Gong Chun had finally arrived at North Wind city alongside his team, and their protectors. He was a construction foreman, had became one last year, and today he was leading a team for the first time. His assignment was simple, transport the networking and extension steles to the customers, work in cooperation of the artisans in the installation of the steel, and connecting the network to the web. A dozen other foremen also had the same mission as him, so Foremen Chun was designated to oversee this city until everyone had finished their job, and 'The Web or The Net' was completed.
As Gong Chun reached the entrance to North Wind city, a gathering was waiting for his arrival.
"Welcome to North Wind city, Formen Gong Chun", a tall and handsome man announced as Chun came into view with the rest of the team.
"Thank you, young master Chen Zihao", Chun greeted the young man, "Also, it's a pleasure to see you again, Chen Ming."
"Teacher Gong, it's an honor to welcome you to our humble little city", an middle aged man responded, "I was going to travel back to academy to start my advanced studies, but thankfully you informed me of the situation."
More pleasantries were exchanged as the two groups continued to speak, but soon Chen Zihao raised his hand, "Foremen Gong, we have already taken the liberty to arranged our finest rooms for you and your team, and tonight our best chefs will display their best dishes for a banquet. I suggest we stop standing at the entrance, and head inside."
Gong looked at his Qphone, and after confirming the time he replied, "Certainly, Young master Chen, we can check in real quick?There are certainly plenty of hours in the day before the start of the banquet. Please allow us to start our work, we have a tight timetable alongside the other crews that were sent to the other cities, so we cannot afford to be distracted."
"Of course, Foreman", Chen Zihao assured the man.
Chen Zihao lead his group and the new guests inside, and it took nearly an hour for everyone to check in and meet again in front of the hotels. To Gong Chun, he was aware that North Wind city was led by several families, and as he listened to Chen Zihao and looked around the city, he took note of all the changes.
"It looks so much different now", Chun commented as they reached the location for the local city web.
"What looks so different now, Foreman Gong?", Zihao asked.
"The city", Chun responded, "I see the families have heavily invested in the artisans to raise the reputation of the city."
"I appreciate it, Foreman Gong", Zihao replied, "I know we haven't reached the heights of Sun & Moon island, but we are doing our best."
"I know, Young master Chen", Chun agreed with the young man, "I remember what it looked like before, so I can see the efforts of everyone."
"Foreman Gong?", Zihao asked, "Have you visited our city in past?"
"Visited?", Chun replied, "I used to live here before I took a chance and followed Boss Wei to Sun & Moon island."
Chen Zihao stopped in his tracks, and remembered the incident from over ten years ago.
"I'm sorry for the conditions of our city at the time", Zihao told Chun.
"I'm not angry, young master", Chun admitted, "It was a different time back then, and no one would have guessed the changes that Boss Wei would bring to the world. I would have never imagined it, anyways."
The two groups of artisans arrived at a smaller but secure building, and Chen Zihao escorted everyone in.
"Why don't you show us what we have to work with Master Chen", Chun suggested.
"I could never call myself a master in front of you, Teacher Gong", Chen Ming humbled said, "But give me a moment to display our current situation."
Chen Ming approached the artifact sitting in the middle of the room, performed some hand gestures, and watched as a light screen appeared. After another minute, all the information of the artifact was displayed, and Chun was quickly reading through everything.
"I understand", Chun said to both Chen men, "The team and I will use the rest of the day to set up the steles, and first thing in the morning, we will start installing everything. Chen Ming, once we have connected our locations together, I highly recommend taking the advanced courses. There have been many improvements since you took our course, and it will save you time and money."
Soon, Gong Chun and his team had returned to the hotel, where they began to configure the steles.
Commander Proudmaw was leading a platoon of soldiers towards the region of the sheep beastkin. He had received the letter from the Whitetails, requesting reinforcements, and organized this group to provide support. They had been traveling for several days when a letter was delivered to him from a beastkin named 'General Frey Ramson'. Proudmaw remembered the sheep beastkin that had driven the rats from one of the sheep's cities, before the arrival of his own forces.
