After a few more weeks, Jin had crossed over and entered the fifth stage of refinement, the last stage of it. If he was in the sect, if he claimed to be the second strongest under spiritual warrior realm, no one would dare claim to be first. As he finally reached the last line towards the peak of this realm, the trio celebrated with a feast.

And it was only a few days later, that everything turned for the worse. Two of the armies came back. Prince Theorurin Seung-Woo came back with not even a fifth of the army. To say that he had been utterly destroyed was an euphemism. It was pure annihilation. As he reached the city, he asked his brother, who choose to defend, to spare him troops so he could try once again.

He was answered as such: "You fucking fool! You already sent four fifth of the strongest fighters to their death and you still wish for more! Get lost!"

Of course, the royals had their own goals and quests during this border war. Achievements were required to get bigger benefits in the family. There was no way they would help their rivals. Brothers? Cousins? Family? Bonds? They meant nothing. And so there was no way his brother would have agreed.

But the foolish Prince still tried just in case. After all, who knew? Maybe his brother would go with him this time and they could share the achievement of success. In his head, he hadn't lost that much and it certainly wasn't his fault. Flash news: It was totally his fault. He was arrogant and clueless yet tried to lead his troops himself without caring about advice from his consultants. The result? They got wiped.

In the end, he was forced to retreat. Now that pleading with his brother failed, he set some recruters at the different plazas. While he was clear that his brother wouldn't help, maybe the warriors themselves would want to join him? Poaching warriors wasn't cheating anyways. And he believed his faction to be attractive enough...

The second one to come back was the Princess. Theorurin Hyo-Ju took a different approach to the border war. To her, it was a chance to grow herself with all the abundant resources in the area. She led her faction around the forest and mountains in search of treasures. Hunting beasts and collecting both plants and minerals.

She came back because they had stumbled upon a collony of insect-type magical beasts. While her army was strong, the sheer quantity of insect-type beast colonies was a real danger. She first tried to battle them but soon realize it was a bad idea. She lost 1/5 of her force before she wisely ordered the full-on retreat. In the end, she had been very fortunate that this kind of beasts were very territorial. They had not pursued her army.

She successfully retreated back to the capital city. And she decided to give her troops a well-deserved rest. They had a bountiful harvest and she was very satisfied with it. She planned to cultivate for a time and cross over the spiritual warrior threshold in the meantime.

As for the third Prince, his whereabouts and that of his army remained unknown.

Everything remained the same for our trio though. Except for the first time they encoutnered the 'first' prince recruiter in a plaza. Soo-Hyun had been rather interested and forced Jin to give her a speech: "Do you know why they came back and are recruiting?" "Because they lost?" "Yes. And loss in a war mean death. Look at the guys from the Suns Sect, see their faces? How they despair? They lost badly." "Yeah but it doesn't mean we will lose again? And I can surely survive now that I broke through!" "Can you defeat a few fifth stage refinement? Maybe. Can you defeat two dozens? Three dozens? No. Listen to me. This guy lost once so badly and I could bet that the enemy army wasn't that much stronger. I'm sure it's because he's a bad general. Let's not go die for nothing, okay?" "...Hm, okay"

Fortunately, Soo-Hyun was less rash nowadays. It made it easier on Jin. That being said, Min-Su thought differently. He had discussed it with Jin for a long time but in the end decided to enlist and participate for the next battle. To him, if one army was in such bad shape, the other shouldn't be much better and the benefits could now be harvested. He didn't try to convince him further as he believed Min-Su to be able to make his own decisions. He did make him promise not to try to get Soo-Hyun on board. Which he agreed to.

After a few days, a new army had been formed. There were less warriors than before but there were still many. Around 4/5 of the previous one probably. The 'first' Prince was satisfied and eager to go at it again and prove himself this time. They departed soon.

But it wasn't the end of things. A mere dozen days later, shit came down. The crystal inside the castle palace had been stolen and Prince Theorurin Geon-U assassinated in his sleep alongside his assistants. Jin and Soo-Hyun had belonged to his faction...

And now, it was a critical time. The Princess, last royal left in the castle, sent the order to the troops to go after the thieves. However, she didn't go with them and sent only her retainers... As for her? She was now a spiritual warrior so she simply left with her harvest from the previous crusade.

Everything happened in a mere day and shocked the entire population of warriors of the Empire. They were very clear upon their choices now:

1) Become a spiritual warrior and leaving this area before the thieves brought the crystal to their lair and fused with the second one, blocking the exit.

2) Rushing after the thieves in hope to find them and retrieve the crystal.

To Jin though, the situation was even more horrible. Even if they got the crystal back, who would lead the army? Most spiritual warriors would treasure their lives and leave. So, the strength of the army would dwindle regardless. One Prince was dead, One princess left and One prince was a very useless general. As for the last one? He was nowhere to be found.

Even if they found the crystal and took it back... Jin had a somber expression as he realized the truth: " They would lose the border war, sooner or later "