Three weeks had passed since waking up in the cave, Darkwing had done a lot to cover their tracks during their escape into the West. A Horde of Undead had caused them to turn to the lower mountains. Darkwing's original intent was to head West till the Coastline and then North to the Qilin territory to perhaps find something more familiar than Humans.
"LET ME GO!" Xue was lost, her spiritual sense didn't do her much good when Darkwing had moved them during the night.
She was unable to keep track of their position by the third night. Hopeless, she could only accept the situation. She was just a child, and if Darkwing wanted her dead she would have perished with her sister. There wasn't anything to be fearful of. Darkwing hadn't even told her that he was to blame, it was only her insistence to return that fueled her outbursts.
"They are all dead, do you want to die as well?" Darkwing held onto her with a stern look on his face.
"Now, be quiet. I'm looking at the terrain. I can't keep flying forever." Darkwing scanned the ground below for a place to stop.
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Mike was wondering if Wu Hai would return to Yunnan in the near future, Mike wasn't able to teleport himself and they both had lessons to continue. Wu Hai did say that their journey would be filled with distractions and that it would be difficult to keep up. As a former gamer and hardcore mode raider, Mike was equipped to handle long struggles.
He was not equipped for long waits.
Zhan saw Mike waiting by his Brother's Door in the Castle. Wu Hai didn't need a room of his own, but it stayed decorated like the bedroom of his youth. The small table at the end of his bed held the books Calistown would read to the Brothers while their Father was away on hunts.
"When will my brother return?" Mike tried to answer but was unable, he could only shrug at Zhan's request.
"I think he's been trying to come up with a plan, we can all feel your anger and you won't be content until you have some answers or see that they are sought after. My opinion is that your brother will be back shortly, he wants to help resolve this but knows it won't be a quick matter. Darkwing could be anywhere by now." Mike wanted to continue but Zhan cut him off.
"Don't mention his name around me again.. I will kill him and rescue Xue. If you want to help me, just find out where he is and point me in the right direction." Zao Zhan had been a Captain in the Red-Wolf Brigade before King Wong Wei tried to assassinate the Clan, forcing their exile.
Mike kept his composure.
Everyone was worried, including himself about the status of the Prince. It weighed on the Clan just like it weighed on the prince's shoulders. The Clan wanted closure, the Clan wanted blood. The Betrayal went beyond just the average cheat or theft... it was a strike directly into the heart of the Sect.
The whole clan would feel the loss.
"I don't know why he did what he has done. I never cared. What he did was unforgivable. My life cannot no peace until he is no longer."
Fear and anxiety were overwhelming. Mike knew it well, the possibility of never seeing family again was one of the consequences Mike had considered before leaving Earth.
"Family is important. Your family still grows. No one will rest on the subject, but I beg you to consider your family that is still here. If you leave, make sure to return." Mike stood before the Prince.
"I swore my life to your brother, and became his. To me, you are my brother. To me, Xue is family. I don't expect you to bring me along, but if you find yourself needing help please call on us. Wu Hai would disagree with interfering, but you are to us what Xue and Xi are to you. Allow us to help when you need it." Mike did the best he could, grief was pressuring and he needed to get back to studying or go after Darkwing.
Teleportation made things dramatically different. Darkwing might not have teleported far, but he could teleport many times in a row making distance a matter of practice. With Xue in tow, he would be a little slower.
The situation was grim, having been a week already there would be no trail that remained, if one had remained at all to begin with. Blood, sweat and shit would have been swept over by dust and rain or devoured by nature. One week had been a long time and with the dispelled traces that would lead them in a direction the Sect was without a sign to follow.
"I know there is nothing I can do in the moment, I plan to follow out into the surrounding cities. That bastard wouldn't go where he knew we would find him. He's bound to be in enemy territory, we're far less likely to find him there since we don't normally approach." Zhan started to think about how he would track down criminals for the King.
Zhan was good at his job, that was how he kept Rachael safe during the years of their escape from Herl.
