"Um, we just accidentally stumbled upon this place, we didn't mean to intrude," Chloe carefully explained. Seeing as how the person behind the door was likely the one that created those traps there may be a chance they'll attack them unless they explain themselves.
"Accidentally stumbled upon this place? Ha, don't kid yourself, you were after my research wasn't you," The door burst open and a small old lady came running out. She was in front of the two before they even realised, she was on the tips of her toes pointing at Chloe.
"No, we really did accidentally stumble upon this place. Granted it was mainly those traps that made us really curious since we didn't think anyone would be living here," Chloe explained hurriedly.
"Traps? Oh, those things, indeed I created them and placed them around the door to keep myself protected," The old woman rapidly nodded her head with pride, but then it quickly turned to shock as she carefully analysed Lachlan's and Chloe's bodies, "Since you know about the traps then it means you activated them, there's no way anything could have escaped them on time."
Lachlan suddenly disappeared from his spot, "Where there's a will there's a way," Lachlan said from behind the old woman. While everything was going on he carefully analysed the woman in front of them and saw something unique about her.
'Analyse'
--------------------------------------------------------
Name: Anne Marie (Human)
Age: 71 (Elder)
Soul Contracts: 0/5
Compatibility: Nothing
STR: 7, AGI: 6, VIT: 10
INT: 35 PER: 12, WIL: 24
Weakness: Overall Physically Weak
Strengths: Genius Level Intelligence, Unique Mind
--------------------------------------------------------
This was the first time Lachlan's ever seen someone by compatible with nothing. That pretty well left them useless in this new world, especially considering she was an old granny. She didn't have the physical strength to protect herself.
But on the other hand, this was also the first time Lachlan's seen his eyes place someone's intelligence in strengths. Which could only mean one thing, this old lady was certainly one of a kind.
The only thing that left him confused but also intrigued was the unique mind. Lachlan believed everyone had a unique mind, but even then there wasn't a need to put it on strengths. Lachlan could only think of one way that makes her mind unique, and that's her problem-solving abilities.
There were many other ways someone might have a great unique mind, but to have that placed on strengths was a whole other thing. It meant through her unique mind and genius level intellect she would be able to survive as though she wasn't at a huge disadvantage.
"Wah!" Anne shouted as she jumped in fright at Lachlan's sudden materialisation behind her. 'That speed should be humanly possible, that's just no way, there must be something different about him, he might now even be human for all I know' She shook her head furiously, rejecting the thought that a human would be able to move so fast.
"Difficult to believe I know, but this is the world we live in now, where only the strong survive," Lachlan knew what Anne was thinking, at least partially what she was thinking. Considering that the military that came her a few days after the evolution was destroyed meant she has been here since then.
There might be a few things she still can't get her head around. The strength which humans are able to exert would be one of them. But Lachlan couldn't fault her on that, she was old and still might be thinking of the past Earth.
"But I'm weak, I can't survive in this new world," Anne knew her weaknesses. Her physical strength was definitely one of them. Especially so after seeing Lachlan's display of power, there was no way she could compete against that.
"You might be physically weak, your intelligence is at a level which none of us will ever be able to compete with," Lachlan responded sweetly. 'Since her intelligence is placed on strengths we need her on our side.'
"What can intelligence do in a world like this, I can't bore those damn beasts to death, they'll chew me alive before I can even speak," Anne argued back. Although before Earth evolved she had prided herself on her intelligence, this was no longer that same Earth.
"Well, although you might not believe it, but many new materials have formed on this new Earth, materials which hold a lot of power within them, power which you can use to create weapons," Lachlan explained, "Your intelligence allows you to do just that, create weapons which will allow you to survive without physical strength."
"I suppose you're right, but how will I get those materials," Anne suddenly went into deep thought.
"We'll get them for you." Anne suddenly turned towards Lachlan in shock, he then continued, "We'll get the materials while you become our organisation's researcher."
"Really?" Anne looked down on herself, not her intelligence but rather her physical prowess. She didn't think anyone would want her since she can't protect herself.
"Of course, granted we'll want you to research for us only, no one else," Lachlan didn't want their genius to help others, what's the point in that.
"What can you provide me?" Anne asked curiously as her eyes squinted.
"Well I suppose we can show you something now," Lachlan shrugged his shoulders and tossed the gravity stone up. Anne stared at it for a while before noticing something was wrong; when she noticed and looked closer her expression turned to shock.
