When I arrived at the barracks, Xu Zhao Ting was waiting for me, as I expected. However, I hadn't accounted for the fact that Xiao Hou and He Yu were sitting with him, chatting merrily about something.
"How are things? Why were you summoned?" Xu Zhao Ting asked when I approached them.
"Oh, they were just trying to figure out what happened," I replied, sitting on the adjacent bed. "Most likely, someone scattered bait before I passed, or maybe a little later. When I reported that the path was clear, the beasts had already gathered at the bait and lunged at the approaching people. And then at me."
"I see, but who could have gotten the bait? It's forbidden, isn't it?" He Yu asked thoughtfully.
"And where is the hunting team that went with you?" Xiao Hou asked, scratching his head. "There were two mid-level mages there, weren't there?"
"I don't know where they went, but as I understand it, the base command believes that they scattered the bait and died, unable to handle the beasts themselves. They can't come up with any other explanation," I replied, shrugging.
"I see. And where are you heading next?" He Yu asked me and Xu Zhao Ting.
"Aren't you staying with us for a couple more weeks?" Xiao Hou asked with a cheerful smile.
"I'd like to stay, but the decision has to be mutual," Zhao Ting shrugged, looking at me.
"I think we won't progress much further here in our cultivation," I replied, shrugging. "I think we should go to the outskirts of Huzhou, there are many alligators there, and their skins fetch a lot of money. Plus, fighting high-level servants will help us develop our skills better than patrolling here."
"I'm not sure it's that bad. You can develop your skills in the army too," Xiao Hou tried to argue.
"Yes, perhaps for you, those who don't have combat skills. In the army, they will teach you how to use them correctly. Plus, you can enroll in a military academy if you distinguish yourself on a mission, where you'll get even more resources. But unfortunately, we chose the path of hunters. In a year, we need to achieve significant results to enroll in Minzhu, otherwise, we'll have to wait another year," I explained calmly. "The best way for us to get the necessary resources is to go to a dangerous place and return with trophies to exchange for everything we need," I concluded my explanation, summing it up.
"Yes, perhaps you're right, Jiaxing Yun," Xu Zhao Ting surprisingly agreed easily, suddenly becoming serious. "You, Xiao Hou, and you, He Yu, joined the army because you wanted to protect people and become stronger. I went to become a hunter to become strong enough so that those close to me would be safe."
"Perhaps you're right," Xiao Hou said sadly.
"Don't be discouraged!" I patted him on the shoulder. "Work hard, and someday we'll go hunting together again. The main thing is for both of you to try, otherwise, you'll drag the whole team down. I remember Mo Fan saying something like this before we came here. Attention, almost a direct quote: 'Until you become a mid-level mage in two elements, don't even bother asking to be a travel companion, I'll get tired of protecting you.'" I said with a smile, looking at him intently.
"Did he really say that?" He Yu asked sincerely surprised.
"Well, maybe not exactly, but the gist is the same," I replied evasively. In reality, I don't remember, the main thing is to motivate them. After that, we chatted a bit more on various useless topics, and they left.
"Are we really going to the Huzhou region, to Taihu Lake?" Xu Zhao Ting asked after the lovebirds left.
"Yes, only we'll take a different mission, something that awards league points for completion time and doesn't require confirmation other than upon arrival," I said, thinking. "We need to rank up quickly so we can join a good team and earn more per mission than we would in two months at Taihu Lake."
"Logically, but are there such missions?" he asked suspiciously.
"I don't know, we'll find out at the league," I replied, shrugging. In reality, we will definitely take a mission further away from Taihu Lake, and we will go there ourselves. I need to hide from the guardians for at least a month or a month and a half. By then, I plan to reduce the casting time for mid-level magic to about three seconds, and also start casting lightning magic. It's unlikely they'll send another team as weak as the previous one to catch me. Only an idiot in their command wouldn't realize that their deaths were my doing. You can fool the military, as they don't know the whole story, but not the guardians.
"Jiaxing Yun, shall we stop by the auction in Ganzhou? I heard they'll be selling magical instruments there. I'd like to buy one," said Zhao Ting, who had regained his spirits, while packing his things. "I should have enough with the money from the military."
