2 Years Craftsmaking

Northeastern territory, Solovin Sect's Medium City at the northeast corner of the land section.

After the southerner army invaded their territory, the enemy knew they couldn't hide any more knowledge from them. They still planned for a couple of decades to form fake organizations and people at the top of the latter to make the southerners waste time when they declared war on them. However, recent news made them want to consider decreasing those 2 decades to 1. Yet, before they entered into heated debate, they were suddenly sneaked upon by the south's special operation's army!

The reconnaissance towers with small ports they built were useless. The enemy didn’t bother with a direct approach and instead, despite the black monster and Crimsonbreaking Faction’s esteemed reputation, chose to attack them under the shadows.

It didn’t matter if the time of the day was night, the south made sure they wouldn’t notice until it happened. And just like that, the northern Farsighted realm cultivators hastily ordered their people around. It was just a strike of luck that their instincts were correct, and the enemy planned a sudden embarkation. They didn’t dare attack the Carrier and Low Battleships until they saw the rest of the enemy Fleets and the Northwestern territory’s Fleet arrived.

But even then, when they believed they could respond to the south and repel them, forcing them back where they came from. That they would no longer underestimate the South’s capabilities, and prepare for the upcoming undertaking. But they were flabbergasted to see, with their Farsighted realm Spirit Sense, their Fleets destroyed within a few hours under the weakened enemy who divided their forces in enemy territory.

Of course, by then, they understood they were facing the enemy of their lifetimes. The war had truly arrived, and there was no stopping it now. Thankfully, they had a leader that have been working hard to convince them and finally built the forts around the territory. But they were regretful. If they hadn’t wanted to keep more money for themselves, and treasures, it wouldn’t have been just 4 forts in the Northeastern territory.

Nevertheless, they couldn’t regret now, even if they felt like it. They acted according to their necessities and the defensive plans of their leader, which they thought were useless and would have never been useful. Now, they were more than grateful to have a leader who didn’t yield to lazying around.

In these moments, the Solovin Sect’s main hall received several guests. They were the notorious people from the north. On one hand, the Solovin Sect’s higher-ups and upper echelons. On the other, their neighbor, and ally, the Borrowed Heart Academy.

Additionally, there was another person with his people sitting in the center of both extremes as everyone else sat around a round, 200 meters long table with a 5 meters width. Everyone was discussing heavily, but only those in the center seemed relaxed. One of the extremes had a few steps that led to a higher step in the main hall, where a man with a bald head, decent, elegant visage, and delicate eyebrows and lips with brown skin sat with his arms atop the backrest of his wide chair.

He wore gold and purple clothing, a jacket and pants made from a smooth, somewhat luxurious, and glossy texture. He looked at the discussing hall before standing upright and leaning forwards. The hall quieted down when he moved. Gradually, their eyes moved towards this man, a Human whose cultivation base was foggy, and was their leader.

“...Msk,” the man opened his lips, echoing with a light smacking sound that made the hall seem quieter. His eyes slowly darted around in all tranquility. He placed his right elbow on the table and his chin on his closed hand before speaking with a clear tone. "Where were you when the enemy was confirmed to have attacked us? I’ve been waiting for 3 hours as I listened to the report of all our Fleets becoming metal that the enemy’s boats and mounts could scrap away like it’s their backyard.”

The man’s tone remained clear and composed, not increasing his volume. Instead, it went lower at times before returning to a standard volume. Yet, this caused some nervousness in the people’s hearts within the hall, including those from his organization.

“Sir Gasimeras,” the Solovin Sect’s Sect Master spoke first. An old man with a bald hair but with some white hair left on his head’s sides and a long white beard. “I don’t have the intention to speak up for my faulty people. But, we should focus on what to do first. What does your eminence suggest? We never expected their numbers… to be this much exaggerated. And they are all powerful.”

“...” The hall fell silent, becoming more somber and oppressive. Everyone received the same information after their leader went through it. They now became aware that the information they had received for the past few years was nothing but… pebbles beside a mountain road.

“I suggest listening to sir Gasimeras.” An old woman’s voice echoed. Everyone turned to look at a slightly aged, but beautiful woman with her left hand up. Her demeanor was polite, but her Farsighted realm medium stage peak level emanated slight traces of danger towards almost everyone else in the hall. She added, “It’s thanks to the Grotto Master that the enemy’s mighty Fleets have been reduced to a supporting role, and our armies can move throughout the land.”

