“How many heat sink systems are you thinking?”
“I was thinking of just the one, but if we had multiple, we could cool or dissipate the heat through multiple to keep a steady rate of fire.” Julilah pulled out a blueprint and passed it to Rugrat.
There were metal blocks in a row, on a slider that went up and down. The formations at the bottom released heat into the metal. The formation controlling the slider, turned the heat into motion. Once the capacity was reached on the metal blocks it would move driving them up just a centimeter or two, matching the blocks up to three sided formations that dissipated heat.
It would look like a metal vertebrae along the barrel of the gun.
“If you did four of them and made an X shape with them you could still easily aim, reload and attach grips and grenade launchers underneath,” Rugrat said. “For the mounted systems like those for the ships, could have nine different cooling systems around the barrel they’re just calculating off of angles they don’t need weapon sights and they’ll be making a hell of a lot more heat.”
They reached Julilah’s workshop. She used a formation to unlock the workshop. Inside there were more attack formations and guards roamed the halls, still Julilah kept all of her items and projects in a special storage ring.
“The new rounds, sabots will need a new magazine system,” she said.
“It might, but it might not. It depends on just what the sabot rounds are like.”
Julilah continued looking over the plans he had brought up and then looking at other plans. Rugrat studied the plans she had given him.
“Where is Qin?” he asked, looking at the other half of the double workshop.
“Under the city, she is working on the Conquerer’s line that is going into production. The Air force and Navy have requested special formations and she is working on several version twos for the armor. Nearly everyone that is an Alvan Crafter is working on some kind of new innovation or working with the military.”
“How long do you think that it will take to make this weapon system?” Rugrat asked.
“This final version?”
“A workable version.”
“Well we have just started to build a test bed for the new system incorporating the power of wind and metal as you suggested we will combine that into an upper receiver. We can already produce the lower receivers. Those weapons will work but they will be greatly reduced in effectiveness as they don’t have the heat sink system to allow the weapon to fire repeatedly or to fire rounds at a higher velocity. We could add that in later, so a month of testing on the base weapon design while we finish building the assembly lines. Say six weeks to two months until mass production, as long as there are no testing issues. Three to four months if we run into issues. We should complete the heat sink systems, then upgrade the old weapons with them.”
“Also we have to look at the manufacture of ammunition and magazines,” Rugrat added.
“And that. Also, if we want to make different versions, long range rifles and machine guns, another few months,” Julilah said.
“So, what, four months until we can start issuing the basic weapons?”
“Something like that.”
“Conquerer’s armor is already being made alongside the new formation stacking system. Every soldier has their basic weapon loadout, medical supplies and ammunition,” Rugrat clicked his tongue.
“You’re over thinking it, we’ve got what we’ve got, when the fight comes we’ll be ready,” Han Wu said.
Rugrat looked at the Special team members.
“Well, not matter what I’ll still worry, the more advantages we can get the better!
Chapter: Unrest in the Institute
Grand Elder Mendes of the Willful Institute looked at the elders around him.
He couldn’t help but feel frustrated, his anger causing the mana around him to fluctuate as his eyes focused on Elder Dean.
“You are telling me that the Adventurer’s Guild, a third rate, useless band of mercenaries is behind this?” His voice remained quiet but turned colder as he stared at the Elder.
“Yes Grand Elder,” Elder Dean said.
“We need to wipe them out,” Elder Tsi said, hitting the desk.
Mendes’ eyes cut over to Tsi, silencing her.
“I am supposed to meet with the council of Grand Elders in a few months and I have to tell them that we are unable to pay our tithe because of a group of mercenaries? A group of mercenaries that were grossly underestimated by us. Who have roots in the first three realms and are closing in on three hundred thousand members quickly. Who have stolen missions and contracts from us, cutting off resources that we require in order to train and grow our younger generation!” Mendes’ anger was reaching a boiling point.
“They haven’t attacked us directly, they know that if they did then we would be able to destroy them!” another Elder said.
Mendes looked at the elder and silence returned as he returned to his own thoughts.
There must be someone behind them, someone able to gather information and learn of our operations, they have struck at several ventures that we have, cutting us down, when looking at it all in parts then its not much to raise alarm. When looking at it all together then it becomes apparent that they are pulling us down, if we allow this to continue then our city will start to falter and our student’s progress will slow. We need those resources to raise geniuses, if we don’t, then they will go to other cities in the Institute to gain better opportunities. We need to draw this group out and destroy them.
“For one group of fighters they’re willing to go this far?” Mendes shook his head. People were expendable at the end of the day, only worth what one could profit from them. He couldn’t see why just a group of fighters would motivate the entire Guild to take an action that could destroy them.
Unconsciously he had stopped looking at them as a simple band of fighters, he started to look at them as if they were a power on par with his own city.
