Chapter 276: Three years later

Okasawa High School was one of the most famous and reputable schools in the nation. Even before the unification of the five nations in the Great Republic of Beleriard it had been a very important institution, so much so that students from all cities came to study there. For a long time it had been an elite school: students who paid more, in fact, received better treatment. Those whose parents donated more funds to the institute enjoyed nicer bedrooms, had better meals, could use the bathrooms first, and the teachers were very forgiving in terms of both school progress and behavior towards their peers. In fact, for a long time Okasawa High School had been dominated by gangs of rich students who did what they wanted with the poorest students. The number of suicides was not low due to bullying and there had even been cases of students being sent to hospital for beatings. But this, unfortunately, was normal in the old Odaria, and not only had no one done anything to change that class system, but indeed many rich families had encouraged it, since in this way they made sure that the new generations were immediately clear about the hierarchy. . But after the unification and the profound change that took place, Okasawa high school had changed. Since state law required everyone to be equal, offering preferential treatment had become illegal. Even two years earlier some policemen had conducted a serious investigation into the institute, arresting some professors who were still trying to get rich at the expense of students. So now the professors no longer allowed students to do as they wanted, becoming much more alert and severely punishing bullying. The disparity between the classes seemed to finally disappear, but obviously not everyone agreed. Some of the wealthy old students refused to accept that their absolute hegemony was over, and they were furious because now in order to perpetuate the bullying they had to hide and make sure the victim was scared enough not to tell the teachers anything. The technique the bullies used to scare their victims was simple but effective: they simply took advantage of the fact that other students were still used to the old regime to convince them that it was still in vogue. And in fact, while they robbed or beat someone, they constantly talked about how much their parents provided funds to the school and that therefore no teacher would ever say anything. Even though the students knew that things had changed, they unconsciously ended up believing the bullies' words and said nothing to avoid taking risks. However, everything had changed after the arrival of the new teachers. Teachers who everyone knew were incorruptible, because they had no interest in money. "Hey, guys, look who's there! That idiot Francis!". While the students were having lunch in the courtyard, a group of third-year boys approached a two-year-old boy who was eating alone under a tree. The boss, Pierre, leaned towards him: "Always alone, eh, nerd? I guess nobody wants to go out with a loser. Don't you thank us? We are the only ones who come close to you!" "Yes, and you are also the reason why everyone is afraid to be near me" Francis replied in a hoarse voice. Pierre raised an eyebrow: it was the first time Francis had answered him. "Do you want to be tough on me, loser? You're lucky I'm in a good mood today. Come on, get the money out" Pierre and his gang were already looking forward to an afternoon spent in the video game room, obviously fully paid for by the money given to them by their victims. However, Francis shook his head: "Sorry, I decided to not take them" Pierre's eyes narrowed: "Ah, yes? And why wouldn't you have brought them?" "Because I remembered that this is a free country, and that you don't dictate the law. So I don't intend to pay you" Francis replied. Pierre grabbed him by the collar: "I see your balls have come out, loser. Good! Let's check if you are as hard as you try to make us believe" and so saying he tried to punch him in the face, but he was stopped in mid-air by something very hard. "Let's stop now. I've seen enough" Pierre jumped when he saw that the thing that had blocked his fist was a huge scaly paw. He looked up and saw the muzzle of a large baryonyx staring at him with a grim look. Pierre drew back immediately and the other members of the gang were doing it. "P-Professor Grim!" exclaimed the young chief. "I... I can explain..." "You have nothing to explain to me, Mr. Holligan. I already know everything. There are many students who have complained about your behavior, so I have arranged with Mr. Terrent here to catch you in the act" the baryonyx replied. "If you have something to say, you will tell the principal" Some janitors appeared behind the students and motioned for them to follow. Knowing they had no choice, the bullies walked towards the principal's office with their heads down. Pierre was furious. "Those damn dinosaurs!" he hissed. But unlike him, all the other students scattered around the courtyard stood up and cheered. Many even shouted unkind words at the bullies who were being taken away. It was clear that everyone was happy that Pierre and his henchmen had finally been cleaned. "Thank you, Professor Grim" Francis said to the baryonyx. "My duty, sir. There is no reason to thank me" replied the dinosaur. "Now finish your lunch. Soon the lunch break will end and you know how much I care about punctuality" "Don't worry, professor. I'll be on time" the boy replied returning to focus on his lunch. The baryonyx grunted in appreciation and then walked to an area of the courtyard with a large tank full of fish, or his 'class'. It had been three