“Indeed, I’m afraid they would have not been able to walk between settlements, and we would’ve been forced to employ our grand array formation,” their leader, Gasimeras, backed the old woman’s claims, but also made everyone draw a thin, sharp cold breath into their lungs.

“Headmaster, you have lost all the warships you had left but, do you have anymore? I want to send unique ships to their territory. They have started evacuating the surrendered few from those settlements. We won’t have much time to act, but we can’t try to be too sneaky. The Sect has the best warriors, and you have the greatest Craftspeople. So?” Gasimeras looked at the old woman as he spoke.

“Of course,” the Headmaster nodded her head, looking at Gasimeras like he was her grandson, but he was not. She elaborated as she took her medallion out and messaged the Northwestern’s Medium City, “The enemy forts are fortified and built better than ours. It’s some people’s fault for playing take and take in the world of cultivation. But no matter, their towns aren’t as protected, and we can afford a few hundred million soldier units into both southern territories, but this might take some time for supplies.”

“Years?” Gasimeras asked, not frowning or showing discontent. The Headmaster nodded, “Grotto Master, we used all our previous resources in those Fleets. I’ll need a few years to recuperate whatever was taken. Additionally, I request of you to grant me authority over my peers to search their belongings. That will fasten things up.”

The Headmaster looked around before continuing, “The faster we can go through these revisions, the sooner those unique ships will be built and ready to hide under the enemy’s Farsighted realm cultivators.”

“The warriors will be supplied, but the enemy has surely sent the majority of their forces here, shouldn’t the Borrowed Heart Academy send their whole troops here? Not even a third has shown up, and our land is already burnt and stolen under the southerners’ hands!” The Sect Master said, spitting some saliva into thin air as he did.

“I will order ⅔ of the Borrowed Heart Academy to set foot here. They will be under your command,” the leader spoke. The Headmaster looked at him and nodded. While those were her people, with Gasimeras mediating between them, no faulty endings will befall them. Besides, if this Sect Master really dared to play stupid, the Grotto Master wouldn’t mind annexing the Solovin Sect as a vassal under his Grotto.

“Mm!” The Sect Master nodded, content with this. He had gotten support to defend the territory that had belonged to his Sect for decades, and they had just started to take root. It was impossible to give it away now that they got comfortable.

“What about the center? Has the aquatic Fauna clan there decided to aid us?” Gasimeras looked at the Headmaster again and asked with a slightly heavy countenance. The Headmaster’s eased expression slightly fell. She shook her head lightly and meekly spoke, “Our soft approach seemed to work. But ever since the naval battles concluded, their leader has turned silent. Absolutely nothing can come from this, we should drop it.”

“...” Gasimeras remained silent for a little while before turning his head to look at his people on his left. After a few moments, he looked at everyone in the hall and exuded an aura of elegance, “Everyone. Listen well. You will have to hear me from now on, or this might be a complete failure. As for asking for more funding, or reinforcements, I am all you got. Now listen closely. Since we cannot afford to directly face them now, and not even after the Academy’s troops arrive…”

***

It was the late, very late afternoon. In the Northeastern territory, in the first settlement and village that the 2 Army Groups sent up north, where Anastasia led a 100,000 military unit.

Crackle… wheesh~! Swoosh…

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“...” Anastasia was horribly tired as she frowned and looked down. Her left arm’s blood had already returned into her body, but her people were still moving around, hunting the cowardly, hiding cultivators. Several hundred inhabitants moved left and right everywhere she looked, like panicked animals who only knew to run and run until they felt safe or got themselves killed.

Some of them were already trampled to death, and others hit light posts, walls, or stationed armored vehicles and died on the spot. Anastasia became numb after a minute. She couldn’t help but feel like they were all stupid animals, but quickly erased the sentiment.

“You’re not wrong to think so,” Heian Ciemnosc’s voice abruptly echoed behind Anastasia as she felt her right shoulder held warmly. She looked back and stared at the overly pale hand on her shoulder before looking up at her father, who grinned and added, “I would've made all these inhabitants die along their allegiance. But they understand there’s no chance. Whatever they believed before is nothing now.”

“They’re just afraid. They know they’ve chosen wrongly, and decided to believe the most stupid ideas. But no matter. After today, if no inhabitant willingly comes out of their fortified settlements before our arrival and surrenders, they’re the enemy.” Heian Ciemnosc’s calm words didn’t match his ultimately cold, serene, lifeless— darkest eyes.

“...” Anastasia’s pitch-black eyes were pensive, and she couldn’t help feeling a beautiful connection through their similar eyes. She felt contented.

