Warfare's Ultimate Frontier 1

by Quasar Magellan

  “How powerful are these factions? I've heard of them before but I don’t really know how strong they are.”

  Guan Yu smiled. “Well then, someone such as I is perfect for giving you a rundown. First, the Yellow Wang Alliance is a rather interesting faction. The faction is the result of an alliance of two lesser factions that combined in the last few hundred years. Even so, they’re still the least powerful of the top three factions.”

  “A merging of factions? That's rather interesting.”

  Yue Fei interjected. “Well, don't think too much about it. It's a rare occurrence and when it does happen it's usually among extremely weak factions. The Wang faction and the Yellow faction merging was a special case. Both sides’ representatives were friendly with each other, and the leaders happened to be brothers-in-arms.”

  Baron nodded. “Quite amazing. What about the other two top factions?”

  “Next is the Middle Kingdom faction. This faction is headed by the infamous strategist, Wu Qi.”

  Baron’s eyes widened. “Wu Qi? He's considered to be one of the best strategists in all of China's history.”

  "... Yes, as I was saying. Wu Qi is a tactical mastermind. That is why he is the second ranked elder in our community, and the only other top elder. Just this one person alone should give you an idea of how powerful this faction is. Factor in all of the young talent he regularly recruits, and their faction is simply amazing. However, they have been rather quiet as of late. But even so, they are no match for the Sun Coalition.”

  Baron gave a lopsided smile. “I assume the Sun Coalition is named after Sun Tzu?”

  Guan Yu nodded. “So you’ve heard of him. The writer of the Art of War, the man who created strategy, as it were, in China. He is an absolute monster — not even Wu Qi can compare to him.”

  Baron nodded. “That’s to be expected. The Art of War is taught at military schools all around the world, now. It is even used as a guideline for sports coaches, bankers… teachers. You name it. So I guess, it’s to be expected that the man himself is so impressive.”

  Guan Yu nodded. “Other than Wu Qi and Sun Tzu, Wang Jian, Lian Po, Li Mu, and Bai Qi are the closest to the top of the Chinese community. However, they all have their distinct weaknesses.”

  Baron wasn’t too surprised. “That makes sense. They’re the four most revered strategists of the Warring States period. We worship them in our textbooks back home. What are their weaknesses?”

  Guan Yu organized his thoughts before responding. “Let’s see… Wang Jian is a great strategist, but he is too secretive and keeps to himself too much to be a proper community leader. Li Mu is the closest to the third top elder seat, but he’s too cautious and doesn’t take any risks if possible.

  “As for Bai Qi, he’s too ruthless. Lian Po is charismatic, but he takes far too many risks. When they work out, he looks like a genius, but when they don’t… it’s painful to see.”

  “That's quite an interesting point. Which factions do they belong to?”

  “They weren't originally in the same faction, but they teamed up and were the ones to merge the Yellow Faction with the Wang Faction. The four of them now co-lead the Yellow Wang Alliance. We actually had another top elder before.”

  “Stop, Guan Yu. You know we aren't supposed to talk about that.” Yue Fei butted in.

  “Calm down, Yue Fei. He deserves to know.”

  “Well now, I feel like I need to know.” Said Baron.

  “Zhuge Liang was once a top elder, on par with even the likes of Sun Tzu. However, he was by far more popular, and when it was suggested, we had to vote on whether Zhuge Liang would be the Chinese community’s head of state. He was voted in, and we were able to climb the rankings thanks to him. He did a great deal for us as our head of state. Before he took power, we usually ranked around fifth or sixth. It was only with his persistent sacrifice that we were able to climb so high.”

  “What do you mean he was a top elder?”

  Guan Yu sighed. “One day he just vanished. It was a few decades after one of the Death Match tournaments. Nobody knows where he was, is, or what happened. It’s… it’s like he died again.”

  Baron had a bad feeling about the conversation, so he changed the topic. “As much as I’d like to speculate, I think that’s enough for now. Let’s head over to the auction house and sell our items. We should check out some of the other exhibits, too.”

  Their trip to the auction house, this time, was a far cry from their previous experience, as their group contained two community elders. Still though, Baron split the blueprints amongst the group to give to the auctioneers. Most of the blueprints were of fairly low quality, but a few were rather advanced. Naturally, Baron had split them accordingly amongst his faction members.

  While the others were off selling blueprints, Baron decided to peruse the exhibits already on display.

  Bronze armor: 2,000 silver coins.

  Steel polearm: 600 silver coins.

  Flying guillotine: 6,000 silver coins.

  The flying guillotine caught Baron's interest. He had heard of this weapon before, back on Earth. But, no records had remained of how it was used. Some historians guessed that it was soaked in poison, or it was thrown over a person’s head, and with a few tugs, the victim would be headless.

  Curious, he asked the nearest auctioneer and received confirmation that it was, indeed, used for decapitation. He was also told that it was a favorite amongst the Chinese community, as it provided for an entertaining show.

  Still, though, he didn’t need something that was only for show. Baron continued down the endless halls of the auction house.

