Ishgard, The Skysteel Manufactory
While not quite on par with the Garlean Empire's Garlond Ironworks or Limsa Lominsa's, the machinists of Ishgard are generally considered to be among the best on the Eorzean continent. These machinists are responsible for developing various ranged weapons and magitek devices for the knights. The two main products are the Dragon Killer and the magitek barrier. In addition, they also developed various firearms and other light weapons. So, why do most Ishgardian knights usually carry shields and rarely use spears or greatswords?
It's simple. Just like how Sword Saint Isshin's most powerful technique isn't actually swordsmanship, but suddenly pulling out a handgun and giving you a twelve-shot combo, the Ishgardian knight's most powerful move isn't fighting with a shield and longsword, but pulling out a cavalry carbine, slapping on a Gauss barrel, and taking a shot, or wheeling out a Dragon Killer loaded with thunder ammo and blasting it into the sky.
Huihui curiously pawed at the pile of unfinished parts, feeling that these things didn't seem to have any use and weren't edible. "I've been thinking about a problem, regarding the Anti-Dragon Airship." Cid circled Huihui twice. "You're not planning on having us carried into the eye of the storm by a dragon, are you?" Azure Dragoon Estinien scoffed. The Anti-Dragon Airship was a vehicle used to break through the storm and enter Nidhogg's lair. "And she doesn't seem to listen to you."
"No, I've now found a way to get along with this little one," Cid said solemnly, while also looking disdainfully at a certain Dragoon who was still in the "useless background character" category. He then pulled out a materia and handed it to a dazed Huihui.
Then, to Estinien's horror, the latter shoved the materia, which could be used to crack ten knights' skulls without deforming, into her mouth and made a crunching sound, as if biting through a candy.
This made the Dragoon feel like he was standing here naked, even wearing the best Ishgardian armor, completely lacking any sense of security. However, for Huihui, this materia was no different from salt or candy. Whether in dragon or human form, she could crunch them up and swallow them, which turned into an increasingly dense layer of aetherial crystals on her dragon jewel (Valstrax's Light Orb forming...). In addition to the main dragon jewel, the secondary dragon jewels on her throat and wing roots also began to exhibit irregular spherical shapes.
(This is the "orb" that hunters extract without killing Elder Dragons. Huihui, like Behemoth, can be carved more than 4 times, yielding a maximum of 3 Light Orbs. However, she's much harder to fight than the land-based Behemoth and can also cast "meteors" and "magic." Hunters interested in taking on the "Subjugation: Azure Sky Sovereign" quest to craft the current top-tier RANK 9 equipment are advised to form a team of 16 and filter out random players – a friendly warning from the Hunter's Guild.)
In her dragon form, a structure resembling crystal spines gradually accumulated on her back and head, emitting an exceptionally sweet and alluring aroma for certain creatures. And in human form, the dragon girl's horns and tail developed colorful glowing patterns. Scale-like cyan patterns appeared on her chubby face, and she emanated an unrestrained, high concentration of aetherial magic, like a walking magitek device.
This isn't a good thing. An excessive amount of aetherial magic is a significant burden, even for a dragon like Huihui. The most obvious sign is that her appetite hasn't been as strong lately. However, this doesn't mean she's self-sustaining; it's more like a junkie's situation. She's ingesting something with extremely stimulating and exciting effects on the mind, which leads to a decreased appetite. Similarly, aetherial magic is one of those things.
It doesn't actually sustain life. Even Louisoux, the pinnacle of mortal magic, who possessed several times more aetherial magic than Huihui currently accumulates, ended up with an old face like a dried orange peel, rather than a youthful face due to abundant magic. And… the man still had to eat, which speaks volumes.
However, being brimming with magic can give them the false impression that "I'm full of energy, I don't need to sleep or eat, I'm about to become immortal!" This is the result of their brains being tricked by the high-energy substances in their bodies.
Every magician who reaches this point must face the first challenge of their career: breaking through their cognitive illusion, gaining true control and a deep understanding of magic. Otherwise, they'll gradually weaken and die amidst the illusion of becoming more magically powerful each day.
