Abyssal Awakening

Massaging her eyes, she wasn\'t sure how she should react.

"Didn\'t you say… You were just going to find the gambling arena? How did you even end up in this situation?" She sighed, looking at Ria who was chained and cuffed up in a cell.

"Ahahaha… That\'s a bit of a long story." Ria smiled awkwardly. She wanted to scratch her cheek but due to her restraints, she was unable to.

Sighing deeply, Alice wondered how she should proceed. After she left the Dragon\'s Breath, she went to look for Ria. However, following the traces of her blood bead, she found herself in front of the guard house where Ria had been apprehended due to misconduct.

"I\'m sorry for what my friend caused. Would it be alright if I take her from here?" Alice asked as she glanced over to the guard next to her.

"That\'s fine. Just make sure she doesn\'t cause any more trouble. The first instance is just a warning, if it happens again we\'ll take no responsibility if you were to miss your airship." The guard explained. Opening the cell, he unlocked her restraints and gestured for her to leave.

"Phew finally. I was wondering how long I\'ll have to wait for them to let me out." Ria smiled in relief while massaging her wrists.

"So care to explain the whole story now?"

"Sure. So for you see, after I had found the gambling arena, I signed myself up for it as per usual. Looking to earn some coin for my wallet.

"However, after my first match, I had some pompous ass trying to invite me to dinner or some crap. Of course, I rejected him but he didn\'t understand the word no so I tried to explain that I\'m just here to gamble. Nothing more nothing less. Can you even guess what he decided to say next?" Ria huffed while rolling her eyes.

"What did he say next?"

"He asked if I wanted to gamble with him. And to make it more \'spicy\' he said why don\'t we gamble with our body on the line? Honestly after hearing that I decided to hit him in the face. Turns out his guards didn\'t take kindly to that so I started to fight his guards.

After the first wave another wave came, some people got dragged in and it spiralled into the entire gambling arena fighting one another." Ria shrugged as though it was just an everyday scenario.

Meanwhile, Alice could only blink her eyes in disbelief.

"I get why you would hit him but why the hell did the entire arena start to fight one another? How did it even spiral to that extent???"

"I dunno, don\'t look at me. I was just focused on punching the pompous ass." Ria shrugged her shoulders before stretching her body.

"So what did you do in the meantime? Did you get the mead you wanted?"

"I did. A full flask hehe~ I have to admit this mead is actually quite nice. One of these days I should learn how to make it myself so I can always keep a supply on me." Alice chuckled while patting the flask on her waist.

"OH? If you\'re saying it\'s good then it must be some fine mead." Ria remarked as Alice\'s taste for mead had only gotten more expensive as time went on.

After leaving the guard house, the two made their way to the docks as they decided to spend the rest of the time making themselves comfortable on the airship.

With Alice not wanting to repeat the misunderstanding in the Dragon\'s Breath and Ria not wanting to get apprehended again, they registered their arrival and waited for the airship to be open for boarding.

Waiting by the waiting rooms, Alice couldn\'t help but wonder why they couldn\'t board yet. Considering the actual airship itself was ready by the docks.

The airship that loomed over the docks was a magnificent sight to behold.

The ship itself was adorned with intricate designs and patterns that spoke of detailed artistry yet the sturdiness of the ship itself could not be underestimated.

Unlike standard ships, there were no masts that would guide its path. Instead, there seemed to be a harness that lacked a wearer at the moment to which Alice could only assume the beast hadn\'t arrived yet.

\'Beasts are usually killed on sight with very few being captured alive for other purposes. I wonder what kind of beast will be carrying this airship.\' Alice mused to herself as she could see the crew scurrying about on the deck of the airship, making final preparations for departure.

"This will be your first experience with an airship right?"

"Mnm. Though I assume the novelty will probably wear off after the first hour or so." Alice shrugged. She didn\'t understand the excitement and enjoyment that came with riding a vehicle like this. To her, it was no different to a ship or a carriage but this time it was through the sky.

