Zikaok Jalruhk, known as the crystallized hope of Selia stood on the bow of a mothership as it leveled an entire mountain range.
His expression was cold and look uninterested. But deep inside, he was quite fond of these warships that could walk on land. The strangers that came from another continent interest him as well. After taking over this continent, he would join him to explore the other continent.
His ambition wasn't locked in this backward place.
Suddenly, a man walked out of the shade. He was a bulky man with long, thick, braided hair. In his right hand was a fearsome, long bull hook, and a thick black cape covered his back and shoulders.
As Brago stood next to Zikaok, his figure towered over the shardmind. But Zikaok kept looking forward as if he did not notice him.
Brago let out a little laugh. Usually, any man he met would bow their head a little as a show of fear. But this man had never shown fear. His chin was always held high, and that dead-looking eyes as if he did not care about anything made him look so mysterious.
This little man seemed very talented as well, so he was planning to bring him into the ocean and see his growth. That is after he get the dragons.
"Zikaok," Brago called. "Are you sure that Aldred, the Emperor of the Ceraisian Empire, hides the dragons?"
"Didn't you said that you do not care if the information is true or not?"
Brago smiled. "Even if the Ceraisian Empire does not have the dragons, I will still destroy it to the ground."
"Why do you need these dragons?" Zikaok said with a little bit of disdain in his tone. "Aren't you powerful enough to defeat them? If so, why do you need them?"
"The dragons, in their current state now, they might not be that useful. But I can breed them into something stronger and more subservient to me. At that time, I will truly have an army that can help me conquer any sea."
"Relying on external things is not wise. Better to rely on your own power." Zikaok turned around and left.
Brago snorted. "We will see about that."
Suddenly, a soldier in spiky armor approached him and presented him a letter.
Brago opened the letter and read it. His lips curved wide into a hideous smile. "War… this is perfect. I am bored of an easy fight. If the whole continent wanted to fight against me, then let them come. I will destroy them! And maybe someone can show me something interesting for once."
…
Dobbs were pounding on a peace of metal until someone shouted for him to stop with a robotic voice.
It was Corduul.
Both Corduul and Dobbs were in a secret lab. They were trying to make something together.
"What's wrong this time?"
"You hit it too hard. Instead of using 25% of your power, you use 25,4% and hit the peace of iron with greater velocity than I requested. Now the iron is 0,4% more dented than what I expected."
"Are you serious right now?"
"You need to be more precise in your craftsmanship."
"My power doesn't come from precision. It comes from feelings and magic wonders. I can make tougher shield than you using my skills."
"But for our collaboration to work, you need to be as precise as a machine."
"Yet, in order for my magic to work, I need to use my feelings. And I won't apologize, but my feelings are not very precise. And you know what, your creation is too cold. There is no spirit in them. I need something more alive!"
Tarrar sighed as he looked at the two of them arguing. They had been like this for a while now. He expected them to work together with harmony since both of them were essentially an inventor, but things were not that simple.
After hearing them arguing for minutes, Tarrar had enough.
"Guys, why don't we implement something in this collaboration."
"What?" They both asked.
"It's a little something I call 'tolerance'."
"Tolerance?"
"Yes, it means tolerating and accepting how each other works instead of forcing the other to work the way you wanted them to. But also keep in mind to always try to be as accommodating as possible which mean thinking what your partner wanted and expected from you."
"In other words, instead of thinking for yourselves, you need to start thinking for your partner. Do my words easy to understand?"
Dobbs sighed. "Fine. But, first, let me say something. Your work is dead. A true master piece is something that has spirit in them as if they are alive. But yours feel death. Like they are merely an object. I am not used to creating something like that."
"I have problem with your creations as well," Corduul replied. "They are too imbalance, imperfect, so many micro bents, and barely symmetric."
Tarrar smiled. "I think both of you are the perfect partner. Now that you know each other's weakness, work together to fill them."
"Haish, I can't believe I have to work with this walking tin can. What does Aldred wanted us to make anyway?"
"A super weapon that could destroy something tough."
"Can you be more specific?" Dobbs asked.
Tarrar grabbed something out of his spatial bag. It was a pieece wood. "The enemies have their ships made out of these. Now, build something that can destroy it."
Dobbs stared at the piece of wood and shook his head. "I have never seen this before."
"It comes from another continent."
"No wonder."
"Do you have any more?" Corduul asked. "I might be able to find its weakness if I put it in my dissolving solution."
"I do. Aldred stole a lot of it. In fact, you can even recreate the entire ship if you knew how it look."
"How many warships did he destroy?"
"I am not sure about that. But he said that even he has to be careful around this ship."
Corduul and Dobbs looked at each other after that statement.
"In that case we have to work quickly."
