49

Pef and his crew returned to their post the same day, with some extra experience of a powerful beast wave.

Xie was in the ninth heaven, jumping everywhere then trying to slow down her fall. She was a fresh Sky rank, but was decided to fly on her own as soon as possible.

The Guard of fort 413 received even more high ranked materials, to soul forge and strengthen themselves, while the newly Awakened recruits were being drilled at the forest's border.

Pef strained to increase his powers, for now crafting better storage rings and some low powered formations.

Far away and close to the tree line. Once in a while, a powerful explosion marked another failure, and dozens of trees were sliced from their roots.

The new Emperor waited a few minutes to heal, and then began again, and again.

After three more months, he reached 5 cubic meters of storage, and failed a thousand times.

His inventory was full of wooden plates inscribed with various formations, for now a single word or meaning. 'Warm' or 'Cold' then 'Away!' or 'Begone!' . They only worked on minor creatures like mosquitoes, but then Pef planned to keep trying, for a better range.

Temperature increase also barely worked, a few degrees more or less. And these formations were not yet self sustaining, needing to be recharged every day.

Still, this was the true power of an Emperor, the ability to project his influence at a distance.

Either by sending transmissions, or attaching formations to places or people.

He spent most nights beside Erin now, padding her bed with formations to keep temperature pleasant, feeding her meals or aspirin and tea. Her body burned under Awakening, sweating liters and getting transmuted into a godly template.

Damaged genes were being repaired, qi was condensed in her bones, old wounds and scars were dissolved and new flesh grown instead, antibodies and vaccines integrated into her genome.

Her mind was being indoctrinated as well, the Legion precepts on fighting evil and never backing away, slowly being burned into her brain. The qi pathways of cultivation were drawn again, sometimes correcting defects or mistakes, and a few acupuncture points opened every month.

Xia often came to watch the new pair, and then be mouth fed as well, once Erin had eaten. It was her right to be pampered, and the idiot husband cooked too well. He would never get away now.

"If only I could fly again..." she whispered to herself, silver eyes longing towards the sky.

"Oh? You want to pilot the airship?" Pef asked tilting his head sidewise. What was he, a dog?

Xia snorted to herself, patting the silly husband on his knee. "Powered flight, not this...anyway. We should force another wave, husband. Deplete the beasts for a few years." she advised him with some ulterior purpose.

Pef had an idea how to do that. A very large idea.

"Okay, beloved wife. I'll go carve a path to the sea. Get the Guard prepared, by morning" Pef said with a knowing smile, and walked away with a light step.

And so, the Emperor flew just in front of the forest line, going for thousands of kilometers to the far sea.

'Have you guessed it yet, my orange glove?' Pef asked while drawing an imaginary line in his mind.

'Amaze me, Aspirant!' the glove asked a bit miffed. It wasn't orange! It was in fact almost identical to human skin, such that it was rarely noticed.

Pef unfolded the immense corpse of the King Anaconda, and gave it a kick, to get it rolling.

Falling from a hundred meter and already turning, the snake body became a roller, being kicked every few seconds by Pef to speed it up.

Trees and animals, even beasts were flatten to the ground by the durable and heavy cylinder and it began gaining speed. Pef sped up, and kept kicking.

After an hour, the rolling snake was travelling so fast it broke the sound barrier and Pef rose up, following it from above.

A long road, of 300 meters in width, was left behind the Emperor rank wood chipper.

Every hour, Pef descended to begin kicking the roller back to speed.

After 3 hours, the Anaconda Emperor arrived at the other side of the forest, having crushed thousands of beasts and maybe a hundred times more trees.

Pef collected his tool and flew 5 kilometers westwards, then began rolling the snake back towards to Wall.

In between the two highways, there were many beasts of low or high rank, all angry and annoyed at the intruder.

They couldn't keep up with the speed, but they could follow.

Pef sometimes landed to collect some rare corpse or plant, especially if prompted by the glove.

It was indeed amused at its user antics.

'Well, Aspirant, I think you pissed of quite a lot of things now.' the system said with a snicker.

'I hope the skin is not scratched.' Pef answered instead, worried his future airship might leak.

