JaceVAmor
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Chapter 153: City Building
🕑 Added 2023-11-03 15:11:00 +0000 UTCThe alligator reached the entrance of the airport without incident. They certainly drew attention on the way, but every single person kept a respectful distance, not willing to test the newly minted Dragonrider or the Nomad. The residents of Empress City had already received the preliminary guidelines that had served Ghost Reef and knew the expectations when it came to tolerance of wildlife, but the alligator was the first example for exactly how much the ballgame had changed. It only took one look to decide that they’d prefer to be allies. If anyone harbored doubts for treating animals as equals, they were quashed by the majestic specimen in front of them.
Marcus and Jackson had managed to navigate the shard from the isolated break room all the way to the passenger entrance of the airport. The front of the airport was a grand construction with a cathedral glass roof that easily eclipsed 50 feet above their heads. It was criss-crossed by curved metal beams that decorated the ceiling, and extended all the way over the drop-off area. Large circular planters contained slightly overgrown shrubs that spilled over their edges with small palm trees situated in the center of each, but it was otherwise a completely unobstructed sunroom-like area.
The wide open space curved around the central waiting area with a dozen wide doorways leading into the airport terminals on the inside and multiple lanes of empty roads on the outside. Beyond the roads, there were broad pathways that led to the various parking garages from a centralized courtyard. Each of the pathways had a unique designation, like Flamingo, Tarpon, and amusingly Alligator, to help travelers remember which garage housed their vehicles. A corresponding pedestrian bridge, decorated with the associated animal, led over what was once a highly trafficked place full of waiting vehicles and hurried visitors.
The residents of Empress City fully replaced the missing vacationers and had formed a relatively orderly line that extended down the roads, away from the garages, in order to queue up for access to the shard. The crowds in and around the parking garages made a completely separate group, lining up to visit the jail instead, and they had naturally avoided mixing up to lessen the confusion. The droning of hundreds of conversations hushed with the arrival of the beast, but the alligator paid the sudden attention no heed, diligently following Coop as he went straight to the shard.
Almost everyone present was in the process of leaving the Endless Empire and selecting professions or registering with the warden. Jackson and a handful of others stood near the shard, providing direction to anyone that needed it and advice if they so desired. Throughout the day that Coop and the girls had been at the golf course, only about half of the residents had completed the first task, and they were the ones being organized by Fabiana and Marcus in planning out the city.
When the alligator approached, there wasn’t a single peep of complaint that it was skipping the line. Charlie and her mount were natural VIPs. The animal simply nudged the shard with the tip of her snout and stood perfectly still for about 30 seconds before turning and moseying back the way she came. Jackson didn’t even comment before he started waving the next few people forward while keeping a wary eye on the animal.
Coop addressed Jackson instead, curious about the impact the alligator had on the settlement before they had arrived. “Have you noticed less Primal Trackers roaming around the city?”
Jackson was surprised to be called out, distracted by the alligator, but he swung his attention toward Coop. “Primal Trackers? Ever since the wave of them during the event, there have been noticeably less. Still some, but not enough to become a problem. They mostly come from the north and south these days.”
Coop nodded. “Probably because of that one.” He suggested with a thumb toward the alligator. “You should probably figure out all of their spawn zones and have people get levels around there.”
Jackson absently ducked his head. “I believe the people forming the adventurer’s guild branch will be prioritizing that after the battlefields are cleaned up. Marcus made sure we would have a method to get people leveling and warned us about leaving the monsters to develop on their own.”
“You better make sure to level too.” Coop suggested as he backed away, catching up with the slow retreat of the alligator. “Don’t let anyone catch up!” He shouted over his shoulder. Jackson gulped as he received his assignment.
“All done?” Coop asked the gator once he was back by its side, but it simply continued retracing its steps. “Right.” Coop shrugged. “I suppose we’ll escort you back out.”
Charlie may as well have been a statue as she remained in place all the way back through the inner gate. Before they parted ways with the alligator, Coop reiterated the importance of the settlement’s territory and reminded the animal that if she needed to seek refuge before the settlement expanded all the way to the golf course, she would be welcomed inside the airport.