"What's happening?! Why isn't the stone falling down?!" Anne felt her world of knowledge shake. All the physics she's studied can't comprehend this phenomenon. A stone defying the effects of gravity, aside from being in space, this is the only other time that she's seen something like that.
Only, 'That can't possibly happen!' She herself felt gravity around her, working with her to keep her on the ground. Yet looking up at the stone she couldn't help but look back at Lachlan and Chloe with a bit of shock and excitement in her eyes.
"What's that?!" She jumped onto Lachlan and pointed towards the stone.
Lachlan felt her spit hit his face, wiping it all off he explained, "That's a gravity stone, it can nullify and intensify gravity depending on its rank."
"How was it created?" Anne asked as she jumped off onto the ground.
"I don't know, I'm not a scientist, which is exactly why we need you," Lachlan said as he held out his hand.
"Are there more of these stones?" Anne asked.
Lachlan turned the gravity of the stone to normal and caught it in his hands before tucking it in his pocket, "Of course, however, you'll only be able to get more once you agree to work with us and come to our base."
Anne was finding it hard to resist the temptation, there were too many things that were unique about the people in front of her. There was also something about them that made her confident they weren't lying, a trait only professional businessmen and scheming politics would have.
"Alright, but what about all my things here?"Anne asked. She didn't want to abandon everything here, it's all useful equipment. Some of which she was certain she'll need for analysing the stone. she then remembered something, "Oh yeah, my name's Anne by the way, you can either call me Anne or research Anne, it's up to you."
"Well hello Anne, the names Lachlan and she's Chloe. Can it detach from the wall?" Lachlan asked as he quickly introduced themselves. He's only hope was that. If it couldn't they'll have to do the slow process which would take a few days.
"Of course, I spent plenty of time and money creating all of this. There isn't anything in the world that'll separate me from the research equipment, which is exactly why I gave everything wheels and the ability to attach and detach from walls," Anne proudly said as she walked over and hit a button.
They could hear a clicking sound coming from the equipment, they saw at the bottom of the benches some legs that were stuck in the ground coming up. Storing it inside the bench.
"It's just I don't know how we'll carry it from here to where ever your base is," Anne explained.
"Haha, you don't have to worry about that," Lachlan said confidently as he brought out the stone again. 'Change direction to upwards and increase it to 50 times.'
Although Lachlan wasn't actually all that confident what he was doing would work there was plenty of reason for it to work. He made sure the domain was 50 metres so that encased the entire laboratory and even all the machinery just outside the laboratory.
There was a lot of shaking and rumbling. The stone above them began to break apart, but instead of falling downwards it shot up and Lachlan's expression darkened, 'Normal gravity.'
The three began to fell the falling sensation. The feeling of all your organs lifting up inside your body. Anne was the most terrified at this point, she reached out and hit the button again. Small and large legs extended from the benches at fast speeds, quickly piercing through the stone as though it was butter.
She then proceeded to wrap her arms around a bar for dear life. Lachlan knew he had it under control now, 'Change direction to upwards, increase gravity to 3 times.'
This time he waited a few seconds before a felt a bit of force pushing him upwards, 'Nullify all gravity, you four get over here and grabbed the laboratory.'
Very quickly four pairs of talons pierced through the stone, grabbing onto whatever they could in the laboratory. The laboratory was under zero gravity, so it wasn't as though grabbing onto the wrong thing could force them to crash into the ground.
'How're things looking out there Calamity?' Lachlan asked.
'Well, I suppose it could be said that it was a success' Calamity replied.
'Suppose?' Lachlan asked as Calamity's uncertainty wasn't a good thing.
'Yes, come out and see for yourself' Calamity suggested.
'Alright,' Lachlan turned towards Chloe and Anne and pointed towards the stairs, "We're going to take a look outside for a quick moment.'
Chloe and Anne nodded, the three then jumped over towards the stairs before jumping up them. Anne was beginning to really enjoy the zero gravity, as she bounced around from wall to wall, then stairs to the ceiling.
When they got to the top she immediately realised the steel door that was protecting her laboratory was melted. But when she finally looked outside her eyes widened in shock, as the sight before her didn't seem normal.
Hope You Enjoyed!
I think there'll be one or two more chapters before I return to editing the rest.
Looking outside the staircase the group saw that they were hundreds of metres in the air. Looking around they could even see Melbourne from where they were, granted that it shouldn't be too difficult being hundreds of metres in the air.
'Didn't think I let us go up for that long' Lachlan thought. He thought he had managed to control the situation pretty good, expecting them to only be roughly 10 - 50 metres in the air. Didn't think he errored for roughly 200 metres.
