Rise of the Horde

Xiao Chen stared at the blueprints in front of him. The blueprints were of the city that he was going to establish, but he can't quite decide which one to follow.

"Chief! May I have a word with you"

Mohrios entered the chieftain's tent and stared at Xiao Chen who had a scrunched-up face, his eyes were fully focused on the scrolls in front of him. Looking at the figures and scribbles on the scrolls, Mohrios felt he was getting dizzy by just looking at it.

He can't understand most of the things on the scrolls and it was giving him a headache, so he just shrugged his massive shoulders in surrender and waited for the chief to notice his presence.

Raising his gaze up, Xiao Chen stared at the tauren in front of him. Xiao Chen's eyes had black circles around it as he had spent many nights creating the blueprints and plans that he had.

"What's the matter?"

Xiao Chen asked as he massaged his aching temples, both from lack of sleep and fatigue.

"The demon's energy, it is moving away from us. I don't know for what reason it is headed towards the Burning Sands, but our ancestors seem to smile upon us. Now we only had to deal with the corrupted creatures that were gathered that we can spot from the walls."

Mohrios informed the chief, as they the taurens have been monitoring the demonic energy all this time. The energy was getting fainter and fainter as the day goes by and judging by what they can feel from the disturbing energy; it was heading south.

"Hmmm... Let's wait for a few more days to make sure that this isn't a ploy of that demon to make us lower our guard against it."

Xiao Chen said after a few moments of silence and scratching of his chin. He is waiting for the riders that he has sent out and the information that they have gained.

Maybe Sakh'arran and his clansmen can give him more details of what is going on out there beyond the defensive walls.

He had many projects in his mind that got delayed because of the Season of Damnation; he was planning on introducing more ideas to improve the life of his horde. The cement production had been going on nonstop and they had a lot of it stored, ready to be used.

They also accumulated the metal ores to massive amounts, as the kobolds were working almost continuously without rest. Xiao Chen also introduced new craftsmanship to the trolls, like intricately designed furnitures.

He was also planning to divert the flow of the Garthum River towards where his city would be at with the help of the kobolds. The plan was to create an underground tunnel that will be enforced with cement and metal to prevent collapse and for the of flow water to not stray away from the intended route.

Xiao Chen was also planning to bring to life the steam engine in this world to make the progress of his city faster, but he had to find a way to weld metals together effectively without them breaking apart under intense pressure.

He had sent Draegh'ana to learn from the troll sages of their fire arts and perhaps they can make a new spell that can aid him in his plans.

Mohrios stared awkwardly at Xiao Chen, who seemed to have forgotten his presence already.

"Chief! I did it!"

Draegh'ana came barging in but quickly stopped in her tracks when he saw the vast frame of a tauren inside. Her excitement dwindled down. Seriousness replaced the flushed look on her face. She cleared her throat as she caught the tauren glancing at her.

"Hmm... Let me see it"

Xiao Chen stood up from his sit and approach his female commander. Mohrios stood there awkwardly, as he didn't know what was going on or what he was supposed to make out of the situation.

Mana gathered within Draegh'ana's hands and slowly her hands turned brightly red and produced low heat like an ember in the furnace of the orc forgers. Draegh'ana focused her mana even more, concentrating it all in her hands and her hands changed color from bright red to orange as the heat being emitted from her hands also became hotter.

Xiao Chen observed Draegh'ana's hands and felt the heat that it emitted. He asked her to learn from the troll sages of their fire arts since the trolls mentioned to him that Draegh'ana possesses a high affinity with the fire elements.

"Can you make it hotter?"

Xiao Chen questioned to which Draegh'ana responded with increasing the mana in her hands, the orange color turned yellow and the heat became more intense.

"Uncatalogued Magic Spell Detected!"

"Scanning New Magic Spell!"

"Identifying Magic Spell!"

"Magic Spell Identified!"

"Category: Flame Magic"

"Firehands added to Catalogue!"

Xiao Chen's interest was piqued. Opening the system panel on the system store, there he saw it the new magic spell.

Firehands (Magic Spell)

Category: Flame Magic

Description: Focus a huge amount of mana to the palm of the hands and calling on upon the spirit of flames to consume the mana. The more mana focused on the hands, the hotter the heat emitted. Can become as hot as molten lava at its highest form.

Draegh'ana focused all her efforts on maintaining the spell. Almost nearly half an hour later, she slumped down on the ground weakly. She had exhausted all her mana after maintaining it in the hottest form that she was able to. The yellow color of her hands slowly faded away and along with it was the intense heat that it emitted.

Xiao Chen didn't know how does his system actually works nor does he know if it will accompany him forever, which is why he was trying his best not to depend on it unless totally necessary. If someday that his system disappears like a bubble, he won't have a hard time adjusting because he isn't depending on it too much.