If it was reversed and they had killed a group from our sect then I wouldn’t hesitate in attacking them, threatening them and taking a price from them that would compensate the sect and make sure that they could never develop in the future.
“Send out a challenge to the guild, make it public, invite them to a competition, we will put our fighters against theirs. We will put resources and contracts on the line and sign a contract to that effect. We will have the fight in one week, if they do not appear then we will attack their known locations and wipe them out.” Mendes said, as he thought to himself.
If they come to the competition, they are scared of their power and it will bring their leaders and powerful fighters out into the light. If they do not react, then we can attack and others won’t look down on us.
***
Jasper looked up from the scroll in his hands, looking at the messenger that had delivered it.
“Looks like we have a fight on our hands,” Jasper stood and walked out of the room.
People moved out of his way as he went through the Khusai Guild headquarters. It was the first location that the guild had developed in.
He knocked on a door.
“Come in,” Blaze’s voice came from the other side.
Jasper walked in and put the scroll on his desk.
Blaze looked at the scroll and read it.
“Well, looks like some of them are smart enough to figure out who we are. This all started when they failed to punish their students or even offer apology. Seems it is only fitting that they would be the first faction in the Willful Institute that we officially clash with.”
“Do you want me to ignore it?” Jasper asked.
“Pass it higher and see what they say.”
“It could be a trap.”
“Oh it will probably turn into one, but it remains to see who will fall into it,” Blaze smiled.
***
Erik jogged through the Alva Army Base in the dungeon. Since the army had increased in size, so had the barra
cks transforming into a complete base. He passed different unit’s training areas, soldiers were checking their weapons, carriers and storage rings. Groups that were across the Ten Realms and the units on standby had been given notice. Classes and training still continued for most of the army, but the signs of mobilization were there.
Erik passed through armed and armored men and women before reaching the command center. It was a heavily fortified room under the base.
“Put pants on!” Erik yelled as his first sight was Rugrat in his short-shorts, blacksmithing apron and cowboy hat.
“I was in a rush!”
Erik turned to Glosil, nodding for him.
Captain Kanoa was there as well.
Colonel Yui came in through the door a few moments later, followed by Elan.
“We’re all here,” Glosil said as the room grew quiet. “Director Silaz?”
“Thank you commander,” Elan stood facing the small crowd in front of him. “A few hours the Adventurer’s Guild received a message from one of the Willful Institute’s branches. This branch is the home location of the group that attacked the Adventurer’s Guild. They issued a challenge to the guild, inviting them to the branch to have a tournament for resources. It was highly publicized so that the guild wouldn’t be able to back out of the competition,” everyone was looking at Erik and Rugrat.
“Is it a trap?” Rugrat asked.
“They are looking to do anything to assert their dominance and regain their losses. Internally we have found out that the higher ups are not pleased about the reduced payouts. They are used to their bribes and now they’re not getting it, they’re applying more pressure. This reduces the power of the Adventurer’s Guild and it could recover their resources, it can also elevate their position and reassert their dominance. From their perspective it is a win-win. Now, if they don’t’ win then things could turn into a mess and they might fight back.”
“Do we have a plan for this?” Erik asked.
Glosil stood. “Colonel Domonos Silaz has come up with a plan for this situation. Special teams will infiltrate the branch location getting close to the treasury of the city. Once the fighting competition is over the Adventurer’s team which will look to provoke the Willful Institute being, reinforced with members from the Fourth Realm, will exit the city. Through our contacts and agents we will mess with the branch’s communication and have the branch attack the Adventurer’s Guild. It should drag everyone into the mess. As it happens, the Special teams will reveal themselves to be people under the Black Baron, a local warlord that is displeased with the Willful Institute. They will attack the treasury, stealing what they can and destroying what they can’t. They’ll exit the city and run away. Kanoa and his force will be waiting at a rendezvous where they will transport the Special teams away to a secure location. We will weaken their fighting force, hit them in their heart and rip away their resources. Each attack will open them up more.” Glosil said.
“Follow up attacks?” Erik asked.
“We will share the word to other groups that are on the fence through our intelligence agents. Using the special teams and our own army we have a number of disguises to look like different groups who are angered by the Willful Institute. We will infiltrate and attack the Willful Institute so that they have to respond to the attacks to assert their dominance. This should ignite fighting across the Willful Institute’s branches.” Glosil looked to Elan for any additional information.
“Internally we will be spreading rumors that this fighting is different groups trying to increase their power and influence. We hope that the other factions will start to hamstring one another, hurting their rear and growing distrust,” Elan added.
“Are we ready for this?” Erik asked.
“Colonel?” Glosil looked to Yui.
Yui stood up at attention.
“The Tiger and Dragon Regiments stand ready!”