"Damn, this is amazing!" Chloe exclaimed. Although she's flown on birds plenty of times now, there was something unique and special about the situation they were in right now. She was on a floating island, that itself wasn't something she'd ever thought would happen.
Anne to the side was shaking with excitement, 'If these stones are this powerful the number of things I could create is immeasurable, so many possibilities.' She couldn't wait to get started with her research on the stone.
However, after the initial shock and awe, Lachlan finally realised something was slightly wrong. The machinery wasn't here, even though he clearly remembered where it should be it doesn't seem to be where it was.
'Look up father' Calamity suggested.
That when Lachlan saw all the machinery floating in the sky. They were at the very edges of the stone's area of effect. Of course, Lachlan kept the area small so he didn't surprisingly affect the other areas and give them all a shock.
But when he looked down he saw the group of five staring at them with their eyes and mouths wide open from shock. Georgia quickly hopped onto Kyle and shot up towards them, it didn't take long for her to reach them.
"What the hell is going on here?!" She asked without hiding her shock.
"I decided to use the stones for a bit more experimentation, I think it worked out pretty well," Lachlan explained as he placed his hand on his head.
"I suppose it did, so who's she?" Georgia asked as she pointed towards Anne.
"Well Georgia, I'd like to introduce you to our very own researcher, her name's Anne," Lachlan happily introduced her.
"Hello there, that bird is very beautiful," Anne complimented. She sounded like an old grandma complimenting her grandchildren for either having good looks or being taller than her.
"Hey there, the name's Georgia, I hope you accepted Lachlan's invitation before he dragged you up into the air," Georgia cheekily said as a quick joke.
"Don't worry about it, I did accept it but I just didn't think he'd really be able to bring along my entire laboratory with me so easily," Anne said.
"Indeed, his a man with many talents that bring surprise to our group," Georgia said. She was obviously hinting towards the eyes but Anne wouldn't think of that.
"So do tell me, why is your organisation here?" Anne asked as she looked around. She noticed a few others on the ground and could see the cement truck in the distance driving towards them.
"We came to get the machinery and tools here since it's been abandoned we didn't think anyone would mind. Never expected to find you here, which is exactly why I said that it was an accident," Chloe explained.
"Can't you just buy or hire everything from the stores? you seem like you would be a strong organisation and if you're strong you usually have a lot of money to back you up," Anne said.
"Well we would if we could, but our organisation is very much hated by the military because of our beliefs," Chloe explained as her fists were clenched hard.
"What beliefs are those?" Anne asked curiously. Unless this group of people were seeking the destruction of humanity Anne didn't think they could possibly have beliefs that pit them against the military.
"We believe the mutated children are still human, but the military classifies them as intelligent beasts. Granted it's only two-thirds of the military force, but that's still a majority," Chloe explained.
"Hm, so what are intelligent beasts and mutated children?" Anne didn't really have any contact with anyone in the past two years. And she had no connection to the internet in the laboratory, so she was in the dark about all of what was just said.
"Intelligent beasts are the leaders of the beasts, the ones that possess great strength and leadership skills. Mutated children are children that have undergone a mutation that gives them beast-like characteristics, which can make them look like intelligent beasts considering most intelligent beasts have a human-shaped body," Chloe explained.
"Oh, so do you have research backing that up?" Anne asked. She only believes in research results, anything that hasn't been proven through research is up in the air about whether or not it's true or false.
"Nope, but considering my daughter and Lachlan's younger sister were human before and now they're mutated children I believe that's enough. Of course, with you here now we can research into it," Chloe suddenly realised how much more useful Anne just suddenly became. If they were able to provide the world with enough evidence backed by a genius researcher then they'll have to believe it.
Of course, there'll still be others that don't believe it. However, this should be the final snap for people that were already on edge about the matter. As now they have the evidence to back their beliefs, while the military on the other side doesn't.
"Indeed, I'll research into it a bit, it shouldn't take too long to look into it as long as I have all the equipment in the lab," Anne responded as she nodded.
"Really?! That's great!" Chloe exclaimed excitedly as he ran over and grabbed onto Anne's shoulders. Her daughter could finally be accepted, although she didn't portray it often; But she was always worried. Worried about her daughter, whether or not their organisation could create a future where she was accepted. But now with the help of Anne that was possible.
To the side, Lachlan was also shaking inside from excitement. 'So Sarah could be accepted into society again, although it would still be a struggle to get accepted by everyone.'