"Perhaps we can. I also need to sell something valuable. And it would be nice to buy an artifact too," I replied thoughtfully. "By the way, how much money do the military owe us?"
"Half a million for a novice-rank hunting team," Zhao Ting replied, then added. "Shall we stop by a place in Bo City? And yes, what valuable thing do you want to sell?"
"A leader's soul," I replied indifferently. He'll find out at the auction anyway; you can't sell it secretly there. And he'll definitely ask where I got twenty million. "Yes, of course, we'll stop by, but you're paying for the ride."
"Alright, but damn it, where did you get a leader's soul?!" he almost shouted at me.
"Yeah, well, I had a vessel, and during our last outing, a soul got into one of the three three-eyed wolves," I said, quickly coming up with the most plausible excuse.
"You already had a vessel for leader souls back then? Where did you get the money for it? And didn't you sell all the souls on your trip to Xiamen?" Zhao Ting bombarded me with questions.
"Yes, the money from the alligator skins, I managed to take one down quietly at night, and that's how I earned it. And selling a leader's soul in the market is foolish; you'll get much more at the auction," I replied confidently, making up a more or less plausible lie on the fly.
"Alright, let's say I believe you," Zhao Ting said suspiciously, shrugging. "I hope you trust me enough to tell the truth."
"Yes, of course, why do you think I'm lying?" I looked at him in surprise.
"It just seemed that way, I guess," he replied, shrugging again.
After finishing with our things, we headed to Zhang Kong, the chief mage at the military base, from whom we received a document confirming the completed mission. After that, we went to the accounting department and received our half a million yuan, dividing it equally. Then we walked towards Bo City.
The scene that greeted us was not a happy one. The city we had known all our lives was gone. In its place stood a fortress with high walls, inside which were rebuilt or remodeled buildings, piled on top of each other. Almost no residents were visible on the streets; only old men or elderly people who had decided to stay on their ancestral lands. Besides them, soldiers, young and not-so-young mages of intermediate and novice levels, walked the streets. Bo City was now a fortress, a military object that was yet to grow into a full-fledged city.
Besides the city itself and Xiao Fei's base in the mountains, which is managed by Zhang Kong, no other fortified position survived; everything was destroyed by monsters. Now these territories had to be retaken from the monsters. A certain high-level major general was specifically sent for this purpose, who was in charge of Bo City and its surroundings, and Zhang Kong now directly reported to him. However, even with a high-level mage, it is simply impossible to clear all the former human territories of monsters.
Since a warlord-level monster, or a large group of commanders, could appear at any moment, and if there were no high-level mage, the city would simply be destroyed, this time irrevocably. Before, monsters considered Bo City human territory, so strong monsters didn't venture there, even though the defenses were weak. Now, however, with the breach in the defense found and widened, without the constant presence of a high-level mage, the country would lose a large part of its developed land, which could still be reclaimed and expanded.
In general, it should be said that despite the constant attacks of monsters on human cities, and humans on monster lands, the world is quite stable. There is no usual state of martial law. During wartime, everything is more or less peaceful, except that the army plays a huge role in society and in some countries has merged with the state apparatus.
However, there are no open full-scale wars as such. Humanity is in fear of monsters, but does not experience constant pressure from them, except in some places. For example, well-known from the original: Xi'an, Northern Jiaxingjiang, the Pyramids of Giza, the coast of Japan, the Titans of Greece. Or those I learned from books: Central and northwestern Australia, Southern Himalayas and Northern India, Russian Siberia. Only in these places and a couple of others is there a constant clash between humans and monsters. In the rest of the world, it's more like a shaky peace, maintained by the balance established by the struggle over time.
What does this mean, you might ask? It's simple: every species on Earth, every empire and monster tribe living on Earth, including humans, who are not much different from most servant-level monsters, have their own habitats, which outsiders try not to encroach upon. Humans have simply spread out over a vast, scattered area, while monsters live more concentratedly due to their pickiness about living conditions. It can be said that human civilization is just another monster empire, only the monsters in it are weaker and less picky about their living conditions.
