Another 4 Years

"That the cultivators outside the Region responded quickly meant it wasn't the first time, Etherea," Heian Ciemnosc said in a low voice. Etherea's eyes slightly opened further, and her ears tingled while hearing the supreme commander more. "Investigate. Recollect as much information as you can, and when phase 2 is complete, send the elite soldier units to 'look around' the place where our northerners neighbors received support from."

“Yes, sir,” Etherea somberly replied. Her eyes narrowed and became a little colder. Being Heian Ciemnosc’s direct subordinate, the voice of many of his commands and orders, she had grown as cold, quiet, but decisive and murderous as only Heian Ciemnosc could show amidst a mission. Her body was relaxed, but the desire, the thirst of ‘punishing’ one’s enemy’s benefactors had already birthed when she read the espionage reports.

Too many cultivators moving with ease towards somewhere was either a discovered treasure trove or a gathering point to become mercenaries and enter a struggle to become part of an organization, or even found a new one.

“Since they have more numbers, and have been training longer than us…” Heian Ciemnosc dragged his words, not ending them. Etherea slightly lowered her chin before responding, “We’ll need better firepower, stronger troops, and scarier arsenal variety.”

“As a basis,” Heian Ciemnosc satisfactorily nodded. He then listened to Etherea as she spoke her saliva and words out of her body and brains. After walking for an hour and rapidly deciding matters that are monumental to every corner of the Calatida Region’s south, Heian Ciemnosc asked Etherea, “Were there bandits after I departed?”

“Bandits?... Ah, yes!” Etherea paused momentarily before remembering something. She hugged her digital clipboard and looked at Heian Ciemnosc like an innocent young woman. “4 months after supreme commander left, there was an act of robbery 300 villages from here. The road was swift to respond, but it resulted in the death of 4 families by the bandits.”

“The array formations communicated to the nearest outpost, which sent a Bloodless Nightwatcher with its respective Team to deal with the aggressors. The civilians and bandits didn’t know how efficient the array formations were, and some didn’t even know they existed. Thus, they rapidly gave in, and this made the bandits feel the thrill that they even raped and strangled the children to death.”

“When the soldier units arrived, only 2 women being raped were left alive. The bandits were all massacred, with a few dying after being interrogated. Nothing like feeling one’s Soul tortured without knowing it existed.” Etherea calmly recounted. But while she showed calmness, the air surrounding the walking pair slightly smelled of blood thirst.

“I immediately sent tens of millions and asked the organizations’ Farsighted realm experts to aid the Crimsonbreaking Faction to find other possible bandits around that area. A few tens of thousands were found guilty of belonging to a bandit camp and were dragged to the nearest villages and towns. They were slowly executed publicly.”

“Since then, a few more bandits have stolen and scared civilians on the paths between settlements and mines, and other natural resources. However, they were too afraid to even cause harm to the civilians, and had the First Step first few realms’ cultivation base. They knew to immediately rob and flee, or they would all be caught and end in different settlements.”

“Nevertheless, a year ago, several events happened, and a few people died. The vast mobilization was effectuated every time, and the bandits were all found. There were nearly 1,000,000 miserable robbers hiding within the mountains and even underwater caves from lakes. I ordered their daily deaths in as many towns as possible, with free entry for anyone during that time.”

“Even the young needs to know what is the consequence of living in a world where death is everywhere, huh?” Heian Ciemnosc interjected. Etherea had already finished. She nodded at Heian Ciemnosc’s words and added, “Those with bandits as family, companions, or any relationship where the other party didn’t know they were bandits; were also notified of their deaths.”

“Although it may arise discontent, we received no protest against these acts… I think they’re fitting for supreme commander’s rule, sir.” Etherea suggested with her eyes going to the left upper corner of her sockets. Heian Ciemnosc chuckled, “Indeed. Phase 4 will be their glorious days. Mn. Prepare me a cultivation bedroom. I’ll stay there for long periods.”

“If you have any questions or doubts, go to Anastasia. You can ask her guards for any help. Just don’t get close to them, or they might find a way to bring you to my bed. If you don’t want that,” Heian Ciemnosc nodded before entering a rather enormous meeting room. It had a bullet-shaped table in the middle, some chairs at the sides, and a larger chair at the flat extreme.

“Sir, that is very funny. Thank you for giving me this opportunity… I find myself enjoying it. I’ll continue working hard to make you proud, supreme commander.” Etherea blushed, but seeing Heian Ciemnosc turn around and look at her calmly made her feel his proposal was equal to civilians asking one another for coffee.

