Arriving At The Little Lake

"First, your leader Ciemnosc has only participated in one mission and has spent only 1 month in the sect. Second, your leader Ciemnosc has admitted to killing off all of those who disobeyed, made acts of insubordination at critical times, and lacked discipline. And third, your leader Ciemnosc is at the Link Consolidation Realm 3rd stage. Now that such points were given, I'll continue with the rest."

The acting elder took another breath in before continuing, his hands still behind his back and at ease when speaking the next few words, "Firstly, he is already capable of killing a cultivator in the Phrenic Realm 1st stage with his cleverness and extraordinary methods. Second, he has shown strict and stern discipline, to the point we believe he may even be capable of forming a potent army of sect disciples whose disciplinary actions are only in tone with the leader at the times that a mission is undergoing. Lastly, your leader Ciemnosc has such talent in all possible subjects that even elder Apegos has taken him as his student. But according to corps leader Ciemnosc, such abilities already allow him of creating the most basic arrays and already able to craft the S- the most indispensable component of any vehicle."

“... Well, that is all.” The acting elder finished saying his previous words, and there was only silence overwhelming the main hall. He looked at those behind Ciemnosc and said one last time despite knowing the most probable answer. “Since that is all then, does anybody have a question?”

“... … … …” - “Then, good. Your mission leader Ciemnosc will now take you all outside the sect and bring you to this great mission. The sect is placing great importance on all of you. So, this time, it is allowed for everyone to know, not just those in the mission, that Ciemnosc was even personally brought here by none other than Grand Elder after his talent and potential were spotted in a miserable sect, stealing our sect members for no reason. And now he has proven himself, with even the Sect Master granting him this honor. You may leave.”

“...” Ciemnosc was silent. That last piece of a speech was directed mostly at him despite the disclosure of his seeming link to the Grand Elder and how he was being accepted with open arms, not even being doubted ‘too much’ by the rest of the sect’s upper echelons and, indeed, being granted the chance to achieve this great mission altogether.

Tap, tap, tap.

Valeria looked at him after taking a few steps forward on his right shoulder with her left hand, still a bit taller than him so she had to lower her head a little. Giving him a pair of encouraging eyes, she then turned around and went over towards the Missions Hall’s exit, her actions barely escaping any pair of eyes around her.

Step, step.

On the other hand, the tall and robust Mosto stood on Ciemnosc’s left. Since Valeria was on his right, he ended up being accommodated and feeling rather okay with being at his left. Seeing him right beside him, with his strong cultivation of a Spirit Gathering realm 10th stage, Ciemnosc then took a step forward as well and said with a loud but not so loud voice.

“Everyone now, move towards their respective vehicles!” Sending some Power Energy flowing to his left hand holding his Identification Token, Ciemnosc’s still cute and sweet innate voice reached everyone’s ears as they turned to look at the little boy who then caught up with the goddess and even walked in front of her, she naturally being glad to see that happen.

Step step step step step step step step step step step step step step step step step…

“Let’s go!” - “To the Little Lake!” - “Oh man, I haven’t seen the sea in my life!” - “It’s not a sea…” - “SEA!” - “Shhh, you’re being too loud. Beware of ‘leader’ Ciemnosc’s disciplinary actions~.” - “Aw come on, don’t be such a sarcastic dumbass.”

With there being chatter, Ciemnosc uncaringly began moving his feet towards his own designated vehicle, having already received information about which were which and the amount of time needed to arrive there with the new ones, as well as the possible routes to directly arrive at the most shallow and smallest part of the entire Little Lake; per the objectives of the mission.

After sending each of the names of his brand new acquired ‘function’ to organize groups of the selected disciples and even a few acting elders that were coming along too, Ciemnosc cleared out the way for each such group of 30 or so to move towards the several different already prepared parking lots in advance for the sake of the great mission of the Missions Hall.

It wasn’t difficult to do since it wasn’t a thing he did in the spur-of-the-moment decision. He had about a week to go with the information that was already delivered to him when Taldes delivered such information and later on more reports of such were being given to him. After all, Ciemnosc did choose that mission, and the sect wasn’t lazy or lacking when informing him, the mission leader of the most important mission of the sect in hundreds of years…

Hence, all Ciemnosc did right now was to elaborate in his mind all the names, faces, their status, and the ‘pre-set’ group that he had already formed inside of his head days ago, then ‘confirm’ such configurations into his Identification Token after sending his flow of Power Energy to his left hand without needing to use his Spiritual Power.

And now, Ciemnosc was walking towards his own vehicle, which was. To say the least, another car like the one he went with to his scouting mission; the first mission. These vehicles were all the same, except for his, which he only had the chance to hear that it was made with his teacher, elder Apegos, doing some ‘little’ improvements here and there to it and even upgrading it to some point despite it already being different and improved from the newest types of vehicles.

The rest of the new types of cars that the sect had been building over the years, after much more than just that of investigation and trial and error, were of a rectangular shape with similar looks to an armored vehicle of those ‘mortals’ with a more or less flat surface that could actually allow intercommunication among such cars, with the help of a lot of arrays.

