Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 149: Reinforcements

“Little Shea!” the man shouted, tears pouring from his eyes as he scooped up the female Ishiate in a bear hug. “We were so worried when you and the others disappeared. The world turned crazy and we found our town moved to this island. We feared the worst.”

“I missed you father!” Shea answered with a sob.

“What’s going on? What happened?” the huge man asked with concern. “And just what are those hairless ones? The old one looks a bit similar to the ones we have here.”

“You have humans in Cogstown?” Zac couldn’t help asking, which gave the huge man a start.

“You speak our language?”

“He has a skill for that,” Shea explained. “This is Zac Atwood, he is the leader of a town called Port Atwood at a neighboring island. Mr. Atwood, this is Basso Moon. He is the leader of Cogstown and its chief engineer.”

“How did you two end up at a neighboring island? Are the others still there?” Basso asked after nodding at Zac.

“It’s a long story, I’ll explain as we go.”

Basso nodded and led them inside the town. Zac curiously looked around as they walked, content in letting Shea give her father the standard run-down of the System and the Tutorial. It quickly became apparent that Cogstown wasn’t a spot where cultivators were dropped off after the month was over.

When the beastman mentioned humans Zac’s heartbeat had sped up for a moment, hoping that Hannah and the others were dropped off here. But the Ishiate were clueless about most things regarding the System, completely dashing that hope.

The town looked well fortified from the outside, but it was clear that they had met some trouble. A lot of houses were crumbled, and there were gashes and splotches of blood at many places. Even Shea couldn’t help herself from asking what was going on, eliciting a sigh from Basso.

“It’s the god damn birds. There’s a flock of large white birds who turned crazy a month ago. Before that they mainly stayed close to the sea and fed on fish or small critters. But as they grew larger, so did their appetites. They started attacking our town, actually snatching people up in the air,” he said with a tired voice.

“We kept shooting them, both with skills and our weaponry. But they are so large by now that if we kill it in the air their corpses become dangerous projectiles that might kill people when they smash into the ground. And no matter how many we kill it seems they are endless,”

“Can you buy a defensive array?” Zac asked, drawing a pained glance from the town leader.

“That’s the problem. We do have the Crystal Shea mentioned, but we can’t buy much more than a shop and a few basic structures, such as a smithy manned by those weird automatons. We got those options after defending the town from a series of monster attacks.

“I see that the fortifications you mentioned exist, but we can’t purchase them. It seems we need to unlock them with another quest, but we haven’t even received a quest yet.”

Zac nodded, not feeling too surprised. There were very few who actually had the option to buy the arrays at the moment it seemed. Otherwise quite a few more would have been able to get teleporters, far more than the 50 or so towns in the whole world who appeared to possess them at the moment.

Zac was about to ask a follow-up question but was interrupted by some commotion.

“Grandpa!” an Asian man in his early twenties shouted as he rushed toward their group.

“Little Tuan? Is that you?” the old fisherman shouted back with a shaky voice, his eyes immediately reddening.

Mr. Trang already mentioned earlier that the younger generation had already left on a boat to find help for their grandparents. Unfortunately, they hadn’t heard from them since. It looked like at least one of them somehow had ended up on this island, and was one of the “hairless ones” that Basso mentioned.

The man rushed up to the old fisherman, followed by a few more Vietnamese youths who looked to be between 20 and 35. Zac was relieved to see that the seemed fed and unharmed, meaning they probably weren’t prisoners. He really wanted to recruit some Ishiate for his town, but if they had mistreated Sap and the other’s grandchildren it would have become a thorny situation.

“Why are you kids here?” Mr. Nguyen asked as he looked over his villagers.

“Our ship was attacked by some monstrous fish while we looked for the mainland, and we steered toward this island before the ship sunk… Giang and Phuc didn’t make it,” Tuan answered with a shame-filled face. “We were worried sick, but these aliens wouldn’t help build a ship since it was too dangerous.”

