The meeting between Bai Zemin and Xian Mei'er lasted longer than he thought it would. It wasn't until almost midnight that the two finally parted ways, and just like everyone else, they headed to their respective rooms.
The Fortress Mother was no different than a ghost base at this point. Its massive size was simply too much for it to be occupied by just a little over 2000 men.
Moreover, even though Bai Zemin had taken care of almost all the blood that ran like rivers between the fortress buildings, the smell of death accompanied by the howling of the night wind was really too terrifying.
Three teams were divided into three turns, each team one turn, to occupy defensive positions on the walls. Soldiers and soul evolvers alike took it upon themselves to fire the goblin magic cannons immediately at the slightest sign of problems, which would alert the lead monsters resting in the center of the base.
"Do you think the goblins will attack with the intention of taking back this fortress?" A soldier asked as he smoked a cigarette with an expression of delight on his face.
"No, they won't do that." His companion replied. This other soldier took out a box of cigarettes with 5 units, and after lighting one he inhaled the smoke deeply before blowing it out slowly with a relaxed expression on his face, "With Leader Bai back, those goblins will be calling for death if they dare to come over here. They probably know it too now that the Mother Fortress fell into our hands in no time at all."
"But, the Leader is certainly a soul evolver apart." A soul evolver near the two soldiers sighed. "He single-handedly did what our entire faction together did not dare to do... and he did it in less than 1 day... Sometimes I wonder how it's possible for him to have become so strong. I mean, it's not like I haven't risked my life several times to level up you know? No one gave me my Soul Power for free."
"Hey, Yin Yuan. What do you mean when you say our faction didn't dare? Our main troop was focusing on taking back the rest of the country, the higher leaders couldn't just send the strongest ones to take over a single territory... Besides..." The first soldier hesitated for a moment before saying quietly, "From what I heard, the Leader fought against First Order mutant beasts when he was only level 10 or so..."
"What? How could something like that even be possible...?"
At the lowest levels, a soul evolver shouldn't even have too many skills that would allow them to close such a huge gap!
"Well, that's what many say."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"... Forget it, who cares.... For better or worse, it is true that the lives of all of us have improved thanks to him and the other leaders."
"True, now practically everyone in the military can afford a box of cigarettes every half month, luxuries that only the government could afford a few months ago."
...
In his room, Bai Zemin looked at Bai Shilin, Xiao Xiao, and Luo Ning who followed him here. He naturally had no problem with any of them, especially Bai Shilin. However and yet, he had an ironic expression on his face as he slowly said, "Xiao Xiao, Luo Ning... You girls want to come with me?"
"Mm!" Xiao Xiao nodded without hesitation.
"Big brother, just for tonight, please?" Luo Ning looked at him with puppy eyes.
" ... In that case, don't resist the force of attraction you will feel." He said.
Two seconds later, Luo Ning started to yell in surprise as she looked at the new world.
As for Xiao Xiao, she was like an octopus that clung to Bai Zemin without letting him go anywhere, even ignoring everything around her.
"What will you do now?" Lilith asked keeping herself in her Lili form. She was already there by the time they arrived, and since both Luo Ning and Xiao Xiao had seen her before they weren't too surprised.
"For now..." Bai Zemin walked towards the still unfinished house and stretched his body as he said in a tired voice, "Let's take some sleep."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Lilith looked at his back, and knowing that things were going to get rough soon nodded gently.
"You're right. Let's get some sleep."
The treasure bed was very large, at least twice the size of a King size bed. Therefore, it was no problem for Bai Zemin to lie down in the middle and sleep comfortably with Bai Shilin, Xiao Xiao, Luo Ning, and Lilith.
Although both Bai Zemin's Stamina and Mana were almost at 100%, he was mentally and spiritually tired.
Not only had he taken a huge base with only Bai Shilin's support but he had also learned from Xian Mei'er that his absence had given rise to others to grow and explore, which now ended up biting him in the butt.
After sleeping for about 8 hours in the Collector's Pocket World, which meant that it had not even been an hour in the outside world, Bai Zemin slowly opened his eyes and stared at the wooden ceiling with a dazed expression.
He had had a dream, a long dream, a very strange but at the same time important one. Unfortunately, he could not remember no matter how hard he focused or tried.
After a few minutes, Bai Zemin gently shook his head, and seeing that even Lilith was still sleeping comfortably hugging Bai Shilin, he was very careful to stand up.
Thanks to all the people present trusting in him completely, none of them woke up when Bai Zemin left the house.
After looking for a tree with some shadow, he sat down comfortably and looked at his status window. There, Bai Zemin saw that apart from the normal stats they all had from the beginning, a new stat called Spiritual Power was glowing softly as if calling out to him.
[Spiritual Power: 1]
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})It wasn't the first time Bai Zemin had seen it, of course. However, so far he had not dared to do anything with that one point of Spiritual Power.
"One point of Spiritual Power.... Spiritual Power is definitely a significantly higher energy than Mana, I can say that for sure even though I only have 1 point." He muttered as he rubbed his chin.
"However, I'm still not sure what conforms such energy or why it appeared in the first place."
The problem was that, unlike Mana which came from a mysterious and powerful entity called Soul Record, Spiritual Power was coming out of a memory seal, which was extremely rare. No matter how much he thought about it, Bai Zemin couldn't find a logical answer to all of this.
"Besides..." Bai Zemin frowned and a glint of worry shone in his eyes, "Who can guarantee me that if I use this Spiritual Power point then it will recover? No, for one thing, how the hell will I get it resupplied after I spend it?"
Different from the Mana that was everywhere, the Spiritual Power was inside the seal of memories but that seal was not as vast as the entire universe that was filled with Mana...