She immediately calmed down, and with the curiosity becoming lower as she wasn’t interested, she bowed deeply and thanked Heian Ciemnosc. Heian Ciemnosc shook his head and commented before placing his overly pale left hand on her left shoulder.

“It was all you. If you want to thank someone and celebrate it, schedule a celebration party, and I’ll assist it before entering secluded cultivation. You’re my person, don’t think you can escape ‘fame’ now.” Heian Ciemnosc grinned before closing the door.

Thud. The door closed lightly, but Etherea felt slightly dizzy. Finally, she smiled proudly before turning around and walking out of the Central Building in a good mood. Despite her apparent good mood, even the elite soldier units showed respect to her… and a little fear. Etherea quickly got to work planning the building of a cultivation bedroom and a little party.

. . .

Time passed.

After Heian Ciemnosc returned, he spent 15 days watching the changes while he was absent. The fortified port was ginormous, only smaller than the civilian cities that could maintain at least a few tens of millions and slightly over a hundred million at best.

Their production was notoriously smooth. It wasn’t too fast yet, but with more auxiliary units replaced by citizens at collecting and harvesting cultivation resources, materials, ingredients, and miscellaneous tasks of caretakers, it was improving every week.

The armored vehicles were all built for the army. With this, half the soldier units and auxiliary units had something to move fast with besides their Fauna and tools. While the phase 2 was still ongoing, the Southeastern territory was already on its way to completing a small percentage of the requirements for the phase 2 completion.

The machine guns and artillery pieces were also many within the army’s storage. Heian Ciemnosc verified their quality and state, and they were all at the peak. It wouldn’t be necessary, but Heian Ciemnosc would make sure, even if he was the one who created them.

Afterwards, Heian Ciemnosc checked the army’s training regimen and recruiting sessions. They were on par with what he needed for this Calatida Region. They were strict, but not as much as within the Crimsonbreaking Faction. Instead, it didn’t expel or kill the cultivators who continuously violated the regulations, but punished them uniformly.

The constant, equal, well-calculated pressure, torment, and mental fatigue molded and hammered those idiotic or rebellious people to absolute units. While not everyone became a prodigy within the army, they learned how to become a soldier unit everyone else looked up to. This was the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s elite soldier units’ effect, and Heian Ciemnosc only had little to do with it, as he only organized said regimen.

Afterwards, he went to the Southwestern territory, where the Headmaster of the Forestalress Academy, Denisse, dully welcomed him. Heian Ciemnosc noticed that ⅓ of all its territory, from the southeast to the entire east, was completely remodeled to his standards. He didn’t stay for long after his Spirit Sense ensured the army’s chances at vanquishing the enemy and left while inviting the Headmaster to visit more often.

Once Heian Ciemnosc finished observing everything, and he got a detailed idea of phase 2’s progress, he was days early from the party Etherea organized.

It wasn’t something extravagant, and she kept it to Heian Ciemnosc, his Eternal Return Team, and some vice commanders that she grew close to and were her right and left hand people in the army.

This wasn’t a party Etherea made for herself, but simply for the pleasure of basking in the fruits of their hard labor. Thus, Heian Ciemnosc brought Anastasia, who was inseparable from her maids, and Molto. It didn’t last for long as it was more of a break time with extra delicious food, honest, praising words, and a little speech to motivate everyone into turning this Region into a place that everyone would look at and read ‘the Crimsonbreaking Faction ruled here’ for the first time since the new Change.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

After the party, in which Etherea hugged everyone, including the growing-respectable Heian Ciemnosc for nearly a minute, Heian Ciemnosc went to his cultivation bedroom.

Heian Ciemnosc was content with Etherea, but she wasn’t a child, nor a brand-new person into the highest hierarchy in the military. Etherea had many situations to resolve and things to learn if she wanted to become what Heian Ciemnosc wanted her to be. Besides, the cultivation bedroom Etherea had built for him was the first, no longer just a room, in which he could spend months cultivating.

Being a shy step from the 10th stage, Heian Ciemnosc had no time to waste. As for Molto, she was already integrated within the army with Anastasia. But Vol and Cris couldn’t join the army, so they would be left behind when Anastasia marched with her position under one of the elite soldier units, commanding at least 100,000 troops.

Of course, Anastasia didn’t forget to remind her father that her maids, at least these two, were off-limits for his evil body. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t even plan to, but he understood her concerns. After all, who could not fall for Heian Ciemnosc’s handsomeness? Only he knew how much of a menace he really was.

