Synthetic Survivor: Machine Age - Chapter 129

The eastern coast, otherwise known as the Freetan Coast, was now firmly under the sole control of the Machine Empire. With its indigenous human population reduced by more than 86 percent, almost all sorts of manual labor were done by the machines.

The land around the ruined cities were exploited and the cities themselves were torn down for every scrap of essential resource the machines could make use of in the future.

For now, Hailey had ordered the creation of more warships. Several undersea factories have sprung up in accordance with Hailey’s wishes with John and Micheal overseeing the projects themselves.

It was a race against time. The satellite they had observing the Fortress City has detected a mass troop movements to the west. The Empire was gathering an army.

Not just one army, it seemed like they were mustering two armies.

The first army that was being ȧssembled was much smaller. It was estimates to have 30 thousand to 60 thousand troops at most. The estimations were the result of calculating mountains of data related to movements between cities, mass gatherings, and anticipated decisions.

The second army was bigger. An estimated 100 thousand to a 150 thousand were being ȧssembled. Hailey has yet to pinpoint how exactly are they able to feed and maintain such an enormous army.

The logistical problem that came with it should be enough to grind its ȧssembly into a halt. But instead, the army was ȧssembling at a rapid pace.

Whatever their methods were, it had something to do with magic.

Hailey ordered at least half a hundred thousand drones from Earth to be redirected to the other world. These new arrivals would take over the duty of maintaining the Machine Empire’s conquered territory while the main machine force was to position themselves near the isthmus which served as the only land connection for the peninsula.

The isthmus was currently a brutal bloodbath between remaining Freetan forces and beastmen tribes. The violence erupted just before the Freetan Theocracy itself collapsed and has thus continued even to this day.

It was the only logical path for the Imperial army to take and was the only choke point the machines could take advantage of. Beyond the isthmus would be a flat terrain of plains, forests, some hills and that’s it. There were no other geological features that could form a natural barrier.

John had proposed that they should send a scouting party of five elite drones almost similar to John and Micheal themselves in terms of sophistication.

This, however, was shot down by Hailey before it could come into fruition. Hailey was being cautious, they have never encountered any beastmen before and wouldn’t know if the beastmen were actually stronger than humans in terms of strength.

If that was the case, they would risk losing the elite drones before they could be exploited effectively.

A few kilometers off the shore, John and a couple hundred drones were submerged. They were a hundred feet below the ocean’s surface and were walking through the ocean floor.

There were a few corals here and there but the sunken remains of wooden ships and the skeletons of their sailors that weren’t devoured by the ocean’s predators and scavengers  littered the decks and the surroundings.

John was overseeing the construction of Facility-UF B, an underwater construction facility that would exploit the surrounding ocean bed for resources needed to construct submarines.

The submarines were detailed in blueprints made by Hailey. John has always wondered where Hailey gained the knowledge of these sophisticated vehicles but has decided not to question her.

Besides, as long as Hailey was loyal to his commander, then there was nothing to worry about.

John was navigating through the coral reefs when he came across a peculiar fish.

It was a fat fish that was bioluminescent. It shined a greenish color but whenever he would try to grab it, it would change into a blue color and swim away.

According to John’s M1 sensors, the fish was a storage unit of magic. A heavily concentrated form of magic was inside its bioluminescent body.

But seeing how aggressive it was, John needed more help.

Although he had no problems walking underwater, swimming underwater was rather limited. His weight was too much and so relied on several thrusters located on his Palms, shoulders, and soles of his feet.

John thought that the fish was rare but after following it for a couple minutes through the coral reefs, he found himself in the middle of a colony of the same fish.

Although fishes don’t necessarily form a sort of colony, the fish, however, was actually a worker.

Deep inside the coral reefs, there were elaborate networks of holes and tunnels where the same fishes would come out. Some bigger, some smaller.

John, using his thermal scanner, saw the interior of the network of tunnels.

It was like an ant’s nest but for fish.

It was completely unheard of but scientific investigation into these creatures would have to wait. The reason he was wandering through the coral reefs in the first place was to see if the reefs could be used as a sort of alternative fuel source.

But with his new discover, these reefs were off limits until they understood the creatures living within it.

“John, where are you?” Hailey said through the communicator.

“UF-B, currently in the middle of a coral reef,” John said.

“I want you to return to the surface and meet up with Micheal. A force of seventy wyvern appeared to the north of your position and has thus far evaded our sorties, take care of them,” Hailey said before cutting the communication.

John then wondered. How do slow wyverns evade a sorty of hovercraft?

No matter, he powered his leg thrusters and floated back up the surface. From there, he was picked up by a nearby patrol boat and taken to the shore where Micheal was waiting for him.