Birth Of The Crafts-God

The desolate beasts tide in Alleva district was something the district had never experienced before. Due to the unavailability of local freelancers and the weakness of the security operatives, they were forced to hire from outside the region.

Baylands City was one of the most experienced regions when it came to dealing with desolate beasts. They had various forces, split between weak and strong, which could only hold their own against different levels of desolate beasts. Naturally, they were the ones who responded the most after the recruitment message was sent out by Alleva district.

Many freelancer guilds, associations, teams and even private militia, had journeyed to Alleva district. Apart from the reward from the district's council, there was also the fact that they could keep the loot from the battles for themselves.

Based on sightings, some of the desolate beasts in the wave were quite rare and uncommon in the area, for instance, the Jaburian Lucas has hunted. With such valuable attractions around, it was difficult for these freelancer parties to resist participating in the raid.

"Welcome."

An officer in military clothing smiled at the group that had just exited the sare shuttle in front of him.

"It's our pleasure to be here." Crimson Fang smiled.

Just like other freelancer guilds, the Autumn's Gate guild had also made an appearance here.

"The Colonel is waiting." The officer said. He was a Major and at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage.

The military system in Eretre was standard in the same level, but different at different levels.

The basic unit —which was a team— was the same at all levels, consisting of 4 soldiers, with the leader, a Sergeant, included in the headcount. Even the next basic unit, a squad, was standardised at all levels and made of two teams which were eight soldiers. However, other units in the military differ when it comes to a district's military, city-state's official military, and even the planetary military.

The reason for this difference in numbers was because the jurisdiction and area of operation for each military were in contrast, hence it was unreasonable to use a fixed number.

For the next basic level —a platoon— the numbers varied quite obviously. As was previously mentioned [1], a platoon in a district military consisted of sixteen soldiers which was two squads. But in the city-state's official military, it was a bit complicated. A platoon led by a second lieutenant maintained the same number of two teams, sixteen soldiers. But for a platoon led by a first lieutenant, there were four squads, adding up to a total of thirty-two soldiers.

A company had four platoons in a district's military reaching sixty-four soldiers. However, in the city-state's official military, there were five platoons (first lieutenant standard) which resulted in there being one hundred and sixty (160) soldiers.

Due to the difference in platoon size and unit numbers, a city-state's official military ended up being much larger than that of a single district. This was why whenever a district encountered a serious issue, they would request help from Baylands City.

Crimson Fang, under the lead of the major, went into a meeting room escorted by Nathan Von Klaus, the second vice guild leader. As for Lisa, she was charged with organising the team and keeping them in check.

For this raid, the Autumn's Gate guild didn't just come with only the seven main members, but around twenty more fighters. This was a desolate beasts wave, so it was much more difficult. Also, in order to reap more rewards at the end of everything, they had to have more men in battle. Crimson Fang would have ordered the whole guild over, but he had his concerns and the guild had also accepted missions from other parties.

"Any news on the situation?" Crimson Fang asked the major.

"Not yet. Based on the last info we got from the team stationed at the black box perimeter, there's been no major movements from the monsters." The officer responded.

"So I guess the battlefield would be Garena town then." Crimson Fang sighed. He had once been to the town long ago, and marvelled at the economy and prosperity, despite it being located in Alleva district.

Garena town was one of the few large towns that could truly be compared to a city. Even the nearby Amer city couldn't compare to the previous Garena town. It was even almost as prosperous as the capital city, Sunrise City. Pi

The officer sighed and nodded, "With the way things are, most likely. The town is already in rubble, so it doesn't matter anymore. The damage has already been done."
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At the same time, he sneaked a glance behind.

The purple haired man beside Crimson Fang, Nathan Von Klaus, had remained quiet all this while. From what the major knew, the young man was from the Von Klaus family, which was based in Baylands City. Recently, the family had achieved the right to live in the Central Prefecture district and were currently in the process of moving in.

The Central Prefecture district was the centre of the entire city-state and the region that played home to the top 3% of Baylands city-state. Everyone who owned a property there was a multi-millionaire at the very least. To be a multi-millionaire in terms of federal coins was a challenge that not many could pull off, after all, the currency was very valuable.

Usually, only those who dealt in vestige-smithing business could pull it off, but it was difficult to do so thanks to the various restrictions and difficulties in the business.

The Von Klaus family, however, didn't focus on vestige-smithing, but rather, vestige dealerships. They did what others didn't which was to sell vestiges to regions with little or no vestige-smith presence. Alleva district was one of their main markets, and they had a store exactly in Garena town.

Seeing the young master of the family without a reaction to the discussion, the major couldn't help but be slightly impressed.

It showed that Nathan had proper control of his emotions, which was a good sign of a leader. It could also mean that the Von Klaus family was unbothered by the loss, but that was unlikely.

The trio finally made it to the central building in the outpost, where the meeting was to be held. A bunch of figures were already present, many of which were guild leaders like Crimson Fang. Some were leaders of private military services run by either top families, businesses in the desolate beasts industry, or even vestige-smith companies.

As vestige-smithing companies required a large supply of materials, it was only natural that some would have their own freelancer guild, although the usual means was to sponsor one. The same went for businesses in the desolate beasts industry, like the Mertens family's company.

In the meeting were also senior managers of establishments, vestige-smith businesses, and many more. All parties that were related to desolate beasts and vestige industries in one way or the other were gathered at the moment.

After Crimson Fang's group settled down, they had to wait a while before the meeting kicked off.

"Good day, everyone." The man who sat at the head seat spoke.

Based on the uniform he wore, he was the official in-charge of the Alleva District Defence Force.

The highest military officer in a district was the Lieutenant Colonel, who was in charge of five companies in the area, which made up for three hundred and twenty men (320). A lieutenant colonel in a district was a much weaker contrast to a lieutenant colonel in the city-state's official military, who led the same number of companies but for a total of eight hundred (800) men.

The numbers might seem small, but one should understand that below a planetary scale, robots and unarmed drones were the mainstream fighters in battles. There might be three hundred and twenty men in a district military battalion, but the number of unarmed drones and robots could be at least double that.

Hence, the power under the control of the lieutenant colonel before the people wasn't to be underestimated.

The man was also at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage, just like the majority gathered here. But apart from his rank and influence, he was also very powerful.

Although levels and stages were the main means of determining someone's power, it wasn't exactly reliable. A fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner could beat a fifth of even sixth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner with the right conditions, even more so when vestiges were called into consideration.

The lieutenant colonel had two Grade 4 vestiges, when people at his power level usually had either one or none. Of the Grade 4 vestiges, one of them was a custom-made version, which further boosted his power more so than the other vestige. He also had three Grade 3 vestiges, and when armed with his entire Arsenal, the lieutenant colonel had no issues holding off a seventh level desolate beast, or surviving the assault of an eighth level desolate beast.

Although his vestiges counted for a significant portion of his power, it was due to the man's strength, skill and abilities that he had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, so he was not to be underestimated, even by the other sixth level stellar practitioners gathered here. It was no understatement to say that he could take on at least three of them at the same time yet still win.

"Today, we would be discussing about the raid to take down the monsters at Garena town."

Just after the lieutenant colonel spoke, an alarm abruptly sounded.