As the World turns

Everyone peered at Wei Huoran after hearing what he said before Minister Cai spoke first, "Boss Wei, what makes you believe that?"

"Mostly intuition", Huoran admitted, "It's difficult to explain, but I believe that the dragon emperor is using the second son as a test subject."

Minister Fu responded, "Why though?"

"Logically, I think it's because a citizen of their empire found the room and the stone first", Huoran theorized, "Eventually like all the other holders, the person in question became violent, eventually attracting the attention of the leaders."

"That doesn't seem too far fetched", Minster Ye said as he stroked his chin, "But why do you believe that the prince is a test subject?"

"Well, it's true I don't have hard proof", Huoran replied, "I just get the feeling that the stones must do something beneficial to the holder, otherwise after a few examples of crazed individuals, everyone would forget about trying to use the stone. Perhaps the stone purifies the bloodline of the related beastkin, enhancing the strongest points of the race. Also, it wouldn't be crazy if the stronger the will of the holder, the better they would fare against the stone's influence."

Everyone was quiet in thought hearing this until Huoran spoke again, "Anyways, this is just speculation at this point, and the children of the dragon emperor are still paying guests who have not broken any rules. Let's keep our eyes open, but continue to treat them in the manner our guest should be treated in."

Everyone agreed as they began to leave the room and head back to their offices or places of work.

Jaeger Bloodclaw was back at the animal shelter for flying mounts with the three other chieftains and the elders that would travel with them. Their storage rings were lighter of spirit stones and crafting materials, and heavier of pills, weapons, food, drink, talismans, and more.

"I've already sent message talismans to most of the tribes in the south", Chief Ironclaw told the other three as he climbed onto their mount, a giant peacock.

"Just a minute brothers and sister", Bloodclaw said, "Daoist Huoran said he will send us off, and asked if we could test a new artifact that he refined."

"Is he here yet then?" Chief Crimson asked, "We can't wait around all day."

The four turned towards the road just as a car was parking, and Huoran hopped out. He walked up the group and bowed in greeting, "My apologies everyone, I don't mean to delay your return, but please take these artifacts with you. The first one is long range signal receiver, and as long as you have the spirit stones or coins to power it, you can use your QPhones and tablets."

The four chiefs immediately took the artifact Huoran sent to them and thanked Huoran.

"Let me explain a few things first", Huoran remarked, "There are two lights on the artifact, the first it to activate or deactivate it, and the second is the range. The three ranges are fifty, one hundred, and two hundred kilometers, and the higher you set the range, the quicker it will drain the Qi from the spirit stone. If you keep these four receivers with in range of each other you can communicate with the others."

"This is amazing Daoist Wei", Chief Razortalon exclaimed, "Is it really ok for us to use?"

"Of course", Huoran smiled, "This is a good traveling option, but I still recommend that you bring your artisans here to learn to install the arrays needed for your home. This artifact will mainly support text chats, videos, and Qsites, so don't attempt to order delivery or play games on your Qphone. These long range artifacts aren't efficient enough to support your tribe, and would use too many spirits stones."

"Yes, we understand", the four replied.

"This second artifact is also great for travel", Huoran directed their attention to the other artifact in his hands, "This is an artifact that will quickly recharge your artifacts that you bought from here. Place spirit stones here or enable to the spirit gathering array if there is a high enough concentration of Qi in the area."

The four chieftains gladly took the other artifact handed to them and climbed onto the mounts.

"I bid you farewell then", Huoran said as he bowed the beastkins and stepped back.

The beastkin saluted before spurring the mounts into action as the various birds, bats, and other flying creatures took off heading towards the Zhuo continent. Chieftain Bloodclaw retrieved the receiver artifact, and inserted a spirit coin in the proper slot. He activated the artifact and opened his Qphone when a message appeared on the screen 'New Network discovered, Connect?'. He agreed, and mentally confirm the choice and watched as the Qphone showed its status as connected.

"Chief Bloodclaw, we are outside of the array formation, how are you able to stay connected?", an elder wolf asked.

