Chp.1: Talking about producing food

"... and therefore, even removing the food supplies that we will use up to the moment in which we conclude the crossing of the desert, we will still have enough for about two months, time that we will be able to exploit to establish a sufficient food chain for the oasis"

"I already know that, I did the calculations months ago. We also have about three weeks left before we start the desert crossing, so I have instructed my sisters to get us more food sources. With the quarantine in place, hunt in these land has become easier. Unfortunately, however, this territory isn't very rich. I can guarantee at most another month before the supplies run out"

"I could make hunting parties and send them out to find more food. Or we could send some of the slaves..."

"They aren't slaves"

"Yes, sorry. I meant, we could send some of the ex-slaves to look for edible plants and roots. And finally, when we get to the river, we could build a big fishing net and catch as many fish as possible while we wait for our comrades to arrive. In this way we could increase our food supplies by yet another month"

"Mh. That's a good idea. We should discuss it later. If we divide the tasks and the territory well, we can optimize the situation. Using the bodies of the amphitrites, we could scour a large area and find out where the most fruitful areas are. If really had four months or even more before we run out of food supplies, then we would have a better chance of making it and we wouldn't have to risk having to import food from elsewhere"

"Import food?"

"Yes, always using the flying creatures. I have already arranged with Sisna to continue to procure large numbers of food supplies via 'The spider'. The organization will buy or more likely extort the food and arrange to carry across the border with the desert, and me or one of my siblings will possess the body of an amphitrite and go to retrieve it. Using dimensional bags carrying even several tons should be simple"

"However, you'd rather still have a stable food chain where we're going to live"

"Of course. I'm sure the king will try to hinder 'The spider' now that he knows he's under my control. Four months is a long time; I can't know how much the organization will be able to help us in the future. Becoming independent from it is imperative. Only once we have become self-sufficient can we sleep peacefully"

"Mh. I understand. You are absolutely right"

"So, how are you going to proceed once you get to the oasis?"

"Well, first of all we will have to establish the base of the food chain, which is edible plants. We will start by plowing a large part of the desert adjacent to the oasis and we will make it fertile using every type of fertilizer at our disposal, even our own excrement if necessary"

"Sound like a good plan. In this way you would not only make the soil more fertile and guarantee nourishment for the plants, but you would keep the rest of the oasis clean and therefore prevent the spread of diseases. If you wish we can help you: we dragons produce a lot of excrement and thanks to our carnivorous diet they will certainly be very nutritious for the plants"

"This conversation is getting weird... but still such help would be welcome. Also I was thinking of digging some channels to drain the water from the oasis towards the fields, in order to facilitate everything and keep the pool of water clean. Finally, I would also like to build an artificial basin in which we will grow some aquatic plants which will then be used to feed the fish"

"What plants will you cultivate?"

"We specially chose plants that are resistant to sudden changes in temperature, as it is very hot in the day and cold at night in the desert. They should take root very well. In the future, after we have established ourselves correctly, we could also try growing other types of plants... but they'll think about that later. Could you and your mages offer us some help in this area instead?"

"I already talked to Maldor and Isaac some time ago, and they think they can ease the growth of plants at least a little. But they can't work miracles, if they won't be able to germinate, they won't be able to do anything about this either. At the moment they are probably trying to improve their spells for this task..."

"I understand, there's no need to justify yourself. However, hopefully we can easily raise fish and some animals, and then we won't have to worry about anything anymore. You and your family already have food, right?"

"Don't worry, you won't have to feed us. We are ready for this challenge"

"Thank goodness. I don't think feeding a group of fully growing dragons would have been easy, even if we had established a sufficient food chain"

"Forget it and focus on the main problem. What cultivation techniques do you plan to use?"

Hake and Zamor had been arguing for over an hour. For some days every morning, instead of leaving as he always used to do, Haku had stayed with the marching army to be able to talk to him, even if it was quite clear that the slow speed with which they moved irritated him a lot. The topics of the conversation were the most diverse, but they mainly concerned what they should do once they reached the Oasis of Thul. Zamor was initially surprised by that sudden interest, and also a little intimidated: knowing Haku, he would have preferred if he remained unfriendly and indifferent as he used to do. There was no explanation for that sudden change of personality, and the dragon hadn't wanted to give him explanations (the only time he had asked for them he had told him, in an absolutely kind and not at all threatening way, to mind his own business), and that it made him uneasy as he feared she was plotting something. He wouldn't be surprised if all the benevolence Haku had shown up to that moment had been just a facade and that in reality his real plan was another one and he and all the beastmen had been just another of his pawns.

