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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Alani! I need help!”
Remian’s plea came in while Alani was on her way to meet Fel for a Psionics training session. “Whatever’s the matter?”
“We need to find a princess a doggie!”
“So go to a pet shop.”
“She doesn’t want a normal doggie! She’s sticking to my wolfcat Silhouette!”
“Then turn it off.”
“She’ll throw a tantrum and her grandfather would be mad at me!”
“So what?”
“Her grandfather is Zor’khan-dras!”
There was a short silence.
“I’m coming.” Alani sighed, and called Fel to let her know what was up.
At least the communication crystals still worked with someone’s personal mana. There was almost no ambient mana left to speak of; the burden of powering magic devices with one’s personal mana was now greater than it had ever been. Even the little communications crystals could now completely exhaust the average mage after just a few uses, depending on how far the call had to reach and how long th
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Kingdom of the Weak 352. Ongoing at the Wildlands
That day, calamity befell the Shadowflash Pack. “Doggie!!” Nai’khan-dras leapt onto the back of a yelping wolfcat. “Doggie-ride!” [NOOOOO…!!] the poor wolfcat fled, tail between her legs. Nai’khan-dras gracefully hopped off the fleeing wolfcat and pounced on an even bigger one nearby. “Doggie-ride?!” “Awwoooo!” that wolfcat started running too. This time, she didn’t jump off. She actually tried to hold on… [Help! Somebody help! Mommmmy….!] the second wolfcat panicked and almost ran headlong into the wall. [Roll! Quick! Roll over!] a helpful passer-by suggested. So the panicked second wolfcat rolled over, and Nai’khan-dras hopped lightly out of the way, and then quickly grabbed the neck of the passer-by. “Doggie-ride!!” [Oh fishbones… why me?!] the passer-by wolfcat howled. He started running too. Seeing him coming, with a Little Princess around his neck, all the wolfcats nearby scrambled to get out of the way an
Kingdom of the Weak 353. Girls’ Quarrel
Chubs woke up when Nai’khan started bouncing on his back. At first he was bewildered, until Nai’khan said, “Doggie, bond-bond!” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she wanted from him. [Uh… how did this happen?] Chubs had to ask. But there was nobody there to answer him. Everyone and everytail had already fled the scene. It was at that time that Alani finally arrived. “There you are!” Chubs finally saw hope of salvation. [Alani… help!] “No!” Nai’khan grabbed on to him with both hands. “Doggie ride! Bond-bond!” Alani shook her head. “That’s not how it works, dear. You have to be nice to them and be friends. They’re not slaves.” “No! Doggie MINE!” Nai’khan shouted, and then fire burst out from her mouth. Alani raised a hand and swatted the head-sized fireball aside. There was a sizzling sound as it sputtered out, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake. “He doesn’t belong to you. Comrades are no
Kingdom of the Weak 354. Lifespan
Incidentally, around that time, Darian and Ling Yun were fighting a mob of zombies and skeletons for mana. Mindy was having tea with Rou’khan-dras with a pile of shopping bags by their table in a high class boutique. Tim had snuck back into the Underground and was scheming all sorts of profitable plans with his henchmen in the Dragon Empire. Juni and Jamie were at Dragon Lake training with Fel. Siti and Isabella were at Craggy Falls studying with Phoebe. And Gary… Gary had snuck off to a pleasant hillside and was dozing off under a tree. Happily for him, there was no dragon princess suddenly jumping onto his back. Then there were Xiao Yan and Eriane, both of whom were at Fal’Herim, playing around with airships in Mindy’s shipyard. Well, actually Xiao Yan was inscribing Qi Formations into gas envelopes. Eriane was… testing their durability. With a flintlock. At extreme range. Some people might say it was dangerous since she was shooting over the heads of the s
Kingdom of the Weak 355. Dras
Remian expected as much, considering the treatments he could afford while he was in ‘jail’. If he had had the money, he could have not only been fixed, but could have had his life extended to a few hundred years. But of course, that much money was completely out of his reach, as well as the reach of the average Blue Star Corporation employee. There was a bit of a chance with Xiao Yan’s world. They had alchemists and elixirs that could have restored his health, but again, at a terrifying price. He had been able to make some money there, but nowhere near enough to cure himself. At the most, he managed to extend his life with Green Jade Vitality Pills. He still had four of those Pills. The first one had extended his life expectancy by a few years. The second, he was told, would be less effective, only granting half that much time. The third could only offer a year, the fourth just a few months, and the fifth perhaps a month or two. After the fifth, the effects would be hardly worth ment