  He saw a blueprint for Chigiriki, a Japanese flail-type weapon selling for eight hundred silver coins.

  An Urumi, an Indian sword with multiple whip-like blades for twelve hundred. A Triple edged karambit selling for a thousand silver coins.

  These were just some of the more interesting blueprints that Baron saw — but soon enough, it was time for everyone to return back to headquarters.

  There, they decided that it was time to graduate from competing against the NPC commanders. Dividing themselves up, they began to practice against each other. Yue Fei against Guan Yu, Han Xin against Baron, and Xu Da against Ban Chao.

  They continued to practice for several weeks, occasionally switching partners.

  As time passed, an informal ranking emerged. Guan Yu was highest, while Yue Fei followed, then Baron, Han Xin, Ban Chao, and Xu Da in that order.

  But with their familiarity with each other, they found a problem with only having each other to practice against: they were too accustomed to each others’ styles, and were therefore rewarded in the simulations for creating strategies tuned against each other instead of strategies that were objectively the best.

  As said in the Art of War, “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.”

  But they were training to improve their skills — not to understand each other better.

  So, they put out a notice, rewarding strategists accustomed to aerial combat battle in scenarios against them.

  Soon, many flocked to them to do battle.

  Chapter 43

  Experience First-Hand

  The reward brought many to their headquarters — but many of them were clearly inexperienced in aerial warfare. So, Baron and the others were forced to change how they managed the affair.

  With the new setup, newcomers would challenge Xu Da. If they won, they could battle Ban Chao, then Han Xin, and so on. The higher up the ladder the strategist climbed, the more money they would earn.

  If one lost to Xu Da, they would be given a customary five silver coins. If they beat Xu Da but lost to Ban Chao, they would receive twenty silver coins. If they managed to beat even Guan Yu, then they would receive five hundred silver coins.

  Due to the sheer volume of people, there was quite a waiting line. All in all, almost five thousand people signed up to battle Xu Da. Some of the more well-kn
own and respected were given an explanation as to what was happening, and were asked to return in a month or so.

  As for the rest, they were told to battle each other, and those who did well or impressed Baron and the others were invited back. Of the five thousand who arrived, about thirty-five hundred were rather unknown. Of these unknowns, only about two hundred were invited back.

  The others were given their coins and were told to leave.

  Just sorting everyone had used up over sixteen thousand silver coins of Under One Banner’s liquidity. They would have to spend even more as they battled the better strategists. It wouldn’t be for naught, though.

  Just from observing the weaker strategists, they’d learned a great deal. They’d managed to see many strategies and tactics they hadn’t previously thought of, and they even noticed some common mistakes.

  And then, there were some who seemed interesting or good enough to be invited to be part of the faction.

  Baron, at least, was looking forward to doing battle with them.

  To not waste their own time, Baron split the seventeen hundred who’d been invited back into groups of about twenty, then started from there. Baron instructed Xu Da and the others that it didn’t matter too much if they won or not — what was important was to learn tactics and the like. Of the first twenty, sixteen made it past Xu Da, fourteen made it past Ban Chao, nine made it past Han Xin, three defeated Baron, and none were victorious against Yue Fei.

  Guan Yu, itching to do battle, picked the best out of the three that had been defeated by Yue Fei, and fought against him. It was a close battle, but Guan Yu was still able to win in the end.

  In this manner, they made their way through the other nineteen groups, while doing their best to learn. With every new opponent they faced, they became more and more familiar with what the common tactics for aerial warfare were in the Chinese community, and what worked, and what didn’t. After several months, they had finally made their way through all of the invited strategists, racking up a grand tally of over sixty thousand silver coins.

  After paying the strategists, Baron and the five others had picked out the hundred or so best strategists, and asked if they were willing to have a few more simulation battles at a later date.

  Paid, of course.

  It had really been costly, but it had been well worth it for both Under One Banner, and the invited strategists. Even the ones who’d only earned five silver coins couldn’t complain much, as it was simply their lack of ability that had held them back. But as the average annual wage was only about a hundred silver coins, it had still been well worth their time. As for those with more skill, they’d made a killing. A few sims to win a few hundred silver coins?

  What could possibly be better?

  The statistics were as follows. Of the seventeen hundred, only fifteen individuals were able to best all of Under One Banner. Less than a hundred were able to best Yue Fei but fell to Guan Yu. Only about four hundred made it past Baron. There were six hundred who made it past Han Xin. Close to two hundred and eighty of these individuals were considered to be invited back.

  Of the two hundred and eighty, they’d been assessed in three categories. Skill, manners, and uniqueness in tactics.

  Skill and manners are commonly coveted skills in any society, so we won’t explain why Under One Banner had assessed those skills. Uniqueness, though, as Baron informed the others, was extremely important. This meant that they were looking for strategists who could think of, and employ, tactics that weren’t very conventional — kind of like Han Xin.

  As strategists, they had to be able to think — and act, outside the box. And it was by practicing against those with unorthodox strategies that they, too, would be able to be prepared and learned in such ways.

