55 Aftermath

The victorious troops returned into Fledgling City and when the commoners and folks saw that it wasn't the demonic beasts that crashed through the defenses, they all cheered for the troops.

"Yay! We have beaten back the demonic beasts! We are finally safe…"

"Woohoo! I see Kael! He must be the reason why we can beat back the beast horde tide!"

"Damn right! I was thinking the same as well!"

After parading through the main streets for a while, Wallie Dawson instructed the student cultivators who were bathing in the cheers of the crowd to return to the southeast of the city, where the Myriad Fledgling Institute was located.

The student cultivators complied with the Vice-Principal's instructions and left quickly.

Mirana cast a longing look at Kael, who was walking at the front of the troops, before disappearing with the student cultivators towards the southeast direction.

"Kael… you must come to the Institute. You must…"

Kael seemed to have felt someone glancing at him. He turned around to look at the direction of the student cultivators, but Mirana had blended in with them by then.

He said to Richard Duran who was by his side, "City Lord, I think you should lead the troops to rest, and after that they have to gather all the monster cores of the dead demonic beasts that are lying around at the periphery of the northern city gate."

"I agree as well. This is a good opportunity to replenish our cultivation resources." Richard Duran grinned.

"Men! Let's move!" Patten Eagle complied with Richard Duran's instructions and led the troops away.

After the City Lord army and the student cultivators left, only Wallie Dawson, Richard Duran and Kael were left in the main city square.

Wallie Dawson turned to Kael, "Kael, I think we should discuss on the aftermath of this beast horde tide."

Kael nodded and the trio headed into the City Lord residence.

Inside the meeting room of the City Lord residence. Kael took out a map parchment of the Myriad Lower Region from his item bag and placed it on the table.

"These are the five neighboring cities adjacent to the Black Heart Forest, and also the places most prone to the beast horde tides led by the sentient demonic beasts." Kael pointed to the five cities, including Fledgling City and Fairview City.

Wallie Dawson nodded. "From now on, it's unlikely that the Venomancer will lead the beast horde to attack us. However, that is due to the strength we displayed today. I'm not sure if the same can be said for the other four cities just next to the Black Heart Forest."

"They won't. Besides, they can't do much if the four cities decide to bolster their forces by allying together. Even if they do lead the beast horde tide, it's more likely than not that they would be repelled. The Venomancer will thus choose to wait for the cultivation resources to come to him as tribute."

"Are we really going to keep up with the end of our bargain? 100 hybrid cores require quite a bit of effort from the higher ranked cultivators…" Richard Duran voiced out his thoughts.

"It's not difficult, as long as Fledgling City outlines the plan and proposes it to the other four cities. I'm pretty sure they will rather avoid casualties and spend a bit more time and effort in producing these hybrid cores. Peace can at least be maintained in this way."

"I agree with this line of thought as well. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to the other four cities. I'm sure by now they would've heard through their intelligence networks about how we managed to beat back the demonic beast horde tide by ourselves. This gives us more bargaining power as we are now stronger than any other city individually." Wallie Dawson said.

"Then we will have to trouble Vice-Principal. Before that, let us set up the Spirit Convergence Array for producing the hybrid cores first. In this way, we will have samples for the rulers of the other cities to inspect and confirm the veracity of our claims." Kael said.

"Let's do that then. How long do you need to set up the Spirit Convergence Array?"

"Two days. I need to lay out the Heaven and Earth treasures first, then use spiritual energy to inscribe patterns to set up the array. Besides, I've exhausted most of my spiritual energy reserves today fighting against the Venomancer. I need to restore my condition to the peak first before proceeding."

"Mm. Alright. I'll come by three days later. You should have extra time and space to recuperate. In the meantime, I'll report the details of the battle to the Principal first. Though he probably already knew what was going on, I still have to do the report. I take my leave first."

Kael and Richard Duran cupped their fists and bade the Vice-Principal farewell. Wallie Dawson then disappeared in a flash.

Kael then turned to Richard Duran, "City Lord, what are the casualties for this battle?"

"I received a summary report from the army on our way back here. Miraculously, none of the student cultivators died in this battle. I'm guessing it's because of the particular defensive formation that they adopted in teams of five. As for the City Lord army that adopted the line formation, there were about 200 that were injured, but given time they can recover. However, 15 of them lost their lives to the demonic beasts."

"That's a good number, considering how we almost eradicated half of the beast horde tide, which is about a 1000 of them. It's a fair price to pay, with only 15 dead." Kael said indifferently. He recalled how so many lives were lost in the cataclysmic event, Defense of the Ancients. Comparing this small skirmish to the millions of lives lost in that event, this loss seemed to insignificant.

"Yup. Loss of life is all part and parcel in war. It's a miracle itself that so little lives were lost though. That said, we will do the necessary arrangements for those that lost their lives." Richard Duran said.

Kael nodded in assent. "Take me to the room where the Spirit Convergence Array should be constructed. I'll begin after recuperating there."