The Upgrades That Are Needed, Complete!

"Woooooo!" - "Shit's over! Let's build those ships. Let's go!" - "Come on everyone, get to it!"

All over the port, which was over 60 km long, forming from one side of the Little Lake at its beginning to the whole other side, and with a total width of 4 km from which more than 500 meters were left to be used for military personnel be it on foot of vehicles, the rest was a road for moving resources, people, sailors, non-military personnel and merchandise that might come to the port in the future.

Step, step, step, step…!

From all over the port and outside of it where it was calm to watch the tens of thousands of people come and go to leave some materials and toolboxes at the port and pick some others just to do the same as if it was a kind of competitive game. Ciemnosc looked on with his arms to his sides and his eyes blinking, his jaw not clenching and, in fact, so relaxed that his lips opened up a bit on their own to show a bit of the obscured inside of his mouth and his teeth.

And through his visage and his whole appearance, though not inspiring nor amazing in any way at all, looking just ordinary. The little acts that were barely consisting of any movement attracted and dazed quite a number of young girls around him, and even made some young women look at him flirtatiously, mhm.

Still, Ciemnosc remained indifferent, even seemingly not noticing anybody who was around him gazing at him and just watching as the whole tens of thousands moved about nonstop. Just now, Ciemnosc has been hearing so many footsteps, but he then heard a certain set of footsteps that walked towards him with all due respect.

“...Sir, the Craftspeople’s hands are all healed now. They are now dutifully waiting for you to come and show them how to proceed.” Situ Shi obediently briefed Ciemnosc who in turn turned around to face him and then said, his tone indifferent. “Let’s go then. I’d like to see what those ‘immortals’ have changed after seeing many of them die in just a minute, heh.”

“...” Wanting to sweat buckets but not daring to, Situ Shi showed the way and walked in front of Ciemnosc to his right like a guide, the tens of thousands of people looking at this with amazement. Such amazement was coming more than anything from sect disciples and subordinate cultivators that have been here since the first day and right when Ciemnosc was about to go away to attend the grand events in the sect.

As they walked farther away from the port, the cultivators didn’t slow down their pace, however. Only those who were brand new did so, yet were immediately heavily punished by the OGs around, leaving marks even in the souls of others who were beginning to slack and saw the punishments given to their fellow new flesh and blood within the army.

Whipping, smacking, forced to endure insanely heavy pressure in the middle of arrays, loaded with thousands and thousands of kilograms’ worth of resources and even unnecessary stuff. To even being sent to jail where their clothes were ripped off their bodies and they could then peacefully enjoy slacking off in an obscure, decrepit cell for the rest of the day…

…On the other hand, Ciemnosc quickly arrived at a building that was not that wide but had tons of floors up above and below the main floor, whereas they had a first floor up and a first floor down. It didn’t have any decorations, but it seemed as if there used to be some extra decorations that Ciemnosc had not designed for any of the buildings in either his outposts or the stronghold to have.

Seeing that coldness emanated from Ciemnosc’s eyes. Situ Shi felt so nervous at that moment since it was just the second time he felt this sensation from Ciemnosc, the first being just yesterday and from the same kind of people… On the other hand, Mosto simply shook his head at the building, then snapped his fingers with some nice ol’ stretches since there were a few dozen Spirit Gathering realm cultivators among the Craftspeople while Situ Shi was also here to protect the Commander.

…Step, step step, step.

Entering into the building, Ciemnosc needed not to ‘be guided’ anymore as he directly paced faster, went past Situ Shi, and arrived at an incredibly long room with only about a few tens of meters in width. It was the whole width of the building itself while outside were different inner walls and hallways that were separated from another section of the building: the ramp.

Since this was one of the buildings that had the most length in the stronghold, it was much better for the armored vehicles to both, come in come out of the parking lot-like system semi-garage built for the Craftspeople to work without needing to move long distances to the actual underground garage in case there was a need for a specific tool or material for certain repairs or building another armored car - which was many, and some weighed a lot like the armor itself.

Hence, armored cars would have to do that, either come in so that they could be repaired or, in the next several days - to be upgraded. Or to come out from the building once they have been built up, as in the coming days, it wasn’t just going to be about thousands and thousands of armored cars coming in and out. There were going to be several hundred more coming out of it directly without any needing to come back.

Stepping into the room, Ciemnosc and company could see the devices placed to the right from the entrance of the room, from which each floor had one such room interconnected with a few ramps that could either be as simple as someone needing to drive the armored car or another, any kind of vehicle as well as simply tools being placed in the ‘finished’ specialized ramp - to those other ramps where they had all kinds of devices around to seemingly hold whatever was needed to go through floors, still incomplete and without having any table resting position.

Like this, if it was parts from the ship or things such as long-distance weaponry, which wouldn’t really be the case - shouldn’t be the case. Said parts of such would all be automatically sent down or up depending on the floors and their current working schedule.

Around those ramps all the way to the back. There were some assistants, some being subordinate cultivators who were now lesser in number than those sect disciples of the same cultivation base. And, naturally and so obviously, some other assistants were exactly those other sect disciples with similar cultivation bases.