Thus, Heian Ciemnosc started his first 1-year secluded cultivation after tasting a bit of its fruits during the trip outside the Calatida Region. Naturally, he asked Grietta and Tania to take turns and visit him whenever they could. In the end, he was ‘woken up’ and ‘put to sleep’ by the 2 terrifyingly tempting, expert women. Although Heian Ciemnosc only responded physically, and that should only be dull, they had their fun with him.

They sat on him as he sat cross-legged and squatted until they were contented, and it was time to leave, but it didn’t mean it was all they did. They tried everything they could, from devouring his front to his rear, and even bringing random girls with their eyesight and discerning Spirit Sense locked. They would always shrilly scream when grabbing him in his fully extended form.

Like this, the first year went by, and Heian Ciemnosc, who arduously cultivated with only 8 hours out of 25 a day dual cultivating, finished his first 1-year cultivation session.

When he came out of seclusion and met with Etherea, she showed him the phase 2 progress in the Southwestern territory. The Forestalress Academy was more helpful, cooperative, and assertive in their proactive approach to improve their territory than the Aqualian Drake Sect. Thus, he decided to visit the Academy’s upper echelons.

Headmaster Denisse was coincidentally available, and after a banquet, she and Heian Ciemnosc somehow remained alone and chatted for a few hours. Not about life, though.

After a few days within the Southwestern territory, Heian Ciemnosc bid farewell to the bold Headmaster and checked on the Small City. The Southeastern territory needed nothing more but to wait for the Southwestern territory to improve. The latter was still halfway done without counting outposts or the fortified ports, as a vast majority of the auxiliary units were sent there to speed the process up without losing efficiency.

The only good news was that no Small City was needed in the Southwestern territory, at least not for now, so a portion of the auxiliary units were busied with collecting more cultivation resources.

Heian Ciemnosc checked Molto and Anastasia cultivation. He offered them aid and even pinpointed things they didn’t know they had to care about, which only Grietta and Tania would’ve known by experience. But Heian Ciemnosc had never dealt with before, since he was never really a master or teacher.

Either way, Heian Ciemnosc checked on his Team members and asked the specification of the Sky graded gear they wanted to have. Heian Ciemnosc couldn’t spend time on it for now and had to cultivate, so they were understanding. Besides, the soldier units and them wouldn’t fight until phase 5, so…

Finally, Heian Ciemnosc returned to his cultivation bedroom, where Etherea waited for him and bid him farewell, with just the last bits left to be decided between masterminds. Like this, Heian Ciemnosc re-entered secluded cultivation for another year.

That second consecutive year, Heian Ciemnosc woke up with Tania peacefully sleeping with her lower body on his lap, still connected, and her torso sprawled on the bed. Were another person making their first cultivation bedroom, they wouldn’t have put such a high-end bed but a wide praying mat.

Thanks to Etherea’s clever, knowledgeable decisions from earlier, Heian Ciemnosc could enjoy this cultivation bedroom with ‘others’ in this way. Right then, Heian Ciemnosc enjoyed the sight of Tania, not excluding sexual addiction and appeal, but a tender woman, resting after who knew how many different experiences not all peak Third Step cultivators might go through in their lives. Or they might, but they would also die and not live to suffer more.

While Heian Ciemnosc missed his wives, and the sensation grew as time passed, and more when he saw Grietta and Tania’s behavior, becoming more lovely than sexual. The calling only he could hear continued to echo. Heian Ciemnosc was already used to it. Thus, with a swing of the bedsheets, and dressing Tania in all dark clothing, he stepped out to check on things again.

Like this, another 2 years in secluded cultivation passed, accompanied by a trip outside to check how things went and re-organize what needed to be planned again. Etherea’s results improved, and she didn’t even have to ask Heian Ciemnosc to proceed with some domestic affairs anymore. Heian Ciemnosc simply nodded and continued asking for confirmation.

Of course, Etherea might know about commandeering, but she had never led troops on her own. A younger, weaker cultivator achieved that role before even she could. Etherea was a prodigy at management and was being trained to become a future Fleet commander, which would take many years since it was the new Change.

However, since the first Existences’ war, she showed she could be pushed a little more. Furthermore, the new Change demonstrated how hectic things turned before anyone could expect it. Thus, with Heian Ciemnosc receiving praised without end, and the observations on Etherea as he requested her to the upper echelons, the Crimsonbreaking Faction was willing to see what could be cooked if those two worked together.

