Chapter 86: Back to the Academy
The next day
The construction of the three-layered defense commenced in the morning.
The first stage of the construction was to build deep trenches around an area of 500 square kilometers(193 square miles). There were 17 dominion realm cultivators in the alliance who could move mountains if needed. So the first stage of the construction was completed in a day.
The spies sent by Guo Min saw the changes in the alliance, so they fled immediately to inform Guo Min. But it would take them a month to reach the forbidden forest.
Defensive wall construction commenced on the second. Simultaneously, 10% of the population, or around 200,000 men and women were recruited into the army. Vast majorities of which were normal humans.
Their training commenced on the third day.
Meanwhile, the rest of the population began migrating on the fourth day. Everyone was assigned to a task after the migration, some to farmland, some to shelter construction, and some to hunting. Everyone had their role to play.
***
A Month Later, The Forbidden Forest
The spies made their way to the forbidden forest.
Afterward, they reported the situation to Guo Min, alarming him.
He stood up and dashed toward the residence of the wyvern.
He arrived in front of the cave.
"Lord, we have a problem."
The wyvern replied. "What is it?"
Guo Min reported the situation. "According to our spies, the alliance has fortified itself. They were building trenches when our spies left."
The wyvern idly replied. "Even if we depart now for an attack, they would have already completed most of the defensive structures by the time we reach there. Let them cozy in their place. It'll be easy to wipe them out in the future."
"Yes, Lord." Guo Min left the cave and returned.
***
Six Months Later, Fiery Highlands
A gem was floating in the air, and a man with fire around him could be seen close to the gem. If he stretched his arm, he could reach and grab the gem. However, there was something unusual about the terrain man was at. The man was standing at the lava.
The temperature in the inner core is about 5,200° Celsius (9,392° Fahrenheit), and the temperature at the 0-meter mark was around 5300° Celsius (9,572° Fahrenheit). It was only 200° Celsius less than the surface of a sun. That's right, the sun.
"Haha. I've finally made it after god knows how many years. Let's see what secrets you hold."
He grabbed the gem.
Psss!
The gem instantly burned his skin, but it regenerated back. Afterward, he started a thorough examination of the gem. At first, he injected Qi into it. To his disappointment, nothing happened.
Then he injected his consciousness. Suddenly, he got a flashback.
In space, a meteor size of truck was hurling toward this planet.
He muttered. "It's coming here?"
Suddenly, another meteor clashed with the previous one altering its path. The collision also severed two meteorites, the first had a size of a head, and the other was 10x bigger.
The meteorites landed on the planet revealing its true appearance.
Grim was taken aback by the appearance of the meteorite because he currently possessed the smaller meteorite.
"So, the meteorite I broke back then came from outer space? And there is another 10x bigger somewhere on this planet?"
He was looking forward to uncovering the bigger meteorite.
He fiddled with the gem. "I can already touch this smaller one. So, it won't be much help even if I managed to absorb this gem. I'll gift my master instead."
"Now that I have dealt with the matter of gem, I'll check my body."
He glanced at his body externally, and it gave a fright. His body was covered by the fiery aura, and it was different than the aura from the gem. It was more refined than the aura from Gem.
"Why does its purity resemble my Qi?"
He circulated Qi around him, and to his surprise, the Qi contained small traces of the 'fire' element resulting in a fiery aura around his body.
"How is this happening?"
He checked the system in a hurry.
"Am I seeing things?"
He checked the system again. His mastery of the 'fire' element had reached the 'master' level.
"So it's real? All those years of training were worth it."
He jumped around like a monkey with a banana.
***
"Let's test what the new level of mastery can do."
'Fire Domain'
The domain expanded around two kilometers.
"The size has increased. What else has changed?"
He started messing with the domain.
'Fire Lance'
Suddenly, the fire within the domain was shaped into a lance.
"That's new. Let's check if I can shape it into other things."
'Fire Bird'
The fire transformed into an eagle.
'Fire Arrows'
Soon, multiple fire arrows materialized, but they only lasted for a few minutes before disappearing.
