Domain

Volume 2 upgrade specialist chapter 23 - preparations complete

Having spent four hours training, I bid my farewell to Pluvia. Appearing back into my tent room the fatigue hit me. Having spent a whole day training, then sparring and finally being surprised with the fortunate situation of my training.

Falling down into the bed I was about to fall asleep when a quiet voice came through the door.

Alice: Solomon, are you awake?

Sitting up I replied, quiet as I could as to not wake up Gareth.

Solomon: I am.

Unzipping the door she stepped in. She was wearing plain pyjamas that mixed well with her peach blonde hair. With her slightly dishevelled hair I thought she looked really cute.

Alice: hey, I was wondering, um.

Her face was bright red as she spoke.

Alice: can I sleep with you?

I was stunned. For this usually nervous girl to be so outgoing. After a brief pause I answered.

Solomon: I don't think we should yet. Also we would wake up Gareth.

As soon as I finished speaking she went even redder, looking like a tomato.

Alice: I didn't mean like that. I thought you might feel better if we slept in the same room. You know, in case you have a nightmare.

Hearing this I realised I had misunderstood her. Now understanding I was thankful that she was worried.

Solomon: sure.

Moving over In my bed I made space next to me. Walking forward Alice lifted up the covers, getting into the bed. When she was under the covers she laid at an angle, resting herself on my chest.

Alice: night, Solomon.

Solomon: night.

Having settled down the fatigue pulled me into sleep. That night I didn't have any dreams.

Since then we trained for the set ten days. Everyone had made progress during that time. I had just finished changing all of my old qi. Along with the increase in qi my training with Carbones had great results. My control over my qi had improved by at least 3x what it was.

Yunfei and Chenfeng had both broken through again, making them higher and middle soul personage respectively. They had also both trained their techniques, making them much more dangerous.

Alice with her unorthodox training had made only a small increase to her rift energy. It was now equal to 140% of what it was at the start. But the sparring we had done daily had a tremendous effect on her combat prowess. Now she no longer panicked in battle. She took notice of what was happening and ordered her minions efficiently. Because of this her value had increased many times over.

Gareth had been training his accuracy and recoil control. Now he could fire 2 shots a second. He could hit a can from 30 meters away. With this new level of expertise he came second only to me in terms of firepower.

Aries had focused on improving her control over her spells. Compared to the beginning she could now alter the direction of her spells once they were used. Other than that the quantity of her spells increased by about 1.5x what they used to be. I guessed she had increased the energy she used.

On the second day of training I had approached Yunfei about upgrading the equipment. After some discussion he agreed to it. Then I went to everyone else, telling them I would upgrade their equipment with my enchantment.

After several days of experimentation I had found out a lot about my enchantment. It had different properties based on what it was on. For armours it would shroud the person in a thin veil of energy when they were attacked. This shield could hold up to the power of a early soul apprentice. Needless to say against ordinary bandits they were impenetrable.

If it was applied to melee weapons it would sharpen the edge as well as the strength of the material. After some testing it about doubled the both of these properties.

When applied to guns it had a very simple effect. The weapons would now set people on fire. Though it was only ordinary fire it would be fatal to those weaker than G rank.

Other than this I had found that the better the equipment was the better the enhancement. When applied it to my orb, it had an interesting effect. Any qi I placed into it whether or not I paced it through my tattoos would take on fire like properties. this meant when I used the orb with the flame serpent art I could skip out part of the process. This meant I could us it once every 2 seconds.

For Alice's sword the enchantment added a new attack. If she slashed the air a flame slash would emit from the sword. Though it would only reach 3 meters away it was a great skill. The power of the flames was on par with my racially upgraded qi. Against anyone below G rank it would decimate them. Even G ranks had to be careful around it.

With Gareth's gun it done the same as with the other ranged weapons. However the size and strength of the flame were triple the ordinary amount. Becoming about equal to Alice's flame slash.

For everyone else it was the standard type of upgrade. The better the equipment the stronger the upgrade.

Then on top of my already good enchantment Yunfei added his upgrades. In order to not risk breaking the equipment he kept the upgrade level low. Even so the effect was great. The strength of all the unranked's equipment was doubled. For myself the orbs amplification became 6x compared to the previous 4x.

For Alice her sword became 3x as sharp and for Gareth the strength of each shot was 2x what it was. With this new arsenal I was less worried about fighting the chieftain. Though he may be F rank we were stronger than most G ranks. Placing us somewhere between G and F.

