Chapter 322: The Best Hunting Ground

Cheers answered Cassian’s proposal.

They were far from the only Lords who wanted the Firstborn Gate. Everyone knew that monsters nearer the Wonder dropped more coins.

With the island cut off, the competing Provinces had grown increasingly ruthless. If no witnesses survived, who outside would ever learn what had happened? Rival hunting parties were killing one another across Windward Isle.

Yet none wanted to meet Divine Province head-on.

Each Province might have ten thousand Lords and armies numbering in the millions. Without a way to organize those scattered forces, they could do little against Cassian’s concentrated strength.

A day later, he stood before the Firstborn Gate with his army.

The other nations had withdrawn from the area. Even Western Beacon’s newcomer Lords abandoned their nearby hunting grounds. Dawnwings circled across hundreds of kilometers of sky, warning anyone tempted to return.

The Gate itself rose three thousand meters above the earth. Its bronze surface looked strangely insubstantial, as though the whole structure stood in another space.

It was enormous. After seeing the Five Elements Temple, however, Cassian found its size almost restrained.

The doors remained shut. Another three months would pass before they opened and revealed the interface within.

Nessa suddenly laughed and held up three First-Age Coins.

"Two coins from a single Elite mini-boss. That’s what my troops just got!"

Smiles spread through the group. The drop rate here was several times what they had seen near the island’s edge.

"Western Beacon really meant to have everything," Darian said coldly. "They put the rest of us on the edge and kept the center. Hundreds of billions in admission fees, then all ten places in the ranking."

Cassian smiled.

"And now the Black Banner has turned against them. What a surprise."

He raised his hand.

"Dragon’s Blessing. Increase First-Age Coin drops."

[Aether consumed: 50,000,000,000.]

[Divine Province’s current army: First-Age Coin drop rate greatly increased. Duration: 10 days.]

The blessing could be tailored to a precise request. This time, every bit of that fifty billion went toward one kind of drop.

The result became clear almost at once.

"Seven!" Mara Thorne exclaimed. "An Elite mini-boss just dropped seven coins!"

Delighted cries broke out around her.

Earlier in the expedition, the Hurricane Fleet had destroyed a large Naga tribe thirty thousand kilometers from Windward Isle. One Legendary Naga, more than a dozen Epics, hundreds of Rares, and tens of thousands of ordinary Nagas had yielded only a dozen or so coins between them.

Now a single minor boss could produce roughly half that much.

Divine Province’s Lords threw themselves into the hunt. The total before Cassian climbed every second.

"If the other Provinces saw these numbers," he murmured, "they’d lose their minds."

——

Several days later, Darian and the others came to find him.

"The seals are about to expire," Darian said. "Western Beacon will counterattack as soon as they can. Shouldn’t we prepare?"

Cassian checked the time. A little over ten minutes remained.

He took out another Spatial Lock Scroll and Communication Seal Scroll. Both were Legendary, newly bought through the Exchange.

Darian burst out laughing.

"I knew it. You wouldn’t be this relaxed without something ready."

Cassian tore the scrolls open immediately.

Last time, he had waited for part of the enemy’s army to cross. Now he wanted time to hunt. There was no reason to invite another army in and spend days dealing with it.

A vast ripple spread across the region. The spatial and communication seals reset together.

Fifteen days.

"Pass the word. Keep everyone hunting. We don’t have much time to waste."

——

Beyond the sealed waters, more than ten million Western Beacon troops waited with hundreds of thousands of warships. The moment the lock ended, their Gates would open.

Gavin Roswell’s expression was grim.

"Yesterday’s reports said nearly all the powerful forces we sent onto Windward have been wiped out. Divine Province took the Firstborn Gate several days ago. They’ve been hunting around it day and night."

He turned toward Piers.

"With Cassian’s Artifact improving their drops, and the Gate improving them again, I have to question the wisdom of waiting."

Piers met his gaze.

"An immediate landing wouldn’t have saved the Lords already trapped there. This ranking lasts four months. A few days of hunting won’t decide it."

He glanced at the time.

"Ten minutes. Then the seals end."

Gavin looked at him for a moment without replying.

A Lord hurried toward them, sweat running down his face.

"My lords. A report from the edge of the sealed region. The duration has changed. It’s back to... fifteen days."

Silence.

Then everyone began speaking at once.

"Another pair of scrolls?"

"Where is Divine Province getting them?"

"Is House Frost supplying him?"

Legendary seals were strategic resources. Their value far exceeded ordinary Legendary scrolls or equipment. The Black Banner had paid dearly to bring a single Legendary Spatial Lock Scroll down from an older sector during its earlier invasion.

Cassian had now used four Legendary sealing scrolls in half a month.

"This is your strategy, Lord Haldane?" Gavin asked.

Piers’s face darkened.

Gavin turned away from him and raised his voice.

"All fleets and armies, prepare to advance on Windward Isle."

After a moment, he added another order.

"Legendary warships will escort the columns. Keep a tight formation. Do not give the Ghost fleet easy targets."

They could not open Gates into the region. Even in their own nation’s waters, they had to sail across more than ten thousand kilometers of sealed sea.

Divine Province’s fleets were waiting.

The Hurricanes used their speed to strike and draw away. The Ghost ships attacked from deep water, appearing where Western Beacon least wanted them. Mirage concealment made the ambushes harder still to answer.

By the time the invasion force finally reached land, tens of thousands more warships had been lost.

Five days had passed.

Nearly ten million troops marched toward the Firstborn Gate. Divine Province’s army was gone by the time they arrived.

Gavin sent scouts in every direction.

None came back.

Epic troops disappeared. Legendary scouts followed them and disappeared too. No useful report reached the commanders waiting at the Gate.

Aurelia and the other Heroes did not even need to intervene. The Faerie Dragons and Crystal Maidens had spread around the enemy, with their Nine-Star core and Lethria’s Mythic strength ready to strike. Scouting parties of fewer than a hundred Legendary troops could not get through that screen. They died before they could carry news back.

Western Beacon’s senior Lords began arguing again.

"We can’t keep sending them out to be killed!"

"We have tens of thousands of Legendary troops. Gather them and track down Divine Province."

"And if Cassian surrounds them with his hundreds of thousands of Epics? We could lose the whole force."

"What happens to the Gate if all our Legendaries leave and his strongest fighters attack?"

Every proposal brought another objection. Eventually, they had to accept the position they were in.

They had recovered the Firstborn Gate. They could not see beyond it. Their immense army remained within a few hundred kilometers of the Wonder, unwilling to move far enough to expose a weakness.

"Gather coins," Gavin said at last. "We hold the best ground. Make use of it."

He sounded as though the words tasted bitter.

"We’ll deal with Divine Province when this seal ends. I refuse to believe Cassian has more Legendary scrolls after these."

——

Several hundred kilometers away, Crystal Seven returned with her report.

Cassian listened, then smiled and turned to the others.

"We’ll hunt here."

The drops were not as good as those beside the Gate. His coin blessing could make up the difference. He kept its costs paid as the hunting continued, renewing it when the first ten days ran out.

Then he called Aurelia over.

"Take the Dawnwing corps and hunt down Western Beacon’s coin-gathering parties. Keep moving. The Skyreaver is under your command for now. Use it to reinforce the squads and get them out when they need to withdraw."

She answered with complete confidence.

"Yes, Lord. I’ll make certain they don’t sleep easily."