Even as Pei, Kraft and his minions were trying to gain money from the Ivory Tower, Rex was in his office more concerned about the state of the Seven Cities. Reluctant to get any help from Jin, he decided to take things into his own hands. Although Jin knew the state of the Dungeon World through his System, he was more focused on completing his Virtual Reality Instance as well as the preparation of the Farming World invasion.
It might not look like much but the System and Jin were concurrently preparing for the big fight against the Demon Rats. Every single day the System had been communicating with various spirits of the land to get as much information on the Demon Rats as possible. They learned that they were indeed digging tunnels beneath sea beds to get to the other regions. And from what the System had learnt, it seemed as if they were going to coordinate a three way invasion at once.
Thus, even with the System at Jin's side, the counter invasion would require more resources and manpower, unlike any other wars or battles that Jin had been through. While Kraft and some of his war masters gave their opinion that they should let the Demon Rats invade the East and West regions in order to thin their numbers for the counter invasion, Jin felt it would be way too messy.
It was mainly because as long as a few rats survived the attacks, they could repopulate again and fight back. Jin had already seen several nesting areas of those Demon Rats and knew how his minions were consistently ambushing those nests to drop their numbers.
But it merely dented their war force. So, it was more important to contain if possible before the fight was let loose.
That was also why the System kept getting information from the Spirits of the Land to ensure that they knew the progress of the Demon Rat's digging projection. And from that information alone, it was not some minor mini tunnel that they were building but a transportation network system similar to transporting heavy cargo under the ground to the other three regions under the sea.
Jin and the System had no idea how they were able to produce that much metal and other resources needed to reinforce the tunnels. So they could only deduce that it was the by products of the Farming World that they had somehow taken advantage of.
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"Is that why you decide to burden yourself with the responsibility of the Seven Cities?" A familiar voice could be heard when Rex's doors opened as he buried himself in several mountains of paperwork.
"Jin? I thought you were busy. Did not expect you to come to Demopolis to pay me a personal visit." Rex replied.
"Sad to say, I am not Jin." The voice turned and Rex looked upwards to have a better look. "But it sounded much like him, didn't it?"
"Moloch… Why does your puppet look so…" Rex could not describe whether it was such a foolish idea to use their master as his puppet's new glamour.
"Meh, it tricked quite a number of people and that includes you now that you know that it's not Jin. It was fun using his face as my new puppet but obviously, I have to make a few adjustments since the System said that having an exact replica would only confuse people. So, I have to add a mole at the side of Jin's cheeks." Moloch commented.
"I mean yeah, I totally agree with the System. If those newer minions had yet to see Jin personally, it would only confuse them further especially when I heard that he is starting to use Astral Clones to speed up his work." Rex said as he kept his fountain pen aside and gently pushed the paperwork aside to give Moloch the attention he needed. "So, what can I do for you?"
"While I understand that those Seven Cities were to be vassal states under the Pandapolis Banner, I think it's too soon. Even though they have the Dungeon Core protection right now and the System has been injected into each and every core, I honestly do not think it's a great idea especially when Pandapolis is like wayyyy in the East."
"Mass Transportation Magic should not be an issue once we install the Gates under the benefit of the Vassal States Programmes," Rex recommended but Moloch was still not satisfied
"Well, yeah. But it's mainly because they are vassal states, they are more vulnerable to attacks in the coming days once the Dungeon Core Protection is over."
"You know that we do not have men to spare at the moment. Most of the Orc and Goblin Engineers are prepping the weapon production here in Demopolis while most of the Demon Citizens who were now situated in Pandapolis were getting the miscellaneous items up. Besides, we already sent quite a fair bit of resources into their cities. It should weather them through the difficult period."
"Duh, I know the situation we are having right now. Everything is tied down for the Farming World but that is also the point. Because we are too focused on the Farming World, we might lose the Dungeon World's spoils if we are not careful. These Seven Cities while considered as third class cities- well, not all. Like Aljun City is a first class city. Anyways, they are producing quite a lot of products, produces and even military hardware initially, but the coup against the Churches had brought nearly everything to a halt." Moloch voiced his concerns. "If we do not do something soon, those cities might plunge into chaos when the Dungeon Core protection is over."
"Moloch, my friend." Rex sighed as his expression to voice something suddenly became clear for the cotton butt minotaur to view. Did Moloch speak too much too soon?
"That is why I am writing to all the City Council members of those Seven Cities to have a meeting at Demopolis tomorrow."
"Well! That's brilliant, why did you not say it earlier… oh oops." Moloch chuckled a little and stopped talking, allowing Rex to finish what he wanted to say.
"Doesn't matter. But I would need you to do something for me since you have decided to take an interest in this matter. Get me Qiu Yue to be free the entire day tomorrow." Rex asked and they both knew that the Empire Building Sub System User was the key to get this mess sorted.
