Above ground, it was hard to tell apart the surrounding grassland from any other. You could see some massive fields nearby used primarily for the massive quantity of vegetables and baked goods produced in the city, as well as large farms with beasts at bronze tier or lower. These acted as the main food sources that could be supported by the surroundings, while a lot of other items had to instead be shipped over from afar.
Very few were brought by land and loaded up to a boat which then transported them.
The insane logistics for a Watery city made them the second-least viable type of city to create. Sky cities topped the list due to magnifying the same issue.
In fact, many called them Floating Fortresses instead, as wizards loved working on them to the point where their magical defences were no less than a full brick wall with great arrays.
The group saw a single Sky city on their journey, and it began a rather interesting discussion.
“I still don’t see why they couldn’t tame a large group of steel tier birds and have them transport goods. Why are the elves so set on using expensive magical tools?” Jaren asked a perfectly reasonable question, given that they saw some dozens of airships and pricier flying tools being used to get goods and people up about two kilometres above ground level.
This question came from a matter of Raccelline asking how they got things up there in the first place.
“Because most birds can’t fly with those sorts of weights attached for more than an hour, especially if it’s ascending and descending over and over again.”
“Then train more and have them work in cycles? Seriously, I’ve trained a Skullcracking Jay to deliver rabbits and foxes before, if you use a dedicated Tamer, then their control will be perfect as well.” Jaren spoke from some personal experience, and in fairness, the logistics he proposed sounded entirely reasonable.
Flying beasts of that strength can fly for hours every day without issue, not just gliding for lengths but actually flapping their wings without end. Sure, with such loads, they might feel tired after an hour or so, but that just meant that three or four allowed for a constant cycle of them to work all day!
Icy replied with, “It takes a couple years to make a beast of that strength adapt to humans and perform labour like that. But if they’re intelligent beasts, then you have a whole bunch of problems regarding fair payment or other beasts get wary. But most importantly, a tool can’t make mistakes when loaded and maintained properly, so both sides always feel safe that their stuff reaches the city.”
Mala added a further point which focused on the personality side as well, “Don’t forget that beasts do get spooked easily when around so much air traffic. Especially flying ones that are used to open air. When sent along a short route with things flying about, they can easily break the restraints imposed by the Tamer.”
“So set up a separate port for beast transport to use, keep a set of stables on either side for medical care as necessary, and have Tamers on either end to ensure the emotional connections are stable.” Jaren rolled his eyes and shook his head.
The city had long since disappeared from view at their speeds, but the same could not be said about everyone else simply sighing.
At this point, the argument had been going on for almost twenty minutes, and neither side budged. Jaren could not see a reasonable answer to why the plan failed, while Mala and Icy could not convince him in the slightest.
But of the group to snap, surprisingly, it was Rebecca who appeared from the surrounding greenery to criticise them. “Can you three please drop this already. Frankly, all your reasons are stupid, and Jaren, your experience as a child does not apply to this. They didn’t do it because it costs more. That’s the reason for almost anything with money involved. Are we done now?”
There weren't any further arguments to be made, at least, not ones that didn’t include further pedantry.
One month on the road in this continent actually did end up feeling different, but for a variety of reasons unrelated to geography. Whether mountainous, flat, wet, or dry, they’d been through such places before. What felt different were the troubles they met on the way.
At some point, some elven noble tried to hire them for an unnamed job, possibly some sort of conflict between those in high society or an annoying protection assignment. Then, when they refused, that same noble tried to buy Icy from them for a pouch with 120 crowns, a fair price for any normal gold tier beast.
To that act, Icy spoke up in the single elven dialect he knew and said, “I’m not a thing to be sold.”
His talking caught the noble in his carriage off-guard, along with his guards, who hadn’t expected an intelligent beast to follow this group. But they retracted the offer immediately, and he hastily made a new offer to Icy, “How about following me instead? You won’t need to fight to grow and survive, I can provide meat as you need it. As the second son of a Yew noble, while I won’t own the estate, I have more than enough holdings to match anything you could earn in decades through this lifestyle.”
No one could really understand why the young noble wanted the group’s companion beast so much, but Icy and the group could think of a couple reasons.
