Chapter 86 – The big fish eats the small fish.
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Sorry for the lack of new chapters, I did get incredibly sick but it wasn't Covid luckily. I'll keep posting as I can but I'm still sick annoyingly.

As the people in the tent quietly slumber the remaining night away, things aren't so quiet elsewhere.

"Why are there so many of those circles coming so close yet not entering the territory?" asks one of the bunny scouts to another, their cloaks billowing in the wind as they run across the open plains.

"It's the protection of the city heart, it acts as a barrier with the protection area."

They stop at a designated marker and take readings of the surroundings, "You can tell the different just by the landscape, everything inside Lord's territory is lush and green while the outside is barely surviving. Damnit 166 sightings."

"166? It was only 70 last time... What's going on?"

"Something has happened to the food sources so... they're coming here. Haven't you noticed the increase in wildlife?"

"It's not that bad, I like the natural feel of running through the long grass with bare feet surrounded by wildlife."

"Better not let General Cinder hear that, he's incredibly strict on that thing," the bunny scout steps down from the marker.

"It's fine, this is all thanks to Lord's blessing. We should all enjoy it."

"All right, stop joking around, what's next?"

"Marker Y88."

The two scouts rush over there while one of them conspicuously doesn't wear any shoes, his face one of enjoyment as he runs through the long grass.

Their target is near one of the primary roads, lesser used but near the growing fields.

The bunny scouts run near the field, it's shimmering and enhanced by Mai and the system bonuses giving it a healthy glow even in the red moon night.

"Where did all these deer come from?"

They dart through the deer trying not to alert them, 4 horn plains deer. They're almost comparable to a grey wolf in stats, but still entirely prey.

"Ah shi—

The bunny scout with no shoes on suddenly falls over, the deer scatter from the sudden noise.

He's checking his foot while look at what he tripped over, "Damn rabbit, made me step in shit."

"It's not hurt, is it?"

The bunny scout leans over, the rabbit is twisted up and mangled for some reason, but its piercing red eyes are open. His hand reaches for the rabbit when it jerks before suddenly twisting back to normal.

The bunny scout takes back his back and wants to run away from this strange rabbit when a little strange avatar of a rabbit appears, it wags its finger at the scout and leaps at him.

The bunny scout takes a moment to react when he uses bunny dash and leaps back, the small avatar of a cartoon bunny lands its fist where the bunny scout was.

*BOOM*

It blows a hole in the ground, roughly 5m in diameter.

These scouts aren't even stage 1 cultivation yet so that strike would kill them, that blow is for someone in the bone forging stage at minimum. Stage 4 minimum at the least.

The avatar disappears, and the rabbit hops away.

The scout is frozen, startled by what happened as his buddy comes over.

"We need to report that and... that." the bunny scout points forward.

Sliding along the ground ahead of them is something large and creeping into the fields, it has lots of tiny little legs so it's a centipede or some other crawling insect, shuffling silently through the fields near them gives them chills.

"We should head back, General Cinder can take care of it."

The two of them run down the road that leads towards town, the large creature doesn't react to them leaving as they can hear the sounds of deer in the fields running around before finally the sounds of one dying. The sounds of bone crunching fills their ears.

"Hopefully it leaves otherwise we must call upon General Drakon to help General Cinder take care of it."

"Still trying to get on the away team? Well, hopefully it tries to eat a bunny, I stepped in its shit. I hope it becomes centipede shit!"

The bunny scouts head back to town and straight to the training outpost where Tyson is overnight.

He reads their report, reading the increasing circles and the large insects attracted by the animals.

Tyson sits there brooding for a few minutes.

The soldiers find it hard to look at him with his blonde hair and perfect looks.

"Well shit. We will need to exterminate some bugs, send the alert but quietly. We can't disturb Lord."

"Sir, can you explain?" one officer asks, he has a spear by his side.

"Lord brought home a new Lady from somewhere, I heard that she's in his bed right now so he'll be rather pissed if we disturb that."

"Uhh... about the bugs, sir?" the officer quickly tries to change the subject.

"Oh yeah, reports have it that the circles are able to change the bugs or something. I don't really know but all I know is, we recently got an upgrade for the village that meant all the little food animals have come here. Those big meat eaters wanna get them so we need to become the bigger meat eaters and get the bugs."

