The group flew over to the ship while everyone's expression went to shock. They were flabbergasted by what they were seeing in front of them.

The original three boat military, one battleship and two carriers boats have long since expanded to what seems like a military empire. There were roughly 20 battleships full of soldiers, Lachlan's analysed a few of the soldiers and realised they're all fairly strong.

Behind those battleships were 40 carriers, each being stacked with fighter jets. And on the top of every boat was a different flag, while the boat at the very front had a flag no one had ever seen before. But it had the world printed on it, and covering the world was a sword and a gun.

It seems like an armada someone would set up when the world is being invaded, which it kind of is. With everything evolved, it's likely the countries created this force for the survival of humanity. Something Lachlan predicted would come.

When they closed in on the main boat they caught a glimpse of James in the open waving at them. They waved back and descended on the boat. The soldiers swiftly made room while they all admired the griffon, to which Lachlan happily accepted.

Lachlan quickly analysed James to see if he has got stronger.

--------------------------------------------------------

Name: James Ryan (Human)

Age: 54 (Adult)

Soul Contracts: 3/5

Compatibility: Sharks (Perfect), Fish (Intermediate)

STR: 35(+4), AGI: 36(+3), VIT: 22(+2)

INT: 32, PER: 36, WIL: 37

Weakness: Artificial Arm & Leg, Injured Eye, Overprotective, Prideful

Strengths: Water Control (Level 6), Darkness Control (Level 6), Fast Swimming, Strong Bite, Control of 5 Loyal Sharks

--------------------------------------------------------

He seems to have got stronger in stats, but the number of weaknesses he has racked up made Lachlan remember the type of world they were currently in. It's killed or be killed, the survival of the fittest type of world. And it seems James has had to do what he did to survive, even at the cost of his own limbs.

Once they landed they immediately hopped off the birds.

"Hope you enjoyed your stay on the island," James cheekily said as he went up and gave everyone a firm handshake. They all immediately noticed the arm since that's what he shook their hand with.

"What's the story behind that?" Simon asked without realising it might be slightly rude. Bringing up painful memories was never a good idea.

James didn't mind and pulled his sleeve back to show it off. It gave off a real sci-fi vibe as its wires glowed blue, "I got this thing when I sacrificed my arm to protect a family in America. Although the sacrifice brought a few seconds that was all that was needed to keep everyone else safe."

He then pulled up his pants and show off his leg which looked rather similar to the arm, but gave off a red colour instead, "I got this when I was careless running in the field, didn't notice the fuckers set up a trap. Fortunately, I managed to escape with my life."

Lachlan realised James has been through a lot of shit, yet he continues to fight for the people. He was someone that people could look up to. The rest of the leaders were probably similar, after two years the corrupt leaders and soldiers were bound to have either been killed or just thrown out. Considering there's no time to deal with them they might literally just throw them off the boat.

"So, what's the story behind that?" James asked as he pointed towards the griffon. Although he wasn't as shocked as the others, meaning he might have seen something similar.

"Got it on the island, found him relaxing in a cave and named it Aaron," Lachlan explained.

"Anything else on the island?" James asked. After spending so much time on the island there's bound to be more there.

"Not really, aside from the gravity increasing every hundred metres there's not much else," Lachlan still didn't want to tell the military about anything particularly precious on the island. But he did feel bad, "Oh, there is this," Lachlan handed over a blood banana.

"What's this?" James asked as he inspected it. The rest of the group were unsure of what Lachlan was doing.

"It's a fruit that can heal wounds, obvious it has its limits and might not heal the wounds completely, but it should usually do something," Lachlan wasn't certain on the percentages. After all, there was much of a chance that it heals the wound completely as there is that the wound doesn't heal at all.

"Is there more of them?" James was astounded by the use of this rather odd looking banana.

"A few more, but they're rather difficult to get," Lachlan said as he scratched his head. He didn't want to straight out just say that none of them has the necessary strength to make it through the cave as that would be insulting.

"That doesn't matter, we have enough people to make it through," James still didn't get the hint that no matter how many people there were. If none of them had the strength to make it through the cave then nothing changes.

"Sigh, you don't understand," Lachlan lifted his leg and slammed it down, leaving a very visible indent in the steel floor, "Unless you can do that you won't stand a chance dealing with the gravity there."

'Holy shit, I wonder if they've all got this much stronger' Seeing how much stronger Lachlan became left him to wonder about the others.

"Alright, there isn't much we can do about it," James said. Although he knew the effects were incredible, if there wasn't a lot of them then there wasn't much they could do. Aside from selling to the rich a powerful.

"Come in, I have a lot to tell you," James decided he would save the banana for another time. He already has the prosthetics and there's no reason to heal his limbs. Especially when Lachlan informed him that it might not heal all of it, he'll still have to have prosthetics one way or another. At least having the full limb prosthetic made him look stylish and unique.

As they walked to the control room James made sure to tell them everything that's happened. About how a one world nation has formed, with the Navy fleet they were currently in is the combined forces of all the countries Navies.

Their official title given by the world leaders was the Sea Guardians, as they protected everyone by sea. Of course, other people called them things representing their strength, 'The Sea Rulers', 'The Ocean's Devils', 'The Ocean's Angles', or even the one they actually liked the most, 'The Sea Dragons'. As it really represented their overwhelming might, crushing all forces that oppose them.

Aside from that, there are the Sky Guardians and Land Guardians. People began to think the leaders didn't put too much effort into creating their names. But those forces were spread around the world, protecting specific areas where the human population is highest.

As for the places that aren't protected. Most of those places have been thoroughly destroyed by beasts. Especially hive type beasts, as they spread their nest far and wide to slowly dominate an entire area.

But aside from that, everything beginning to calm down. Two organisations have appeared, both of which have garnered the attention of higher-ups and the populace. They are respectively called the Explorers Guild and Researchers United.

Their names entail what they do. The Explorers Guild, where strong independent people are recruited to go on exploration missions into the unknown. It's an incredibly dangerous job, but the rewards are just as great. Not to mention you are technically helping humanity survive if you managed to find something useful.

As for Researchers United. They are a force of incredibly intelligent scientist that takes what the explorers find and create something out of it. However, their primary focus which even slightly shocked Lachlan. Was evolution.

So far the number of beasts that have been upgraded could be counted on one hand. And they all belong to the leaders of those two organisations. Lachlan could understand why, as it would take forever to find the upgrade path for every beast, so why not just focus on their own. Of course, that also brought about a bit of hate but was quickly replaced with hope once they saw the strength those upgraded beasts weld.

"So how's Australian holding up?" Lachlan asked. That was where they were going, they wanted to at least know what to expect when they get there.

"Most of the places are doing great, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Darwin are thriving the most while nearby towns and farmland are being protected by the military," James explained. Lachlan felt great about that. Since there was a lot of farmland around Mount Barker, it's likely protected. And even if something happened there's always Adelaide to fall back into.

'What about my parents?" Phoebe asked concerned. When they left the ships her parents stayed on board.

"Don't worry, they should be at Brisbane as that was where we dropped a majority of the citizens off," James explained and Phoebe had a sigh of relief. Since Brisbane was so heavily protected her parents are safe.

The others didn't mind too much about what was going on since their families were also located near or in those major cities. They weren't too worried about it.