Chapter 123: Neighbors

Chapter 123: Neighbors

I seem to remember that you possess a gravity array, is that right? Alyn suddenly said, bringing Zac out of his musings.

Yes, its currently placed in my camp. I can bring it over if you want it, Zac nodded.

I would like if you upgraded it as well, I want it to cover the entire Academy Area, she said with a smile.

Zac frowned and opened up his town shop, and found out that the upgraded small scale gravity array cost 500 000 Nexus Coins. It wasnt a huge fortune, but also not negligible since it was 5% of his current amount of nexus coins. He expected that quickly bringing the army up to a decent power would cost millions on top of that, and he couldnt wantonly spend his money.

Its a bit expensive, are you sure its needed at this stage? he tentatively asked.

Alyn simply smiled at him, and something about that smile gave Zac a hair-raising feeling, and he could only sigh and acquiesce.

Follow Alyns commands. You can consider the first week with me a warm-up, the real training begins now. It might be grueling, but the path to power is paved with blood, he said after turning to the newest citizens of Port Atwood.

Alyn nodded approvingly at Zacs comment while Alea simply rolled her eyes.

By the way, Alea said you had some idea regarding the hive?

Yes. When the warriors traveled through the hive we found that a new queen has been born, she said.

Zac immediately frowned and looked toward the huge structure in the distance.

Dont worry, the queen is still an infant, and is still busy incorporating the old body into itself. It will take years, perhaps decades without nurturing, before it can start creating new warriors, she added.

Zac could only sigh in relief at the news. He was in no mood to fight another ant-wave on top of the third wave.

So what was your idea?

You need Beast Tamers, people with a Class thats based on controlling beasts, she explained.

It would be extremely beneficial. The biggest boon would be that we might be able to tame the Ayr Hivequeen. That would essentially give control over the whole hive. It would also be good for you, with all these barghest around. Theyre currently slowly turning feral, as we have no beast tamers with us who can keep them in line.

They arent very dangerous, but they can still become a good weapon. The barghest with us are just youth, and with the help of a good trainer they can get stronger, the alphas even reaching E-Rank with time she kept going, some excitement glistening in her eyes.

What about the other islands? Anything of interest? he continued.

It is clear that the nexus vein beneath our island has affected the whole region to a certain extent. Most of the islands have higher concentrations of cosmic energy than usual. Together with the temperate climate, it means many can be made into farming islands that can provide Port Atwood with a continuous supply of food and cultivation materials.

There is also a mountainous island not too far that look promising for setting up a mining operation for metals. We still havent found anything of the sort in our own mountain, and need supply to keep our industry going, Adran answered.

All in all 18 of the closest islands were scouted. Surprisingly we saw signs of habitation on 10 of them. 7 were humans, 2 were the beastmen, and the last the so-called Zhix. We suspect the total populations to reach roughly twenty thousand, excluding the insectoids, of course. There might be people on the other islands as well, and we simply didnt find them.

TWENTY thousand? Zac exclaimed shocked.

It was nowhere near the population of places like New Washington, but most larger towns had been fragmented into smaller bits, and a population of twenty thousand would be respectable at this stage of the world. Of course, it was just a fraction of the millions required in a population that most of the proper buildings in the Town Shop required, but it was a start.

Yes, but most of them are concentrated to three larger settlements, two human and one beastkin. The largest town alone has an estimated population of over ten thousand, Adran answered.

How are their quality of lives? Zac asked.

Mostly pretty wretched. The largest human settlement I mentioned earlier has organized themselves at least and erected a decent wall around a coastal village. The rest are barely hanging on, and we even got a few requests of them to come with the scouts, even though they were demons. We did hide our appearances under hooded capes though.

It seemed that it wouldnt be impossible to gather a real population to get his town up and running. He wasnt sure whether it was better to start gathering people immediately or wait until after the third wave though. He still had no idea what to expect from the third wave, but he couldnt imagine it would be easier than the last two. At the same time he felt that with his power and equipment there really shouldnt be a lot of suspense unless the System went crazy.

He still had a couple of days before the auction started, and about a week before the last horde arrived. Time was limited but it might be a good idea to start building Port Atwood in earnest. Hed start with the Zhix though, as that was the most pressing matter. The hive had been right under his nose for months, who knew how far they had dug by now.

It didnt take long until Zac was sailing alone on one of the Creator vessels. Hed gotten the route from the fishermen, and it was only an hour away. He hadnt even checked in on Emily or his camp, eager to set sail. The vessels were as quick as speedboats but far more stable, so he pushed through the waves like an arrow.

What he said to Adran was true. He still felt stifled with his emotions in turmoil ever since Greenworth, and he almost hoped that these Zhix kept up their hostility. He had forced himself to keep it together for his new recruits, but he really needed the solitude of this excursion.

He wasnt very worried either, as from all accounts he wasnt in any real danger. If a fisherman and a few of the normal demons could fight them off and leave, though with some losses, then he wouldnt have any real trouble. These Zhix were just like humans, newly integrated into the system, and there should be almost no warriors their kind that could match his power, especially not the ones stuck on an isolated island.

Just as the fishermen described he arrived at the island in roughly an hour. It was far smaller compared to his own, and he judged it might just be a tenth the size altogether. The climate of the island was essentially the same as his own, but there was less vegetation as most of the island was covered by a large mountain. It almost looked like a large volcano with some jungle on the edges of the island, but he wasnt able to tell whether it actually was a volcano or if it just looked like one.

He disembarked at the closest beach and threw his creator vessel into a Cosmos Sack and headed inland. From what he understood the Zhix were mainly subterranean, so they should be somewhere in the mountains. As he walked further inland toward the mountain he was having a somewhat unsettling dj vu from the first time he entered the mountain valley all that time ago. The island was deathly silent, not a single chirp could be heard.

Until suddenly a twig snapped, and all hell broke loose.