“...” As Ciemnosc entered the room, with Mosto and Situ Shi following right after, a variety of glares and emotions came from the dozens of Craftspeople sitting in the veeery long room. For one part, and most obviously, they had disdain, hatred, and disgust towards Ciemnosc, the little boy who dared to do what not even the sect master would do! Or so they thought…

On the other hand, there was Situ Shi, who always was a ‘yes man’ for them and was never slow to agree to what they wanted even if it was ‘dumb’ stuff, like decorating their buildings with precious steel and silver plates colored by a golden paint to show the true worth of themselves to anyone who did as much as to take a glimpse of their buildings in the stronghold and outposts.

But when they looked at Mosto, there was fear in most of them. Only some of them were unaware of how bad it was for the always silent and seemingly inexistent Mosto to glare at them for longer than a second; those foolish ignorant ones kept looking with hatred towards Ciemnosc and also Mosto since he was his bodyguard, that meant he was evil too.

“In 2 weeks, more than 2 million subordinate cultivators will arrive, so you’ll have a lot to do in this short period of time. Only Spirit Gathering realm disciples can get to own and board their very own armored car. But there is also a great demand for dangerous tools already - and it will only increase in the future.” Ciemnosc began. He treaded forwards and then left and right, facing those at the very front while Mosto’s heavy steps followed him for every step he took, he would take another one for that very same direction and so on.

“You are all now under me, not just the sect, and it is also a very important matter to handle. There’s a pay, the same as before, 1 Inferior grade Powerful Stone every month since you are Craftspeople, and you’ll need not just experience and enlightenment but also ‘money’ to get by and further continue research and besting yourselves.”

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“It is only because of that that I did not kill all of those who deserved to be killed,” Ciemnosc looked down at them, in general, with a much so obvious coldness emitting from his eyes, making Situ Shi look alarmingly at him in case his Commander would suddenly decide to go back on that very decision.

“What, don’t believe me?” Ciemnosc suddenly cocked his head to the right, almost resting his ear on his right shoulder. This simple act of his made those Craftspeople’s eyes shrink in return, and those who were observing from other floors through the arrays and tablets placed on the walls at the sides of the entrance to also feel…chilled by this simple motion of Ciemnosc’s head.

“No, no…eh, no, we believe you. We do.” - “Yeah, we do, we believe you Ci- commander, we do, really!” - “Yes, that’s right sir, believe us pl- no! No! We believe you, yes we, no yes! Please believe that- we, uh…believe you…”

“...That is Commander for all of you. Speak with respect.” After shaking his head quite lamentably because of the change that these arrogant, foul Craftspeople instinctively just are, becoming donut-heads from his Commander’s simple question and movement of his head.

In a way, he was glad that their Commander wasn’t a pussy beta for Craftspeople. Maybe it had to do with the Commander himself being such an amazing Craftsman himself. Who knows, he may even be many times better than any of those around him. Rumors were that he was elder Apegos’s student, something only someone like Enaro had achieved before!

In any case, Situ Shi spoke without raising his voice. One of the reasons for that was because there was no need to become a loudly speaking dumbass and the other was. After all, his Commander detests noise so much.

“Ah, yes…” - “Understood…”

“...” Seeing the responses from the Craftspeople before and after Situ Shi spoke his own words to help them recompose themselves, Ciemnosc lowered his head, and with his chin against his collarbone, he shook it with his head closed - but nobody dared to look at his closed eyelids; this vulnerable state that any living being can find themselves in, keeping their eyes off of him instead.

“It isn’t that bad,” Ciemnosc leaned over a Craftsman of old age with long gray hair and wearing a loose white robe that covered him fully. Ciemnosc nodded at the silent Craftsman with eyes almost fully opened, terrified, before speaking with a tad higher in his volume. “If you do well and do more than your part, 2 Inferior grade Powerful Stones will be given to you. And if you take a disciple or at least student under you. Your normal pay will increase to 2 Inferior Powerful Stones, which would grant you 3 of those if you do more than what your own quota demands from you.”

“Of course, it will only be like that…if you teach them well.” Ciemnosc stood up from leaning over the desk, his face normal and pretty much without much of a facial expression in specific at all. However, to the Craftspeople, he was a monster!

“I know you all treat your own knowledge as if it is something great, oh but it isn’t.” Ciemnosc went over to another desk, leaving a decent man gasping out of this disgraceful, rude demeanor! But Ciemnosc simply continued with the same tone, “You see, any of you if you were to give me your entire knowledge in exchange for a rotten wooden stick, I would slap you with it out of disgust!”

With a face that did tell everyone how disgusting Ciemnosc felt about them entirely, he left them speechless with long, stupid faces, but he still continued on. “If even I was able to learn, mostly on my own, about creating and forging with my teacher only needing to give me enough to read and to prepare to become this amazing, then how the hell do you think others could learn as well as me if you don’t even impart your knowledge on them for decades?”

“So, if you do ‘say’ you are taking a disciple or a student, or even more. But if the results are not recognized to have enough progress, then not only will you be exempt from being paid this month. You’ll even be fined 10 Inferior Powerful Stones, and that’s just me being nice.”

