Alistair and King encountered numerous groups in need of assistance along their journey. King was not overly pleased with the frequent stops and only seemed happy when they fought off a group of wyverns hunting a large caravan of people. Despite traveling for nearly a day, they still hadn't reached Remo, though Alistair sensed they were getting close.
Alistair continued to travel for two more days. By now, Alistair's mother had linked up with Melissa and Isabella, and they were waiting for James to set up a beacon for her to hone in on and teleport them. They had arrived at one of Sol's sanctuaries, where Sol's followers had reunited Melissa with her Bernese mountain dog, Teddy. Alistair was relieved to hear the dog was fine. Teddy had accepted Sol's offer of shelter, as he had always been a massive lapdog and softy incapable of hurting others. This meant he was still in Grade 10, only earning records by providing comfort to other beasts. Melissa couldn't care less as she had immediately established a summoner's contract with him after crying her heart out in relief.
In addition to this reunion, Sol had sent a care package containing all kinds of mundane plants and seeds they could ever need, knowing Alistair had been searching for locations to salvage seeds. With the assurance that he wouldn't need to worry about securing various vegetables and spices, he was able to scratch that task off his mental list. While he knew he would likely find different food sources that were potentially much better than anything he could bring from his home planet, he was determined to at least bring tomatoes and potatoes. He was certain the Fichera family would have been very unhappy or even reluctant to leave if they couldn't recreate their cuisine because the Clan had rushed off the planet without securing the most crucial ingredients. He knew his brother had made significant progress in gathering people scattered around Italy, and some had even found their way to Sol's sanctuaries in the Italian Alps on their own. The local lord Giovanni had been a rather gracious host and had spent not an insignificant amount of effort to help and accommodate his Clan members. Alistair had half expected Caleb to be their contact but when James inquired about the man, he had been informed that Caleb was currently in charge of the Rocky Mountains sanctuaries and had different matters to attend to.
Alistair still kept an eye out for a suitable location where they could gather and wait. However, over the last few days, he grew more comfortable with the idea of taking Sol up on his hospitality since most prime spots had already been claimed by people seeking safety. He noted the value of Earth mages, who could build fortifications and terraformed the local area to be more defensible. Some of the locations already resembled star-shaped bastion forts, which looked impressive from above, although they still lacked proper housing, having only square rock huts at the moment. Some of these forts contained what he suspected were natural formations and treasures that made the location worth claiming. He had not spotted any treasures that were worth stopping for.
The only thing he had found were wild strawberries that had evolved to take on a magenta coloration and a much higher mana density compared to other mundane plants he had encountered. He wondered if they could push the mundane plants they had received from Sol to evolve similarly, but this wasn't his specialty, and Jessica would be the person to ask about these things. However, he knew quite a bit from his own research with essence and idle reading. Mundane non-magical plants grew much faster than magical plants, and the introduction of magic pushed mundane plants to grow multiple times faster, allowing for more frequent harvests. If they planted mundane plants in spirit soil and provided certain treasures, the fruits and vegetables would eventually absorb and integrate the ambient essence, evolving and mutating to take on the aspects of the most common present concepts.
Alistair also took the opportunity to capture some roaming cattle that had not evolved into their respective beastkin variant, like minotaurs. Capturing proved quite easy as most of them were rather docile and did not resist being put in storage once they recovered from the scare that was King's approach. The only typical farm animals he had not captured yet were pigs and chickens, and he was quite determined to capture at least some chickens or trade for them. Most chickens he had found had evolved into dinosaur-like beasts, making them unsuitable as livestock due to their aggression.
To his relief, the stream of recordings had slowed as the worst of the initial chaos had subsided somewhat. There was a noticeable shift from haunting to idiotic recordings, with numerous instances of people injuring or killing themselves by recklessly experimenting with magic or messing with beasts. Much of the latter was inspired by a powerful beastmaster in Australia who, along with his family, showcased the beauty of different beasts and lived in harmony with them. Many imitators, however, lacked the man's skill to charm or at least evade the strikes of the confused beasts, leading to disastrous results. Alistair watched more than one person utter "Look at this beauty" or "Joink" as their last words.
There were also a fair share of recruitment videos circulating on the various networks. One that initially piqued Alistair's interest was from a magic school in what used to be Canada. The school's goal was to research magic and train mages, both young and old. However, the image was somewhat tainted when they introduced some of the first settlers in the process of building the school. He heard a distinct "I'm a Hufflepuff" in the background and cringed.
His musings were disrupted by another network message from Sol; this had been the sixth since his return to Earth, this one warning people that an evolved badger had set off a large cluster of hives inhabited by evolved African killer bees in an attempt to steal from their hives. The attached recordings showed the sky being blotted out by a black swarm of cat-sized bees attacking everything even remotely close to their hive, driving off multiple budding colonies and even one of Sol's enclaves. The massive honey badger, however, seemed completely unfazed. With specialized skin rendering it immune to the killer bees' attacks, it clearly didn't give a shit about its impact or the bees as it continued to gorge itself on the bees' hard-earned magically enhanced royal jelly and larva, having already killed the local queen and driving all the bees of the surrounding hives into a frenzy, forcing everyone else within hundreds of kilometers to evacuate. He then watched as the bees spotted whatever drone had been recording and rapidly swarmed and destroyed it.
