions and doubts about leaving the kingdom, and I’ll give you the answers you want, but not right now. There is still a chance Iris Golden would figure out of our departure, and I would like to avoid a confrontation with her if possible.”

Seeing that his little speech made the ones already afraid even more scared, Seth raised his hand to stop their whispering and continued: “Don’t get me wrong. I am not scared of fighting her as you might think, but a confrontation between her and me would only bring more harm to the Oath Kingdom.”

“I know it’s hard to believe, considering our situation, but my ultimate goal is to protect the kingdom, not bring it even closer to its ruin. I’ve already spoken enough for now, and it’s time for us to depart.”

“The men in dark red armor towards the back of the group, which I’m sure most of you have already recognized as members of the Valdez Family, are my personal knights now and hold no allegiance to the Wrath Kingdom anymore.”

“They would lead everyone into the ship’s hull, where rooms have been prepared for each and every one of you. The rooms are small since the size of the ship won’t allow for the comfort most of you are used to, but please bear with it until we reach the Blood Kingdom. The journey would only take around three months.”

“That would be all for now; please head to your rooms to deposit your luggage. Sal, please.”

Sal nodded from the back and, with the help of his other family members, started leading everyone down the flight of stairs leading to the ship’s hull. Once only his students, parents, and lovers were left on deck, Seth turned toward Hollie with a serious expression.

“Raise her to the sky.”

Hollie nodded, and her source started spinning in reverse, air energy spreading around the airship. The wild air current heading upwards lifted the skirts of the few girls wearing one, giving them no choice but to hold them down using their hands.

Seth ignored the nose-bleeding event and turned towards Tiana next.

“There’s a balloon full of air under the deck. I need you to infuse your fire energy inside, but don’t activate it. I just need the air to get as hot as possible.”

Tiana nodded absentmindedly and started increasing the temperature inside the balloon. Even since Seth opened a portal, her brain has struggled to cope with everything.

Out of everyone else close to Seth, she was the only one who knew nothing about his abilities. Even his sudden decision to depart from Oath seemed crazy, but seeing him warp through space, having an order of knights of his own and the trust of so many people, left her mind reeling.

With a creaking sound and some shaking, the airship started slowly floating upwards, leaving the dense forest behind.

“That’s enough, Tiana.”, said Seth once the system informed him the temperature inside the balloon reached the maximum it could take before exploding. “Just leave your energy there instead of your source. The expenditure should be insignificant.”

Tiana nodded and stopped heating the air. Almost everyone was already at the ship’s edge, watching in wonder as the city under them was getting smaller and smaller.

Out of everyone present on the deck of the ship, Aleena was the most excited. She was just like a small child, her body laying over the railing with no regard for her safety and a smile on her face that extended from one ear to the other as she watched the city below.

Seth caught a small glimpse of her expression and excitement from the corner of his eyes, bringing a small smile to his lips as well. He could see no trace of the usual dull colors that were always present in her aura, it being a pure sky-blue color right now.

“How much further up do we go?” asked Hollie, bringing Seth’s attention back to her. Sweat already appeared on Hollie’s forehead from having to lift an over 100-foot-long, 50-foot-wide ship high into the air.

‘System.’

<Tell her to continue climbing at this pace for two more minutes. After that, we’ll reach a height where we won’t be spotted from the ground, even during the day.>

Seth quickly conveyed the system’s words, and Hollie nodded as she focused back on raising the airship. Two minutes later, she stopped, and they were already floating amongst the clouds in the sky.

Seth looked at the compass and map the system displayed in his vision and pointed towards the south.

“Turn the ship to face that way and start manipulating the surrounding air to push on the ship’s sails from the back and under. Stop using energy from inside your source and just direct the air currents existing in the air. The side sails will keep us afloat, and the large ones on the mast will give us the forward momentum.”

Hollie once more confirmed his directions, and the ship floated towards the south.

“That is enough. Carefully manipulate the energy to maintain this speed, “ said Seth, extending his hand carrying an air energy vial to her.

Hollie frowned and felt her source, trying to measure the energy she had to use to keep the ship flying at the current speed.