"Otherwise?"

"Otherwise even a Saint level character will have difficult beating a single one after they change. Lord saw one undergoing change already."

They crowd all hiss in air upon hearing the strength of the centipede as Tyson explains to them what Jack experienced, a battle intent in igniting in their eyes as they look around.

"You guys aren't even Stage 1 yet so we can't take them on yet. Those power orbs from the goblins are good but they're tainted. We can't use them... yet. We can rely on Lord to take down Stage 6, but above that... well at least he can revive."

These are all soldiers that have spawned with the city heart and are 100% loyal to Jack. There are no trust issues here. What they don't know is that a 'Saint' as they're calling it is just someone that has transformed their initial qi into xiantian qi, it's not immense chasm but rather a thin veil.

Anybody still using their initial qi form when facing someone with xiantian qi will face natural suppression, it's just the natural order set by the heavens. It doesn't mean it's impossible to pierce that veil, but someone without xiantian qi will have to put in double the effort just to overcome that natural suppression.

Most people when faced with a Saint or someone using xiantian qi while simply give up because of this.

The soldiers set out, Tyson yells out "Movements inside territory until dawn, after that regroup and attack outwards."

They set about their jobs but within the tent things are proceeding as normal where Jack who has been having an unpleasant dream about that 'overseer' shooting that strange beam towards him. What sort of power was that? There's the enormous arm too, where did that come from?

As the scene replays, he can feel that same sensation of his divine sense diving into his forehead, his forehead emits a soft glow. Outside of Jack's dreams, Lunamarie tosses over causing Jessica to move up against his arm when she softly moans for some reason.

His divine sense probes deeper and deeper, something fuzzy seems to be there but his head can't make sense of it and disappears as he dives deeper.

Deeper and deeper through the link, he has found that he's arrived at... the small piece of dirt.

It feels slightly different from before looking at it, it's like looking at the dirt in a different view but it's still only dirt with piles of ants, seeds everywhere and other items he gained. He shifts the view around in the view trying to find where some treasures are; he places them carefully but they shift around because of the constant decomposition of the black soil.

There's nothing really of interest at the moment, he's tempted to use the same method on that huge sealed seed but it has disappeared inside the dirt somewhere to his annoyance. He remembers placing it around this location but as he tries to get closer to the dirt.

He strangely feels like he's actually moving closer to the dirt as a rushing sensation overcomes him as the dirt gets closer. He holds out his hands on instinct.

The rushing motion stops as his vision stops close to the dirt, but his head feels like it has been split in half.

He looks forward and can see some handprints in the dirt which, now that he looks closer, has a fine layer of brown on it.

The fine layer of brown is miniscule and spread about all over the black dirt, but in an attempt to gather it all together, he finds that the head pains return. He grits his teeth to force the dirt to gather, but his head throbs like it will break at any moment.

He suddenly feels his body shudder, and the scene ends, while on the bed his body shakes slightly causing Jesica to moan again, "No...".

Jack is thrown back into that dream as his arm is penetrated by the beam, a huge amount of pain comes over as he winces as he's endured it once but this time he remembers the feeling, strangely it feels just like gathering dirt but it's outside his body somehow?

This gives him a flash of inspiration when the dream ends, he blinks a few times but a slight breeze comes over the tent where he discovers his body covered in sweat. Looking down he can see that Jessica has trapped his hand in between her legs for some reason. He can't get it out as she lightly moans with a blushed face as his hand has somehow made it towards her sensitive areas.

The heat almost distracts him as he steadily breaths calming himself down for a moment. It takes a moment settle the fires that were brewing below. Letting out a soft sigh, he tries to probe his forehead like in that dream but finds that he's unable to use his divine sense anymore.

He tries it again but fails, forcing it one last time before his nose bleeds.

'Stop trying to overdraw your spiritual energy.'

"How can I get more then?" he softly asks, trying not to disturb the girls surrounding him.

'I dunno, ask the alchemist, they have lots.'

"How long until it recovers?"

'It should only be a few hours for you unless you go back to sleep.'

Jack's quiet mumble must have woken Mai as she looks around and blinks at Jack, he's trying to be very careful and not move otherwise Jessica might make a noise again so she must not notice him being awake.

