Eternal Emerald Dragon

Wen had been surprised she was sent up but after the briefing the Sunfire Clan members had, she understood why.

Their fire was perfect for the True Lord's needs.

Not only that, but the Starshell and Nether Clans were equally useful.

She was currently moving a massive metal panel into place against a curved surface. Her bright fire began to sear the edges onto the pieces around her as a Nether Dragon hovered nearby.

He was laying out conduit of some kind as his own fire fused the more delicate pieces together. Demonic dragon clans were rare but of them all, the Nether Clan had the most honor she had ever encountered.

They refused to make any hybrids due to their demonic nature being incompatible with humans.

His violet scaled body shimmered as his wings flapped periodically to keep him stable. It was weird to work so closely on a single project with them.

The Starshell Clan was working on the insides of the structure, specifically the pieces related to the monstrous contraption she once saw built out of a building on the surface.

It was still large but no longer over 3 stories tall!

The hybrids and other dragons were tasked with more mundane but no less intensive tasks. Wood, metal, crystals, and other materials were being laid out each day per the plans the True Lord had created.

At first, they spent nearly 3 years just refining and creating the pieces! There were almost 5000 people working together and it still took that long!

An appreciation for how long it took the True Lord alone to build the dry dock was rising as time passed. He had given them clear plans and steps to reach before proceeding to the next set.

The True Lord, himself, was working on the central power setup as well as the control systems as no one else understood them but him.

The power core now had a name due to Hope's contribution.

It was called Hacore amusingly. The True Lord had been trying out different names but she gave the childish fusion of harmony and core without a blink of her eyes.

He had tried to improve on it but all the hybrids took to it quickly and he just surrendered.

The Hacore was able to generate Qi without the need for a cultivator to infuse it or gather Qi to run it. Wen did not fully understand the principles but it seemed the strange thing called harmonies could react to each other to flare power on its own.

The various artifacts fed Qi and Laws into that key part to give it life but it could be stopped just as easily in case of uncontrolled surges.

The safety mechanisms had been put in place before the Hacore was ever ignited.

The True Lord then tested them very harshly to be sure they worked as intended. A few failures had revealed some dangerous moments could occur but he took care of them.

Aside from that, he also installed several redundant artifacts that would slowly disperse Qi over time to keep the ship afloat in emergencies if the Hacore was shut down in flight. It would reduce the future vessel to a temporary floating island but it would also allow the ship to gently float down.

In a world not in the current state, it would be perfectly safe but in the current circumstances, it delayed death for every moment bought.

It was not so easy to test those at scale but he still put them through paces with Lady Esmerelda watching over him.

It had been almost 5 years total since they started but the shape of things were starting to come together.

The Nautilus was a seed shaped object with a narrow end flowing to a wider one. It cut through air very well that way and could handle a crash better as well.

The simple design had been proven a good thing to retain but the new design would not let the True Lord get away with similar results.

"Lady Wen, Lord Frey is asking for you." Wen looked up to see a familiar face but in vastly different clothes. His once stubborn refusal to break protocol was nowhere to be found as her cousin was now in pants and long sleeved shirt covered in stains of sweat and some burnt areas.

It had been a slow change, but she had been heartened by it.

The hybrids had been suppressed for so long that even those treated well did not offer up their opinions in opposition to any order given.

The young man's insolence to the True Lord before was because he was not a recognized member of any Clan.

"I am almost finished with my quota for today. I will find him." Jade communication stones did not function properly at the moment so word of mouth was the only way to reach people.

She finished 2 more panels before flying up the structure. After 5 years, it began to take shape but she was unsure what to call it.

The large cylindrical body seemed to be tapered at the back a bit. A crystal dome had been placed over a large opening but she felt like it was only for the construction period.

The other end had a mix of metal and jade projected outward. At several points there were crystal apertures that led directly to the collection artifacts inside. Those fed into the Hacore eventually but she continued to rise up and there was a narrowed neck connecting to a new piece.

The majority of living quarters were in the new section.

It was closer to a disk shape but blunted on all 4 sides for reasons she did not yet understand.

The back of it also had 2 jade tubes that she could see being covered up now as part of the neck.

They connected to the circular area at the back of it. The rest of the hull was still open but she found her target sitting in the very center of the shell.

He was installing panels in a roughly circular room but it was barely coming together.

He was using another Starshell dragon to thread what looked like crystals into each panel carefully as they were set into their fixtures. Wen was impressed how he grasped the ability of each clan so easily.

"You summoned me, True Lord?" She knelt in an open space but he was currently inside one of the lower panel areas as the sound of sparks could be heard.

"Just a moment, Wen. I am almost—gotcha!" The panel suddenly lit up and numbers began to be displayed as a hum filled the room. He slid put and was covered in some crystal fragments and jade dust.

"Billan, keep connecting the others like I showed you for a moment." The Starshell man bowed and began very delicate connecting processes.

Wen was fascinated by the complexity but it was all being turned into simplicity. The panels, while showing the state of things, were not difficult to use.

"It is turning into a rat's nest but it is working. I can already see ways to simplify it in the future." The True Lord dusted himself off and smiled at her. He was much more relaxed working on the vessel.

"I can see issues repairing it if things go wrong." He nodded at her words but took her to the side and sat in a barebones chair already installed on the deck. She took one across from him.

"I wanted to talk to you about the upcoming stress test of the power system. I would like a Sunfire Clan member to be down there that knows what they are doing. It is possible I may need them to sever the main lines in case the shutdown fails." She nodded at the precaution as only their fire could slice through the refined materials of the new vessel.

"I will do it–" He held up his hand to her.

"You will be up here with me. I may be the True Lord, but you are respected by both hybrid and dragon alike. Also, they will follow your order faster than me." She frowned but could not disagree with his words.

While the True Lord could give an order, trust was not something that could be forced.

She nodded at his head before glancing around. He noticed her look and smirked.

"Hope is brainstorming the name of the ship. She is swooning over the whole place as it comes together. I also gave her some parameters this time." She smirked at his exasperation.

"What were the limits?" She was curious as it would be very important to name the ship.

He smiled and was about to explain when a dragon suddenly swooped up with a laughing Hope on its back. It was pale blue scales with a gold tinge on the wing tips.

"She got that brat to help her fly again." Hope, despite reaching the Sun Tier, still could not fly on her own. No one was sure where her limits lay but she conformed to humans thus far.

"You were the one that allowed the young dragon to come up with us." Lind smirked at Wen's words.

"Hope had befriended her and there was no harm in coming up here. For a member of the Haze Clan, the Water Seed is beneficial so it worked out. Still, they are not supposed to fly so recklessly." The pair saw Hope ride her friend right next to an access point as the dragon could not yet transform very well.

"Big Brother! I got it!" She slid down and patted the head of the dragon she had ridden up to them.

"All right, but first we need–" The True Lord tried to reprimand the young woman but she held up a scroll with 3 words. It made him freeze before slowly taking it into his hands.

"Where did you get the idea for this?" His voice was strange. It was like he was in deep shock.

"You said it had to represent our goal! I thought hard and came up with this!" Wen glanced at it and arched an eyebrow at them.

"So the ship will be called the Wings of Freedom?" It seemed an odd choice but then she slowly pictured the prisons they all lived in. The world was dying and very little safety remained.

"Sigh, I suppose it is appropriate. Very well, I accept it." Hope cheered and the name was noted down. "May we fare better than that other story."

The last words confused Wen but he never elaborated on them. They all went back to work and hoped to finish the ship within the next 2 years. Then the work would really begin.