The glove laughed amused, as the Emperor snake roller had squashed dozens of Sky ranked beasts by accident.

Pef qi ranking had also increased minutely, and now he wasn't the dead last of the Emperors. Still among them, but not the very last.

Some 3 hours laters, the forest exploded in a shower of blood and splinters and Pef collected the anaconda back.

Far behind him, emerging from the forest was a huge wave of angry beasts, running towards Fort 413, and howling for revenge.

Pef landed next to his crew, smiling like a pranking youngster. "I wonder what meat we'll eat at dinner?" he asked rhetorically.

His comrades facepalmed loudly, probably applauding with their faces, like this culture was supposed to do.

Some beasts were faster, and arrived to soon, and not bunched enough.

Pef unveiled his mirrors, high on the battlements, and focused the reflections towards the incoming wave. It was not a death beam, but sunlight in your eyes wasn't pleasant.

The wave stalled, and got hit from behind by other beasts, creating a traffic jam.

Pef rolled his snake on top of it, leveling the beastly mound into a nice pancake full of meat and bones.

nd again and again and again. All day, beasts kept coming, and funneled themselves into the mirror beam and then the under the 50 meters wide and 300 meters long Anaconda Emperor.

Hundreds of beasts managed to escape and crawl forward somehow, but they only got to die, under the spears and arrows of the Guard regiment. The Shieldwall Guards now had full Spirit ranked armors and Earth ranked shields, plus a frontline of Core rank recruits.

As the evening came, the glove storage was getting filled with thousands of tons of meat and bones.

More tons were being cooked over large furnace scale cooking stoves, the handling done by the regulars and the qi balance by the Emperor.

Amazingly, nobody died this time either, and even more Guards got to form their Core or Nascent Souls.

Half of the entire regiment were now ranked Guardsmen, something they only expected after dozens of years of hard fighting in the Wall, if they even survived that long.

"See, I told you! You kill one, I kill one, and now we're both Core" a spearman told his petite girlfriend from town Tan 425.

"Okay dear. We can marry now" the woman allowed with a coy smile, as their comrades cheered.

More couples formed with a mere glance or smile. Who didn't want to gain their Core in just months?

Pef didn't disprove the rumours, as they did have a nugget of truth.

His 76 recruits and his 10 man staff did know the full truth, but were also compelled to secrecy.

And Pela managed to reach Earth rank as well, by finishing off a dozen wounded beasts, one of them a Sky ranked beaver.

Pef smiled at the news and prepared a ring for her. That night, she became a wife, after a long and aching wait. But the Emperor wanted to make sure she really wanted him.

More wood and bones were being sold cheaply in the trading town across the canal, boosting the entire economy of the Tan Ang province by a few percents.

Over the next month, Zhong managed to cross over the peak and reach his Sky rank, not from combat or practice, but from finding a woman Guard archer who liked him. His soul had begun to heal, and it showed.

The man had enough Practice and combat under his belt even for an Emperor rank. But with a starved and dessicated soul, he wasn't accepted by the heavens. Until now.

Such was the way of the Legion. Monsters were easy to create, but good Soldiers needed souls capable of love, such that they didn't oppress the weak and the innocent. There were plenty beasts or bad men to kill in this universe, or any other.

The work and Practice around Fort 413 continued for the rest of the year in relative peace.

The section of forest, in front of the fort was pretty much devoid of dangerous beasts, and the Guard could patrol for 10 kilometers inward in relative safety. The regiment did weekly marches into the forest now, battling low ranked beasts for experience and Practice.

By the time the summon for another Fort leader was announced, most of the Guard had formed their Core, or even Nascent Souls and Spirits ranks.

Pef had been crafting a couple of Sky ranked Pythons into new airships, leaving his old Cobra as a memento and observation post.

Wind mages could use the airship's cradle as a place to recover their qi for another patrol, and the novice Sky ranks jumped out at 1000 meters to train their gravity alter ability.

Climbing back up was a bit harder, but that strained the body and qi and gave it Practice. Even the Emperor himself indulged daily in climbing the ropes to the airship, to gain more strength in his wrists. Xia wanted him to strengthen his wrists, so he obeyed.