Why then do humans fear monsters so much? Where do their brutal attacks come from? It's all just as simple: no species on planet Earth limits its numbers, and all species need resources to exist. When resources in a monster empire become scarce, they go and take them from others, not only from humans but also from other monsters. What do humans do to get resources? They go and destroy monsters. To increase the security zone by exterminating some monster tribe, or at least a couple of herds, driving them to other places, countries have to invest the same amount of resources as in wars between humans in my old world, or even more. After all, it's not only necessary to allocate spell mages, high-level, of which there are only about five percent of the total population of the planet!
We also need to consider that spell mages in state service cannot move freely, as they, by being in a certain city or region, keep the surrounding tribes and even empires from attacking. Who would want to lose a lot of their own to get a handful of land, given that it's not particularly necessary? Clearing large territories is a complex process, which also requires considering the actions of all neighbors. The world is interconnected; monsters and humans are all in a silent harmony that everyone fears to break.
The state of the world can be compared to a nuclear parity, only the conflicting parties are much more numerous, and there are even parallel dimensions; the dark dimension is just one of them. Everyone needs resources, everyone is ready to fight for them, but everyone understands that there is a limit to the price paid for a handful of resources. However, if someone decides to attack, then absolutely everyone will suffer, literally the whole world will go crazy, and a total war will begin, and everyone will find themselves surrounded and in short supply of provisions. As it was during the attack of the oceanic race. The whole world is at war, but a truce is in effect all over the world, an eternal, global war for dominance on the planet, only unlike the past world, it is almost impossible for the conflicting parties to agree on peaceful coexistence.
So, while I was distracted by spatial reflections on the world order, Xu Zhaoting led me to some place outside the fortress wall. Although there were almost no traces left on the ground, it was clear that a small private house used to stand here, where a family that was not poor but not too rich lived. It was also noticeable that besides this house, there were others, forming a once peaceful and quiet street, where children could well play.
"Is this the place where you used to live?" I asked Xu Zhaoting, who stood looking at the ground from which all the debris and other junk had been removed, but neither the foundation nor the deeply buried debris had been bothered to be cleaned up, perhaps there was simply no time for it, because the large part that used to belong to the city was in the same state, or they hadn't managed to clean everything up thoroughly yet, after all, beasts could attack here quite freely.
"Yes, this is my parents' house," he sighed, taking off his backpack. "I wanted to visit them during our day off, but I couldn't come here. It still reminds me of peaceful days; I still remember running here with other kids when I was a child. Now, now..." He broke off, his voice trembling, and tears streamed down his cheeks.
"They are all dead, as the district where they lived was close to the safety border, and the monsters were the first to exterminate it," I finished his sentence in a serious voice, barely holding back the pain in my chest. I consider myself a quite callous person, who can put anyone in danger for his own benefit, but even I can be moved by the death of so many people, just for a paltry crumb of profit. Or perhaps I am not so callous? Although, if you think about it, I have quite calmly accepted the thought that the person who often covers my back, does a mountain of tedious things, obeys me and considers me a friend, will die in about a year and ten months, and in one of the most agonizing deaths.
"Yes, you are right," he said, taking a couple of candles from his briefcase. "Do you mind if I pray for the souls of my parents? I'm sorry I brought you here."
"It's nothing, it's important," I replied, nodding my head and stepping aside.
Xu Zhaoting stuck the candles into the ground, approximately where the entrance to his house used to be, and lit them with matches, after which he began to pray. I stood aside, watching him cope with the loss of all his loved ones; it was interesting to me. Tears flowed continuously down his cheeks, but he himself remained calm, reading the prayer, only at the end did he allow himself to sob like a small child, completely forgetting about me.
"Mom, Dad, I will not allow any of my relatives to die again; I will become many times stronger and will be able to protect all those dear to me," Xu Zhaoting said, wiping away his tears, and his eyes gradually filled with strength, then an incredible anger and confidence in his abilities began to be felt in them. "And those who caused this disaster that took your lives, I will destroy them, turn them to ash with my lightning! I swear it on the ruins of our home!"