"We can't buy more military gear. The law won't allow us." Leira reminded him.
"I know that. They won't let us until we prove our worth." Rolan knew that the dominion won't let them buy more weapons even though the realm is deadly.
They don't want to waste resources even if you're paying for them yourself. It's a kind of way to see what you can do with what you're given. If you can't set yourself up with the standard supply, you might as well quit or die in the realm.
"So let's prove ourselves. We'll start by getting all the buildings setup." Leira looked at the admins when saying the latter. They quickly understood as they delegated tasks to those in the population who were trained for this task.
These people took out data pads and started typing away commands on their black devices. The soft blue and white glows of the pads were a stark contrast to the red light this land was bathed in.
Some of the drones, the ones with all sorts of arms and gadgets sticking out of them, started to move again. These drones were the size of the average semi truck and were generally shaped like a rectangular prism, not including all the protrusions.
The drones floated in silence and speed as they started to extract materials from massive containers. They took out mostly a grayish white sludge that was pumped into them via clear tubes.
Another group of drones started to dig up the soil and pile it high, while another group chopped down the strange trees. Even the soldiers were piloting some drones to move the dead bodies of the creatures aside.
While the drones worked. Some of the people started to set up temporary shelters made out of compact, prebuilt buildings. These structures were carried in here earlier and then put together within just a couple of minutes. They were basically like putting together a set of toy bricks.
Rolan and Leira found themselves inside one of these quant structures that were only 5 meters by 5 meters. The place was simply a concrete square with some furniture and some tables inside. There was a TV as well with preloaded shows.
"You would think that the dominion would give us a holo screen at least." Leira scoffed at the ancient tech that was given to them.
"I prefer the old way of watching shows anyway. Holo screens always felt out of place for some reason." Rolan never liked holo anything. He was a stickler for the tech of pre-dominion humans.
There was something that just felt right about it. He could not enjoy the holo screens that were in his home. The same goes for his mother; he probably got this trait from her.
Rolan sat straight on the couch while Leira sat sideways, laying her legs on his thighs. They watched some drama involving nobles and politicians.
A couple of hours later, one of the admins came in and let them know that they had found something strange. The man seemed flustered and astounded as he had the couple follow him. A squad of soldiers escorted them to a place on the edge of the forest where they had gathered the many dozens of corpses of the creatures.
The gray trees had their branches piercing the corpses as they seemed to be sucking the remaining life of the perished. The branches swayed and bulged like living pipes. The corpses looked shriveled as the original pyramid shape was gone. Now more like a deflated balloon.
"Is this how they get their nutrients?" Rolan asked. He looked toward one of the civilians who was wearing a stereotypical white lab coat.
"The soil in this region seems to be very rich, as if it barely gets used and has just been accumulating. We can assume that anything that dies on these lands is recycled into the soil by these trees. Though we will need to explore further and conduct more tests to be sure." The middle-aged lady in the lab coat named Sierra explained.
She had brown hair tied in a small bun and a scholarly face adorned with glasses. Her brown eyes had a hint of excitement, surely from the thrill of finding new knowledge in this strange land. She is one of many scientists who specialize in different fields that were assigned to him. She specifically excelled in biological studies.
"Then go ahead and perform more tests, but stay within settlement bounds." Rolan allowed her to carry on her tests as if the trees did function this way; he had some ideas for how to profit from them big time.
He also warned her to stay safe, as there were surely more monsters that lived outside the current range of his soldiers.
"How's the progress with collecting data?" Leira asked Sierra.
"We have finished collecting soil, biological, and air samples. All that is left for the machines to complete is geological data."
Samples of the monsters, trees, soil, and air were going to be studied by the many scientists on site. They would test and compare them to pre-existing data from a server that the government had given them.
Leira nods and then turns toward the admins. "How is the progress with construction?"
"We have finished digging the foundation for the data center. We have begun building it. Estimated time for completion is 9 hours."
"When will we have the research center finished?"
"The foundation should be completed in 2 hours and the building itself in another 14 hours."
Leira listened and nodded as these kinds of speeds for massive buildings were normal within the dominion. There were even faster construction drones, but they couldn't afford those. For now, everyone would be working and living in modular buildings that were temporarily set up.
The soldiers escorted the couple back to their temporary home. The only thing they had to do over the next couple of days was stay in their base and occasionally check on the progress of the settlement. The admins could be called over, or they could walk around by themselves. Besides this, everything would be left up to the professionals. They had no reason to get in the way of those who were trained for building up these lands or those who could perform science. The couple is better off being leaders because that's what they have been doing for over a decade.
