For the next month, the attacks from monsters noticeably intensified. Thus, both I and the soldiers entered a state of high alert, resulting in me living in the command center on the wall for the entire duration.
As for the reason behind such escalation, the jealous gazes from Herrschers and some people hidden behind the hordes of monsters allowed me to connect the dots quickly. Luckily, Nobu apparently gave them peace of her mind, returning the situation to the norm by selling me to them.
Ignoring the price that I'll have to pay sooner or later, at least now the Trial could continue normally. I continued the plan to patch any damage to the outer wall, making sure the soldiers were not overworked.
As everything stabilized, I was able to have more free time and would spend it with Riveria to deepen our relationship.
-"I have been working on some of my magics lately, but I encountered some troubles. Can you assist me?"
~"Sure, what is it?"
-"I was trying to use some insight from Cultivation and other mystical techniques to better my spells, but for some reason, my spells seem incompatible with everything."
~"Hmm... Sadly, I'm not well-versed in Magic. I can only use some knowledge of Arcane from Azeroth, but I can instantly see big differences in those Arts."
-"Yes, I read some books from Azeroth about the six cosmic forces, especially those about Arcane and Fel. I even learned some of the techniques described in them.-"Riveria extended her hand and manifested some Arcane Energy.-"But this force seems entirely different from my magic."
~"In my eyes, your magic is much closer to Holy Magic used by priests. The only difference is you don't draw upon some divine being while casting."
-"Indeed, but then, can my magic be called Magic? Wouldn't it be a form of prayer?"
~"I'm unsure. To fully categorize Magic, I would have to research it more, but as you don't use either Holy or Divine Power, you should still be in the realm of Magic."
-"At least some good news."
~"You pointed out an important thing we will have to look into. All our supernatural abilities are only loosely associated with Magic. Most are Cultivation techniques or Mystic Arts. Spirit Magic also can't be counted as it isn't Magic per se. It should be considered Mystic Art. Only Magical Engineering is true Magic Art we employ."
-"Indeed, if we consider magic as Art that casts spells using own mana, then we fully lack any research in that direction."
~"For now, only on Runeterra and Nobu's world are places where mages and schools of magic developed, but I'll ask da Vinci to look for some worlds focused on that aspect.
-"Thank you."
Having agreed to seek some outside help later didn't stop us from formulating and testing a few theses, trying to understand more about Magic during our free time.
During this time, I also found time to observe the person who was able to see through my illusions. I learned that her name was Long Ji, and she wasn't mortal.
This was the first sign that something was wrong with her, as she didn't belong to any power in that Cultivation world. Even her race was different from those existing in this world.
But those aspects weren't the things that alarmed me most, as the biggest red flag was two wisps of souls attached to her. Those belonged to gods, but not ones that were born as gods, as they were granted their divine positions.
This was something impossible in this world, as it was too weak to host divinities that could create true gods. This meant that she must have come from a much greater Cultivation world, one with whom I had no prior contact.
In [Myriad of Worlds], worlds can be roughly categorized into three types: Mortal Worlds, Lower Worlds, and Higher Worlds. Mortal Worlds are easy to distinguish as those are all worlds where there are no supernatural powers, or it is not strong enough to elevate living beings into higher life forms, animals into beasts or monsters, for example.
Lower Worlds are the vast majority of living worlds. Those are recognized by the existence of supernatural powers or technology that was able to overcome mortality.
Higher Worlds are characterized by the existence of gods, celestials, or True Spirits. Another important attribute was stability as if god were to unleash his power in the Lower World, they could easily shatter it, while in the Higher World, they wouldn't even be able to break space with their strongest attacks.
According to that scale, my world was only a Lower World. It lacked stability, and there were almost no native beings there. Elevating it was my highest priority, but it will require both time and many careful preparations.
But returning to Long Ji, I contacted her directly. Up until now, she hadn't shown any animosity toward us, and as such, while I was still cautious, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
-"Commander-in-Chief."-Long Ji entered my office in the central city.