"No matter what, I will return." Zhan sounded more vicious in his response, his anger was seething from his bloody fingernails.
"Sounds like you have it figured out then." A voice came from behind.
"Brother, you're going to make me say it? No one will stop you from going, we all want to go with you. But.. you've got to do this yourself. Just come back. Come back for our help when times are tough and go Prepared. Don't leave without arrows." Zao Wu Hai looked at his brother, the crying eyes had stopped and were now filled with envy.
Both of the Zao Brothers would be going out on their own adventures again. The Clan would be as safe as it was before, the incident with Darkwing was an eye opener but they couldn't end day to day life. A cunning enemy will always find a way. The next order of business would be to pick a direction for each of them and go. Mike and Wu Hai had their destinations and it seemed for the Princes that the directions that they had to go were predetermined. One to return to his teacher, and one to return to their homeland and into the enemy horde.
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"I disapprove." Khan Ni didn't want Zhan to leave.
"I cannot stop you. I would not want to." Holding the face of her Husband, Khan Ni kissed him gently.
"Come home. Our Child will be waiting." Khan Ni watched as Zhan rode away on his Fire-Wolf.
5 years was a long time to stop training, Zhan needed to prepare himself. Darkwing wasn't invincible, hundreds of matches between himself and Wu Hai had been witnessed by the Clan. Darkwing was not undefeatable and Zhan wasn't a slop. He could have never won the heart of Khan Ni by being slow on the battlefield.
"Its a promise." Zhan swept his wife into the bedroom and discussed things with the pair of them in private.
"I will come back, for the sake of our children." Zhan spent the night comforting his wives.
He would leave before morning.
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Xuan Kim Li had been tirelessly working with the technology departments to help increase productivity and assertiveness of skill sets. Some people had talents they didn't understand, but because the world shared so many similarities with gaming it had made things much easier.
One of his first actions when he had come to the world was to catagorize magic abilities and skills that developed into a type of class system. While it didn't work for all categories, it did help create a sudo-caste system. People were able to understand the power level gaps much quicker. His summary from his first dive into the subject had produced a booklet that was given to all of the guards to study.
Materials like inner sect documents were treated as classified materials to the public, but the City was filled with former gamers from Earth. The population of gamers was much lower than that of the slaves and beastmen that now lived in the City. Prince Wu Hai had not lied when said that humans were the minority in this world.
"Qu, have you finished reading the books for the sciences and math sections yet?" Kim Li was always impatient when it came to work, it was one of the reasons why Professor Jigui had always paid extra attention to him.
"For the last time, yes." Qu closed the book he was reading.
The cover of the book had a Waifu and several other scantily clad cat ladies on it. Qu quickly put the book behind his back and continued with a little humility. The books had done a number on his personality, there were prospectives he had never considered within the novels from Earth.
'Humans have interesting minds' Qu thought inwardly before continuing.
"I finished those books. In my opinion, you should abandon a method of downloading my information. You should focus on transmission instead. This world has no communication like the ones I read about in the library. We could attempt a magical solution, like this." Qu grabbed a brush from an inscription pad.
"We draw the formation for close range whisper magic, which mutes your voice except to those you're talking to but has a mana drain. Then we apply a long range cast formation over it like this. Once the long range cast is complete, you can talk to someone you see that's far away. It helps keep the yelling down in some social circles, but a practical application like worldwide communication hasn't been developed. I think its mostly due to the fact that Humans don't control enough territory for it to be necessary enough to have been invented." Qu had some suspicions and continued with his deductions.
"If we can find a way to increase the range significantly, and remove the line of sight requirement we will have something even better than a cell phone network." Grabbing the talisman, Qu forced some mana into it and watched the markings glow with a lite intensity.
"Go stand over there." Qu was on the other side of the library in an instant with the talisman.
The voice seemed like it was right next to Kim Li.
"Yes, we've tried something similar to this." Shaking his head Kim Li brought out his notes.