years since the Great Republic of Beleriard was founded and Jocelyne had initiated the first attempt at coexistence between humans and dinosaurs, and many things had changed since then. Walking through the streets it seemed impossible that the nation was the same as it was three years ago. Ironically, with their attempted occupation, the NMWA had brought the humans of Beleriard even closer to dinosaurs: after all, there was no better way to unite two peoples than to have them fight side by side against the same enemy. Thanks to that event, humans had begun to trust dinosaurs much more. The combined efforts of Jocelyne and Sobek and the good will of all of them had then done the rest. In three years, the Beleriard territory had completely changed: reforestation had progressed by leaps and bounds and everyone, humans and dinosaurs, had contributed. All the unemployed in the nation saw reforestation as a job opportunity and consequently many humans took part in it. As both Jocelyne and Sobek had predicted, providing basic needs for everyone hadn't affected the labor industry at all, because humans were by nature hardworking creatures; of course, there were obviously some launders who preferred to take advantage of the benevolence of the state, but they were an extreme minority. Most people still wanted to work, both to keep busy and to be able to buy anything that the state did not provide, such as cars, televisions, books, and more. Working together during the reforestation, humans and dinosaurs had come even closer. Dinosaurs made work much easier for humans, and humans with their knowledge were able to speed up operations significantly. Although only three years had passed, the entire territory of the Great Republic of Beleriard was once again covered with grass and ferns and many trees had been replanted. It would take a long time for the forest to return to what it once was, but thanks to the commitment of all the negative effects that man had unleashed in the past were slowly fading away. And as the forest was restored, more and more dinosaurs had moved into Beleriard, and many of them had begun to enter the cities. Dinosaurs, in fact, were very curious about the ways of life of human beings. After all, humans were unmatched creatures, capable of reshaping the face of the planet and creating extraordinary things despite their small size and resources. Initially, people weren't very happy to have dinosaurs roam free in the cities, but then, thanks to the brotherhood achieved by fighting and working together, they quickly adapted. Three years after this big change, it had become normal to see dinosaurs every day, perhaps intent on helping some deliverymen to carry heavy things, or in an orderly line in front of a stand. In fact, dinosaurs had discovered that they greatly appreciated human food, in all its forms; obviously they did not make use of money, which they considered useless and worthless, but they were willing to work in exchange for those dishes. Likewise, humans had found that they appreciated the help of the dinosaurs, who were far ahead of them in strength and prowess, and were therefore willing to hire them temporarily and then pay them a meal at the booth or restaurant of their choice. The same was true for pterosaurs, which could carry packages or supervise a dangerous area from above, and for marine reptiles, which helped in the maintenance of ships and ports. Even crocodiles, snakes and lizards, in one way or another, managed to be accepted, although many people were still scared to see a titanoboa crawling around the park. In short, the idea of coexistence that Sobek had in mind was slowly turning into reality. The cities themselves, under Jocelyne's government, were being modified to make the streets and gardens wider and more spacious, so as to make them 'dinosaur-sized' as well as human-sized. The only problems arose during the mating season: since dinosaurs had a sense of modesty different from that of humans, it was not unusual at that time to find two tyrannosaurs copulating in the garden below the house, not to mention the fact that at night they would roar as if they were being suppressed with a hydraulic press. To solve the problem, Sobek had ordered all dinosaurs to move at least three kilometers away from each city during the mating season. Obviously there was no shortage of critics who did not appreciate the new world, but Sobek was certainly not surprised: humans managed to be racist even towards their own species, let alone with others. He didn't care: what mattered to him was that most of the population supported the new regime, and Sobek could see that this was fully happening. And anyway, he and Jocelyne had not remained silent in the face of discrimination. It had become illegal, so people couldn't openly express their disgust with dinosaurs, but that didn't mean they didn't keep trying it and would pass that hatred on to their children. Jocelyne and Sobek knew that they could not easily erase such emotions from the minds of those bigots, so they had opted for the best solution: to focus on future generations. Adults could hardly change, but young people were open to change. Sobek and Jocelyne had chosen to use education to get children and young people accustomed to the presence of dinosaurs, so that once they were adults they would have considered it normal. And so, about a year earlier, the first dinosaur teachers had entered the schools. Some parents had opposed it, but many others had appreciated this change, perhaps hoping precisely that the presence of the dinosaurs would put a stop to the continuous bullying of their children. After all, in addition to being