While Jack is riding back to the village from his impromptu village founding, he looks towards the bunny man that is easily keeping up with Sleipner.

"What are you able to tell me about your race, I assume it's a race and not a species right?"

Tahel replies between breaths, "My race's history is something that we all know too well... when an ancient rabbit bloodline ascended becoming immortal... our fore bearers were given several drops of its blood... that started the rabbit-human royal bloodline... We are a race because we are humans that have a rabbit bloodline as part of our heritage"

Jack looks over the bunny man and nods his head, "Indeed, you look different to what I imagine a human-form rabbit would look like" as he compares Drakon and Hilda to Tahel, one of the major differences is that they have the presence of scales instead of skin in places and their eyes are similar to a lizards.

"Lord, I know this is sudden but I suggest you try to maintain secrecy about our race coming to this world"

"What do you mean?"

"Historically, the females of my race have been very popular with males of other species, they are considered quite attractive but one of their other faults is that... the females have a high *cough* libido and they're able to provide a good womb for human-hybrid race propagation..."

"Ah, I see"

"It might be ok within this world given that it has been closed off for so long but I do not want you to consider my race a burden in the future when these problems occur..."

"You do not need to worry about that, you are my people now" Jack turns away and thinks for a few moments.

'I wonder what sort of bunny girl is the most attractive? Pure white? It can't be brown because that's too common, Black and white look good but I also like grey...'

Tahel resumes running with a relieved smile on his face, Dragon - Phoenix village can be seen but instead of the quiet sleepy village, there's a bustle in the air as people pass materials between the buildings, helping each other put on the armour and trying out new weaponry straight from the black smithy.

The two enter the outskirts of the village when Drakon rides up next to Jack, his face stoic and serious rather than his usual aloofness, he looks at Tahel for a moment before nodding at him and speaking.

"Sire, I am able to sense something wrong within the air. My senses are telling me that trouble is approaching and the sign of the blood-red moon doesn't inspire confidence"

Jack raises his eyebrow and looks up at the sky, the sky instead of being covered by the purity of the moon, it's now blood-red giving off a sinister feeling, the blood-red infecting everything from the clouds to the stars.?

"I'm not sure what this is about but the Easter event has been suspended so we need to recall all the parties that are out searching for rabbits and prepare"

"Sire, there has also been another problem that I didn't want to bother you with but I feel it needs to be mentioned" Drakon lowers his head, "Several groups of kobolds have gone missing in the north but I feel it appropriate to tell you now as I will not be able to investigate it properly"

Jack looks at the muscular man now lowering his head in forgiveness, "What do you believe happened to the groups?"

"The area and location suggest Ants or possibly United Goblin Town but we did not have time to mount a response so I do not wish to jump to conclusions, it's even possible that the kobolds just wandered off by themselves"

Rubbing his chin for a few moments Jack considers how to process this before looking at the bunny man, "I should introduce you two, Drakon this is Tahel, he is newly spawned from a new village I just created and has the job Bunny Assassin"

"You two will need to introduce yourself properly later but my main point is, there are three military jobs that were available at the new bunny village; Bunny Assassin, Bunny thief and lastly Bunny Scout, I believe that the bunny scouts will solve several of our issues, what do you think Tahel?"

"Lord, when you made me village leader, I was provided all information about the jobs provided in the village and agree with what you just said" Tahel steps forward before lowering his head in deference, Drakon slightly nods in approval at this behaviour.

"Ok you two need to talk together with Hilda and Bane to integrate the rabbit-humans, the village and jobs quickly as something is certainly going on. I need to visit the city heart and I will visit city hall once I am done"

Drakon and Tahel give Jack a final salute before the three-part ways, Jack is starting to feel nervous about what's happening.

He is riding Sleipner in silence as he passes by the various residents, a few of the goblins try to kowtow towards Jack as the 'Dragon Lord Sir' but they’re moved on by the people around them as they salute to Jack as he rides by.

Jack just waves at all these people as he continues to ride towards the city heart and quickly bringing up the prompt in the stone room. Many prompts of information appear before his eyes;

‘SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT – You have captured 1 x Golden Easter Plains Bunny and acquired 50 exp for your city heart’

‘SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT – Your resident, Alpux has captured 1 x Water Elemental Easter Bunny and acquired 10 exp for your city heart’

…

‘SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT – You have acquired an Epic Subsidiary city ‘Rabbit-kin Village’ and acquired 600 exp for your city heart’

‘SYSTEM NOTIFICATION – You have acquired enough experience to upgrade ‘Dragon – Phoenix Village’ from beginner village into intermediate, do you wish to upgrade?’

‘SYSTEM NOTIFICATION – This region is being influenced by qi of unknown origin, suspending ‘Happy Easter Event’ and commencing ‘Victory Parade’, go forth valiant warriors and purge the land of this blight, you are the chosen few warriors that will lead this world to victory and this shall be your stepping stone onto the path of greatness.’

