AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Year 5, Summer, First Month, Third Week.

Two weeks and three LQ wind crystals, that’s what the shadow spent to get to the Southern Oasis, more than 800 kilometers from AP. Actually, she could have gone faster if she had time to get used to the wind booster. Fortunately, this was fast enough since the wind Army’s flag was still hanging over the eastern barracks.

The Oasis wasn’t what Samia expected, the descriptions she got from the orphans painted a paradise in the middle of a sand sea, but in reality, the place was just a half kilometer-sized lake surrounded by vegetation slightly denser than what she encountered in about fifty kilometers since she left the forest. Although the area was indeed covered by arid land with only a few tall trees here and there, it was far from being a desert, or at least, far from what her informants described as a desert.

Even so, she understood why they describe it as an Originless place. The land was as barren and dry as Twin Suns but devoid of the abundant and lively market that made life in the city possible. Apparently, the weakening of the fire domain didn’t make the place more habitable, the desert climate probably picked up from where the domain left. She couldn’t imagine how the Sandines survived living further into the desert.

Samia sighed as she looked past the Oasis into the stretch of dry land that continued as far as she could see. According to Omero, the true desert only started two hundred kilometers south of the Oasis. That’s why this area was so important for the Sandines, for all the Beastkin races that couldn’t survive in the actual desert, this was the last habitable place they could occupy. So, they poured the lives of thousands trying to push the Kingdom back.

From what the elder explained, historically, the Sandines had the upper hand in the battle for this region, even though the Kingdom had supposedly maintained ownership over the Oasis for more time. Keeping the Mages out of the equation, the Kingdom had superiority in numbers and resources, but the Beastkin were better adapted to the region and were naturally immune to magic poisoning.

Every time the tide was turning in favor of the Kingdom, however, they wouldn’t push the Sandines all the way back to the desert. When she heard this, Samia couldn’t understand why they would allow their enemies to survive only three hundred kilometers from their cities while they could push them further, or even eradicate them. But of course, they had a reason. Between here and the desert, there was something that would make the Serions hesitate to pursue the retreating Beastkin, the Sand Maelstrom.

Ironic how the exact same natural occurrences that made the Kingdom lust after this rich continent also held them back. The giant energy vein located in the borders of the fire region created a sand storm that spread through almost ten kilometers, a natural barrier that blocked the Serions conquest. The vein attracted and sustained countless beasts, which made the location even more desirable for the Kingdom.

However, the Sandines were the ones that truly benefited from the vein. Their strong and resistant bodies could resist the harshness of the sand storm while they extracted their survival from the beasts. In short, the situation in the south was complex. Although the century-long war was far from being over, with the Kingdom reconquering the Oasis, the situation would probably stay stable for a decade or two.

Since the Sandines’ upper hand was based on their adaptability versus the Serions struggle against the hostile terrain, ownership over the Oasis could change everything by giving a strong foothold to the Kingdom. Once they surround the place with the energy-absorbing metal and connect it to the Path, pushing the Serions back would become countless times more difficult.

After conducting a recognition search around the camp, the shadow finally decided on a place to build her hideout. She would build the underground base behind some stones, a few hundred meters from the Oasis. However, before she started digging, she took out another tool, placed her MQ wind crystal on it, and pressed the activator.

A few minutes later, a dot appeared in the sky, flying towards her. Samia extended her arm just in time for the flying creature to land on it. She resisted the urge to pet it, although the bat wouldn’t be able to resist, she had the feeling it didn’t like it. After placing a small parchment on its harness, she made a distinct sound and the beast flew off in the northeast direction.

Although she had trained with the bat before, sending messages from AP to AK, this was her first time using it in a real situation. Katlyn spent a lot of time training the bat to act as a messenger, the beast was far from being well suited for the task, but now it had finally come in handy. Perhaps now, the Ministry will start investing in messenger beasts to reach where their communication system can’t.

