"I got more than just a few items," Blake replied. "I was actually going to go speak to Thardra because I wanted him to take a look at a few things."
"Oh? Why, what did you find?" Tina asked. She was really curious as to what Blake had gotten his hands on.
"I got a jet and some other heavy artillery. If we can somehow rework them to be able to use magic and have barriers set up on them, we may be able to mass produce a new version. Ones that use magic spells as their ammo." Blake was unsure how long it would take, but he figured he would show them to Thardra and see what he thought. It was their first score of some serious weapons that might be worth reengineering, making them better.
"I see… This is not a bad idea. He is already working on new weapons, so I am sure he will get excited seeing something new. What about the communication stuff?" Tina had been going over plans for a proper communication system while Blake was gone. She wanted to help as much as she could.
"I got most of what we need, but we will need a team of people to go out and look for areas to make as outposts. However, I am a little worried about sending anyone out at this time when the dragonic girls Darla and Triana are in the area. Luckily they did not discover this place." Blake was really worried about this. While they did have enough firepower to fight one or two dragonic at this time, they were nowhere near strong enough to fight a group of them.
"No worries on that front," Noa spoke up. She walked over and kissed Blake's cheek. "I put trackers on them when I ran to your side. They are far away from here and are heading north. Probably to meet back up with their clan. After such a defeat, they are probably not in the mood for sightseeing anymore."
"That's true. Speaking of which, how is Faana? Did she cause any trouble?" Blake wondered if Faana caused a scene last night or not.
"She ended up sleeping in Anna's room. Faana said their names were similar, so they should become friends too. Anna seemed keen on the idea, and they ran off." Lillia explained. "She may be old, but Faana does not seem to have much interaction with others and is still not as mature as us. So being friends with Anna is a good thing. She can experience a bit of youth finally."
"Speaking of which, before the war, how did everyone spend their lives?" Blake was curious about this. He wondered if they had any special systems in place.
"Not much to talk about, really. For ather dragons, it was always about growing stronger and gaining as much knowledge as possible. We were basically a clan that stayed to themselves. From what I know of humans, they were not much different from the humans of today. They worked, played, and went about their daily lives. The only difference was the cities you are used to, Blake. Unlike yours, ours were wrapped in tall walls to keep monsters out. Outside, the walls were dangerous for any race. There were monsters so big that they could swallow entire cities. Anytime one was detected, it would cause alarm." Lillia began to explain.
"Ah Yeah! The behemoths! Also, the Argona. The massive monster that floated through the sky. The elves had to keep track of it because if it ever decided to feed, it would mean doom for any area that it passed by." Noa shivered just thinking about it. The Argona was a whale-like monster, but it had tentacles that would shoot down to the surface and wrap around any living thing. It did not matter what it was. It could be a lowly monster or even a dragonic. It would pull them into the air and eat them.
"An Argona, huh? Was it hard to kill?" Blake was curious. With how strong Lillia was, would such a thing be easy to kill?
"It was not so much that it couldn't be killed per se, but more that it was a pain to kill. Argona's had an insane regeneration ability, and the tentacles would rain down in the thousands. You can say that just to defeat one, you would need at least ten ather dragons or twenty dragonic." Lillia remembered the times she had fought against one. It was such a pain that she wanted to scream. "The strange thing about Argona was that when you killed one, a new one would appear. But when I did the reset, they disappeared for good. I am not sure why. But it might have something to do with mana, and if that is the case, then we will need to keep an eye out for one to appear at some point."
"Ugh! I do not want to fight one of those again!" Noa cried out. "Blake, if an Argona appears, we will need to destroy it as soon as possible. We can not allow it to shoot tentacles down to the ground, or many lives will be lost."
"Alright…. Does it have an anus?" Blake asked. He was being completely serious, but for some reason, everyone was giving him strange looks. And Lillia and holding her butt cheeks.
"Why is that the first thing you think of when we say defeat something!?" Lillia shouted and gave Blake a dirty look.
"What!? It's a weak point for all races, is it not!?" Blake did not think his question was all that strange. If it had an anus, they could shoot some super huge spells up it and blow it up from the inside out!
"Why did I fall in love with you?" Tina held her head. She couldn't look at Blake any longer.
"Fine! I will go see Thardra. But think about it. If you shoot it in the an…"
"Enough with your anuses!" Noa yelled out as she pushed Blake out of the room, the door slamming behind him.
Blake stood there for a moment in confusion. "What did I say?"
Back in the room, Noa let out a sigh as she walked over to the other girls. "I hate to say it, but he has a point!"
"I know…. But I do not wish to think about it." Lillia was still holding her butt. Although what Blake said was actually not a bad plan, the girls would never admit to it!
Out in the hall, Blake shrugged his shoulders and made his way to the shop that Thardra had set up. On his way, he suddenly had a big burly man standing in front of him. "You rat bastard, why didn't you tell me you were back!?"
"Huh? Oh! I had to take care of my new wives." Blake replied with a smile.
"What? Of the girls. About fucking time. Hey, I am glad you are here. I was thinking of a good way to set up our outposts." Bret went on to explain how they could search for the areas that were secure but in a good spot to keep an eye on things. And then take a few measurements and then come back to camp, build what they need and then store it in one of the space pouches.
"Not bad. It will allow us to really set things up in a safer manner. Bret, when did you get so smart?" Blake asked, his lips curling up in a teasing grin.
"What!? Fuck you! I have always been smart!" Bret raged as he smacked Blake on his back.
Blake chuckled as he nodded his head. "Alright, we will do it as you said. It makes more sense since we will be making everything from scratch. I will unload the equipment I snagged later on and leave it to you to deal with the rest."
"Alright, leave it to me. I will make sure we have a good line. It's too bad we can not do power properly yet. Then we could somehow set up cameras which would make things much more secure." Bret scratched his head, but Blake shook his in response.
"You would need some kind of connection over the internet, which we do not have yet. Until we can bring back some kind of internet, that idea is unusable. I snagged a lot of computers, so maybe we can work something out using one as a server. Ask around and see if anyone is a web developer and knows how to set up a server. We can then make some kind of network." Blake wouldn't mind getting internet or something like that setup. It would make running a base much easier, especially when things began to grow in size.
"I will see what I can do. Let me know when you dump the items. I will go through it. For now, I need to gather a few people and see if we got any carpenters. If someone is to take measurements, it would be best to be done by a pro." Bret said his goodbyes and took off running.
Blake watched as Bret left and turned down a hall that had only one door on it. It was the place where Thardra had set up shop. The closer he got to the end of the hall, the hotter it got. He raised his fist and knocked on the door. "Thardra, it's Blake."
"Huh? Lord? Come on in! You are just in time. I finally wrote up a nice blueprint for those firing weapons you have." Thardra's excited voice came from the other side of the door. Blake pushed the door open to see a forge fully lit, making the entire room steaming hot. He instantly broke out into a sweat as he walked in. it was at least one hundred-something degrees in the room. If not for a bit of cooling magic that he felt in the air, he could guess that the room would be even hotter than this.
"Why is the forge going when your not using it?" Blake asked.
"Huh? Are you hot? Lord, you're not a pussy are you?" Thardra asked as he let out a laugh. "Haha… I'm joking. Us dwarves don't feel heat much. Anyway, come to the side room, and you will feel cooler. I want to get your opinion on my design."