~"Be at ease."~I looked at the beautiful young woman who entered. She had black hair, and despite her looks being delicate, her eyes were sharp, and her aura was akin to an empress overlooking the world.~"Sit down."
After sitting in front of me she also looked at me, once again overcoming my illusions and seeing my true appearance. When she did so, I noticed some complicated emotions deep in her eyes as well as a relief as if meeting a long-lost relative.
~"It would seem you know me."
-"This... I apologize, Your Excellency Spirit Emperor."-She didn't try to conceal it and saluted me, calling my title.
~"How come? I have never seen you before, and seeing that you come from an entirely different world, I couldn't even influence you indirectly."
-"This is indeed our first meeting this time."
~"Surprisingly many people seem to know me despite never meeting before. Sigh, never mind. Tell me, please, what do you seek in this world?"
-"I seek possibility."
~"Be direct. Speaking in riddles is reserved for masters and Diviners."
-"My world will soon encounter tragedy that I want to avert. Sadly, the originator of this will be Heavenly Dao, and I'm too weak to oppose it."
~"So you want me to help you?"
-"Yes."
~"Ugh. I know I asked you to be direct, but I didn't expect to be asked to fight against being equal to an Outer God in the first five sentences since meeting a new person. Why would I do that?"
-"I can only offer something to Your Majesty that can make helping me worth it."
~"Sure, I'll entertain your suggestion. What can you offer?"
-"The world I come from is one from where most Cultivation originates from. The Saints can provide you with techniques of much higher quality than anything that can be found in other worlds."
~"But can you force Saints to act on your order?"~[Wyrd] shimmered on my hand.~"I see that you are not directly affiliated with any Saint."
-"Divination?"-She looked at the ring on my hand, showing a sour expression seeing it on my ring finger.-"While I can't force Saints to act on my behalf, I know that Your Majesty can easily befriend them."
~"But that defeats the purpose of it being a reward. I can contact them myself, and the results won't be much diffrent."
-"I can promise assistance with the invasion of Your Majesty's home world. Heavenly Soldiers of the Heavenly Courts can provide great assistance against the invaders."
~"But yet again, I doubt you can move such force by yourself."
-"Yes, it's beyond my authority, but I have a way to make them act."
~"Even if I was to accept that you can do so, it's still not enough to be worth me risking making enemy with a powerful being."
-"..."
~"Is that all you can offer?"
-"No!"-Seing my disinterest, Long Ji started to lose her composure.-"I can offer more."
~"Calm down first."~I smiled slightly.
-"Ah!"-Noticing her faux pas, Long Ji calmed down and sat down with a slight blush.-"I apologize for showing you something disgraceful."
~"Don't worry. When someone is beautiful enough, even slight disgrace is just a different kind of charm."
My comment earned me a side eye from Long Ji, along with her blush deepening even more. Giving her a few minutes to regain composure, I watched her silently while drinking tea. At the same time, I continued to perform readings on Long Ji Karma, doing it in a way that wouldn't alert beings in her world.
-"There are three things that can interest Your Majesty."-Long Ji started speaking again.-"First are techniques. While I indeed can't force Saints to do something for me, the Arts kept by Heavenly Courts are still close to the pinnacle of Cultivations."
~"This is something that I'm indeed interested in, but this is not a big enough incentive for me."
-"The second is access to innate lifeforms and materials. Those are rare in other worlds, but many Xiantian Lifeforms become disciples of Saints in my word."
~"Will those move if you order them?"
-"Not all, but due to my friendship, some will agree to assist me."
~"It's not convincing."
-"The last thing I can offer is myself."
~"While not illegal, I personally don't like slavery."
-"I didn't mean it that way."
~"Then it's even more impossible for me to accept such a reward, as it would only spit in the face of those who are close to me."
-"..."
~"Sadly, it would seem that the negotiations failed."
-"Is there truly no way I can gain your assistance?"
~"I'll tell you this straight. You personally lack anything that would have enough value for me to act, and your authority is not enough to involve your force to negotiate with me."
