Chapter 656 (1/2)

Book 6, Chapter 48 – The Means

Over the wastelands' thousand year history, cities with tens of thousands of residents were as rare as fresh spring water A million or more didn't exist and until recently weren't ever likely to

Elysian suppression and cleansing missions were a major reason for this, but it wasn't the main one

Resources out in the wastelands were limited With water in such short supply and only one realfood, it was ie

Where resources were lirew beyond what a region could support survival became difficult When famine and starvation struck, violence and crime increased Victims either died or were run off It was a naturalthe scales in balance

Cloudhawk's actions were against this natural order He was under its spread-out population and gathering thee and creating a national army

In the future, the population of the capitol would easily rise above a million Probably several million However, Greenland was only equipped to handle nue the city would certainly experience severe shortages The more people there were, the more serious the problem would be They couldn't let that happen! If they didn't do so to revive would wither back into a barren desert

The sense of crisis was immense and i, there was only enough water to last another feeeks Food stores could be stretched to a month at best If they didn't co the southern wilds' capitol would be permanently put on hold

hellflower's ideas revolved around austerity; reducing output and increasing input First they would need to put lirowth Second, they needed to find ways to increase crop yield and water availability

As for i just anyone in They had to keep their nueable level until the crisis was averted Meanwhile they could send out groups to explore Greenland's surrounding areas for food and groundwater Engineers could build systems of wells and water lines, collect what they could and then bring it into the city by tanker trucks

These were immediate and practical ways to lessen the burden, but they didn't solve the root of the problerants on the road to Greenland right now Where they supposed to wait outside? Did they need to be turned away? The wastelands were dangerous and every other day, travelers died for the drea to Greenland If Cloudhawk just left the to foster

Water caravans? Unreliable Greenland didn't have many vehicles for the job, even if they used them all it wouldn't put a dent in the deets painted on theroup in a hundred kilo their chops Whether the tankers were full of fuel or water it didn't matter Both orthwells? The deterioration of the world hadn't happened overnight but was a process of over a thousand years These days, outside of a few special places like Greenland, water was exceedingly hard to coround wasn't any easier Exploration and extraction was difficult, and wasn't sure to produce results

There was another method, and that was to rely on Cloudhawk's teleportation abilities By folding space, he could theoretically take water froency, but it wasn't a long-term solution Ultimately, it didn't solve their lack of infrastructure Cloudhaas leader of the alliance, he couldn't spend his days shuttling back and forth delivering food Besides, strong as he was Cloudhaas only one le-handedly provide for a million people

This wouldn't work That wouldn't work The southern capitol was beset with difficulties

Cloudhawk ended thedown one of the city's alleys He needed some time alone to think

Suddenly he heard a sharp, familiar noise “Tweet tweet! Tweet tweet!”

What's this little guy doing here?

Lately Cloudhawk hadn't been bringing Oddball along with hi for itself, he'd left the divine beast in the care of Azura and the other students Discounting the critter because of its unimpressive size was a mistake After years with Cloudhawk it had become one hell of a monster when it wanted to be

It could take out a veteran deies to assist it, even someone like Daould probably not be a threat Oddball was by its nature a special sort of weapon Weapons had their own qualities, but in the end it was the hand that wielded theest influence

Cloudhawk made his way toward the sound There he saw Oddball perched beside a s demonhunter trainee ar empty buckets out into a patch of uncultivated land It was a fewdevelop out here?

When Azura walked out into the plot of land she put the buckets down and slipped a pair of gloves onto her hands Judging by the look and loves were relics She reached out to the on her hands