Kingdom of the Weak 356. Mindy's days at the Dragon Empire
After bidding Rou’khan goodbye, Mindy went back to her inn. Wait. What? Yes, that’s right. Her inn. Let’s rewind back a bit. A few days ago, back at the Dragon Empire, as a token of appreciation for their new alliance, Zor’khan-dras bestowed upon Darian and Mindy new clothes fashioned by his family’s tailor. They were stylish. They were comfortable. They were luxurious. Most importantly… they were fireproof! “Next time you bring back mana, you can do so without fearing for your modesty.” Zor’khan assured Mindy. Mindy’s face only grew redder. She absolutely refused to say a single word since emerging from the Portal Room. Not One Word. “Relax.” Remian told Mindy. “I doubt that was the first time the Emperor faced a situation of having screaming naked girls appear unexpectedly in front of him.” Mindy raised her fist, then abruptly turned around, spread wings of fire and fled through the skies. Goodness knew where she ran
Kingdom of the Weak 357. Elder Lich
“Who will stand with me?” General Gar’na-dras called. “HO!” Instantly, the shouts of every soldier in the hall resounded as one. “All of them?” Mindy blinked. “But if everybody goes, the weaker ones are going to get killed!” Suddenly she found herself at the center of attention with glares staring daggers at her from every side. Gar’na-dras barked a laugh. “She does have a point, at that. The battle will go easier if I need not worry over unnecessary casualties. It may take longer with less troops, but I would rather extend the fight than lose good people.” “Qualifiers.” Darian said suddenly. Gar’na-dras turned his gaze to him. Darian explained. “Impose criteria.” “Body Qi stage for support crews. As for the main battle group… Earth Qi stage, minimum.” Gar’na-dras said firmly. “No less.” “When do we deploy?” Darian asked next. One of the nearby officers scoffed. “You don’t need to know. You’re just a boy. You just need
Kingdom of the Weak 358. Draconians vs Undead 1
The moment they emerged from the Portal, they were attacked. “They’re here!” fighting erupted on all sides. The Undead weren’t just wandering around in the wilderness after the Elder Lich appeared. They had, in short, already surrounded the Portal after the Draconians made their hasty exit. The abandoned base camp, the Portal’s vicinity, all of it had been overrun by hordes of Undead. With one quick glance, Darian saw at least nine different Liches right in the Portal Square itself, none of whom were the Elder Lich. Didn’t these Liches normally wander off with just their own gangs in the Wilderness? It was impressive that they had been forced to work together to surround the Portal… There was an unearthly snort that was louder than a shout, but almost unheard in the physical realm, and then a teeming mass of bone was barreling down at Darian from the left. “Death Knight!!” Ling Yun was among the first of the flanking formations to come through
Kingdom of the Weak 359. Draconians vs Undead 2
Holding his face, Darian got to his feet in time to see green energy bolts flying everywhere. He ducked, batted a second one aside with his Psi Blade, and carefully sidestepped to avoid a third while Gar’na-dras, Mindy and two Captains all closed in on the Elder Lich from different directions. Seeing them close in, five Death Knights charged in from two different sides. Darian narrowed his eyes; three of them would pass by narrowly to his left. Giving up his own chance to attack the Elder Lich, Darian lit up a second Psi Blade in his off-hand and turned on the approaching Death Knights. He leapt into the air. Both legs hurtled out at the Death Knight in the middle, each of his Psi Blades sweeping around at the other two. The Death Knights, intent on saving their boss, were caught off-guard. Two of them lost their heads before they even knew what happened. The middle one, however, managed to raise its shield in time to block his flying kick. The shield saved i
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- Kingdom of the Weak
523. Comms