-"I see."
~"Know what, I'll meet you halfway. Stay in my force for some time after the Martial Meeting and see what you can provide us. You'll have to take some vows not to leak information outside, mind you."
-"Truly?"
~"Yes. After that, I'll send my representative with you to talk with leaders of your force, but what will be talked about there will be left to you."
-"Thank You!"
~"Then I'll contact you later."
A few moments later, Long Ji left the room and returned to her post.
-"And here I thought you would help her after she offered herself to you."-Ningguang appeared next to me, smiling slightly.
I asked her to be present for the talk if the negotiations were to take a turn where the risk of fighting an Outer God was worth considering.
~"More surprising is that compromise you made me offer to her. The Lady of the Jade Chamber making a suggestion where she gives up advantages for unsure profits? I almost lost my poker face there."
-"I did it because she evidently knew you somewhat closely. Even the way she was speaking and her attitude toward you was friendly and respectful, like toward some kind of benefactor."
~"At first, it was Artoria, later Kiana, Mei, and Bronya that Terminus brought, and now she. I checked her Karma, and she had some connections to me, but I didn't have any to her, which should be impossible unless parts of my Soul were erased somewhat."
-"Hmm... What if they met future you in their past?"
~"That would violate the Taboo of Time, especially as they are deeply connected to us now. I have two theories, but either of them is somewhat absurd."
-"Don't stop here. Tell me your theories. I'm also interested in that as if more allies like Artoria can appear. It would help us immensely."
~"At first, I was worried that there would be jealousy when I had more than one partner. Now I only see that each of you can't wait to sell me to more people for advantage."
-"It's not that it harms you."-Ningguang sat on my knees and leaned on my chest.-"I think that she can help us more than what she can offer now. So I decided to gamble on that feeling."
~"Then I'll leave her to your arrangements."
-"Sure, but we both can see that she will want to get close to you."
~"That's why I'll leave everything to your discretion."
-"Heh, I'll take care of her. But first."-Ningguang smiled while her hand traced circles on my chest.
The quiet times continued for the next months until finally, three days short of four years since the start of the Trial, the outer wall was breached.
Luckily, the evacuation of civilians was completed some time prior, so aside from soldiers, there weren't any living humans in the outer area. Under my orders, all soldiers retreated from the outer wall and entered the middle one. Despite being chased by monsters, we arrived with minimal losses, thanks to preparing everything beforehand.
The loss of the outer wall was a big hit to everyone's morale, and if not for our careful preparations and Otto's actions to keep everyone's spirits up, a defeatist attitude might have already appeared. But even so, some defections and suicides appeared among the population and soldiers.
The upcoming two months will be spent rebuilding morale and reinforcing the defense as much as possible. The outer arena is full of traps left before our retreat, so until those are cleaned, the upcoming hordes will be heavily damaged before they can approach our new positions.
As for forces that remained alive, a census completed by the end of the evacuation showed that around 40% of the total population was killed, and 65% of the original military was dead, but due to conscriptions, overall number of soldiers rose to almost double what it was at the beginning. But what was most important, 70% of contestants were eliminated, leaving only the strongest and most valued cultivators who participated in the Trial to remain.
Now, not only was there a much shorter front to defend, but even people under my command gained experience and could be considered to be elites. This allowed me to perform more risky operations and maneuvers that opened doors to more strategies than before.
On the other hand, monster attacks will now be more concentrated, and as their strength and numbers continue to rise, they will start to rapidly deplete our resources, be it materiel or lives.
Otto and I had already prepared a plan for the defense of the middle wall, striking a balance between exchanging resources for time, in which I was to hold this wall for at least three years, preferably another four, but this was easier being said than done.
To achieve that, I allowed contestants more initiative, not only giving them more room for their own plans in normal times but even allowing them to report to me thier ideas if those are worth something. I even created a joint staff consisting of the best strategists and tacticians from the contestants.
And now, with our best preparations, the second stage of the Trial officially began.