43

The next day, Pef and his small staff embarked on the airship and began the long trek towards the wall, flying over a hundred small towns and thousands of fields, and millions upon millions of people.

'There may be more people living here than on all the planet combined' Pef mused while trying to estimate a number.

Maybe 2 billions? He wasn't sure, and wasn't part of the administration here.

Still, at least 100 times more than his home continent, with its five largish cities and thousands of villages.

'Correct. About twice as many than all other 41 continents have' the glove replied after a second.

'So the loses at the Wall are minuscule, compared to total population' Pef concluded a bit less worried now.

'There's 14 million normals and 1 million cultivators guarding the Wall. 10 thousand at Earth rank or higher' the glove explained after scanning the continent for a minute.

Pef compared the ratios and nodded. Normal people would do mostly menial work, like splitting wood, cooking or cleaning, plus transporting rations and equipment.

The cultivators would be a majority of Practitioners, and then advance rapidly once they formed their Core and got stronger.

Most losses would be the new Guards, poorly trained or equipped.

Especially if the culture demanded everyone tries to be warrior, and excel in single combat, not fight in ranks.

He would need spears, and Earth ranked spearheads. Add some projectile support. Then he could reduce the losses to minimum.

"Who has practiced the spear?" he asked out loud.

His officers looked around, but only one man raised his hand a bit wary.

"I did, sir. During the Practice for my Core" the Spirit ranked guard explained.

"And the bow?" Pef asked with a frown.

Pela and her friend Gian rose a hand each.

"Okay, I want my unit at the wall to have 90 percent spears, 9 percent bows and 1 percent elites with specialized weapons"

Pef said in a commanding tone, looking at his people's reactions.

Major Wu looked towards the wall in silence. Pela smiled happily as she'd have an easy time now.

"The fresh guards won't be able to pierce beasts, with their low strength" Commander Zhong, a man of some 600 years and a veteran of the Wall, said after a minute.

"My thought is like this. Spears at an angle, backed into the ground. The beast runs and impales itself or veers away. A thousand spears close together, would be hard to punch through" Pef explained gesturing with his palms.

"Not all beasts are that stupid, or need to get that close. But then we'd have bows, and ourselves to jump ahead and crush spike shooting pigs or other spitters and screamers" Commander Zhong said while massaging his beard.

Pef rose to make lunch, then turned around "If anyone has a better way to keep our men alive, just say it. I doubt there're many beasts that can kill me anyway"

Xie laughed amused. "Your head is getting too big, dear Emperor. There's always someone stronger"

Pef laughed as well, a bit embarrassed. Then kept cooking for his staff. The metal stove in his soul palace became even hotter and refilled his qi even faster when he cooked.

Nothing too excessive, but it meant he could soul smith a bit more every day. Fly a bit farther and a bit faster.

In the end, practice was Practice. Put your soul and qi into it, and the heavens rewarded you. A tiny bit.

Slowly the new unit got to know and talk with one another, sharing their origin stories or whatever feats they considered important.

Like fighting a day and a night with a huge shrimp who tried to sink Zhong's boat as a young fisherman. A Sky ranker flew his rounds along the shore and kicked the beasts away. Then Zhong was recruited in the Guard and tutored by this ranker.

Until the Sky rank died at the Wall some 300 years ago, during a beast wave.

There were Giant Red Wasps in that wave, and their Queen was a Sky rank with a fast and deadly sting.

Thousands died and Emperor Ang Xi came to help and push back that wave.

Major Wu was bitten almost in half by an Earth Roaring Lion, and never recovered completely.

It seemed the Wall was truly dangerous.

They make rice wine and rice bran oil here. Go buy it all' the glove demanded as they passed over another town.

Pef blinked but didn't comment. The glove was a powerful Oracle when it wanted, able to predict things with accuracy from the tiniest clues.

"We're resting here today. I bet you all had enough of shaking beds" Pef said with a knowing smile.

The crew agreed with cheers, as flying for long periods was tiring.

Pef toured the town, after presenting his flight seal to the local guard. And ended up at the market, buying everything with copper bits if small quantities like fruits or wood items, then paying with a copper mirror for a hundred carts of rice wine and oil.

Sure due to the rarity of copper here he paid too much, but he could smelt and pour a hundred mirrors in a day. Only the polishing was hard, making sure there were no deep scratches.

The merchant only heard an Emperor had crafted this mirror, and was ready to give him his wife as well. The wife smiled sweetly at Pef over her pregnant belly.

Pef gave her a copper ring and flew away, crying inside.

These people had no self respect!

That night, Pela sneaked into Pef's room and clumsily attempted to conquer him.

Pef had to chase her away with cold water balls, like a cat in heat. "Go and sleep, woman! Tomorrow we reach the Wall!" he growled a little, then turned to meet a pair of silver eyes.

"You'll need to be gracious and polite with Erin. Xie likes her..." the woman said in a warning voice, before laying back to sleep.

Pef agreed with a sleepy mind. He wouldn't have turned Erin away...

When he woke up, Xie and Erin were missing, having gone into town for shopping.

However, he didn't worry about the two Earth rankers. He started cooking, letting the smells wake and draw in the rest of the crew, as well as other guardsmen en route to the Wall.

A pair of white auras caught his eyes, 2 young men with wood axes on their belts.

He waved to them and called them closer.

"You two, what unit are you from?" Pef asked curious.

"Infantry guard, post 412, ser" one of them responded a bit shaken.

"Second tour?" he asked while concentrating on the cooking.

"Myself, ser. My cousin is the first. But we need to get going, to reach the Wall before sunset" the man said politely and tried to run away.

"Denied. Sit down with my staff." Pef demanded with a double fingers gesture to Major Wu. The man came and dragged the scared men to the table.

And such, the group got a bit larger, by shamelessly stealing good troopers from another unit.

Still, once the meal was ready, and the crew fed, his wife hadn't returned.

'Locate Xie' he demanded from his glove.

'Your wife and Erin are detained by Major Todd of Guard Police. That unit secures traffic to and from the Wall..'

Pef sighed and took off to deal with the Military Police. Must have forgotten some paperwork somewhere.