The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

“An’ it’ll no be quick,” Oren said, taking up the conversation. “It be at least a few days to do, mebbe a week, an’ that’d be iff’n we had seasoned timber, which we dinna have.”

“So, you’re telling me that the warship, the most powerful weapon we have, is basically fucked, unless we take the time to practically rebuild her from the ground up; is that it?” I growled, running my hand through my hair as I glared up at the ship.

“Aye, well, tha’d be one way o’ lookin’ at it…” Oren hedged, and I turned to him, raising one eyebrow in irritated query. “Ye remember whut ye said t’other night, about wantin’ to fix th’ issues wit’ the ship? Like replace the shitty wood they’d used wit’ good, thick wood, th’ kind that’d shrug off a cannon blast?”

“You mean when we were talking about the ideal kind of warship we’d build, given the wood around here? And using the weapons I described from my home? The shit we don’t know how to build?” I asked him, and he colored slightly under his beard.

“Ah, well, mebbe it were a slightly diff’rent conversation ah remember, then. Anyhoo… how about we make th’ best o’ it? After all, ye did give Derik here tha’ book…”

“Aye, Lord Jax! The Skillbook ye gave me on magical structures ha’ given me sooo many ideas! I can use some o’ the knowledge to make the ship much stronger. She’d be heavier, much heavier, but we could mebbe make some changes, or add extra engines…”

“She’s already slow as shit. adding extra engines is a great idea, but if it’s only to make her as fast as she is currently, I don’t see it."

"As to the extra armor, yeah, it’d be great, but seriously, that was a plan to make an entirely new ship, and it was a ‘maybe someday’ plan, not a ‘let’s do it right fucking now’ plan!” I said, shaking my head. “Look, you’ve obviously had time to think about this. Get with Ame, Lun, and Elaine, the engineers who I gave the other books to. You’ve got a few hours to come up with a basic plan, then I want you all working on it. we’re going to need this ship up and running to protect the Tower and get me and my team to Himnel soon, not to mention the village of Dannick.”

The pair of dwarves raced off with barely a second glance, and I turned to Barrett, who grinned at me.

“Not long ago, it would have been me getting told to ‘sort it out’ by Oren; gotta say, it makes a nice change!” he said, walking off to discuss the training updates with Flux.

“You need to relax, Jax,” Oracle’s voice sounded in my ear, and I turned my head to find the diminutive wisp hovering close by, watching me.

“I’d love to, Oracle, but I don’t know what the hell I’m doing most of the time, and every time I turn around, something has just gone wrong or needs me to look at it,” I muttered, and she flew in closer, landing on my shoulder and reaching down for my hand. I reached up to her, feeling her solid, warm skin as she gripped my hand tightly.

I could never get my head around the fact that she was incorporeal one second, then seemingly fully flesh and blood the next. I wrote it off ninety percent of the time as magic, and her nature really, but it still weirded me out on occasion.

“So, how about we go explore?” Oracle said. “You, me, and Bob can go out for a wander, explore some of the local forest, and see what trouble we can find?”

“God, that sounds good,” I said quietly, observing the hustle and bustle of people training, working on the ships, or running from one place to another.

“Bob’s still downstairs; I asked him to patrol the outer wall. It’s pretty ruined and overgrown, but it makes him happy to have a goal he can understand, and walking around the wall and killing anything that attacks him is pretty simple…” she said, and I laughed, a bit of my building irritation being dispelled by her comments.

I was about to suggest heading down, when Jenae made contact, her sudden arrival in my mind flooding out every other thought. I saw a map projected before me, a map with a pair of glowing sections.

“Jax! I’ve found a trace of Thomas.” Her voice was crackling with emotion, and I grinned in spite of myself, my sudden sour mood banished easily as I looked over the map. “It’s not recent; the two spots I’ve highlighted are a cave system in the lower mountains to the south-west. He used a lot of magic there, over, and over, but that was about a year ago. The other trace I found is in the city of Himnel; it was a single spell, but it was powerful, and it was about six weeks ago. He’s either not used magic since, or it’s been somewhere well hidden enough that I can’t sense it with this tracking spell. I tried casting a second, more specific spell at Himnel, but found no trace of him. I don’t have the strength for a third yet, not for days to come, at the least.”

“You’re sorry? Jenae, this is wonderful! This means he’s still alive, and he’s not even that far away! This is fantastic news!”I blurted out loud, and Jenae was quick to reply.

“No, it doesn’t, Jax. It means he was alive six weeks ago; that’s all. I don’t know where in Himnel he is, or even if he is still there… I…”

“He was alive six weeks ago, Jenae, which means he still is. If he’s survived this long already, he can survive until I can get to him. I need to get the warship put back together, and…” I said, directing my mental voice to her.

“Jax, please… stop.” Jenae