All Leirra and Rolan did for the next couple of hours was bingeing shows, talking a little about their plans, and sleeping. Luckily, the chefs had set up a cafeteria. They could actually eat real food and not dry rations. Those rations are better off as emergency food.
Rolan and Leirra could go back to their world and have food there, but they would rather not leave until most of the infrastructure was completed. They would not leave until they had more information about this region and defenses were active.
Just like that, with lazing around, attending some progress report meetings, and sleeping, 3 days went by quickly. Within those three days, a 10-mile radius around the original location was fully scoured clean of monsters. Some were stored for research, and others were left to the trees so the scientists could do more tests.
Inside a 20-floor generic building that was mostly empty, Leira and Rolan sat at the head of a long conference table with all the scientists and admins of the settlement taking the rest of the seats.
On a massive holo screen on the other side of the conference room was the 3d image of a sizable villa. It had a taste of futuristic architecture but retained what humanity called contemporary modern villas in the 2000s.
"Our 1000 individuals can be categorized into 287 families. So we have completed 287 Dominion standard homes. 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, front and backyard, living room, dining room, pool, 2 offices, and 2 extra rooms for whatever the residents want to use them for. They are partitioned into 3 floors and can accommodate a suggested number of 3 generations.
The total space per home is about 720 square meters. Plenty of space for kids to grow up and for elders to relax."
One of the admins explained that a 3d projection moved and displayed different portions of the home. This is what the Sol Dominion considered standard, when they had enough space on a lanet that is. Once space started to run out, they would start building skyscrapers and underground structures that were usually either just a bit smaller or basically slums.
But since the Zantarra Realm seems to never run out of land, except for the infinite oceans, they could build openly and freely. We could make single family homes in excess. Only office and government buildings were going to be tall. Just like the building they were in right now.
"Now moving onto public infrastructure. We have built this administrative building we are currently in, to coordinate current and future planning for the settlement. We won't need to increase the height until 100,000 in population. This applies to all the following buildings.
We've built the territory's first school that contains all possible sports facilities such as basketball courts, football and soccer fields, tennis courts, and tracks. We also included space for clubs, a library, and other student entertainment, studying, and rest facilities. There is enough space to accommodate students for many population booms.
We have also finished the community center for holding concerts, balls, and other events. It also has a community gym and pools. We also included all the sports facilities one could need."
Rolan sat there listening and watching as he acknowledged how much planning and resources the dominon probably spent to first research and create all these standard buildings and population standards. It should have taken a lot of time to figure out the things the territories in the realm needed to start with.
Everything listed so far was things that were pre-designed and easily replaceable by the drones. When they got more population, they could easily copy and paste.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Leira and Rolan clapped in approval as they were proud of the progress that had been made in just 3 days.
"The research center has also been completed with all the equipment the labs might need." This time, one of the scientists stood up.
"We have finished analyzing the soil and air samples. When it comes to the air of this region, it is incredibly clean and fresh. There are no harmful substances; the only foreign substance would be the mana particles that are prevalent in the realm."
Everyone nodded after hearing this. They had been breathing the air just fine for the last couple of days, as it was one of the first things that was tested. They only needed a lab to be completely sure. They wouldn't still be here if the air wasn't proven to be safe from the first day.
"As for the soil, it is incredibly rich with nutrients. This is due to the gray trees that harvest everything they can from any biological material that is dead. They seem to be able to tell whether something is dead or alive. They only harvest from dead material. The trees also seem to absorb some of the biomatter themselves before sending the rest to be deposited into the ground."
Leira and Rolan grinned in excitement when they heard this.
That's it. This is gonna be my goldmine! Rolan cheered in his mind as he suspected that the trees were natural recyclers. And that's exactly what they are.
With how big the dominion is, it consumes an unimaginable amount of resources and in turn, produces an unimaginable amount of trash. Cleaning up all this junk is too costly. It was much cheaper, even in this era, to toss it into planet-sized junkyards.
There were entire categories of nobles whose entire business was to store and transport trash. It is incredibly profitable as the Sol Dominion is adamant about keeping its habitable planets as clean as possible.
"We have even tested materials such as metal, plastics on the trees. They seem to be able to break it down, albeit slower than bio materials. We even tested radioactive materials, and it seems to be able to break that down too. These trees are very similar to a species some other awkeners have found in their regions within the realm."
Leira and Roln froze at this revelation. The room went silent as everyone realised the implications of this discovery.