A one light power nap was all he needed as Julius awakened from his new mattress, followed by a knock on the door. He recognized the gusty qi flowing through it, reaching for his arm that tingled his spine.
“Come in,” he called.
The door gestured open with Daiyu standing with a couple of letter envelopes in her hand. After dealing with so many papers in his life, the one vibe returned to him from his days as the Chief of Operations, where it could mean bad or good news, usually the former. Julius took one deep breath as she walked further into the room, swiftly lifting her hand and passing on to his grip.
‘From Feng.’ He peeled open the glued flap of the envelope, revealing a folded paper inside. Slowly lifting it out from the envelope in a couple of seconds felt like minutes as the jolt of stress boosted into his stomach. Julius breathed deeply while unfolding the paper and reading the letter Feng wrote. For once in a few, he got the good news. While sighing in relief, he asked, “What’s the other envelope for?” The envelope was blank, with no sender written or any sign.
“Let me open it,” Daiyu said. She faced away to open the letter.
Julius watched her sitting in silence. “Is something wrong?”
She slightly nodded, turning back and directing his attention to the last sentence. “Renos, those bastards!”
He read the entire letter from the end to the beginning. This time he tried blocking the bad news from overwhelming his mind, returning the focus to Feng’s letter. He tore Renos’ letter, startling Daiyu, who wanted to take the paper away.
“We are too late to deal with them now. They are way too far down at the edges of the border in the southwest. Likely, this is just an attempt to distract us from our recovery and put us into further shambles if we get involved now.”
“But that’s one of your dynasties’ coastal fishing spots…If they—”
“That’s just one of them though, it doesn’t mean that all our coasts are invaded and barricaded. Besides, without a functioning capital with its foundations, there’s no country or empire. So, if they are legitimately taking over that…we just have to take the loss for now and bring the fury back at a later date.” Julius stated in a calming voice that his mind was running overheated.
Daiyu nodded, calming herself down. After a slight pause of silence, she muttered, “Ok, I trust your judgment…Then, in that case, we gotta go.”
She stood up from the bed, and he quickly trailed along down the stairs. They are heading out to the first district. From the letter Julius read, thirty builders have begun the reconstruction. It took seconds of flight to reach as the first district entrance border was sufficiently distant to see a bit of the palace complex and downtown district up high on the plateau.
Julius went up in the high blue sky, boosting away from downtown. One supersonic hovered him above the beginning of the reconstruction site. Then, he descended right down to spare rubble, landing at the wooden debris, and piles of dirty particles swarm around his feet and briefly into the air.
Swiping the dust away, he walked out of the rubble and was met by the gathering of builders already at work. They all stopped when he came two feet away from the site and went to greet him. Upon handshakes, Julius sensed a high concentration of qi flowing in between all of them. He could detect movement similar to neurons transmitting electrical signals all over. The handshakes triggered an awakening in his brain like a caffeine boost.
After greeting the builders, one of them gestured to the location where they had started. Witnessing it from the spot was baffling. He saw the damage from the high-up and now being on the ground where ahead of him was all empty rubble, dust, and a dead ecosystem. It only reminded him of the times he entered various abandoned towns and cities during his marine service years ago. The vibe was irritating and haunting so much that he didn’t want to stare much longer, turning back to the builders.
“You don’t mind me joining to help?” Julius asked the middle-aged man, who was described in the letter, to be the project manager leading the reconstruction of the first district.
“Well sir, assisting with the lifting is truly appreciated,” the project manager said while rubbing his bearded chin. He turned around and strolled to the specific site. He groaned as he partially lifted a metallic alloy-like a pillar in the air. “As I have discussed with the team, we are going for a type of hardwood. Thanks to your promised funding in a new economy, it allowed us to afford such material.”
Julius walked up to the hardwood as the project manager partially lifted, viewing the lengthy beam in large stacks. He went underneath and offered to lift it. The project manager carefully walked out of the range while keeping his hand supporting the plank until he was out.
