blacksmithoftheapocalypse
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1243. The Abyss
🕑 Added 2025-01-06 18:27:31 +0000 UTCAfter Seth made sure Tatzel was okay and taken care of, he returned to Delta. It was late noon when Seth finally got to his last appointment before setting off for the hell gates. In the embassy of Minas Mar, which was going to be reverted back to their Delta branch from now on, he met Master Mountain in the cozy living room of the suite they gave him.
“Did you enjoy the party?” he asked after greeting the old cultivator. He sat down in a big, soft armchair while a maid prepared tea for the two. Yu sat down in the armchair beside him, the table with tea and a plate of snacks between them.
The immortal had returned in the middle of the war and gave them a helping hand capturing a legend, Vermar. Although his arrival had brought some chaos with it, Seth ultimately managed to bring everything to a satisfactory end.
“It was quite interesting to see how Urthans celebrated and I very much enjoyed it. I'm glad your people did not forget how to enjoy life, despite the hardships they went through,” the master said with a warm smile, seemingly reminiscing the past three days.
“Especially your variety of wines and spirits is very impressive,” he added. They continued a little longer talking about the celebration, especially the booze. Was Yu actually a connoisseur of alcoholics? This was a new facet of the man, Seth had not known about.
“How are things on the continent?” Seth finally cut on the serious topic of their meeting today. While Minas Mar was preparing to fend off Spatia, the master had been working with the Sect master of the Soaring Eagle sect to create a Pro-Urth faction in XiGuang Province.
Their goal was to get a standing on the continent, not only to protect themselves but also to potentially find and return the people kidnapped from Y-City during the reign of the Scene.
“I would love to say it was easy and that everything worked out great but you wouldn't believe me anyway,” Yu joked a little. They thought the great tournament they had organized and even advertised at some places of the continent, had helped raise their reputation a little and intended to use this chance.
However, since the Voracious Cloud Continent lacked the infrastructure for TV broadcast or magic television it could only travel by word of mouth. Since the supposed winner who got a heaven-grade item, did not return to the continent to show it off everywhere, it became even harder to prove to the public the tournament even happened.
The fact that the Voracious Continent in general was still battling with the chaos caused by the connection to the Pathworks. Marco was still sending reports regularly, describing the situation, and it didn't look good for the general public.
“The remnants of the southern sect alliance under the leadership of the Silk River Sect are more stubborn than expected, sowing discord and malicious rumors in the province,” the immortal said with a sigh. Unfortunately Yu and Xiong Peng couldn't just crush them without an excuse.
“But weren't there a lot of cultivators that watched the tournament themselves?” Seth asked. he knew for a fact that there were quite a lot visitor from the continent. Not only was the Pythian village full of them, but at least a quarter of the people in the stadium were cultivators.
“I didn't say that nobody believes it. Unfortunately, your display at the great tournament has rather roused interest from higher places and people past the borders of XiGuang Province,” Yu explained. Although the public and smaller to medium-sized sects were torn about what to believe, the bigger sects knew the facts.
After a while, the news of the tournament as well as Minas Mar's ability to create heaven-grade weapons had even spread past the border of the adjacent province. Yu didn't have to explain why this wasn't the best situation..
“So the trash got backers who try to profit from our potential downfall, huh?” Seth concluded. As if they didn't have enough trouble at their doorstep. Now there were organizations on the cloud continent essentially aiming to do the same as Spatia.
Seth wanted customers who would bring him legendary materials to make items and collect the effects with his path, not a bunch of hyenas that tried to rob them or kidnap him. Just because they had chosen to be passive in the past, they all thought Minas Mar was weak...
“What do you think would happen if we commenced Operation Shock'n Awe?” Seth asked. If they came up with an annoying plan because they thought they were weak, it might be time to show them what happened to people who underestimated them.
“Kill the chickens to scare the monkeys? It could buy us some time and allies. But do you have the resources for that?” Yu asked doubtfully. Seth had mentioned this option before, based on the information Marco and Paolo sent them. But Minas Mar had a lot going on at the time and it didn't really change in the present.
After dealing with Spatia, they still had to deal with the Hell Gates, Spatia, and potentially Chrona, managing the district in general, as well as dealing with their own on-world problems. Seth could understand, why Master Mountain would question whether they had the manpower for Operation Shock'n Awe.
“You are right, it's a little much, but maybe this is also the best moment. Spatia and Chrona won't move immediately after what we have done. Especially not after we just published it across the system worlds,” Seth argued.
If there was a moment when they could stretch their main force a little thinner, then it was now, as the likelihood of legends invading Urth was relatively low at this point in time.
“Hmm, that is also true. Doing it now, and using the momentum when the rumors of the tournament are still fresh would be the best idea,” Master Mountain agreed pondering. Seth also thought for a moment. This was something that would be best discussed with everyone listening.
usually, he would talk with Leana and Mary about this, then they would gather everyone to talk about the details and make a final decision. However, he was scheduled to enter the Hell Gates today and tomorrow the expeditions to Thres and the southern forest would set off. At that point, it would be too late to talk about it with everyone.
“Tower, please send a notice to the core members, that we need to have another meeting today. Mary will announce the exact time,” Seth ordered the tower Ego. He decided to delay the business with the Abyss for another day and have an emergency meeting before the expeditions were supposed to leave.
“Yu, I hope you can also take part in this meeting and share your knowledge with them, too,” the blacksmith asked the immortal. Yu nodded the moment Seth's communication orb and the mobile phone started going wild. Many members were currently on vacation and others had a busy schedule right now, so his notice came as an inconvenience to many.
“What is this about, Seth?” Mary asked, her voice sounding worried and serious through the communication orb. She knew that he wasn't keen on meetings himself, so he had to have a reason to call for one.
“I just talked with Yu and realized that we missed talking about our approach concerning the Cloud Continent during the last meeting. Since Mike and the others are setting off tomorrow, I thought we agree on a strategy before they leave.”
“Is the situation on the continent that dire?” the Chosen of Hestia asked.
“Dire? Hmm, maybe. At least it's at a point where we should make a move soon, or we lose our chance to turn things around,” Seth said with a glance at Yu, who nodded in agreement.
“...Fine, I will organize everything.”
With that, he left the rest to Mary and ignored the other messages and calls he got. Instead of explaining it to everyone individually, Mary would take care of it. Later that day they had another big meeting, to talk about their approach to the Voracious Cloud Continent and this time Karina was not able to dodge the need to travel.
