Domain

volume 2 upgrade specialist chapter 13 - scouting

As Gareth and I sped through the trees the sounds of battle drew closer. After 5 minutes we broke through into a clearing. standing in the middle of several corpses were two young men. One lanky with pointed features and the other of average Hight with short cut hair.

Instantly I recognised them, the tall one was li chenfeng, a supporting character. The other was the main character, bai yunfei, the main character. Other than their appearance my instincts picked up on their power, Yunfei was G rank and chenfeng was on the cusp of it.

Upon Seeing us they held up their weapons, thinking we were more bandits.

Solomon: please calm down, young warriors. I am Solomon, the leader of the anti-bandit task force.

They calmed down slightly but still held their vigilance.

Yunfei: what is it you want? As you can tell we are already dealing with the bandits.

Solomon: I think we have a common interest. We are hunting the bandits in blackwood stronghold. I was hoping you would be interested in a temporary truce. I'm sure you know there is a late soul personage and middle soul warrior in the stronghold. Even with your skills, you can not win.

Turning back chenfeng whispered something to yunfei.

Yunfei: we know we can't currently beat the cultivators there, but how can we trust you?

Solomon: I am a friend of your fate school benefactor.

Upon saying this his caution was reduced, but I could still feel he was being careful. Seeing this I put the final nail in the coffin.

Solomon: I also know of your upgrading ability, as I gained something similar.

Upon hearing this he knew we were at least trustworthy.

Yunfei: okay we will cooperate for now. I am bai yunfei, and this is li chenfeng.

Glad to have succeeded in gaining their support I introduced us.

Solomon: I am Solomon and this is Gareth. Other than us there are 13 others nearby. We will show you the way to our base.

Then with the two characters following we made our way back to the case. When we arrived Alice came over to greet us.

Alice: welcome back Solomon, did it go well?

Solomon: it did, we've managed to gain the help of these two.

Turning to face the new additions Alice introduced herself. Unlike me, none of my teammates knew the story of this world.

Alice: I am Alice, it is nice to meet you.

Yunfei: likewise, I am bai yunfei.

Chenfeng: it is also a pleasure I am li chenfeng.

From their I called everyone over.

Solomon: everyone, as we will be working together I would like everyone to introduce themselves, along with any skills they have. So I shall start. I am Solomon. I have only one skill, it is called the flame serpent art. Pointing at the waterfall I released the art using an 18th of my qi.

As the small lizard of qi smashed into the water a plume of mist sprayed forth.

Solomon: I also have this weapon

Saying so I held up the arcane orb.

Solomon: it allows me to amplify my attacks by 4 times.

Yunfei: with strength like that you could rival any soul personage, even a soul warrior couldn’t be careless.

Solomon: thanks for the praise.

After me, Alice and Gareth went next. Following them was chenfeng.

Chengfeng: hello, I am li chenfeng. I am a late apprentice stage soul cultivator. Though I don’t have any skills quite good with a sword.

Standing before a boulder he released a few slashes. Each attack leaving several inch deep gashes in the boulder. Then following that yunfei displayed himself.

Yunfei: I am bai yunfei, an early soul personage. I have one skill, the overlapping waves art.

Saying so he stood before the boulder from before. Reaching back he stepped forward punching the boulder. As his fist collided several cracks appeared on the boulder before it fell onto its side.

Yunfei: I also have a two weapons, this glacial picker.

Holding forward a light blue Chinese sword he thrust it into the boulder. After sinking in about halfway the momentum stopped.

Yunfei: and this spear.

Having removed the glacial picker he held an almost three-meter long crimson spear. With three round jewels embedded where the blade and handle joined. Jabbing forward with it the blade sunk into the boulder. As the spear stopped moving an explosion came from the end, destroying a large part of the boulder.

Yunfei: it also has a chance to explode like that.

After Yunfei all of the unranked introduced themselves. Though they were all better than the average fighter they were nothing special.

The three bobs stood forward together.

Bob1: I am bob 1, and this is bob 2 and 3. we all have the same abilities so I shall explain. We each wear a full set of black iron armour. It is capable of resisting most physical attacks, but not energy. We all also carry a copy of the sword, washing pole. It is relatively strong and focuses on its long reach.

Saying so he took the sword of his back.holding it before him you could see it was a little shorter than 2 meters long. Seeing this reminded me of the amazing swordsman guts from my test mission.

Having finished they stepped down leaving the last person, Aries.

Aries: I am Aries. I am a beginner class water mage. I have 2 skills. The first called water orb.