Having waited long enough the time had come for the first day of gorilla warfare. Everyone was following me through the jungle toward the blackwood stronghold. The plan was for me to break the inscription around the base, while everyone else went into attack.

There would be four groups attacking from different directions. Each led by at least one G rank. Alice and Aries in one group, Gareth and Yunfei in another. Chenfeng and the bobs in the another group and me in the final one.

After disrupting the inscription it would take them days to fix it. That meant after I broke it we wouldn't have to worry about it again. The 9 unranked were shared between three groups. The bobs took their place in Chengfeng's group.

Having planned it out thoroughly we all made our way toward the stronghold. From our bases direction we would reach the southern side. When we came close I held my hand out before me as I walked, pushing a spike of qi out from my hand. Though I didn't have the control to make it a physical object it would alert me to the presence of energies.

After a few minutes of walking the spike found the barrier.

Solomon: stop. The barrier is here.

Turning I faced everyone behind me. As the leader I felt I had to say something before sending everyone out to battle.

Solomon: everyone, I would like to say a few things before we begin. Everyone here may have been brought together through random chance, but after spending these days together I consider you all as trustworthy allies.

As I spoke I looked around, meeting eyes with everyone to show that I was sincere.

Solomon: today is the first test of our strength. Though we all have planned it out we can't plan everything. The important thing is that you survive. Your life is worth more than any points you could acquire. On my orders no one will die today, UNDERSTOOD!

Finishing my little speech I rallied a war cry.

Everyone: UNDERSTOOD!

Having raised everyone's morale as much as I could I turned to the barrier. From what I could feel an E rank had made the inscription for the Barrier. But it was obvious they put no attention into it. There were several flaws in the flow of the energy. This barrier seemed weaker than an F rank Barrier should be.

But on further thought it made sense. This was only a little bandit group. Though they may be overlords in the surrounding area they were still extremely weak. Because of this who would think anyone Above G rank would attack them.

Sitting before the barrier I placed my hand and inch away from it. Now knowing it was there made it much easier to feel. Though without the increase in my abilities I would never have been able to detect it when I first came here.

After studying it for a few minutes I had a rough ideas of how it worked. There were 8 points around the barrier that contained energy. These points supplied it with power. Then there was a cobweb of passageways that flowed throughout the whole barrier, creating a network to pass energy through.

Having understood it's principle I began to work at breaking it down. Making darts of qi, I slammed them against the barrier. Every time I would observe how the energy reacted to it.

After some testing I made a discovery. It was separated into small boxes. Each box could only black one attack at a time. This meant if I hit one box with several attacks it would break.it was a huge surprise that such a barrier was so weak.

Solomon: everyone, I can now break the barrier. All of you will move to your designated start point.

We had previously discussed who would go where, now with their orders they began to move out.

Solomon: I will break it in half an hour.

This gave then ample time to reach their side, but didn’t leave time for us to be found out. I was unsure if the barrier would react to being tampered with. If it alerted the bandits it would create a major problem. Hoping against this I went to the three unranked who were on my team.

Solomon: hey guys, since we're going to fight together we should discuss some strategies. Your John, Edward and Erik, right?

Having spent several days together I thought I knew their names, however I had been training almost all the time every day. It would be better to just check now.

One of the men answered for all of them. It seemed they were a pretty close-knit group.

Erik: that's right, I'm surprised you remember, we've only spoken to each other twice.

Glad I had correctly remembered, I explained the reason.

Solomon: I try to remember everyone's name, that way if anyone dies I'll remember them. That way I can try to compensate their comrades when they die.

Erik: your odd for a contestant of domain. Most usually forsake everyone else when they end up here. Even those who keep their morals would lose them by G rank.

Seeing the conversation was about to become gloomy, I tried to steer it away.

Solomon: I guess I weird then, anyway I have a strategy for us working together.

Erik: what is it?

Solomon: you will be the melee attackers. Anyone ate early soul apprentice and below will be dealt with by you. I will both assist you and deal with anyone stronger than that.

After discussing it together they made a discussion.

Erik: it's fine with us.

After that we just sat chatting till the 30 minutes was up. Standing before the barrier I prepared several qi darts. Though they were useless for battle they would prove useful here.

Solomon: once it's down we will charge in. Remember the plan, and most of all, don't die.

Grateful for my new control I attacked the barrier with the dart. Not half a second later the barrier smashed into pieces.

Barrier: TIIIIISH!