Chapter 614: Ice Machine (1/2)
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.