On a hill nearby the Dragon – Phoenix Village, there is a blue robed person in a seated position cultivating as they have done for quite some time already, suddenly their brow wrinkles and they disappear from their spot.

This person suddenly appears within the crevice that Jack climbed partially into previously, they are currently standing in the air before the area the door was located in. They’re furrowing their brows massively and reach their hand towards the door, a barrier is stopping their advance into the hole in the wall.

“Why did this doorway appear here? Why would the Trials of the Mountain God Sect appear far from Mountain God land?” they can be heard asking out loud in their androgynous voice, taking their hand away from the barrier as they’re unable to actually break it.

Ice qi starts to gather in the area when the hole that was the doorway is quickly covered up by several layers of ice. A black hand suddenly reaches out from the barrier and shatters the ice barrier causing the person to spit up some blood from their mouth, they don’t stop as ‘Mountain God Sect’ can be considered an evil sect if it’s allowed to spread into this region it can cause untold damages to the common people.

The person in blue robes gathers their strength and easily crushes this black hand but it’s far from enough to shatter the barrier, they repeat their previous action of trying to cover the hole in ice and after placing down over 40 layers of barrier finally succeeds.

“This barrier should hold until I can call upon the sect Master to reinforce this…” the person mutters before disappearing again, reappearing in their seated position on a hill not far from Dragon – Phoenix Village, always keeping an eye on where Jessica is located as though they can sense where she is.

Jack, Drakon, Hilda and Bane are currently crowded around a table discussing what to do. They each have their own ideas about how to handle this but for the most part, they all agree that trying to use the same method that was used on the Goblins would be best.

They need to acquire population and scaring the opponent into submission will yield far more ideal results than going in any attacking them. The current disagreements are surrounding how many people should go out, Drakon and Hilda both believe that taking most of the soldiers for this operation will be ideal for Jack’s protection.

Jack and Bane both believe that it’s not needed, a minimum amount of people to have the illusion that they’re powerful enough to confidently travel around without protection will have a better effect in scaring them.

This discussion continues for several minutes with each side raising good points, ultimately getting nowhere. Jack feels annoyed but also glad that he has a group of trusted people to discuss these things with, finally things settle down with Jack making a final decision: he will travel with only the heavy cavalry, if something happens then he will escape into the ant area as he will be riding Sleipner.

They all disperse Hilda and Bane go back about their usual duties, Jack isn’t entirely sure what the duties are but things have been running smoothly so he doesn’t care at this point. Drakon goes to the soldiers to get prepared while Jack heads back to his tent and prepares to wear the kingly clothes that Jessica has made for him.

Holding the black and white robe, carefully embroidered with the Dragons and Phoenix’s, it looks very high quality but if you look closely you will notice all the little mistakes. Jack holds the robe up to his face and psyches himself up taking deep breaths and trying to draw out that regal aura within him, he is still able to smell Jessica on the robes and as he thinks about her that aura is getting stronger as his eyes go from the gentle playfulness that they usually have, to cold domineering eyes.

Jack puts the robe on, his body transforming from one of a normal human to one that emits the aura a king of men will have. Leaving the tent, Jack overlooks his whole village but a smile doesn’t come to his face, he just coldly overlooks each and every person going about their usual business.

The people that are on the street are able to feel this change in personality, they hurry about their jobs not daring to make eye contact with Jack. He walks down the street and into the city heart area to collect the White Dragon – Phoenix Sword.

Pulling the sword out, Jack can feel the qi within his body get excited as though it wants to escape into the world and cause havoc. Jack focuses his mind, calming his breath and bringing that qi within his body under control, he can feel that this will be important for him to reach the next stage of his cultivation, Stage 0 to 1 is about opening the veins within his body allowing the qi to be transported outside the dantian, stage 2 – 3 is forming a core within the dantian and using the qi to form a defensive barrier.

He is confused about the stages after this called ‘Nascent Soul’ and ‘Harmonious Realm’ but feels that the divine sense that he has unlocked but hasn’t used will be very important to this step. Dismissing these useless thoughts in his mind, Jack puts the White Dragon – Phoenix sword on his waist while proceeding to walk through town to where Sleipner is currently.

Drakon has now gathered all of the soldiers, they’re all gathering their gear in their assorted uniforms still looking rather motley. Their black swords and pieces of random armour the only indications that the group are associated with each other, Jack is just walking slowly into the area with almost no care about the reactions surrounding him as though he is a higher being.

Drakon can see this change to Jack’s aura and how effortlessly he is holding the aura and silently approves of this change in his mind, there’s a time when one can be a normal person and there’s a time when one has to be a king if they’re to hold onto their position.

