Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

When Sealyn and Esmeralda heard the news about the new planet after the end of the day on the tournament, they took their time thinking about what they should do… they could see the points of all options, but things reached a difficult deadlock.

"I agree that we should at least check that planet for survivors. We need more allies," Esmeralda said.

"... As a military leader, I can't see how allying ourselves with those who lost their battles as well would benefit us in any shape or form," Sealyn said. "Things are starting to improve now that we have the arena and battle training opportunities. Changing our focus now would only make us waste time."

As usual, Sealyn was being coldly logical… it seemed that the matter was on the side of ignoring this civilization, at least for now. The others weren't ready to give up yet, and while Rain agreed with them, he decided to stay quiet for the time being.

"Just imagine what a waste it would have been if the humans and the seafolk had been exterminated in that war agaisnt the dragons," Esmeralda said. "Do you think that you would have won that battle without the help of those who were much weaker than you?

At the same time, humans helped the sea folk many times as well, and most of the time, we were on the weaker side, but we had the chance to show our valor. Letting that civilization fade would let their possibilities end. While they exist, their possibilities are endless."

"Not endless if they can't even leave their planet to look for a better one," Regis said.

"And how many of us truly helped with the knowledge to build the vessel?" Esmeralda asked. "Without Rain and the relics, we would still be there, sitting ducks for the next attack."

Esmeralda was a pretty good argumentator… she completely shut down Sealyn and Regis and made them rethink their approach. Branden, on her side, looked pretty proud of his wife. Rain could bet that he always loses when they argue about anything.

"... I suppose we could head to that planet until we find something more useful to do," Sealyn said. "While cold calculations are fine, we need to be able to change our minds and adapt to the situation. We all also need to be logical to accept better opportunities and change our path if we find something better to do before we reach that planet."

"I completely agree," Esmeralda said. "We are at war, after all. No point in helping others when we can't help ourselves."

"If we keep that in mind, then I am fine in heading toward that place," Regis added.

"We are going to work on the trajectory and the math to calculate the best and fastest way to approach that planet," Sakaki said. "I also would like to propose that we should tell people to work on increasing their mana pool a bit more. The reserves of mana on the vessel will soon decline since we have been using the magic cores to test and create a bunch of things for everyone."

"That is… something I would like to avoid," Esmeralda said. "Everyone will naturally increase their mana pool, but telling them to do so will be a bit pushing things too far."

Sealyn, Esmeralda, and the others continued their discussions on the course of action. Esmeralda was thinking along the lines that while they could all work together to bring down the enemies that targeted their planet twice, they couldn't dictate every decision for everyone.

They could train and spar together, but forcing them to make choices that might affect their lives and free will didn't align with Esmeralda's standards.

However, Sakaki's point about the diminishing mana pool was valid. Rain, in particular, had been working tirelessly for the benefit of everyone by using the magic ores to forge gear. In a way, he was sacrificing his own resources for the greater good. Sakaki assumed that everyone had to contribute similarly, at least to some extent.

Esmeralda sighed, realizing the aspect of Sakaki's argument. While she valued individual freedom and choice, the realities of their situation sometimes demanded a more collective approach.

"We are working on increasing the size, making it faster and more efficient as well, but there is only so much we can do about this without everyone's cooperation," Sakaki added.

"To make up for that, we can spread the knowledge of how everyone can make their own meditation mastery rings," Rain said. "We will do it for free, so no one will have any reason to complain about the costs of living when it comes to mana since they will gain more than they will lose."

"... I suppose that could work, few people can use fully the knowledge of the magic circles and runes, but if the knowledge is solely about that, they should be able to pull it off," Esmeralda said.

"That is decided then," Regis said.

"The next meeting should have when we have the trajectory and an estimation of the traveling time," Sealyn said and then got up. She looked to be in a hurry for some reason.

"We are working on the trajectory, but the distance was already calculated. We just did it," Sakaki said. "It should take between four weeks and six weeks."

"Why the long margin of error?" Rain asked.

"We are working on another project to present to you all to improve our speed," Sakaki said. "It isn't complete yet, but it is close enough. We are only working on the theoretical aspect for the time being."

Few people in the group truly liked the idea of letting the relics do as they pleased, and Sakaki was well aware of that. Rain had developed a bit more trust in the relics after their previous mission, where they had demonstrated their capabilities and loyalty. However, for the rest of the group, the relics were still a group with unknown intentions and allegiance.