129 Last Moments Before Battle...
"… Do you think this will be enough…?" Nedric wondered aloud, asking those around him for their thoughts on the divided matter.
"If you're asking about the students… then no…" Kizelar didn't believe his students would be ready to survive against cultivators who'd spend decades if not centuries gathering their strength.
He looked at them pitifully, hoping some of them would survive and return, before Kizelars attention turned to the android army and its sea of instruments made for advanced warfare.
"… Those 'things'… well… I believe it will leave a massive dent in the enemy…" Kizelar no doubt felt the extensive number of machines and androids were quite daunting for anyone to see, especially in the case of war.
Just seeing all of the machines for warfare left Kizelar stunned as more advance machines arrived one after another.
There were a large number of aircrafts, both automatically controlled and piloted through an android, that were all heavily equipped to shoot down any enemy in the sky, land or sea.
The UCAV aircrafts designed to operate autonomously were prepared for warfare in the tens of thousands of units, making Nedric wonder about the number of Android Soldiers also prepared to fight.
Everything being prepared for battle was easily replaceable in Nedrics mind with the help of the Spatial Ark Star World and its functions.
A limitless supply of resources and the facilities to keep production operating nonstop told Nedric the war would be senseless for the most part.
The Clones who'd just started their journey cultivating weren't going to be fighting on the front lines but rather behind the enormous fleets, killing off the slim pickings.
Kizelar, Nedric and some of the others chosen for the battle were quite astonished by the strategy developed by Kane and Vaazakra.
The two A.I Spirits were able to develop the plans while spending their time outside of the Spatial Ark Star World controlling their individual androids.
Most of the battle on Astelan would be in their control and supervision but their main task was to manage the large number of Virtual Profiles taking part in the war.
Carter would be at the battle itself and could closely keep watch over the Virtual Profiles, yet what bothered the A.I Spirits most was the unpredictability of the raw power they were fighting up against.
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Cultivators on Astelan were strong in general but Esmond and those that followed him hadn't had the time to research the power output of cultivators.
From what Rahzil had found during his time on Astelan, everyone he ended up fighting against wasn't overly dangerous in his mind.
Rather he hated fighting altogether unless it was necessary, but Rahzil roughly estimated there were half a dozen or so people who'd give him a tough time.
Some were people from within the Exalted Night Heavenly Sect, which didn't bother Rahzil too much since they didn't choose to fight him before, however the Reborn Lich expected to beat them all senseless this time around if they came to bother him.
He'd asked Esmond to give him first pickings on people to battle against, even though Esmond wanted the bastard fighting against all who would try to invade the Red Tortoise Outer Wing.
Because of the production factories working autonomously in the Spatial Ark Star World, Esmond had them working overtime from the very beginning to create items, equipment, and machines in excess.
He believed there would be a time when all of the produced goods would be vital to exert his strength in some capacity.
The war soon to start in Astelan was perfect for Esmond to see how his finished goods would perform in combat, not overly caring about the damage or destruction of the machines.
Instead, he hoped to see them being utterly destroyed by the enemy, but it would allow him to get a sense of the dangers in Astelan and how to improve their weapons.
Esmond felt slightly uneasy that everything in the Space might not be enough to combat his future foes, so the fight with the cultivators would be a good chance to see how his machines worked.
While he was unable to drag the Reborn Lich to do as he wished, Esmond had some wild ambitions about the strength of his military power.
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For the next ten hours or so Carter funnelled through mountains of machines and androids to prepare the Red Tortoise Outer Wing for battle.
All of the autonomous turrets, missile launchers and laser cannons were brought over from the Spatial Ark Star World, however the extent of the goods being sent over were far too excessive.
Some of the Constructions Drones were tasked with hollowing out the mountain their Outer Wing rested on to store some of the weapons.
The traps and weapons systems were to be set up from the bottom of the mountain to the very top, so Carter had no issue commanding the Drones to work fast on the mountain, even though part of the work required drones to reenforce the grounds below the Outer Wing lands.
All those who lived and worked in the Outer Wing were moved deeper into the 'city' section of the Red Tortoise Outer Wing, for better protection in the upcoming battle.
Most of the people were too weak to participate in the battle while those who could fight moved over to the new Red Tortoise Tower.