They also had a maximum speed of 620 km/h that could also be kept for even days straight before it could need a repair in case an accident occurred or it wasn’t that easy to traverse with the vehicle. It had a couple of holes-points where the cultivators inside it could attack with tools or even skills and if needed for those who can - techniques to the outside.

It allowed for a total of 35 people to walk and sit on them while its total length was 44 meters long and about 4 meters wide, while its wheels were 1 meter in diameter, and it had many on both sides, of course. While the distance between the fast and agile-walking cultivator ‘armored vehicles’ is enough for a tall person and a half.

On the other hand, Ciemnosc’s ‘car’ was all the way up to 71 meters long, 6.2 meters wide, and with 80 seats on it for the entire platoon that would be directly under his command at all times. Its floor and ceiling distance was of 2 tall people tall, and it even had 3 cannons placed at the top of the car, which would use ⅙ of an Inferior grade Powerful Stone to shoot powerful artillery-like attacks towards an enemy up to 232 kilometers away, with a speed of 120 km/h; give or take.

Its wheels were 1.7 meters in diameter and it easily stood out from all other vehicles in the ‘main’ parking lot. Since all parking lots had been emptied out to allow for this day to go smoothly, though it was still at the mediocre level of service, Ciemnosc and everyone else only saw these magnificent vehicles that were indeed weird to look at at first. But then became like one’s baby the closer they got to their respective ones.

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There was barely any place to put them all, and though all parking lots looked packed, there was quite a wide free space in between all parked vehicles. Ciemnosc gave directions and instructions, quickly putting everyone at ease, thinking that his words came from the acting elder telling him what to say in order to get out of the sect with discipline and no accidents being made.

The vehicles of everyone were of dull steel painting. While Ciemnosc’s commanding vehicle had a straight-up steel painting which very much differentiated from any other with just its colors, let alone the mini artillery guns on top of its roof whereas they were monstrous - the most powerful in the entire world even compared to other artillery made for a cultivator battle and expense.

Trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr, trckrr…vrrruuuum~~~...

In just 15 minutes, with order and somewhat discipline, as they were still within not only their organizational territory, but the sect’s territory itself, thousands of these brand-new vehicles began moving towards the western exit of the sect’s territory. The gates today were temporarily unavailable and emptied out, leaving only the early morning for the sect’s use until their whole ‘parade’ came out of the sect’s territory.

After Ciemnosc’s port mission group left the sect’s territory, about more than half a thousand of such vehicles, but these without a commanding vehicle unlike within Ciemnosc’s mission group, the land mission group came out of the sect’s territory as well, but instead of moving towards a route leading northeast, they directly moved eastward.

Meanwhile, all they could do for the next day was to exchange the driver’s seat a few times, about 3 times in total, every hour. In Ciemnosc’s commanding vehicle, he had a seat right before the driver and co-drivers seats as well as right behind those who knew about the car’s capabilities and soooo on - the logistic guys.

… He was seated on the right, but Valeria was seated to his right and with the wall of the armored vehicle against her right shoulder, while Mosto was seated on the left behind the drivers' and logistic guys’ seats. As he was still a bit dazed since he couldn’t help but become awed the moment he saw images from the communications panel of his entourage leaving the sect and then moving northeastwards altogether in a very long. 2 at the same time, a line of vehicles making a simple spectacularly, formidable scene and set of images.

“You’re doing good.” Valeria placed her left hand on his right knee, attracting those in front’s attention with just her talking, let alone when using comfort words. Making their eyebrows jump a little. But they then heard a little ‘slap’ sound, followed by the boy’s ‘reproachful’ words and a few self-aware words as well. “Uh-ah, no touching. I’m your superior, can’t you see? Also, I’m aware that nobody thinks they’re following my command, but I got this large movable tower to accompany me all around on this trip. I’ll be fine.”

“Hmm,” Valeria hummed, looking sideways at Mosto, who felt he was being stared at by his boss and the boss’s ‘big sister’ as he had heard them talk. He turned his tall, robust body to his right on his seat and looked back at them, revealing a stern face, and slowly nodded his head, heavily, at the big sis and the boss before turning away to rest once more.

They then fell silent. Ciemnosc and Valeria kept looking around while Ciemnosc could naturally make good use of his Spirit Sense that not even 4 Obsidiafying realm cultivators could hold a candle to - to observe the surroundings as he led the entire marching sect disciples at the front. They had an incredible array system for communication and visualization anyway.

Besides, their arrays could also be said to have some ‘armor’ against disruptive attacks on arrays that weren’t initially supposed to be there, but that were implemented ever since a few days right before the great mission took place. All thanks to elder Apegos, who was thanks to Ciemnosc whom he got inspiration from. But that wasn’t needed for all disciples to know of.

…Buuzzhh…buzzzh.

