Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56It was around that time that the peace and smooth operations of Kara-Goth was disrupted.
“Warehouse Security went on strike!” Xiao Yan blurted to Remian.
“Who went on what?!” Remian sat there in a daze, interrupted in the middle of trying to design a rudimentary anti-gravity device.
“It’s the bears!” Xiao Yan groaned. “They’re saying they’re mistreated!”
“Bears?” Remian stared at her blankly. “What bears?”
“The ones guarding the warehouse!”
“We have bears guarding the warehouse?”
“We’ve ALWAYS had bears guarding the warehouse! According to George they’ve been doing it since the Adventurers Guild first started!” Xiao Yan spluttered. “Don’t you remember?”
Remian thought back. Way, way back when their Adventurer Guild was only a little log hall on the outskirts of town, back when all they had were a bunch of kids from the Raven Tavern who slept with the wolfcats in the dining hall every night and felt they were lucky to do
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
Kingdom of the Weak 427. Ship Design – Life Raft I
Three months after the Zhao Clan began to migrate to Kara-Goth, the Mitigok took over the entirety of the Grand Luo Continent. They had spread strong forces to every continent of Xiao Yan’s world and loose smaller raiding bands wandered the lands randomly. Even these smaller bands were strong enough to wipe out smaller towns and villages overnight, leading to a mass migration as smaller settlements sought the shelter and security of larger, fortified ones. Scorched Earth City soon quintupled in population compared to Remian’s first visit. Fear and despair were rampant throughout the area, the City Council approved emergency food rationing and widespread conscription into the City Guard. In these turbulent times, a lot of talented people and their close kin suddenly disappeared out of the blue. It is said that they met with someone from the Zhao or Xue Clans and then vanished the next day, never to be seen again... At least, not in that world. Kara-Got
Kingdom of the Weak 428. Ship Design – Life Raft II
At present, the Draconians numbered between one hundred to two hundred thousand. Remian wasn’t entirely sure because since Zar’khan-dras started conquering the entirety of the Eastlands for the Dragon Empire, the number of Draconians subordinate to Zor’khan-dras had definitely grown rapidly. Zor’khan-dras did not restrain his son from expanding their territory or recruiting more servants in any way. Zar’khan, Bol’khan, Sior’khan, even Rou’khan-dras freely added more to their numbers (and to Remian’s job) day by day. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if they had overshot 200,000 by now. This was why he figured he’d better prepare for half a million, because by the time Grandpa and Grandma Dras arrived to pick up their kids, the princes and princess of the Dragon Empire could certainly have amassed that many servants and sworn subordinates into the Draconian branch bloodlines. With even the most optimistic estimates, in twenty years, the current number of Draconians co
Kingdom of the Weak 429. Prepare for launch (1)
It would take an estimated twenty-two weeks before the Mice Raft was ready for launch (by Ermine’s calculations). Remian set a schedule for half a year, a full 26 weeks, to allow slack for unexpected situations. The project was divided into four stages. The first stage would be design and testing for the critical systems such as life support, power, plumbing, accessways, internal support structure, outer hull, and a Lynxmouse Passenger Module with the equivalent of fifty Lynxmice recliner chairs with safety harnesses. Later stages involved building the components, assembling the structure and finally, launching Sorrel II’s first spacecraft (or more accurately, letting Zor’khan-dras haul it off into the skies). At the same time there were supporting processes running in the background consistently. One was gathering materials. Most of it came directly from the Dragon Empire, and almost everything else could be bought from Deutero, but there were parts that were best b
Kingdom of the Weak 430. Prepare for launch (2)
