Armipotent

Wu Shuan looked at the Kalliyan's forefeet. It was the horse's feet, but he noticed earlier that the mount was not a horse. The mount was covered in green scales, glowing in golden radiant. A two pair of horns that similar to deer's antlers, but it curved to the back instead upward, the long whisker, and rows of sharp teeth. 'Is this a dragon?' The head of this mount was similar to the dragon he often saw in the picture.

What terrified Wu Shuan was the mount's aura itself. After he reached the Epic Rank, he figured out about the aura. The Basic Detect did not work all the time, and this aura came in handy at that moment. He could figure out how strong an individual was based on their aura. The Emperor Mount's aura was overwhelming. He felt a massive pressure on his shoulder because of the aura. There was no need for him to test it out; he was sure he could not win against this beast.

'The lion beastmen and the eagle beastmen are not the terrifying force of the Tang Empire. They have more than just them, and I am sure this mount is stronger than the two beastmen in the arena.' Wu Shuan's thoughts ran wild. Of course, Zuo Ren and the other three had not reached the Epic Rank yet, so they did not know how terrifying the mount was.

While they could not use the aura to see how strong the mount was, they could tell that the mount was strong within a single glance. They did not dare look at the beast too long, afraid of offending Tang Shaoyang.

"Alright, let's not waste our time. Lead us to the City Steele." Lu An ordered the group to lead them. After the System chose an All Out War mode, Steele appeared inside the smart base. The stele appeared on the first floor. The first one to destroy the City Steele won the war.

Boom!

A big figure landed two meters to the right of Tang Shaoyang. The figure was around a little over three meters with a bulky figure. The Demonic Ape came out from the dust and looked toward Tang Shaoyang. "Why do we stop, Master? I can't wait to destroy our enemy. Let's attack the city now." Pride did not know the situation, so he urged his Master to attack the city ahead of them.

"There's no fight, Pride." Tang Shaoyang waved his hand at the Demonic Pride. "We have won the war; they surrender."

Wu Shuan and Zuo Ren led the convoy while listening to Pride. The Demonic Ape grumbled all the way to the city as he complained that the enemy was cowardly and so on. Wu Shuan and Zuo Ren's back soaked in sweat after listening to all the complaints from the over three meters ape. Especially Wu Shuan, who could feel the fierce aura emanated from the Demonic Ape. After a while, only then he noticed there were two hundred big apes in the Tang Empire's force.

Wu Shuan and Zuo Ren exchanged glances secretly, and the latter was grateful to Wu Shuan. If he did not listen to Wu Shuan and escape with the four leaders, they would die for sure. The remaining five hours were not enough for them to pass through Wu Xi since they had to sneak around, not to alert the zombie lord. Once the Tang Empire knew that information, the Tang Empire would chase them to Wu Xi. He felt like this Demonic Ape alone was enough to catch them.

Following the road, they entered Suzhou Survivor Establishment. The survivors had been informed that they had decided to surrender to the Tang Empire. So Wu Shuan warned the survivors not to do anything funny when the Tang Empire's representatives entered the city. The street was filled with the survivors; it was as if they welcomed Tang Shaoyang and his force into the establishment. However, in fact, these survivors just wanted to see the Tang Empire's representatives.

Gasps of surprise could be heard from the crowd as Kalliyan and Pride stole the masses' attention. Many eyes focused on the two beasts before they looked toward the figure riding on Kalliyan. It was like a parade show as the rows of people reached the smart base area. There was a three meters wall surrounding the smart base area, and the survivors were not allowed inside the area.

When Tang Shaoyang entered the smart base area, a pair of hands clapped. The clap was loud enough for everyone to hear as the crowd barely made noise. After one clap, another clap followed, and then all survivors clapped and cheered for the Tang Empire. It was another surprise for Tang Shaoyang as he did not expect the people would welcome him and his force. He came to take over the establishment, yet these people seemed to be happy about it. Of course, he was not aware yet that these survivors wanted to move to his territory, but the four gangster groups stopped them from moving. So they were happy when they heard the Tang Empire would take over the establishment.

