•••Queen of dust kingdom
I sent out half my army 50'000 men and women divided up into armies of 10'000 to destroy any small independent states that were way too much trouble to deal with.
Out of the 50'000 soldiers sent out 35'000 returned what was most shocking however was the fact that the roughly 10'000 soldiers sent to a non militaristic city state were wiped out.
The scout that returned spoke of thousands of arrows falling from the sky and high level magic casting strong enough to break our own magic barriers.
Since no one else has returned it can easily concluded that they lost the solution was simple I just had to send my whole army to burn the city to the ground•••
It was a calm and quiet week well not that calm I have been running around making sure everyone was on track.
The walls were probably better than when they were first made and all the citizens of the city were helping to prepare for the onslaught of forces that will inevitably come to our city.
I had the blacksmiths and runic enchanters make me a proper war staff it was made of black reinforced iron and I could change it into a spear if I needed to stab someone.
It was pretty light to wield but had good balance and I didn't have to worry about splinters of course the main focus this week wasn't on my staff it was on defensive structures.
Traps and pitfalls along with cannons and battlements I requested the cannons when I first started getting the army ready and was able to substitute gun powder with slime gel which was combustible.
It wasn't easy and there were some very big failures and they still don't work as well as I would have hoped but they are a new thing to people of this world so it would be a good trump card.
Other than that my personal training was going very well I am feeling close to having a break through with my aura and I've seen some other members of my army practising.
There is a problem though serothor has no natural terrain that helps in defense usually this would be fine but our army size is laughably small so we are at a huge disadvantage to big armies.
If we were technologically advanced like the dwarves or had assistance from spirits like the elven races we would be fine but we are at a little below average except for the average individual strength of each soldier being insane.
Even so fighting a ten to one battle or worse would end in a massacre especially with magic users or aura swordsmen.
That is why we need the support of the empire serothors army is nothing more than a militia they are citizens that sooner or later need to return to work.
The empires army is a standing army and is one of the largest out there it has 900'000 soldiers as a standing force excluding allies.
I was currently training with my war staff and noticing how the runic enchantments I had developed a few good styles but that was only during sparring matches.
That was when I came up with an idea if the people of this world could enchant objects to have certain effects we could enchant arrows and cannon balls.
I wrote the idea down down in the journal I kept all my ideas and story information in, it had the premise of 15 books after the war saga.
I couldn't remember everything and what I could remember was mostly random scenes concerning certain characters but this information was still vital to me now.
I wasn't relaxing but I was relatively calm apparently the average travel distance by foot from here to the dust kingdom capital is a week so it would be at least another week before a counter attack.
That's when I felt a burning feeling in my veins and mana pathways like needles it was coming I put down my staff and focused on the feeling.
The red aura inside me it felt different it wasn't seperate like it used to be it was as if it was an extension of myself like if my blood could move on my command.
I couldn't exactly feel through it but I felt it as if it was inside my body moving it was a great feeling that is until I noticed the burning sensation.
Then I remembered that each stage of aura comes with body purification and then I screamed.
"FUCK ME!"
Darkness enveloped me but the pain stayed I felt the disintegration of my muscles and then the regrowth of them I felt blood and other substances leave my body.
I wasn't like a normal case usually aura users perfected their bodies and minds before awakening I just forced my way through it.
This probably cut down my life expectancy instead of increase it like awakening normally does but I knew ways to help with that such as the god heart.
When I could finally open my eyes again my body was different my skin was softer yet tougher each breath I took felt refined and free that is until I noticed the scent of my impurities.
I ran to my bed chambers and bathed in water then I cleaned my training area and only then did I test my new ability.
Holding my staff I let my aura channel through my body and weapon I swung my staff and did a few other exercises feeling the weight behind my moves and the increase of my speed.
Suddenly I started feeling a lot more positive about the up coming battles.