According to what Augus heard from the cultivator’s yesterday he might get called by the military if he performs well, which judging by the ever increasing comments and activity in his World, might as well happen. Even if all the attention wasn’t precisely on his creation, maybe because of how little there was in restrictions or simply people’s imagination, but close to half of the World’s 200 inventory on puppets was destroyed. Augus didn’t know what they did but they managed to ruin about 80 puppets in the span of a day and became the talk of the community as they had to pay for every single one afterwards. The situation got even more ridiculous because the guys wanted to publish a paper about the whole experiment as they didn’t even know what caused the accident, making Augus question if he should have put more regulations on people’s experiments to account for human idiocy.
Brushing off the weird news, Augus checked the rankings of the competition’s and found his World in a comfortable 9th place. He called it comfortable because the ones who were to be called were the top 15 by the end of the week and he couldn’t imagine his “Research realm” falling seven positions without any warning. He might even go further up judging by the people entering his World by the minute. Out of curiosity he checked Jean’s position and found their ranking to be 13th, which after thinking about it for more than 2 seconds seemed actually impressive, as Jean’s World was of limited capacity by it’s very design, you couldn’t really accommodate hundreds of people’s training courses without using a lot of space. It also indicated that the rankings accounted for the accumulated waiting lists too, as it was impossible for dozens of thousands of people to have used Jean’s training course in the span of 4 days with the World being able to accommodate up to 50 people at a time (according to the DWM review).
After checking a few of the other rankings Augus did a final check of the speculations regarding the military’s assignment, because while they didn’t explicit it in their notice it seemed to be some kind of base building based on their wording. Add that to the number of selected participants and they seemed to want the construction of multiple bases (maybe on the front-line?), which pointed Augus in the direction of his studies for the rest of the week. What type of base should he construct? What type could he construct?, because if it was on the front-line they needed to be adapted to an environment of low spiritual energy and suddenly rising energy levels, as the destruction of Siphon monsters releases a bit of spiritual energy to the ambient, the destruction of an actual Siphon can release huge amounts of energy. According to what he learned it sometimes resulted on phenomena of differing duration, sometimes a rapidly passing fog of spiritual energy or a rain to the formation of a lake in the most extreme cases, though those were restricted to the truly old and massive Siphons. Regarding this, one of the main theories of why such Siphons were still active despite being deprived of spiritual energy for years to decades in some cases was that they were the sources of the new Siphons, and that they were something like offshoots that sent energy to the origin Siphon.
Regardless, Augus had his direction of study, making a building, with formations and everything, that could function in an environment of low ambient spiritual energy to an absence of it. And aside of that, how the hell could he even deploy it with such thin ambient energy, as the passage between his Inner World and the outside needed energy from both sides to function.
. . .
After a while researching how to make formations work in the absence of spiritual energy, without being a spiritual crystal hole to no avail, Augus decided it was better to reference other bases for solutions. He discovered that most relied on connecting to underground spiritual energy rivers called ley lines, the only problem he had with that “solution” was that it conflicted with his nascent idea for the base. Inspired by his very own World “Siphon raid” and all the information he gathered during his research, Augus wanted to do a mobile scouting base that could gather and deliver information to the other bases on the movements of the Siphon monsters. The idea was only solidified when he read that most of the advance bases that fell did so because of waves of Siphon monsters they were unaware of that ended up overrunning them. The bases that held on did so either because of constant pressure on the surrounding Siphons or sending most of the soldiers on scouting missions to alert the base of any gathering of Siphon monsters, and even these approaches sometimes failed. So as was becoming a pattern in Augus Worlds, he aimed to fill a void, this time a void in information that he seemed incapable of if he didn’t solve the problem of spiritual energy, as it would be too risky having the base disconnecting and connecting to ley lines while scouting as any stealth measure needed energy.