Once she noticed that she barely had to spend any energy on it, she looked at Seth in amazement and exclaimed: “I can hold it like this all the way to the Blood Kingdom and regenerate the energy as I’m using it. I might need to take some minor breaks to recover my stamina or rest, but other than that, there are no issues with my energy consumption.”

“Of course, there isn’t. Why would I bother having this ship made instead of asking you to carry everyone? Once it’s up in the air, even a third shell air ascended can keep it floating without issue.”, replied Seth with a smile before using the fact that she was too astonished to think to steal a quick kiss from her lips.

As his lips touched hers, he realized what he had just done. Turning around, he found both his parents looking at him with eyes as big as saucers, but the emotions displayed on their faces were completely different. Nash looked impressed, maybe even somewhat envious, but Hilda’s face was completely black.

Maya was observing the situation from behind him with a playful look in her eyes, trying to abstain from laughing out loud.

Clearing his throat to push away the awkwardness of the situation, Seth ignored his parents’ looks and turned toward his students.

“Everyone is on intense cultivation duty for the rest of the journey. There are vials in a storage room under the deck, so you are all free to use them as you please. Just look for the door marked <Storage>. There are rooms marked with your name where you can stay, or if you want to, you can also choose to stay together or with your families.”

Turning towards Amen, the earth ascended Maya stole from the academy, Seth created two books on earth theory and said: “Hey Amen, stop looking down like an idiot and start cultivating as well. I need you to break through before we reach the Blood Kingdom, or I’m throwing you overboard. These books contain information on the first shell. Once you are done with them, come to me, and I’ll give you more.”

Seth’s voice broke Amen out of his reverie, and he nodded before picking up the books. He had already heard rumors about Seth helping many teachers with their issues in cultivation, and after witnessing him make a ship that could fly, his doubts about their journey were also mostly gone.

“Go down and ask the knights to lead you to an empty cabin.”

After dealing with Amen and his students, Seth turned toward his parents, but before he could open his mouth to speak, Hilda said: “We need to talk.”

Seth sighed and nodded. “We do, but later. I still have things to do. I’ll visit you later and explain everything.” Seth turned towards Pearl and said: “Take them to their cabin, Pearl.”

After his parents and Pearl were also gone, Maya couldn’t hold it in anymore and broke into a fit of laughter.

“Haha, you really screwed up this time.”

Seth’s eyebrow twitched when Maya only added salt to the wound, but he couldn’t say he didn’t see it coming. She was also right, so there was not much he could say in his defense.

“Well, they were bound to figure it out eventually.”, said Seth with a sigh before looking at the remaining people on the deck, his eyes landing on Aleena, who was moving her hand through a thin cloud, her feet barely touching the floor of the deck anymore.

“Aleena, I’m not picking you up if you fall over. Choose a room for yourself as well. I’ll come by later to heal - “

“I’m not dying right now, am I?” interrupted Aleena, her eyes fixed on a small flock of birds flying not that far from her, not even turning to look at Seth.

“Uhh, no?”

“Then I’m staying here. I’ll go down later and ask Uncle Sal to give me a room. Also, my healing can wait.”

Seth’s eyebrow twitched again, but he said nothing more and let her have fun. Walking up to Maya, he moved a hand around hers and Tiona’s waists before looking forward to Hollie.

“Are you coming with us?”

“It will take longer to get used to controlling the ship, so I’ll stay here for now. I’ll come by later.”, replied Hollie, already aware of what they intended to do.

“If you can find us.” Seth chuckled and teleported with Tiana and Maya towards a room he had Pearl make especially for him with no further explanation.

The room’s entire floor was just a big mattress, and there was no door on any of the walls around. The room was also more spacious than the others, taking the large spot at the bottom of the ship, right under the giant air balloon. With it being quite far from the other rooms, the chance of people hearing what was happening inside was also relatively low.

Maya looked around the room and touched the soft mattress underneath, with one of her eyebrows raising in surprise. “Is this supposed to be our fuck-room or something?”

“Not a bad name.”, said Seth before teleporting all his clothes inside his storage.

“I promised you some fun once we left, and it’s also time to release some of that stress we’ve been building.”