Mai rubs her eyes, looks around the room and gets off the bed, she exits the tent.

Jack lets out a sigh of relief but no sooner does he do that does she come quietly running in and pricking his toe.

She quietly mouths "Thank you" to him and leaves out the door developing a glow.

He waves his fist in silent acted anger to the girl's giggles.

Remembering that he needed Lunamarie wanted to talk to her, he quietly slides his hand out of Jessica's thighs, she doesn't notice to his relief. He stealthily exits the bed taking a peek at Lunamarie, she's on her back with her legs splayed out but still entirely asleep.

'Wish I had a camera.' he mutters inside before pushing that thought aside leaving the tent.

The smell of freshly bloomed flowers that Mai has left in her wake assaults his nostrils, nearly making him sneeze but feels refreshing as per usual. He sets about his day with the first task: check in with the soldiers who were posted outside.

"Nothing to report, sir!"

Jack takes a look up the slight hill where they dug the pit for the seed, he's left speechless with what he sees.

"Want to check again?" Jack asks while pointing up the hill.

The soldiers look up the hill pensively and their eyes go wide upon seeing what's up there.

"Ah, that must have just popped up, apologies Lord, we have failed you!" the soldiers bow.

"It's fine, I probably know why. Is there anything else?"

"One of the general can inform you, Lord!"

"Uh Ok thanks, good work but hope next time you check before you speak.."

Jack walks up to the newly sprouted seed, it looks like a strange stick that has sprouted from the ground. Almost like a noodle, it's so thin, but it's as tall as him. It has 3 strange branches on it with a single leaf on each branch.

"This is a plant? It's more like a wire pole... Know anything about it Xueli?"

'Nope, but it has poison on those leaves so don't touch it.'

He tries to use his divine sense to investigate a leaf, but it fails as pain wrecks havoc on his head.

"Is there any pill that can quickly replenish spiritual energy? What about the magic potions they sell at the player guild?" he asks in annoyance.

'What is that?'

"They're blue potions that can restore your magic. Everyone talked about them online."

'Those might be related with the other races techniques so those might help, but those are most likely related to outer power. You need to rely on your inner power, so don't count on them."

"Alright, I'll ask Lunamarie later on."

Jack instructs the guards to border off the tree so it can grow, the poisonous leaves are quite deadly but Xueli didn't elaborate beyond, 'enough to kill everything in this region'.

The village has sprung into life with the coming of dawn as the smell of breakfast fill the air, the village still has that small feel to it but as the queue for breakfast stretches further and further each day, it shows the rapid growth the village is undergoing.

Jack walks by the people walking for food, they look content but with the increase in soldier presence they don't dare act out. This is fine but a little oppressive for Jack's taste, but with everything so haphazard right now things will only get better with time.

The first stop is the city hall building, but he first gazes through the window. Hilda is surrounded by several helpers organising things, so he leaves her be. He's wondering what to do when Drakon comes down the street.

"Lord, you're awake. I hope the young Madam settled in last night?"

"She's fine Drakon, she just needed a little coaxing. She'll be a handful, but I think she'll be a major benefit, but enough of her. I heard you general had something to inform me of?"

"Oh that... It's just a training exercise. Bug extermination, the usual."

"Why do I feel that's not the whole story?"

He quietly walks up and tells Jack the situation, it's not secure here on the street out the front of city hall. The situation with the animals and the bugs.

"That's a problem but not an issue, did you consult with the dwarves?"

"No. they're tied up with Maurice. I can't stand all that sciency stuff."

"Well, they should be close to finishing by now and I have to pick up my spear so let's go."

The two of them make their way to the workshop where the dwarves and Maurice are, but they're told that they're close to finishing and no one can come in. One of the younger dwarves comes out, his hulking armour stands over the two tall men.

"How's everything going in there?"

"They've nearly finished putting in a communication device, it can work across 3 worlds."

"I've been hearing nearly finished for quite some time. I hope that's not the same story with my spear."

"That thing? It just needed some maintenance, nothing compared to completely rebuilding a dwarven exploration device. I'll fetch the spear."

The dwarf heads into one of the other buildings and brings out the red spear, Jack doesn't like it very much because of its origins but he can't help but admit that it looks good freshly polished like this.