incorruptible since they didn't use money, dinosaurs had already proven to be smarter, more intuitive, and more alert than humans, as well as allowing them to sense if someone was lying with their more developed senses. And in fact, after their introduction in schools, the levels of bullying had dropped a lot. And thanks to that, even the students were happy that a dinosaur was their teacher. Obviously the dinosaurs couldn't teach ordinary subjects such as mathematics, since they didn't use it and therefore didn't know it, and for this reason new subjects had been introduced, subjects aimed at bringing students closer to the natural world and therefore to a vision. unity of the world. Piscivorous dinosaurs could teach everything about the behavior of river and lake creatures, carnivorous dinosaurs were well acquainted with many species of land animals, herbivorous dinosaurs could accurately describe the cycles and functions of various plants, and so on. In addition, survival courses had been introduced, in which dinosaurs excelled, and even an entire course had been created on contemporary history, which accurately described all the events that took place in recent years, so that the students were very clear on how the world around them and what mistakes and successes had been made along the way; after all, history was useless if you didn't learn from it, so it was essential to know what had happened to transform the nation so radically. Dinosaurs were often invited to attend the lessons and sometimes held them themselves, being in fact some of the most important protagonists of the story. To give an example, Grim, the baryonyx who taught at the Okasawa school, taught the students to recognize the different species of fish and to learn their behavior and the uses that could be made of them, and for this he had a small swimming pool available where he could keep live specimens. Within a year of starting that little experiment, it became commonplace for students to take lessons from dinosaurs. Some of them, like Pierre, hated them because they had lost their privileges, but everyone else appreciated the new and strange lessons that had been introduced. In a certain sense it could be said that the students appreciated the new subjects more than the old ones, perhaps because they were more 'practical' and 'exotic'. The only problem was that sometimes the lesson had to be canceled because it was raining, as the dinosaurs were often too big to enter the schools and therefore they took lessons outdoors, something else very appreciated by the students who preferred to breathe fresh air rather than the firm and closed one of normal classes. Both Sobek and Jocelyne were delighted with these results. At that rate the new generation would have been completely in favor of the coexistence of dinosaurs; which meant that, once the old ones disappeared, Sobek's ideal of coexistence would become normality. "Think about how far we've come, Jocelyne. Think of everything we have built together" Jocelyne smiled at those words. She and Sobek by now used to meet: after all, she was the president of the Great Republic of Beleriard, while he was the leader of the dinosaurs; it was normal for them to argue often. Both found those chats pleasant, not only because they were often fruitful for both, but because they appreciated each other's company. They also played chess: Jocelyne had repeatedly asked Sobek for a rematch, but she still hadn't been able to beat him. That day they had met on a small hill not far from the capital, admiring the landscape that until a few years before was barren and desert, but which was now green and full of life. "Yeah, and it's only been four years since it all started" Jocelyne was now eighteen. Her small body had grown taller and her features had grown more mature and pronounced. Her breasts had swelled and she had gotten curves in the right places. She constantly kept her auburn hair in a ponytail that she let down her back; she wore little makeup and had a face free from imperfections. Sobek remembered little of how attraction worked from a human point of view, but he was pretty sure that Jocelyne would catch the attention of quite a few males. From the fragile and frightened child she had saved in the forest six years earlier, she had become a strong, beautiful and self-confident woman who had changed the history of an entire nation. Sobek had also changed over the course of those three years. Since he had now attained the rank of beast king and no longer continuously ate from his Personal Manger, he had no longer faced the explosive growth he had had three years ago. Despite this, however, he was now a giant of 52 meters in length and 16.2 meters in height; he had reached the weight of 26 tons and could now run up to 53 km/h, and in addition he could swim at 530 km/h, almost double the size of a torpedo. He was so big now that his sail was sometimes mistaken for a large rock. And since the pack growed more every day, he also had reach the rank of 'beast king'. Now, more than half of the animal life of Eden was under his command. Due to the title of beast king, the amount of experience points needed to level up increased by 500,000 with each advancement; therefore to reach level 52 he had to spend the titanic figure of 61,290,000 experience points. If he was still a beast lord he would have already gained 1,225 skill points; Unfortunately, however, he had discovered that after obtaining the rank of beast king the conditions of his Personal Manger had changed. Now they no longer provided 0.2 Skill Points per 10,000 Experience Points, but rather 0.1 Skill Points per 20,000 Experience Points. Which meant