Pointing her staff toward the waterfall a head sized orb of water flew to float before her. she then sent it flying into a nearby tree. After hitting it left a small dent in the wood.

Aries: the other is called waters surge.

Holding up the staff again a line of water three meters wide and two tall stood before her. She then sent it forward at the same tree. As it hit the tree it swayed back. After the attack had dissipated half of the tree had been smashed by the water, leaving a 3-foot dent in the tree.

Having grasped everyone's power I had confidence we could complete the mission. Moving on from this I gave out several orders.

Solomon: okay so now we know each other let me tell you what to do. All of you unranked, set up some basic defences. Alice, you will oversee this and organise them to have two guards on watch at all times. Gareth you will stay and assist Alice.

Nodding they left to begin the work.

Solomon: the rest of us will scout out the stronghold. Yunfei, do you know how to get there?

Yunfei: I don’t but Chenfeng does.

Hearing this I turned towards Chenfeng.

Solomon: can you lead us?

Chenfeng: I can, but it's dangerous. They have a huge army up there.

Solomon: how many?

Chenfeng: at least 5 thousand.

Solomon: that’s a lot more than I hoped. Anyway, let's go take a look.

With Chenfeng in the lead, our group of 7 ran out into the forest.

After 30 minutes we had reached the stronghold. Standing at the top of the hill it was surrounded by a 30-meter clearing. A 6-meter tall wall with periodic gates surrounded the entire compound. From our position in the trees beyond the clearing, we could see several bandits on the wall.

Solomon: alright, bob 1, I want you to stay here on the southern side. Keep an eye on the stronghold and try to see what you can about their defences. Bobs 2 and 3, I want you two to do the same on the east side. Yunfei and Chenfeng, the west side. Aries, you and me will go to the northern side. After 4 hours we will regroup her before heading back to base. We should then arrive back at nightfall.

As I gave everyone their orders they nodded, accepting the orders.

Solomon: also if you are seen try to escape into the wood, if you can escape, go back to scouting out the base. If you can't, lead them into the woods before disposing of them. If you get outnumbered lead them towards one of the other groups. In the worst case, we can escape together. As long as the chieftain doesn’t show up we can get away. All right, move out.

Saying so Aries, Yunfei, Chenfeng and I ran to the west, following the treeline. After running for a while Yunfei matched my pace, bringing us out of the others earshot.

Yunfei: so, how do you know about my upgrade power? I understand the fate school, but not that.

Thinking for a second I came up with a plausible lie.

Solomon: I am the same as you. I gained a power all of a sudden one day. When I gained the power I saw visions of you, that’s how I know about you. Don’t worry though, I won't tell anyone. Though I do have a request.

Yunfei: what is it?

Solomon: could you upgrade the equipment of some of the people in my group?

Yunfei: I can, but I can't say it will work. I can only do so to a certain point without the risk of destroying it.

Solomon: that’s fine, though I will probably take that risk with my own equipment. Anyway, this should be your stop. I'll discuss in more detail later.

At this point Yunfei and Chenfeng stopped, while Aries and I carried on forwards.

A little while later we had reached the north side. After settling down we began to spy on the guards. From where we were we could see around 10 guards. Each with about 20 meters between them.

Aries: that guy their looks different.

Following her finger I saw a heavily armoured guard. He also had a blue sash across his armour.

Solomon: probably a captain.

As I made a guess at his job he walked off of the wall to be replaced by a normal guard.

Solomon: looks like were in for a long wait.

Other than the small nugget of info we had just gleaned there was nothing else to see.

Aries: looks like it. So, why did you pick me to come with you?

Looking towards her I saw she was scanning me with her deep blue eyes.

Solomon: out of everyone they're you’re the most trustworthy. The bobs are in it for the pay from you. If it benefits them they would kill me. As for the other two, I know Yunfei's secret. Though it can let me manipulate him if I'm not careful he'll betray us. As for you, we have a deal. As long as we benefit each other why would you betray me?

Having divulged quite a bit of delicate information I watched for her reaction.

Aries: you're quite the calculating bastard, aren't you.

Saying this a sly smile crept up her face.

Aries: but then again, I don’t particularly mind that.

Having come to an understanding I settled down against a tree. Looking back towards the stronghold.

Solomon: well then, let see what we can learn today.

During the next 3 and a half hours we kept an eye on the stronghold. Other than the initial info we had learnt nothing else.

Then just as we were getting up ready to leave, one of the gates opened.