Max and Sophia traveled down the road from the mountain where the city is built and arrived at the city piers, where they met the people responsible for receiving them at the dock's head office.
There they were taken into the office who was responsible for reviewing the application for the retrieval of the ship from the docks.
Ron was a young man who had just graduated from the university that the city had established to educate its residents.
With decent grades and strong communication skills, he was assigned the role of dock supervisor.
Today, as usual, he arrived at work, but he sensed something off about the city's atmosphere. The ship captains, typically in a jovial mood, appeared unusually serious. Many were visiting the docks, advising their crews to take extra care, as the wind was expected to pick up speed in the coming days.
After consulting the city lord's office, he was ordered to move all the ships to the hidden bay, a sheltered spot designed to isolate winds and ocean currents. It was built beneath the island specifically for use during emergency periods.
As he was about to take a short break, his assistant brought two visitors to him, explaining that they had come to see their ship docked at the harbor.
Out of professional courtesy, Ron refrained from commenting and instead inquired about the details of the ship so he could direct them to its location. However, the gentleman accompanying them pulled out a token and handed it to him.
Ron absentmindedly received the token, checked it, and realized it was the alchemy guild token, given to clients who had placed orders with them.
Upon recognizing the token, he finally remembered that a week ago, the alchemy masters, who rarely leave the city, had come to the docks and taken over a ship hangar after receiving permission from the city council.
Ron later heard that two ships were towed into the hangar, and the alchemy masters began visiting it daily. He eventually learned that the ships belonged to two friends of the city lord, who had ordered them to be upgraded using alchemy to prepare them for their next ocean journey.
Yesterday evening, they came to the office and instructed to hand over the ships to the client if they couldn't arrive with the client. They also asked to recognize them by the token they would have with them.
Ron immediately asked Max and Sophia to sit while he processed the documents for them.
Max and Sophia sat down on the chairs provided to them and watched as the officer took out a file containing their information with attached photos. He began stamping and signing the papers in the file hurriedly to complete the process faster.
Soon, Ron completed the stamping and signing of the papers, handed the files to Max and Sophia to review the details, and then asked them to sign at the designated places to confirm the handover process of the ships.
Max and Sophia reviewed the files, confirmed the details, and promptly signed where required before handing them back to be stored in the officer's locker for future use.
"Mister Max and Miss Sophia, your ships are docked at hangar number 1, where the Alchemist exclusive hangar is located. Please follow me; I will be your guide for the afternoon and will complete the handover process of the ships to you," Ron said as he stood up from his chair.
Max and Sophia who heard they can complete the handover process now were immediately felt happy and followed the officer to the dock no 1 where the ship were parked.
Within a few minutes, they arrived at Dock 1 on foot and were directed to the hidden bay, where hangar room No. 1 was painted in bold red capitals. Ron approached the closed door, took out a badge, and pressed it against the authorization panel, which emitted a beep as the shutter slowly opened.
Soon, they arrived at a vast ship hangar capable of holding at least two large cargo ships, which unfolded before them.
Max and Sophia were immensely surprised by the sheer size of the hangar, as they hadn't realized it was this spacious from the inside. They immediately recalled the auction house designed to accommodate thousands instantly with its space expansion array.
They then understood the hangar is also equipped with a huge space expansion array, which helps in expanding space that can be used in many places to store items safely.
Very soon, they were directed to the place where two black ships were parked on one side of the hangar, where a few people were doing last-minute checkups.
Max was captivated by the black ship, which had once been brown, the color of wood, but was now dressed in black. It felt like a black diamond gliding through the blue waters.
In addition to the black color, both ships have distinct stripes in gold and silver to differentiate them. This confused Max and Sophia, as they felt it was not a good idea to decide on the stripe colors without consulting the customers.
Noticing the doubts on Max and Sophia's faces, Ron, recalling the alchemist's reminder about the origin of the stripes' colors, quickly explained to them.
"Initially, the ship turned black because the alchemy liquid reacted with the wood used to construct it. Later, they decided to contact you to request an additional sign to recognize the ship. However, upon completing the ship's array formation, the alchemy masters discovered that the ship emitted a bright light, and the stripes began to appear on their own, which they couldn't prevent or remove."
Max and Sophia were bewildered by the explanation and quickly asked which ship belonged to whom. He reminded them that the ship with golden stripes was Max's, and the one with silver stripes was Sophia's.
After hearing his words, they were certain it was the system's work in designing the stripes on the ships as a reward for being the first to upgrade their ships to level 5.
Max then said they knew the reason for the stripes to appear, and he asked Ron to thank the master who had taken the time to complete the work.
Ron heaved a sigh of relief when he found that Max and Sophia didn't blame him for doing additional decoration without permission. He asked them to check the ship's interior, prompting them to climb aboard their respective ships. Ron then requested them to come to the office when they were ready to move the ships to the regular bay, assuring them that he would assist in parking them in a good spot.