  Baron had been hoping to invite these strategists into Under One Banner, but sadly, the majority of them already belong to some faction or another. Changing factions was allowed, but no faction would be willing to let go of able strategists — and of course, these were the ones Baron wanted. Still though, there were a few who were factionless. And Baron planned to win them over.

  After holding the tournament, Under One Banner had undoubtedly attracted quite a bit of attention from the community. By this point, there was already quite a bit of gossip floating around that Yue Fei and Han Xin’s group had recruited Guan Yu to their cause, and was heavily invested in the upcoming Faction Selection Tournament.

  To be fair, this was true — but other rumors had been completely blown out of proportion. For example, one piece of gossip was that Yue Fei and Han Xin were creating a faction purely out of aerial masters, and they were holding tryouts.

  Despite all of the craziness, though, they paid no mind and chatted about the results of their little endeavor.

  Guan Yu groaned. “I have to say, most of those that were capable of beating me did so in a very domineering manner. I can only imagine what they did to you guys.”

  Baron shook his head. “Let's not talk about that for now, Guan Yu. I think we should pool together our wealth of knowledge and see if we can pick up any patterns.”

  Guan Yu nodded. “Fair enough, let’s do that. But I will say this, beforehand. Those who came are nowhere close to the best that our Chinese community has to offer. They do know their stuff, but even the best of them would probably only rank in the top five hundred of our community’s aviation masters.”

  “For what we wanted to achieve, they served their purpose well. We aren’t here to be the best in this field — we should just focus on beating the strategists that the Vesper group sent to interfere with us in the Faction Selection Tournament. As long as we can do that, we won’t have to worry about aerial warfare for a while afterwards.”

  Han Xin spoke up. “Let's get to work. Fighting in simulations for months without break has really clouded my mind. It was fun, and definitely very useful, but breaks are just as important.”

  “Next time I'll arrange for that, then.” Said Baron.

  “Wait, next time?”

  Baron nodded. “Yes, I hope to hold another event of this type before the official tournament. This one took close to half a year to complete, and next time it’ll probably be even longer.”

  Over the next few days, they continuously discussed what they’d learned from each other in their numerous simulations. As time passed, they began to agree on certain things, and their understanding and knowledge of the field slowly coalesced into a united understanding.

  Soon, they would become true masters of this field, but for now, they were only one step away from being well known aerial strategists.

  Chapter 44

  The Best Naval Strategist

  Baron decided that laying low was no longer in his best interest. If his goal of leading the dominant faction in the Chinese community was to ever be realized, he needed to make a name for himself. He needed a lot of respect and prestige if he was to win over the populace of China. No matter how he looked at it he eventually would have to stop laying low.

  And now, with two elders by his side, and Han Xin within arm’s reach of a seat for himself, it was time for Baron to make his move. Besides, although the Forever Pirates had their hands full, their name was still well known and would be beneficial to him in this endeavor.

  Unsure of what to do for his next move, he decided to talk to Guan Yu about this matter — so they met at a nearby winehouse to discuss.

  “Aye, it is different from back on Earth. We can't exactly suppress a faction by assassinating people. People don’t exactly die here. However, it’s possible to suppress a faction in a few other ways. For example, you can disrupt a faction’s access to money, whether that be from selling blueprints, services, or something else. Done correctly, this can paralyze a faction.

  “For most factions, though, selling blueprints can make up to half of their revenue. The rest typically comes from tournament prizes and business deals with other factions.”

  “Is there any other way to suppress a faction
?” Baron asked as he drank a bowl of white wine.

  “Of course there are, but none are as effective as disrupting trade. I suppose the next best way would be to convince their members to leave, whether by compensation, threats, or some other cheap gesture.”

  Baron slowly nodded. “I see. Well, let's hope that we won't have to think about this anytime soon.”

  “Cheers to that.”

  “Cheers.” Baron said as the two clinked bowls and downed their wine.

  There was much for Baron to think about. Mainly, he needed to figure out how to get Han Xin, Xu Da, Ban Chao, and himself into elder positions. Han Xin was definitely the closest and had the skill to back up a seat, and Baron was close, but the other two needed time and training.

  So, he brought the four into a room to have a brainstorming session.

  “Everyone, I’m sure why you know why we’re here. If we are to become a top faction, we need to have the fame and prestige to back the faction’s name. One of the best ways to do that is by becoming elders. Of course, if you don’t all want to be elders, that’s fine. Speak now so that I’ll know.”

  Han Xin scratched his head. “The reason I didn't want to become an elder is that I didn’t have any reason to add extra responsibilities to my life. After what happened on Earth, I just felt like taking it easy for a while. It was best for my mental health. Now that I have a faction to support, though, I’ll do my best to take a seat.”

  Baron nodded. “Well said, Han Xin. Anyone else?”

  Ban Chao shrugged. “Becoming an elder isn’t really something I’d thought much about. Like Han Xin, I wanted to take it easy here on planet four, comparatively, at least. I have to say though, Being a wanderer of sorts these past few years has really given me a new perspective on how life should be lived. Life should have purpose, meaning, and one should surround themselves with good friends and reliable allies. And of course, one should keep their mind sharp. I am willing to become an elder for our cause.”