Somewhere along the line, he’d lost consciousness. George only realized it when he woke up to a splitting headache. “Ow.” He groaned. “What... where...?” “We’re on the way back to Sorrel.” Grace told him, appearing by his bedside. And it was a bedside, he realized. He seemed to be in the Kara’s Medical Bay. “I’m sorry. We had to retreat.” “Our... people?” George managed. “The HAC Troopers made it back. The Mechs... did not.” Grace paused. “We have the refugees though. And the Robotic Assembly Plant for Mining Drones. That’s all they managed to grab.” George slurred. “Mech pilots?” “Alive, if battered.” “Good. Alive is good.” George sighed. “This... didn’t go so well.” “Hey, at least we got the guys we were trying to save, and some machinery on top of that. You might say it was a success. A costly one, but a success.” “Casualties?” George asked. “Plenty of injuries to go around, but no deaths. So far.” Grace paused. “Some of the really badly injured might change that before lo
- Kingdom of the Weak
522. Second Aid Mission
“Were these really the best you could do?” George asked, eyeing the six hulking figures in front of him hesitantly. “Mmm.” Juni grunted. In front of them were six brand new Mechs. 2nd Generation products, they were armored weapons platforms on legs, with jumpjets for the signature ‘jumps’ that earned their generation the nickname, ‘Jumpers’. Or were they? George wasn’t entirely sure. When he looked at them, they really looked more like 1st Generation Walker-types. Those Jump Jets seemed to be an afterthought, an added equipment haphazardly strapped to their backs. “Would they really work right?” Juni shrugged. Given the time and materials he had to work with, George supposed he couldn’t expect better. He had only just received 2nd Gen tech. Until now, he’d been working with 1st Gen expectations and schematics. One of these Mechs seemed a bit worn, evidence that it had been built quite some time ago, and only recently been modified for George’s requests. “Fusion Cell for power, Pu
- Kingdom of the Weak
521. Next Step
It turned out that they also needed to acquire salvage rights to haul away ‘scrap metal’. Fortunately, that was a simple affair now that they had local currency. 50 USD and the matter was done. Grant, being the nearest specialist on matters of scrap to their location, graciously offered to transport their ‘scrap’ directly to their vessel out of sheer goodwill. Finally Benny and Sam went to try out the barbecued skewers. At Grant’s recommendation, though, they didn’t go to the Starport roadside stall. They ended up at another roadside stall run by a ‘foreign refugee’ someplace downtown not too far from Grant’s workshop. There, each skewer was loaded with rows of thick, juicy beef sausages, and only cost 20 USD for 10. Benny stretched. “Not bad for our first day. We’ve got three days here, don’t we? But we’ve already got half of what we wanted.” “What’s the other half?” Sam asked. “Technical manuals on engineering, power and propulsion. Tech, basically.” Benny yawned. However, whe
- Kingdom of the Weak
520. Uber States Colony
“Black Fang, you are cleared for docking. Follow the designated path and welcome to Trifer, colony of the Uber States.” Benny stood on the observation deck of the Black Fang below the bridge, listening to the conversation between the comms officer and the dock authorities. He eyed the massive sprawl of structures and smoke emitted below and wondered. “This is what they call a ‘small’ colony?” The colony was bigger than Craggy Falls, Kara-Goth and Nightshade City put together. “Just how many people live here?” Benny asked next. “According to our sensors, about half a million.” The bridge crew told him. Okay, that was less than the human population of the Sorrelian Migration, which, after including the Cumin survivors, was over 800,000. They shared the sensor feed with Benny, Sam and Foxy. Looking at the scope, Benny realized that most of the colony below consisted of machinery and robots. Furthermore, what he saw on the surface wasn’t even half the colony. The entire complex went
- Kingdom of the Weak
519. Scoop
That evening, Benny and Sam left with Tim’s battle group, headed for the nearest Uber States outpost with medicine in the cargo holds. This left only one freight galleon to ferry materials and regretful space miners from the surface to Sky Haven. “It’s going too slow.” Remian decided. “I need to call Raven.” With Mindy busy trading across star systems, Raven had inherited (bought over) her airship fleet and company on the surface. They built more gunships and scout ships than freighters these days, mainly focused on providing recon and fire support to ground forces fighting Undead. But it was those freighters Remian needed now, the bigger the better. “We need them refitted for extreme high altitudes, as high as they can go.” Remian explained. “Also we need them spaceworthy, at least up to low orbit.” “You want our airship freighters to fly into space?!” Raven spluttered. “Yes, but not on their own. I want them to haul cargo and passengers as high up as they can. Around 30km woul