“These panicked villagers won’t admit they were in the wrong, and they still won’t until they grow tired enough and wake up the next day. They might have a ‘status’ lower than those that willingly surrendered, but they’ll understand the difference after living in the south for a few weeks. They’ll remain there for years, not wanting to leave, and then… They’ll return with a feeling of duty. But that’s for the future. Regardless, you have to recuperate and show your people the way.”

“Yes, Father.” Anastasia didn’t wait for a second before replying. She nodded and patted the warm yet fresh, large hand and felt her interior become peaceful and focused again. She closed her eyes to enjoy the moment until she felt the hand suddenly disappear from her touching sense. When she opened her eyes, she didn’t bother checking the empty spot where her father was standing just now, and looked at the returning tens of thousands.

The other soldier units were also walking outwards from everywhere in the village. Anastasia stood on the northeast corner, waiting for her soldier units to do their job. As her military unit flocked towards her, she saw the new glint in their eyes while looking at her and hid a pride she never thought she’d receive so soon in her military life.

This was their leading figure which killed 4 Mythical realm cultivators in the first battle as a Light realm 1st stage cultivator. Although those weren’t full-fledged fights, and Anastasia besieged the cultivators with other soldier units before taking their lives, it was still a Light realm cultivator killing 4 Mythical realm cultivators. The latter’s everything was monumentally mightier, stronger, and more abundant.

“...” Heian Ciemnosc looked from above as his daughter delegated her people, and their 1,000 armored vehicles appeared again as they drove outside the village. The villagers were rapidly picked up by auxiliary units after they became too tired to move. They didn’t intervene until they stopped, even if some careless parents brought their children to death by slamming any structure and perishing afterwards.

Whether the villagers were awake or unconscious, barely breathing or in near-perfect condition, the auxiliary units threw colorless dust at them and made them fall asleep, entering a short coma to facilitate moving their bodies.

As the auxiliary units got to work, they searched for the hidden stuff. They rapidly found underground storage all over the village. 5 different places held resources that only the ruling organizations, funded by their bosses, would have. They contentedly took it, and even those who belonged to the southern ruling organizations obediently moved the things to the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s headquarters.

… Days went by, and like this, weeks passed since the start of the war.

Heian Ciemnosc limited himself to watching, no longer appearing near his daughter, but she didn’t need him to. Despite missing being at his side and messing with him, Anastasia’s maturity arrived, and she felt herself becoming more determined as she participated in more and more battles. The war was quite advantageous to them, despite traveling previously unknown enemy territory.

But their intelligence moved fast, and the southern army moved through or by the mountains, lakes, forests, and even smallish deserts in the middle of nowhere with ease. The 2 Army Groups Anastasia formed part of traveled for a few days before reaching their second settlement. By then, not only did she recover and was ready to face another battle, but her cultivation base broke into the 2nd stage.

Her people were also thrilled to begin. The battle started, similar to the first time, but with helicopters and tanks making some coverage as the enemy used more missiles than before. Their strategy was weak against a plethora of missiles, which the enemy used to deter them. But with the anti-missile projectiles and machine guns focused on those flying projectiles, the soldier units didn’t receive much trouble before repeating the same act.

Anastasia didn’t bother finding more cultivators to kill above her Step. She stood behind and observed, keeping her distance and commanding so that her troops wouldn’t have to waste time and manpower protecting her. The battle ended a couple of hours earlier than in the first village. The enemy had secured many missiles in this village to stop them, but their commanders seemed aware of the difficulty.

In the end, they couldn’t just explode them all when they knew the villagers would all die because of their petty actions. Thus, they fell in the southern troops’ hands safely. On the other hand, a fifth of the enemy forces retreated to the nearest oversized village, which was closer than the fort. Thus, the Army Group decided to rest for a couple of hours before setting out again.

Heian Ciemnosc watched Anastasia lead her troops from 1 oversized village to another further to the east. They were targeted by small enemy forces ambushing them in between. Compared to them, 140,000,000 soldier units and plus auxiliary units in the move, the several million to a maximum of 10,000,000 enemy soldier units was only a 1-day delay despite the enemy’s numbers not being small in the slightest.

It would usually take a change of plans and time to eradicate such a force, and there were a few between the oversized villages. However, the Army Groups didn’t have trouble eradicating them in less than 25 hours. Their coordination was key, and as their soldier units charged, their tanks and helicopters rained fire on the enemy huddled in a small defensive structure, or holed up somewhere.