“Captains?” Glosil looked at Niemm, and Gong Jin were at the back of the room, ready and waiting. Storbon was out on operations in the field while Roska was in Vuzgal.
The two stood up as one.
“Special Team One stands ready,” Niemm said.
“Special Team Three stands ready,” Gong Jin finished.
Kanoa stood up. “The Eagle Company stands ready.”
Erik looked to Elan.
“The Intelligence Department is always ready.”
Erik looked to Rugrat.
“The rounds in the chamber,” Rugrat said.
“Alright, as long as Blaze agrees on the side of the Adventurer’s Guild, begin Operation Black Shadow,” Erik said.
***
Domonos’ blade sent sparks flying as it met his opponent’s shield, getting turned to the side. Domonos followed the direction of the blade, his form blurring as he circled around. The shield user let out a yell as their shield shifted to face him, the two of them increased their speeds and attacks, each of them used the full power of their bodies and their mana cultivation.
Flames followed Domonos’ blade, causing his opponent to wince, even with their high fire resistance.
Their shield stopped the sword again and again, with Domonos having to forcefully increase his speed through his movement techniques so he wasn’t caught by his opponent’s sword.
The man stomped a spell changing the ground around them, creating ripples in the stone that were easy to cross if someone was going slow, but led to one missing their steps and tripping if they moved quickly.
Domonos jumped and took a hit on his blade, he flew backward, outside the rippled circle.
He concentrated mana in his legs and in his arms, flames condensed on his blade as he shot forward buffing his limbs to the extreme and his reaction time as he touched on the ripples on the ground, sending him flying forward, picking up momentum.
His opponent let out a yell as flames covered their body and their skin took on a stony appearance.
Domonos waved his blade, sending out flaming blades that the man broke upon his shield cutting his sword forward, sending out a bolt of lightning.
Domonos sent out a blade of fire, weakening the attack and then stopped it on his blade, slowing his momentum and numbing his hands.
He pushed forward the last meter and brandished his attack.
The shield user turned, their shield guided the blade away as their sword cut down at Domonos.
Shit. Domonos had telegraphed his attacks eager to see the power of his technique and his blade matched to one another. His opponent had turned him to the side, leaving him opening. Domonos could practically feel his opponent’s blade cutting through his armor and digging into his leg.
He heard the noise of the blade hitting his leg armor, enough to scratch but he knew that his opponent’s full strength wasn’t behind it.
Domonos stutter-stepped past his opponent and sighed as he lowered his blade.
The sergeant he had been fighting had a wide grin on his face as he pulled off his helmet.
Domonos took off his helmet as well, wiping his sweat away with his hand.
“You got me good,” Domonos said, smiling as he shook the sergeant’s hand.
“Ah, well, you get me three times out of five, need to get at least some hits in!” The Sergeant laughed. “Are you looking forward to the Battle Arena’s competition?”
“The year has gone by quickly, just a month to go until we have another competition. I’m sure that this year it will be even larger,” Domonos said, pulling out a canteen and drinking from it.
“I hear that there are a lot more people coming, since they all heard about the rewards and the abilities of people that trained at the Battle Arena! The Battle Arena needed to double its underground training facilities.”
Domonos offered the sergeant his water canteen who took it with a nod of thanks.
“I’m sure that it will be as lively as ever. I wonder just how the fighters from last year will compare to the new contestants.”
Domonos chuckled as he saw a messenger
walking over now the fight was done.
The Sergeant saw them walking over and nodded to Domonos passing the canteen back.
“If you’re even in the need of someone to spar with, I’ll be around.”
Domonos nodded, there was no saluting in the sparring area, here everyone was the same, all of them fighting it out to improve their personal skills. Most of the people there were higher levels than others and were actively looking to get on the Close Protection Details and onto the Special Teams. The simple ‘sergeant’ he had been sparring with wore the markings of the CPD and had added on a few more patches to show his training with the air force’s birds and the navy’s ships.
The messenger passed him a sealed letter. Domonos cut his finger and used it on the letter, the seal broke for him as he read the contents.
He read it quickly and then took his time on the second pass.
I best go and see Roska.
He left the training area behind and went to some of the more secluded buildings in the military compound.
It was separate from the main compound with their own guards to make sure that people didn’t get past them. It was one of the training grounds for the Special teams. Domonos was stopped and checked, there were all kinds of spells and skills people could use to fake their identity. He passed through and saw Special team trainees that were just coming back from a mission and others that were heading off on another. The air around them had changed, there was a subtle change between regular soldiers, and those on the Special teams. The soldiers were like a shield, you knew that they were soldiers. You could see through their actions and how they acted, veterans and those who knew their roles were instantly recognizable. They could do things with such fluid ease it was hard to notice it. Silent gears in the machine.
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