that he needed 200,000 experience points for just one skill point. Therefore, the amount of skill points he currently possessed was 'only' 306. He still hadn't gotten enough fame points to evolve, but he wasn't short of much. Currently, his number of Fame Points amounted to over 9.5 billion. Once he reached 10 billion he would be able to complete his latest evolution and finally become 'Spinosaurus divinus'. He had often wondered what skills he would unlock at that point, but he had decided not to ask too many questions; after all, every evolution had led to unexpected results. "Yes, four years since the existence of intelligent dinosaurs became known to the world" murmured Sobek. "And look how much the world has changed. Here, in this small corner of the continent, we have created a more united, peaceful and equal society than any other. It's not a perfect club for sure... but it's a great start" "We can be satisfied" Jocelyne murmured, leaning against the dinosaur's huge belly. "I wish it could be so simple also with other nations" For three years, there had been no more attempts by other countries to formally declare war on dinosaurs, nor had anyone had any contact with the Great Republic of Beleriard. But even though the situation might have seemed peaceful, both Jocelyne and Sobek knew that this was just the calm before the storm. The naval blockade that Sobek had imposed was still in place: after three years, it was still impossible to sail safely on the open sea. Even aircraft carriers and warships were afraid to enter the sea, as teams of marine reptiles attacked and sank any vessel. Because of this, merchant ships could no longer sail the ocean and trade had terribly diminished. This, combined with the already dire economic situation of other nations, had only worsened people's conditions. Sobek knew from his spies that half of the world's population was literally starving. Faced with such an embargo, humans would have had only two choices: to surrender and accept the change imposed by the dinosaurs, or to keep fighting. Sobek hoped they would choose the former, as the Great Republic of Beleriard had shown not only that coexistence between humans and dinosaurs was possible, but also that dinosaurs could restore their prosperity to nations. However, after three years, still no one had shown signs of surrender; what had become a veritable war of attrition showed no sign of stopping. John Hammond still worked hard to try to convince humans of the need for coexistence, even though he was struggling to even sit up by now; even though he didn't have long to live, he was determined to fight to the death. Almost the entire scientific community supported him and even the population was slowly starting to take sides with him. When it came down to it, when humans finally remembered how horrible warfare was, many realized how stupid they had been and started hoping for peace. Unfortunately, John Hammond's forces were still a minority: less than 30% of the world population supported him, but considering that three years earlier the figure had not even reached 10%, it was a considerable advance. Sobek hoped that John Hammond and his allies could get enough consensus to give way to peace talks before the situation worsened. "Do you really think things will get worse?" I had asked Jocelyne many times. "I don't think so" Sobek always replied. "I'm sure of it" ****** "Gentlemen, do we have your permission to start the experiment?" The leaders of the five superpowers were gathered in a scientific facility in the middle of the Taipan Desert, an expanse of sand the size of three Sahara. "Are you really sure the dinosaurs won't be able to spy on us this time?" asked the emperor of Almagna. "Absolutely" a middle-aged man replied. His name was Michael Croft, and he was the chief of that scientific base. "How can you be so sure?" "From satellite images, we know that dinosaurs can conceal their bodies, but not the objects they use. So even though neither our eyes nor our tools can detect them, they still can't hide their supplies. We have kept an eye on the whole area within a radius of five hundred kilometers constantly, and we can assure you that there is not the slightest trace of food; there is no way they can be here" The leaders of the five nations looked at each other, then nodded. "All right. Proceed" Croft grabbed the radio: "Launch test subject number 1!" There was a roar, and a missile set off heading for the desert. It flew so far that it was soon no longer possible to see it, except for the white trail it left behind. Then, it exploded. A white light emerged from the missile and spread for several kilometers, so much so that it was clearly visible from the scientific base and the leaders of the five superpowers had to close their eyes to avoid being blinded. An immense ball of fire appeared in the middle of the desert, so hot that the sand below turned into glass and the rocks vaporized. A shock wave of biblical proportions spread for several kilometers, lifting boulders of several tons as if they were sticks. After a few moments, the fireball began to rise upwards, giving the flames a strange mushroom shape, and thousands of tons of dust and debris were thrown into the sky. From the scientific basis, everyone could admire the destructive spectacle. The leaders of the five nations stood still with wide-open mouths and wide-eyed, and the same scientists who had brought this monstrosity to life now felt chills running down their backs. That day was remembered by posterity as the Day of Terror. Because that was the day when the atomic bomb, the most terrible instrument ever created by humanity, appeared on Eden.