Returning to the tribes while Degenbrecher was latched on his back, Shining and Margaret leaning on his side. They searched for Eunectes.
"Uh, hello." The Pythia greeted awkwardly. "Enjoy the show?" Ash smirked at her.
"W-wha? How did you know?" She blushed up a storm.
"I can smell you, I have a great sense of smell you know?" Ash snorted.
"Hey, Kay." Ash greeted Ceobe who stayed in the camp for obvious reasons. Thankfully, she was stuffing her face with meat instead.
"Welcome back!" She gulped first and raised a whole ham that the Perro just roasted.
"Never change Kay." Ash patted her head. He then turned to Eunectes who was fidgeting around.
"We'll talk to her, a little girl's talk you know?" Degenbrecher pulled her to the side and they began giggling at a corner.
He sighed and let them be for now. Ash started to travel to the nearby dunes and searched for some nice reservoirs of oil.
"Oi! Mudrock, Platinum!" He found a group that were already setting up an oil rig.
"Ash." They said with their blank expressions, but Platinum blushed a bit, happy that he suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
He kissed Platinum and Mudrock hugged him, she was cuddly.
"You already found a reservoir?" Ash was pleased and they nodded. Platinum was even more eager due to receiving a little gift.
"I used up my arts to lift up the earth. It was pretty easy to find the thick and oily substance." Mudrock explained and he nodded with a smile.
"Good, good. I guess that you guys are my lucky charms eh?" Ash buttered them up.
"Thanks, it's the least that I could do." Mudrock smiled and Platinum beamed.
He then made the place much colder, decreasing the temperature around the area.
The other workers bowed at him in thanks and the two elites were also pleased with what he did.
"How sweet of you." Platinum jumped and kissed his cheek.
"Good work, get a lot of oil okay? Call for Paradiso when you need to transport it." He finished his little inspection.
He roamed around some more. Sargon has a lot of desert and he put a marker on some huge reservoirs.
The teams in the north of Ursus can just use the previous oil rigs after all. There is still a lot of crude oil there.
And when he was satisfied with all the possible rigs that can be placed. He went to a place with signal and called Sonus.
He ordered a couple of choppers to go to Acahualla. Because the Eunectes tribe would most likely go. With their chief telling them the glory of machines and all, indoctrinating the impressionable tribesmen.
The Archosaurians would also go, he could feel it. They liked to fight, those crocodilians is already worshipping Degenbrecher as the strongest chief in history.
They would follow the strong and majority of them would go with the flow.
So he needed a lot of transport. The crocodilians are also strong as heck. Even back on earth, they were Apex predators that have devastating bite forces.
There was also the case with Tomimi, he did promise that he'll send her to Gavial. Ash didn't know who Gavial was, but it was a promise.
"Ugh, they must be travelling to Iberia now. It's at the other side, the opposite of Sargon. I guess I can save some aviation fuel by ferrying her myself." Ash wanted to save as much fuel as possible.
They can use food wastes for biofuel. But the massive changes he needs to do will replace originium. Starting with cars that they will sell at retail price.
"Profits aren't quite needed, Nian will also help a lot. I really lucked out in receiving a nice walking factory." He chuckled.
He went back to Acahualla and saw Kay stare at some bright colored shrooms.
"No, I can't... I promised Ash." He saw her shook her head, but she was drooling.
"Ugh, but they have a nice spicy kick to them." Ceobe was having an internal battle.
"No, no, Ash will get mad." She closed her eyes tightly.
He actually heard her grit her teeth so hard that it was loud.
"M-maybe just a little bit? A nice piece won't hurt right?" Ceobe gave in and she was about to reach for it.
"What are you doing?" He raised a brow and made himself known.
"Kyah! A-Ash!?" Ceobe was startled and she fell on her butt.
"Uuuu, I was just so hungry. And the little mushrooms looked delicious. They have a nice color, that means it might be sweet like candy right?" She put a hand on her stomach and he sighed.
"Here, have some sweets." Ash took a bag of it out from his storage and Ceobe snatched it out of his hands.
"Thanks Ash! You're the best!" She kissed his cheeks and she started unwrapping them.
"You're such a handful Kay." Ash rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Sowwy~" She munched in some cookies and cupcakes.
"Lead me to Eunectes yeah? We'll talk a bit, she might be a great engineer if Maria and Closure helps her." Ash ordered.
Eunectes built a battle ready mech using scraps. She is actually a genius in mechanics.
He could only imagine what she could do with pure steel and their materials that can't be found anywhere on Terra.
"M'kay, follow me!" She started sniffing the air and Ceobe was like a blood hound that locked on to a target.
"Miss snake is over there, she smells weird. Like musky? She smells sweet too." Ceobe explained her scent and he froze.
"Uhh, good job Kay. Can you forget about that scent? She's just a little bit unique, yeah?" Ash smiled nervously.
"Oh, okay! Thanks for the treats~" She ran away while cradling her bag of sweets.
"Don't eat things off the ground okay!" Ash reminded her. He then sighed in relief that she didn't saw anything.
The houses and buildings of the tribes were open after all. So Eunectes might get careless and Ceobe would follow her for smelling something sweet, thinking it was candy.
"That's her pheromones, I'm pretty sure of it. I probably shouldn't have let her watch us." He regretted it, but it was already too late.
Walking to the Pythia's location, he found her checking out the mech they made.
"Hmm, how can I improve this? Ash stopped it quickly. Maybe add some hydraulics and pistons for extra oomph?" Eunectes was brainstorming.
"Eunectes, what's up?" He greeted and she nodded at him. "I'm fine, just thinking of how to give this bad boy some more strength."
