Chapter 163: Chapter 163: Ready to Go
Seeing me decisively cut off the connection, Qianqian was still a bit confused, blinking her bright eyes and asking, “Why not talk a little longer, she seemed almost persuaded.”
“Persuaded? That’s impossible,” Sandora said with a light smile, “Who is Jaina? A leader who can single-handedly bring together various races of the Alliance Army, influence the entire situation in Kalimdor, and even make the Burning Legion wary of her. Her caution far exceeds your imagination. I even guess that she might have taken this contact as a mere prank by a strong entity with no malice, so to think that such a conversation could have deceived Jaina into truly seeing us as gods who would save the world, that’s just not possible.”
“So… aren’t we just wasting our efforts?”
I rubbed Qianqian’s curious little head and said with a smile, “That’s why I had to suddenly cut off the connection. It would maximize her doubt and a slight belief. Moreover, I informed her at the last minute that reinforcements were about to arrive, cut off the contact unilaterally before she could react. It’s like giving her a preemptive vaccination. It won’t make her wholeheartedly welcome the arrival of the Xyrin Army, but at least when we land near Serramo, we won’t be bombarded. As a hero in troubled times, Jaina would know how to prevent any form of accidents. Thus, landing near her territory might even grant us protection by humans. While these humans might not be very effective protectors, they can at least shield us from other sensitive powers—which of course, sounds nicer than it might be. It really means troops sent by Jaina to monitor us but as long as we don’t act rashly, these monitoring troops will serve as the best umbrella to keep us free from trouble.”
“So that’s the plan,” Qianqian nodded in understanding.
Actually, there’s nothing complicated about it. It’s all about psychology. Leaders like Jaina, who bear heavy responsibilities, are invariably more suspicious than ordinary people. If this suspicion is cleverly manipulated, it can serve us well. time, if I hadn’t notified Jaina today and rashly landed near her territory, she might have dispatched her armies without hesitation to annihilate our mysterious forces that appeared just like the Burning Legion. Even if it was just a possibility, that’s a scenario we need to avoid, and more so because this possibility was quite high. Just imagine if countless alien forces suddenly landed on Earth one day (and remember, Azeroth was once devastated by such invaders…). With our prior contact with Jaina, even if she took it as a prank, the chances of her attacking us when we enter Azeroth will be significantly less, although of course, she will still be wary of us.
In other words, this reduces hostility but increases vigilance. But vigilance, on the premise that we genuinely want to help, isn’t a big problem.
Of course, we also considered landing in some uninhabited corner of Azeroth. But this idea was quickly abandoned for a simple reason. What’s known on Earth about the World of Warcraft is merely a projected version of information from the Azeroth world. The real Azeroth would certainly be vastly different. If we select a desolate location based on WoW’s story, we might accidentally pick the frontline of the Burning Legion—that would be catastrophic. And this isn’t a small, interdimensional tour but an entire army landing. I vividly remember a Xyrin Commander who got teleported inside a tree trunk due to a positioning error…
Thus, after discussion, we still found it safer to choose a monitored but reliable point of entry than a potentially unobserved location that might be an enemy’s stronghold.
What remains now is to organize the army and get ready to depart—of course, the assembly point for the army is within Shadow K City. I’m not brave enough to conduct war mobilization in the city center for the Xyrin Army.
Unlike the previous unintended interdimensional travels, this time, our expedition is well-prepared. Moreover, the enemies this time could potentially combat or even corrupt Xyrin Apostles with their Abyss Power. In other words, we’re facing an army against army battle, and of course, serious preparations are necessary.
Ah, to be honest, I’m really quite nervous, but the threat of the Abyss is too great. Ignoring it might lead to a total disaster for the world. Initiating an offensive to eradicate the enemy in its nascent stage versus passively waiting until we’re surrounded on all sides and then defending, anyone smarter than a stool would know which option to choose.
Indeed, I’ve digressed again.
Bringing the topic back, organizing the army.