Due to his doubts and insecurity, Bai Zemin did not dare to touch that single and pitiful point.
His curiosity certainly wasn't worth taking such a risk. At least not now.
Bai Zemin closed his eyes, and for the first time since the events of the Staircase to Heaven, he began to hit the memory seal with his soul. However, unlike that time when he desperately attacked taking the risk of damaging his soul, Bai Zemin was very patient and struck only hard enough so that once the pile of damage reached a certain point it would cause a bigger crack than what was already in the seal.
Time passed slowly but surely, and when Lilith and the little girls woke up, the first thing they saw when they left the house was Bai Zemin sitting in the lotus position with his back resting comfortably on the trunk of a large tree not far from the front door.
She motioned them to silence so that they would not disturb him upon seeing the girls' curiosity and took them far away enough so that the noise would not become a problem. However, even after training for 15 whole hours, the four found Bai Zemin sitting in the same position as before with the only difference being the night sky above their heads.
Bai Shilin, Xiao Xiao, and Luo Ning went to sleep under the insistence of Lilith, who explained a little of the difference in the passage of time within this world when she noticed the concern in Luo Ning and Xiao Xiao's eyes. It was only after learning that there would be no change in the war that the two girls agreed to go to rest after a long day of training their abilities.
1... 2... 3... 4...
The days inside the Collector's Pocket Watch passed one after another, and as Lilith guided them in this world without so many restrictions, the three girls began to grow in experience in terms of both hand-to-hand combat and physical strength control as well as in the mastery of their Mana and magic power.
"Big sister Lili, big brother is really fine?" Luo Ning asked worriedly as she looked at Bai Zemin sitting in the same position as before. "Today is the 5th day since we have come here but he still hasn't moved from that place. He hasn't even changed his position at all."
"He's fine, don't worry," Lilith said with some confusion flashing in her eyes.
Even she had no idea what Bai Zemin was doing. Was he trying to feel some law to study it? She didn't know but she wasn't worried either as she could feel his aura as stable and steady as ever.
It was exactly when 5 days had passed, 120 hours since they had entered the Collector's Pocket World, that Bai Zemin opened his eyes.
He blinked a little confused, but was soon marveled by the pretty deep pink eyes staring at him.
"Xiao Xiao? What are you doing?"
Xiao Xiao closed her eyes and they practically curved into a crescent shape as she smiled sweetly, "Big brother, you're finally awake. I was just looking at you, no more."
Bai Zemin smiled and ruffled her hair a bit, "What's so funny about staring at me?"
"I like staring at you. I feel warm when I'm near you." Xiao Xiao replied as she walked into his embrace.
Bai Zemin chuckled and welcomed her warmly.
Xiao Xiao was a spiritual dolphin, a super rare species in the entire universe according to Lilith. She could sense and communicate to some extent with people's souls, and apart from Bai Zemin and innocent children the only living being Xiao Xiao allowed to touch her was precisely Xian Mei'er.
However, she certainly loved more than anything to hold Bai Zemin in order to be close to his soul, and now that he knew a little more about the secrets hidden in his soul it didn't seem too strange to her.
After a few minutes, Bai Zemin and Xiao Xiao Xiao stood up and went to look for Bai Shilin and the rest.
When they saw him, Bai Shilin and Luo Ning immediately ran to hug him and say good morning, causing a wry smile on Bai Zemin's face.
Good morning? He hadn't been sleeping at all...
Seeing that Lilith was looking at him in confusion, he briefly explained what he had been doing all this time.
"I see..." She nodded with a slight frown, "Zemin, be careful with that seal. Don't rush and take your time. Remember that messing with the soul or anything in it is no joke, you could cause irreparable damage if you're careless."
"I know, don't worry." Bai Zemin nodded with a serious expression. "That's precisely why I'm taking my time patiently. Even though I haven't been able to make bigger that crack I made before, it will eventually happen."
"That's good for you to know." Lilith smiled visibly relieved.
Actually, if not for the existence of the Collector's Pocket Watch, Bai Zemin would not be so relaxed right now considering that in less than 6 years 70% of the life in the universe would disappear unless he had the strength to fight against the beings of The Golden Domain that would arrive on this plane by then. It was only thanks to this wonderful Demi-god grade treasure that he was a little more comfortable with the time he had.
...
Although 120 hours had passed for Bai Zemin and the others, for everyone in the outside world it had only been 12 hours.
Lilith pretended to stay in the Collector's Pocket World while he took the three girls to lunch as it was past 12 noon.
It was a few hours later when a fleet of over 50,000 humans from the south arrived at the base and under the leadership of Bai Zemin and his trusted men they began to set in motion all the defense mechanisms of the Mother Fortress.
Just before nightfall, an Agility-type soul evolver quickly came to the place where Bai Zemin and the others were resting and once she was allowed to go in she brought news that somehow didn't surprise the people present very much.
"L- Leader Bai! A very big army of goblins and sea beasts was spotted 20 kilometers in an easterly direction!" announced the soul evolver with a slightly pale face. "There are millions of them, but we only have about 55,000 people here among which not all of them can fight!"
Bai Zemin brushed his mouth before casually tossing the napkin on the table and standing up.
"I had planned to start the attack tomorrow...."
The reason Bai Zemin had planned to wait one more day before continuing the attack was to give his people time to get ready. After all, this would be a great war according to what Xian Mei'er said before; a war that would not end in 1 or 2 days.
Bai Zemin needed people. He needed his army, and he was going to mobilize it since he had built it for this kind of circumstance in the first place.
"But since they are sending us a gift beforehand then we'd better go receive it."
* * * * * * *
