Chapter 601: The Southern Kingdom 2

Lyra and Mika took off once they had their bearings. Their objective was to hunt down Master ranked Pokémon while avoiding fights with the local Legendaries. They were strong enough to handle themselves, especially since the two of them had roughly as many Pokémon between them as Alex did, along with their own armaments. Even if they were swarmed, they would have no trouble dealing with it. That was one of the reasons Alex had brought them along in the first place.

As for Alex, he stood on a broad, flat area near the summit of the tallest mountain north of Giant’s Bed and released all of his Pokémon.

“You kids go have fun,” Alex said. “Hunt down any Master ranked Pokémon you find and bring back their corpses. Protect any herbivores you come across, and get rid of any Poison types. Apart from that, don’t cause any trouble or start a Pokémon flood. And don’t pick a fight with the Legendaries.”

Whoosh~

Grim immediately took off into the sky, eager to hunt after being cooped up for so long. Hunting north of the main hub had barely been enough to satisfy its primal nature, but Alex had recently been spending more and more time at Obsidian Crown Island. Aside from fishing, Grim rarely got the chance to truly cut loose anymore.

The rest of the Pokémon scattered, eager to begin claiming territory in the area. They were territorial by nature, after all, and were more than happy to stretch their legs and establish their dominance. Only a few remained by Alex’s side, namely Gardevoir, Gothitelle, and Espeon, all three unwilling to participate in such barbaric activities.

Even Tyranitar had left, eager to claim a mountain or two for himself. He was reaching the age where the desire for independence was beginning to take hold, along with the instinct to seek out a mate. Venusaur, meanwhile, remained on the island to continue her training. She was still relatively weak compared to the rest of Alex’s team, and he wanted to give her the opportunity to establish a herd of her own.

“Hoopa, get your butt over to warehouse D-13 and portal the contents here,” Alex instructed.

It took a while, roughly half an hour when it should have been just five minutes, but eventually a giant portal opened, and an army of androids emerged, each carrying a backpack.

“Activate Castle Construction,” Alex shouted.

The androids immediately sprang into action, unloading the equipment and sorting everything into its proper place. Generators and power storage units were set up first to provide energy for the androids and construction machinery. Drones then rose into the air, scanning the surroundings and taking measurements while drilling rigs unfolded and roared to life.

Long metal rods were driven deep into the mountain to anchor the future structure and provide additional stability. Prefabricated sections of walls were brought out next, designed to be assembled with minimal work, followed by crates of construction materials, tools, cables, and other equipment.

In an open clearing, the androids deployed biogenerators to produce additional energy, along with solar sails designed like enormous kites to collect sunlight high above the ground. Wind turbines were assembled nearby, their blades beginning to turn as they fed power into a central station.

Within minutes, the peaceful plateau was filled with the heavy noise of machinery.

“That should about do it for this place,” Alex said with a satisfied nod as he surveyed the construction.

Ever since Hoopa had joined Alex’s team, Rhea and Nyx had been preparing for situations like this, where they would need to establish a permanent base in another world. Pokopia wasn’t one of those places. Sable and her Pokémon were more than enough to mine out mountains there, so there was no need for a permanent presence.

Running a massive ranch like this was different. It required far more than occasional visits. Here on the southern half of Galar, they needed to establish a secure perimeter, maintain constant surveillance, and have response units ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. Hence the necessity of the castle.

Despite its name, the castle wasn’t meant to serve as a residence. It was a defensive base and central deployment point for the androids stationed throughout the region. With Rhea’s automated city operating around the clock and continuously producing more androids, maintaining such a large operation across the landmass wouldn’t be a problem.

A day later, where there had once been a relatively flat area near the summit now stood a respectable 5-story black metal castle. The entire building was essentially one massive storage and maintenance facility for the androids, with only the top floor reserved for humans. The lower floors provided space for drones to be stored, repaired, and constructed.

The castle’s central spire served as both a command center and communications tower, while numerous windows provided a clear view of the surrounding landscape. A landing pad jutted out from the plateau, allowing aerial drones to come and go in pairs without interfering with the rest of the facility.

