Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 347: Kobaya

Chapter 347: Kobaya

In the next few hours, Masanori gathered the players and fishermen and explained the plan in detail. Although the fishermen were puzzled by the sudden shift in plan, they didn’t mind. Neither did the players who presumed this was what the head fisherman intended all along. Teams were formed, each with specific tasks. Most of the players were to break the canoes to get the wood. The fishermen would start the initial construction.

For the next three hours, the village was busy, busy, busy. Kazi whispered in Masanori’s ear whenever he could and under Masanori’s direction, the players and fishermen worked tirelessly. The village sawed, hammered, and shouted out instructions. Kazi was apart of the canoe breaking squad but eventually was called over to the building.

Kazi told Masanori to omit his name in the creation of the plan. ’Some of these players are ambitious. They want to be the first to find the main objective. It’s better to let them think this is from a local here.’

An hour later and it was lunch break. Kazi wasn’t the type to get tired from menial work. Alas, not everyone was Kazi so he got to walking and thinking. He had a pretty solid idea of who was going to be on the other side.

On their side were the Sapphire Order, the Thunderstrike Brotherhood, and the Red Dragons. By process of elimination, that left the Alhambra Guardians and the Spectres to be their opponents. The balance of power was fairly even, discounting phenomenal players that could likely tip the scales like himself, Sun-young, Jules, and Booker Davis Jr.

’There she is.’

He had been keeping an eye on a certain mage too. A thin woman with silky black hair and a white dress off alone, crouched, and her hands glowing with a faint light. Intrigued, Kazi joined down next to her.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Ohmygod—" Pauline gasped and turned, nearly tripping. She instantly found relief that it was someone she knew. "Kazi, wow! You surprised me!"

"Sorry, sorry." Kazi looked down and saw an oddly shaped piece of wood and a fading magic circle underneath it. "I figure you were sitting there and looking at the ground for the fun of it."

A smile spread across her face. "Hehe, I’m transmuting rocks into wood."

Kazi’s eyes widened. "Really? That’s amazing!"

Pauline pointed a finger at another fist-sized rock and slung over a thread of mana that pulled it over to them. Pauline then proceeded to draw a magic circle in the sand beneath it. "It’s not easy," she explained. "I have to create a magic circle to transmutate and the magic circle properties should correpond to what you want. Even then, it doesn’t always work perfectly. You have to fill your mana in equal parts, see. I’m drawing a parallel magic circle so the timing has to be perfect too."

She placed her hands on the rock and chanted softly. The circle glowed brightly, and before Kazi’s eyes, the rock began to change. Its texture softened, its color shifted, and within moments, it transformed into a solid piece of wood.

Kazi was impressed. "That’s incredible. Can you teach me?"

Pauline nodded eagerly. "But don’t expect it to work on your first try. It took me weeks to get it right consistently."

"Varying size and shape messes up consistency, huh?"

"Yes, exactly."

Kazi watched closely as Pauline drew another magic circle. She explained the magic circle and the trade-off that came with the design being parallel lines.

"Parallel magic circles bring more speed and smoothness. At the same time, when you flow mana into it, it has to be perfect."

In this case, the alphabet used was the Theban alphabet—or the witches’ alphabet. Spaced out at the four corners on the first layer were the words "transmute", "wood", "rock", and "connect". The second layer had "melt", "heat", "become", and "complete". Lines were drawn to connect one layer to the next.

Kazi copied it to the finest inch, etching the fire element circle into the sand. Pauline was surprise that he could already do what the university called "Mana Quill". Thin strands of mana that corresponded to a selected element. Shifting between elements was said to be difficult; at least according to Pauline. The circle drawing, the rock was already placed.

When he placed his hands on the rock and began to fill it with his mana, his instincts took over. Timing it suddenly became easy. The circle glowed, and the rock transformed seamlessly into wood. Pauline’s lips parted in disbelief.

"W-wow, you got that on your first try. Congrats."

"Lucky try," he said, smiling. "My woodie is just big, that’s all."

Pauline bit her bottom lip. Her eyes couldn’t have made it more obvious. Kazi let out a sigh.

"...okay, now you’re making it weird."

"I didn’t say anything."

"Your eyes said it."

"H-hey, you were the one that told me not to stay silent and speak up. And who says woodie? I’ve never heard anyone use woodie for a piece of wood."

"In my language, it’s in our vernacular." He shook his head and tsked several times. "French people."

"Don’t hate the nation, hate the person."