- Kingdom of the Weak
518. We should call Remian
“Relax, I’m not asking you to build them from scratch. You’ll need to remodel a Galleon and a trio of our current Dropships. We do want proper Mech Carriers in the future, but for now, we need to deploy urgently, so we’ll just remodel what we have.” Ermine brought up some projections. “The Mechs in question are going to be Light Walkers, designed and built by J-Armory. Juni’s had a workable prototype for a long time, but it’s never been needed until now. Live testing is scheduled to start in three days. They’re powered by Fusion Cells, the kind that looks like dustbins, so you won’t need to worry about fuel lines, just cell-swapping. You won’t need to worry about replacing the He3 in the Fusion Cells either; spent cells will be sent back to J-Armory for recycling or refueling or whatever it is they do. Same goes for the weapons; Jamie’s J-Arsenal will handle maintenance and replacement and all that. The ship only needs to carry the Mechs, deploy them, and run basic maintenance. Repai
- Kingdom of the Weak
517. Objectives and Objections
They met online the next day. Remian opted out, letting them handle it. Upon bringing up the subject of the Woofers’ request for more aid across different planets… Ermine snorted. “I refuse.” “What?” George stared. “I refuse to help them.” Ermine said stoutly. “I know that you guys all have some sort of savior syndrome, and it’s something that Remian seemed to have passed down from the very beginning, the sort of meddlesome hero complex that has you all trying to save the world at personal cost, but I’m no hero. I’m Tau, and we’re practical survivalists. We simply can’t afford to go around saving everybody. We need all our strength and resources to save ourselves. As for the Woofers, as a collective, they are a Class 5 Star Civilization, a whole class more advanced and stronger than us. They have their own governments and their own fleets. Let the Woofers help the Woofers.” Xiao Yan cut in. “As you say, they are a Class 5 Star Civilization. Since you’re talking about praticality, t
- Kingdom of the Weak
516. Changing Gear
“Go, go, go!” green light flared in the bay of the Dropship as the floor fell away. George and twelve other figures were unceremoniously dumped on the ground nine feet below. They landed with heavy impacts. George staggered, realizing the gravity on this world was at least twice what he was accumstomed to back home. For a moment, he regretted leaving his Frame back on the ship, but they were here to clear the bandits out from a city center, meaning tight spaces, narrow access points, and needing to take care to avoid civilian casualties. Or at least, that was the plan. George and his squad had been deposited on the outskirts of the city, at the very border of a suburban district. “Incoming!” someone yelled. George crouched as something exploded; the ground shook and chunks of dirt flew through the air. “Get to cover! Return fire!” George called, even though he wasn’t entirely sure where the attackers were, exactly. The guys diving behind nearby garages and a public toilet clued hi
- Kingdom of the Weak
514. Out there
Quite predictably, the first of those calls to reach Sorrel II was from their dear friends, the Woofers. Three Paws explained it. [This is from Kelso III. It’s an agrarian world, roughly eighty hours’ flight from here for our fleet. Local gang bosses have titled themselves warlords and suppressed the citizenry with brute force. They take whatever they want, and demand whatever payment they like, on pain of death or torture. Local law enforcement has been completely overrun and even planetary militia couldn’t save the settlements under their control. The best our local paws could do is contain the situation and prevent it from getting worse.] Remian sipped hot coffee. Eighty hours flight for the Woofers Fleet should mean a bit less than seventy for the Tau fleet. “That’s rough. But what’s the point of calling us here to tell us this?” [We can help them. Just one division of your fleet could make a huge difference against these local gangs.] At the moment, the Sorrelian fleet consist