Sensing a headache, Augus preferred to take a break before resuming. He went outside, partially because he admittedly hadn’t been outside much if it wasn’t for cultivation related affairs and partially because his parents weren’t home, they were working like he was. After walking aimlessly for a while Augus found himself on a park occupied with old people talking or basking in the sun, “probably because of the hour” Augus thought to himself, as most people were either at work or in school. Augus inspected the cultivation of the neighbors around him and wasn’t surprised to find most of them at Qi condensation or Foundation Establishment, though everyone could cultivate, most stopped at these stages for a host of different reasons, the main one being talent, though it could also be a lack of resources or a lack of drive or, and Augus thought this one had the second most weight, life. Life happened and some people found themselves without the time or need to cultivate to higher realms, occupied by other things, like family judging by the number of old couples just hanging out in the park. And in the middle of all that was Augus, laying down in the grass in the shade of a tree, just relaxing for a while instead of cultivating or studying as usual. He just lay there enjoying the peace and mundanity of it all, after what seemed like an hour of peace Augus opened his closed eyes and looked at the clouds for a while, until inspiration seemed to hit him like a ball to the face.
He rushed back home and got searching, first he checked the spiritual energy levels in the atmosphere and found that as long as they weren’t in the truly deep zones of the Siphon, they were normal, thinner the further out one was of the planet and denser as one got closer (if no Siphon was in the way of course), at the level of clouds it was particularly dense, almost at the levels on the ground. After that he looked for illusion formations, specifically, their effects on Siphon monsters and found that as long he accounted for the diminished spiritual energy they caused on their environment because of their mere existence, the formations would work as normal.
These conditions made his plan viable, at least until he arrived at the military briefing days later and found out the average level of the Siphon monsters was Golden Core to Nascent soul. His formations would work on Golden Core monsters at best.
* * *
Rewinding a bit, after the competition ended Augus was called to a briefing regarding the special assignment. It was to be hosted at their hotel, close to the front-line, for the duration of the assignment so it was quite far from the residential area in which Augus lived. He took the train as neither could he fly yet nor was he allowed to inside the city. Before noticing the hotel what attracted his attention first was the walls that served as the last line of defense between a Siphon invasion and the common populace, though this close to the border it was mainly military buildings and further in the houses of powerful cultivators, sects and companies headquarters; one of the requirements to register as one was the defense of the city in case of an invasion and as such they had to headquarter themselves close to the border. After gawking at the kilometer tall walls, Augus finally made his way to the hotel where after confirming his identity was given a seat among the rest of the cultivators awaiting the briefing. Once seated Augus started to look the people around him and found that all the ones he could feel their cultivation levels were normal, while those he couldn’t felt different, like the elusive director from his school, more solid, more “present”, like the space around them had to recognize their presence. Though even that “recognition” varied as some seemed barely noticed (he assumed they were newly ascended to the Nascent Soul realm), while others seemed incapable of being ignored. Even those paled in comparison to the military official who entered shortly after, he demanded attention from his surroundings, Augus guessed he was at the realm after Nascent Soul, Ying-Yang soul and quite advanced it seemed. His thoughts were cut short as the man talked in a raspy voice.
“Good afternoon, we will begin the briefing of your assignment right away, all those who haven’t arrived will be assumed to have forfeited while all present will be given a chance after the briefing, given they sign a confidentiality agreement.” The task didn’t seem to be secretive as they didn’t ask for an oath that forbade any mention of the assignment.
“First, some presentations are in order, I’m Sargent Major Williams, you can call me Sargent Williams. The one to my left is Staff Sargent Ling and the one on my right is Staff Sargent Abdul, they are in effective charge of this assignment while I’m on standby in case of any attacks. Sargents.” Was the last he said while nodding to the man and woman to his sides before sitting behind them. The pair seemed to be at the peak of Nascent soul if Augus had to guess or maybe they were newly ascended Ying-Yang soul cultivators, it was hard to say with such big disparity between Augus and their cultivation.
Ling, the female Sargent, talked first. “Good afternoon everyone, as Sargent Williams said I’m Staff Sargent Ling and I will be in charge of this brief. Your objective will be the construction of bases that aid the military’s defense of the city, each will design and construct one or join another cultivator in the creation of a base that will house up to five squadrons of cultivators, the squadron leaders and vice leaders are all in the Nascent soul realm while the rest of the squadron is in the Golden Core. This is a major point as the enemies on the areas where your bases will be range from Qi condensation levels of strength to Nascent soul.” It was in this moment that Augus’s mind started churning, his skills in formations classified him as an advanced formation Maker, enough for Golden Core monsters but lacking when faced with Nascent soul monsters, because while they mainly relied on brute strength they still had the baseline perception of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
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While Augus was reconsidering his plans Sargent Ling continued with the briefing. “The monsters on the zone you will be focusing on are mostly terrestrial with the rare aerial one so consider air attacks in your designs.” Here the other Sargent talked for the first time, adding: “While the terrain is not a dense forest, you have to either mow down the trees or adapt to them. Furthermore, the foliage is pretty dense so any attacks at that height will be hard to detect without some special methods.” After a short nod from Sargent Abdul, Sargent Ling continued the briefing with the types of enemies they would be encountering though Sargent Abdul continued to offer details regarding the terrain and precautions they should take when designing the base.