“It’s good that you stayed here rather than going back for us old folks. We left ourselves by ship and now live in Lord Zac’s town. We’re doing quite well, and old man Trang is already level 28. And this old man is almost ready to get a Class as well,” he said with a wide smile.

“I’m glad you’re all okay. Why don’t you stay here? I’m sure these aliens won’t mind, they are pretty nice, though it’s a bit hard to make yourself understood,” one of the other youngsters said.

“No, it’s better you kids come back with me and Lord Zac after we’re done here,” Mr. Nguyen answered with a shake of his head. “It seems a bit dangerous here while Port Atwood is completely safe.”

Since Mr. Nguyen was one of the main naval scouts he’d been given a skill crystal for the [Book of Babel], so Basso and the other Ishiate could understand his words as well.

“It’s pretty big words to claim complete safety in this new world of ours,” an Ishiate with a large blunderbuss on his back responded skeptically.

“I think Mr. Nguyen is simply is referring to the fact that we have eradicated any threatening beasts on our island, so we do not have to worry about such things anymore. However, with the incursions and other threats humans and Ishiate are facing it can’t be called completely safe,” Zac answered.

The Vietnamese people looked on with surprised expressions, seeing how the Ishiate seemed to understand their words and respond. Clearly, they still didn’t know about the language skill.

“Other threats?” Basso said with a frown.

“Do you have somewhere we can talk in private?” Zac asked.

Soon they found themselves in a large meeting room in what seemed part castle part hangar. From the looks of it they were either trying to build or actually had built a Zeppelin, though he couldn’t see one of them floating around.

A few other leaders of Cogstown had joined basso and his guards, and they listened on as Shea explained her experiences and findings in the tutorial and from there. The Vietnamese people were also in the room, and the old fisherman was quietly translating for them in a corner.

When some clarification was needed by Zac he provided it, but otherwise he was content in letting the Ishiate talk.

“I heard Mr. Zac mention our flag at the meeting, and we immediately chose to follow him. That’s how we got home,” Shea finished recounting her and the other cultivator’s experiences. It appeared she and the other cultivators of Cogstown were dropped off at the other side of the planet, and Shea was at the Auction since she had acquired the language skill during the tutorial.

“It is a relief to hear that so many of our people are still alive and amongst kin. It is a shame we can’t connect with them though,” Basso said with a sigh as he looked at Zac. “And I am thankful to you, Mr. Zac, for bringing my daughter home.”

“It was no problem. I was planning on visiting here sooner or later in any case,” Zac said.

“Oh?” Basso said, and the other Ishiate looked curiously or warily at Zac.

“In a sense we’re neighbors here on our islands, and I believe it’s important to know each other,” Zac said. “I’d also like to extend an invitation to the citizens of Cogstown. During the past months we have traveled across the archipelago to rescue any people stranded and beset by monsters.”

Finally Zac found an opportunity for recruitment and wouldn’t miss it.

“Port Atwood is in need of skilled craftsmen. After talking with Shea I’ve come to the understanding that your kind are both creative and skilled workers. Many of your group have switched from trying to improve your technology to becoming craftsmen classes to great success. If you’re willing to relocate to my Island you would be most welcome,” he continued.

“Why would we want to move and become a human’s subordinates?” an Ishiate asked, drawing a nervous glance from Shea.

“Security and improvement. Suffice to say, Port Atwood is somewhat unique on the whole planet. We have access to knowledge that you can’t find anywhere else. Much of the information about the incursions and Dominators Shea mentioned earlier comes from us. We also possess abundant resources to improve your crafting, and the Cosmic Energy density on our island is unparalleled,” Zac answered without missing a beat.

“Most importantly, our citizens are safe, and therefore able to focus on their personal improvement.”

“Our people have lived here for generations, and what you propose is a huge change. If you please would excuse us for a bit while we discuss things,” Basso said politely.

Zac understood that there likely were things they wanted to ask Shea and her husband without the prying ears of himself and his team, so he nodded at the old fisherman and the demon guards and left with them.