Arriving in the front of the smart base, it was the soldiers who welcomed him. "We welcome the Great Emperor!" Thousands of soldiers greeted Tang Shaoyang simultaneously. They bowed their heads toward Tang Shaoyang as he came off from Kalliyan.

"I will lead Your Majesty to the City Steele. You guys wait here." Wu Shuan spoke to his group.

From Tang Shaoyang's side, only Lu An and Zhang Mengyao followed him into the smart base as the remaining force stayed outside. The thirteen thousand armies stopped next to the Suzhou Establishment's soldiers. Even though Tang Shaoyang was not there, the soldiers kept lowering their heads. The atmosphere between the two forces was so different, and Zuo Ren let out a sigh when he saw the massive gap between the two forces with his own eyes.

*** ***

Tang Shaoyang immediately found the City Steele as soon as he entered the smart base. The Steele was too obvious for people not to notice. The five meters hexagon Steele was placed weirdly on the first floor. Wu Shuan led the group to the City Steele, and he stopped three meters away from the City Steele. His job was over, so he let Tang Shaoyang take over the smart base.

Tang Shaoyang arrived in front of the Steele, and there was a handprint mark on the Steele. He put his palm on the mark, and the City Steele glowed in golden light. Five minutes later, the City Steele disappeared as a notification rang in his head.

[You have successfully seized the Suzhou Survivors Establishment's smart base!]

[The Tang Empire has defeated the Suzhou Survivors Establishment!]

[The Suzhou Survivors Establishment has been destroyed!]

[The Tang Empire has claimed Suzhou Territory!]

While it looked simple to take over the smart base, the five minutes timing was quite troublesome. He could not move his palm from the Steele, or he had to start over again. If it was in a normal condition, he had to defeat soldiers guarding the Steele first in order to claim the smart base. Of course, the other members of the Tang Empire could also capture the City Steele. It did not have to be Tang Shaoyang or the Vice Leader to capture the smart base. Anyone from the Tang Empire could seize the smart base as long as they put their palms on the mark.

At the same time, Wu Shuan also received the notification that his faction no longer existed after the loss against the Tang Empire. In order to create a faction that is recognized by the System, they must have a territory, or the faction would be erased from the system. So it was a game over for a faction with a single territory like the Suzhou Survivors Establishment when they lost in the war.

"Origin! Are you there?" Tang Shaoyang immediately called his smart AI. Origin was supposed to get connected to this smart base once he captured it. Sure enough, Origin's static voice rang, replying to its Master's call.

[I am here, Master….] There was a slight pause before Origin continued. [I know the Suzhou Survivors Establishment is much weaker than us, but I never expected you to seize their smart base this fast. It's been around forty minutes since the war started. Since it will take time for the march, this is just too fast. Don't tell me you fight them by yourself, Master?]

Wu Shuan was startled when he heard the robotic voice that answered Tang Shaoyang's call. He was confused and puzzled, trying to figure out where the voice came from by himself. However, there were only four of them inside the smart base, and he could not sense another presence on the first floor.

"No, they surrender to us and give me the territory." Tang Shaoyang answered before giving an order to Origin. "Check up our new smart base and compile a report to Mengyao later."

[Yes, Master!] After that, Origin went completely silent, making the poor Wu Shuan more confused.

"Now what? I thought this war would give me entertainment until our match tomorrow." Tang Shaoyang looked toward Zhang Mengyao and asked. Today was the Elimination Stage, where the second places from each group were fighting for the remaining five slots in the Playoff Stage. He was not going to watch the boring fight for sure, knowing the result was enough as he sent a few people to watch the fight. Revalor, the Legend Rank Elven, volunteered himself to watch the fight to compile an analysis of their potential enemy with Commander Alton. The Legend Rank Knight chose to watch the tournament after knowing he would not participate in the war.