By this point Augus zoned out a bit and started considering ways to bypass the dense foliage, he still hadn’t given up on his floating base idea but he was now presented with more and more problems. It seemed like every new bit of information undermined his plan as Sargent Ling added: “Concluding this briefing, you have to take into account self-sustainability as the squads may find themselves unable to come back for supplies sometimes and they need an in house alternative.” Although this particular oversight of Augus had an easy solution in his mind, at that height water and food would be easier to come by than at ground level, a simple farm would use the close proximity to the sun while the watering could be done either with the surrounding clouds or a simple rain spell.
“Now we will take questions.” Augus instantly raised his hand which gave him the opportunity to ask the most important question for his plans.
“Hello, could we seek the assistance of the master formations Makers the garrison has?” The Sargent didn’t seem to notice or mind the urgency with which he asked as she answered unhurriedly: “You can ask for advice from any soldier on the garrison, but direct help cannot be provided”.
Augus proceeded to deflate in his seat, all his hopes shattered. He didn’t even register any other question if there were any, Augus didn’t react until someone approached him after the briefing was over.
“Hi, my name is Jean, could I ask, why do you require the assistance of a formation Maker?”
Augus reincorporated and answered honestly. “It was for my idea of a flying mobile base, but to implement it I need an illusion formation capable of fooling Nascent soul monsters. I’m sadly only an advanced formation maker.”
“Would you like us to form a team then? While I don’t have any brilliant ideas or am a master formations Maker, I am an expert formation maker. Mine should be enough for Nascent soul monster, don’t you think so?”
This seems like the appropriate moment to explain the formation Makers ranking of this world, from the bottom there are; novice, experienced, advanced, expert, master, reverend, elder and leader in the known rankings of formations Makers and they more or less correspond to the cultivation realms, meaning that a novice formation can stand up to a level 9 Qi condensation cultivator, magical beast or monster, though the upper limit is decided by the skill of the formation Maker, the floor is decided partially by their cultivation. It doesn’t mean that a Golden World Maker can’t make a Master or Reverend level formation but that it will be significantly harder as their construction depends on the improved senses a cultivator acquires by advancing realms and the special abilities from higher realms. Like the special vision of a Nascent Soul cultivator that allowed them to see the world’s energies better and that helped immensely in the construction of Expert level formations that relied on these energies to function.
Because of this Augus didn’t consider long his answer, if he needed help he would take whatever he was offered no matter how his pride stung. After informing Sargent Ling of their partnership they got to work while their transport that would take them to the garrison arrived. Augus explained his idea in more detail while remarking the problems he had identified during the briefing, he also introduced himself, as he seemed to have forgotten to do so. While Jean didn’t offer insight into his problems she did mention what she could do which was actually making reality Augus’s ideas. From this they divided their work, while Augus would come up with most of the design, Jean would construct the base in her Inner World and design the formations they needed. Although Augus wasn’t happy with being carried basically he couldn’t do much to change his situation, for all the good the sense of omniscience of one’s own Inner World was it didn’t provide the special senses a cultivator got by reaching higher realms, those could only be gained through continuous cultivation.
After arriving at the garrison, unlike the other teams and individuals (the Nascent soul cultivators who didn’t form a team) who went to explore the terrain, Augus and Jean got an office to keep developing the base. After they had covered most of the important parts Augus excused himself to gather insight, he went to the garrison’s library and formations Makers for advice on solving the problem of the dense foliage at the time of gathering information, he could have gone for a Machinist or Artifact Makers but considering that his and Jean’s area of expertise was formations Augus sticked to their strengths. From his gathering Augus figured they could make simple Artifacts, by inscribing formations of far sight and spiritual energy vision in binoculars they could make it so the soldiers would see only the monsters and cultivators. As the area was so thin in ambient spiritual energy that there would be no obstructions when scouting, Augus also gathered that aside from making an illusion formation that would mimic the appearance of a cloud they also needed an invisibility formation for closer up operations and spiritual energy mufflers for the training and cultivation chambers. From all this all Augus could help with was the construction of the binoculars, as their design was simple enough even he as a Golden World cultivator could make them at the required level, though he would need to make about 48 binoculars, 8 for each garrisoned squadron and an extra 8.
