The Prowess And The Cleverness

The feet of so many sailors never moved so fast, but there was something else. Though there was an actual large ship already built, for the pressing matter and so that it wouldn't be counterproductive, it wasn't sent to respond to the enemy's sudden attack. Instead, three medium ships took its place and led dozens of small ships in a 3-way point in the middle surrounded by those small ships.

They were going to be valuable for something in particular. In this battle, Ciemnosc didn’t participate. Instead, the renowned and proven best captains of the base’s naval military led those medium ships to battle with the sailors following their every command and word. Captains Lons, Mon and Stevan controlled each of their 12+ small ships to sail at basically an insane level of cooperation, at least for the current levels the base could achieve for the time being.

They sailed, but when they were still ways before arriving at the last location where the latest message was sent back to the base. A tremendous explosion sound resounded, followed by a long-lasting cloud of pure energy emerging from far in the distance where it would take up to more than an hour to arrive at maximum speed. But the formation of ships still went there at their highest capacity, wasting no time after becoming startled due to that vast ‘boom’.

It took them time, but they eventually arrived at the epicenter of the explosion. All around, they couldn’t see any remains of enemy ships, small ships, or any body in the water. Even after diving for tens of minutes, nothing was discovered except the obvious traces of that ‘little’ array formation only their Chief knows being activated and sending into a blast anything into non-existence.

The sailors were… saddened! They were, these gone fellow sailors, just there to take control of the possible movement from the enemy and warn the base and all other ports. But they were just… directly forced to... this… How dare they?!

It was a bit more time spent in silence before leaving that the sailors and troops’ faces turned severely cold and begrudging that the formation of ships left the area. Not to return to the base but to return the damage they have caused.

With an order to get to the enemy, a command Ciemnosc would more than be glad to see for himself, the dozens of small ships and three medium ships traveled at maximum speed towards the enemy’s 2nd port… first.

It wasn’t as if they could just utilize this feature from their ships all the time. It was only under certain circumstances that they would be allowed to use them without a medium ship’s captain— at the very least —instructing and commanding them for that matter. Just like those 4 small ships that were long gone into nothingness…

Before long, the enemy’s 2nd port was reached, the sight terrorizing the enemy cultivators left on it. Especially their boss, who seemed to have panic, heart and nerve attacks all at the same time, not believing, not wanting to believe, not expecting such things to happen to him!

But it all started simply. The small ships charged over until they were at a firing distance of 500 km into the land. Whereas they could have over 80% accuracy with the aiming guidance system. On the other hand, the captains of the medium ships had a much more honorable job. That was: to charge over and collide against the abandoned cannons on the enemy’s 2nd port and drift to a sideways last moment in order to take it down!

Cannons firing nonstop went on and on that late morning, and the land all around the eastern shore where that enemy’s 2nd port was built became wasted, leaving not a single piece of rock or grass on land. It wasn’t going to be the end of the matter then and there… not yet!

After making such a mess at the enemy’s 2nd port, the formation of ships continued sailing towards the 1st port at maximum speed. Nothing seemed capable of stopping them now. They went with utmost speed onwards to the other port, whose 2nd port had actually needed 2 charges from the medium ships in order to take them mostly down.

Besides their cannons, the enemy seemed to step up their construction game. But it was still deplorable to the base’s simple process of raw materials processing and use of the same.

By the time the enemy’s stronghold, and 1st port, received news and alarms went off about the situation of the 2nd port, the 1st port’s boss was already trying to get out of his confused state and rearrange things. But then the base’s ships appeared less than 500 km away and started firing at them from that distance.

The 1st port wasn’t prepared at all, with the 2nd port’s boss naturally not having said shit even a couple hours after he sent the entire 2nd port’s ship formation to pursue 4 small ships, Wanting to take credit, not wanting to be stopped, and even less so wanting to be talked by the 1st port’s boss who was in the 2nd port’s boss’s eyes… a motherfucking pretty boy and whatever else.

For whatever reason, it seemed that the enemy had chosen their best and most capable small leader not at the 2nd port but at the 1st port, where no danger would occur as suddenly and as vulnerably as with the 2nd port. Meanwhile, a deplorable ‘boss’ was sent to the 2nd port instead, and such things have now happened that the 1st port’s boss couldn’t handle properly.

While he was lamenting the unpreparedness of his port and the incredible, selfish, and self-destructive methods of the 2nd port, the ships of his port were being destroyed with such accuracy one after the other.

While anchored, the enemy ships didn’t have their protective arrays activated, for they ‘obviously’ ate away Inferior Powerful Stones endlessly if left on. Unlike the advanced versions of the same in the small ships, medium ships and even large ships of the base. As such, when the base’s ship formation came and began firing away, their accuracy erred by just a little. They easily destroyed enemy ship after enemy ship.

The enemy could only watch as their ships became dust and small remnants of what they once were as monstrous, powerful weapons in the water; were all destroyed. There wasn’t even time to get behind a cannon and start firing, let alone try to get into a ship and activate the protective barrier array formation.

