Engaging Missions

Everyone was both excited and nervous for the next three days while sect Deacons roamed the forests determining the best locations for scouting and establishing watch posts, and also returning with the first set of missions to be executed according to their findings. Some squads would be sent out to transport materials or protect construction experts while they build secret watch-posts, some would be sent to eliminate a Volvaka squad traveling in a dangerous direction.

The majority of missions issued on the same side of the river as the city would be handled by the Iron Warriors Sect, as the city would likely attract larger forces than the small squads of the Hunting Hall could handle.

As a result the Hunting Hall sect would mostly handle missions south of the river, where enemy forces were more scattered while looking for targets and information. Yun was looking forward to taking some extended journeys to the other side of the river in the near future. As she was leaving the meeting hall she was called over by Elder Lei again.

"Yun, before anything is decided I would like to meet with you in the Elder's Cavern. Please come see me within the next few days to discuss your role in this conflict."

"Yes, Master. This Yun will visit you soon."

"Very good, take a good rest for the next few days until it's time to begin. The Elders will call for you to discuss the missions when the Deacons return."

After this short exchange they both parted ways as Yun returned to her personal quarters yet again. Within her quarters she sat down and, before long, Zhu Cai came back in again.

"Yun'er, you're back. I've finally got that project you left me with last time finished, care to take a look?"

Yun paused for a moment, trying to recall what Zhu Cai was referring to, before it suddenly dawned on her and she excitedly stood up and followed Zhu Cai to the other room.

"You asked me to work on this, but when you went into your secluded training we spent a huge amount of effort making the new gear for you, so this didn't get done. Now it's finally been done, and I must say it's fabulous."

Zhu Cai turned around holding a pair of bracers with only one having a wrist-guard. The other had an inset for one to slot into, and the wrist-guard from the one that had it was modified to look almost identical to the spatial storage artifact that Yun had acquired so long ago.

"Cai'er, this is incredible. You even added carving along the rest of the bracers to match the patterns and unify the whole design!"

"Oh ho ho ho, of course, of course! This Cai is incredible, don't you know? Not only that, but while I was at it we added some minor material reinforcement to it and some arrays that further reinforce it. In the future these could be renovated with superior materials and techniques to improve them and stay useful to you. At least up to a point. Likely when you reach Xiantian you'll need to replace them, as the base material for this item is simply too poor for a Xiantian artifact."

"Of course, most of this Yun's equipment will need replaced at that time. Very few materials can make it through the jump to Xiantian power."

The two laughed and joked for hours that night, knowing it would likely be the last chance at fun for a while. Their world was about to turn to chaos.

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After two more days had passed the entire Sect was waiting on tenterhooks when the Deacons finally returned with news.

Numerous watch-posts had been marked on maps that were laid out in the mission accepting area of the sect, and a number of scouting regions had been established as well. Many of the lower level sect members were eyeing the maps of the north side of the river for relatively safer watch-posts, while some of the more confident members of the sect that were not part of the military forces eyed the south.

Yun stood at the other side of the room, looking at the military battle-maps. These maps were separated out for the military forces to look at exclusively, and they were behind doors that those without authorization could not pass. These were the maps where the intelligence provided from the scouts and watch-posts would be gathered to create missions.

Yun looked at these maps for a long time, only looking at the south side of the river for tasks, and selected a number of them to designate for each of the four corps. The easier tasks were all assigned to the Fourth Corps due to their lowered manpower. Finally, after nearly two hours, she had finished selecting the first round of missions and called a meeting of the command structure to designate tasks.

Yun selected a task for herself and Long Wuying to perform even further south, in the great forests south of the Wild Wind Mountains. All the squads designated to perform missions were given two days to prepare all the materials they would need, and each designated squad commander would be given an allowance to purchase anything they may not already have.

The first official tasks of the war had been issued. Everyone really felt now that the war had truly begun.