The Xyrin Apostle’s army has its own unique characteristics. Thanks to the application of spatial stationing technologies and the existence of revolutionary technologies like the Xyrin Host, the size of the warriors we need to assemble isn’t as exaggerated as one might think—a million-strong army. Like now, the main force standing before me only comprises less than five thousand elite soldiers, and the military vehicles arranged behind these soldiers are just over a thousand Fanatic Light Fighters.
These forces are the initial army for our landing in Azeroth. Building a base using the Xyrin Host, while speedy, will still take some time. During this “vulnerable period,” we must have a group of elite soldiers to act as our initial fighting force, but we can’t have too many, or the energy consumed by the space jump would definitely make me weep.
However, although I didn’t see the projected million-strong army, having these five thousand imposing Xyrin Soldiers and a thousand high-tech-flavored UFOs… ahem, Fanatic Fighters lined up before me awaiting orders, still quite satisfies that little show-off part of my heart. As the saying goes, “over a thousand, one sees no borders”—even with just five thousand, it’s quite visually impactful.
“So you see, this sort of pre-battle speech is just the kind of outlandish idea that you, you extravagant upstart, would come up with, right? Cut it out, talking about using your own ‘charisma’ to inspire the troops, grant the Empire’s warriors unparalleled combat spirit—you’re really beyond help. Does the Xyrin Army even need such things?” Lin Xue saw me standing awkwardly on the podium and immediately couldn’t restrain her inner snark, beginning to mercilessly attack my spirit.
Hmph, you cheeky girl, talking about me—are you forgetting that it wasn’t just me who suggested the pre-battle speech?
However, Lin Xue was making a lot of sense. Xyrin Soldiers didn’t even have morale to speak of, let alone issues of bravery, and they were extremely organized and disciplined, obeyed commands, followed orders, respected superiors, cared for subordinates, were experienced, and powerful, and more fatally, a lot of them were War Puppets without independent thinking…
Such a perfect army, what was there for me to train?!
As I saw Qianqian and her sister struggling to hold back their laughter, I finally couldn’t keep up my facade. The battle mobilization I had imagined to be stirring and impassioned hadn’t even begun and was already filled with ludicrousness. This made me, a parvenu who had just wanted to indulge in the thrill of being a general, unspeakably frustrated…
…That was all for this military mobilization, sigh, I’m really depressed; having a flawless army that doesn’t need morale boosting is truly my greatest misfortune!
Those regular forces were just a part; the more important part of our army was still to come.
Once the Xyrin Soldiers had left, the second troop that needed to be reviewed stepped into the arena.
With orderly but much lighter footsteps compared to the soldiers, and the childish chant of “one-two-one” from a little girl, our true main force made its entry!
Xyrin Host, twelve identical Bubbles…
Of course, except for the leading little Loli, the other eleven were simple clones produced en masse by Bubbles; although they looked exactly the same, they were just automated building machines with simple command recognition abilities.
Hmm, twelve Lolies in slightly smaller Xyrin uniforms neatly standing in front of me; the visual impact…
I’m not a Loli Fan, I’m not a Loli Fan, I’m NOT…
Lin Xue suddenly tilted her head in confusion, looking at me, and said, “What are you mumbling about?”
“Nothing much, just counting! Let’s see, one, two, three…”
This was our most vital military unit; no matter how powerful Xyrin Warriors were, they were still just individuals, but a Xyrin Host, oh boy, give it a few days and it becomes a super fortress!
Unfortunately, I still hadn’t seen how Bubbles cloned herself; the little girl seemed quite concerned about this aspect. Even Sandora was shut out with me when Bubbles was cloning herself; oh, by the way, we were also caught in the act by my sister, who then zapped us with a comment, “You guys also want to watch when someone is giving birth.”
Strictly speaking, these mass-produced Xyrin Hosts cannot be considered Bubbles’ children. They are just simple clones without independent thought or emotional modules. Using Alaya’s words, they lacked souls, but since my sister described it as “giving birth”, well, I might as well use that to understand why Bubbles didn’t want us to see…
Now, the army is assembled, target—Azeroth!