Without being smug, Ciemnosc still appeared to have become the rogue of rogues in the Craftspeople's eyes. While Situ Shi felt more and more as if they had just orchestrated a good enforcer and bad enforcer play to get them soft. Of course, without him even knowing. As Situ Shi looked at Mosto, Mosto expressionlessly glared back at him…before shrugging his shoulders with his palms facing the ceiling.

“But!” Ciemnosc got off the desk to stand properly like an intelligent being and gave his back to the Craftspeople. It felt fun for him to feel how some of the glares on him hesitated before finally not showing any hatred or stupid gesture. Then, he turned around, and with his right shoulder slumped hard, he grinned from the left corner of his mouth.

“If you don’t even complete your quota, make your disciples or students fill it up for you, and once they reach a certain level, they don’t achieve their own quota… I may just kill you out of your own uselessness. How about it?” Ciemnosc even nodded upwards once he was over speaking, his darkest eyes receiving no glare back. but everyone was dumbfounded looking up at him from their seats.

“...” - “...” - “...” - “...”

“I’ll take that as yes, okay then,” Ciemnosc made no further show of his borrowed might from those 2 behind him and took out a few blueprints from his Covert Space bags. He really seemed less and less willing to waste time ever since Valeria no longer accompanied him or followed him around or at least drove him here and there.

Even if he now had a vehicle of his own and was quite the large and amazing looking shit, it was just not the same; thus, it has been a Ciemnosc who was not only not at ease and…his true self, but also one that was irked and annoyed at the development from more than a month ago. He hadn’t even been able to see Valeria after the grand event banquet, let alone Fu Lan.

“The armored cars can be made much more easily here with those right there,” as Ciemnosc began explaining his blueprints and their contents appeared on the tablets at the front, he pointed to their left where all of the weird-looking devices with obvious arrays inscribed onto them glowing at all times and being all powered by an Inferior Powerful Stone.

There were no thoughts of stealing. Those who dared but were ‘forgiven’ by the leading figures of the outposts or the stronghold were all being used for the crops in said outposts and the stronghold…

“You just have to press at the top over there, just a little. And once you see the hammer slam at the base plate below, you retreat and repeat the process.” Ciemnosc made a little demonstration by coming closer to the device that looked like a bunch of square-shaped tubes fused with one another and pressed down on its top, whereas a not-so-full flattened material was being pressed against a silver plate, which would then hammered down by a ball-shaped hammerhead that directly came out within the top ‘square tube’.

Then, the entire irregularly shaped unsophisticated piece of steel became formidably tough and flattened, exactly how it was needed for an armored car’s roof and floor to be, as well as the interior from where the arrays would be needed in order to create a projection and for the radar array formation to work well with.

“Then, with these little buttons, the hammer can change, and with these, the plate can even move a little, depending on how you want it with your finger tracing a shape or by the predetermined buttons with those shapes…” Ciemnosc made several demonstrations, basically finishing up what an armored car’s half-whole armor was, but still continued to explain the ‘cocky’ and show-off fucker.

“These can’t be done automatically, and only for the last processes is that you won’t have to worry about them. I’ll deal with it. You all would just have to assemble them all. The wheels are the easiest to make so a few tens of thousands of subordinate cultivators and lower cultivation base sect disciples are already working on them.”

Ciemnosc took a little breather to stand up and step away from the device, the ramp for materials at the right had already stopped, and the large spot for another device to pick those thighs up from above and place them safely and efficiently where they are ‘requested’ to be sent to began picking the finished products and sent them to an auxiliary ramp further away from the one for materials.

“That is how you will be using these things, do remember that messing it up means you’ll be fined,” Ciemnosc said, with only his neck twisting, and his head looking back at those wide mouthed individuals looking at him crazedly and at the devices longingly.

“Oh right, don’t mess up the use of resources to increase the heat and cold resistance, or you will be directly fined by the price of those materials, which can be even tens of Inferior Powerful Stones the kilogram.” Ciemnosc added, then walked away to the front of the entrance when a Craftswoman elderly asked with a ‘bright’ voice.

“Commander, aren’t these devices similar to those at the port? In addition to the increase of the armored cars’ heat and cold resistance and their maneuverability, are we also enhancing their durability?” Her voice wasn’t loud nor sharp, but it was clearly heard by everyone in the room and by those watching from the other floors, equally longing to begin working and studying these methods.

Hearing her out, Ciemnosc shook his head right away, looking at the devices and then explaining briefly as he walked out of the veeery long room; his voice trailed off, and the Craftspeople within the room that didn’t have the option to increase the volume could only move their heads to let their ears catch upon his words as his soft tone became lesser and lesser audible until he finally finished speaking…

“To enhance armor, there is a need for thinner and more layers of armor. We can’t do that with the steel from the armored cards. Only wood is the easiest material to collect for now. Besides, Power Energy is what is needed for such enhancement to even work. Just concentrate on your respective jobs. I’ll come back every 8 hours to finish up the armored cars you’ve all finished with. Situ Shi’s direct subordinates have the qualification from me to evaluate the tools you make, so don’t forget it and make a ruckus, or else…”

Craftspeople: “...”

…