Chapter 44 - Progress

He checked the cameras and was surprised to see some fish in the palangres, so he quickly went and ended them with Inky using their plasma spears, they were some big-toothed horse-sized fish, kind of like an armoured barracuda, and also a plain-looking fish that looked dead but tried attacking them, spewing a cloud of venom when they neared, so they just retreated and let it tire itself, then they easily ended it, used the fish guts to rebait the hooks, and took it back, de-scaling them and putting it all in the freezer to get rid of possible parasites.

once back, Erik made a lettuce salad with smoked sashimi from fish reproductive organs and kelp oil with salt and also fried kelp, and then fried meat dices covered in kelp flour and fine slices of Japanese radish that he had recently cultivated, also some lightly boiled algae salad, it was a moderately tasty meal, and the lettuce was a new experience for the Second Elder, Inky had already tried it though, but the radish was new for both, the First Elder had already gone back, the Second Elder didn't seem to want to though, but he cared little at this point as he had his safety gun.

By this point in time, the garden was ready, and he planted rice along the water pond, then chickpeas, beans, tomatoes, and corn to serve as supports for the plants to grow, also added kelp powder as fertilizer and added a gravity watering system with metal pipes with small holes and a bit of inclination, and a small electric pump, pumping water to a bucket up high from where it flowed down the pipes with small holes and dripped down near the plants, he was very satisfied with the final result.

now he also flooded the donut-shaped enormous third floor 30%, and spread lots of duckweed inside while adding lots of sunlight lamps over the ceiling, with luck it would be ready when the sheep were ready 4 months, as for the chickens, they had been bioengineered to take 48 days instead of just the 21 inside an egg and grow into an adolescent chicken, jumping over the chick stage they were also a race of big chickens from the mountains in the north of Spain that were black and white, they are bigger and strong and take care of themselves so they require very little care, and they would be ready around this week, he would feed them the worms from the composter as well as fish meat and food scraps.

( https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedresa_c%C3%A1ntabra )

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uznXI8wrdag )

He also checked on the mushroom room where the mushrooms had grown nicely, he would fry some stripes of them as a side dish for dinner.

he was also thinking he would need to get some computers and teach octopeople to use them so he could have more free time, checking the fishing lines and the underwater farms is something that any octopeople could do.

The construction of the city under the mountain had started, so the Second Elder reluctantly had to go away to help, with her gigantic strength and sharper mind after the evolution, the construction would speed up considerably.

When he went out, he could already see lots of huts had been established, the city would be 300 meters away, though.

He went to the construction site and gave them some raw meat slices for all workers to eat, he could see all the elders directing other octopeople while wearing the augmented reality glasses.

Satisfied with the progress, he went back and spent some quality time with Inky, with both massaging the other and then watching a movie while relaxing on the onsen.

--- 1 week later ---

Just as he predicted, the fertilized eggs inside Inky had died, the failed mixes inside them not genetically viable, she was a bit sad, but he took her to the cloning module to cheer her up.

The chickens were ready, he inputted a command in the consoles, and the fluid drained, leaving the confused looking chickens there standing up,

Erik carefully dried the chickens with towels, and took them to live inside the composting room, for now, they would dig on the compost and get their own worms, he also left them some fish stripes that they ate.

Inky seemed really amazed with them and kept watching them, as they were alien animals in every sense to her, he specifically told her not to eat them too just in case, but that didn't seem to be the case as she just liked petting the feathers on the chicken.

He would have to keep an eye on her just in case though, since either way was a problem, if she got to like them too much, she wouldn't let him kill them for dinner and that would be awkward.

Erik had other animals he could create, he could even probably grow carps in the pools of freshwater, but with so much meat readily available, it would be a waste of time, he had other marine animals too but they would be thrashed by the local fauna, so it was useless too.

He had also noticed something when going outside these days, temperatures were dropping, it seemed like winter was coming.

--- 1 month later ---

Ice was starting to form at the surface and fewer living beings appeared around the base, it also seemed like abyssals rarely went near the surface in winter, at least in that area.

"then the bottom of the ocean is warm?"

[no and yes, the oceanic floor has lots of open volcanic vents and lava rivers that keep the temperatures stable, and feed some species and ecosystems.]

"interesting, the prairie also is finally ready too"

[ヽ(^o^)/]

He had already drained the donut-shaped third floor and let the mud dry a bit and added worms, more biomass, and rock dust during the month, also the chicken poop to dissolve on the water, now it was dry enough and he had planted grass that seemed to be growing just fine, he also planted the trees and added the fungus boletus edulis to their roots.