"Is the sea always this rough?"
Inside the cabin, Levy's body slid around the room as the ship rocked with the waves outside. Felix just sat on the bed watching as he too rocked at weird angles or rising up from the bed from time to time. The crew could be shouting outside as waves could be heard crashing down.
"It seems we hit a sea storm."
"We aren't going to sink are we?" Levy cried out.
Her body flew up and then came crashing towards him. Felix raised his hands and caught her before placing her on the bed. Then he began to think about her question.
"Proably not."
There is no guarantee on this as even those who lived on the sea for decades don't dare promise it. Each sail is a gamble if they will return or not, no matter the amount of experience. Almost like the saying, live by the sword, die by the sword.
Clearly his answer didn't satisfy the frightened Levy as she gripped the railing on the bed tightly. Her hands turned white as she demonstrated her strength contained within her.
Luck seemed to be with them as Felix said, they didn't sink. So once the storm passed they soon arrived at Mana One that looked like a rig on top of the sea. While below from time to time could see lights and something beneath depending on how the sea wave moved.
--
At the dock, Felix led Levy off the boat where they met a slightly shorter man. His hair and eyes were dark as his eyes squinted a bit reminding Felix of the Fortune Teller he met at the Joestar Mansion. This man's eyes were not as cunning or squinting, but either he or his ancestors probably came from a similar place.
"You two must be the Fairy Tail Mages. Younger than I expected." The man said. "I am Minway Zhang, one of the researchers here."
"Felix Grimm, a S-class mage of Fairy Tail."
"Levy McGarden, mage of Fairy Tail."
Felix and Levy introduced themselves to him politely. The man simply nodded before shifting his attention to Felix in surprise.
"The pay shouldn't warrant an S-class mage to come." Minway asked.
Felix just stayed silent as it isn't anyone concerned on what kind of mission he wants to do. If he wanted to do the cheapest mission of finding a lost pet, that is his business. Still, he doesn't often state his rank as many who hear it often try to pay more for the mission than listed. The excuse generally being along the lines of 'needing to pay more for receiving such a skillful and strong mage'.
The reason he said it this time is because the guy gave a polite introduction. Still before an awkward silence fell, they moved on as they ascended a metal grate staircase. While moving about the rig.
This is a strange part of this world, technology is very unevenly dispersed like in Dragon Ball. While in one town they have flying cars and high tech phones, in another they are still using candles for lighting.
Upon entering a seemingly worn service elevator ascended or descended with a push of a button. Levy looked around curiously, while Felix just gave the area a look before waiting for the doors to open again.
When the door opened again, unlike the worn appearance of the elevator and top above, the corridor before them were worlds apart. Lights seemingly embedded along the walls lit up a pristine and clean hallway. At the end, a window from top to bottom revealed a world under the sea where whales seemed to be swimming at the moment.
Before the window, a small girl about eight or so was watching them. She had her black hair tied back and shared similar features to Minway.
"That is my granddaughter." Minway whispered.
After looking at the whale for a bit, they moved onwards where Minway gave them a small tour. This tour ended when they reached the control room where dozens of people were looking at a screen of some kind.
This caught Felix's attention as he took a closer look and discovered someone seemed to embed the Archive spell within. Thus a magic computer seemed to have been made as the ones before it navigated a series of data.
"What are these? I don't think I've seen any magic tools like this." Levy gushed over the interesting device.
"They are called Magic Tablets, developed by the Magic Council. They haven't been released to the public yet and probably won't be for many years." Minway replied.
"Shame." Levy pouted as she clearly wanted on. "Then how come they are here?"
"The Magic Council is one of the sponsors of this research station. So they sent over a batch and thanks to them allowed us to increase our speed of research." Minway smiled.
"Bad news, Jack Morris is on his way."
A tall and slender man with brownish skin walked over quickly. The man had a large nose as he concern fill his eyes as he rubbed his forehead. Clearly whoever this Jack is, this man either didn't like him or felt like trouble was on its way.
"Really, isn't he supposed to come in half a year?" Minway frowned but not too much.
Besides being an oceanographer, he too is a businessman with quite a fortune. While it couldn't match Jack Morris, who has sponsored quite a bit of the technology around them. He could give a few guesses on why the man is appearing now instead when he scheduled it.
"Is there anything else, James?"
"He wants to see some results."
Minway felt like cursing since while they had some results, it probably wasn't what Jack is after. They had quite a bit of ocean research, but outside of those who study the sea, it won't interest or generate profits.
"Finally, he also wants to see a dive." James gave the last bit of bad news.
"A dive?" Minway rubbed his forehead harder.
Felix just looked at the wall while Levy just listened confused. The conversation didn't really concern them since they were here to guard the station from magical beasts. Internal matters didn't concern them.
--
Due to matters needing to be handled, Felix and Levy were led away by Minway's daughter Suyin. She completed the tour for them as well as showed them the rooms they would be living in during their duration of their stay.
The room was actually quite well furnished, but Felix looked at the glass door to the shower. While it had a wall so one won't be able to see in if they walk in, but after a few steps. It was basically a free show of whoever is in the shower.
While this actually didn't bother him, it just felt like a strange design to him. Maybe it is because he is used to the room for showering and bathing being closed off and not seeing the rest of the house. Now having one where he could see the rest of his living quarters felt a bit foreign to him.
"Let's go visit Levy to set up a plan rotation." Felix said to himself.
He tossed his bag into a chair and left the room and went across the hall. Pressing open the door, he walked in and found Levy taking a shower. She squeaked at first at the sudden intrusion, but let out a sigh of relief upon seeing it was Felix. Before grumbling about his lack of manners.
"Did you need something?" Levy asked with a sigh.