Obviously, he seemed rather interested in how Raccelline rode him. Perhaps he found the prospect interesting. The body made of ice-cream was also of obvious interest. But one factor stood out most…
He was a dragon. And a yew noble in rank is the same as a marquiss, a middle-of-the-line amongst nobility. But still, such a rank is incredibly high compared to average civilians, explaining why he stated his ability to care for a gold tier beast. But also, it likely meant that the family actually had some random books describing dragons, and this noble’s child was taking a small risk in trying to subtly acquire what he seemed to believe was a dragon for his future.
Of course, how many nobles wouldn’t love a beast that grew to master tier in adulthood?
Nonetheless, they escaped the noble’s attempted grasp, but after moving just out of sight, they broke out in a sprint for roughly 50 kilometres. A consideration to avoid any attempt to follow and track the group.
There really wasn’t anything a noble could give him that actually moved him at this point in time.
So far, he’d actually already eaten all the Divine Phalanx bones he’d taken, and while not enough to assimilate its bloodline, he estimated that another growth phase should happen in just a year or two… Probably.
The Nexus seemed to have no way to actually quantify the time until such a phase began, and so he could only wait.
Worse case scenario, he got to spend a few years passing off as a lizard instead of worrying about people recognising his true identity. Wings didn’t exactly help him at the moment. He’d still have to walk with the group, or at least fly alongside them, but that invited far more trouble as he grew so much more apparent.
In the month it took to reach their target, he only assimilated a few worthless bloodlines, probably not even gaining that much bloodline energy. While it had been several months on the island after his evolution, he’d already assimilated what he estimated as three-quarters of the common bloodlines seen there.
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And while he did try to hunt new beasts often, the actual number of assimilations was only barely the same as he obtained in the first few months.
Fortunately, passing by numerous high-level locations allowed him to stock up on corpses every so often. One was a younger beast with an Advanced+ rank bloodline as well! Another had an Advanced bloodline too, he was so much closer to finally completing that mission from the Nexus, and the moment he did so, it would result in a ridiculous upgrade to his magic power.
Also, he started actually killing things himself for the first time in months, gathering a few more levels in the process. A single percent increase in what a point meant, was the same as suddenly getting 7 more levels!
How ridiculous would it be at level 50 or so when he completed the mission after this?
A beast with a boost from the Nexus as strong as others around 30 levels higher! He wasn’t at the point where he could skip entire tiers through the outrageous power of his spells alone, but at this rate, he really wasn’t far off.
Name
Icryladrom (Icy)
Title
Nexus Aid Bonus II
Complete Awakening
Species
Dragon
Bloodline
Palace Experimentalist Ice-cream
HP
100%
MP
100%
Level
36
EXP
68%
Unallocated Stat Points: 28
Strength
0
Luck
0
Agility
10
Growth
15
Magic
50
Mutation Rate
5
Speaking of “far off”, they weren’t far from their target Fortress city, a very uncozy place called Fragheim.
Walls of stone bricks. five feet thick. Each brick was also a foot wide by half a foot tall, of which a small section for soldiers to pass through the wall’s insides also existed. This monstrous wall measured twenty feet tall, but realistically it stopped mattering after half that height. The only reason the elves added so much was to sustain the original architects' mad designs for arrays on each wall.
While it would require a fair bit of background to explain why such large walls were needed, the gist of things is that by having such large arrays, he could create a city capable of withstanding an endless assault from up to fifty master tier beasts.
Had Fragheim’s surroundings ever had that many beasts in the centuries since its inception?
Of course not, that’s what made this insane place rather famous!
The walls were ugly, as much as future designers tried to smooth and co-ordinate its mottled grey bricks in a way that it looked appealing. But their coloration was dictated by the arrays which defended the place, each ugly stone could resist bronze tier beasts without receiving the slightest damage, and it was their ability to maintain constant mana density that made them perfect to host massive arrays. Additionally, the buildings within were made of either grey or black stone where possible, the rest simply using regular timber and adhesives to try and fit the city’s aesthetic.
Instead of battlements on the six corners of this hexagonal Fortress wall, six wizard towers were built of the same unappealing grey stone, with Mature wizard living in each.
