By the time I was done fighting, I realized I hadn’t run into a single opponent above Qi Refinement. It only took me a few moments to recognize what happened. Scalera and the others did not give a single one of them the chance to approach me.

  The thought of it irked me a bit, but I wasn’t stupid.

  I was too weak to fight someone of that strength head on without serious repercussions. It was a weird situation.

  To go from the one doing all the protecting in the Tutorial, to now being the one that needed protection. It goes to show that life isn’t fair at all, and it was important to seize advantages when you could.

  Anyway, all the fighting I did led me towards the harbor and that is where I now stood as I gazed out towards the wide expanse of ocean before me.

  There were bodies not too far from me that were currently being burned to nothingness, as the last throes of battle sounded in the City behind me.

  The members of the Ash Guard, and even the boys were covered in various wounds and a lot of blood that was both theirs and the enemies.

  I suppose it looked quite cinematic, being the only person who wasn’t covered in blood since my flames burned it all away.

  Though I wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it at all.

  There were bodies in the ocean.

  Not just bodies of Vamps, but bodies of the people of this City.

  “Retrieve them.”

  The members of the Ash Guard moved quickly, diving into the waters and not wasting any time to being the bodies ashore. Twenty Five bodies were gathered in total.

  I looked towards them silently for a moment before turning to speak to the few individuals who had gathered nearby.

  “Richard what’s the situation.”

  “The City Guard suffered a few losses and plenty of injuries, but with the help of the additional reinforcements, the citizens suffered minimal losses, and the City hadn’t been too damaged. Our food stores are untouched, and the Mavelia Transport stations were guarded.”

  I could tell it was hard for Richard to say the words he just did, but he knew that this was not the time to grieve. This war was only just beginning, and we need to make sure we stayed focus. The time to grieve, at least for the combatants and leadership of the City would come later.

  “And the Olirag Clan?”

  I noticed they were nowhere to be found even now. All of their members were gone.

  “I didn’t get a chance to report it to you before all of this happened, but it was decided that they would be better served at the Frost Dungeon.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Though we have yet to receive any updates regarding the situation there.”

  Ah that makes sense.

  Hm… I wonder If they needed support.

  “Scalera. Report.”

  “Patriarch, we didn’t suffer any losses, and we have successfully captured three individuals. We are currently scouring the City to ensure all enemies have been dealt with.”

  “Good. Any recommendations?”

  “The ships Patriarch. They haven’t left. I believe they should be investigated, and the captives should be Interrogated thoroughly.”

  She’s right. The ships are just sitting there. Hm, I suppose we can’t leave them alone.

  “Here’s what we we’ll do. Send a small force north to verify the situation of the Frost Dungeon. Provide help if need.

  “Next, I want another group to visit the New Earth Union. It is important that they survive this as well. Investigate the ships, and I want to know everything the captives know by the end of the day. Richard your responsible for the City. Ensure our dead are identified and taken note of.

  “If they have a family then make sure they are notified.”

  BOOOOM!!!

  Before anyone even got a chance to move to their new tasks, a massive explosion sounded in the skies above the City.

  One that was enough to shake the very Planet we stood on.

  We all looked up to see what happened and I was half expecting to see the ships nosediving towards the City.

  But we saw no such thing.

  Instead, we saw nothing.

  Apart from the dome of blood and the numerous ships that floated ominously still in the sky, there were no signs of any explosion big enough to shake the entire Planet.

  It didn’t take me long to figure out what we felt was likely the effect of the ferocious battles taking place outside of the Planet. The type of battles that Elder Zal would be a part of.

  “Ignore it.”

  After that everyone ran off to do the things I asked.

  After that I plopped down right then and there and focused a bit on my cultivation. There’s only so much impact I could make at the Qi Refinement Realm. The sooner I advanced, the better off we would be.

  The better off I would be.

  I wasn’t na?ve enough to think that there would always be someone in close proximity to protect me. Personal strength would always be my number one bet for any situation. So, I tuned out the world around me for a moment and focused on the Qi moving around my meridians.

  The way to make it into Core Formation was quite simple.

  Form your Qi into a ball and harden it. After hardening it, compress it as many times as you can. Most people who make it this far will be able to compress it around 3-5 times.

  A few unlucky ones will fail to reach that mark, while a few others will get a little past it.

  A compression reaching double digits was the mark of genius level talent regardless of where in the Multiverse you were.

  So in theory it was easy…but in practice it was anything but.

  Until this point, most cultivators were following a natural order. Strengthen the body, then unlock the meridians you naturally possessed. It was natural.

  Core Formation is the first step to truly step off the natural path and go against the order of things. We were not born with Cores. It was something we had to forcefully create within ourselves and it was not an easy task.

  And based on the hurried steps approaching me it was not a task I had more time to spend on.

  I opened my eyes to see Richard making his way here as quickly as possible.

  “RAIZEN! THE NEW EARTH UNION NEEDS HELP!”

  That was all I needed to hear.

  “Scalera.”

  The woman simply appeared in front of me.

  “I need a squad.”

  “By your will Patriarch.”

  It only took a second for ten men and women to appear before me. All Nascent Soul Realm.

  We didn’t dally too much longer and moved quickly to the transport stations.

  I was glad that they were still active throughout this mess, and it was on the quick run to the station that I learned from Richard that it was part of his plans to prepare for the war. To ensure they were secure from both sides.

  Of course, he had to coordinate with the local City Lord to do this, so good on him for being able to accomplish something like that.

  Anyway, it didn’t take us long to reach the transport stations and make our way over.

  What met my sight was carnage and large amounts of blood on the ground, on buildings, and even in the air itself.

  One word left my lips.

  “Kill.”