Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"First, we need to keep checking the advance of the influence of the… let's call these locations dungeons," Rain said. "Once we confirm that they aren't growing too much or too fast, we will use them to get stronger in the most efficient way possible in order to increase our strength."

"That is an interesting title for such a place…" Asche frowned. "After that, then what?"

"One problem at a time, our forces need to learn Limit Breaker and I need to deal with the sea dragons for gramps," Rain explained. "Once all that is done, we will have what is necessary to take the next step, which is to look for the enemies and bring the fights to them."

The idea was simple, but its fundamentals seemed insane considering that Rain would have to fight sea dragons alone… in their environment. He probably thought that through, but it was still worrisome. Still, his plans were solid as usual. They needed to make every single one of the warriors learn Limit Breaker… that would make their strength increase many times and once that happens.

Their force of twenty-five hundred would be comparable to one of ten thousand.

"To make things as efficient as possible, each one of you should teach the same squads, up to five hundred warriors," Rain said. "Remember, time is of the essence… it would be nice if when I return, all of them could use it.

That way, we would be able to decrease the number of squads to defend one border and then attack the enemies on the other side and cause enough damage to make them give up on another war for a hundred years."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"The training will have to be really intense, while they also work to protect the borders and keeping an eye on the dungeons," Roan said while nodding. "Still, it would be helpful if we have the support of some of the sea folk. Only a small amount of them needs to be in the border watching the magic people, and that also would be a good way to prevent them from being attacked."

"Hmm… that is a pretty good idea," Rain said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"It was?" Roan asked while frowning.

"Why do you keep second-guessing yourself when Rain approves of your ideas?" Leiah asked while facepalming.

Roan had a bit of a confidence problem since his son was that talented… perhaps that was why he often second-guessed himself. Adding to the fact that he was rescued and protected by Rain a few times when he had to fight the magic people.

"I will talk with Gramps about that," Rain said. "By the way, you three should try to connect the underground tunnels to the dungeons. If something happens, you can just use all the water and drown everything inside the dungeons."

"Wouldn't that be a waste? What if the monster's meat could be eaten? Sea water would mess up the taste," Gila suddenly said.

Gila doesn't speak often in those meetings and for that to be the first thing that she says… Rain already knew that, but his family truly had a lot of peculiarities.

"You can think about food as long as lives aren't in danger, young lady," Leiah said.

"Rain, why don't you take Artisia with you?" Terra asked.

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"I see… I guess it will be easier to keep an eye on her that way," Rain said while nodding several times.

"I was more thinking along the lines that it would be useful if she could control a sea dragon, that would help you, wouldn't it?" Terra asked. "First of all, you would be able to finish the job faster with the support of such a creature, and you also could use that to eventually search for the enemies in the southern sea."

Despite Artisia's seemingly harmless actions and intentions during her two-month presence, Rain couldn't shake off his suspicion. He had encountered enough devious individuals in his life, and he knew that sometimes the most dangerous adversaries could present themselves as allies and she had been one enemy for many years… a dangerous one.

Her power over mind control and a possible close proximity to a sea dragon only added to his unease. Rain couldn't dismiss the possibility that she might obtain an ulterior motive or that she was waiting for the opportune moment to reveal her true intentions.

As a result, Rain maintained a watchful and guarded stance, constantly thinking about possibilities of Artisia's every move and action, ready to protect his people and his newfound allies from any potential threat.

"Maybe you need a vacation, your ideas are starting to sound stupid," Rain said. "I will give you some paid weeks off."

"Don't call it stupid and I don't know what you are talking about," Terra rubbed her eyes. "While it could be dangerous, I trust my instincts and my analyzing people's skills. She isn't plotting anything, and we need to deal with problems faster, right? We don't have the luxury of not using everything that we can."

Terra had a point… Rain wanted to ask her when she became so logical, but he had no place in asking her that kind of thing considering the person that he was. Regardless… after thinking for a while, Rain decided that he should take all the magic people with him.

That would be the perfect chance for them to do something if they were planning to do so… only Geo will stay behind to keep watching the beast people.

"We will depart tomorrow… if nothing happens, we should return in a few weeks," Rain said. "If something happens, I will return in a few weeks alone. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee to you all that we will get a new pet on this mission, so don't look forward to it."

If possible, Rain wanted to learn how to tame monsters… but he didn't think that it would be easy to tame a dragon of all things.