As with most of the other animals that he tried to have a conversation with, he had to assume that she received the message. At least with the animals of Ghost Reef, his assumptions had been mostly met, but what did he know?
Coop made Charlie hop off as they entered the outer ring, catching her as she quickly removed herself from the alligator’s back. It took a moment for Charlie to get her legs under her, like she had been at sea for too long, but she didn’t have any more complaints about the ride. Coop thought she had ended up having fun right up until the entire population of Empress City took interest in her. Thousands of stares had probably brought her anxiety levels to their peak, but she had put on a good show.
They rejoined Marcus, Camila, and Fabiana back near the main entrance of the airport. The area was already becoming a central hub for the city with the shard in full view of everyone. By way of greeting, Coop transferred one million credits to Fabiana. She did her best to seem unimpressed by the sudden windfall, but the way she squeezed her lips together failed to uphold the stoicism she was aiming for.
“Alright. So, tell me the plan.” Coop prompted. He was also excited to get back to some city-building as Ghost Reef’s footprint had been pretty well established. Empress City was a blank canvas.
Fabiana was glad to share what Marcus and her group of trusted captains had decided on. “To start with, the goal is to begin reestablishing a community. Marcus here had plenty of insight on what to prioritize, given the fact that most of our needs for survival are met with mana. Even though there are plenty of buildings in the city that can be reclaimed, we’ll be building extensive housing in the safest place first. Afterwards, we’ll let the residents fill in services through the city-planning department. The rest of the city will be reclaimed and repurposed over time.”
Marcus nodded along, before he gave her a request. “Could you wait a few minutes before you get started? I’d like to get a good vantage point so that we can watch.”
“Suit yourselves.” Fabiana responded.
Marcus hurried Coop, Camila, and Charlie back into the airport. The corridors were still dark, but they weren’t as empty as before. A handful of residents had returned and made themselves comfortable here and there. It was a bit similar to how it had been when the Empire was in control, except the atmosphere was notably different, more casual, with less sense of impending discipline if they looked at the wrong person the wrong way. Coop spotted some smiles and heard some scattered laughter as the relief that things were changing slowly set in. It might end up being a long process, but at least they seemed to be getting the first step in the right direction.
Coop’s group made their way back to the series of escalators that would take them to the lounge and eventually the break room that contained the shard previously, but bypassed going up. Marcus led them in a different direction, remaining on the ground floor until they were outside, on the opposite side of the airport. “This is how we got the shard outside.” He pointed out, showing how there was roof access to the entire airport on the commercial side. He continued leading them toward the tallest point of the entire airfield.
The air traffic control tower stood by itself, at the end of a series of flattened metal hangars, tall enough to oversee the entire inner and outer rings of the airport. It had a single story base building on one side that they entered before finding their way up to the top.
“I’m surprised the Empire didn’t use this as their base.” Camila noted as she observed the panoramic perspective.
“Apparently, they were. They divided up the responsibility to some domestic corrections advisor, and this was his office.” Marcus pointed out. “One of the ones that fled when the Champion was defeated.”
Coop grunted, feeling like he should have guessed they would use the perch for guarding against its own population. “So how did you guys decide to layout the city?” Coop questioned. “Not a linear thing, I hope.”
“No, no, we decided against that. I think it would have been fine, like the main street back home, with the settlement expanding around it, but they figured they would rather focus on one easily defensible position to start with to avoid spreading themselves thin.” Marcus gestured toward the highway.
The wide road drove straight to the port, but when it reached the outer ring of the airport it curved, giving the extended facilities a wide berth, wrapping the dirt fields before leading in the other three cardinal directions after clearing the airfield’s perimeter. There were dozens of fires burning up and down the road on the oceanside, clearly visible in the night.
Marcus recognized Coop’s questioning expression and answered without prompting. “They’re making funeral pyres, and cleaning up the path to the port first. It’ll become a memorial road when they’re ready. Probably best not to shove a bunch of housing along the place where they fought and bled with and against each other.”
Charlie frowned as she inherently agreed, but Coop was distracted by the view. As his eyes followed the highway’s northern route toward the horizon, he was mesmerized by the evolution of the landscape. From their elevated perspective, the moonlight was enough to clearly reveal the changes that had occurred with the introduction of mana.