"Let me introduce you to the person who prepares the present for you, Your Majesty." Lu An quickly adapted to the change. He was not stiff or awkward when he called Tang Shaoyang with Your Majesty as he felt it was natural for him to do so. The young man introduced Wu Shuan to Tang Shaoyang. "He is the former Major General of the Suzhou Survivor Establishment, and he is my people."

Wu Shuan was startled for a moment before he bowed his body, almost ninety degrees toward Tang Shaoyang. "M-My n-name is W-Wu Shuan, Your Majesty. I am level 1119, and I am the sole Epic Rank from this establishment." The man in front of him was his new leader, so he made sure to introduce himself properly. The first impression was always the key to catching his leader's attention, but he quickly realized that he stuttered.

"You should not tell anyone about your level unless I ask, Wu Shuan." Tang Shaoyang reminded Wu Shuan. "No one should know your level unless we ask you. We usually need to know how strong you are for military assignments or similar stuff."

"What should I do with him now." Tang Shaoyang held his chin and looked at Wu Shuan. Since the man contributed to the Empire, he must be rewarded. Even though his force could easily win against them, this man helped them to shorten the time of capturing the territory. He then glanced at Lu An before looking back at Wu Shuan. An idea crossed his mind as he smiled.

"We don't have a division that takes charge of information regarding the surrounding territories, monsters, zombies, and more stuff." Tang Shaoyang then glanced at Zhang Mengyao and asked. "Do we need a new division for that, or shall we form a team instead?"

"I think a new division is fine too. For now, their work may be small, but as we expand, they will have a lot of work. Having an information division may be a great help for us." Zhang Mengyao agreed without a second thought. She planned to make this new division, but the tournament and the migration of the people of Lukan, so she kept delaying the work.

"Then we can assign Wu Shuan and his subordinate to this division with Lu An as the Division Head." Tang Shaoyang grinned at Lu An. Lu An was the top ten strongest in his empire if he excluded the people from the Ortis Continent, the three kingdoms, and the Gigante Forest. Despite his status, Lu An did not hold any position in Tarrior. He even heard from Wei Xi that the Tarriors were calling him Super Soldier since he was extremely strong for someone with no position.

Wu Shuan raised his head and looked toward Tang Shaoyang. "We are good at that, Your Majesty. We have been trained in the military. I don't dare to say that we are the best at it, but we do a good job of gathering information and scouting."

"Wait, wait…." Lu An suddenly interrupted. "You must ask my consent first before making a decision that big, Your Majesty. I don't think I am capable enough to lead an entire division. I don't have any experience, and I am just good at killing people."

"Then you need to learn." Tang Shaoyang shrugged and pointed at Wu Shuan. "This guy is a Major General, and you can learn a lot from him. You can't avoid this forever, Lu An. Moreover, this will be a lot easier if you start it now. When we get bigger, then you will be overwhelmed with work. By that time, it will be hard for you to learn while working. Also, your subordinates will do all the work while you just need to oversee them. I will ask Li Shuang to send a few of her people to do the paperwork for your division."

Lu An fell silent for a moment before looking toward Zhang Mengyao. The latter nodded her head, encouraging him to take the job. Then he looked toward Wu Shuan, and the former Major General was looking at him with an expectant gaze. It was clear that Wu Shuan wanted him to take the job. "Then I will take the job. I will do my best not to disappoint you, Brother Shaoyang."

"That's my boy." Tang Shaoyang grinned. "As for the name of the division. I will give you the honor to name your division, and I will ask Wei Xi to help you to choose your subordinates."

"So, what's our plan next? I don't want to return to the arena, not interested in watching a dull fight." He then looked toward Zhang Mengyao. She was the Supreme Commander, and he thought she could give him something to do instead of idling like unemployment."

"We can try to clear Wu Xi since we have thirteen thousand armies outside. We need to ensure Suzhou's safety until we fortify this territory.." Zhang Mengyao replied after thinking for a few seconds.