The empire had few choices for a counterattack. The land controlled by Jack was rural, with many small villages and towns and few big cities. Moving massive armies through enemy territory for days to reach a city to attack was very dangerous.
On the other hand, Jack controlled all the rural territory, so it was much more practical for him to move his army to attack enemy cities.
Those debates, however, are no longer helpful; now that Kampaku lost Golden Flower City, his options for a counterattack all hinge on taking back Golden Flower, which is very difficult and unlikely.
...
RLA's invasion of Silver Flower and Reflection cities was smart; the two cities were close to Golden Flower and weren’t close to any mountains or lakes; their water supply was from the Horned River, which was quite easy to control.
Unlike Golden Flower City, which got most of its water from wells, Silver Flower and Reflection relied mostly on the Horned River. It was a weakness that RLA could exploit. As long as the river's water stops or becomes unusable, the two cities fall quickly; defending a city without a water supply is much more difficult.
Kampaku and Hinode knew this, too; they had been storing water for days and other preparations, such as digging deep wells. The land under Silver Flower and Reflection cities was very unsuitable for wells, but if one digs deep enough, reaching water is possible.
The invading armies were both 1 million strong, while the defending forces sent by Kampaku were 1.2 for each; it would probably be a big battle again. That’s if everything goes as predicted, which is not guaranteed; it's quite possible that everything can change.
...
Hinode remained in the capital and controlled the army from there; he didn’t go out to the front lines. His decision was rational; the communication lines between capitals are well developed; all news will be delivered by birds very quickly, but if he moves away, then the news would have to reach the capital, and then the capital must send it to him by horse.
...
In a secret room, three people were sitting and talking quietly.
One was Hinode, the other was the prime minister, and the last was the minister of defense.
"Please, Hinode-sama! If it goes on like this, we will all die!" said the minister of defense, begging.
The prime minister said, "Hinode-sama! Our loyalty is to His Majesty, not Kampaku-sama; our duty is to save the empire!"
The loss of millions of people in the War of Golden Flower City was a big blow to the morale of the empire, even at higher levels. Even though Kampaku appointed loyal people to positions of power, loyalty wasn't set in stone. With enough benefits, most people would consider changing sides.
Hinode sighed and nodded slightly.
The prime minister and minister of defense saw this and smiled widely; they had lost unimaginable money from the start of the war, and even their lives were in danger, so it was natural to consider setting up a coup.
Hinode said, "But it's not easy! Kampaku has 20 bodyguards, all of whom are skilled and loyal; I used to be their colleague, so I know how terrifying they are; in addition, musketeer unit leaders are too loyal to him; we have to use the newly reserved troops to pull it off."
The royal forces and the musketeers are too loyal, so even Supreme Commander Hinode couldn’t order them to betray Kampaku. Fortunately for him, there are over a million reserves in the city; they are to be sent out in a few weeks, but for now, they are under the direct command of Hinode and could be mobilized by him.
"Most ministers agree with us! We can also drag in the police chief, who has another 100,000 officers, along with our private armies; also, the city guard commander is my cousin, so add another 50,000; in total, we can put together at least 1.5 million; there is no way we lose to some peak humans!" said the minister of defense.
Nodding, the three started discussing the plans.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
...
"Kampaku-sama!" one of the bodyguards ran into the room while screaming.
"What?" Kampaku stood up; he had heard enough bad news and truly feared what the bodyguard was about to say.
"A coup! The city guards opened the door and allowed the reserve army to enter! They are marching toward the palace!"
"A coup? Wait, a coup! Who dared?" Kampaku almost couldn’t speak; he had only appointed loyal people, so he didn’t ever expect such a thing.
"It's Supreme Commander Hinode!" said the bodyguard with a shameful face; after all, Hinode used to be a bodyguard like them.
Hearing this, Kampaku fainted!
...
The invading forces were too numerous; they quickly encircled the palace.
The palace had 50,000 musketeers, 25,000 swordsmen, and 25,000 other royal army soldiers with various weapons, in addition to cannons and another unit of palace guards, which had 20,000 troops; it had food reserves for months, along with sturdy walls; it was not something that could be conquered easily.