"The channels just needed reinforcing while they replaced the whole substructure to suit your flame. It wasn't designed for dragon qi." he passes the spear over. "It still isn't designed for it, so don't go overboard." the dwarf adds.

"Thanks." Jack gives the spear a twirl and puts it away before asking, "We need to take care of some bugs, anything you can recommend?"

"You guys have the best weapon; fire already, but we give you a hand if you'd like."

"No, it's ok, how about you lend us a suit though?" Jack asks looking at the sci-fi like suit.

"Hahaha, you have to train in the dwarven body arts to use one of these." the dwarf pounds his chest.

Jack thinks for a moment before shaking his head, "Not enough time."

"Hahaha if it were that easy then everyone would train in dwarven body arts, but if there's nothing more I'll head back." The dwarf waves and walks back into the workshop.

Jack brings the spear out and flows his qi through it. The ease of this action brings a smile to his face, but he frowns after a moment.

"Do we have any dagger skills? Anyone that knows how to use daggers?"

"Not beyond an amateur level, Lord."

"Damn, I really need to learn how to use more skills as I'll be screwed if this spear gets damaged again."

The two of them head off to the training area, Jack tells Drakon about his experiences while he was gone and the new skills he acquired. Drakon helps Jack with a few of his own insights into the new skills and qi but as Jack circulates the shadow qi Drakon tells him to stop.

"You shouldn't show that qi off in public. It's like general shadow qi but because it's different people will label it as tainted. The dagger skill itself is fine, as you shouldn't use that for anything other than covert operations but be very careful about who sees you use it."

Jack notes this, then circulates the moon qi around his body before giving him an example of its effect outside the body. Drakon watches a dagger slow down before it contacts the skin and while the wound itself doesn't seem to exist after, Jack marks himself with a cut.

Drakon is shocked at the effect it provides, "That's one of the best life-saving measures I've ever seen, Lord."

Finally, Jack circulates both the qi combined to use the final skill acquired, 'Moon Shadow Step' but he doesn't have enough reserves of the two qi types to do anything more than use the skill for a split moment.

His figure blends into the surroundings as his body is absorbed into the shadows.

Drakon watches it with furrowed brows, Jack is almost panting from the exertion as he's finding it hard with a lack of spiritual energy at the moment as he leans over.

"You need more practise, that'll be an impressive skill to sneak around but it's not a battle skill, Lord. I couldn't even detect you."

Jack thinks about his words as they continue moving, they reach the training grounds in no time where they're greeted with the change of shift from the overnight squad to all the soldiers gearing up to take care of the morning. Tyson walks up surrounded by a couple officers.

"Lord, we didn't wish to disturb you so we're sorry if you are taking time out of your schedule."

"It's fine Tyson, I needed a distraction after the last couple of days. So what's going on?"

Tyson then explains what they're doing. They're breaking down into their different squads and taking a section of the territory to investigate and clear out. Each squad will have a scout and a trapper to assist with uncovering the hidden enemies.

"Since last night we have cleared out over 40 sections but we still have 60 to go. This operation will last until noon, when the next squads will take over. Which section would you like Lord?"

"I'll just take care of regions as I explore on Sleipner, he's faster than all the others."

"Ok Lord."

Tyson breaks the group away as Drakon also prepares a squad of soldiers to head out, Jack heads to the armory to take out a high quality sword.

The city-lord weapon is the only sword of quality that he has, but it's still a basic iron sword and right now he wants to practise sword and dagger skills so placing a few swords by his side and within the storage, he exits the armoury and lets out a loud whistle.

He patiently waits inside the training area while practising some simple sword strikes.

It doesn't take long for Sleipner to come running down the main street in his giant form. The other horses almost bow in reverence as he enters the training field and lets out a loud neigh. Jack stops his practise and leaps up to mount the giant horse, giving it a few pats on the mane.

"We need to go find some bugs and I need to practise some sword skills so let's go!"

He rides out by himself on the giant horse; the wind billowing through as the sun peeks over the horizon, giving way for the clear skies of the day compared to the clouds over the last few days, he feels the load on his mind becoming lighter as the day comes up.

"Oh, didn't take us long to come across the first one…"

Jack can catch just the tail end of something large heading into some shrubbery. He pulls out his sword and dismounts Sleipner, ready to engage whatever it is.

 

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