And they only stayed on account of the nation providing alchemical tools for them, as some of those tools were rather pricey to manufacture. More than elves at their calibre could personally afford without decades of tough work.
To enter the place, the seven of them simply entered the surrounding desert forests and killed the first gold tier they came across.
Accommodation for them was handled by a wizard’s assistant, surprisingly, who led them to a grey brick house close to the city’s northern entrance. The house’s roof tiles were dark brown, almost black in colour, and it even came with some windows on all four sides.
The building fit their group well, with a sizable garden for Icy to move around in, as well as ways for him to access the house’s ground floor. Although he could just teleport inside, it was easier to not admit his teleporting. Explaining spellcasting in this sort of place is tough, as most wizards would recognise his strange casting the moment a word was spoken. At least, they’d figure out that he definitely used a different method…
And it only takes one spark to start a fire.
“I have to say, it’s nice and all that we get our own little home in an elven fortress and all… But what the actual hell are we doing? No offence to you, Icy.” It was Mala who brought up the critical point, though Jaren certainly agreed with her. He was never contrarian, just exceedingly pedantic and hyper-critical, often for the worst when combined with his cynicism.
The sudden conversational topic as the seven first arrived at their new home was a surprise, especially such a heavy topic at that. But really, the other adults could only think for a while before turning to Korridan. They all valued their leader’s opinion greatly.
He thought about it deeply for almost half a minute before coming to an answer. Saying, “Unless you can kill Sages and Cornem ranks, we’re going to try and live in peace and help these two grow to reach the peak… I know that look, Mala. Do you really think we can–”
She glared at him, walking closer and staring deep into his eyes, to which he actually shuddered slightly. It was… rare to ever see her this mad about something. He instantly knew that she realised his line wasn’t said from the heart but rather trying to force some “reality”.
A reality which reasonably no longer existed as two shining gems shattered what others considered ‘truth’, and they quietly stood to the side.
Mala completed Korridan’s sentence with spite riding along, “Possibly have the talent? At all compare? Is that what you were going to say? Don’t lie through your fucking teeth, Korridan, when did you become a coward?”
She hadn’t paid that much attention over the 10 months on the island because they trained diligently, but since arriving on the continent, she realised that none of them actually mentioned goals beyond Mithril rank. In fact, they often talked about how this could be a chance to step beyond those ordinary realms and become Sages and Cornem ranks themselves… But the conversation always shifted when discussing how they’d manage it, working from a belief that it was too far away.
Darak actually stated his plan very simply a while back when he found out that he no longer needed to build favour to acquire his manuals. ‘Gather money, and work my ass off.’
And that was all he needed to do. Eventually, he did not doubt that he could become a Bearer, the equivalent of a Sage for priests. Named after the substantial divinity within their hearts, but still rather far from reaching the degree required to formally be considered a demigod.
“Well, what do you think? Even with all the wealth and knowledge in the world… Do we have the talent for it?” When he looked at Mala, it was an odd sign of tenderness compared to the confidence that every powerful muscle on him emitted. Perhaps the high of thinking about the peak he could stand on faded long ago, and now too entrenched in this matter, he realised that his only future was to go along with it and try to make it to a point where he survived.
Did that little Bronze rank Captain ever imagine his life would go beyond Mithril rank?
Actually, even he couldn’t remember. Back then, being a villager in such a little place reduced his worldview immensely, and it was only through a lucky meeting with the rest over a few years that things truly began to grow. Supposedly some people in the sixth world had a saying of ‘A frog inside a well’, or something like that.
Icy had stuck with the main group while Raccelline explored the house, and took this moment to give his own take on the group of Gold ranks between 30 to 40 years of age. “You’re joking, right?” The snark in his voice alone changed ruined their depressive atmosphere.
Which one of these damn humans wasn’t already annoyingly talented? Their innate magical talent might only sit between mediocre and acceptable, but such things can easily be fixed with money. And actually, now that he thought about in depth…
Why were there so many stories of dragons 'uplifting' the talent of various beings across all races? Dragons even recorded some of those stories, and most of them removed the mystery entirely. The dragons literally just explained the other's unrealised talent! He almost sighed but held it in to maintain the scene that ought to play out.
Still. How often did this actually happen?