Pef's body had begun filling up, less of a lean teenager and more of a man, at 19 years and change.

Then Lady Erin also emerged from the basement, and had to sit in the sun to recover from paleness.

She was also a peak Earth rank, and needed just a special something to cross over.

Pef just trained and cooked, letting his new blonde wife decide herself when she was ready. Forcing love never worked.

'You did well, young Pef. Nothing any other Emperor didn't do, but they were never so young...' the Patriarch sent with a qi pulse, the message itself a formation which unfolded inside Pef's lungs.

It was a bit painful, expelling foreign qi after the message was received. Not like the open transmissions that Pef was used to. He nodded to himself. The very shape of the message was the warning. A Sovereign was strong enough to snuff his life from very far away.

Major Wutan Ang arrived to take over the 413 post, and was a bit surprised.

"Hah, I heard stories, but this is indeed what I expect from someone at Emperor rank." the Major exclaimed in surprise.

"Fully upgraded Guard garrison, and zero casualties?" Pef asked with a smile.

"I meant the devastated forest. But having a strong regiment won't go wrong either." Wutan replied with a small bow. Elite regiments were rare so far from the capital.

"Well Major, I will leave you a hundred extra spears and armors, for your new recruits. Because I am taking 87 Guards with me, when I leave." the hero said in a flat tone. He had added Ren to his staff, because he fit well and had lots of command practice.

"Oh, the special Awaken ones. Yes, there's been some discussion about them. A wife had happened before. Maybe two. Or a son. But so many, it worries some Emperors." the major said in a whisper.

Pef patted his shoulder gently.

'Ang Xi wants his son upgraded.' the glove explained, reaching the conclusion instantly.

Pef scanned the man for minute, trying to figure out the byzantine layout of familial relations.

'Give him an Emperor ranked son, and Ang Xi supports me. But for what?' he asked himself.

'Continuation of government. We'll find out the details in the capital. Set delay?' the glove asked as the decision was quite clear.

'Yes. Set delay for 13 months. Give him 6 weeks.' Pef allowed as he reached a conclusion.

It annoyed him the glove already knew what he would do, but then oracles were like that. Hard to surprise, and anticipating 10 moves in advance. Or many more. He couldn't know.

"Your Awakening is delayed 13 months, Major. Complete this mission and get ready. It will hurt a bit." Pef explained in a polite tone, then turned to leave.

"I won't let you down, sir!" Wutan Ang proclaimed loudly, and slammed a fist to his armored chest.

Pef nodded but kept walking, leaving the familiar command room behind.

With the modified landscape and the trained Guard, the major had a high chance to survive now.

But if another Emperor ranked beast came, it wasn't certain at all.

Pef's company was waiting on the battlements, ready to go, so Pef called out Sky Two and gestured to Xie to take it over.

Most women and the Sky ranks joined Xie on her airship, then Pef took out Sky One and began embarking the other half of the company and Lady Erin. He would keep her close during the trip, getting to know each other and keep her fed.

He already knew his cooking was hard to copy and learn, as something vital was missing from most of the locals.

Xia had some memories of recipes and fancy foods, but the neolithic people of Lacrima had plain tastes, and had only discovered garlic as a wild herb.

Xie spread the large forged wings of the Winged Python airship, and picked up speed. Pef followed in his own airship, keeping some 300 meters between the ships as a caution against turbulence or cross winds.

"She won't like it, being far from you." Erin said gently while taking a seat next to Pef.

"I'm not far at all. She can even hear us." Pef said with a smile.

"Don't joke, husband. Xie is still...fragile." his new wife muttered and poked his cheek.

Pef nodded. He knew that too well. Two years of normal life (almost normal anyway) were not enough to heal Xie's mind.

The new Sky rank will give her the confidence she lacked.

"So, tell me about yourself, Erin." the hero asked, as there was a long flight ahead.

Still, as the airships followed the Wall towards the capital, and left Han Kuong Province behind, fate made them cross in Wix province.

And the crew gained an unexpected encounter.

It started like this: "That idiot is not my brother!"