Before he could answer, another elder shouted, "Brothers, our QPhones still work on the outside, quickly check!"

Jaeger Bloodclaw sighed as he reminded them what Huoran gave them before they left, and pulled out his own Qphone to watch a video on Qtube.

Tielo Greatsnout was walking along the wall, checking on the guards who were on duty with him. He was a guard captain of the dog beastkin city of Fort Cliff, and today was just another winter day. While the snow wasn't piled as high here as it was farther north, there was a clear accumulation of snow on the field outside the wall.

"Good morning, Captain", a few guards greeted him as he walked by their post.

"Good morning", he replied, "How are things on this side?"

"Same as always", the guard closest to him responded, "I hate this time of year, the snow reduces my sense of smell."

"I know", Tielo said, "It should be fine, most of the magic beasts should have already laid down to hibernate for the winter. Only a few should be wandering around searching for a meal, so just keep an eye out, they will surprise us sometimes."

"Yes, captain", the guards said in unison as he walked towards the next post on top of the wall.

Once he reached it, the guards greeted him just like the last ones.

"Good to see things quiet", Tielo told the guards, "Not like down south, I heard some rumors about the wolf tribes down there."

The guards nearby laughed at his words and gathered around as one guard asked, "What did you hear?"

Another guard snorted, "Yes, what happened to our supposed ancestors?"

After they chuckled more, Tielo spoke up, "Alright, but don't speak like that when their envoys travel here in the future. I heard they sent a message to our council claiming that the incidents that happened with Snowfurs, Bristlehairs, and Royal Tigers are due to an ancient cursed set of artifacts."

"That's outrageous!", one of guards shouted.

"Calm down now", Tielo told the guard, "It's not only the Bloodclaws claiming this, the Ironclaws, Razortalons, and Crimson Fires have also supported this. They say it was told to them by the cultivator that stays on Sun God island."

Everyone that was going to comment held their tongue when they heard about the strongest cultivator known to the world.

Suddenly, the awkward silence was broken by a scream, and the guards ran over towards the inside of the wall. Tielo ran over as well, and when he looked over the side, he saw smaller beastkin pouring out of a large hole in ground.

"Enemy attack!", Tielo yelled, "Protect the citizens! It's the Ash Fur rat clan!"

Several more holes appeared in different parts of the city as hordes of grey furred rats poured through the openings.

Tielo told the guards as he picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows, "Sound the alarm, have all lost fire on the enemies, and send someone to the barracks to fetch the soldiers, NOW!"

In response, arrows began to rain down onto the invaders, causing them to scatter in different directions. Chaos erupted as the rat beastkin broke in stores, carting off bags of materials, weapons, pills, and anything else they could carry. If any dog beastkin soldiers or citizens were caught up in the raid, they were surrounded by several rat raiders and killed. Several large formations of dog beastkin soldiers appeared, and charged towards the enemy forces. The momentum of the attack caused the Ashfurs to panic, and they ran towards the holes that allowed them to enter. A few hours later, among the damaged and burning buildings and corpses of both sides, a group of older dog beastkin walked through inspecting the scene.

The oldest turned to one of the beastkin following him and said, "I don't know what Void-eyes and Femur-Gnawer mean by this, but we won't let it go unanswered."

"Elder Proudhide", the follower replied, "What are your orders?"

"Send a tracker and hunting pack until the holes and find survivors or at least get their scent so we can find their home", Proudhide answered, "I know it will be difficult, those rats like to think their smart and will dig fake burrows. Make sure our best are leading the teams."

"I obey", the following beastkin said before running off.

Proudhide turned to another elderly beastkin, "We must inform the Pack Leader and let all of Dog nation and our allies know."

The elderly man nodded and looked at another younger woman, she nodded, "I understand, I will go send the message now."

Proudhide sighed as she ran off, "I think those damned wolves are right, but if that's true, we have our own worries to consider."

The elderly man signed something with his hands and Proudhide nodded his head in agreement, "I think so too, the leader has been acting very strangely recently."