A day passed as the Kandrian military speedily worked on the fortification of their core territory. Walls were erected, simple lodging were constructed at incredibly high paces. One of the many things that the army had to take care of was sealing the many caves that littered the territory beneath them that led onto the surface. It served as a hole in the defense and security and could be exploited by hostile Martial Apprentices to infiltrate into the territory.
Of course, this would violate the Serevian Pact and it was unlikely that any nation would cross the line, the military was not taking any chances. There was also the psychological pressure of living with such a security hole. So much so that there were a few Martial Apprentices of the defensive squad who had been chosen because of their mastery of the Seismic Mapping technique.
It took a few days for the base camp to fully stabilize as the most important issues had been taken care of and the secondary and tertiary tasks were being handled by the dungeon team dispatched by the Ministry of Environment and Ecology and the Ministry of Mining.
Rui was starting to get a little bored until finally the offensive squad was ready to be dispatched.
"Martial Apprentices of the offensive squad." Colonel Carnes addressed the offensive squad. "The first phase of the colonization of the Serevian Dungeon is complete. The Serevian Dungeon team will begin an aggressive expansion deeper into the Serevian Dungeon henceforth with continuous supply shipments from the Kandrian Empire. As per protocol, the offensive team may commence the offensive attacks on any foreign settlements that aren't part of the core territories of other nations. As all of you are surely aware, you cannot attack the core territories of the Serevian Dungeon. This would violate the Serevian Pact on behalf of the Kandrian Empire."
Rui nodded. None of the Martial Apprentices were foolish enough to do something that stupid, when the mission bill as well as the commissioner of the mission and the colonel leading the mission had all drilled it into their heads that infringing on the core territories was absolutely unacceptable.
"The maps that you will be provided contain clear and defined illustration that detail the core territories of the foreign nations in high accuracy and precision." Colonel Carnes informed them as a soldier hauled a box. "Each of these maps also details the territories of a few nations that have already begun expanding territory. As all of you are aware, your goal is to hinder and obstruct the colonization of our competitors to the highest degree possible. Ensure that our competitors cannot take a single step outside of their core bases!"
The Martial Apprentices simply stared at him blankly. They were unaccustomed to such pep talks, being from the Martial Union. The Martial Union was very much practical and business-oriented. Martial Apprentices were not motivated with pep talks, but with money and other more concrete benefits.
Regardless, the Martial Apprentices were motivated.
"Colonel Carnes is correct." Commissioner Feristen nodded. "The higher-ups at HQ have already messaged relayed all of you your offensive missions on your accounters regarding the targets that you will be attacking. Refer to the map and commence the attacks at the given timeframe."
The Martial Apprentices were immediately given the maps with the territories of their competitors.
"Red marks the core territories while blue marks the extended territories, huh?" Rui red the map along with its legends.
The closest territories to the Kandrian Empire's territories were several small nations. The Kingdom of Nochus, the Republic Jerefin and the State of Hreefeal were the among the three nations closest to the Serevian Plateau, directly touching it at certain points. This allowed the three nations to get a head start in the exploration and colonization of the Serevian Dungeon.
Rui glanced at his accounter as he read the message.
"My target is... the Kingdom of Nochus huh?" Rui mused as he read the orders of the message that the Martial Union had sent him.
The Martial Artists of the Martial Union were different from the soldiers of the army that had a high amount of cohesion and coordination. The Martial Artists of the Martial Union had no such thing unless it was with members of a party.
It wasn't possible to foster such kind of coordination with Martial Artists who were effectively no different from freelancers. The individualistic freelancer mindset was what gave the Martial Apprentices its greatest strengths, but it also gave them their greatest shortcomings. The Martial Union was inferior to the Kandrian Royal Army as far as coordination of its forces went.
This problem was the reason why the Martial Union included training of large-scale coordination guidelines in the Martial Academy. The training wouldn't magically make all teamwork absolutely perfect, but it would ensure that at the very least the coordination wasn't a negative.
It included simple principles that allowed Martial Apprentices to not get in each other's way.
That training would be put to use in this mission since the Martial Apprentices that would be working together to assault a certain base had no basis for coordination.
In fact, Rui didn't even know who his fellow teammates were that would be attacking the Kingdom of Nochus!
The Martial Union was taking full control, moving each Martial Apprentice like pieces on a chessboard so that the pieces didn't need to try teaming up together only to make a mess. In comparison, colonel Carnes had full authority over the Kandrian Dungeon team and the garrisons of the Royal Army. He would be making a lot of decisions and would be held accountable for them.
Rui shook his head as he began preparing for the assault on the territory of the Kingdom of Nochus. Each nation would be bringing out their best, which meant that their defenses would be significantly stiff.
Regardless, Rui was quite excited for his first battle of the Serevian Dungeon wars. Just what kind of Martial Artists would he run into?
