The two sea beasts seemed to disappear after falling into the water, but the damage they caused couldn't be forgotten. Four ships sank, and thousands of lives were lost. The surrounding ships tried to rescue those who managed to swim to the surface, which lessened the losses by a large margin, but there were still far too many who had died.
The Emperor's face was grim. "Just like on the Continent of Wu, it seems there are mythical beasts in the ocean as well. Who would have thought that we'd be unlucky enough to come upon two of them so suddenly."
Everyone else was similarly grim. They hadn't even reached their first destination, and there were already heavy casualties. Thousands of soldiers were an extremely powerful force, yet so many had died.
After rescuing as many as possible and gathering whatever useful supplies floated to the top, the ships continued onwards. They didn't have enough time to sit around for no reason.
After a few months, they saw the island in the distance.
Standing on the dock, looking back at them, was Skybelle and around a thousand soldiers. The island seemed mostly the same as before, with a larger palace in the center as well as some more houses and better looking houses in general.
Not all of the ships docked near the island, only a few.
The Emperor left the ship to handle some business, while Skymender stayed on it. After around an hour, the Emperor returned and soldiers started boarding the docked ships.
However, the Emperor did not set sail.
"Skymender, you may want to see what they discovered." The Emperor said.
Skymender nodded and followed him.
He was led to the opposite side of the island, where there was an uncovered entrance to some ruins. He walked down a long flight of stairs before entering an open room.
In that room was an altar.
There were also some paintings and murals on the walls and ceilings. One depicted a pair of hands touching a blind man's eyes, and giving him sight.
Presumably, this is what the Emperor had wanted him to see.
"This indicates that there is some sort of method to give someone their eyesight back, which I assume you are interested in." The Emperor said.
He then spoke again. "Furthermore, this altar is extremely similar to the Temple's altar."
Skymender was surprised. He had never seen the altar, and had never imagined that there would be one on this small island.
"The Temple has been silent ever since the war, operating as normal. They didn't even get revenge for their saintess I killed. With their methods, this is unheard of. I've thought about it over the years, and came to a conclusion. This discovery is evidence that my conclusion is most likely true. I believe that the Mainland must also have a Temple, and it must be even more powerful than ours. The Main Temple and its subsidiary Temples on our continent must simply be waiting for support." The Emperor said.
Skymender agreed with his conclusion.
"You've done a lot for me, Skymender. If I get the chance, I promise I will get your eyesight back."
"Thank you." Skymender said.
"No need. Let's go, there's nothing else here."
Skymender and the Emperor returned to the ship, where they set off towards their destination, the Mainland.
This was an invasion, the goal being to set up a camp for the Faceless Empire, which would be used to slowly take over the entire Mainland.
Though they did not know much about the Mainland, they would find out after they created their base of operations. Hopefully, they wouldn't attract much attention from the start.
This journey was long, years long. Entire ships were filled with food or farms simply for the purpose of feeding everyone during this long journey.
Although they faced occasional storms and large waves, there was not much trouble during their journey. Finally, people began to shout.
Tens of shouts filled the air, attracting the attention of everyone on the ships.
They all looked into the distance, seeing a landmass so large it seemed to infinitely go on in both directions.
Only Skymender was unable to see it.
However, he did not not need to. He could hear descriptions of it.
The Emperor spoke. "It is time."
Skymender looked at the Emperor. He seemed much younger than he had ten years ago, presumably because of the potion Skymender created for him.
Although he found it a pity that it cost one flower to make one potion, at least he knew how to do it if he ever stumbled upon another one.
The hundreds of ships safely made it onto land, and nothing was in sight.
Even on the Continent of Wu, this wouldn't have been a shocking sight. It was much less so on a continent much bigger than that.
The Emperor made an announcement. "Let's begin construction. I want almost every single person to participate so that this can be finished as soon as possible."
Under his command, everyone got to work. Some materials were brought over by ships, but most would be gathered from this large, untouched land around them.
Days passed, and then weeks, and then months, and eventually a year.
In this entire year, they had never seen another human. Some animals occasionally wandered near them, but after seeing all the activity, promptly left.
By now, large walls had been built around the entire camp. Unlike on the island when the Light Ocean Kingdom had moved over, this camp was built with maximum military usage in mind.
Everything was strategically planned out even before they reached the island. Some minor adjustments were made, but it looked just as planned.
There were no houses, only barracks, and there weren't any restaurants or shops. Everyone here was on the job, and everything was provided along with their pay.
With everything set up, it was time to explore the Mainland. The Emperor wanted to do it quietly at first, sending people to infiltrate Kingdoms or Empires and see how they functioned.