The soldiers quickly get ready upon seeing Jack appear, they’re all extremely motivated now. Jack nods towards the group of soldiers and proceeds to mount Sleipner. Jack is getting into the spirit the soldiers are producing, he is excited for the future when he will go on massive military campaigns and millions of soldiers will produce the same fervour whipping the entire region into a frenzy instead of this small group.

“Ready?” Jack asks Drakon, who is going to come but observe from the distance.

“Yes Lord!” Drakon answers and shouts the end of his sentence, this causes the soldiers to repeat his words “YES LORD!” the group of 30 soldiers shout.

Jack kicks the side of Sleipner to indicate for him to ride out, Sleipner arches up letting out a mighty whinny as he starts to gallop into the distance riding out at over 100km/hr. Jack almost falls off at this sudden acceleration on the back of a horse, luckily he’s held in place by the saddles they have produced.

Sleipner races to the re-made Green Brook Village, goblin village where DeeYo is already waiting to for Jack to appear, many of the goblins are still just rebuilding their village but there is another massive hole not too far away where they have been digging and collecting the poisonous substances.

The goblins upon seeing Jack appear instantly kneel and start to chant “Dragon lord sir”. Jack finds this somewhat annoying and gets them to stop, where they just stop chanting but not kneeling. Jack doesn’t know that it’s because of his current aura that the goblins feel deep within themselves that they are unable to revolt against their current actions. Their very souls are forcing them to remain kneeling before this king.

Jack just sits upon Sleipner watching them while he waits for the cavalry and Drakon to catch up. The soldiers will be staying behind primarily on defensive duties so he doesn’t need to wait very long as they come trotting much slower than Sleipner.

DeeYo and Drakon speak a few words to the goblins about what’s going on, the goblins are still quite worried about the wolves which are still stalking them a lot. Jack is getting slightly worried about how long Fafnir has been sleeping. This is all sorted out quickly and the small group set off with DeeYo riding with one of the heavy cavalries.

The trip to the kobold village is almost entirely uneventful, as DeeYo leads them along the plains pointing out various landmarks that the goblins use to navigate, mostly just this hill means X is close, or this type of plant grows near X village. Jack is surprised to hear that there’s so much information contained within seemingly random items on the plains, there’s many more villages than he expected as, if you go upon one of the hills you aren’t able to see any of them.

They come across the area of the kobold village before too long, it’s just a small dip within a rocky area of the plains. DeeYo dismounts the horse first, he will go into the village to negotiate first because he has previously had dealings with the kobold village leader and knows their language.

Jack, Drakon and the other heavy cavalry wait patiently in the distance as they watch DeeYo go into the kobold village without incident, he makes a loud sound that almost sounds like “HAAAAAAY” upon when some creatures can be seen appearing from the ground.

They are blue and smaller than goblins, they look quite sickly with their eyes almost clouded over. They have the similar pointed features of goblins but they’re hunched over more with a more lizard-like tail. They appear quite odd and certainly have that fantasy species feel.

“DeeYo of Green Brook Village is here to discuss trade with Morax” DeeYo’s voice resounds through the kobold village. They look at each other while one disappears into a hole, a larger more healthier looking kobold can be seen coming out of a hole being led towards DeeYo.

“DeeYo long time no see, what’s this about Green Brook village? I thought you were part of the United Goblin village?” ‘Morax’ the kobold leader can be heard talking to DeeYo, Jack and Drakon are unable to understand any of this, they’re entirely reliant on DeeYo for this process.

“Jax is too getting too vicious, I had to look after my own family and decided to leave, you should look out for your village too as Jax might be attacking you guys soon”

“I’d like to see him try to take my kobold village; we will be able to survive for a long time underground” Morax laughs as he pats his chest to show his strength. DeeYo just shakes his head.

“I’d like to trade some tools that you have, we need to create a burrow where we have created our new village” DeeYo quickly explains why he is here, making up a reason. He has previously traded tools for the Goblin Town as kobolds are able to create tools specialised for digging.

Morax smiles as he orders a few other kobolds to gather some of the tools, he isn’t concerned about DeeYo ripping him off as even if they’re currently poor, they could be considered old friends. The kobolds gather some of their tools while the two leaders talk.

“Did you see that Dragon and Phoenix that appeared within the sky the other day?” DeeYo asks while looking at Morax’s facial expression closely trying to pick up any subtle clues.

Morax’s face adopts a serious expression as he explains, “We only saw the end of it as most of us were underground at the time, we thought that the Dragon and Phoenix were going to fight over the plains and cause massive amounts of destruction luckily they disappeared quickly”.

DeeYo has a sinister smiling expression on his face now as he gives a subtle signal that Drakon and Jack are able to see, they are able to commence the plan now. Jack draws out the White Dragon – Phoenix sword, the little white snake unravels itself from his bicep and travels down to the sword entering it.