The only casualties they suffered was when the enemy attempting to ambush them went all-out at a certain point, realizing only death waited for them. And when the settlements were raided, they lost more soldier units, but the enemy was nearly exterminated every time.

After the first village, the inhabitants’ attitude towards the southern troops changed. While not everyone had the mindset of surrendering, at least a rough 60% of the villagers decided to step out of the oversized settlements, walk several kilometers westwards, and set camp. They weren’t obstructed, but neither did they receive help, and had to live like the ‘outsider’ villages had for various decades.

When the special operation’s army arrived, rapidly moving towards the oversized villages, the inhabitants would surrender first, but a Bloodless Nightwatcher would separate from the rest and order them to step aside. While their surrender was considered adequately, they wouldn’t delay their occupation of the settlements.

The exiled villages outside those settlements were constantly brought to the western shores by the auxiliary units. The soldier units couldn’t waste their time in organizing a few hundred thousand people. Thus, despite the worried inhabitants outside their home imploring, they watched as the oversized village was razed to the ground, and not even their strategic position was considered, sending everything into a wave of destruction.

After the battles, the inhabitants who stepped outside and saved themselves from extermination were both glad and mortified. Some had stubborn family members there, as some were the only ones from their family to step outside. Others had memories there… but others had a past they’d rather erase, forget, and start anew.

With such disparity between the villages’ hearts, they more calmly than not traveled within the aircraft cargo prepared to rapidly bring them to the shores. As for the forts and other hidden enemy ambushes, they wouldn’t brainlessly take aim at the civilians flying in them. As long as they won, they would receive all that they lost today, and more.

… Swish!

But now, as the war had continued for a few weeks, and Anastasia broke into the Light realm 3rd stage. She was just standing there, wrapping one of her soldier units after an ambush, who fell along with other soldier units in her military unit. Her actions were severe and expressed her condolence. They were just a couple of days away from the resource gathering location north of the central west fort when they suffered another ambush.

“!” Anastasia felt the familiar presence as the air behind her changed subtly. The other soldier units around her looked behind her were surprised before showing respect and gratitude. Anastasia finished wrapping the lifeless body with the last bits of a bandage-like long leaf before standing up and turning around. There he was, Heian Ciemnosc, her father.

“The first time I lost soldier units, I didn’t witness or attended to their deaths. It’s something you could do well,” Heian Ciemnosc said, placing his left hand on her right trapezius muscle. The other soldier units stepped back out of respect, letting father and daughter have a chat.

“I see,” Anastasia’s eyelids dropped. She looked at the dirt, rather than at her fallen soldier units. She lost 17 today despite being at the back, and her cultivation base as far from the 4th stage. Despite exterminating the enemy and winning with menial losses, she was struck more than she thought she would, and it felt more down-bringing than she imagined.

“It’s not that you’re weak, but you’re starting to understand death, Little Anastasia.” Heian Ciemnosc squeezed the muscle before letting go. Anastasia sighed softly, then, she faced him and hugged him. The soldier units around them slightly widened their eyes but didn’t seem surprised. They’d like to thank their supreme commander for showing up at their lowest moments and hug him too, but they didn’t dare.

“I’m leaving you now, then,” Heian Ciemnosc said. Anastasia lifted her chin and stabbed it into her peerlessly toned abdomen, slender but mighty fine. She voiced a silent ‘ok’ before burying her face in his stomach again. Then, she stepped backwards and waved at Heian Ciemnosc, “Good luck, Father. You’ll see. When you return, I’ll have the enemy kneeling under our feet.”

WHOOSH- THUD!

“...” Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the left and grinned. He looked at her with his loving darkest eyes before a thin, shrill screech resounded from the sky. Evans flew towards them with isolated air and wind, landed, and bowed to Anastasia. She smiled, glad to see this fella before departing. She stepped forth and caressed his golden brown beak before sighing.

Flutter, flutter! Swooooosh…

“Sigh,” Anastasia watched as her father jumped onto Jing Evan’s back and the latter fluttered his wings twice, but was already 20 kilometers into the sky and several dozen kilometers away. She couldn’t help but figure herself in the same way after she grew up. She wondered if she would ever catch up to her father or not. In the end, she understood her father’s perverse capabilities.

‘Only you can be my Father, who can ‘birth’ a daughter like this with my Mothers. Right, Father?’ She cheekily thought.

CRRIIIIIIII~~!

As if hearing her thoughts, Anastasia felt her father’s presence surround her as Evans cried within the skies from afar. A sweet, wide smile plastered on her lips.

…