Chapter 868 : The Harbor

Eisen stepped out of the island"s central station and looked around. The trees were growing far into the sky, and there dozens of buildings that were clearly the birdfolks" nests hanging from the branches.

But that wasn"t all; built onto the sides of these trees, seemingly more recently, were paths and bridges and other buildings and huts clearly intended for those that couldn"t fly and had settled here due to the proximity to the port that had been developed recently.

The old man took a deep breath and transformed, spreading out his wings. To make navigating this area easier, he stayed at his basic size and flew around, taking a closer look at the newly developing town. There were numerous different kinds of birds flying around the island, and the forest"s ceiling was covered in a thick layer of leaves that made it almost impossible to see the sky.

Only through some specific spots were you able to see the blue heavens above.

Due to how dark this made the town even during the day, lanterns were hanging between the trees and branches and alongside the nests. The old man pushed through the forest"s crown, allowing him to properly view the island. It seemed like this part of the forest was covered with the largest and oldest trees, though there were other areas that still were very impressive.

It wasn"t just a single type of tree either, rather, there were dozens of types scattered around. It was a woodworker"s dream, really.

Dropping back down below the trees" crowns, Eisen tried to look around. There were, of course, other critters running around, but there were few and far between. But if it had wings, it was plentiful and rather annoying. Birds and even bugs were swirring around the old man. Of course, the birds were trying to eat those bugs, making them just that much more annoying.

The only way he managed to get them away from him was by letting some of his yin demonic energy flow out from him. The cold and dark, the bitterness and the hatred that made up this energy made them practically flee, giving the old man t he peace and quiet that he wanted.

Of course, he had to pull that energy back in when he landed back in the city to meet with some of Prototype"s citizens, specifically some officials that originally worked in the royal castle or other bureaucratic facilities in Asgard"s capital, that had been sent out to help with the development of this important island.

Though, for the most part, he was just hearing from them what the progress was, what issues there were; things that he already knew. He had read their reports, after all. Or at least, the summaries that Girland created for him.

Once the basic discussions were done, Eisen was finally brought to the harbor at the island"s edges. As Eisen approached, he could see the rows of rows of docks meant for the giants" usually quite large vessels. It wasn"t as though the giants" s.h.i.+ps were particularly larger than the larger s.h.i.+ps of non-giant species, but they were a lot more uniformly large.

While giants could shrink down, the materials they carried along couldn"t. That was why almost all of the giants" s.h.i.+ps, even the small ones, were as big as ma.s.sive s.h.i.+ps that would seem to be a spectacle if seen at any harbor of the central continent. That meant that these docks had to be able to account for this.

Of course, they also had to be able to carry not only the weight of the giants, but the weight of the materials and items they transported. That was why, while the rest of the structures were mostly made of wood, the docks were constructed fully with stone so that the maximum weight could be accommodated.

Even at a glance, the docks seemed to be well-constructed. The train station where the materials would end up being loaded from s.h.i.+p to train was also in a great state, so there wasn"t anything that Eisen had to worry about there. However, the only part he was concerned about was the s.h.i.+pwrights" dock.

Since the focus was mainly on the construction of the main docks themselves so far, the separate area, a bit of a distance away, wasn"t as highly developed as Eisen had hoped. Of course, the fact there were only a handful of s.h.i.+pwrights here didn"t help either.

Since they had to hurry things up to make this island presentable, most of the s.h.i.+ps that were currently in the harbor had been constructed elsewhere, most likely on Prototype or the already well-developed harbor toward the central continent. Check out m_vl_em_p_yr stories

Especially since Eisen wanted to do a lot of trading with the giants" country in the future, it was necessary to have a large amount of skilled s.h.i.+pwrights here. However, if possible, maybe Eisen could hire some giants to do the work. It would improve the construction speed quite a lot, especially for lager vessels.

"...Looks like I"ll have to build some better tools for this place," Eisen clicked his tongue as he looked around, trying to figure out what other giants would like. He knew what he preferred personally, but other giants seemed to have other habits, which did make sense. Culture developed in a lot of ways, and that extended to craftsmans.h.i.+p.

But Eisen was practically stagnant for a hundred thousand years, so he didn"t exactly develop alongside that culture. He influenced it far more than it did him.

But then again, he should probably also try and go more into another direction when it came to making tools. Creating ones that took advantage of different monster species" unique aspects. This island"s native birdfolk, a species without proper hands, would not be able to swing a hammer in the way that others could.

Of course, forcing them to use tools that they both couldn"t and simply had no use for wasn"t something that Eisen was hoping to do; but creating better ways for them to expand their crafts didn"t seem like a bad idea.

It seemed as though the "craftsmen" of the species had evolutions that sharpened their talons or beaks considerably, allowing them to skilfully carve wood. But at the same time, that still had its limits. So creating something like "gloves", or rather "shoes", for the birdfolk to allow them to carve wood without blunting or damaging their talons wasn"t a bad idea.

Not to mention, it would allow younger members of the species that maybe hadn"t evolved that much, or at all, to train to become craftsmen, maybe unlocking even more special evolutions as time went on.

And of course, there were other species that had similar qualities that needed to be properly supported, and Eisen was fully planning on doing so. But for now, the old man would have to make his way back to Prototype. The flight wouldn"t take all too long with the speeds that Eisen could reach at this point, but that didn"t change that it would be a bit annoying.

Maybe he had gotten too used to the comforts of the train already. Not to mention, in just a couple of days, he would have to fly all the way to the other harbor-island to meet with the envoys from the central continent. It was something that he absolutely not looking forward to. Rather, he simply didn"t want to do it. But that didn"t change that this was one of his duties.

While he was the king, instead of being the one that the envoys actually came to meet, he was simply the "host" for the treaty meeting. And as a good host, he should take proper care of the most annoying and generally bothersome guests directly. He could trust the giant side, at least, so he could leave that side to others.

Eisen flapped his wings and shot back up into the sky. His eyes landed on the rails slithering into the forest in front of him. The trip here was perfectly fine, but just in case, maybe Eisen should just take a look at the rails one last time, to ensure that they were in the best condition they possibly could be.

He, obviously, took particular care at checking on the bridges, but they still seemed to be holding up perfectly, though now that he had taken a ride over them himself in the train, that wasn"t something he was as concerned with as before.

That being the case, Eisen had to get home for now. There were still a lot of things to prepare and get ready. He had lost a day to the break that was forced on him by his friends. Though, he was grateful in the end.