The young lady's name is Hilda. She wore full body armor that is shining so brightly that a person miles away could see it.
Dayus looked at her and cursed under his breath.
He didn't like her one bit. From the memories he got from the original owner of the body, he learned of her stories and why she dared to wear that shining golden armor.
She started wearing that as soon as she hit the late stage of the Astral Plane Consummate Stage. From that day onwards, she became strong enough to be invulnerable against any assassination that could happen from a long range.
So, it is like a declaration of her courage. Challenge for the world to come and kill her if they dared to do so. If they have the competence to do so.
As a petty and small man, there is no way he could like a person like her. A person so arrogant and confident in herself because of the abilities she strived hard to get.
The only thing he liked in the whole situation is the map. A map that was created by a lot of explorers. They put a lot of effort in this.
"Hilda, I would like to talk to you alone."
Dayus asked as he looked at the rest of the candidates with a sense of disdain.
"What is it? I am pretty sure you can talk whatever you want to talk about here. There is nothing that you need to talk to me about that's personal."
Hilda is pretty aversive to Dayus. The original owner of the body and her didn't have a very pleasant relationship. At least for some time. Before they got along well. But the guy wanted more and wanted to marry her for her status and power.
Once those intentions were known, she kept him at arms bay.
Normally, she would have granted a private audience for him, but now, there is no chance that is happening.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I think we just need to prioritize on building our control in this valley.
The initial stages of occupation is pretty important and we need to make sure that our foundation is as solid as it could get. The war over the control of the valley is going to continue for a long time in the fure and we will be laying the groundwork for that.
What is the point of trying to poach some washed-up and crippled young master from another clan. It would be nothing more than a waste of our time and resources."
"The probability of a long war is the very reason that I am trying to strike an alliance with Brice. He has a mind for it. In a long-standing war, none of the young masters are going to be a match for him. Even the elder members of the clans will have trouble matching their wits in a war.
If he can be poached in exchange for some resources and time, I would very well spend that happily.
You are second in command of the troops here. You should be well aware of that. Don't make me repeat such obvious things? Anyway, our troops are going to move and you are taking the lead to the second scouting team.
Even if we have the map, that is not enough for us to be assured about the beasts' locations and their strength. We need to scout everything again. But it won't be as hard as the first one.
So, keep up with the primary scout team and finish the task as soon as possible."
Hilda didn't even give them a chance to Dayus to voice his opinions. She simply treated him like a robot that needs to obey her orders. In a way, that is literally his job, but Dayus doesn't have the self-awareness for that.
He could only grit his teeth and think of ways to get the upper hand and authority over the troops.
On the other sides, the situations of the remaining players are definitely not as good as Dayus. No one else had a map and none of them surely had same level of troops.
But they all had better facilities compared to Sam and they started their expansion.
Everyone has a certain level of authority and they acted as aggressively as they could do within the bounds of that authority.
That is already the second day, so everyone is extra aggressive in their approach.
By evening, they more or less occupied a small area of the land.
Meanwhile, back at the base camp.
By sunset.
Sam heaved a sigh as he looked at the large black snake. He smiled slightly as he looked at the big stubborn beast. He has strived so hard to try and communicate with the snake. Since the snake is of that level of cultivation, it certainly understood what Sam said.
But it still took a lot of time, before he made it through the thick scaly head of the creature and convince it to try and make a contract with Sam.
And once he cracked one, the remaining beasts followed through pretty easily.
After finishing that, Sam assigned the beasts to his team members. They will be participating in defending the area. But of course, they have a whole different task that they need to do after his task here is done.
This time when the team members came back, they came back with a guest. They captured someone from a different team.
"So, you are from the north-west. What's the speciality of your young master. What are his skills?"
"Captain, his young master has lightning elemental affinity. He is a warrior mage with great combat ability. But he is not exactly known for his command ability. He is not really leader material."
The answer came from Vice.
Sam just stayed silent as he looked at the young man while thinking who could have taken that young master's place.
Dayus and Donner, are the only lightning element users among the players.
"What weapon does your young master use usually?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe captive was a bit frightened by Sam and didn't know what to do. But when he saw the killing intent enveloping him, all he could do was answer in fright.
"S… Sword."
"So, did he recently change his weapon or something? Did he showcase any new habit or behavior? No matter how small it is, I would like to know.
If you tell me that, there is a good chance that you will be alive after I am done here. Or, I would just kill you and capture another one of your teammates. Maybe I will get my answers from them."
The captive doesn't know what to say. He could only think deeply to see if he noticed anything. But he couldn't think of any noticeable changes.
It's because his interaction is very less with the young master. He is just a lower-level soldier. He barely comes across the young master. Anything that he might have noticed is very superficial and no matter which player took over that body, they wouldn't be stupid enough to make an obvious change in the basic body language.
Two minutes in and Sam knew there is not much use to the soldier. He thought of whether to dispose of him or to use him for some other purpose. He couldn't make an immediate decision as he got multiple ideas.
"Just keep him imprisoned for a while. We can deal with him later on.
Anyway, just continue with the plan. We will see the results by tonight and decide on how to proceed by tomorrow. Meanwhile, let me weave for a while.
But do not forget. The most important rule. You should be alive. I don't care if you lead those soldiers straight to the center of the base. As long as you are alive, it is considered a win even if they attack the base with all of their troops."
"Yes, Captain."
They left and Sam went back to weaving and this time, he started weaving real blankets that are combined with the energy blankets. Objects on their own.
He looked at the departing soldiers and hoped they would come back alive as he set up the loom if there is one thing that Sam doesn't wish to happen in this task is the death of Brice's soldiers.
He took over Brice's body and apparently the loyalty of Brice's subordinates along with it. He believed that it is his basic obligation to keep them all alive and keep this body in the same shape as he obtained it.
Time passed as Sam worked with the loom. He created fabrics with different elemental energies. Blankets are of different shapes and sizes. As he created the large pile by evening, he started folding them and rolling them into different shapes before storing them in the spatial ring.
Within this time, the soldiers brought two more people in.
They didn't attack anyone yet. But one of the two soldiers that came is actually a bit useful.