"We're going to have a long night ahead of us. Can we send some guards to pick up my things? I cannot afford to lapse on this work. I don't mind a long intermission from people. In my past life I was a bit of a shut-in, if you haven't noticed already." Kim Li laughed inwardly, but Qu remained somewhat emotionless with his responses.
"I thought you've been nose deep in those romance novels enough to show some expressions, but come on.. nothing?" Xuan Kim Li made a face a Qu.
It didn't go well, Qu pulled out the 6 feline guardian statues that surrounded his lotus pod. They stared Kim Li down like a pack of hungy lions.
"OKAY OKAY! I'll go get them myself" Getting to his feet, Kim Li started on his way to go pack his things.
If Wu Hai left without him, it could be years before he returned.
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The Clan knew it was time for Both of the Elder Zao Princes to leave the Clan once again. Many of them went to show their support as they were leaving. Zhan had gone west and Wu Hai to the East. With any luck, they would find a lead. Both of them had promised each other to return within 5 years if they couldn't find anything, sooner if they did.
It might not have been a five year mission, but they were boldly going where none of them had been before. Khan Ni waited until the suns had both set and gave a prayer to her ancestors to watch over the father of her child.
Lei Lei wanted to follow but Fei and the others had been telling her that it was not her path. Lei Lei was bound to do something different. Fei couldn't teach much more to a Human, it was time that Lei Lei got to training with other Wind Spirits.
Genba was forced into management of the mines by his wife. After repeated inquiries about wanting to help, Abi finally just gave the lead position to Genba. 3 days into the transition of power, Genba had already increased productivity by nearly 40% and that was the average for all of the workers. The actual production rate of the mine had multiplied several folds.
Harris was quietly working away in the West Mountain Labs, his more recent discoveries had him drawing some strange conclusions that he felt needed to be rechecked.
William was one of the lead flier teams that been tasked to search for signs of Darkwing, he was already on his way home when he passed Zhan.
"Your Majesty." Kneeling before the Prince, William gave his report.
"I have not found any traces of Darkwing to the southwest for at least a 10 day flight. at the end of my flight I could spot a coastal city. It didn't look like they had been through that direction, I am sorry. I must get this information to the Sect Leader. Good Luck. Oh, here.. take these."
William passed over some scales, they shined in the light and had lots of spots on them. The blue-green scales didn't match Williams body, it left Zhan curious. "What are these from?" he asked.
William was still a Dragonkin, he never wanted to be human again. But William was a Starfire Dragon, his scales were Purple and Rusty like Iron. The Scales that William had passed over were blue-green with white spots.
"A Scaled Devilkin. I fought one down by the Coastline. That's why I'm saying that he didn't go that way. I have a bunch of scales, but that asshole was hard to put down. I figured his scales were good materials. You should make some Armor, If it was tough for me to get through them then they will surely be useful for you." William was getting ready to fly away, Zhan had something else to say.
"When you see my father, tell him I am not going out here to die. Tell him not to worry himself bald." Zhan waved goodbye and William disappeared into the skyline.
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Wu Hai channeled his ability to teleport when he was outside of town.
Gefest had been waiting patiently at the Forge, it didn't take long to convince him that they needed some time to handle a family emergency and Wu Hai had left the Crusher as an insurance of his return. He had no need to worry about time, the more he had the more he would understand the weapon.
In their absence he had studied the Weapon in great detail and it was appropriate, he needed more time because he didn't understand it at all. The mystery only deepened the further he looked.
"Greetings, Teacher." A knock came from the office door, they had returned.
"Did you settle your matters?" Gefest knew that they had an emergency but didn't pry.
Wu Hai shook his head and replied. "We will have to search for clues in the future, the trail went cold immediately. Our Clan suffered a great loss. We have returned and when we are able to find direction we can resume the search."
"I see. Enduring.. I can understand this. Get the Ore, you've been gone for some time and its built up. You two need to turn it all to ingots, when you're done sweep the shop." Gefest finished his welcome speech but hadn't finished talking.
