Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1062 - 1061 - Unexpected Developments

It took the better part of 3 days to move all the cages. He then worked tirelessly to administer elixirs, simple herbal remedies, and anything he could to heal the refugees. The beasts were in far better shape compared to the humans or demons.

He put them to work. No matter the race, they obeyed as he was very far up the food chain to them. It helped that he had Chu and the others with powerful beast bloodlines as well following him.

There had been a pack of wolves with dark fur streaked with white that were a bit prideful but a single flash of his True Lord aura brought them in line.

The beasts helped solve the food problem in several respects. Normal animals were what they needed most as the beasts were all at least Stone Tier or above.

The vast majority of people were Soul Realm by far so that level of meat was too powerful for them.

It also did not help that most of the captured beasts had a basic level of sentience far above normal animals. Fruits and vegetables were a different task entirely but a few of the beasts were herbivores that led him to some decent plants he could start to nurture.

He would have to force them to grow a bit but once a good cycle was set up, they could feed everyone with ease. The main issue was the amount of refugees that were stable.

Close to 70% of them were broken in ways only Qing could truly repair. Even then, it would be a struggle. He did not have time to help them all!

The total number of refugees came to about 7435 when all was said and done. He had vastly underestimated the cage's abilities. It was not just about strength and ease of transport but inverting space as well!

He thought there would only be a few hundred but there were far more inside than he had imagined!

It was inferior to anything he could create but the materials were very useful to create much more pleasant looking wagons to haul animal carcasses. The beasts also took up residence in what had once been a park.

It was not within their wards but not far from them either.

It had all been going smoothly until a few annoying things began to spring up.

The first was the return of scouting parties from the sects fighting nearby. It included the Holy Flame Sect. They had come looking for their missing members at last it seemed.

The annoying part was Lind only found the remains of their corpses after the beasts ate them! No one had thought to tell him!

It was too late to prevent issues so he just had to plan for the headaches to come but it was unlikely they had many Immortals to spare given the state of the world.

The other scouting parties were also making pests of themselves but it at least fell in the range of his expectations. Unfortunately, it seemed the band he had wiped out brought more attention than planned as well.

Groups from the far north side of the area the Divine Ruin had been in began to show up in force! Thankfully, only a handful of Immortals arrived.

Lan, Bori, and Chu actually took care of the persistent ones. It was an unmitigated slaughter. The issue was once again, Lind was kept in the dark! He was so busy arranging food and care for the refugees that people were taking advantage of it!

He had a very stern meeting with everyone to stop doing that but Chu pointed out he was doing so much that the least they could do was fight to keep their home safe. They also slowly expanded the area until the park was inside the wards.

It allowed for more living space which they were badly in need of. The war towers were slowly coming along but they were never meant to absorb so many people.

Lind was a one man construction crew with his Arts. It floored both Oz and Katara when they saw what he could do. It was far more primitive than actual construction but it worked for the pinch they were in.

Simple square 4 story mass homes had been made. He had allowed family members to stay together if they desired but all others were strictly separated by gender and eventually given their own rooms.

He also made some common areas for relaxation and cultivation but they were only simple forms of the more robust versions he knew of.

He did use the resources of the destroyed town to pull it all off but they were just normal buildings with no Forging done. He had to leave it at that due to the real fact he did not own the city.

The Fionan Empire was the ruler, he was just doing what he had to do.

Lind strengthened the defenses around their safe haven which annoyed their attackers no end but did not deter them. If he could split into 10 versions of himself he would have! It was getting to be too much!

It was about 6 months after the refugees were finally settled that the most shocking news was revealed to him. Rather, he smelled it out!

"War Maiden Katara, is there something you would like to share with me?" Lind was currently looking down at her with his arms crossed. His stern face was not exactly convincing as his eyes were soft looking at her.

Her broad shoulders cracked as she stretched from her daily routine but she barely finished it as she seemed very tired. She smirked up at him as she thumbed her nose at him.

"None of your business Maester Cord. I–" His aura flared briefly but he reigned it in quickly.

"I believe I told you that your body is in a precarious situation. So please explain to me why you are pregnant?!" A human might have missed it who did not have experience but Lind was both a father and a dragon. He would not miss it unless he was a complete idiot!

She actually blushed a deep shade of red but did not deny his question.

"It was not like I planned it. I simply had an itch to scratch and Ranger was surprisingly shy–" Lind froze. His jaw was dropped open as he tried to process what he had just heard.

Ranger was many things but shy did not even come up in his mind!

It was not the only issue. Katara was an Immortal while Ranger was not even a Heaven Realm! How in the blazes did he get her pregnant?!

A sudden question popped into his head.

"By any chance, after the Corruption spread, did the ability to get pregnant increase?" Katara slowly nodded before her eyes went wide.

"It really did. There was a massive population increase at first but then as the chaos took so many lives it was harder to tell." Lind felt enlightened. Heaven and Earth were fair. Even in the now strained 2nd layer, it was balancing the horribly weakened population by enhancing their ability to procreate!

In other words, cross realm relationships had a far higher chance of having a child!

That presented a huge problem! He had not been worried about families popping up too much but now he realized they could have a massive explosion of people if even 10% of the refugees chose to try!

Sighing, he cleared his future worries away. At least he could plan for that a bit!

He then focused back on Katara.

"You understand what will happen to you?" He was not holding back. He was not speaking as an Immortal, but as her healer. She became serious as she nodded.

"Even so, I want to bring this life into the world. The world you are making." Her resolve as a warrior shone through. He then had a thought occur to him.

"Should it come to pass, I will help Ranger raise the child. I swear it so." A relieved look came over her face.

"Please do, he is a mess just finding out! It is hilarious!" Lind felt a strong desire for Shoti to show up. She could handle War Maiden Katara's personality better than he did!

He missed his family so much at that moment! He had been on his own before but those instances were either forced on him by his issues or quirks of Fate with the last one being necessary to open up the Celestial Fields once more.

He had not expected to struggle so much in the 2nd layer when he found out people were still thriving there.

Carrying so much alone was wearing on him.

"I will do all I can to preserve your life, but you should prepare. The most I can guarantee is that you will see them born." Normally, a cultivator would not be much different from a mortal pregnancy but Katara's situation was perilous.

Her vitality was severely depleted and her body would now direct its resources to the baby. She would not have much to spare to sustain herself any longer. Her near decade left of life would drastically reduce to a year or less if he did not miss his guess.

It was likely the birth would kill her as well. The baby could be easily saved but Katara could not.

He wanted a break from any more surprises!

"Husband, a Prince Petryn from the Fionan Empire has arrived. A dragon named Teegan verified his identity and matches your description of the Amber Scale City Princess." Shock flooded his body as he nearly shot out of his chair.

Did the spirits want to mess with him that much?!