‘Victory Points – 0’

Jack tries to look up more information about the event but there’s nothing causing him to sigh, there’s just that weird line that sounds irrelevant to well, everything. He feels frustrated by the lack of information and scratching his head, he opens up the village upgrade prompt.

‘SYSTEM NOTIFICATION – Are you sure you want to upgrade to an intermediate village?’

Jack immediately agrees as the city heart glows brighter and brighter, the light leaks into the surroundings through the solid walls of the city heart building but it doesn’t expand further and returns to how it looked previously.

Jack brings up the information:

Village Name: Dragon-Phoenix Village (Mutated Legendary)

Level: Intermediate (4000/5000)

Village Area: 10 square kilometres

Village Territory: 56 square kilometres

Residents: 842/1410

Soldiers: 114/748

Popular Support: 70

Village Special Stats: Crop Output +100%, Crop Growing Time -90%, Population Limit +40%, Population Attraction +30%, chances of attracting higher grade population +30%, Land Detoxification time -20%, Herb aging time -10%

‘SYSTEM NOTIFICATION – You have acquired 1 x Historical Person Spawn and 1 x Job Stele Upgrade, due to event ‘Victory Parade’ you have the option to use them at a later stage, do you wish to use them now?’

Jack is tempted to use them but wants to wait until they find out what’s going on, it’d be stupid to upgrade a class and then find out they’re not helpful, it was an easy decision with the heavy cavalry and the lightning scaled horses previously.

He leaves the city heart building after taking a look at everything and ensuring nothing else has changed, the city lord weapon is still the same simple iron sword, the little snake wrapped around his bicep has no difference.

‘User, I have detected an item of extreme demonic qi approaching your position'

The voice that sounds sometimes when it detects treasure resounds in his mind causing Jack to almost jump in fright, he wants to say something but he can feel within his mind the thread of divine sense has a slight pressure on it.

As though the voice is coming from somewhere near that small clump of dirt.

“Are you going to tell me anymore information?”

‘Object is located 1500m west of your current location and will be at your current location within 10 minutes at present rate’

“What sort of object is it?”

The voice goes quiet after responding to Jack once causing him to sigh again.

He continues to walk ignoring the stares of the residents, he is starting to feel out of place walking amongst all of these people making him decide to focus on creating a palace and a proper chain of command so that he doesn’t need to walk between so many buildings.

Jack enters the city hall building where Drakon is standing before a large table with a map while Hilda is discussing things with him on the map, Tahel and Bane are currently talking while Bane has a rather sly grin on his face, as though he found some sort of evil treasure.

“LORD!” They all stop what they are doing for a moment and yell out to greet Jack.

“Go back to discussing what you were, I’ll speak to you individually”

Drakon is silently standing by the map as Hilda is placing lines and small figurines on it, this is the proper surveyed map of the region. Jack walks up to the table and looks over the map, there are little kobold and goblin statues out in the field that look like they’re coming back.

An X is located in the northern region while the western area has a large ‘?’ over it, the lines seem to indicate defensive lines of some sort extending into the north and west.

“What did you learn my lord?” Drakon asks Jack while they both silently look over the map.

“Nothing very useful, this event is called ‘Victory Parade’ and we get ‘Victory Points’”

“Do we have any idea what caused the change in event?”

Jack just silently shakes his head with a bitter expression, the only hint he received was from that voice in his head.

“It will be dawn soon so perhaps the land will change back to normal with the sunlight” Hilda speaks up.

“I don’t think we can count on that; I received a report that an item of extreme demonic qi is approaching right now and will be here within 10 minutes”

The room goes silent as Jack finishes speaking those words as they all look towards him.

“How did you learn about this?”

Jack scratches his neck, he wants to explain that he has a voice within his head that sometimes points him to treasure but it’d make him sound crazy, “Uhh I was just able to sense it”

“Are you able to detect anything else about it?”

“No, I only know that it’s west of our current location”

Drakon, Bane and Tahel exchange eye contact for a split moment before Drakon nods at both of them, “Lord we need to prepare quickly” Drakon says as Tahel disappears from his spot.

“Agreed” Jack says before the others start to move about in the room, Drakon rushes out the door followed by Bane, Hilda stays within the room but can be seen writing down on a piece of paper.

Jack follows Drakon out the door as shouts can be heard through out the village, “VILLAGE DEFENSE CONDITION RED, PREPARE TO INTERCEPT POSSIBLE HOSTILES, GO TO YOUR POST AND AWAIT ORDERS!” his loud voice booms throughout the village and the surrounding area.

Many of the soldiers that weren’t ready yet can be seen rushing about grabbing their equipment, many cavalries are now rushing about up and down the road trying to make everyone hurry up and gather together.