Jack focuses his mind and calls upon the reserve of dragon qi within his forehead star, it flashes red as the energy is drawn into the sword. Jack lets out a massive roar as a sword light shoots into the sky followed by a massive trail of fire.

DeeYo and Morax are stunned by this change and look to where the sword light appeared from but their vision is quickly pulled away to the sky, where the fireball transforms into a giant Dragon. The dragon has a massive dragon might coming from its appearance, the giant eyes of the dragon peering down at the Kobold village coldly.

Morax and DeeYo can feel sweat dripping down their foreheads from the pressure, Morax feels incredibly worried that this dragon will attack but DeeYo feels pressure because this is much stronger than when it was used against his village.

The massive dragon dissipates quickly but the whole plains area goes quiet, not even the sound of wind can be heard as slowly in the distance the clopping of horse hooves can be heard getting closer. The entire kobold village has now left their burrows and tunnels, they’re watching as this horse slowly gets closer not making a sound.

Jack can be seen riding Sleipner slowly approaching the kobold village, he hasn’t lost that noble aura as he coldly looks down upon the world. Morax can feel the pressure exuded from this aura and he wants to kneel and submit to the person before him, he is able to hold back this feeling but many other kobolds can’t and collapse on the ground in a kowtow.

DeeYo kneels down confusing Morax but Jack is now within speaking distance to the kobold village, “I heard that there were some kobolds in this region, are you willing to submit to me?” Jack asks pointedly towards Morax, ignoring DeeYo.

Morax isn’t sure what to do, some of the kobolds are pissed off that this human is taking this attitude with them but they don’t attack him because of that Dragon that appeared previously, Morax doesn’t feel like submitting but he isn’t sure what to do and turns towards DeeYo.

“I have heard that this person is called ‘Dragon Envoy’, the dragon and phoenix that appeared must be sending their envoys around to collect people in preparation for taking over the region” DeeYo states a line that they have previously worked on to influence the kobolds.

Morax feels an incredible amount of pressure and looking upon the kobolds, he can see that many still want to attack but he can see many women and younglings that are kowtowing, their bellies are empty because kobolds truly don’t have that much in the way of resources otherwise they wouldn’t be willing to give up their special tools.

Morax deeply sighs and kowtows, “Lord, we are willing to submit to you if you are willing to treat my village and species with respect, we do not wish to become slaves and food for higher species” he says from the ground.

Jack smiles upon seeing this reaction, DeeYo gives Jack a signal that his plan worked and a prompt appears before Jack:

‘SYSTEM NOTIFICATION – Deep Burrows Village would like to submit to you, do you accept?’

Jack quickly accepts the prompt; information enters his head as the language stone takes affect and he is able to understand the kobold’s language now. Jack lets out a smile but several kobolds are annoyed at this change, they wish to attack Jack with one even getting one of his tools and brandishing it towards Jack.

Jack just quietly gathers a fireball within his hand, the fireball is just being held before his hand but everyone in the village can feel the dragon might contained within the fireball, the kobold that was brandishing his weapon drops it and quickly kowtows, he doesn’t want to die.

“Rise!” Jack shouts as he is still seated high upon Sleipner, many of the kobolds haven’t risen but Morax has and is looking at Jack trying to work out what to make of this person. Jack then orders Morax to take him to the city heart upon where it’s captured and relocated. Jack wishes to re-establish the kobold village closer to Dragon – Phoenix village.

Jack leaves the area of the city heart and speaks to the group of now village-less kobolds, “You are now all my citizens, I will reward you appropriately if you do good and will punish all that need to be punished, it doesn’t matter if you are a kobold or a god within my Empire, all will be treated the same and all must submit under the King” Jack speaks to group, many of them can feel relieved but they don’t trust a human they have just met.

Jack then orders them to gather all of their supplies in preparation of moving their village into a different area, they have mined most of the important resources within this area so have no big qualms about moving their village.

“Is this the right decision?” Morax asks DeeYo, slightly suspicious of the timing of DeeYo’s visit.

“You will know in time if it’s the right decision, I recommend right now to prove your worth to our lord” DeeYo replies with a slight smirk. Morax can now tell that DeeYo has previously submitted to this human and lets out a deep sigh, he is unable to change anything that has happened and it perhaps isn’t a bad thing.

“Lord, do you want to take over the other kobold villages in this region?” Morax makes a split decision on how to increase his worth, he believes that no kobold village will be able to resist the dragon might from Jack.

Jack lets out a sly smirk and listens to the information provided by Morax, while formulating a few plans in his mind. He has a single kobold village of around 100 kobolds, but if he can get more, they won’t have any problems with mining in the future.

The kobold’s gather their resources while Jack speaks to Drakon who has now come into the ex-kobold village, they plan on leaving DeeYo to escort the kobolds back to the village while Jack, Drakon and the cavalry proceed onto the next kobold village.