Rather than suburbs and strip malls expanding beyond the horizon as the city’s development spread along the coast and into the interior of the state, his eyes were met with a sea of green. Small islands of concrete remained, but for the most part sawgrass prairie had engulfed the less developed areas in the interior. Marshes existed where parking lots once dominated while flocks of wading birds were white and pink specks against the green and brown backdrop. Along the coast, mangroves had swallowed docks and marinas, creating a dark green barrier along the ocean that provided contour from their perspective. Every few miles, the grasses and mangroves converged, forming natural fingers of vegetation that reconnected the Everglades with the ocean.
Coop took a moment to be impressed before he brought his attention back to the layout of Empress City, looking down at the airport’s abandoned planes. “So, is it gonna be a radial city, like Ghost Reef?”
“Not exactly. To begin with, the city will be aligned with the runways.” Marcus pointed to the long straight paths that occupied much of the inner ring.
From their perspective in the control tower, there were five main runways. Two were parallel to each other to their north, one was at a 45 degree angle, extending from one end of the closer parallel lane, forming the angle at the end, and another two were parallel to the south, on the opposite side of the airport terminals, forming another connection with the angled road. From above, they looked like a mirrored letter ‘Z’ with the airport’s main building to its right.
In between the main thoroughfares, there were dozens of lesser roads that were intersecting with each other, leading to and from the terminals at the airport and the runways. Those smaller paths connected to each of the main roads in ten different places. Coop only knew about airports in passing, but he imagined that these were taxiways as well as service roads.
While his eyes followed the complicated patterns, an apartment building started forming near the crook of the intersecting runways on the north side. It had been placed slightly away from the edge of the road, which made Coop question the location.
“Did they miss the edge?” Coop contemplated as the building formed a foundation, then rapidly grew, starting with the inner walls, until the outer walls caught up. The windows were the last to form. The top down perspective afforded by the shard made exact placement extraordinarily easy, so he found it hard to believe its position was an accident.
“They’re going to put local services on the outside of the roads, and also down the middle, and offset the apartment buildings to leave room.” Marcus confirmed that the location was intentional. “Since everything is going to need to be within walking distance, the idea is that they will set up smaller, mixed neighborhoods that overlap with each other. If they tried to make a residential district, it probably would just take up the entire airport and spill out into the city, which would make getting to anything else wildly inconvenient.”
Marcus shook his head. “Seriously, the amount of space they’ll need just for housing without upgrades is ridiculous. It really put into perspective how lucky Ghost Reef was to start small and slowly expand. Cities absolutely needed to utilize the preexisting structures, if they wanted to maintain their populations, unlike what Empress City did.”
Coop just added it as yet another reason that Ghost Reef had lucked into avoiding certain problems, which in turn created different ones. The advantage was that they had been able to grow the physical settlement with their population, and properly plan their development, but the disadvantage had been actually finding new residents essentially required them to poach from others.
If Empress City hadn’t been as incompetently run as it was, they would have been hard-pressed to convince anyone to join their fledgling settlement. Why would anyone leave the safety of numbers if there hadn’t been other more pressing concerns with the management of the city? Even then, it seemed like most of the people who had heard Coop’s offer to join his settlement had been willing to ignore it until it was far too late.
Given enough time, even if Ghost Reef survived without any influx of recruits, Empress City probably would have swallowed them up, with an enormous population and settlement upgrades stretching their territory until it was a regional power. Instead, the territory that it covered was even less than his tiny island’s.
The group watched as apartment buildings popped up one at a time, always with a slight gap in between as Fabiana and Jackson carefully identified the appropriate locations. Occasionally, a different type of building would appear, along the thickest runways, adding a tavern or some other food related construction.
“What about a Market?” Coop thought back to when they first recruited contracted residents, and how most of them had made the specific request. Empress City had several potential options for a nice market street.
“They’re concentrating on dining venues that won’t need one. When they’re ready, they want to put it inside the terminals of the airport.” Marcus answered.
