Sam wondered briefly as he walked about whether Jeffrey would lend him his disguise bracelet. If it was a device that was keyed to a specific body, then it would be useless, as going into public as one of the captains was only marginally worse than going out as himself. If it worked differently however, then Sam would finally be able to interact with his people. Sam spotted Lao and Eduardo returning to the city hall together. The others were not in sight, but the two men spotted him and waved him over.
“Find anything?” Sam asked.
“No. We went around checking for duplicate people, and Lao did some strange things with his Dao. As far as we can tell, it was only one alien. Did you ever manage to find out why it fired the cannon of all things?”
“No idea,” Sam said, shrugging. “I mean, it definitely was not the sharpest tool in the shed, and perhaps it messed up its orders. Either that, or it didn’t realize that the alien general had retreated, and was trying to use the cannon to deprive us of another shot. In any case, it worked out well for us.”
“It did indeed. Our fortunes have turned for the better it seems. Upon seeing that monster of a cultivator who led the alien army, I thought that we were dead for sure. Not even you could have beaten that thing. We have a short reprieve now however to rest and recuperate, and more importantly, gain more power,” Lao said, his eyes glinting. Sam and Eduardo nodded in complete agreement, and the three men made their way into the city hall.
It had been three days since they had captured the alien prisoner, and much had happened within that time. The city had grown, if not in size, then in strength. All of the turrets had been upgraded, and regular hunting parties were led out of the city by the captains to level up the weaker fighters. With that happening, Sam had entered a training binge, helping out those close to forming a Dao with his Dao Pedagogy skill. As he did this, his comprehension of his own Dao deepened. He felt jealous that he could not use his skill on himself, but he already had enough of a boon in the way of the Dao anyway. Still, the prospect of exponentially increasing his rate of comprehension was quite alluring.
Sam also sparred with the other captains occasionally, trying to hone his skills. It was not a very fair fight, and they had had to face him almost three or four to one for it to become fair, but Sam had still been able to further his understanding of his skills. In any case, the others were the ones who were receiving the real benefits. The cost of hiring a powerful person trainer within the Multiverse could reach exorbitant levels, and Sam was doing all this for free. In that vein, he still had his token that would allow him to go off world for special training, but he had not used it yet. If he left during this perilous time, his burgeoning faction could easily be destroyed by the invaders, or even the other factions. No, Sam would use it when all of this was done, and he had some spare time to train.
In any case, the strength of the city had progressed nicely, and on the third day, Sam stood on top of the city hall, surveying it. This was the first time that he had been able to take it in as a panoramic sight rather than being simply someone walking within it, and the sight, coupled with the knowledge that his faction had built all this, staggered him.
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The city was organized in rings, with the most important buildings in the center, housing next, and then agriculture. The city hall was the central building as it held the Metropolis Core, and thus everything around it was organized in a circle based on how the device worked. Next was the Dao tree, girdled in its protective shield, and guarded by Sarge. Sam had found out that the robot could only be used for defense, which crushed his dreams of sending the powerful robot out into the fray next time an alien army came calling. However, he could still be used for training.
Occasionally, Sam would call the robot from his post for a few minutes to half an hour of sparring. In doing this, his combat skills had risen, even quicker than when he was fighting his captains. Of course, the limited time that he could spare for such training was slowing him down, but he was still near upgrading his Mana Bulwark skill. Sam had already been imbuing it with the power of Earth, but its usefulness had decreased in previous battles, and he had stopped really using it. An upgrade would change all of that. For now however, he watched the horizon for more invaders. After the first army had been vanquished, Sam had called for every tree within a large radius of the city to be felled, leaving no room for any surprise attacks. This, along with the superb eyesight of cultivators, meant that nobody would be sneaking up on them any time soon. In addition, the fact that the first army had teleported to their camp seemed to be an oddity. If such a thing was possible, then they surely would have been inundated by attackers by now. Instead, they had been left waiting. Sam jumped down from the top of the building, the distance barely hurting him, and spotted a scout heading towards the city hall at high speeds. Upon seeing Sam, the woman stopped and saluted.
“Faction leader! I bring news of an approaching army. They are about a few hours out at their current pace, and will be reaching us before nightfall.”
“Good. It’s been getting boring without anything to fight," Sam said, grinning.
The woman saluted again, and ran off to wherever scouts went after their duties were completed. The society of the city had begun to stratify itself, and there were distinct classes of people popping up. None were superior to the other, but they were all very distinct. There was a sizable artisan population, made up of people who preferred to further their craft rather than fight. There were a few people, like George, who wanted to both fight and craft, and then finally there were the fighters.
Over three quarters of the people here belonged to that group. They were divided into subdivisions based on their means of combat. There was a growing society of mages who were in the process of raising funds for a school, a large population of general warriors, scouts, and a ranged division. Sam’s little faction was quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. He cracked his knuckles, and suited up for war.
As his armor slotted itself onto his body, Sam ran in search of the other captains. He would need to find a way to communicate with them more efficiently. The easiest way was to join a party with them, and he was slowly warming up to that idea. Perhaps he would do so today. There was nothing to hide anymore after all.