Chapter 19 - Jing Mountain

After becoming a late stage 1-Star shaman, Deon put further training of his rank on hold and properly focussed on training with the other soldiers. He knew that he needed to develop a closer connection with his comrades so that they could properly fight together in the coming war. So, he returned the sustenance spirit to Captain Dan and started showing up to meals.

He ate with Remi on occasion, but he usually spent more time around Captain Dan's soldiers, since this was Deon's assigned squad.

"I still can't believe that you reached the late stage of 1-Star Deon, you're a real certified genius!" A boisterous man with a booming voice called Benji laughed loudly. He was certainly the most energetic out of the lot; whilst everyone else had a dull look in their eyes, Benji somehow still had the energy to laugh and shout.

"Shut up Benji, it's the first thing in the morning." A woman named Sienna complained. She clutched her head as her long blonde hair spilled about messily on the table. She was quite an attractive woman, but her current haggard appearance made her look akin to a zombie as she struggled to wake herself up.

Besides these two characters, Deon also regularly spoke with Vash and Vanna, male and female twins respectively who always stayed by one another's side. Despite being of opposite genders, they looked quite similar, with pale white skin and long black hair, giving them a doll like appearance. The two of them were usually quite quiet, but they seemed to enjoy being around the lively atmosphere.

Deon smiled and politely accepted the compliments, but downplayed his status as a so called 'genius' and attributed his success to a mixture of luck and hard work.

Well, it was true. His internal talent was only slightly above average, it was his luck in gaining the ancient demon spirit as his core spirit that allowed him to progress so quickly. He did feel like he had earned it though, the underworld trial was not anything easy to overcome. Besides, if he had not worked so hard, then reaching this point would be impossible.

Three weeks after Deon became a late stage 1-Star shaman, the commander interrupted their training mid-day, bringing everyone together for an announcement.

"Rest well today, we leave for Jing Mountain tomorrow! That is all."

"Looks like the war is going to begin."

"I've heard this is going to be big."

"Ah, I'm really going to war…"

…

The reactions were split. Those who had fought in war previously were excited at the prospect of this coming large-scale battle, whilst those who hadn't yet put their lives on the line were noticeably anxious.

At the very least though, everyone was glad to be able to rest and sleep properly that night. A single night wasn't enough to completely wipe away their accumulated exhaustion, but it was a much needed relief and raised everyone's morale and fighting spirit.

They departed at first light the following day, riding on horse back across the ten miles of plains as they approached the foot of Jing Mountain. The ground was rocky and uneven between the kingdom and Jing Mountain, so it took them quite some time to traverse this distance.

Nobody had any idea what the plan of action was for when they arrived at their destination. Often, these details would be kept a secret by the commander until the last moment. This time, not even the captains knew what was happening exactly.

As the mountain came closer and closer into view until it took up most of the horizon before them, Deon thought back to everything he knew about Jing Mountain.

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Mountains on the spirit continent were natural formations with bountiful spiritual energy pervading their atmospheres. There were many spirits that would only form naturally on mountains, making each and every mountain a valued resource to an organisation.

Jing Mountain was situated an equal distance away from both the Fan Kingdom and the Kingdom of Restari. Both nations wanted to occupy this mountain for themselves, which led to a situation where they each stationed troops around the base of the mountain year round. People rarely got the chance to ascend the mountain, since they were always being watched by the opposing nation and would be met with retaliation whenever someone tried to push past the unspoken limit.

Because of this, the wiser shamans in the kingdom speculated that there would be many undiscovered spirits spread out all across the mountain, especially at the higher elevations. Now that a full scale war was about to break out, the unspoken agreement that nobody would ascend the mountain had become null, and it was certain that a vast range of spirits would be discovered very soon.

If any soldiers were to find these spirits, they were expected to hand them over to the military. They would of course be rewarded for their contribution with merit points and sometimes even promotions.

As Deon's mind wondered whilst they travelled on horse back, his gaze landed on the commander at the front of the unit and the captains just behind her. Whilst ordinary soldiers rode on normal horses, the captains rode on pitch black specially bred stallions.