In less than an hour, the base’s ship formation arrived near the 1st port. And left without any other choice, the enemy’s 1st port’s boss had requested their stronghold’s aid. From which several dozen armored cars were directly dispatched one after another. They were waiting on land for the base’s ships to come closer so they could get back at them. They didn’t have any notion of surrendering or beginning negotiations.

After all, why would they? They were from the ‘four major’ organizations! Not like these lost cubs from some ‘whatever’ academy that had only one reason they could ever do something against them.

But when the base’s ships arrived near the shore where the 1st port, now destroyed, used to be. The enemy’s eyes became overly shocked when they witnessed armored cars with 1 cannon on their rooftops each coming out from the hull of the medium ships. Medium ships that, unlike the small ships that remained away from the shore, charged up to come out of the water into land and whose hull simply ‘slid’ open and allowed for even a ramp to appear.

The enemy’s eyes were shocked, their body language showing even more so their startled states and sudden fear; some large chunks of the enemy cultivators on foot directly turned and stepped hard on the ground to simply save their own lives!

Before they could react properly, the base’s armored cars began shooting into the backs and faces of those on foot while completely ignoring the armored cars that were startled and had yet to even start steering the wheel. The medium ships remained there, attaching themselves to the land with some shafts protruding out from some cannon vent-like holes whose lids slid away as well.

Meanwhile, the small ships began firing indiscriminately at the enemy armored cars, from which several ‘small bosses’ of the stronghold were in the formation of such; of enemy armored cars and became some more numbers added to the casualty rate.

Only after a couple of minutes did the medium ships no longer give birth to any other armored cars with cannons already firing away to disintegrate enemy cultivators on foot and returned to the water. When that happened, just like before, the base’s ship formation began firing away at the enemy, one after the other.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The small ships got rather close to the shore, their surveillance systems showing no near enemy. Firing at the enemy, it wasn’t until both armored cars and small ships of the base made a mess of the entire enemy, leaving only a few alive, that they then began to deconstruct life and peacefulness all around the enemy’s territory.

Medium ships were the best at it, their aiming guidance systems more elaborate with a longer range where their shots would be a little over 80% in accuracy when past the 600 km range. Since they were bigger, they naturally had a considerably harder time not being targeted, even by the enemy whose methods to shoot back at them were still primitive.

When the prisoners were taken, cleverly by the captains of the medium ships, there was a prisoner that declared himself as ‘good enough’ to start talks with the base and Ciemnosc. But due to Ciemnosc not being there, the captains rejected the ‘violation’ of the base’s rules and continued firing. This time, however, to decimate the earth and land all around the enemy’s territory for a good while.

Once the views of peaceful nature became part of the past, the base’s ship formation and armored cars targeted the stronghold not so far away. Its protective barrier was strong, lasting for… about a couple of minutes before their walls were aimed by the base’s forces, all taking just a few more minutes to crumble. Then came the direct bombardment without even bothering to aim high, directly sending those shells of pure energy into the enemy stronghold.

Firing at the unsuspecting enemy, their faces, stomachs, crotches, and buildings were all turned to dust, not leaving much to see that it was bombarded just now. There were times that some places began to burn in a fiery fire but were quickly mollified by the rest of the pure energy shells.

In the end, almost the complete enemy stronghold became desolate, deprived of most lives and feeling of existence. What remained at the very least was a couple of small buildings that looked to be storage and even… the entrances to underground parking lots.

It was already night by the time the base’s forces had taken the garbage out and returned with products from the store. Though they didn’t care for the Inferior Powerful Stones, virtually destroying all life in the surrounding enemy’s territory, be it by going at maximum speed time and again, or firing the cannons nonstop. The consumption of Powerful Stones was incredible, to say the least.

But when the ports were made into shambles, yeeet again. The base’s forces made sure to keep cannons and whatever leftovers of Powerful Stones in their pockets. Each small ship had more than enough space, let alone the medium ships that weren’t just larger than them but also had more floors and were taller than the former.

As the evening time was leaving them and the very early hours of the next day were approaching, the base’s forces had returned from their lightning counterattack. Waiting for them was still tens of thousands of sailors and troops. Even waiting for a couple of weeks without moving away from the shore nearest to the base wasn’t much of a problem for cultivators, let alone when they have a purpose and desire nothing more but to hear the great news.

The base’s forces were welcomed with raging, excited and furious cheers! Especially when noticing that the 1st port’s boss was the prisoner being exposed to the base’s forces he dared attack for no reason, abusing power so distastefully.

Days went on and on with the celebration. Only on the 4th day after the lightning counterattack did the base receive a message from the enemy and communicated their will to begin the talks after the guns had been fired. Then, with that sudden, devastating defeat and show of might, the base started positioning itself right at the level of the major organization without a doubt.

Even if the latter was to make an all-out attack of its whole operative forces, the base might very well defend for enough time to be rescued, or so did the academy and the major organizations’ bigshots thought of the base. And Ciemnosc, of course.