However, he felt that wasn't the case. There was something in Haku's eyes, a strange light that inspired a strange sense of security; a light that had suddenly appeared after the clash with Carrion, which had now taken place a week earlier. That soft glow seemed to radiate a strange force, and looking at it Zamor for some reason convinced himself that Haku for once wasn't planning anything, but was really working to make sure everything went well. Before that glorious victory over the enemy, Haku had never seemed very interested in making the plan work in the long term; it almost seemed that it was more important for him to defeat Carrion and get to the oasis, and then leave all other matters to Zamor. Now however he had become extremely meticulous, almost as if he had changed his mind and considered a long-term establishment of the utmost importance. And after the initial confusion, Zamor had discovered that he didn't mind at all.

An ecosystem was an extremely balanced environment. To get it to work required many steps that were not easy at all. Being able to establish a self-sufficient food chain in an oasis in the middle of a desert was nothing short of a titanic undertaking. Different ingredients were needed, seeds, pollinating insects, plants and animals of small, medium and finally large size, and everything had to be kept in balance to prevent it from getting out of control. If even one of the initial steps went wrong and one of these many species died, the whole system would collapse; if they had settled in a forest or in any case in a fertile area other species would have gone to fill the void, but in a desert the ecosystem was not so flexible. It was essential to plan everything in detail. Zamor had worked hard on it over the previous four months, but now Haku had started pointing out many details that the lizardman hadn't considered. After all dragons, having been born and lived in the wild, knew the balances far better than he or any other beastman and maybe even any other newcomer in the whole world.

Luckily, Haku was a quick thinker. Even though Zamor hadn't had an immediate solution to his many questions, he had very quickly thought of a way to solve these problems. And so, one step at a time, the two were planning the birth of their future community in the middle of the desert. They had also already started thinking about where to place houses, cultivation land and other buildings, although obviously once they arrived at the oasis they would have checked if the environment had respected their predictions and if not they would have completely reformulated everything.

They still had two weeks before reuniting with Darbi and three before reuniting with Rhaegal; it was enough time to carefully evaluate all the details and possibly send teams to collect materials that would be useful. Thanks to the amphitrites, moving around the territory had become much easier. Strangely, Haku hadn't wanted to use Carrion's wyvern for the same purpose, even though it would have been even more useful; he stated that he needed it for another project. Zamor didn't know what it was about, but deep down he didn't mind that Haku kept the wyvern with him: in this way, even if they were attacked and the enemy was too numerous, the dragon could possess the wyvern and unleash it against the their opponents.

In fact, Haku too had thought about that eventuality. The advantage of the wyvern was that, being much smaller than its parents, he hadn't had to tear it apart to transport it. Even though they were about twenty-five meters long, wyverns were far less bulky than dragons: they were much leaner and leaner in build, except at the shoulders and hips where they had a little more muscle to make their limbs work well. Therefore they were very light (at least by the standards of such large animals), so much so that they could walk in a bipedal posture instead of using their wings as a counterweight as other smaller flying animals did. That was probably why they only had two legs, instead of four like dragons. An average wyvern weighed between 40 and 70 tons, much less than an adult dragon. Carrion's wyvern weighed 65, but after having all of her internal organs removed she was down to 43; enough to carry it in a dimensional bag without tearing it apart. Therefore, Haku could extract it from there and possess it at any moment, and thus use its body and its power against his enemies.

However, he had another plan in mind. He wouldn't have hesitated to use the wyvern for that purpose, but preferred to wait a little longer before showing it around. He had a project in mind, and as an artist he had barely begun to shape his work and didn't want to ruin it before it was completed.

Pretty soon, he would finally be able to fight against a legendary level. Not only make him (or her) fall into a trap, but physically face him (or her) in a hand-to-hand combat.

Soon, even legendary levels would no longer be a danger to him and his family. Once he reached that milestone, he would probably roar with joy.

While Haku continued to discuss with Zamor, suddenly Maldor appeared in front of them: "Brother, sorry, can I disturb you for a minute? I have to show you something"

Haku didn't seem very happy about being interrupted like that, but he accepted anyway. "No problem. Zamor, I'll be back in a bit. You start dealing with what we discussed"

"I'll gladly do it. I'll choose the best hunters and I'll talk to the sla... with the ex-slaves to find the most expert in edible plants and roots" the lizardman replied.

Haku nodded, then looked at Maldor, and noticed that she looked strangely excited, as if she was barely holding back from saying something to him. "Okay, sister, take me to where is this thing you wanted me to see"