Sitting around in her room, both Shiro and Nan Tian waited with a serious expression since the details of the event should be appearing soon. Once they know the details, they can prepare properly.
Glancing at the clock, Shiro couldn’t help but constantly tap her foot.
Thankfully, they didn’t need to wait too long as the system sent a notification.
[Ruling Dominion Event.
15 capture points will appear around the country of Vrish’ Lir. Each Queen is allowed to bring a small army to help them capture these points. The one with the most captured points held at the end of the event is crowned the winner.
To capture the point, one must claim the zone and protect it for a certain amount of time before it becomes yours. Others can still claim this area from your ownership. You can designate a defender to the zone and they’ll receive certain benefits.
More details and rules of the event will be sent to you at a later date. A map has been distributed, showing the path towards Vrish’ Lir.]
Reading the event details, Shiro started forming some strategies while checking up on where Vrish’ Lir was located.
Comparing it with the new map that she had received from the system that she had memorised, Shiro noticed that Vrish’ Lir was towards the far East. Vrish’ Lir itself only occupied a small portion of the continent it was located in with the rest of the continent being completely covered by a layer of grey ash.
From the labelling of the system, Shiro knew that to the south of that continent was Alkainos and a place known as the Ash Lands connected Alkainos to Vrish’ Lir.
There wasn’t much information known about this place but just from a quick glance of the map, Shiro figured that getting to Vrish’ Lir would take around 3 days give or take if they fly at full speed with Asharia. Naturally, it’ll take around one day if she flew over and placed down a teleport node but doing so was going to be a little annoying considering the limitations with her mana right now.
She didn’t mind taking their time and flying close to the event area in around two days and making the rest of the journey there through a separate party with all the people involved.
Since the system mentioned that points were going to appear around the country, she could assume that this is an event where the quantity of your followers was just as important as the quality.
They had to make sure that they had enough people to cover the points while also making sure that they’re strong enough.
Thinking about it for a moment, Shiro guessed that if she wanted to win this, bringing a small battalion of mechs along with most of the tier 6 party members was the bare minimum.
‘But I can’t keep the city defenceless just in case. I don’t know if they have something that will allow them to discover it’s location.’ Shiro frowned.
“How much of our military power do you want to demonstrate in this battle? I think there are a few ways for us to win. One of which is to show our military strength and the other is to make use of the assassins.” Nan Tian asked as Shiro glanced towards him.
“Are you thinking about taking the zones before the time runs out? I think that will work but it’s a little risky all things considered. We also have to think about the fact that we’re going to be travelling all across the country so I think it’ll be a bit difficult to react in time. But we do have the benefits of teleporting using my nodes…” Shiro muttered.
“Well take your time since there is a week till the event. My suggestion is to bring the assassin’s guild along with the mech pilots but it’s ultimately your decision.” Nan Tian smiled as Shiro nodded her head.
“I know. I’ll come up with a final roster by the time we reach the country. For now though, I think I’ll set up some training exercises for the mech pilots along with some weapon training for the assassins. We’ll have both groups practice a little before the event so they get used to what they need to do.”
“Will you be getting time to practice in real life or a mixture of the digital world?”
“Half and half. If I use the capsules I can somewhat recreate the battle map depending on how good of a scan I get.” Shiro shrugged as she would need to send a few drones to scan the country. She wasn’t sure where the zones will be placed but it would be good to get familiar with the layout.
“Well, do you want to try sending a few scouts to Astral Horizon as well? Just so that we can somewhat figure out the situation with the dragon.”
“Mn we’ll do that first then. Let’s leave the city for a moment just in case it can track us.” Shiro suggested as the two of them made their way towards the teleport hall. Teleporting them to a random node located in the north, Shiro took a deep breath and drank a few potions. Making sure that they were in the clear, she created a few drones.
All of them had fire resistance skills but Shiro doubted that it’ll do much. It was mostly to fight against the passive aura if it had one. Aside from the fire resistance, the drones were primarily focused on evading notice and speed. That way if they are noticed, they can get out of there quickly.
Drinking a second potion, Shiro opened a small portal as her small group of drones made their way through silently.
Closing one of her eyes, she opened it again with a nanotech contact lens that showed her vision of everything her drones saw.
Taking control of all the drones, Shiro watched as her vision shifted.
Seeing the familiar sky of Astral Horizons, she quickly glanced around to find the dragon but he was nowhere in sight.
Furrowing her brows, Shiro circled around a little more but couldn’t find a speck of his shadow.
She found small marks that showed that the dragon was here but the dragon himself had disappeared.
“Strange…” Shiro muttered.
“Seems like he’s not there.”
“What? Aren’t dragons territorial? If he found a place like Astral Horizons, he wouldn’t leave unless it is a place that’s better than that, which is hard considering how much ambient mana was present.” Nan Tian furrowed his brows.
“Or if he found the source of that mana. Seems like he’s made his way down to the Beyond. Not sure if he’ll be able to enter the portal or not though since his size might be a small problem. But with his power, he can probably shapeshift into a human.” Shiro replied as she displayed what the drones could see.
Located near the original entrance to the staircase down, there was now a giant cavity in the wall that seemed like it was forcefully opened by a breath attack.
Judging by the marks left over, Shiro could tell that it’s been here for a while now.
Seeing the mark, Nan Tian frowned for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Do you want to investigate where the dragon has gone or leave it like this?”
“I’ll be honest with you, I am curious as f*ck. The Beyond was a mystery to me already so the fact that the dragon has gone down there is quite intriguing. I’ll just limit it to sending drones though.” Shiro shrugged her shoulders as Nan Tian nodded his head.
Controlling the drones so that they started flying down the track that the dragon had created, Shiro furrowed her brows when she noticed the drone starting to collapse from a powerful pressure.
Drinking another potion, Shiro reinforced the drone before having it travel deeper.
As she continued down the cavity, she picked up a faint sound in the distance.
Amplifying the sound, Shiro listened carefully.
“What the hell! What do you mean this old man is not allowed inside? I’ve stayed in this pit for months now and I’m still not allowed in there?! Forget it, if this entrance is faulty then I’ll just destroy it. No point keeping you around!”
Hearing this, Shiro widened her eyes in shock as the drone flashed through the tunnels at top speed.
Reaching the bottom, she was just in time to see a tier 7 magic circle light up the sky as a pillar of flames erupted out in the distance.
Just as this happened, Shiro immediately noticed the drop in mana.
“Did… did he just destroy the entrance to the Beyond?” Shiro asked as her smile twitched. If he destroyed the entrance, this meant that Astral Horizons was just like everywhere else now.
“I think he just did. He mentioned something about not being able to access it himself.” Nan Tian replied.
“I. . . Forget it. We’ll find another entrance another time I guess.” Shiro sighed heavily before dismissing the drones. Now that the entrance to the Beyond is destroyed, Astral Horizons has lost its value except for a nice view.