Jack rushes to the city heart to grab the city lord weapon before going to the white tent to see if Jessica is awake, rushing through the garden he peers into the tent quickly and can see just a ball of blankets on the bed and some snoring. He walks over to the bed, he can’t see Jessica but he’s able to hear her.

‘Just stay asleep, this will be sorted before you wake up’ Jack inwardly says before leaving the tent, Mai isn’t anywhere to be seen causing him some concern but not enough to worry about where she is.

The soldiers start to place logs on the road while making makeshift defences our of nearly any material available, Jack quickly walks up to help but is outclassed by the White Dragon Empire people’s massive strength, able to pick up giant logs by themselves.

Time passes by quickly but it feels very tense as the soldiers don’t stop working but their eyes always peer down the western road attempting to spot what is coming.

*BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH*

A loud animal sound can be heard in the distance as the demonic sheep’s bleats resound throughout the distance, as though it’s excited by something and as if serving as a warning for what’s to come.

“Look!” a soldier holding binocular-like object is peering at the road in the distance as everyone stops what they’re doing and prepares for the battle.

In the distance a huge mass of people can be seen slowly approaching causing confusion among the soldiers.

Drakon peers into the distance for a few moments, “At ease everyone but stay at your position until the all clear is given”

Jack looks toward Drakon with a questioning look.

“Lord, Albert has returned with a mass of people and animals but I don’t see any demonic influences from here, shall we go greet him?”

The two leave the makeshift defensive line and trot towards Albert who is leading the procession of humans and many sheep completely unaware of what would greet him if he continued walking further.

“We’re almost there, you can have a hot meal and a rest when we reach our destination!” Albert yells out.

“Sir Merchant, there is somebody on the road” one of the walkers by Albert points down the road.

Albert signals for the group to stop for a moment as he peers down the road, two people riding horses slowly come into view but his expression relaxes once he can see how is mounted on them.

“It’s ok everyone, it’s just your new Lord and the General Laoshe, please make sure you show respect”

There are excited movements in the crowd but overall, they’re exhausted as they have been walking for many hours through the night. They are mostly quiet as the sounds of horse hooves clopping can be heard getting closer and closer.

Jack and Drakon stop their horses before the crowd and look at them for a few moments, most of them are wearing worn out clothing with no shoes, their bodies are dirty and malnourished, many of them look like nothing more than skin and bones but each of their eyes contain some hope for the future.

“Lord!” Albert yells out and salutes Jack.

“Albert, you did well gathering all of these people and all of those sheep” Jack says towards Albert and then looks towards the rest of the group, “I do not really care where you come from or what your background is, I will not force you to stay here against your will but I promise that you will have a better life than before”

Several people within the group have smiles but the majority don’t have a reaction, they have heard something similar many times before. Many new leaders will come in with the promise of reform but usually fall into the same pattern of corruption and extravagance.

“Sir, I will be happy to work for you if you provide a warm shelter for my family and allow us to fill our bellies with food” a young man steps forward holding the arms of a woman, within the woman’s arm is a baby while a young boy is around their legs looking exhausted.

A few other people step forward to join them causing Jack to smile for a split moment before he remembers the situation they’re in, an object of demonic qi is approaching the village in this direction and this is the only thing out here currently.

“We will have a welcome ceremony for you all once you are rested!” Jack announces looking towards Drakon as if giving him a subtle hint, “We must first unload all of your goods pass through a training inspection for our soldiers”

“Ok you heard the Lord, everyone cooperates with the soldiers and we’ll get through this quickly” Albert yells out to the group, they trust him more than Jack at the moment.

The group slowly pass through the checkpoint setup, this process lasts for quite some time as the sun starts to rise but the blood-red moon stays high in the sky, they’re about 90% through all the goods, mostly raw materials for smelting and a lot of sheep as the people don’t have many goods except what they have on their back.

“General Laoshe, we haven’t found any object yet…” a soldier reports nervously.

Suddenly the demonic sheep can be seen breaking through the line of soldiers, they were prepared for a frontal assault but not a sheep breaking through from behind. It can be seen rushing towards Albert as though it’s crazed while bleating loudly.

Several soldiers step forward to protect Albert but Drakon makes them stand down as the demonic sheep can be seen biting towards the bag on Alberts shoulder, the sheep catches a corner of the bad causing it to rip as a red orb can be seen falling to the ground.

Everyone’s eyes can be seen attracted to this red orb; the sheep is trying to eat it but a soldier pulls it back while Jack and Drakon step forward to look at the orb.

It’s just a simple red coloured orb but something about it feels odd and evil, Drakon pokes it with his sword when nothing happens, Jack steps forward reaching down to pick it up but before he is able to pick it up a familiar female voice loudly shouts from high above him.

“DO NOT TOUCH THAT!” as Leah's form can be seen falling quickly to the ground.