Ball of Nothing

Chapter 614: Ice Machine

Although the injuries the sea otters suffered weren't considered life-threatening, Zero was still horrified to discover how severe the burns were. The engine room's design wasn't the best. However, the doctor never imagined that there would be a situation when people would become injured from the manufacturing flaws. Under normal circumstances, they would have evacuated. However, none of these hardened warriors of the sea fled when their captain told them to continue pumping that engine even if they were getting boiled alive.

The ship's interior was a mess, but thankfully, the hull's damages did not permeate entirely. Zero had to prioritise healing the shipwrights first to check on the severity of the ship's condition even if there were patients in a worse condition.

Truen didn't know how to help Zero. Together with Bob, they found the captain and asked for orders. So far, nothing crucial in the ship was broken except the engine's temporary shut-down from overheating.

Ottley took one look at them and grinned without humour. Those who were powerful and knew magic was undoubtedly on a different level from werebeasts like them. If it wasn't for their help, the crew might have been wiped out entirely even after they escaped from the deadly whirlpool.

"Could you do an inventory check?" he asked weakly as Truen helped him up. "We need to know if there is a shortage of any critical supplies. The ship has to resurface as soon as the shipwrights and navigating teams are conscious. We need to set up a mobile docking station after surfacing to commence an emergency health check. Those volcanic rocks did a number. I hope nothing critical was damaged."

They agreed quickly, and Truen paused just before he left the command room. "What about the engine? How long will the cooldown take?"

While Ottley wasn't a master builder, he roughly understood how the engine fashioned from the Kraken's core worked. Thomas explained that the auto shut down technology of gnomes was like a safety switch. Once the internal temperature is cool enough, the engine will restart automatically.

"The engine will start when it is cooled enough under safe temperature levels. Anything from hours to days from how hard we worked it. Why?"

Truen thought about it. While Ice magic wasn't his strongest talent, he knew someone who could manage that.

"Are there any fragile contraptions in the engine?"

As he wasn't the engineer who designed or built this ship, Ottley shrugged. "You'd have to ask my master about it. I wouldn't take any chances. What do you intend to do?"

Truen shrugged. "Maybe ice magic, maybe something else. Anything that would help reduce the temperature after Zero is done with his task. I'll get the inventory list. Don't push yourself too much if you don't want him to go into overprotective doctor's mode."

Ottley didn't doubt Truen's warning. Zero can be scary when he wants to be. There was no mistaking that furious complaining voice drifting from the engine room. If Zero could yell at his crew for acting recklessly, it meant that they were all alive and alright.

Heaving a heavy sigh and finally feeling the adrenaline ebb away, Ottley started to feel the pain. Yet, he never thought about jumping the queue for the doctor. Zero had his hands full, and even the idle human-transforming magic beast was doing inventory counts. As the captain, he still had things to do.

Back in the engine room, Zero told Wii to cast ice magic in the inferno-like chamber at regular intervals. The shipwrights told him that they needed to restore the engine gradually by reducing the surrounding temperature gradually.

"Enough!" the sea otter squirmed. "I can deal with this. Please heal the others. We need to restore the ship and prepare it for emergency docking when it reaches the surface. Please conserve your mana."

Indeed, if Zero was a regular mage, he would have to prioritise healing people. Healing magic was an advanced art that consumes a lot of mana. Even an archmage's mana wasn't infinite. The injuries Zero had to heal were also not considered minor either. The sea otters had every right to worry, but Zero only took that as an insult to his abilities.

"Shut up and get in the group! I don't want to waste my energy casting a larger than needed area effect. It's your job to run this ship. I'm just tagging along to find Indra Seagloo. Isn't that our initial arrangement? How dare you tell me what to do!"

Stunned but unable to reason with or negotiate with an infuriated doctor, the poor shipwrights got into the group that Zero specified. All eight injured sea otters looked confused as a warm golden glow enveloped them. Zero didn't chant anything, so it took them a while to realise what the doctor was doing.

Seared flesh started growing new layers of skin, and fur began to cover the bald patches. Broken bones were realigned and reinforced. Any severe bruises and internal bleeding slowly swelled less after a few minutes. It didn't matter if it was a big injury, small injury, new injury, or old injury. Zero healed everything in a very complicated healing spell he created with the help of his grimoire. Hua Tuo would disapprove of using healing magic so recklessly, but Zero didn't want to waste any time.

Compared to the waste of mana, Zero thought that the condition of the ship was more important. He couldn't cast healing magic on the ship to repair it. It took the skills of these eight very dedicated sea otters to keep it sinking properly.

Wii didn't stop working on cooling the engine room, and Zero never stopped his healing spell even if he felt the drain in his mana supply. There was still Pepper and the captain to heal later, so Mii kept an eye on how much mana Zero was using and if she needed to convert something else into mana.

In less than twenty minutes, everyone in the healing circle was conscious, full of vigour and feeling better than they ever did.

"It's done," Zero announced. "Please try to fix the ship. I will gradually lower the engine room temperature, so please bring Pepper and your captain to me. I have not healed them yet."

True to his words, Zero hasn't stopped casting small amounts of ice magic into the boiling engine room even when maintaining the complex area effect healing magic. They couldn't understand how powerful Zero was as a magician, but that would explain why he had an endless inventory space.

First, a doctor. Next, an ice machine. Zero was truly their saving grace in this dangerous expedition.

"Right away!" the first mate agreed, not wanting to offend the very important person on board. With Zero around, it might be possible to sail the dangerous ocean and return alive.