The commander's steed was beyond any of these mundane horses. She rode on the broad back stallion, a 1-Star demonic beast that was often used by those in higher positions in the military. In fact, owning a broad back stallion was a symbol of authority in the Kingdom of Restari, since only commanders or above would ride atop this monstrous grey horse.

Not all demonic beasts were so easily tamed, but horse type beasts were generally easier to use as mounts, especially when they were bred in captivity and raised properly from a young age.

A half hour after their departure, the group stopped at the foot of the mountain. They were met by a man riding a similar broad back stallion, followed by an escort of guards on black stallions.

"Lieutenant Gallow." Commander Reana saluted.

"Mm. Follow me and I will brief you on the situation, have your men wait here for now."

"You heard him, wait here and don't move!" The commander yelled at her soldiers and was met with a resounding 'yes commander!'

The commander disappeared into a tent with the lieutenant, then reappeared less than five minutes later. The lieutenant and his soldiers didn't follow her back over, but returned to their own group, which had already set up camp at this Southern foot of Jing Mountain.

"The Kingdom of Restari has begun its occupation of Jing Mountain, multiple units have been sent up to monitor various key locations." Commander Reana yelled out. "The 37th unit has been tasked with securing the high lands as the advanced 3rd unit heads for the peak. We move out immediately!"

Her voice carried an urgent tone and everyone understood that time was of the essence. Until now, both kingdoms had stationed their troops just outside of their own lands as they waited for the war to develop further. The Kingdom of Restari ended up making the first move, rushing forth with tens of units to spread out, around, and up the mountain, taking key locations for themselves.

The Southern mountain base camp had prepared leather bags for each horse and rider to carry up the mountain. Within these bags were the materials needed to set up a camp at their designated location.

It took just a few minutes for the horses to be loaded with the assistance of the base camp soldiers, then the 37th unit was moving once again.

The lower areas of Jing Mountain started off at a slight incline, but the further up the mountain they travelled, the more difficult it became for the horses to continue. Once the landscape became even more rocky and jagged, they were forced to abandon their mounts and continue up the mountain on foot.

Deon had never climbed a mountain back on earth so he didn't have anything to compare to, but the sheer scale of this mountain was staggering. If not for their intensive training and enhanced bodies, traversing a mountain of this size would certainly take quite some time.

Some areas of the mountain were rocky with a sharp incline, others parts were sheer cliff faces, yet there were also flat and grassy areas the size of a small sports field. There wasn't much consistency and their route was basically spontaneous, so they ended up spending three days and three nights climbing. A few people were injured along the way, but nothing serious had occurred as of yet.

Finally, they reached their destination. A rocky but flat field slightly larger than most they had come across thus far had been occupied by the 3rd unit a day earlier. This unit was waiting for their arrival, so that they could continue on their own journey up towards the peak.

Before leaving, the commander of this unit reminded Commander Reana that she was to continue exploring the surrounding area whilst expanding their current camp size. She had snorted coldly and told Commander Stephen to hurry up and leave. Clearly, the two of them weren't on the best of terms.

It was late in the evening and everyone was exhausted from their hasty journey, so they didn't begin expanding the camp immediately. The 3rd unit had already set up some tents for them to rest, and after improving upon this setup for an hour, the unit ate dinner before sleeping for the night.

The night winds were cold this high up, almost five miles above the ground level, but nowhere near as cold as they would be on earth at this altitude. Deon had long since noticed that the higher they ascended up Jing Mountain, the greater the concentration of spiritual energy in the atmosphere became.

His training speed would definitely be much faster up here.

Whilst the other soldiers appeared to relax now that they had apparently encountered a break, Deon knew that this peace wouldn't last forever. They had occupied a location that was on the Southern side of the mountain, but as they neared in on the peak, they drew in eerily close to the Eastern side, where the Fan Kingdom soldiers would soon send their men.

This high up the mountain, the circumference became lesser. Since it was inevitable that many troops would be deployed to these elevated levels with greater spiritual energy and thus higher chances of finding rare spirits, the two kingdoms would probably clash within days.

Although Deon was alert to danger, he couldn't actually forgo sleep. Their unit was sensible enough to keep a sufficiently large night watch round the clock, so for now, he decided to just forget about the coming threat and rested well.