"In order to be reminded of the beauty in work, one must be driven. Use the feelings you have, the quality of your work will increase dramatically." Advice from someone who was considered the best in the area was something that neither of them could ignore, they quickly poured themselves into the work in front of them.
The smelting process was a steady one, purify, purify, purify. However, tempering must be done. When they reached the tempering process it was larger hammers and tempering. The Bars were easy enough to cast, in an hour the pair had smelted 60 bars. The size of the forge was all that kept the speed of the work from advancing.
It was Mike who thought about expanding the forge with some quick modifications, the problem was the city streets. The area around the forge were mostly other buildings. The buildings were so close in fact, that the forge took up every square foot, except for the back patio. The building went up a one floor, but was built on a decent bedrock. The upstairs bedroom and office were on the other side of the furnace.
The building itself had been in use for decades before Gefest became its owner.
"When we've finished all this, lets remodel. It won't take long, but we'll have to run the major changes by Gefest, otherwise he'll be furious." Wu Hai was thinking about the forge and couldn't let things be.
He needed to sink his thoughts into something, anything. Mike understood his feelings and had better ideas. "We should just build deeper than the basement and not move anything up here. It could help ease the tension we're both feeling. I don't want to upset Gefest, but maybe it would impress him if we did it as a secret facility."
"It sounds like a good idea, keep thinking while we finish this. I want to hear what teacher has found out about the weapon." Wu Hai couldn't help but agree.
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Meanwhile within the tower's upper floors, Xuan Kim Li was working tirelessly with Qu's assistance. The Tower was stored away but the pocket space of the interior allowed anyone within to remain conscious and free movement within its wall. The sensation of being shrunken was not even present, the euphoria associated was non-existent. The only danger would be if someone exited the Tower during its micronization.
Qu mentioned once before, one of his earliest masters once had a prisoner who tried to escape. He managed it but the moment he hit the exterior his body went through spacial turbulence and rapid expansion. The mess decorated the exterior of the Tower for some time afterward. Qu didn't like being forced to clean it up, therefore he committed himself to understanding why the man had exploded.
"I want to attempt more with the memory crystals, you said you could record to crystals. Can you record all the data you know about Science and Math to a single of the larger orbs? Or would it take more than one?" Kim Li was still fussing with the lesser crystals and had a few ideas.
Reading the crystals with the computer was much harder than accessing the data directly. Using the Memory Crystals direct consumed them, Kim Li had three.
'Hmmph' Qu snorted.
"I can fit them all on less than half of one of those crystals and that includes all the information I have currently accumulated on the subject, plus the theories behind them. If you want to make full use of the Crystal you're going to need more information to fill it up." Qu finished his guffaw.
There were a few subjects that could consume some space. Kim Li thought about it clearly.
"Choose well, If you consume the crystal's memory.. it would be a great deal of information. I see the look on your eyes, you are hungry for knowledge. That thirst could be painful." Qu warned Kim Li, there was little reason to stop him.
"I understand. I am not committed just yet to using the Crystal, I'd prefer to gain access to the knowledge in an interface. Getting it to read the crystal is more important, Can you fit the software programming onto any of the smaller crystals? I really need a confident assistant, besides you of course." Kim Li didn't want to offend Qu, Qu had already shown he wasn't to be made fun of.
'Hmmph' Qu snorted again.
"You're the Assistant." Qu waved his hand and flicked a small gem toward Kim Li.
"This one, we don't have any more appropriate sized ones for large sums of knowledge." The Tower Spirit seemed rather annoyed but kept working with Kim Li.
"Okay, how long will it take to imprint?" Impatient as always, Kim Li tossed the Crystal back to Qu.
"What are you talking about, its done. Imprints don't take but a moment, its selecting the right knowledge. Many of the crystals that have been discovered in the past held the memories of great warriors and their experiences. Some Tribes or Sects would use them to guarantee succession in royal bloodlines. The tactical knowledge of some Sect Leaders and Grand Elders in the history books could fill several shelves with books. As you know, the smaller fragments are only able to hold a book, perhaps two. The knowledge one obtains throughout life can be quite massive and be reinterpreted a thousand times, tens of thousand of times." Qu felt like he was lecturing again and stopped for a second.
