“Order the attacks to commence as soon as Jiao acts.”

Sage was with Yating and a large team of strategists gathered around a large War Table. In the center it showed a large map of the whole Dou Kingdom. There were small squares highlighted upon it and lines were drawn out from those squares to form smaller maps around the edges of the War Table. Each of these smaller maps were zoomed in portions of the large map. The giant War Table itself was based around the ancient technology of the sand table enhanced as it became a Magical Tool. Instead of just drawing lines and marks in the sand with sticks, the War Table reshaped the sand on its own, forming accurate topographical maps and small statues to represent the position of different forces or defensive positions.

The Lang Clan had improved upon this table by installing multiple projectors around the outside of the room. These screens blew up the view of each of the smaller sand table battlefields so they could be seen by more people at the same time and in greater detail rather than having a bunch of them crowd around the edge of the table. Those higher in the command chain also had control of their own projectors and could switch around between multiple battlefields or zoom in and out as they needed. For the group of top commanders that were standing next to each other on a raised platform, they had a whole array of projectors showing every battlefield at the same time in addition to their own individual controllable screens.

All of these extra screens truly increased the level of their control over their troops in comparison to other groups, but to Sage it was still lacking. While they could accomplish quite a lot here, they still required a lot of extra hands to relay orders to all the individual units they were commanding and also to coordinate between all the scouting teams. The Observation Airships had War Tablets which they used to mark out all the troops movements and positions they saw from above which was then automatically relayed back to the main War Table. Their orders would also get relayed to these War Tablets to show the exact locations they were supposed to head to. The catch being that there were dozens of operators at the War Table double checking the incoming ‘data’ for errors and then also sending out the orders from the commanders.

In the Inner World all of these intermediate positions had already been replaced by programs on Bio-Computers. The job being done by these dozen commanders, tens of operators, and hundreds of scouts could be accomplished by a single commander with an Adjutor, communication bugs, and scouting drones. A single Lang Clan member with an Adjutor could have a direct mental link to all of the important data, filtered by importance and relevance by their own preferences and then relayed directly to communication bugs held by every squad leader.

Sage didn’t tell any of them this yet. He held his tongue and allowed them to operate without his interference. For the most part he didn’t feel any real need to step in. There were plenty of things that could be improved with things from the Inner World, but they would get all of that in due time so it was better to see what they could do with what they had. From the meeting it sounded like they’d been planning this action for quite some time so it was better to just sit back and watch the show. It wasn’t like he was an experienced general or anything either. Sage had played strategy games back on Earth and even helped design a few basic ones for the Inner World, but he had no delusions that he knew more than someone who spent their lives in the field.

Quite a long distance away from where Sage and the other commanders were, a petite and dainty woman in a very yukata-like outfit was walking towards a walled compound that was secluded in a small valley among a short mountain range. The biggest and best mountains of this range were used as the headquarters for a pair of rival Sects, yet they both left this secluded compound unmolested. Unfortunately, for the compound's owners, this quiet atmosphere was about to be broken.

The small woman in the pink yukata walked up towards the hidden gate of this walled compound not bothering to hide her presence, quite unlike the others who accompanied her. There were many others spread out through the night, slowly surrounding the area to form a perimeter. Each of these others were wearing dark outfits with masks over their faces and wielding a Magic Tool to keep their presence hidden. The woman waited behind a large rock until she seemed to receive some sort of confirmation before she walked out into the open space in front of the gate. As she did there was an immediate response from inside the compound. A blue barrier appeared over the gates and there were sounds of sliding and steps from the other side of the wall. She had already planned for such a response and before they even spoke she had already stepped forward and raised her voice.

“Cursed Toad! Yue Xiaoqing, come out here you three legged witch! It’s time to settle the score!”

There was some shouting from the other side of the wall, but it came out as a distorted garble. The Yi Yang Group didn’t block the sound, but scrambled it instead. If Sage were present he’d be interested to learn what sort of technique did that. It had different benefits and costs in comparison to the Windscreen Technique that the Little Birdies used to block sound with a layer of vacuum.

After a few minutes and a few flares of energy and barriers around the compound in front of her, the main gate finally let out a loud creak. It swung open slowly and a team of guards wearing the dark uniforms of the Yi Yang Group and carrying oval shields that were half their height and covered in layered gray scales. They were formed up into shield walls, overlapping the shield of the man to their left and carrying sabers in their right hands. They were arranged six across and three rows deep, completely filling the open gateway. They looked out at the lone woman and her small body. Then there was a garbled shout and they marched out with measured steps. As they marched out their wide brimmed helmets came into view. Each of these helmets had a wide circular brim around it and a point on top. They were vaguely bronze colored and the brims themselves were inscribed with various formations.

Once they stepped outside the front row split in half and took steps to the left and right opening a path between them for the second row. The second row stepped forward and the three guards to either side stepped back towards them, inserting themselves into either end of the shield wall. They marched forward, advancing towards the small woman. Half of them were watching the rest of the terrain for signs of others while the other half were focused upon the woman and her next move. As if to spite them, she didn’t bother to move from where she was standing, letting the guards approach her. As the shield wall reached her the third row of troops moved to the sides and extended the wall further. The two ends of the wall moved faster and in just a few seconds formed into a semi-circle around the lone woman. Her only options were to retreat back down the path or get through them.

She shook her head in boredom at the actions of the guards and looked down at her nails. Once they finally formed the semi-circle she yawned, “Are you going to come out here or what? All your little tadpoles are here, so come on out toad.”

In response to her question, eighteen more of the guards marched out in the same formation as the first and formed into a second row behind the first, with the only difference being that they carried spears instead of sabers.

“Come on! You’re so annoying Little Moon!”