Thus, on the 4th day after the event, the prisoner was returned to the enemy’s hands via the Little Lake. The place accorded for negotiations to be confirmed by both parties was led by the 3 captains: Lons, Mon and Stevan. It was also exactly the position where those 4 small ships were making a blockade before, whose farewell ritual had concluded with some of their personal items.

In any case, the base was given a hefty payout of 2,000,000 Inferior grade Powerful Stones, an extra 500,000 of those for the 1st port’s boss and many promises of respecting the roles between both the base and the major organizations. And promises of differentiating between a battle and an unnecessary offense, one that might very well end up destroying both sides.

How could the war-addicted major organizations be unaware of how to act upon these happenings? Everyone had a mind of their own, but that didn’t mean everyone had a world inside their head. If one places a dumb and ambitious ingrate in power, similar things will happen again and again.

It was a lesson to learn for the major organizations. And for them, it worked. They could just go through these trial and error mistakes and right their wrongs with further analysis. They were already well-versed in such things anyway. And they wouldn’t take long to prove it. Changing the 1st port’s boss to the 2nd port was just the beginning.

And for the base, it was an opportunity they took the most advantage from. Either to gain some more of that well needed, loot or to demonstrate their fieriness if anyone dared to play with them; or treat them like a playful enemy or ally.

If anything, they were beginning to show their fangs and their fangs were starting to make everyone aware and back away from any sneaky steps; anyone.

… The number of sailors, of naval military troops, had increased to 280,000+ from 140,000. And from the 500,000+ students from the third batch of new students, lots of them had to be left on foot or with armored cars in the future. There were too few cannons made yet, while armored cars could be done much more easily now with so much experience gained over the past months and more so when the Craftsmaking division is gaining fresh blood every few days.

They had their own way of testing, examining and finally, of choosing their candidates to join the division. Whether those selected even wanted to participate in the testing was another matter. It saved Ciemnosc a ton of trouble, and though they were relatively slow starting to select possible talents or those with potential to become candidates, they were doing so the way that Ciemnosc himself would’ve done so.

Only, they couldn’t ‘evaluate’ one’s piece of mind. Ciemnosc could, so he could have many fewer problems deciding who to take in for a particular project or ‘group’ or not. The Craftsmaking division had to taste the possible one’s nature and willpower through not only complex methods but also by simply presenting them several phases before they could even be considered.

Whether or not the final ‘choosin’ of candidates was a smokescreen or not was a matter that relied altogether on the individual.

While the base continued to grow and build, its outposts were already there, and the future large ports were being built. The enemy wasn’t resting, and the enemy was no other than organizations with millions and millions of years old of foundation. They had, whether it was even not so believable anymore, a strong and solid way of doing all kinds of things, and only they themselves could destroy that pretty solid backbone called history.

One day, in the middle of the 3rd week of the 10th month. When the base itself least expected it, the enemy made a remarkable move, inspired by the base’s forces itself when they invaded their territory some time ago. It was also being led by none other than the 2nd port’s boss, whose name was Po Zhao.

Through the land, not through water, the enemy forces sneaked exceptionally far away from the ports’ outposts on the east. Using whatever the Moribund Yearning Cult had knowledge and experience of the mountains surrounding them, they traveled to the foot of the mountains and… immediately began assembling their own ships in the middle of the land while they made their way to the Little Lake!

By the time a scout was returning from giving another round on their motorbikes for the snow, more than 20 enemy ships were already testing sailing all near the shore of the Little Lake’s deepest waters!

Ignoring the enemy that had discovered him back from the shock, the scout drove the fuck back to where he came from and began using his emergency channels and one-use items to relay the information. When he understood he was being followed, baited the enemy to believe he wasn't able to communicate with the ports and directly flew away with his pursuers following suit in their armored cars.

On one hand, the enemy had the surprise element, and they weren’t going to let it slip away even if it meant death. They would chase and pursue the scout even if it would end in their immediate deaths; that was at least for those who chased after the scout.

On the other hand, however… The base now had the surprise element and could simply act as if they were none the wiser, though they would still have to make movement around the ports. But if the enemy was capable of assembling and disassembling ships like the base can, then they must have made more and better tools than they had before.

It wasn’t difficult for them to accomplish this. It was only lacking before, but not anymore that these unique features were needed. The major organizations only needed some time to begin preparing for a thing just like this one. And they had achieved it at last, now ongoing on such an operation and continuing to assemble ship after ship while the base’s ports rapidly and efficiently dash into positions.

Ciemnosc himself woke up and took command, while his teammates took command of the land forces each. And so, the first thing to do was to let the enemy prepare for their ‘amazing’ ambush now, for the 3rd and 4th ports were to wait for the small, medium… and his large ship to face the enemy together.

That night was the day that the large ships made their first appearance and also the time that they showed their incredible capabilities to the enemy. Shocking and ‘warning’ both enemy and ally, for whatever purpose. They were, indeed, to be feared. The first sight of a large ship was by far the most fearful sight that any naval battle that has taken place… been witnessed.

…