And those who experience this feeling the most and have the most experience with it are Dragonkin, also known as Summoners. They constantly use Aetherflow to release these terrifying amounts of aetherial magic, channeling it into spells. In their daily lives, they experience this terrifying sensation of almost becoming pure aetherial magic themselves. They call this state "Dragon God Trance," as if they're synchronizing with the Dragon God Bahamut, who possesses limitless magic.
"To break through the wind barrier, and also to prevent the little one from having problems with her aetherial magic, I specifically crafted a set of equipment for her." Cid pulled out a device resembling a small alarm clock. "After studying the Summoners' ability to summon false Primal egi, I think we can divert the excess aetherial magic into something similar, using crystals or other materials to create similar summons to alleviate the little one's excessive magical burden." (Kinsect missile pod loaded, current payload: 0)
"And how does that relate to breaking through the wind barrier?"
"It also means she can absorb wind-aspected magic in reverse. Plus, we'll have a… well, a more comfortable cockpit."
Huihui wasn't opposed to being flown, as long as you didn't think about climbing on her back. The consequence for that would be getting grabbed from her back by Huihui, who has a long neck that can rotate 360 degrees, and then experiencing the biological version of a double-layered chainsword before painting the sky with your blood, unless you hug her neck so she can't bite you, but doing that might be even worse.
As always, nothing is unfixable in front of Huihui with a meat offering, if there is, then offer two. Since Cid's initial goodwill wasn't exactly high, it took three meat offerings for Huihui to quietly lie down in the Skysteel Manufactory and accept the "passenger comfort" modifications. Simply put, the device was mounted near her throat dragon jewel, one of the most important major arteries and the convergence point of magic flow in her body.
Cid was wise enough not to try climbing onto Huihui's back to install anything. He simply attached two temporary metal rings to her claws. "Huihui, give it a try." The young dragon raised her claws a bit blankly, but nothing happened.
"That's not how you try it! You need to inject your magic into it!"
"Awoo?" Huihui tilted her head, completely not understanding what he was saying. She scratched the ground with her claws impatiently. She was getting a little annoyed, but after the fourth meat offering, she regained her composure.
And Cid's bank account was officially bankrupt. Well, as the heir to Garlond Ironworks, his assets made him the only Warrior of Light who could afford to feed Huihui. Even Minfilia couldn't manage it. But, the fact that his Imperial accounts were frozen was quite embarrassing. Currently, the money he earned from selling small gadgets and helping out with work at the Skysteel Manufactory was being spent on materials and bribing Huihui with meat to improve her affinity.
It has to be said that with bribes of top-grade night toad legs specially flown in from Ul'dah, large deep-sea tuna specially caught by the Limsa Lominsa Fishermen's Guild, fresh perfume apples from the farms, and finally, high-end ingredients such as Gridanian elven honey and delicious carrots, Huihui was well-behaved enough not to yeet Cid, who was trying to strap things to her, out the window. But, that didn't mean she would stay still obediently.
In a short time, Cid owed the Manufactory a large sum for equipment damage, all caused by Huihui's restlessness. She wasn't the Dragonkin child anymore, but a thirty-ton dragon. With just one displeased flap of her wings, the blade-like wingtips would neatly chop down the equipment. If you were lucky, it could be repaired. If you weren't, it was pretty much scrap.
After paying a huge price, Huihui finally understood that Cid meant for her to tap her claws. This would create something like a magitek barrier on her hands, like a sphere. Then, she could just fly while holding the sphere, and it would effectively resist the storm, allowing the Scions to fly the whole way at least a little more comfortably.
"Awoo~" Huihui was very pleased with this orb. She felt that she wouldn't have to painstakingly carry a large string of wooden barrels anymore, and transporting and gathering ingredients would be much easier. For example, salt. (A Nergigante's eyes lost their light...)
The Sea of Clouds, the Palace of the Wyrm
"Whoosh~!" With a sharp screech like a super-high-speed fighter jet cutting through the air, Huihui gracefully sliced through the dense clouds. The storms that would cripple airships were utterly ineffective against her. Cid hadn't even installed specialized, elementally-aspected crystals to convert aetherial attributes. Simply put, Huihui was brute-forcing her way through the wind barrier, relying on her massive raw power.