"So I can conjure the fire into anything, the only disadvantage being weaker than the actual skill. It's not that bad. Hopefully, I can improve them once I improve my mastery further."
He muttered. "Let's check the actual skill."
'Solar Wave'
A wave of fire enough to engulf an entire city formed.
"Impressive. I've assessed the abilities. I'll return to the alliance headquarter now."
He took off with the gem.
Even without the gem, the environment remained extremely hot. It would take a decade or two to cool down.
***
Ten days Later, Former Martial Alliance HQ
"This should be the location according to the map handed by the master. But, there's no one here."
The location had been abandoned for months.
"Did something happen when I was gone?"
He became anxious. So he started investigating the surroundings.
An hour later, he came across the beast alliance headquarters. It was abandoned as well.
"Hmm. Both locations are abandoned, but there are no signs of battle here. They must have evacuated to somewhere else."
He soared away in search of the new location.
A few hours later he found the new location.
***
New Alliance HQ
Grim arrived in front of the entrance gate.
The new headquarter was enclosed with walls. There were guards stationed at the walls. There was an army settlement behind the walls, and there was a civilian settlement behind them. Finally, there was the cultivator settlement in the middle.
"Somethings never change no matter the place."
He slowly landed.
There were four guards at the gate. The moment they saw Grim landing, they went to greet him. It was common sense among all the cultivators about the dominion realm cultivator's ability to fly.
"Greetings Lord."
Grim nodded in response and advanced further. However, he was stopped in the middle.
One of the guards politely said. "Sorry to offend you Lord, but we haven't seen you before. Can we see your identity please?"
"It's fine. Here." Grim handed a disciple token from the 'Faith' academy.
"You can also verify my identity with anyone from the 'Faith' academy."
The guards examined the token and checked if the 'Faith' academy existed.
A few minutes later, one of the guards returned with the token and handed it over to Grim.
The guard said. "As a form of apology, I'll guide you to the residence of the 'Faith' academy."
Grim nodded and followed him.
***
The guard escorted Grim to the Faith Academy's location.
They arrived at the border between the citizen's settlement and the cultivator's settlement.
There was a medium-sized manor.
'Faith' Academy was carved on the name board that hung over its gate.
"I'll get going now, Lord."
The guard left the place and advanced further.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Grim knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
Grim replied. "It's me, Grim. Disciple of Lou Xiang."
Clack!
The doors opened.
A woman inquired. "Disciple Grim, is that you?"
"Yes, it's me."
He glanced at the woman, and she looked familiar.
He asked. "How have you been sister Xue An?"
"You still remember me?" She was slightly happy.
"Of course, I do senior sister Xue. Who could forget our receptionist from the mission hall?" Grim replied with a smile.
He asked. "How is the situation of the academy?"
She replied with sadness. "It's not that good. Most of our students have been recruited in the army, and we are given cold shoulder treatment since we are a low-level academy."
He understood the reason behind it, but it still angered him.
He ordered her. "Go and gather everyone."
She was slightly confused but she followed his order.
***
10 minutes later
Everyone gathered in the courtyard.
They were surprised to see Grim.
Lou Xiang was the first to speak. "Welcome back disciple."
Grim replied. "Thank you, master."
Wan Jia asked. "Why have you gathered all of us here, disciple Grim?"
Everyone turned their attention to Grim.
"I just heard about the situation at our academy. The academy gave me food, water, shelter, resources to cultivate, and guidance from the instructors. As a disciple of the academy, I must look after the academy. I'll go and talk with alliance leaders about it." He gave a motivational speech.
But no one was motivated, they were shocked instead.
Principal Wan Jia was the first to come back to his senses.
"I understand that you want to repay the academy, disciple Grim. But I don't think it's a good time to be hot-headed."
Others began whispering, but only Lou Xiang was calm and smiling.
Soon, an aura spread across the academy. It was enough to terrify everyone present.
They glanced toward the source of the aura and saw Grim.
"You..."x20
Everyone was shocked to the core.
It was the aura of a dominion realm cultivator and it happened to be the student of 'Faith' academy.
Wan Jia voiced. "Disciple Grim, you..."
Grim nodded in response.
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