Mr. Nguyen’s grandson and the others followed as well, and soon they found themselves in a group of sofas in another room.

“Hey, how did you get the skill to be able to talk in all languages,” Tuan asked Zac. “It seems really convenient.”

“Brat, be polite to Lord Zac,” the old fisherman said with a glare as he smacked his grandson in the back of his head.

“Ow! Grandpa, why do you keep calling him a lord? Is he a European nobility? That shouldn’t matter anymore,” Tuan said looking a bit indignant.

“What European? He’s a ranker on the Ladder,” the old man explained. “Act properly, it’s thanks to Lord Zac we old folk can survive. Work hard and you can gain opportunities that the rest of the world could only dream of. We might not have come from great origins before the world changed, but that doesn’t matter anymore.”

“What? What’s going on?” Tuan asked, while the others looked visibly confused.

Zac could only shake his head. He understood the old man was still following the rules that he put in place earlier, stopping him from saying anything about Port Atwood. Still the old man wanted to convey the importance of having a good rapport with Zac.

But things had changed since he gave that order, and hiding nothing he simply stated the truth.

“I’m the Super Brother-Man.”

It took some convincing, but soon the Vietnamese youth no longer thought it odd that their elder looked up to some foreigner who was so much younger than him, and they no longer spoke about living in the Ishiate town. Clearly staying with the force of the top ranker seemed a far more reasonable idea, especially since the other elders still stayed in Port Atwood.

It took almost an hour before Shea and Basso joined Zac, though the Ishiate were good hosts and brought some food and drink while they waited. Something about his demeanor had clearly changed, as he warily looked at Zac who was calmly sitting in his seat. The large Ishiate looked troubled as he sat down on one of the free sofas on the opposite side of Zac.

“I am sorry about the wait, Lord Zac. There has been much to go over. The news my daughter has brought regarding the change in the world is troubling, to say the least. We knew something extraordinary was happening, but the reality has far exceeded our expectations,” Basso said, looking quite worn out.

“We understand where you’re coming from, and perhaps moving Cogstown to your future residential and commercial districts is the best for our futures. However, I cannot make such a decision on the spot. We have lived our whole lives in this town, and we cannot leave it just like that.

“Our wilder brethren think us uncaring about the past, but that is wrong. We constantly build on our ancestor’s efforts to improve life for future generations. Cogstown is the result of four generations of Ishiate who have pushed themselves to unravel the universe.”

While Zac didn’t share the same types of feeling about his own hometown Greenworth he could understand where he was coming from.

“I will not force anyone to do something they are not willing to do. But you should make a decision sooner rather than later, as your problems with the birds might only get worse. Normally we would help but we will have our hands full ourselves the coming days,” Zac answered.

“We will leave soon, and it will be roughly ten days to two weeks before we can visit again, and that’s the soonest I can imagine,” Zac continued.

“We understand your force will face some sort of trial soon, though Shea didn’t learn the details. If you’re amenable I would like to send a few of our tinkerers with you back. They are the ones who built the cannons on our walls, and perhaps might prove useful in your war efforts. Truthfully they will also scout your force and island to see whether it would be a good idea for us to move or not,” Basso answered.

“That’s fine,” Zac said, not feeling surprised.

He didn’t expect the isolated Ishiate to uproot themselves on his or Shea’s word, and that he got this much response from Cogstown was better than expected. The tinkerers might even be useful in the coming wave.

Basso and Zac kept talking for a while, and Zac even promised to sell an exploratory vessel like the one he used for a whopping 5 million Nexus coins. The money-printing machine that was the Creator Shipyard was finally starting to give returns.

He’d long ago explained the situation to the Creators, so the ships themselves apparently were modeled after vessels form a huge human force called the Allbright Empire that spanned multiple galaxies. Any foreigner seeing the ships would think they were made by some grandmaster engineer from that empire.

Only an hour later Zac sat down again on the fore of the ship, and with closed eyes ignored the hubbub on the crammed vessel behind him.