* * *
After a week of constant efforts they managed to finish the base within the deadline, now they had to present it to Sargents. In the open field were they had to present their work they luckily had to present first, they divided the presentation like they divided their work, Augus would talk about the design while Jean would talk about the construction in a tour like form.
“Good morning everyone, my name’s Augus and my partner here is Jean. The base we have here (Jean had already taken it out of her Inner World) is different from the normal bases as this one is a mobile base focused on recon.” This seemed to get everyone’s attention as Augus got to explain how they got it to fly. “Here we have air formations that with the input of an spiritual energy crystal can take off from the ground up to the clouds height, were the higher ambient spiritual energy powers the formations to keep the base floating, we also based the design in a hot air balloon to reduce the energy consumption. To help bypass the dense foliage at the moment of scouting we made this simple binoculars with a far sight formation and a spiritual energy vision formation so that only the monsters and fellow cultivators are visible.”
Now more relaxed than before Augus continued. “For effective camouflage Jean here made an illusion formation to imitate a cloud and an invisibility formation for close up operations. For self-sustainability we went for a small farm where the closer proximity to the sun is of particular use and the water can be gathered either in the clouds or with the help of a rain spell. The cultivation chambers and training room all have spiritual energy mufflers in case of abnormal surges. The interior layout will present it Jean.”
She proceeded to take the metaphorical baton and began a short tour around the base that concluded with the group in the gazebo part of the base, adjusted for long stays with minimal movement.
The sargents offered no comments and just nodded when we concluded our presentation, after that came the next and the next until everybody had presented their work. Afterwards came the grading, they started from the worst to the best though Sargent Abdul did most of the talking this time. He wasn’t cruel or pitiful in his grading, at most apologetic for what he understood were errors born from inexperience, as was the case for the second ranking pair who failed to account for waves of enemies when designing their defense system. Then came their turn, they were in first place though they didn’t come out unscathed. “Innovative design which supplements a glaring need for information. But it doesn’t account for attacks from anything other than airborne enemies, as if the floating system could never fail. Which brings me to the second problem, the overdependence on formations, which can cripple the entire operation of the base if any malfunctions. Though this failure is inevitable when neither partner is an Artifact Maker nor a Machinist. Considering all this I give you 90 points out of a 100” Augus could barely contain his grin, though he noted that Jean didn’t even bother to do so. She looked the happiest Augus had seen her, even happier than when they successfully designed the lift system.
The rewards, aside from pills and some talismans was a choice, either a cultivation technique that could lead them to Body reformation realm (the last realm Augus knew of) or the teaching of a Master in any field they wanted. This were of course the rewards for the first place, they descended sharply from then on. While Jean chose the cultivation technique, Augus chose the teaching opportunity, if he wanted to make the best Worlds he could he needed to either be a jack of all trades or master one of them and he decided he would master formations as he was already deep enough in the craft.
Aside from these rewards came the notice that the top three teams were summoned by Sargent Major Williams who then proceeded to announce some expected news. “As some of you might have heard of the military plans to include the best performing cultivators, you lot in this case, in the contact list of major powers. Now I was instructed to give you the chance to hear why this list exists, if you wish to know so you will need to swear an Earthly oath that you will not divulge anything that I’m about to say.” An Earthly oath meant sever punishment but not death, maybe because of that they all agreed to swear it. “We swear with the Earth as witness that we will not divulge what Sargent Williams will inform us of.”
With the oath made Sargent Williams continued. “Even if it’s a known secret so as to not generate panic you had to swear no to divulge that we are on our last try as humanity. If we don’t get some major victories soon we will be overrun by the Siphon sooner or later. The list is meant to connect diverse organizations with talented individuals so they can help in the war against the Siphon. Either joining them or temporarily offering their talent and expertise, that is up to each individual. The military organized this competition mainly because this time we were the ones who needed the help of Makers, tomorrow it might be the Central government or a Sect, either way now you are the latest batch of freelancers for the betterment of humanity or as the official name says; Emergency contacts.”
Between the buzzing in his brain the information left, Augus managed to catch an “Oh oh” from one of the Emergency contacts.