Coop was surprised, but after a moment, thought that made sense. Airports were already designed to allow lots of people to pass through and typically had all sorts of shops along the sides. They would end up with something like an indoor mall. Looking back, the tavern, the bakery, and even the brewery hadn’t needed the market to begin sales. It was only the services that were more closely aligned with crafting that arrived with a building designed as workshops that would rely on the market to sell their wares to residents.
The buildings kept popping up with a regular cadence, and Coop was finally getting a better idea of the scale of the airport. One side of one runway had enough room for 25 apartment buildings while leaving enough space for each one to essentially be its own miniature block. Since the numbers were easy enough, Coop started doing the math while they watched one building after another construct itself from the ground up. If they put 50 apartments per main runway, and there were five to start with, that only left them with 250 apartments. Each apartment had 12 units, and each unit had six rooms and a common area, but there were almost 100,000 people. The numbers didn’t add up, even if there were two or three people per room.
“Marcus, aren’t they going to need a lot more?” Coop asked.
“Definitely. This is just the start of the settlement. Remember they can still use the airport as they were before, and they are intending to reclaim the outer ring next. People who want to build their own places are already claiming spots while the layout is outlined. And on top of all that, they’re going to recruit contracted residents to reinforce and rejuvenate the city, but they need to upgrade the settlement a few more times first. The problem is that they need to do all 22 days of stability, and it started when Jackson became Champion.”
“Oof.” Camila grunted. None of them wanted to relive the wait that Ghost Reef had gone through, remembering the siege had extended the time for them.
“Afterwards, they intend to invest in system defenses. I told them about the things we were able to purchase before we came over here.” Marcus finished, satisfied that he had covered all the bases with Empress City, applying the lessons learned back home to give them a clear direction to take their settlement.
As the sun started rising above the horizon, Coop felt like it was approaching their time return. “We should head back soon, right? I want to finish hunting the Kites before I go check out the Yucatan.”
Marcus clearly wanted to stay. “Maybe one more day? I want to see how they decide to utilize the memorial road. They were still considering a secondary hub on each of the port islands, but decided to put a pin on the decision until after they settled in. Some of the rebels even stayed behind to maintain the makeshift headquarters they had been using.”
“I mean, I can leave on my own. You can stay and supervise for a while and the girls can finish their Slayer grind if they stay a few more days. We also have those blood cursed people, and we don’t know how long it will take for Madison to prepare another ritual.” Coop reminded them. “I can go back and get that stuff started, and have the pirates set up a regular schedule to ferry back and forth.”
“Actually, mom was already prepared for another ritual before we left.” Charlie spoke up. “When she took her break, she ended up spending most of her time back in the ritual chamber fixing the damage you did to her work. She complained about you damaging the siphon every time we had dinner.”
“What? How was that my fault? There was an Icon of Mana trying to crawl into our settlement.” Coop tried defending himself.
“You should have been strong enough to smack it before it clawed up her patterns, Mr. Champion.” Camila jokingly suggested, but Coop took it a little seriously. He always needed to be a little bit stronger.
“All the more reason for me to get back and add a Slayer title.” He mumbled.
“We’ll go back together.” Camila promised. “If you have a pirate ship ferrying people back and forth, it’ll be easy enough for us to come back and finish our quests later.”
Marcus, having ignored the direction of the conversation, interrupted them. “Something is wrong. They stopped building. They have almost 100 apartments to go and they should have more than enough funds.”
“Let’s go check it out.” Coop offered.
Back at the civilization shard, they found Jackson and Fabiana discussing the result of their expenditures. They had a simple signup prepared for people who wished to have a room assigned to them. Surprisingly, most people were indifferent, but Coop and Marcus both expected that to change once they got back into the mindset of being a regular human instead of some kind of sleepless and satiated mana creature.
“What happened?” Marcus asked the Empress City Viceroy.
“Ran out of mana.” She pointed out.
“Ah, you should construct a mana mill.” Marcus suggested before he turned to Coop. “See that? We definitely would have run into problems if we had needed to construct more at once.”
Coop shrugged. “I figured that was the case. When Balor was teaching the Cleary brothers about the cannons he basically said that they would cost mana as well. Same for basically everything he was reinforcing.” He turned to Fabiana. “It’s annoyingly slow to regenerate. That mana mill is probably a good idea.”