[I give up.] Mindy declared three months after the Corvette-sized Mice Raft Project began. [What happened?] Darian caught her transmission and replied. [Is it the Ruins? Are you in the team that’s breaking through to B9?] [No, I’m nowhere near Three Pines. I just got back from the Undead World.] [Oh. How was it?] [It was terrible! The Necromancers have gotten completely organized now, and it doesn’t matter what time we try to make a move, there’s always an army patrolling and waiting to attack. Furthermore, as soon as we engage, another Necromancer and his army would try to cut us off from the Portal and a third one would directly siege the team we leave at the Portal to guard our exit. They’re not trying to ward us off any more, they’re directly trying to kill us!] [That sounds bad. Why not ask the Dragon Empire to send more troops?] [They’re too busy conquering this world to bother with that one. Haven’t you heard? They’ve withdrawn
Kingdom of the Weak 431. Prepare for launch (3)
It could be said that the Lynxmice truly found religion in the days when Zor’khan-dras started playing ‘Dragon Catches The Crate’ with Lance. After the first day of missing or outright crushing the crate with his claws, practically the entire clan headed for the moon could be found in church praying. Big drops of lynxmice sweat dripped from the foreheads of the elders! Outright bawling and confession of sins such as cheese-stealing emerged from their youths! Overnight, a spiritual revival erupted among the family members of Mikkika as they all started praying earnestly. Some of them even began to prophesy! “Mii... kikiiikik!” (We’re all gonna die!!) In a trembling fury, Mikkika hurriedly rounded up all these false prophets in his family and spanked them. *** Later that day, a petition signed by 300,000 pawprints arrived by express Lynxmice delivery at Remian’s dinner table. In a 500 word essay, the collective clans of the Lynxmice all requeste
Kingdom of the Weak 432. While Preparing for launch
Meanwhile, over the past year, the settlements of the Wildlands had undergone massive growth.Farthest north, the islands in the Midlands Sea had been filled to the point of overcrowding. The Order of Light had helped the refugees settle island after island over the past year. Many refugees from the Midlands just plopped down and settled at the first nearest peaceful stop. With so many of their countrymen and neighbors present, the many new islanders felt there was no need to go on to the desert or the Wildlands. The islands suited them just fine.At last count, the estimated population on those islands was 9 million. People from the Order of Light who were temporarily stationed there and those still on ships were not counted.But Reef sent a warning. Alani told them directly, “You won’t always have the protection of the Deep Emperor. The good weather isn’t going to last forever.”A small percentage of the islanders heeded her warn
Kingdom of the Weak 433. Out of this world
The day before Alani’s thirteenth birthday, Prototype Mouse Raft 19 passed final test runs. It had been a long and difficult journey, much longer and harder than anyone anticipated, but at last, the first Sorrelian-built spacecraft was ready to launch! After many revisions and failed designs, the Mouse Raft ended up looking less like a crate and more like an egg with ears. It wasn’t thrown into the air, or hauled up by airship; instead it was lowered from a crane at the Starport loading dock directly onto Zor’khan’s back, strapped on securely by people in industrial Hauler Frames, and only when the technical crews announced it was ready did the Mikkika Lynxmouse Clan finally board their destined transport. The launch was scheduled for evening, on a day when the moon was up, so as to make it easier for Zor’khan to head directly to it. By then, Mikkika was a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather or something like that. His clan of thirty had grown to nearly
Kingdom of the Weak 434. Incoming and Income
The mice on the moon and the mice who just arrived on the moon met at the entrance of the tunnels protected by Lu’na-ris. “Mikwiiiwii?” [You the new guys?] “Yiikii?” [Yeah? Why?] “Sii-eeekii!” [This place is all yours! Now give us the suits!] That was the entirety of the handover from the old batch to the new. At long last! They could return to their home on the surface of the planet Sorrel II! It had been a nervous, adventurous, and sometimes tedious couple years or so of living on the moon cut off from home suddenly thanks to the Meorin expedition... but at last, they were going home! For a dragon, a couple years was nothing, a mere eye-blink in their lifespans. For a human, two years was a maturing youth leaving home for college or an extended expedition worthy of a distant voyage. For a lynxmouse, two years could practically account for entire generations. More than half the returnees had been born and lived most of their e
Latest Chapter
- 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
