Chapter 362: Aloneness
Nyiragongo was a massive, sprawling development, loosely formed along one side of a volcano. It expanded all the way down to a massive lake, covering an area easily multiple times the size of Ghost Reef’s landmass, where it merged with a pre-mana city called Goma. A huge population of people had congregated beneath the shadow of the mountain, apparently unworried about the black smoke that billowed from its broken peak and giant glowing caldera.
The whole territory was in constant shade, but bright rivers of lava actually flowed side by side with shelters, terminating with steaming pools beneath mana-infused trees growing from stilt-like fireproof roots. The lava illuminated the darkness in an unusual way, transforming the forest into an alien environment that was easily comparable to the mana wells Coop had explored. Shadows and embers played with the light while the sky yielded none.
The relentless smoke provided a steady stream of black clouds directly above the entire region, giving the whole settlement territory an otherworldly ceiling that took a bit to get used to. It was almost like the open sky was more restrictive than the actual Underlayer that existed deep below the surface. Coop felt like he was approaching some primordial underground city as he followed the edge of Lake Kivu toward the settlement, collecting a layer of soot that stuck to his sweat-slicked skin. It was the kind of place that, by game-logic, should have been a manufacturing hub full of forges and the hammering of anvils.
However, the people were like any other he had come across, just doing what it took to survive. The leaders hadn’t invested in services so much as they had focused on expanding their shelters. Compared to some of the previous examples, Coop thought that was wise, but with so many residents, housing was an ongoing struggle that never gave them an opportunity to diversify construction.
The residents had migrated from all across Africa, crossing unbelievable distances and turning the territory into the de facto capital for the Assembly of Settlements by virtue of population alone. The reason for the confluence of people was primarily attributed to having access to the most convenient transportation through otherwise impassible, untamed lands. Though that was only if everyone made decisions on purely logistical grounds.
At least a little bit of the appeal of living in Nyiragongo was also because Imara, the champion of champions, was the local guardian. Being represented by the most powerful individual in the continent and a contender on the world’s stage was an appealing feature for any settlement. At this point of the assimilation, having a powerhouse nearby was just as valuable as any specific amenities when shopping for new real estate.
To his surprise, even before he arrived, the well-developed settlement had been connected to his faction by Ghost Reef’s navy. Despite the interior location, deep in the heart of Africa, the pirates had managed to navigate to the local ports. The nearby network of rivers and lakes flowed all the way to the west coast and into the Sahara Sea.
Many of the locals in the Congo River Basin were already recruited by the pirates that explored the complicated woodland river routes under the banner of the Tempest Fleet. The networking had begun basically as soon as the Ghost Reef-based phantoms managed to cross the Atlantic with their more specialized ships.
With the advice of the locals, they continued to adapt to new environments. Giant wooden floating fortresses, some as long as a football field and shaped more like castles than ocean-faring vessels, were being crewed by phantoms and Ghost Reef residents as members of the Assembly of Settlements joined the Lighthouse and added their riverboats to the broader navy. They defended the transport ships from any aggressive Primal Construct threats, converting a massive portion of the continent into a series of safe, water-based highways. A cultural victory was taking place even while the diplomats struggled to craft reasonable treaties with the individual settlement leaders as their residents actively found purpose by joining the Lighthouse.
Coop caught up with some of the pirates, getting nothing but good news when it came to their progress conquering the seas. The Tempest Fleet had reached just about every corner of the world, with the coast of eastern Africa their final frontier. Meanwhile, as they conquered the world’s coasts, the Lighthouse spread to nearly every settlement on the planet. Just over 200 settlements remained, and almost 150 were either in the process of joining or already had.