In the letter, Frey had informed the commander that he was also leading troops to respond to the deer's request for reinforcements, and suggested they travel together. It was well known that Dog Nation and the Sheep herds were close allies, so Proudmaw accepted the invitation.
Proudmaw ran his pack for another half a day before a campsite came into view.
Multiple guards came out as Proudmaw and his pack approached, "Identify yourselves, we are the war herd of the Ram."
"Friends, I am Commander Proudmaw of Dog Nation", he announced as he withdrew a token from his hand and threw it to the guards, "I come at the request of General Frey Ramson, so please report my arrival."
One of the guards caught the token and recognized the mark for their lord, so he told the others to watch the group as he reported the event.
Several minutes later the guard returned with a large sheep beastkin who greeted the dogs, "Commander Proudmaw, forgive me if my men offended you, please feel free to enter camp."
"They were doing their duty", Proudmaw responded, "There is nothing to forgive."
Proudmaw turned towards his own troops, directed them to enter the camp, and set up tents.
As his men followed the guides that General Ramson had provided, Commander Proudmaw was led to another tent by leader of the sheep.
"How was the trip?", Frey asked as he poured a drink for the commander, "There shouldn't be any complications, right?"
"Everything went as planned", Proudmaw assured the other, "Once the night set in, as long as you made the preparations, we will make our move."
The two beastkin continued to discuss things for several hours before the light inside the tent extinguished.
In the sky above the camps, a single ship observed everything while staying unseen or undetected. The captain and her crew was watching every movement while Wei Huoran, the wolves, and the merfolk discussed the situation displayed on the screens.
"We should fire a strongest shot at the tent housing the both of them, collect the stones, and worry about things later", Elder Silverstream, a merfolk, proposed to the room.
"Even if we hold the advantage of surprise, the results of such an action will cause even more turmoil between tribes", Elder Bloodfang, of the Bloodclaws tried to reason with the others.
Jaeger Bloodclaw, who had stayed silent until now, raised his voice, "Daoist Wei, we are on your vessel. What do you think about this situation?"
Everyone went silent, and turned towards him to hear his thoughts.
"I'm still ignorant in the ways of strategy", Huoran prefaced, "But my instincts are telling me that if we show ourselves to early, our forces will suffer from something unseen."
As Huoran finished his sentence, movement was seen on the screen as Commander Proudmaw and the sheep beastkin exited the tent. The pair walked towards the center of the camp before splitting up, with each leader walking in different directions. What was odd was the Commander was walking through the sheep camp while the other man was walking through the dog camp. Then both men went to one knee, and appeared to place a spirit stone into the ground. The reaction was immediately, and large array formations larger than the camp materialized. The following actions taken by the men were no longer seen by the personnel on the ship, except Huoran. He watched as the leaders of each group unshealth a weapon made of bone, and proceed to stab the closest target.
"They are making a move!", Huoran shouted, "Both of these men are in possession of a stone, we have to stop this!"
Huoran raced out of the meeting room towards his own as contacted the captain, "Captain, we have two chosen by the stones down there. Standby to activate the detector, and have the cannons ready to fire!"
Captain Zhuo's eyes widen in surprise for a moment before she started ordering the crew to prepare for an assault.
Huoran made it to his room, and went straight to a large container being stored in the corner of the room. Quickly using his Qi to unlock the container, Huoran waited a few seconds as the container opened up to reveal an armored suit. Huoran removed his robes, and wore a skin tight body suit before he approached the suit. He placed his QFold into a special slot in the armor which caused the armor to open to reveal a hollow chamber inside. Huoran stepped into the armor, which quickly closed around before his surroundings came back into view. He made his way back to the meeting room, but as soon as he entered but the wolves and merfolk unsheathed their weapons.