In the third year, Heian Ciemnosc woke up with Grietta fallen asleep on his fully released member. He could feel her palpitating body from within. Although it was a brand-new sensation, and not moving already brought him pleasure, Heian Ciemnosc treated the sleepy, bored wife of a guilty but 60% husband delicately.

However, fortunately, he broke into the 10th stage a month before the 3rd year. The pure energy in his cultivation bedroom became null in a few seconds. Its array formations immediately activated, and hundreds and hundreds of Supreme Vigor Stones were crushed to dust to fill the cultivation bedroom back up.

In the fourth year, Heian Ciemnosc woke up with a plethora of young girls around him. Each one bare to the skin and smelling of him. He was speechless, but his reading nature told him it was Grietta’s gift. As for why a gift? Because only something as grand as the phase 2 completion, one of the longest phases planned for this special operation, should have been completed!

Heian Ciemnosc let the young girls continue sleeping for what could be several days. They must’ve been exhausted… doing all the work themselves and not being able to stop. Not only because of his dual cultivation method, but because he was too handsome, too.

Step, step- rustle, step… Heian Ciemnosc stood up from the bed, put on his dark clothes and coat, and walked out of his cultivation bedroom with a cultivation base at the 10th of the Life-Long realm! Meanwhile, kittenish grunts and little bemoans sounded on his back until he stepped out of his cultivation bedroom and closed the door.

The soundproof had to be perfect if he wanted to keep the Central Building as a professional structure where the busiest people in the South moved to and fro.

Heian Ciemnosc unceremoniously used Myriad Darkness Materialization, popped a dark dome atop the Central Building, and appeared in the sky when a flying Peaksky Swan cried and picked Heian Ciemnosc up on his back. Heian Ciemnosc grinned and felt the might of his cultivation after another year, yearning for the breakthrough to the Farsighted realm.

CRIIIIII~~~~!!!

Evan’s cry seemed to resonate with Heian Ciemnosc’s sentiment as it intensified. Meanwhile, the people below on the streets and buildings watched as the supreme commander’s mount made another appearance. However, this time, the mount carried his owner atop his back!

“Supreme commander!!” - “Supreme commander, thank you!” - “Supreme commander, when do we war those intolerable flies?!” - “Thank yooouuuu~~!” - “Holy shit, holy shit! I- I- I-... I looked at him from afar… OH - MY- GOD!!” - “Shut up, you idiot!” - “WAAAAH!”

The Small City was bustling with activity, although it was limited. Only 8 years have passed since the Crimsonbreaking Faction descended unto the Calatida Region. Only 4 years have passed since the Small City became populated by less than 1% of its total inhabitable space. But after those 4 years, many things happened that rocked the previously silent, growing nature within the Region.

Hundreds of thousands of cultivators from the First to the Second Step moved towards the Calatida Region. All Second Step cultivators were either forced to temporary slavery, such as auxiliary units for the ruling organizations, or were added to their army as soldier units.

Just as everyone thought that only the Third Step cultivators were going to war, and too many people flocked into the Calatida Region, the ruling organizations started forcing those in the Second Step to work for them. It wasn’t for free, but which Second Step cultivator was innately subservient?!

The Second Step cultivators were already a much smaller number than the First Step. However, comparing the two, only the majority of the First Step cultivators brought their families into the Calatida Region, while 1 in 1,000,000 of the Second Step cultivators came here with the same objective.

The First Step cultivators wanted their families to have another chance to grow, even if they were a family of 3. They might get a bigger chance to become important for the ruling organizations here. After all, they heard that citizens were being recruited en masse. Of course, they didn’t know that only the supreme commander was doing that in the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s stead.

Nevertheless, more First Step cultivators flocked in, while the number of Second Step cultivators drastically diminished. Like this, everything suddenly slowed down, and the Region’s South avoided a crisis where too many Second Step cultivators might want to play king and rebel.

Nevertheless, the population vastly increased. The once ghost Small City became a Small City with over 20% of its inhabitable space occupied. The most lavish zones had severe discounts for food, beauty products, clothing, and alchemy products meant to facilitate and improve civilians and citizens’ lives.

Additionally, every cultivator from the outside had to spend at least 100 years living in the Small City before being allowed to settle in. This undoubtedly improved whatever discontent the inhabitants would have towards the Crimsonbreaking Faction and the supreme commander. Now, it was all gone. Now, it was time for the 3rd phase!

Strangely, though… Heian Ciemnosc flew westwards on Evans’s back.

…