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Alistair was convinced that Sol wasn't actually sending these messages but rather some of his followers on his behalf. He wondered what the natural god was up to besides rescuing groups by teleporting them out of danger. Sol likely had his hands full with all sorts of issues, given that he had the entire Sol system to monitor. Despite traveling for so long, Alistair still hadn't caught up to Remo, which led him to believe his friend was on the move and moving fast. This was impressive, considering that even with the regular stops, King was flying them at incredible speeds that outpaced most beasts and hovercrafts. Alistair remained confident they would catch up soon.
He was fairly certain he had left Switzerland a while ago, and based on the remaining architecture, he suspected they were flying over what used to be Austria or Germany. The land masses had stretched to an almost outrageous degree, which made navigation difficult even with a map of the new globe. He had flown over many of Sol's sanctuaries and enclaves, which featured walled-off valleys and heavily armed defensive positions built into mountain fortresses that loomed over the enclosed city centers. Most of them were only sparsely inhabited. He also noted how those cities must have been shifted and preserved, as they were not nearly in as sorry a state as the cities and infrastructure outside Sol's territory. He was certain that teleportation or high-tier traveling skills would be the only reasonable way to traverse the planet now. However, he had expected as much from his readings as most planets under the control of a natural god were much larger than the average, which was part of the reason why they were so coveted by the outsiders invading freshly integrated universes.
Alistair directed King north, noticing that Remo had changed directions again. A few hours later, he spotted a battlefield in the distance where a large group of people flying Sol's banners encircled a mostly hidden fortification. Sol's followers were attacking the hidden outpost located in a hilly, forested area. They had deforested much of the surrounding land and deployed magitech artillery alongside powerful anti-flying and anti-teleportation magic fueled by a large support contingent to prevent those encircled from fleeing. Alistair browsed the network for information about the conflict but sighed when he couldn't find anything. He knew his friend had to be among the fighters and desperately hoped he wouldn’t have to confront or upset Sol's followers. It would complicate matters significantly if they were hunting or harming Remo. Alistair made a silent prayer that whatever he was about to do wouldn't anger everyone and that his friend was on the side of Sol's followers. Realizing he was about to get involved in trouble, he wondered what Riseth was up to.
Riseth said her goodbyes to Nessyra. Thanks to Zaltom's efforts and the compact and self-reliant nature of Neshan's city-states, the planet's infrastructure had remained almost entirely intact; Riseth and Nessyra had easily managed to meet up and gather most of their followers. The only significant damage came in the form of all of the railways connecting the city-states, which had been broken and disconnected, which forced Nessyra to organize transport for those stuck in other cities. With most of the core personnel already arriving in their city of Maras, Riseth felt comfortable leaving the planet. She hadn’t detected even a hint of treachery, and her sister reassured her that she was safe. Few people on the planet could stop her or prevent her from fleeing if things turned sour, with perhaps the exception of Varimas Merai, who had arrived in their city a few days ago with the intent of commissioning a spacecraft for himself from the Zekaria corporation. Which, thanks to the support of the Ryser Clan, was currently by far the most technologically advanced producer of spacecraft and weaponry on Neshan. However, the shipyards were still under construction.
Varimas had turned out to be rather friendly and even showed interest in her sister. He inquired about opportunities to buy map data of intriguing planets the Ryser Clan deemed too far out of the way for their own purposes. Nessyra had tentatively agreed that they would consider selling such information if they found planets that fit that description. This had placated the large demon lord, who then proceeded to spend most of his time hunting beasts on the surface and underground tunnels of Neshan. Nessyra had managed to talk to Varimas about his own success in the Ascendant's Tournament after beating her. Much like Alistair, Varimas had gotten lucky in the Ascendant's Tournament, facing a somewhat weaker mythical beast in his second-to-last round and getting into the top 1000 before being eaten by a chaos hydra in his final round. Listening to the conversation, Riseth had been itching to fight him to see which of them was stronger but worried it could open a window for opportunists to strike. Although they had not made enemies of any factions on Neshan, showing weakness often invited misfortune. Which was an unnecessary risk at this point in time.
After successfully sneaking away, she found an isolated stretch of land where she could safely take out the Artemis and leave the planet without worrying about someone planting a beacon. She planned to have James look over the craft once she arrived on Earth, which would take her a few days, perhaps a week. Despite the distance, she could still faintly sense Alistair's emotions through their resonance. Initially, she had sensed conflicting feelings and revulsion from him, followed by an incredibly strong sense of relief that had made her feel better as well. Currently, it is a bit hard to read his emotions, likely due to sheer distance. She had also sensed a lot of second-hand embarrassment the last few days. She desperately hoped she arrived before he got involved in the wars and intrigue of Earth. She knew it was a bit of a pipedream as there were bound to be people he cared for who wished to stay behind or got themselves involved with one or more of the factions of Earth.