Chapter 224 224 - Statue
Chapter 224 224 - Statue
"He's gotten a bit bigger," Ryan said, as he looked at the little obsidian bird that seemed to be the new attraction in the village. Both the maids and the sand people seemed to be enamored of Flint's cuteness, and it was understandable that this would happen.
Seconds later, Ayumi and Lux appeared next to Ryan. "Flint is going to be huge," said the Kitsune, who crossed her arms around Ryan. Approaching her master's neck, she kissed him, whispering, "I want that kind of treatment too. Just like Nyx got"
Just then he felt the kitsune's hand run down his back, giving him a little shiver that wasn't uncomfortable. With a sideways smile, he nodded. Then Lux grabbed her master's hand, "Can I... May I play with Flint?" she said, with eyes that looked like a child's. Ryan's smile turned into a smile.
Ryan's corner smile turned into a full smile, and nodding, he gave her the signal she needed. Lux flew off at high speed to the little bird, which accepted her caresses quite easily.
"How you've grown!" She said, while running her hand over the bird's head.
Now that the platforms were ready, moving between the islands would be a little easier. Previously, it had simply been impossible to expand between the various flying islands that were almost next to each other.
For a moment, Ryan thought about the possibility of building bridges connecting the places. However, that wasn't the best idea to solve the situation, the chance of the islands moving and breaking the bridge was too great. Floating platforms were a simple way of dealing with this problem, they are reliable and easy to use, both for getting around the island and outside. It was for this and other reasons that the neodrazzil academy used this type of technology.
Ryan was curious how the platforms had turned out, so he opted to walk towards the crystal lizard farm. Now that the plantation was thriving and mining would provide a stable source of income for the village, maintaining that farm was no longer such a lucrative idea.
However, the meat and materials derived from the lizards were still interesting, which made it in Ryan's interest to keep them, even if on a smaller scale. That way, the village of Sunset would be able to produce textiles, artifacts, crystals and iron.
As Ryan walked around the main island, he noticed the small houses and plantations. The former inhabitants of the desert had already adapted easily to the place, and it hadn't even been two weeks since they had moved. The paths made by Toki and Pona were comfortable to walk on and could even support carts, which made walking much more peaceful and prosperous than before.
Around the concrete path there were many flowers, the grass was being carefully pruned to maintain just that lush sea of color.
Ryan took a deep breath, feeling the fresh island air and appreciating the transformation that was taking place on Sunset. He wondered how the inhabitants were coping with the changes and if they were satisfied with the progress.
"I hope they're getting used to it by now..." he said aloud as he lifted his face to look at the sky.
"Sister! Look! It's Master Ryan!" said a little girl, who started waving her arm from side to side as she said hello.
"Master Ryan! Hello!" said the older sister, who was carrying the girl in her arms. The two had chosen a house a little way from the island. It was a small wooden house, one of the furthest away.
There were two fruit trees in front of the house, a small swing and a small garden with some decorations made of rough stone. All this reinforced the effort that the women of the village were making to make the place even more welcoming.
The smiles on their faces at the sight of Ryan warmed his chest a little. The undergrowth grew in length along with the number of flowers, there were trees scattered around the place, and the walk lasted a long time, as Ryan wanted to take the time to think.
Amidst the sound of the leaves moving, the birds singing in tune with the insects, Ryan observed the gigantic stone platform that had been built by Aiden and Brigitte. Resembling a saucer, it stood on top of a square of concrete that rested near the edge of the island. Walking over to it, the moment Ryan stepped onto the platform, his mana began to energize the device.
"In the old days, I couldn't use one of these on my own," he said with an uneasy smile.
>"Your old days are in the past, my master, there's no need to worry about that.
Ayumi's thinking was right, he didn't need to bother with something that had already happened. Seconds later, Ayumi appeared beside him with her arms crossed.
"I thought you were going to stay in the center of the village," he said.
The kitsune walked slowly up to him with a cheeky grin on her face, "I'd rather stay with my master, that place wasn't as much fun as being by his side," she said.
"Besides, Lux was a bit annoying, she kept screaming thinly while talking in a baby voice to that little bird," she continued.
Ryan laughed at Ayumi's comment, and then the two of them set off for the second island where the crystal lizard farm was.
The lizard farm was much bigger than Ryan could have imagined; the creatures were eating crystals non-stop in quantities that rivaled those of elephants. As a result, even the cubs that had just been born were already more than big enough for slaughter.
This quantity and availability of meat was the reason for Aiden and Brigitte's happiness, as well as that of much of the village that had received the good news. Knowing that the platform had become a success, Ryan gave Ayumi the task of mobilizing some employees to work on the meat and leather production.
Wiggling her ears, she said, "Are you sure these creatures won't multiply too quickly? They have too large a stock of energy...".
Ayumi's question was valid, but Ryan still couldn't answer that question at the moment, the only thing he could be sure of was that the lizards were growing at a high rate of speed. With that, he went to the extra trouble of checking how many births would occur.
If each female laid around twenty eggs a week, in less than four weeks the population would already be gigantic. However, this wouldn't become a problem with the rapid increase in size, as it would only be necessary to cull.
"I think that's enough," said Ryan, who had just put up a wooden board to leave papers with the markings. After that, Ayumi and Ryan returned to the village at a slightly faster speed.
The main area of Sunset Village was still bustling, mainly because of the party Brigitte had chosen to throw without telling Ryan. With Rin's support, she bought alcohol and started distributing it around the town, which made even Pharah's most serious warriors drunk and happy.
"My master, I apologize for the behavior of your servants," said Pharah, who knelt in front of Ryan as soon as she saw him.
Shaking his head and his arms, he replied, "Don't worry, in fact, I'm glad they're enjoying themselves." Seeing the women of the village happy was, in a way, comforting for Ryan, like a reaffirmation that his efforts were working.
The festivities continued until nightfall, and with Ryan's support, a big feast was started. The maids began preparing the meat of the lizards while enjoying part of the first harvest, and Pharah and the rest of the desert warriors obtained other types of meat from the forest.
The feast was to last until after dark, but Ryan left before the celebration could really take place. He wanted to sort out some things in the first world, and looking at his cell phone with no internet connection, he remembered the conversation he would have the next day.
Saying goodbye to the girls in the village, Ryan left the place against the wishes of the majority. However, he promised Pharah, Toki, Brigitte and Pona that he would return if he still had a little time.
As he walked towards the portal, the sound of the vibrations it emitted consumed his ears until he crossed the threshold and was thrown to the other side of the dimensional rift. The Silvermoons' courtyard was quite disorganized, which was somewhat annoying Ryan.
Although Kyouko hadn't complained, it was clear that this wasn't the best place for it. Firstly, because there were large quantities of magical iron being transported and secondly, because of the wooden boxes that were being incorrectly stored in the center of a luxurious palace.
"That's going to be a problem..." he said, while looking at a gigantic marble statue of his own face that had been commissioned by Rin.