"Kim Li, pick something worth learning. I'm sure you'll figure out the rest after." Qu wondered what the Human would do.
"Can I use multiple memory crystals if I don't swallow them?" Kim Li's questions never stopped.
"Eating Crystals was a rash decision that Wu Hai started when he was still just a child. That misunderstanding has led to a lot of confusion. Crystals, Elemental Crystals, like the ones that Wu Hai has fed to so many; Are part of a material that holds energies. Memory Crystals, hold biological components, memories, experiences, and thoughts. The memory crystals absorb a memory and concept. It can be consumed like the Elemental Crystals, but you'll not inherit the knowledge. Instead of inheriting it you'll gain some observational skills. It was a bitter lesson to learn for the ancestors. Heed their expense, choose wisely." Qu finally stopped talking and pointed in the direction of the Library.
Wu Hai tried to leave the token with Kim Li, but Kim Li didn't fit the qualifications to control the towers internal abilities. He would have to walk, and there was no going around it.
On his way, he did some deep thinking about what to fill the other half of the memory crystal.
"Spell Casting? Maybe I should look for Alchemy books.. or perhaps mechanical engineering. No. no. I have plenty of knowledge on engineering and product creation, what I need is something useful." Kim Li was wandering through the doorway of the library and came across the racks of scrolls from Kumomoto.
"Fighting styles...Swordplay.. Magic Spells.. History of the World" Kim Li swept a bunch of books and the racks of scrolls up into a storage ring.
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A line of Coffins stood in a V shaped catacomb. hundreds of meters long, the procession of endless rest was known to the locals as a spot of certain death. Most in the area fled at the sight of intruders. Those that were left to survive were of little value to the Hunters in the area. The Vampires of the Dark Sun Sect had much less to fear than the residents. The blood they consumed left traces of the Vampires saliva on the bodies, those who were living that consumed the saliva were all doomed to become mindless slaves.
If the Tongue of a Demonkin is said to be silver, the Tongue of a Vampire was made of lust. Those under the Spell of the Undead usually become the Undead. The cause and effect was clear but some chose to take the risks to collect the saliva from victims. That left a very small population of locals with ulterior motives.
The saliva was used in many of the Alchemical curses of the North.
"Doomsayers. Hold." A unit of Lizardmen were coming across a group of Reon Guardsmen.
"The Vampires have no place in our lands." One of the commanding officers spoke up.
"Go back to your home hatchlings, you don't even taste good. Don't waste our time by having us kill you." The Guardsmen all seemed extremely confident.
A noise could be heard in the back of the Lizardman group. Chanting and using the bodies of his comrades as cover, the caster in the back tried to take the souls of the group. A deep pocket of putrid flesh opened up beneath the Guardsmen, but they didn't flinch.
"I don't understand?! That should have worked." The Lizardman caster was infuriated at his failure, the commander started to shirk backwards.
"REON. Bring me back some leather." The Commander of the Guardsmen watched as his unit tore the Lizardmen apart.
'Lord Eddingar will be upset that more incursions are happening, why do they come this direction?' The Commander didn't know what to think about the regular attempts by the Lizardmen to move into the territory of the Vampires. Perhaps the game was better because of the lack of humanoid tribes, or maybe the Ground was just hard enough for them.
The reproduction rate of the Lizardmen was extremely fast. Born in clutches like most reptilian species they were a very shallow genepool between nomadic tribes. Some descendant of great beasts and some not so much. The Condea didn't bother to settle in only one place, their numbers made up greatly for their spareness. Many different colors and patterns adorned their scales.
"Bring me their hides, claws, teeth, tongue and eyes. Leave the rest." A greedy look covered the Commander's face.
Materials were the currency of the Vampire Clans.