Chapter 191: The Network

Zac still wasn’t sure what he should do with Hannah as he slowly walked toward the gate leading to the town proper. When Ogras told him she had been found he felt… nothing. Simply too much time had passed since they last were together.The time they had spent apart was more than twice what they had actually been together, and since then Zac had experienced one life-altering event after another. And it wasn’t like they were some childhood sweethearts or soul mates. They were two lonely people who had found each other on a dating app. Besides, the little he’d heard about her causing trouble since she arrived at his island made him quite annoyed. However, he would have to form his own opinion, as there usually was a hidden agenda behind the demon’s words. But in the end, Zac knew he was just psyching himself up with various justifications and excuses. He almost wished that some weird void would open up and spew out a horde of monsters. He would much rather go through a deadly battle than this muddled situation. Soon he arrived at the gate once more, and after asking the guards headed toward a certain neighborhood of the residential district. It didn’t take long to find the building, since not only was the neighborhood one of those closest to the gate leading to Zac’s area, but it was also guarded by a demon and a Valkyrie. Zac’s brows scrunched together in displeasure as he walked up to the two guards who quickly recognized him. “Lord Atwood,” the demoness quickly said. “You two can go back to your usual duties. This place doesn’t need guards,” Zac said with a nod. The two guards gave each other a quick glance and quickly complied and left. Zac took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It didn’t take long before he could hear hurried steps, and the door was practically thrown open as Hannah hurried to open it. She looked as beautiful as when they first met, perhaps even more so. Say what you will about the integration, the Cosmic Energy made people look better, as long as they survived. However, to Zac’s surprise she didn’t wear normal clothes, but rather robes similar to those that Alea and Alyn wore. There was a hint of confusion in her eyes for a second as she looked at him. Zac couldn’t blame her, as he’d truly changed a lot more than most. However, Hannah soon realized who he was and her eyes quickly filled with tears. “Zac!” she said and threw herself in his arms, her body wracked by cries. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again.” “I am glad you’re fine,” Zac said with a smile. “I heard that you came back,” she said after having found her bearing. “Come in.” Zac hesitated for a second but soon followed behind her into her house. It was neat and clean inside, though the furniture was quite eclectic. He briefly wondered how she managed to get so many things on this isolated island. Then again, many of the surrounding islands had a lot of buildings that were deserted, perhaps there was a lot of it lying around. “Are the other three okay?” Zac said as he stopped in the living room. Searᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. “Only David’s still alive,” Hannah said with a shake of her head. “Izzie and Tyler didn’t make it.” Zac could only nod, not being too surprised. He knew that only two people surviving was the expected outcome, and that only half of a tutorial group dying was considered one of the best outcomes. “I wanted to find you, but we were trapped on that island, and that crazy guy messed with our heads,” Hannah said, placing her hand on his chest. “But that’s okay. We’re finally together again.” As Zac looked down on her beautiful face he forgot about everything for a second. He remembered the awkward first date, turning into a relationship that gave respite from the bleak reality of being an adult with no real direction in life. However, reality soon came crashing back to him, and he knew that those times would never come back. Her house might feel like a secluded enclosure hiding them from the world, but it was only a mirage. Shaking his head Zac extracted himself from Hannah with a sigh. “Hannah, we need to talk.” ------------------- Zac was still feeling sour walked into the large building that was currently the core of operations of Port Atwood, but he forced himself to regain control of his emotions. Meeting Hannah again had been a roller-coaster of emotions. But then again, most break-ups were. He realized he had painted her as some sort of villain in his mind, desperately grasping at every negative he heard in order to make himself feel justified. But ultimately, there was only one justification. They had simply fallen out of love since the apocalypse, and their relationship died along with the fall. Besides, he didn’t know what to believe. Ogras had insinuated that the was causing trouble, but she had looked completely baffled when he’d mentioned it. As she explained things she tried to work in the government, thinking it would help him to have people he knew and could trust there, and not only strangers with their own agendas. Zac could somewhat understand that sentiment as he walked through the halls of the large government building. The faces he saw were mostly those of strangers, and even those he recognized he barely knew the names of. There was no one of those that ran his town that he would dare trust his life to. That wasn’t to say that Hannah necessarily had his best in mind. While she seemed the same as the girl he dated half a year back, no one had truly gone through the integration without changing a bit. Everyone had gotten harder, more cynical. Those who didn’t were long dead. In the end, he had promised he'd find work for her and David, but Hannah had rejected it, saying that she wanted to focus on getting stronger. She even mentioned joining the academy. Zac only acquiesced and promised he'd provide the two with resources. It was the least he could do. Not long after Zac entered the large building a clerk that Zac didn’t recognize hurriedly ran up to him with a small bow. “Lord Atwood,” she said with some reservation in her voice. “Administrators Abby and Adran are expecting you.” “Lead the way,” Zac simply said. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the address, as it felt odd to be called a lord by the humans. He guessed the employees had adopted the mannerisms from the demons, who had stricter hierarchies in their societies. Soon he found himself in a meeting room with the people, or eyeballs, responsible for keeping his town running. “I am glad to hear you found your sister in good health,” Abby said as she bobbed in the air. “Thank you. How have things gone while I was away?” Zac asked. “Well, Port Atwood has advanced on various fronts. Today 83 432 citizens are within your network,” Adran began. “Network?” Zac asked. “We have started setting up various satellite facilities on neighboring islands. These settlements are equipped with [F-Grade Teleportation Arrays], and therefore can be easily accessed. We currently have five settlements, whose purposes are mainly various types of resource farms,” Abby filled in. “Five settlements? The guards at the teleporter said there’s twelve,” Zac said with some confusion. “Two teleporters lead to the larger human towns that are able to self-sustain. We saw no reason to move everyone here to drain resources,” Abby explained. “We believe that living in Port Atwood should be considered a boon, and something only for those who contribute to the faction. Therefore, when we find refugees on new islands they usually get moved to one of the other towns.” “And the other teleporters?” Zac asked. “Another two are for the beastman settlements. One leads to Azh’Rodum, and the elevenths go to the Zhix hive,” Abby said. “There’s still one more, no?” Zac said. “Yes, but it is a bit special. It leads to a small camp we placed on an extremely large island we found. It is the only island so far we’ve found that's even bigger than this one. From what we can tell the island is uninhabited, but it is teeming with strong monsters,” Adran said as he handed Zac an information crystal. “So it’s a place for our people to gain combat experience and levels?” Zac asked as he accepted the crystal. “Well partly that. But there are also energy signals that indicate that there actually might be a Mystic Realm somewhere on the island,” Abby said, once again starting to bob around in excitement. “Oh?” Zac said, somewhat unperturbed. “What’s with that reaction? That is huge news!” the Stargazer said agitatedly. “Depending on what’s inside it could be an enormous boon for Port Atwood.” “But couldn’t it just as likely be full of E-Graded monster, or even worse things?” Zac retorted. Exploring a mystic realm was an extremely dangerous undertaking, and some forces had to sacrifice thousands and thousands of people in order to secure it. And even then, the realms might not lead to any benefits in the end. A mystic realm was a huge gamble, and Zac wasn’t sure he had the resources to roll the dice at the moment. He only really had a few hundred combatants, far too little to venture into a dangerous place like that. “Well yes, but great rewards always come with some risk. That’s the way of the universe. Besides, we don’t need to explore it right now, apart from perhaps sending a scouting party to sound things out. If it's dangerous we’ll simply reinforce the portal, and revisit the issue when we’re stronger,” Abby explained. “Is there any risk of something emerging from the Mystic Realm to wreak havoc?” Zac asked. “It’s highly unlikely. Unless we open the vortex from our side they can’t do much. They would need to brute force it, and that would require extreme powers. If such strong beings lived inside the mystic realm, they would have broken out long ago,” Adran explained. “Well, I won’t send anyone inside there against his will,” Zac said after some deliberation. “But if someone wants to take a gamble, we can give it a try a bit later. I will visit the island and take a look for myself. But for now, I want to focus on the Incursions.” “Well, I am sure that Ogras has told you, but the Ratmen Incursion was vanquished, becoming the second incursion being closed on the planet. We also found two more potential targets while fighting over there. The residents of Billyville had allies who also live close to Incursions,” Adran said. “Oh?” Zac said. “Are they affiliated with the New World Government?” “One is unaffiliated, while we are unsure about the other. However, both of them wish to wait until after the Treasure Hunt,” Adran said. “What do you two think?” Zac asked. “The Ratmen Incursion should be considered a low tier Incursion, just like that of Clan Azh’Rezak,” Abby said, drawing a glare from Adran. “Both the incursions mentioned by the allies of Billyville sounds like medium-tier Incursions, and you would likely need to join unless you’re willing to accept mass casualties among your soldiers. As for the high-grade ones, I am not sure we’re ready to take those on at the moment.” Zac nodded his head in thought, not too surprised. The fact that it only took a few days to eradicate the Ratmen Incursion proved they couldn't have been too strong. The easier Incursions were dealt with, leaving the harder ones. He also felt he had to agree with Abby’s assessment of their current power. Even with 3 of the generals taken out of commission in the undead army, he wasn’t confident his side could vanquish the Incursion. There were still another 3 generals remaining along with the leader. Furthermore, they would be at the core of the incursion where the Miasma should be thickest, along with who knows what kind of Arrays. Zac also understood why people wished to postpone attacking the incursions until after the Treasure Hunt. From how it sounded there would be quite a few power-ups waiting inside for the powerhouses of Earth, which would help immensely in the fight against the invaders. The only question was how long the mission would last. It wouldn’t do any good if it took months to complete since that would leave most towns without proper defense from their most powerful people, while also allowing the limitations of the invaders to be removed. The briefing went on for another hour, and it seemed everything was under control. He wasn’t really needed for anything, as he was mostly used for deterrence so that no one would act up. Besides, with the demon soldiers walking the streets people were keeping themselves in line. Since it was getting late he soon headed back to his home to rest up. Soon after he came back Emily came by his courtyard, forcefully scampering over the decorative wall, uncaring that the gates were closed. The teenager had met up with Kenzie earlier, and from what he could tell the two had hit it off well. It appeared she was overloaded with gossip, and a seemingly unending stream of juicy tidbits came pouring out of her mouth. It was everything from the fact that Ryan was trying to woo one of the Valkyries, to an Ishiate workshop exploding in the commercial district twice in one day. There apparently had been a large fight between Emma and Julia as well, something about their future path. Zac could guess that while Emma wanted nothing to do with the government, Julia wasn’t so sure. He made a mental note to sit down with the government official soon. He hadn’t really talked with her since she arrived, but the events at Kingsbury made him realize that he needed to do something about his relationship with the government before the shapeshifters ruined them from within. Turning Julia into a proper liaison for Port Atwood might not be a bad idea. Finally, the teenager reminded him that her birthday was in a few weeks before she scampered off. Zac only smiled and shook his head, his spirits lifting somewhat. He threw the matters of Hannah and Port Atwood into the back of his head, and instead focused on what was ahead. His next goal was the quest for hegemony, but since he didn’t know how long it would take there were still some things he needed to get done first.