The castle looked quite ominous perched atop the largest mountain in the center of the southern continent, but that was largely due to its exterior being coated in black Master ranked metal. The material was necessary to protect the structure from the constant howl of cold winds blowing down from the north. Fortunately, the androids had left the actual summit intact, allowing the mountain itself to act as a natural windbreak.

“This should be good enough,” Alex said, surveying the southern continent from the castle’s command hub. “Hoopa, let the girls know they can come over whenever they’re ready. Portal them directly to my current location.”

It took two days, but eventually a portal opened in the command center, and Vera stepped through. She was responsible for keeping the local Pokémon healthy, while Kaia would handle producing high-yield crops to feed them. Marnie came along as their Champion ranked bodyguard, while Nyx and Rhea were there to turn the entire landmass into their own game of tower defense. And then there was Iris, by far the most excited of the group. She had only come along because she wanted to play pretend.

“This wasn’t the castle I was expecting,” Iris said, slumping as she looked out the window. “This looks more like the Demon King’s castle, perched high in the mountains so he can look down on all his slaves.”

“That isn’t too different from what we’re doing, though,” Nyx said, bringing up a holographic map on the table at the center of the room. “From the locals’ perspective, we’re protecting and raising monsters for nefarious purposes. Of course, we’re not actually sending them out to massacre poor villagers on behalf of all demonkind, but it’s close enough.”

“This place is too big to establish a proper perimeter,” Rhea said, studying the map. “It would take an insane amount of Pokémetal to cover the entire thing, and I don’t think a few mountain ranges are going to be enough.”

“Outposts?”

“Outposts!” Rhea immediately agreed. “A few hundred positioned along the entire outer boundary of this green land should be enough to form a continuous defensive line around the area. Then we’ll need castles in the four intercardinal directions. That should keep our response time under a day. With regular satellite monitoring, we should be able to detect and intercept any invaders before they can even land.”

She zoomed in on several points across the map.

“We’ll also need surface-to-surface missiles, and every outpost should have an Arclight cannon to deal with aerial scouts.”

“Sounds expensive,” Alex commented, his brow furrowing. “Do we even have enough Pokémetal and other materials? How about using Champion ranked materials instead?”

“The outposts need to withstand a hit from a random angry Master ranked Pokémon. They also need to resist the elements and remain operational for centuries without repairs. We want them to last as long as possible while maintaining optimal performance.”

Alex had forgotten about the time difference between worlds. A mere decade spent traveling between different worlds in his would be an entire century here. Coming back to find everything in ruins after being gone for what felt like a short time was far from ideal.

Alex sighed, washing his hands of the matter. His job was to make sure they had all the resources they needed. Anything beyond that was just meddling.

“What do you think, Vera?” Kaia asked as the pair studied the map.

Rotom had constructed it during Alex’s flyby, mapping out the region’s topography along with its visible flora and fauna. With that information alone, the girls had everything they needed to determine how to develop the southern continent into an optimal long-term farm.

“Berry orchards should be enough to sustain anything Expert ranked and below, while Elite ranked and above will need meat,” Vera explained. “If we plant berry orchards around each outpost and have the outposts drive away Elite ranked Pokémon and stronger, we can create safe zones where weaker Pokémon can live and reproduce without being constantly hunted. After a few decades, the stronger Pokémon will learn the pattern and naturally gather toward the center, where they can compete for territory. They’ll either become prey for something stronger or continue growing until they eventually reach Master rank.”

“Sounds good. I have a bunch of strains that produce the most nutritious berries. They’re just really easy to damage, so having them protected would be best.”

“What do you think about setting up a grazing field just south of us? It would be the best place to raise herbivores.”

“That works. Although that’s a lot of land to fertilize regularly.”

Alex smiled as he watched his girls seriously plan out their future. They rarely had the opportunity to put their skills to use beyond the basic maintenance of their various projects, so having an entire continent to work with finally gave them the freedom to apply everything they knew. It was nice seeing them have a place where their expertise could truly shine.

With their plans beginning to take shape, Alex turned his attention to the second resource they could gain from this world.

The training methods of Knights and Mages.