"It's pretty much trashed, you should just make a better one. The materials in our place is a huge improvement to whatever you can find here." He shrugged.
"Ooh! Really? What kinds?" Her eyes shone and he chuckled at her eagerness.
"You just have to see it to test it. Why are you so obsessed with a mech anyway? With how you fought, you're no slouch." Ash was curious.
"I'm not really much of a technical fighter like Gavial or Degenbrecher. So I want to compensate with machines of course." She nodded sagely.
"Ahhh, I think I'll put you in weapons development. We are actually going to fight some scary enemies from the sea." Ash thought about it and an exosuit would be beneficial.
The battlefield would most likely be painted blue by those fuckers dying by the thousands.
He could already imagine the cleanups that would be a pain in the ass.
"Ahh, thank you. This is a chance that I won't squander. I'll make great mechs that would take down your enemies." She was excited.
"I'll be counting on that." He winced, remembering the Leviathans. The hard hitters can take care of it. But there is only so much of them.
And when there are more than hundreds of them? Thousands? More advanced weaponry and armor will definitely be the best option against them. So normal soldiers can fight them too.
"Ooh, all the things I can make if I get the right electronics, metals, machines! It's making my blood boil." Eunectes was like a kid in a toy store.
"You bet, we actually have guns that are bigger than your mech. A single bullet on it would stop that thing for sure." Ash described the 30mm.
"Actually, the reason I made this is I was inspired by a seeing a nomadic city. I copied its tracks that they use to move. I saw it with Gavial when we were near a cliff." Eunectes smiled softly.
She remembered the awe that they felt. Just two small kids that saw such a huge mobile city. (pic)
To the denizens of the forest, it was like seeing a miracle that a god bestowed to humanity.
"Yeah, it is amazing. Humans can come up with some serious stuff if they work on it." Ash sighed. He thought that if they can only do that feat for good.
Even back on earth, mobile cities is impossible. It's an insane feat of engineering. And Nian can make one if she wills it.
She even gets called back to Yan back in the past to pop a mobile city or two because she could just will her powers then poof.
"Come on, the others must be done rounding up the ones who will be coming with us." Ash tasked his companions with getting recruits. Bar Ceobe of course.
They went back to the temple which is the rendezvous point.
"Woah, that's a lot." Ash was proven right when there were a lot of Archosaurians.
"Is that all of them Tomimi? And it seems that the majority of the Eunectes tribe is going too." Ash nodded in satisfaction.
"Yes, this is all of us. Can we do something first though? It's a custom of ours for a new beginning." Tomimi raised her arms sideways and was going for a hug.
She hugged the girls and Ash and he felt something hit his skin.
He pushed Tomimi immediately and raised a brow. "Poison?" Ash glared at her and she sighed.
"Degenbrecher is the new great chief now, she can't leave. There are others that will follow you, but the great chief has to lead the four tribes!" Tomimi went back to their fighters and they prepared to keep the great chief there.
The girls actually started to reel back, even Ceobe got done in by some shrooms. He didn't know how strong the poisons they can create are.
Shining was good though, she has been raised to resist them. Taking in doses of all kinds of toxins in order to be immune.
"Hah, rest for now Margaret, Degenbrecher. We'll beat them up." Ash announced. They wanted to keep Degenbrecher there, so he concluded that it was just some paralytic.
"T-thanks, the world is spinning and my body feels like lead." The caprinae replied, Margaret and Degenbrecher went to a tree and sat at the base of it.
Margaret couldn't use her arts too, her head was cloudy.
"We'll do everything we can to make them stay! Get them!" Tomimi ordered the attack.
And after a minute, the Archosaurians were all kneeling. "We are sorry, please forgive us." Tomimi prostrated and the others followed.
"Sorry big boss! She made us do it!" They threw Tomimi under the bus.
"Y-you guys!" She glared at them and Ash snorted. "Are you stupid or something? What if I wanted to kill you? You'd be dead meat." Ash chided them.
"Sorry, but she's the great chief now." Tomimi pointed at Degenbrecher who is okay now.
"Hah, you tribe people and your traditions. It's just like those old coots." Ash remembered the tri-clan council back in Kjerag.
"Can we still go? You're much stronger than the great chief. You can make us prosper." Tomimi pleaded with puppy dog eyes.
"Sure, whatever. Don't make a mess again, follow all of our orders, alright? I heard that crocodiles taste like chicken." Ash squinted his eyes.
The Archosaurians shivered and they immediately nodded.
They then heard the beat of rotors. "It seems that our transport is here. Go on, scram. Get your things and valuables." Ash rubbed his temples.
"They'll be fine, they're nice people. A bit weird though." Margaret patted his back.
"Yeah, at least they won't just stay here. The Archosaurians are actually strong. Eunectes' tribe is too. They'll be great soldiers once we train them up nicely." Ash nodded.
"Okay, let's go. I want to sleep on a bed." Degenbrecher whined.
She was also scratching herself due to the mosquitoes. There were tons of mosquitoes.
"Heh, the robe reigns supreme." Shining gloated and Margaret chuckled.
The caprinae loaned her coat to Eunectes after all, so her arms and neck was full of red welts.
"Damned mosquitoes. Ash! Burn this place to the ground!" Degenbrecher scratched herself in exasperation.
"No can do~" He laughed at her and they secured a lot of Archosaurians that are actually versatile. They're very well rounded.
They are strong physically, a lot of them can use arts, and their sizes vary. With some of the crocodilians being the size of Sarkaz cyclops.
Overall, they had a good haul and Ash nodded in satisfaction. It was worth the trouble with their antics.
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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.