Carter had set up some facilities for them to use and train with before the battle, hoping to strengthen the few capable cultivators to be helpful in the battle, however Rahzil, Wang Jie, and Liao Zhen easily knew they would be slaughtered in no time.
They didn't dare interrupt their training however, as they were preoccupied with other tasks or refreshments.
Out of the three Wang Jie happened to be the most frantic, readying the people and the Outer Wing forces, while Rahzil and Liao Zhen relaxed in Wang Jies apartment enjoying some of the luxuries of the Space.
Rahzil got Liao Zhen hooked onto eating white chocolate with some warm cha, that was drunk in northern India.
Everything contained Spiritual Essence, making the whole food indulgence worthwhile as their strength improved, giving their minds some clarity about the world.
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"You know… Esmond said if you eat too much of this… apparently it'll turn you fat… so far, I think I'm winning…" Rahzil laughed as he slapped his tone stomach with heavily defined abdomen muscles.
The Reborn Lich munched down on a bar of chocolate while laughing merrily, uncaring of Esmonds warning, which also puzzled the Grand Elder, as he doubted weight would be a factor in his life anymore after reaching his level of strength.
"How absurd!
The amazing taste and… its milky flavour… ohh my… I think that man is just trying to hide the supply of the exquisite items for himself." Liao Zhen said, not knowing how absurd his sounded to Rahzil.
Making sure to not lose his cool, Rahzil silently agreed with the Grand Elder and nodded, keeping his eyes on the teacup.
When Esmond returned to the apartment, Rahzil could only watch silently and laugh inwardly at Liao Zhens antics as the Grand Elder started bartering for a daily supply of various chocolates, leaving Esmond both confused and weirded out by the interaction.
'What a weird man…' Esmond thought before sitting down on the couch and poured himself a glass of scotch on the rocks.
"*Sigh* I've just finished launching some short atmospheric range satellites into the sky…
Carter said they should link up shortly with the information network, and be able to connect directly to the weapons system…
I'm just worried we might have some problems with the signal trying to move through the dense Spiritual Energy of the world.
Carters thinking of testing out the equipment with at least one round of weapons testing, but I'm worried it'll end up giving away the position of our traps…"
"Are you honestly worried about some prideful cultivators who wouldn't think twice before gutting you in half and taking everything valuable off your dead body." Rahzil said to Esmond, not hiding his displeasure for cultivators who thought of themselves above all else.
"I'm thinking about the consequences of those damn cultivators learning about the hidden weapons ready to blast them into dust formed from their blood." Esmond couldn't care for the cultivators either, even though he'd lived a life as a cultivator in the past.
Back in another life of his endless past, Esmond was part of an orthodox sect which focused on cultivating strength like all the other sects in the world, but they focused heavily on protecting the rights of the mortals, those unfortunate to not being able to cultivate.
Originally everything seemed fine to Esmond, as he focused solely on building his strength yet after a century or so, the Sect who raised him changed their operational style, ignoring the mortals and their pleas as it was pointless in the eyes of the new Sect Leader.
The Grand Elders who served above the Sect Leader weren't able to interfere with their Sect Leaders decisions or choices unless it meant the end of the Sect.
Most of the problem laid with the Grand Elders, as they chose not to stop the Sect Leader, but it ended up with many people within the Sect dying when they refused the Sect Leaders orders.
Only a handful of people who were opposed to the Sect Leaders decisions were slaughtered ruthlessly and paraded around the Sect to dissuade others from making the accusations.
Ben saw his Masters corpse strung up for over a month, nailed to some posts in the middle of the Sect alongside others who'd tried to stop the Sect Leader.
Unable to do anything with his low strength at the time, Esmond wait for his time to attack the Sect Leader, however he ended up falling into a ploy that took his life and those close around him.
It was all orchestrated to remove the support he had of the Grand Elders of the Sect that wished to instate him as the next Sect Leader.
Even the person he loved most joined up with the Sect Leader once he'd captured her mortal family.
In the end they died but she only came to know of the fact after her knife ended Esmonds life.
By then, it was too late to change her stance, having lost everything.
Esmond didn't blame her in the next life, but he came to understand the viciousness of cultivators, who all seek power above everything else in life, including those who love them.
Bothered by his past hatred for cultivators and their unconscious practises, Esmond made the decision to follow along with Carter's plan while he readied for the battle to come, unaware his negligence of the girls was costing him more and more money with every passing second.
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