The memories of the entire month of surveillance over the Crimson City come rushing back to me.
Just after my main body left for the exams, another order of materials was picked up by my double in Vice City.
All of the new apartments, grocery stores, businesses, streets, and installations to the outer city that I witnessed through the eyes of Maria and Abby become far clearer to me.
The trade routes that stretch out of Sector 2 now connect to many villages in Sectors 3 and 1, and the construction is still in progress to wrap all the way around the Dark Continent to reach Sector 4.
To fill the new grocery stores, the Sector 3 trade deals have progressed nicely. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and livestock are being transported from the various farming towns.
Now instead of sending body doubles to the 8 Great Regions to import food, over 80% of the produce can be purchased from the source.
The remaining necessities are still sourced from Solara and Vice City's bulk supermarkets.
As the roads are being built off far into the Dark Continent, more and more people are visiting the town, and dozens of people are forming links of loyalty every day to enter the inner city to gain access to the dungeons as well as find jobs to live a better life than out in the poverty of the smaller villages.
One of my doubles has been hard at work farming element stones from the 39th floor, imbuing them with mythic-grade plunderer, and collapsing rogue dungeons far away from villages all throughout the entire continent.
With my main body's leave from the city, the extra Qi pills that I was using to build the Soul Energy barrier around the Crimson City are all put to great use; many of the fighters are able to get out of their beds and walk about like normal for almost an hour a day now.
Even if they're all full of energy now, their status screens are still completely wiped clean.
My main body is the only one capable of extracting skill orbs because it is a function of mixing my mythic-grade absorption perk with soul energy.
The plan is to give them the option of joining the Crimson Army once they're healed, and offer them elemental skills once they're ready.
However, long-term exposure to large quantities of Qi during their treatments administered by Monk has awakened their pathways to use this energy as well.
Many of the fighters practice cultivating and channeling their Qi in their limited time while they're awake. These are elite fighters from all over the Dark Continent after all; it's not like they're going to give up their aspirations to become strong warriors just because of a single defeat .
At this point, as my double makes it back to the Crimson City to take another week-long shift of surveillance after a successful mission of skill farming this past week; I come back to see a sight I wasn't exactly expecting.
I watch through the memories of my double as it walks out from the bunker below the guildhall, greeting all of the new staff working to buy, sell, and keep track of resources farmed from the canyon of dungeons.
The order quantities from the Great Regions and Dark Continent Sectors have skyrocketed, but thankfully, so has the population of links of loyalty in the city. The population just recently passed 1000.
With this in mind, every day is usually a cheerful one in the city, but once I walk outside of the guildhall into the streets beneath the Crimson Dome, I instantly feel an ominous aura ripple through the air.
It feels as if gravity waves are permeating through the atmosphere from a single point.
My enemy detection skill does a scan of my surroundings, and my urgency on the matter increases when I sense dozens of skilled fighters above level 900 outside the dome in a very symmetrical battle formation.
Occasionally, there are some interesting and strong hunters that stop by, but their readings rarely pass level 500. None have ever been this high, and the fact that they're all element users with identical armor and weapons can't be a coincidence either.
An organization is here, and I need to figure out why...
I fly up to the top of the dome to near the source of the odd energy, and one of my other doubles waves me down to point out the problem.
There are two figures also floating in the air outside of the Crimson City's protection barrier.
The instant I see them, I scan their stats as well, and can hardly believe the ratings I'm seeing.
They are definitely the leaders of whatever group has shown up.
One of them is a level 2759 wind magic user, and the other is even stronger at level 2840 with a fire magic skill on his status.
Their gear percentage buffs are astronomically high, similar to my own, and they both have a very odd red light rippling out from their eyes and chest.
Looking back at my memories now, I can tell this is the power of a red divine core glowing in both of their chests, however to my body double; the undetectable red light that glows around their whole being is a total mystery to me.
The status buff of [The Sun God's Curse Mark] is present on both of their status screens too, so my assumption in the moment is that it is another soul energy ability I'm incapable of seeing in this lesser form that my body doubles have only being able to sense mana-based skills.
Whatever the case is, I go into full alert mode and instruct the other double via telepathy to go to Valor City to bring all of our available fighting power here immediately.
It disappears in a flash of white light using a transport crystal to bring itself to the Galeheart tower and to go find Abby and Maria cultivating in the Qi mines.
My perspective stays behind and stares the two men down that float in the sky above the barrier.
I'm certain in my current form I'd stand no chance, so I just speak up to stall.
"State your business. Who are you, and why have you come to the Crimson City?"
As these words leave my lips, my gaze lands on the logo that rests on both of their shoulders. Even so, the reply out of the fire user still makes my eyes widen and my heart skip a beat.
"We're here to take back control of this continent. We knew there was a new force growing after the disappearance of many Sector Leaders, and a new figurehead of the Dark Continent's underground trade business, but we can only tolerate so much. You should have kept your head down and not stuck your hand in places it doesn't belong. Your assistance for certain applicants in the B-Class Exams has tipped the perceived power balance in an unfavorable manner..."