#ImperialEunuch

Ji Li and his entourage instantly went out, they weren’t escorted by guards this time as it wasn’t a mission, but their own strength was enough since they travelled the imperial region. Previously they entered the territory of dukes and also a forest which was guaranteed to have beasts, but now they would only travel the official road and take a break at a city every night.

The journey was spent by Ji Li and his entourage in silence and concentration, he spent the days mostly cooped in his carriage, cultivating on his own and nearing the peak for the middle essence awakening stage, he would soon be able to advance once more. Shixuan and Qianyu were also always using their abilities while travelling, advancing because of their sync.

Shixuan would harden the earth beneath the wheels of the carriage, ensuring they wouldn’t bump up and down, the journey became even more relaxed. Qianyu used his talent to recover the stamina of the horses the whole time, while also blowing it towards the wheels, they somehow accepted the essence and became more durable.

He only wanted to speed up their journey, but he unexpectedly found out that a part of his talent would also be used on items. This was a great revelation and he told Ji Li about it, who expressed strongly how proud he was, and told him to test it further. He also gave Qianyu some ideas on how to test it and what else it could do but didn’t elaborate so that Qianyu could find his path.

…

“Li! We’ll arrive soon! The military outpost is just a few hundred metres away!” Shixuan said excitedly. They had passed the forts on the way and were just a few minutes away from Tian Xuan’s outpost, where they would train and learn the way of the army.

Ji Li left the carriage and sat on the front with Shixuan and Qianyu. Lu Wei was riding a horse next to them, he switched with the two brothers every so often. He hadn’t talked much the whole time; except the time he explained his Talent. It was very suitable for military operations, well also administratory work, but now that he was in the military, he wouldn’t lose worth.

Looking ahead, one could see an outpost. It seemed to have been made of stone, and was quite large, it wasn’t to the extent of being a village just yet, but for it to be able to house a thousand soldiers is already pretty good.

As they came closer, they heard some sounds of metals clashing. Ji Li and his group hurried up, and up close, they saw that a group of orcs was fighting over fifty soldiers while a few goblins were fighting two or three soldiers at a time. Ji Li looked at Qianyu, and he used the part of his talent that would recover from their exhaustion.

It didn’t seem needed, as other soldiers in the back were ready to take over at any given time, but it was still interesting to see how helpful it was. Qianyu was using his talent at the minimum, his essence would be fine for a few hours at a time with this low usage. The issue that came with it was that it didn’t do much, it was more like a nice cool breeze on a hot day, it didn’t change your predicament, but it’s nice.

It helped the soldiers slightly, but they didn’t even notice it was a talent. Qianyu wasn’t very trained with his talent yet, so if he used more essence, he might enable the whole talent to work full on, not just a part. Exhilarating Breeze, his Talent, didn’t only include recovery of stamina, but also had the function of motivating people, strengthening but also influencing their mentality.

This was definitely good, but they didn’t know the soldiers yet, so this was something they wouldn’t do for now. Some soldiers noticed them, but when they noticed their robes, they only bowed before continuing with their work.

It wasn’t unusual for eunuchs to enter a battlefield, and especially with the army, they were somewhat more casual. A bow was enough, it meant they acknowledged their existence, and it didn’t take long, so it wasn’t a hindrance in their duty.

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Ji Li watched the fight with interest, the soldiers all hadn’t even entered the Essence Awakening Stage, contrary to what he saw in the Eunuch Palace every day, it was much more usual to see a hundred Body Strengthening cultivators than a single Essence Awakening one. Of course there were even more people that hadn’t even entered that stage, the recruits at the fort were on their way, while normal adults would only get there in their later years, if they worked hard.

There was one Essence Awakener overlooking the little battle which was more like a training to the soldiers. The orcs were just the weak of them, the tribes had no use for them, and their potential was minimal, so they would send them towards the battlefield to exhaust as many enemies as possible.

If one of them came back, they would be allowed to stay in the military and even be rewarded, if they fled then they would just starve. Additionally, the orcs weren’t an intelligent race. Their higher ranks? Those were brutal beasts that knew no mercy and worked for their own glory, they wouldn’t hesitate to murder their own if it was profitable. But the weaker they were, the more obvious it was why the orcs were called slow.

The goblins in comparison were smart and cunning, but they lacked the strength of the orcs. The real overlord of the Warmonger Tribes was the third faction, the trolls. They were strong, had near endless stamina in comparison to those of the same cultivation, and lastly, they had shamanic powers.

The empire had cultivation arts and natural talents, talents that connected their affinity directly with their talent. This might seem like a basic thing, but in truth, it was the reason why the empire prospers even now when it’s in constant war.

Talents were abilities one gained at a higher rank, not to mention nature’s gift which gives the empire a huge advantage, just normal talents were special and beyond mortal means. But they came with the flaw that they were focused on the innate affinity of the soul, while the body affinity one gains at birth has a stronger connection to the lineage of someone, not their soul.

So, it wasn’t a surprise when many talents had nothing to do with their affinity, there were even cases where someone got a fire talent but had a water affinity, now one might think ‘fire and water, that’s a cloud!’, that is also not wrong, but cloud-affinity was a thing, so obviously, confronting elements wouldn’t produce a better result.

It’s not like there aren’t cases of super geniuses using conflicting elements for greater results, but geniuses are the minority, and this new ‘advantage’ might just become a roadblock slowing down their potential.

The only real demerit to using nature’s gift was that one could only awaken a nature-bound talent. When one awakens a talent for, let’s say, time and space, karma, divination, or any other special art, then one couldn’t use the fruit and it would be more of a poison than anything else.

That was why nature’s gift was only given to those that awakened their affinity, even though it could be used earlier. So, all in all, the empire had a very stable way of producing their warriors, and over time, the emerald trees bore enough nature’s gifts to ensure a never-ending supply for all eunuchs, all exceptional military officials, and some rest fruits that would be given to the population to buy and use, mainly to ensure no stagnation inside the country.

The shamanic powers of the trolls were similar in that they also had a strong connection to nature, but that was also where the similarities stopped. They would not cultivate and strengthen their foundation by absorbing essence, no, they would do that too, but they would focus strongly on strengthening totems and statues of their race’s hero’s.

These statues would then be used in various ways, but in essence, it was also controlling natural forces or strengthening your body in some way. When they are at the peak of the essence awakening stage, about to advance, they would choose a totem or a statue and tattoo a precise depiction of it on their body. Then, they would absorb the totem into their very self through unknown means, this was their special method after all, it was kept a secret.

The absorption would be the final kick to the Talent Refining Stage, it was their advantage that anyone stably at the peak of the essence awakening stage would be able to advance somewhat safely. The talents they received would then be close to the true power of the being the totem represented, and they would call them ‘blessings’ they received from the beings.

It was a very interesting practice and gave interesting results, but in truth, it was restricting. Because the higher one cultivated with that kind of talent that relied on the ability of others, the harder it would be. There were special methods for the prodigies of the troll faction, but that was a secret kept even closer.