Especially for Huihui, who, unlike other Valstrax, possessed aerodynamic lifting surfaces on her wings. The stronger the headwind of the wind barrier, the more agile she became, outmaneuvering the defending wyverns and drakes so badly they couldn't find their bearings.
On the other hand, several unlucky Teltaryu were unfortunate enough to have their poisonous flesh taste somewhat like wasabi nori-flavored grilled meat and suffered Huihui's aerial predation, and also got packed to go - the Scions, who were forced to squeeze together with these poisonous dragon meats, had somewhat strong opinions about it - and they didn't dare throw the meat away. If they ruined Huihui's ingredients, Huihui would ruin them.
"Unfamiliar kin, you are associating with these vile and shameless humans..." The black four-winged dragon flew from behind, questioning in the Draconic language. As one of the First Brood, Nidhogg could sense that this unfamiliar dragon wasn't old. He wasn't a visually-oriented creature like humans, and both Huihui's life force radiance and her scent lacked the characteristics of an adult dragon. Moreover...
She was also a female dragon. This made Nidhogg, for once, maintain a little reason and calmness, not attacking immediately. After all, to the dragons, Huihui was like a newborn infant - it was normal for her to be ignorant. Children of this age wouldn't understand much, and Nidhogg felt it was necessary to make her realize the true faces and wicked nature of these humans.
Without considering the humans' perspective, Nidhogg wasn't truly evil in all honesty. He was just a tragic and pitiful older brother seeking revenge for his sister, and also a Dragon leader who was utterly disappointed in humanity and heartbroken by the gullibility of his own kind. Even from the perspective of a revenger, Nidhogg wasn't a completely deranged dragon.
He hadn't even attacked humans in other places. He was simply tormenting and devouring the Ishgardians who carried draconic factors in their bodies after consuming his sister's dragon eyes and flesh. And this torment never extended to other races. He hadn't even tried to completely destroy the Ishgardians, only used the eternal Dragonsong War to constantly remind them, torment them, and make their descendants repent and atone in pain.
Even for a dragon's sense of age and time, this torment and punishment hadn't even lasted too long. A thousand years is almost 20+ generations for humans. They wouldn't think they should atone for ancestors they've never met or even heard of.
But for the dragons, this was just a short period. It was like how no one thinks it's excessive to put a despicable murderer into a penal colony for ten years. Even the Azure Dragon, who was friendly to humans, tacitly agreed with and even helped Nidhogg to some extent.
As the Azure Dragon questioned: "It was your human king who betrayed the dragons and humanity for power, causing me to lose my sister, my brother to lose his eyes, and turning the dying wish of my beloved into a joke. And now, you're going to blame me?"
However, Huihui didn't understand these nuances. For her and her kind, revenge was immediate. Eating and being eaten was an easy-to-understand relationship:
If Huihui were hunted and killed by a hunter, other Valstrax wouldn't feel any sympathy or seek revenge for her. Well, as for whether the hunter could actually do it, and what the consequences of her aetherial magic outburst would be after they succeeded... that would be the hunter's responsibility to bear.
So, Huihui's response to Nidhogg's questioning was - "Eep?"
"....."
The black dragon thought he might have chosen the wrong approach to negotiation. This little one in front of him was clearly the kind of toddler who couldn't even speak properly. All the rhetoric he had prepared was useless. It seemed he had to resort to the last method of communicating with children – a spanking! One good thrashing and she'd know what she should and shouldn't do. As for the reasoning and cause-and-effect...
Don't be silly. She probably couldn't even write the characters for "reasoning." These matters could wait until she was older. Nidhogg was indeed a good older brother, but he was also a strict one. So, he decided to discipline this possibly youngest little sister, even if she looked different from himself and the other Azure Dragons. But the draconic senses don't lie.
"ROAR!" The black dragon roared and swooped down. "Eep!" Huihui abruptly sidestepped, looking at the diving black dragon with bewildered terror, like a startled husky...
And so, the azure and black dragons began their harmonious and friendly game in the sky above...