Chapter 863: Sandstorm Quarters

Chapter 863: Sandstorm Quarters

ARENA has been added to the land of Sandstorm.

The blue rectangle emerged in front of Dallion.

SANDSTORM has acquired 16734 inhabitants.

SANDSTORM can be improved to Level 5.

The massive arena popped up in the center of the settlement. The number of inhabitants was impressive, even if the vast majority of them were furies. Belaalwho surprisingly enough, turned out not to be the Mirror Pools princeclaimed that thousands of more members were on the way. Dallion was highly doubtful, but even if that were the case, they would remain well short of the furies.

Forging a province is never easy, Dallion said to himself.

It had been ten minutes since hed had a semi-functioning village and already he could see some obvious problems. Everything had seemed so much easier in Nerosal. Since everyone came from the same city, and owed him a debt of gratitude, Dallion assumed theyd get along with each other easily. How wrong could one get?

The plan had always been for the furies to get the arena building, while Dallion used his skills to create homes for the Mirror Pool. Yet, that had proved not to be enough. Despite acknowledging that they were part of the same settlement, both groups had requested to be as far away from the other as possible. That went against every principle Dallion thought he knew. Logically, the closer the major elements of a town were, the more efficient it would be. Clearly, that didnt take personal preferences into account. Normally, villages would take generations to develop, which was also the reason for the vast inefficiencies Dallion had frequently noticed. In his case, this was more a gathering of outcasts, none of which particularly trusted the rest. Or, as Adzorg had put it, an interesting challenge.

Not bad. Hannah approached Dallion. Will need a heck of a lot of work, though.

Tell me about it. Yeah, Dallion sighed. And Ive yet to start inviting hunters.

Theyll accept. The womans confidence was to be envied. Youre offering what theyve always lacked: a home.

The same could be said for each of the other groups. Having them all at the same place, though, was like mixing three groups of volatile elementsif he stopped paying attention, there was every chance that everything would go up in smoke.

If youre having trouble running a village, how will you run an empire? Vihrogon asked.

Tactful as ever, Dallion sighed.

Just my way of telling you to relax a bit. In this place, you have all the power. If you want, you can even raise walls between the groups, creating isolated quarters.

That sounded like a terrible idea, even if undoubtedly functional.

What did you do with your domain? Dallion asked the dryad.

I dumped it on the first person I could find. Vihrogon laughed. Joy by far wasnt the only emotion that emanated from him as he did. Of course, I joined the imperial army soon after. Besides, all my inhabitants were dryads.

A crowd of furies had already flocked around Dirohs inn. Many knew her back from the time she was in Nerosal, aware that she was heir to the fury throne. It wouldnt be long before theyd start treating her as such.

Youll have to keep an eye on that, Hannah said, looking in the same direction. The empire destroyed one alliance of furies. They wont hesitate if there were a second.

Dill be able to handle things.

Maybe, but can you guarantee the rest wont cause issues?

Dallion considered his options.

Im not building this place on limiting echoes, he said in a firm tone.

No one takes control of a settlement wanting to use limiting echoes, but we dont always get what we want. And what about them?

Dallions immediate reaction was to look around, but there was no sight of her. Wherever the shardfly was, it had to be a significant distance away.

What happened? He cast a flight spell and moved up to get a better view.

Water golems! Theres a pack of them

Make a light beacon! Dallion interrupted. Pan. He looked down. Hannah has the town. Tell her to prepare for an attack.

How bad is it? The copyette asked, but Dallion had already flown off.

Gear and pieces of aether armor covered Dallion as he summoned his weapons, simultaneously casting a dozen protective spells. The possibility of being attacked was in his mind ever since he saw the first water golem, but this was far too soon. Unlike the Tamin Empire, The Azures werent slacking. The loss of Canopa must have urged a response and quite a massive one.

A thread of light appeared in the distance, marking the exact spot of Gleams encounter. It was on the other side of the mountains, which meant that the enemy didnt know the location of Sandstorm yet.

I saw it, Dallion told his familiar. Are they only water golems?

Isnt that enough for you? The thread of light abruptly disappeared. I like a good hunt like anyone else, but not against this many!

Gritting his teeth, Dallion started casting the most destructive spell he knew. By his estimates, it was going to take him about ten minutes to reach Gleammore than enough time to finish the spell, but was she going to prove capable of surviving that long?

Gleam, when I tell you I want you to get out of there, Dallion ordered. Head straight up to the sky, as quickly as you can.

Youre going to do something crazy, right? The joy emanating from her voice was chilling.

Nothing I havent done before.

Technically, Dallion was right. Hed cast the ray of destruction several times before, though in most cases it was after hed consumed a Moonstone. Other than the forbidden spells Adzorg had showed him, this was the only one that Dallion found too dangerous to place in a clay cylinder. The slightest miscalculation was enough for it to hit the wrong target, causing by far more harm than good.

Splitting into instances, Dallion took advantage of his massive speed to grab a clay cylinder from his belt and break it, all the time without interrupting his spell casting. An aether echo of him popped into existence.

Stay here and make sure nothing goes through, he ordered.

I know. The echo smiled, starting its own series of spells. You dont need to tell me.

Gleam, Dallion focused on the task at hand. Can you get them in one spot?

Youre joking, right? Itll be impossible for me to separate them. The pesky puddles have merged into one big thing.

Okay!

That was good.

Keep them like that. When I fly over the mountain, you fly up and Ill fry all of them at once. Whatevers left, we finish off later.

Err, there might be a slight problem with that. The shardfly didnt sound at all confident. Theres more than water golems now.

Damn it! What else is there?

Nymphs