The bunker’s construction was as uneventful as Samia hopped, she didn’t meet any earth digger beasts and the soil didn’t fell over her head. Even so, she placed the barrier Array in the center of the four meters square room and activated it by placing a MQ energy crystal and LQ bubble crystal on it. As long as a MT beast didn’t try to break the barrier, it would hold against lower-tier beasts while offering additional stability to the bunker.

Samia also placed a light crystal in the center of the Array to illuminate the room. In terms of elemental crystals, she was carrying a good portion of AK’s resources. In total, she had two MQ crystals (wind and shadow) and seven LQ crystals (wind, water, fire, earth, bubble, light and lightning). Fortunately, AP was yielding a lot of resources both through the Adventurers and Keller, though it couldn’t compare to the speed of their growth.

After organizing her equipment and thoughts, she laid down and closed her eyes before deactivating the lighting effect. By her estimations, sunset would be in three hours, so she could sleep for four hours before trying to slip into the camp. Since the shadow effects were stronger at night, Samia preferred to carry difficult missions at night. Coincidently, people tended to be less careful with secrets just before they went to sleep, so a couple of hours after dark was the perfect time to spy on them.

While the girl dreamt of her comfortable bed back in AP, the sun disappeared on the sandy horizon and a light started to flick inside the small bunker. Samia got up and deactivated the time alarm Karl had created for her. She wondered how the small wooden tool could be so annoyingly efficient. The brief sleep hadn’t been enough, the hours passed faster than she hoped for, but duty waited for no one.

Unsurprisingly, she passed through the watchers without much difficulty. The barracks visibly followed a hierarchy order from the borders to the center since they got fancier as she moved deeper into the camp. She stopped a few times to hear the conversations going inside the tents, but only discovered abuses of authority and a few dubious rumors about the high-ranked officers.

The security around the inner barracks, which the soldiers called the Fighters' troop, was a little more organized, but nothing that could threaten her concealment. Fortunately, the conversations became much more informative. She heard about supplies, supposed plans for rounds and missions around the Oasis, and also about their upcoming retreat.

She would need to confirm the information, preferably from high-ranked officers, but in two different conversations, the soldiers said that they would only move out in fall. If this is true, they would have another two months to change the situation, which was more than they expected, not by much, but more nonetheless.

The shadow decided to move deeper and try to confirm it in the commanding barracks, which should be located at the center of the camp, but a strange sound of struggle caught her attention. Unable to control her curiosity, Samia followed the sound until she located its source. The blood painting the tent left little to wonder what was happening inside.

“Your disgusting slave! How dare you lay your filthy hands on your betters? Not so strong now, aren’t you? Serves you right…”

“That’s enough, Dario. Someone could hear us… They’re already dead, better to let their bodies be the proof of his betrayal… Let’s throw him outside and let the beast take care of his body. The Captain needs to thinks that he ran away, otherwise, that stupid slave-lover might look too much into it…”

The pair continue to bicker inside the tent until they finally left carrying a body towards the outer barracks. From what she heard, Samia could roughly understand the situation. The body belonged to an ex-slave that somehow was promoted to Fighter. Four of his comrades came to the tent to kill him, but two ended up dead before they could put him down. Now they had to stage the ex-slave escape after killing the two Fighters to prevent their superior from looking into it.

Against her better judgment, Samia decided to follow them. Although the ex-slave was technically her enemy, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. If they hadn’t escaped, many of her friends would probably end up in the same position, not that she could change anything now. One of the Fighters went ahead and cleared the path by threatening and bullying the lower-ranked soldiers, which apparently worked.

They walked for ten minutes after leaving the barracks and threw the body when they thought it was far enough. After kicking the body and cursing the dead man again, the pair finally left. Samia stared at the body for some time, she even prayed for the Origin to take his soul and give him a better life next time.

When she was about to leave, the body suddenly move. The shadow instinctively jumped back and was ready to disappear into the shadows, but nothing else happened, the body continued to lay there, motionless.