"Boo no fun. I\'m sure once you see the sights it offers you\'ll think otherwise." Ria chuckled.

"Perhaps. I don\'t mind a surprise so long as it\'s not finding you locked in a cell again."

"Arg… Don\'t remind me. I should\'ve just left but you don\'t understand. His face was just so… punchable after he suggested that crap to me." Ria sighed while resting her chin on her hand.

"Bah forget it." Waving her hand in annoyance, Ria closed her eyes and rested her mind while waiting for their turn to board the airship.

After waiting for 30 minutes, the staff called them over as the final preparations were finished.

Stepping onto the ship, Alice couldn\'t help but wonder what kind of beast was even able to lift up such a mass of materials like this through the sky.

Thinking about how heavy this construct was, it seemed crazy that a beast could even support this kind of weight.

But most importantly…

\'What kind of power would its blood give me if I drank it? Would I be able to carry the ship through the sky as well?\' Alice mused to herself curiously. However, she would probably run out of power before she could even go anywhere. There was only so much she could do since Abyss Blood effects were only temporary for her.

Shaking her head, she made her way to her room and put away her luggage. She wasn\'t carrying much considering it was just a few sets of clothing and her sword.

"Have you finished unpacking?" Ria asked as she poked her head out of her room.

"I\'m not carrying that much you know? We\'ll be spending a week on this ship, please tell me we have a bit of entertainment or is the only entertainment the scenery around here?" Alice asked as she strapped her sword to her waist.

"Oh! Let me give you a quick tour then. Most of the airship layouts are pretty similar so I should be able to find my way around this one quite easily. And as much as I would like to say there\'s a training facility, there is nothing like that on the ship. If an accident was to happen and the ship gets damaged, it would be quite the issue." Ria chuckled as she waited for Alice.

"Then what is the entertainment if not training?"

"Bleh it\'s always training with you. Some bands will be performing throughout the trip. A few plays and bards coming to tell some stories from faraway lands." Ria explained but Alice seemed uninterested.

Seeing this, Ria tried to think of other activities before sighing and relenting to Alice\'s gaze.

"Fine okay there are a few training facilities. But they\'re mostly for building body strength or correcting your posture. Nothing too intense. But are you really going to use this time for more training rather than loosening yourself up with some fun activities?" Ria asked as Alice thought about it for a moment before nodding her head.

"Unless there\'s a bar with good mead you can count me out. Plus… Now that I think about it, when have you been interested in band performances and bards? Let me guess, there\'s gambling tables for you to enjoy?" Alice asked as Ria flinched at the mention of gambling.

". . . I f*cking knew it. Will the gambling involve fighting? Or is it just normal gambling?" Alice asked with a sigh.

"Just normal gambling ahaha. They don\'t allow fighting on board the ship after all. But think about it, since we\'re here for a week anyways, we may as well earn a bit of coin as enrolment fees." Ria grinned.

Sighing out softly, Alice could only nod her head since she wasn\'t wrong. Their funds right now weren\'t exactly plentiful after spending over 200 gold just on travel.

\'Ria only won one match before getting into trouble. All things considered, we only have 77 gold and 50 silver right now. I don\'t know how expensive the enrolment fee is but it\'s probably more than what we have right now. Hmm…\'

"I suppose you\'re right. Since we\'re spending a week here we may as well procure some funds and- never mind. Let\'s just focus on getting some funds." Alice smiled. She cut herself off from saying that they should stay out of trouble too. However, trouble follows them everywhere and event mentioning it could jinx things for them.

"That\'s the spirit hehe~ Let\'s go check out the main deck first. We\'ll be taking off soon so you\'ll be able to see the beast up close and the scenery as we ascend." Ria grinned, leading the way to the deck of the ship while Alice followed closely behind.

Even though she had expressed her disinterest, there was a hint of curiosity in her heart regardless. She had seen the airships in Eldoria but this was clearly a different type of airship.

As her first time on this kind of vehicle, there was bound to be some curiosity. However, as they left the corridor leading to their rooms, Ria paused mid step as they came face to face with another group of people.