Chapter 47: Variant Nest (1/2)

Chapter 47: Variant Nest

Aldrich gathered all of the people co with him on this mission to clear the Variant Nest Valera, Dynale He would have liked to take the Geist too, but he planned on driving down to the nest location and the Geist was si the Geist that no, it did not have to lose weight, Aldrich set off at three in theHe drove with Valera in the front seat and Fler'Gan, Dynale in the back

"What…is this?" Fler'Gan marveled at the insides of the car as Aldrich drove Fler'Gan looked around like a child in a candy shop His three eyes all looked in different directions as he drew his face close up to the car seats, the s, basically everything

He in particular was mystified by a screen behind the ery of where the car was as well as some menus that indicated environmental information like the temperature and weather The car could also connect to the Net, but Aldrich had Fisk disable that option on the car to prevent people fro," said Aldrich as he looked through the rearviewan eye on Fler'Gan

"I will contain myself, Elder," said Fler'Gan "Yet I find it so very difficult to believe that this is all the creation of y Of ether in such a way that these lights, these movements on this screen, all of this simply…happens"

"It is indeed a wonder," said Valera "I doubted that ic but look how far they have come They do not need beasts of burden anymore; they simply ride these beasts of metal

And look at how clearly they can capture ies with their trinkets-,"

Valera proudly showed the picture of her and Aldrich standing side by side, covered in blood fro the Odinsons, to Fler'Gan and Dynamite Girl

"Uh huh, real nice, yeah," said Dynamite Girl, visibly uncoe is superb" Fler'Gan inspected the picture intently "I can discern that it is colors etched upon paper stiffened with some fore ilobe"

"And now I can gaze upon these captured memories with my master at any time I desire!" Valera took the picture back, looked at it, then hugged it to her breast like a baby

Fler'Gan continued to look around "What I would do to break apart all of this and study it from its base components up-,"

"Watch it, squidface, don't want you burnin' down this car," said Dynamite Girl

"Is all that you can think about siht, let's stop this argu point You were an academic and scholar, were you not?"

"I do not mean to be prideful, but I was a decreed member of the Arcanist Order," said Fler'Gan "Before they castthe dark arts"

Aldrich nodded in recognition

The Arcanist Order was a society of scholars that stood as an independent research organization in Elden World The scholars there came from every race and faction and did not discriminate across race or borders All were united in not only the pursuit of knowledge, but the maintenance of history

To be decreed in the Order ence At the very ical fields Soitek,very likely, Fler'Gan could pick up the scientific concepts ofand chemistry extremely well

"You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea," said Aldrich "When we get back, talk to Fisk about this world's technology He can introduce you to it"

"I am utterly honored to receive an opportunity to absorb such knowledge" Fler'Gan bowed his head

Aldrich gave Fler'Gan another nod as the car drove out of the last stretch of the Variant forest Outside of the forest was just a vast stretch of dry, cracked earth Where before there was overwheles and reds without a single tree in sight

This was a consequence of the Monstering The creation of titan-class Variants iical and environ the entire planet unstable, as if ainst le continent Water levels rose dra in others

Large swathes of land became completely dead, unable to support any sort of life

These stretches, Dead Zones as they were called, caused es, water shortages, every dah noas a Dead Zone Just a vast stretch of dried out and dead earth

However, once the titans were driven back to dormancy or destroyed, the planet stabilized Granted, it stabilized in a daed state nearly completely different than how it had been at the start of the twenty first century, but stability was stability

It took an hour and a half of driving through the Dead Zone to make it to the Shatter Zone where Fisk had marked out the two Variant nests