“Comm-...ander Ciemnosc, my group has become restless, and along with some other groups, we’ve been wondering if ‘you’...have chosen a route that will probably have or not have any possible ambushes?...” After the sounds of a subordinate’s communication array, requesting to speak with him. Ciemnosc tapped the communications panel and heard the voice of a male speak. The tense and insecure atmosphere within his tone of voice is rather clear.

“Mn, everything should be fine. Why?” Ciemnosc casually spoke, only waiting for 2 seconds before actually responding, and his tone was as if slightly taken aback as to why he was asked such a pitifully obvious question. The male went silent, but spoke after a few more seconds again, “But, comm-...ander, aheum. We may really suffer big time if we encounter an ambush, is our route really safe?”

“Oh, you have nothing to worry about~.” Ciemnosc said those words while grinning from the left corner of his mouth, “I have chosen a route that should be mostly safe for us to go through and at maximum speed for the most dangerous ambush spot on our way to our mission.”

“...May I know which route it is? So that I can put my group’s worries to rest?” After some more silent seconds, the male voice spoke again, his tone even less certain as he asked over again. Ciemnosc didn’t react, simply grinning for another second before answering accordingly, “One that they wouldn’t expect. It’s an old route. Every sect disciple passes through here to come back or to leave the sect for any matter. Once our route is discovered, those other far away to the sides would take half a day to arrive.”

“...Many thanks, commander Ciemnosc!” After even more silent seconds went by, and Ciemnosc was beginning to wonder what the fuck was with this person, the male voice on the other end of the call finally responded, even sounding somewhat convinced as he was able to say the ‘commander’ word completely at once this time around.

“Hmm, this way, we most likely won’t be facing any unnecessary battles or casualties before even arriving there. But at the same time, those ambushers around our organizational territory. They will have more time to reunite and then less time needed for them to unite with other forces that are on their way to our territory; if we avoid them.”

Ciemnosc said out loud after the call, on his lap was a map he just took out from his Covert Space bag, marking the possible routes for arriving at their mission already while his mind had a few more roads and even hidden pathways and underground tunnels that were unfinished - but that may be because this map could be old in a way.

“It’s your decision.” Ambiguously, Valeria said with her head tilted forwards, neck a bit hung, and her black eyes dashingly blinking while staring at his face. Ciemnosc lifted his own to stare at hers before throwing the map to the right corner of their seats and reclining his back against the backrest. “Mm, no changes. Let’s just keep the route.”

Valeria nodded, and after glaring at the front seats, they also nodded in response while going at a high-speed limit of 500 km/h for now. And after the call from that insecure male person, neither Ciemnosc nor Valeria received any other such call. Things were getting quite calm.

Buzzh! Buzzh! Buzzh! Buzzzh~!

Suddenly, the communications panel began vibrating and emitting alerting sounds from being requested by so many to speak away. Having so many of them right now, Ciemnosc selected hearing them all out at once, allowing them all permission to speak with him.

“Hello, sir? We’ve passed through some people just now. I want to ask, what the hell is going on right now, sir? Why are there so many people that you didn’t even notice?!” A male’s voice that seemed soft, gentle and so educated and polite sounded at first before becoming quite sharp with his words and irritating, to say the least, but he was just one of many.

“Sir, there’s a bunch of people hiding in the bushes that we just went by.” - “Sir, we’ve detected some people outside in the bushes!” - “Hey, ‘commander’, what is going on? Why are there so many people out there and we’re doing nothing?!... … …”

Ciemnosc slowly and exaggeratedly blinked his eyes. His ears really couldn’t be bothered to hear so much of these dozens of groups rambling about shit. With one sole, deafening sudden noise for them but quite the silent instances for the commanding vehicle, Ciemnosc made them all ‘fall silent’ before he spoke his words with a calm tone.

“They are just bandits, ordinary people. Being so far away from any nearby settlements and with the organizations around probably even having exiled them, they are around here just to try to survive. We aren’t stopping. And anyone who dares to help them will be punished. Just ignore them. They’ll surely end up eating each other to live on, and if they attack any vehicle, just run them over quickly and get back into the line. We are not going full speed for a reason.”

“... … Hahh, good.” After waiting for quite a few seconds and receiving no further communications instead. Seeing the people who pulled up to complain or question leaving the call one by one, Ciemnosc exhaled comfortably as the dumb noises were now gone.

Valeria gave him a good stare while he closed his eyes and began resting, but she knew that he hadn’t started sleeping or lazing around. He just closed his tired eyelids. Besides sleeping a few times all this time they’ve been having this weirdly insinuating, intimate relationship of buddies, she has seen him sleep for real only a couple of times, and the difference from sleeping Ciemnosc to fake-sleeping Ciemnosc was clearer to see than the day sky and the night sky.

Meanwhile, as they kept on moving and losing in on their mission, there was a kind of silent acknowledgment within the port mission group. It was tiny, the most diminutive of them all, like a speck of dust trying to dry up a large body of water inland. But it was still something. Ciemnosc had gained some tilts of head, pursed lips, and raised eyebrows as rating - at the minimum.

…