"Chief Bloodclaw, Elder Tidehunter, it's me Wei Huoran", Huoran stated to the beast kin in the room as he popped his faceplate open, "See?"
"Daoist Wei?", Jaeger Bloodclaw asked in confusion, "What is this?"
"It's a combat suit that allows to fight several realms above my level", Huoran responded, "It's something that Sage Vigol, Sage Neridia, and myself worked hard on. That's not important right now, we have to get ready to attack."
Huoran turned and left the room heading towards the cargo hold, ready to exit the ship once the doors opened.
Bringing the faceplate down again, Huoran contacted the captain, "What's our status, Captain?"
"We are ready, Boss Wei", Captain Zhuo reported, "But something is happening right now to the array."
Huoran, the wolves, and merfolk were all in the cargo bay at the time ready for deployment. Huoran raised his hand, and from the palm of his suit, a holographic image was displayed.
"Everyone, the captain informed me something is happening", Huoran informed the others.
As the group watched the image, they saw the two formations surrounding the camps but nothing else. Soon the fog that had been blocking everyone's sight quickly thinned before disappearing. To everyone's horror, both the dog and sheep soldiers were dead, each with a weapon made of bone visibly sticking in their bodies. The two men in question were in the process of draining the blood essence from each body, when they noticed the formation failing.
What happened next surprised both the two remaining beastkin, as well as, the observers in the air. Tunnels began to open all over the fuel as rat beastkin flooded out of the ground, charging the two men in reckless abandon.
Commander Proudmaw and Frey Ramson had pulled out their weapons, and proceeded to engage with the flood of rat beastkin that charged them. Both men were able utilize their great strength with Proudmaw using a great sword, and Ramson carrying a huge war hammer. Each swing of their weapon would kill or maim several rat beastkin, but despite their skill, the huge numbers of rats was overwhelming. Occasionally, an attack would reach one of the two men, but the battle garden warriors were able to continue to kill with strength and efficiency.
Commander Proudmaw was hurting in a few places, but he didn't show any weakness in front of his attacks. After resolving another difficult situation with a combination of parries, blocks, and dodges, he stepped forward to cleave through his next target. Suddenly, his sixth sense sent warnings all through body as he raised his great sword in a defensive position, and quickly retreated a few steps.
A silence descended on the battlefield as the rats seem to stop the suicidal attack towards the two men.
"Very good, Commander Proudmaw", a voice broke that silence, "I wouldn't want your death to be quick afterall."
"Void eyes", Proudmaw almost spat the name out, "How dare you attack us, do you have a death wish? You honor less degenerate!"
"That's funny coming from you after you trapped and killed your own men", Void eyes laughed as she responded, "Perhaps my tactics result in heavy casualties of my people, but you are even worse than me, you Kinslayer."
"Rats don't deserve to live", Ramson shouted, "and after today, there won't be another rat to chosen by your stone."
"Attack", Void eyes quietly ordered, and soon rats renewed their attack, as Void eyes vanished in the shadows.
Huoran opened all the communication channels so that the captain, wolves, and merfolk could hear him.
"Captain, open the doors in thirty seconds", Huoran ordered, "Use the cannons to suppress the three head beastkin, but don't be afraid to clear some rats in the process. Chief Bloodclaw, I know perhaps you want to bring Proudmaw to justice, but I'll ask to engage the sheep. I don't want anyone to die, and this is the best way."
Chief Bloodclaw nodded and prepared his warriors and shamans for action.
"Elder Tidehunter, you and your elders will be responsible for Commander Proudmaw. Remember everyone, we aren't trying to kill them. We want to capture in the array formations, so don't take unnecessary risks. As we can see with that last beastkin, the rat, it appears to have something to do with shadows, I wish engage it. Captain, don't be afraid to shoot, but let's not kill own own."
"Understood, Boss Wei", Captain Zhuo answered in a serious manner, "Doors opening, detection activating in three, two, one…"
Huoran and the other jumped out from open cargo hatch into the dark night.