The Martial Union had dispatched dozens of Martial Apprentices, and several Martial Squires, all of them belonging to the Longranger Sect and each having a Martial Path centered around long-range techniques.
Rui could sense the dense sense of power emanating from the Veomine Eagle. "Those idiots, they were told to lay low until authorized otherwise."
He quickly headed to the conference room, where they had all gathered to meet Senior Ceeran.
"But sir, why can't we just take ove-!"
THUD
Rui slammed the doors open, inspecting the Martial Artists who had arrived.
They all stared at Rui as their eyes scanned him from top to bottom, sizing him up. Rui could sense surprise and caution in their demeanors, and it was understandable. He was supposed to be a grade four Martial Squire, but for some reason, he had an overwhelming aura that they had seldom sensed within the Squire Realm.
Rui had still donned his mind mask from the moment he had arrived at the island without ever having taken it off. Appearing much stronger than he was gave his words more gravitas, and certainly helped him in being taken seriously by the G'ak'arkan Tribe.
And it would be of invaluable help in the Squire Realm as well, being taken seriously by these Martial Squires who mistakenly thought they were weaker than him thanks to the projected power that came with the technique.
"Ah, Squire Quarrier, you're here," Senior Ceeran smiled well-meaningfully. "Allow me to introduce these good Martial Artists; they're good members of the Longranger Sect that I have handpicked as recommendations for Derun. I'm sure you'll get along with them."
"I'm sure you're correct," Rui lied, before turning to all of them. "I am Squire Quarrier, the leader of this diplomatic mission. As I'm sure you've all been informed, the objective of this mission is to obtain several potent and exotic long-range techniques. The settlement operation that you have all been deployed as a part of is our plan at obtaining the techniques they want. When the time comes, you will all have the opportunity to show off your long-range prowess, be sure to go all out when that happens."
Rui turned around, leaving abruptly. He did not expect them to warm up to him on the first day, or ever. He could try and earn their respect by demonstrating the Void Pathfinder technique, but that ran the risk of revealing it to the G'ak'arkan Tribe. He decided to trust Senior Ceeran with ensuring they all remained in line. No matter what they thought, Senior Ceeran was determined to obtain their techniques, and would not allow lower members of his sect to get in the way of that.
The construction began immediately, yet steadily. Rui did not want to accelerate the construction too much because that would draw too much attention. The machinery and equipment needed to finish all of it within a month would be particularly eye-drawing. He did not want to inadvertently provoke a Martial Tribe into attacking them.
Thus, the reliance on large esoterically-derived machinery was reduced and a larger proportion of the work was done with manual labor.
Rui returned to back to the island before proceeding to inspect the happenings on the hill. The security perimeter was being constructed, Rui could already see the perimeter being outlined as the Martial Artists aided in setting up the lift transportation system between the ship and the top of the cliff above.
Within a day, the goods and supplies to complete the security measures had already begun coming in.
The goal was to create multiple layers of fencing around the marked area. Thankfully, the process was relatively simple as already prepared building blocks for the necessary constructs made assembling the perimeters rather simple and straightforward.
The Longranger Martial Artists also got off their asses as a portion of them distributed themselves across the marked perimeter. Until the security measures were complete, they would take shifts watching over their newly acclaimed territory.
Time flew by as the security measures slowly came into place, and the fences were built rapidly.
A secure route between the ship and the hill that the settlement would be built upon was constructed. The necessary goods and supplies flew through, as the construction of the settlement rapidly began.
The outermost layer of the settlement was for the Longranger Martial Artists assigned to the mission, they would protect the settlement from external threats and thus their quarters were placed in between the inner parts of the settlement and the external parts of the settlement. Before soon, the construction of this had also begun.
Yet, the construction wasn't the only thing that Rui had his hands full with.
"So, most of our food will come from hunting and gathering?" Rui frowned as he skimmed through a document prepared by the many experts gathered for the Vilun Settlement operation.
"At least initially, sir," A man sitting opposite to him nodded. "Unfortunately, the environmental parameters make it somewhat unsuited for a lot of the crops that we grow, harvest, and consume in the Kandrian Empire. It will be a while before we are able to establish an adequate agricultural setup. However, given that this operation isn't projected to extend for too long, it's under question whether even endeavoring to set up an agricultural sector within the settlement at all in the first place."
"I see," Rui mumbled as he was absorbed into the report that the environmental experts had compiled for him regarding the matter of agriculture. "Can hunting and gathering alone take care of all of our nutritional needs then according to the resident nutritional expert?"
"Not easily, no. But it does certainly most of our needs, and the food pills that we have on board can certainly compensate for the rest if need be. It is much more practical to rely on those to cover our shortcomings than to engage in a tedious and painstaking agricultural operation."
"That's fine, I suppose," Rui shrugged. "It doesn't really take away from my mission, thus it's not at all problematic."
