Enemy Attack

Mi Yue lounged lazily on a velvet bed atop a high tower in Despair Fortress. Her fair, delicate skin was enough to make mouths water, yet such a peerless beauty went entirely unappreciated within Despair Fortress, leaving her terribly bored.

In the entire Despair Fortress, there were no more than five people qualified to flirt with her, yet not one of them showed any interest in her.

As for those outside the fortress who were interested in her, they did not even have the right or courage to look at her directly.

This left Mi Yue somewhat irritated.

I'm so ravishingly beautiful, capable of toppling kingdoms and cities, and yet no one is flirting with me.

With that mindset, Mi Yue nearly felt the urge to enter menopause. It was only when the hidden sentry she had placed in the forest returned that her mood calmed slightly.

Watching the Bloodnight Bat sprawled before the window and gulping down blood, Mi Yue felt a surge of excitement for no reason. Letting off steam once in a while was not a bad thing.

The guards within Despair Fortress and the Destruction Secretariat were mobilized, causing Arthur and Zhou Yu, who had been resting, to frown slightly. Yet both soon fell silent. Clearly, they had guessed what was happening and did not care much about it.

Mi Yue was stronger than Zhou Yu but weaker than Arthur. However, when it came to escaping, even Arthur could not catch up to her if he rode at full gallop.

After the Destruction Secretariat was established, all security duties in Despair Fortress were handed over to it, while the original Horned Demon guard unit was transferred away.

The Destruction Secretariat currently had only ten members, all female Horned Demons. Each wore a red office-lady uniform, their blood-red hair concealing the horns atop their heads. The tattoos unique to Horned Demon faces had also been removed. They were all carefully dressed, looking every bit like sophisticated city women. Yet within all of Despair Fortress, no one dared provoke these beauties.

Besides being given names by Mi Yue, these ten women had also been transformed into vampires by her. Three had broken through Level 50, while the remaining seven were all around Levels 45 or 46. Any one of them could easily crush Mize and Miuo.

One black and ten crimson streaks of shadow energy began flying out of the fortress. Many residents of South District saw the eleven streaks and shivered in terror.

A new law had now been added to South District: lawbreakers had to donate blood to the Destruction Secretariat. Slaves in particular had to hand over blood once every week. Those who dared resist were directly drained dry and turned into low-grade zombies, then placed in certain areas within Despair Fortress.

Some estimated that at least a hundred zombies were now wandering within Despair Fortress.

The business with Essin City had been highly successful. Essin City bought five thousand sets of basic equipment in one go. Even after the discount, it came to 212,500 gold coins. Adding five sets of Fine Iron equipment brought it to 213,000 gold coins. The hundred thousand jin of grain was thrown in for free, leaving Kalons pleasantly surprised.

Essin City had a population of roughly over a hundred thousand. Its armed forces usually numbered around five thousand, though in wartime they could reach one hundred thousand. Of those five or six thousand soldiers, however, only one-third wore old-style armor. Many used weapons produced by Essin City itself. Now that they were being re-equipped all at once, they could truly be said to be armed to the teeth.

If another conflict broke out with Kalon City, what expression would Kalon City's lord wear upon seeing Essin City covered in standardized armor and weapons?

At that thought, Kalons could not help growing excited.

"Lord Kalons, even Vought City would need some time to deliver five thousand sets of armor at once. I am no exception. I will need to deliver them to you in five batches, one thousand sets each time. That should not be a problem, right?"

Despair Fortress currently had only a little over two thousand Horned Demons, and fewer than two hundred of them could forge equipment. Horned Demons were naturally highly attuned to the fire element, which was what earned them their status as forging masters in the Abyssal Demon Realm.

But with fewer than two hundred people, even if they worked day and night, there was no way they could forge five thousand sets of equipment in a short time.

"I understand. I completely understand." Kalons naturally knew just how difficult armor was to forge. Essin City could still make weapons, but not armor, because the time and cost were simply too great.

The time needed to forge ten longswords was less than that required for a single suit of armor.

"Then Chika Village will be our trading location from now on. I will remain in Chika Village for the time being. The moment there is any news, I will have someone notify you," Avilan said with a smile.

"Absolutely no problem."

Kalons and Avilan began chatting casually, appearing to get along splendidly, leaving many onlookers confused. However, the twenty carts that had been brought over were taken over by Essin City's army.

Five hundred sets of armor were immediately distributed and equipped. Before long, more than five hundred soldiers clad in armor stood neatly together. Compared with their former crooked, mismatched, hodgepodge armor, they now exuded an indescribable sense of intimidation.

That was the advantage of standardized equipment. Compared to their previous disorderly appearance, they had looked little different from a band of militia.

Watching Essin City's army disappear into the distance, Wellington gazed enviously at the armor worn by those soldiers.

"Teacher, that armor looks so imposing."

Faced with such admiration, Avilan rolled his eyes.

Basic equipment was imposing?

"I will be staying here these next few days to teach you how to cultivate. If you successfully break through the first rank, I will give each of you a weapon. If you break through the second rank, I will give you a full set of armor or a mage robe." Avilan spoke like a big gray wolf tempting little white rabbits.

"Really? Teacher, you're so wonderful!" Anxi jumped up excitedly.

Wellington was even more excited, so overwhelmed that he could barely speak coherently.

Avilan implanted two Energy Seeds into Anxi and Wellington's bodies.

"Sense that seed carefully. Follow the way Light Wolf and Light Tiger taught you to sense it. If there is anything you do not understand, ask Light Wolf and Light Tiger." After doing all that, Avilan swaggered off to rest, calling it meditation.

Wellington and Anxi stared wide-eyed at each other. During this period, they had indeed asked Light Tiger and Light Wolf about cultivation methods and experience. Although the two had taught them very carefully, neither Wellington nor Anxi had managed to find the door.

Clearly, neither of them was a qualified teacher, but they were still far better than Avilan.

"Then let's practice the way Mister Light Tiger taught us," Wellington asked uncertainly.

Anxi nodded helplessly.

Just one day later, Anxi leaped out of bed at the first opportunity.

She had sensed the Energy Seed.

"Try to move that Energy Seed, then slowly circulate it through your body." Seeing that Anxi had sensed the Energy Seed so quickly, Avilan nodded in satisfaction.

After studying it for some time, Avilan still could not figure out the cultivation framework of this other world. In the end, he used the method of imparting power from martial arts novels and let them sense it on their own. As for whether they could succeed, it could only be tested through experiment.

If it failed and he truly could not teach them, Avilan had already planned to bring the two back to Despair Fortress and hand them over to Carter.