One by one Hao Xuan wrote down the prime letters in the loose dirt with his finger. He looked towards the team leaders after finishing.
"Can you make them out, these symbols?"
They came closer and surrounded the dirt patch to examine each and every prime letter as closely as they possibly could but after a while, all of them moved back dejectedly.
"I…can't," Arthur was the first one to acknowledge.
Hao Xuan looked towards the others with some hope but their despondent expressions gave away their inner feelings.
"I can see some scribbles but when I try to think about it in my mind they just disappear," Olav said.
"Same for me," Gamil added, "I know there is something there and it feels like I can see its true shape as long as I keep staring directly at it. But the moment I looked away or tried to reconstruct them inside my head everything went black. If you weren't here I would have completely forgotten about them."
Hao Xuan looked towards Malina and got much the same response. It looked like whatever magical ability these prime letters had kept them from being discovered by others, even if Hao Xuan wanted to spread that information.
'Shame. It could have been my life a lot easier.'
Hao Xuan closed his eyes and his soul swiftly sunk back into the webway. The warm and cold sensations washed over him followed by a tingling sensation as he quickly searched through the many possible gateways.
After flying through endless corridors he finally came to a stop in front of a black gateway. It was completely devoid of life but Hao Xuan could still feel movement from the other side.
He landed and sent a string of spiritual sense into the gateway to get a clearer image of what was on the other side. Moments later his soul returned to the physical realm Hao Xuan opened his eyes back in the training hall.
"I found a solution for your problem," he said looking at Gamil, "An asteroid field full of broken ships. Unfortunately, I can't send you there in person since it is too dangerous. There are a few unknown 'things' flying about which could get in the way. Thankfully, there is another way."
"Altron, how long will it take you to make some drones that can work in a vacuum? Outfit them with mining equipment, sensors, and anything else needed to strip parts off of the old ships. I will send them through and then bring them back later."
"Yes sir, I'll get right on it!"
Altron flew away without wasting any time, leaving Hao Xuan and the Orcs alone. He quickly memorized the prime letter sequence for the gateway and directed his attention back towards the Orcs that had all gathered in the viewing area.
They waited for him to speak with bated breaths, unsure of the reason for this untimely summons.
Hao Xuan took a moment to survey the multitude of faces looking to him for leadership, for guidance. Many of them were familiar yet a lot were still foreign to him at this time. He wanted to get to know each of them better but the situation did not allow that.
He cleared his throat and directed some Qi towards the vocal cords so his voice could reach each one of them, and by god it did. The Emperor Qi hidden deep within his meridians poured out of its own volition, unchallenged by Chaos that surrounded it.
Perhaps for the first time they did not fight against one another. Every Orc could not only hear Hao Xuan's voice but also feel an overwhelming sense of comradarie because of the Emperor's Qi. He did not feel like some faraway entity but someone they knew and cared very much about.
"Altron has brought me up to date with all that you have achieved within the last few months. You made good progress with the city, many of you also received your inheritance and awakened your bloodline powers. You have been training here, in this place, and fighting with the white skins outside which is good but far from enough!"
"There is only so much you can learn in the shadow of your home. Even fighting with the white skins there is not much risk to your well beings with Nidhora keeping an eye on everything, and that is the one thing that will always be present out there, life-threatning danger."
"I wish I could tell you that everything will be fine, that it will end well. That you could just stay here, rebuild, and live a comfortable life away from everyone. But that is not the case. Your ancestor, the Old King asked me to take care of you. He asked me to let his bloodline live on, that's why I brought you under my wing."
"And because of that our lives- no, our fates are tied together. If something happens to me, if I were to die tomorrow, you would not live to see the day after. So I must ask you now to put your lives in my hands, so you can become strong enough to help me which will, in turn, help you."
"As it stands now, I have no idea what the future holds. Soon I will have to return to the other world where my enemies are waiting in droves. There are more of them than I care to admit and they would like nothing else to see me fail, to see me give up. But I will NOT do that, not now."
'Not when I'm so close!' he said inwardly, unaware as to what he was referring to.
"I cannot fail here, for my sake, and for all of yours. They are the promised sons and daughters of the current era, the best this place has to offer. And I plan to fight with them head-on. And for that, I will need your unquestionable loyalty."
"I will not lie to you. Some of you may lose your lives in the process if you are not careful, some may be lost in other ways but for the next few months I will teach you everything I can.. I will beat it into your flesh and bones so when you come against someone of their caliber, you are not powerless."