Still, the invading army was just too numerous; they also had cannons and were quite well-armed and well-trained. Kampaku gave bad weapons to conscripts and good ones to reserves, contributing to the invading army's advantage.
Hinode and the ministers decided to convince Kampaku to surrender, but it didn’t work; Kampaku killed the emissaries who even suggested this. And, like this, the invading forces attacked the palace from all directions.
Only after a few hours, many parts of the wall broke; after all, no matter how good, if hit by cannons in the same spot many times, all walls fall apart.
The invading forces attacked the palace; the palace defenders fought bravely, but still, outnumbered 10-1, they all died; soon, the invading forces surrounded Kampaku's residence, which was protected by peak human bodyguards.
Invading forces didn’t dare provoke over 20 peak humans, so they just brought cannons and started shooting at Kampaku's residence.
...
"Congratulations! The first mission was completed; the world advanced into rank 10!"
"New feature: Cultivation!"
"Next mission: World domination: become recognized as ruler of the world by 80% of mortal population!"
"What? Kampaku died?" Jack thought confusedly; he, of course, was already close to defeating Kampaku, but he thought he could only do it after a few more months and after millions of more people died, but now, it seemed somehow, Kampaku died by himself.
"Maybe a heart attack?" Jack thought. He decided to investigate how Kampaku died, but for now, he put it behind his head.
"Hahaha! Finally, I completed the first task!" He poured and drank a cup of wine; these days, he started returning some of his old habits.
Jack used to drink a lot when he was weaker.
Back then, when Rachel took him, she allowed him to live as a normal human and enjoy his life; he developed a lot of bad habits, becoming addicted to all kinds of drugs. Still, he was special, so no matter how harmful those drugs were, he only got stronger from them.
These days, he keeps his ability active only as to his main body; as for incarnations, they are all ordinary.
Jack's ability is special; sharing it among the incarnations is impossible.
He calls his ability "Everything Makes Me Stronger," or EMMS. As long as EMMS is active, all damages would only strengthen him; the ability used to have a cooldown, but nowadays, its cooldown is 0 seconds, which means it can be active constantly.
But, if he shares it with another incarnation, it halves the ability's effect on the main body. Otherwise, it would have been much more terrifying; create a few quadrillion mortal incarnations, share the ability with them, and throw them into the endless chaos; after a few thousand years, he could have harvested them, all of whom were rank 10. After all, only rank 10 can live in the chaos without receiving damage, so they would have strengthened until they reached rank 10.
Unfortunately for Jack, his ability won't work like that.
Looking at the new feature, he recalled. He created this world, so he naturally knows what kind of supernatural system this world has.
It is a cultivation system, but not as vast as those big worlds with cultivation systems.
It started with energy gathering stages; once someone gathers enough energy, they can form a core. The core breaks and forms into a nascent soul; the nascent soul goes through a tribulation and transforms into a divine soul.
The divine soul is the final stage; a divine soul cultivator can live forever. It's just that every 1,000 years, they must go through tribulation.
Every tribulation is stronger than the last one.
Jack hasn't designed the next stage; therefore, even though each tribulation strengthens the cultivator's body and soul, they cannot actually break through to the next stage; there is no next step.
It can be said that the world is hopeless for cultivation, as the ever-strengthening tribulation eventually catches up and kills the cultivator; therefore, even though divine souls are immortal, they are actually not, as the tribulation kills them.
A divine soul cultivator is equivalent to a rank 4 mage. It can be said that the cultivation system here is very undeveloped.
"Let's cultivate and test it out!" Jack sat down.
Meditating, he felt the energy in the air and started absorbing it; after only half an hour, he gathered a trace of energy in his body.
"I can form my core after 20 years; I can probably form my nascent soul after 100 years and divine soul after 1000 years!" He thought.
Of course, he is extremely talented, so most people would be far slower than him.
"A core formation has a lifespan of 200 years; a nascent soul can live up to 2000 years; it looks well-balanced!" he thought.
When designing this world, he didn’t spend much brain power on world balance, so it may turn out to be terribly unbalanced.
"Let's wait and see!" Jack thought.
For now, he has to unify the country. It would take a while for them to notice the new supernatural system; he took a while to win the election and become the president of the Republic.