"Isn’t that still hate?"

"Yeah, but...like...you know what I mean."

"Sometimes, there is wisdom in being quiet and greater wisdom in being dumb."

"I’m not dumb, I’m normal! I think."

As always, Kazi got to laugh when he was with her. Back to what was at hand, Kazi tried to do it again. This time, he grabbed a rock for himself and did a bit of improv. Slight deviations according to what he already knew and studied as an archeologist. By the time Pauline came over, the rock had transmuted into wood once more.

"You’re good at this," Pauline remarked, astonished.

"Did you make this magic circle yourself?" Kazi asked.

"Sort-of, yes. In class, we have this template for transmutation of rock types. Goes from one rock type to another. I had to adjust it to get it to turn wood. Sadly, if you’ve noticed, it’s not perfect and a bit of wood is lost in between."

Kazi grinned. "Better to have some wood than none at all. Thank you, Pauline. This will help us a lot. I looove French people now!"

"You’re never going to stop mentioning that, are you?"

"Princess, I truly sincerely, doubly love France. Except Paris. It’s like New York, doesn’t live up to the hype. Strasbourg and Lyon are much better cities."

"Wait, you’ve actually been to France!? S-so we...have met! R-right?"

"The Normandy area with Giverny...." Kazi gave a chef’s kiss. "Beautiful place and even more beautiful history. I worked at the WW2 museums and cemeteries. Some of the best months of my life."

"Kazi, what exactly did you do in your past life to work at a museum and a cemetery."

"What, normal people don’t work at cemeteries?"

"No, a-at least I don’t think so."

"How do you know? Have you ever met a cemetery worker?"

"N-no."

"Say it with more confidence."

"No!" A long, intentional pause from Kazi. Pauline stammered, "I-I mean, no to...no to like...I’m doing what you asked me to do. The confidence thing."

Again, hanging out with Pauline always got a laugh out of him.

Lunch was over. When Kazi went over to Masanori, he told him that he may be able to get them more wood. That Kazi needed large amounts of rock to do it.

"Rock? We have plenty of rock here, my friend!" Masanori exclaimed.

And so, Kazi began transmuting rocks into wood to supplement their supplies.

***

The morning sun climbed higher and thw workers of the busy shipyard swear harder. Kazi was carrying wood when he noticed Jackson struggling with the alignment of the planks on one of the ships. The southern man, with his thick accent and cheerful demeanor, was trying to fit the planks together, but there was a noticeable gap between them. "Oi, aye! Kazi, I need yer help after you’re done!"

Kazi jogged over and knelt down beside the planks, running his fingers along the gap to feel for any inconsistencies. "Let’s see what we’ve got here," he muttered, more to himself than to Jackson.

Kazi noticed that the planks were cut at slightly different angles, which was causing the misalignment. He reached for a plane tool and began shaving off small sections of wood from the edges.

"Good eye," Jackson praised.

"It’s nothing much. I just take my time. It’s better to do it right the first time than to have to fix it later."

Once Kazi had planed the edges to his satisfaction, he picked up a mallet and gently tapped the planks into place. The gap disappeared and the pieces fit together seamlessly.

"That looks much better," Kazi said, nodding in approval. "Now, let’s secure these with pegs. Make sure they’re driven in tight, so there’s no movement."

"Seems kinda pointless against monsters but okay."

"Better to keep the boat after two tackles than one."

"Fair enough."

Jackson grabbed a handful of wooden pegs and a hammer. He positioned the pegs and began hammering them in, ensuring they were snug. Kazi supervised, although Jackson didn’t need to be authored on how to hammer.

"Perfect," Kazi said when Jackson finished securing the last peg. "Check the alignment of all the planks. We need to make sure the hull is smooth and even."

"Gotta keep this thing from being effed by one attack, eh?"

"Eh, man."

"Hey Kazi, you said you were a traveler. What, you a shipbuilder too?" Jackson joked.

"Actually, I owned a couple of shipyards in my day," Kazi replied. "My first one was in Brazil, which was gifted to me by the locals for beating up the police. Oh, but don’t tell anyone that."

"Beatin’ the police!? Ain’t that gonna get you arrested!?"

"By whom?"

"Good point. I dunno, the CIA? Don’t they go to Mexico and Brazil a lot?"

"I had a good word with the CIA so I was fine."

"Luck of the devil." Jackson whistled. "You’re a strange one, Kazi Hossain. We’re lucky to have you here."