The hardwood plank switched all the weight right on Julius’s shoulders. His knees were partially bent but not enough to strain or pressure them compared to what everybody expected in a manner like a back squat of doing around a few reps of two hundred pounds in one set. Fairly light. Julius thought, pushing himself up straight at ease. He saw the builder’s reaction, who took it literally as they exclaimed over the heaviness of this specific stack of hardwood. Not only being expensive to ordinary wood and having characteristics similar to metallic alloy, it needed at least two or three builders to carry one of each.
He asked the builders how much it weighs while also having Skoltor do the analysis to satisfy his love of numbers.
“About a hundred and five jins,” one of them howled.
--
Voice transcription received: 105市斤 → 52.5 kg. (115.7 lbs.) ↓
…
Calculating holding weight…
Volume: 15 feet x 2.5 feet x 0.1667 feet = 6.25125 cu ft
Weight: 6.25125 cu ft x 73 lbs./cu ft = 456.34125 lbs. (414 市斤; 207 kg)
Weight not matched.
--
Holy shit. That explains a lot. Julius refuted the weight, telling the builders of the actual number. “Whoever provided the wood needs to get their numbers checked because this is way off!”
“Sir, I’m sure it’s a hundred and five jins.”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Julius grimaced. “You really think so? In that case, each one of you would have taken each plank by now. In reality, this one plank was actually four hundred-fourteen jins. No wonder when I was briefly in the air, and I saw up to three you have to take one plank at a time…anyway, I be glad to help out.” He relieved his facial expressions and thrust the entire plank of hardwood on his back. “Let’s start with this. Direct me where to put it.” With that, the builders began working alongside Julius, showing him the way.
The team of thirty builders increased to hundreds as the whole family within the House of Kang went out of their way to help. Many refugees and survivors heard the news and generously went out to assist in rehabilitating the city. It lasted past the night, lasting to the morning and eventually noon. Successfully, the first district could get the lights back on, as well as the water services and other utilities in check.
By the afternoon, the first district went from a ground-zero mess into a repopulated community. Roads and walkability returned with the harmonious smell of food and sounds of traffic can be recognized at any spot. Not fully one hundred percent yet, but close as the renaming of the first district and a new voting of leadership of statesmen are underway.
Julius had met with the father of the Twin Kang sisters, who was a robust figure and quickly gained the respect of the whole house as they all witnessed him doing what was a breath of fresh air where the ruler of a dynasty joined with the ordinary people rebuilding a part of the capital. The phrase “Cai Returns” took the spotlight by word of mouth. The whole revived first district issued an invitation to him for a celebratory dinner, which he couldn’t refuse.
37.2
Daiyu, in a unique pair of a black warrior outfit, walked along with Julius down the street. She suggested to him if they should walk down the entire way from the palace all the way down through the stairways. Without hesitation, he accepted, as he wanted to experience how the ordinary residents of Longyue dealt with daily ordinarily. No sprinting. Only strolling the entire way. No cheating either, as anybody with qi has more enhanced strength than the average human.
“No use until we finish the entire walk off the stairs.” She recalled his response before he began heading down first.
In fairness, it was a while after she had gone through the miles-worth of stairs. Daiyu told Julius the whole legend of how it was established where the founding ruler had these constructed with his own power to create the birthplace of the dynasty. He believed the plateau was a suitable place to rule the entire empire. That was thousands of years ago and still proved justifiable where it was the least damaged in the entirety of Longyue.
“It must have been motivating for him to create this pathway to the holy ground of the empire,” Julius told her along the way.
“Yes, there’s a memorial to the end of the staircase to commemorate the time it was erected. Great Father Cai holstered a large gathering of people back when the continent of Dong Luse was only resided by nomad tribes.”
“I have a lot of stories to catch up with,” Julius replied.
Daiyu chuckled. “You’ll have a lot of fun reading it, and people here will love to tell you all about it.”
Daiyu led the way, arriving at the roundabout with Julius following her. She went counterclockwise by going to the right and immediately exited at the first detour. Ahead is the new headquarters of the House of Kang, which was moved from a southern region.
From the outside, the roof’s shape almost looked precisely like the complex’s main palace hall. The strong black curvature with red trimmings. The rest was when the similarities diverged, with the entire interior being unique by the introduction of a man-made pond encircled by the cobblestone pathway.