Lachlan knew how people thought and worked. Although they might be able to convince everyone that they're now beasts, after being told constantly for the past two years that they were it'll be difficult to just suddenly change.
And even if the discrimination wasn't obvious, there would still be some. Some of which could just be accidental. Especially since children can be the harshest, as they always say what's on their mind without hesitation.
They would also blatantly show their disgust towards people different than them. That's just how a child's mind works, of course, the way a parent raised their kids will contribute greatly towards how they treat others, it's not all the kid's fault, they just don't know any better.
"Ahm, so are we going to leave now?" Georgia asked from above on Kyle.
Lachlan quickly looked down and saw everyone had gathered everything and the cement truck was next to them as well, "I suppose we're done already, we should find some rope to tie it to all the machinery," Lachlan suggested as he pointed upwards.
Georgia finally noticed the machinery above them, "Alright, we'll bring the rest of the group up along with some rope and we'll go back to base."
Georgia got Kyle to quickly dive down towards the group. When she reached the ground she went back into the office and brought out a lengthy bit of rope. She tied the cement truck first before nullifying gravity and flying up towards the rest of the machinery.
When she finished tying them up she gave a thumbs up to the rest of the group.
Simon carried everyone on his birds up towards the floating lab. Everyone briefly introduced themselves to Anne and expressed their thanks for the fact that she could help them so much.
Anne introduced herself and expressed her thanks for the group giving her a chance to show her abilities. Not to mention giving her protection and materials to research.
The group then began their journey back to the island. Lachlan's birds carefully tugging the laboratory with them while Kyle brought along all the machinery. It wasn't all that difficult with no gravity, they just had to make sure nothing smashes into each other.
Anne was very joyful throughout the entire journey as she looked and analysed everything they went past. Including a lot of beasts on the ground and the towns, but she also couldn't help but show her concerns when she saw the towns.
When they began crossing the ocean Anne looked towards the group, "Do tell, where exactly is your base?"
"Don't worry you'll see soon enough, just be patient, you'll really enjoy the sight," Lachlan said mysteriously.
Anne sat down on the ground while dangling her legs off the edge. Chloe stood right behind her in case she fell off, Anne was their trump care that'll really make their ideas a possibility, they can't have her die now.
Of course, because there was no gravity there wasn't much that would actually happen. Chloe was just extremely paranoid that something could happen. So she was basically a guard or guardian for Anne.
When the island came into sight from the distance Anne really couldn't hide her shock. Lachlan enjoyed seeing Anne so happy and shocked at the same time. He enjoyed it every time someone new was brought to the island, their shocked expression was always great.
"So this is your base?" Anne asked for confirmation.
"Indeed, this entire island is our grand base," Lachlan said with his arms wide open.
The group quickly reached the construction site and Georgia brought all the machinery down with her. A few people went down carrying the rest of the tools. There was no need to wait for them since Simon was one of those people, the rest of the group on the laboratory continued until they reached the centre.
The world tree really stunned Anne, she couldn't hide back her shock and exclaimed, "How can a tree grow so big?!"
"Because this island is unique, we'll explain that in detail later, for now, we should get you set up. Where should we put your laboratory?" Lachlan asked.
"Can we connect it to the tree? Or tie to the tree?" Anne wanted the quickly begin researching. Not just the stone and children but now everything on this island, the world tree especially.
"I suppose we can," Lachlan didn't mind, he got Disaster to quickly go down and search for a high ranked gravity stone to keep the island up. Although he wasn't sure, he just felt as though Anne wanted it to placed up high.
"Oh yeah, connect it to that branch up there," Anne said as she pointed towards the branch 300 metres high.
'Thought so' Lachlan thought. Disaster quickly came back with the stone in its mouth. Lachlan briefly explained the stone and gave it to Anne who happily cut a small wound on her finger.
When she felt the rush of information she felt so excited. As long with that information came ideas, ideas for new things, weapons included.
"So I just have to keep this at the island at all times and everything will be good?" Anne asked. Although stone gave a lot of information, it didn't give any details about the limits and restrictions. Fortunately, the group's done plenty of experiments into that.
"Yup, we'll bring over another stone for you to experiment on, we'll also bring one of the children up. Do remember though, they are children so don't scare them," Lachlan felt that Anne's excitement for knowledge would lead her to go to extremes.
"Don't worry I'm not barbaric, I just need a small blood sample. Every mutation can be found within the genes," Anne said.
Hope You Enjoyed!
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