What’s interesting is there is no wall perimeter, making the place open. There was no reason Leader Kang wanted an open, property-like establishment. Only one way to find out, Daiyu and Julius cross the invisible transparent barrier, reacting to their movement as they two-step their feet into the House of Kang’s limit. It felt wet as it opened an enough space for them to cross. That’s cold. Daiyu reacted.
Once entered inside, she could see the barrier that wasn’t visible from the outside. Like a bubble. She thought while touching her shoulder, finding it to be dry. Incredible.
“I knew they were talented builders and fighters, but I did not expect them to also be civil engineering geniuses,” Julius commented while observing the barrier. “This has to be some sort of qi application gone well in civilization.”
“Not the first time they have done something of a project like this scale.”
Julius turned to her with a questionable expression written all over his face. “Are they really that nuts? Man, I wonder what other puzzles they can randomly discover to solve. Hell, if they can build that, they could build anything,” he praised.
“Now that’s a stretch. I’m not sure ‘anything’ sounds possible.”
Daiyu and Julius continued walking around the lake on the cobblestone path, returning to the conversation.
“Ain’t that’s what engineers are supposed to do? Solving problems and restrictions that hold everyone back from getting to the finish line. Keep in mind that the smallest thing in the question of someone’s curiosity about an idea could go many ways. It could turn for the better, worse, or at a dead end. Or we can give something for them to do, and there will always be an outcome.”
“Your insights make me question how much your head can hold,” Daiyu commented in a complementary tone.
“I disagree. I don’t believe that I’m the smartest person at all…because there are a few who have a much better perception of how society functions completely differently that I might not comprehend. Which is why I take engineers very seriously in what they interpret. Even the smallest comments could be significant.”
Julius, I swear where is this man from? He doesn’t look like him from anywhere around the Dong Luse (东绿色) (East Green). Daiyu thought, hungrily curious of his past. She literally felt her mind opened the longer she interacted with him, expanding empty space for new information to fulfill. “This dinner gathering might not be boring after all,” she muttered.
“Ah, there’s no need for compliments. My priority is to save this empire. You both had given me the confidence to lead your home, entrusting a stranger. So far, I haven’t been disappointed yet, I hope.”
“Will see,” Daiyu said.
She and Julius arrived at the main entrance, greeted by Yang, who was stoically leaning at one of the pillars along the entry.
“I assume everyone is inside?” Julius asked, greeting her.
Yang nodded. “You took your time all too well. Come on in. Everyone is waiting for you.”
37.3
--
9204/7000 Calories (+2204)
--
The dinner was the most Julius ever consumed in his life. What was more bizarre was how his entire body reacted to the surge in food intake within a couple of hours. His stomach usually felt full around at least three or four thousand calories in one sitting. Tonight was an astonishing record, leaving his body noting the fast metabolism. Being one of the strongest at the dinner made the event marginally awkward, as he was the last to finish the main course. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do, as his stomach would prolong the rumbling sounds if he had waited longer.
Julius loved the dinner meetup, but was originally worried about not being able to communicate with everyone who participated. Luckily, everyone shook his hand at least once by the time the party ended. Skoltor tallied his total interactions to be over two hundred within the five-hour dinner event.
With the illuminating full moon hovering ahead of him in the night sky, one light bulb switched as he exited the House of Kai’s palace. While everyone was departing, he remained outside next to the lake, standing by to watch the full moon. It was massive and relatively almost the size of Jupiter, bringing up the circumference and unordinary orbit.
He had thought of building a conglomerate or corporation since his youth, but never came to fruition. His mind was blurry, forgetting what got him intrigued. Probably now, he has one. Julius looked around at the departing crowd. “Solomon?!” he called.
“Julius?!” he replied from behind, tapping his shoulder. “What is it?”
“I’m thinking of a new top priority that could innovate our ideas into motivation.”
“What kind?”
“A corporation.”
Solomon holding his chin. “What are you calling it?”
“Moon…Moon Corporation.”