“Are we really not going to go out? There has to be a lot of treasures and good stuff here.” Qin Shu said persistently for the eight time.

I wiped the sweat of my brow, felt my hair scraping across my forehead like sandpaper as I did so.

“Why should we become sheep that go looking for wolves?” I rebuke the naive fool.

Which one of us is supposed to be the child? I think I am merely thirteen summers while he's somewhere in his twenties. This should be a clear factor that he should utilize his brain more than his desires.

He lifted the a shaped log and brought it over.

“I don’t understand. The demons are in retreat. More than one company out seeking treasures and coming back with them. Why aren’t we, who are much stronger, hunting for these treasures?”

Cheng Da grabbed the log and held it up to the frame while Hou Yu hammered the long nail into it and the wooden pillar in the background.

“If you think that is a treasure worth losing your brother's life for, then I can help you change companies. I am sure the Eagle General will be happy to place you in his company and provide us with one of his soldiers.” I scolded while hammering the other side into the pillar.

Qin Shun gritted his teeth.

“I am just seeking verification on why we are allowing all other forces to head out? Even the Eagle General went out a few times while we have been building this thing.” he waved his hand at the skeleton frame of my large boat.

I knocked the nail all the way in then took a step back to observe the frame of a boat that’s more than fifty meters long, ten meters wide. I glanced at the females that held a brush dipped in a special coating that would make the ironbark characteristic more prevalent.

Hou Yu patted Qin Shun’s shoulder.

“I’m asking you a few questions that will utilize the tiny brain muscles you don’t put to good use. First question, did you see any company from the Great Tian Dynasty or their peers set out?” Hou Yu raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

“No but..” Qin Shun started to point out other things but You Yu shook his head.

“Second question. How many people in those companies set out but how many return?”

Qin Shun didn’t answer. Not because he didn’t know the answer but because those companies losses were too great.

“Third question. What would you do as a Captain if you were forced into a retreat with potential enemies on your tail?”

Qin Shun eyes lit up and then dimmed rapidly.

“Exactly.” Hou Yu shook his head before walking away.

I clapped my hands and grabbed my water bag.

“Okay, enough chit chat. We need to finish this ship within a month then we, too, can seek out treasures and other such nonsense.”

Nobody spoke up after seeing how stupid Qin Shun sounded. As they say, if you don’t speak, nobody will know you aren’t intelligent.

***

“I need you to layer the wall onto the ship. Leave enough room for the next wall, they should connect to each outer frame pillar.” I barked out commands.

My men were working hard on covering the frame with blue metallic plates that I was supposed to be churning out but I took a break to give out commands. To be fair, it’s hotter than July in a desert without an ounce of wind blowing. Add to the fact that I am refining ore into bars and bars into metal sheets.

I felt like Atlas but instead of holding up the world. I was holding up the sun’s unbearable rage.

I took another long drink and then dunk my head in the trough where I sat the metal sheets to cool down. If I didn’t I swear I would die of heat stroke soon. I shook my golden braids and took a sneak peak at the woman who was watching us from the high wall.

Getting back to work, we began churning out a seafaring boat. Unrealistically, it took us two months to get only the shell of the ship made. This isn’t with the floors, rooms, walls up. It was just the contour of the ship, the frame, the outer walls. The inside is still bare. You could make out the frame of the ship if you stood on one of the outer rims.

To make the situation more annoying, I had to trade contribution points for resources that we didn’t have. In other words, for me to build the array system that I had envisioned based on the knowledge I gain on formation runes and utilizing my great modern day thinking.

I needed specific items that had to be ordered and then shipped across the homeland to the transmission gate here. All this required an excessive number of contribution points, almost to the point I wanted to stomp my feet and roll on the ground like the child I am..

As I thought about it, we could set sail on the sea and hunt down the resources personally. It would take us a bit of time before we could truly delve into the depths and hunt down for strategic resources but..

I stopped pondering and turned around to take a gander at the crowd coming towards me. I admit I am a bit puzzled by why they are coming until I made out with the First Company, Captain Chen Zhong.

I turned to one of the runners.

“Go place an order for more ironbark wood. If they don’t have that then get the next best thing. Also picked up some canvas fabric for ships. Just buy it by yards and we can sew it here.”

I waved my hand and the three amigos ran out to handle me commands. I almost felt like a King, almost.

Captain Chen gazed at the impressive ship.

“These are the new recruits. General Deng picked out the best for you to fill in your gaps. Also wanted me to pass down the information that the Tian Dynasty has begun preparations to move out.” he spoke in a respectful tone but I could see the disdain he had for the new recruits clearly.

My men held the same looks in their eyes. The new recruits look fresh and haughty. Definitely two specific people who might be named Zhou. They probably had special treatment growing up and looking at their aura, they were definitely treated well.

I turned to the squad leaders.

“Hou Yu, go pick first. Cui Rong, you take all the females. If you have a full squad. Just promote someone with excellent ability to lead the leftovers.”

Hou Yu only lost one fellow who was too old to use his brain. However, Hou Yu turned to Cheng Da.

“I’ll trade you a new recruit for your trouble maker.”

Cheng Da touched his chin as he studied the group of recruits who seemed somewhat impatient and excited. He shocked his head.

“No, I’m going to pass.”

Hou Yu seemed dejected. He sighed and walked among the recruits, pushing some of them aside until he landed on one of the older recruits. He pulled the old bastard out and sent him with one of the veterans.

“I didn’t have any casualties so I don’t need to replace my troops.” Cheng Da spoke up hurriedly.

I coughed and turned to Qin Shun who had the most deaths due to his poor leadership style. Well, it wasn’t that it was poor. It's just that his eyesight beforehand was terrible. He picked all young and restless men. They were all hotblooded and eager to gain merits. They quickly ended up achieving merits in death.

After Qin Shun picked out the more talented looking males recruits. I turned to Cui Rong who came over with a scarred beauty.

“This is Zhao Zexi.” Cui Rong introduced her to me like I cared.

I pointed at the left over which was enough to make two more teams.

“Go pick your team and then talk with Cui Rong about learning the formation’s eye.”

Zhao Zexi had tears in her eyes like this was her greatest chance in the world. She saluted me and rushed to pick her people. Not picking entirely girls like I had hoped but she picked majority girls.

I turned to the last ones and looked around before shrugging as all the squad leaders and their team members ran away. Only Zexi was stupid enough to want to be a squad leader of pure rookie team.

“Okay, since you rookies are left. That means you have the honor of being led by the captain directly. As for the Squad Leader…”

I searched over them finding two females in the first stage of the Nascent Soul realm. I took a closer look at the one dress in fine white garb and realized she had the looks of a swordswoman. Very elegant and it gave her a kind of appealing look that I could totally eat. Sadly, I think all women who prefer to pick up a sword have this one defect. That’s the fact they are small breasts but her hips are wide just not wide enough to interfere with her ability to run.

She was a looker and had enough ass that I could ignore her lacking breast department. I turned to the other one and my eyes lit up upon seeing her in the dragon uniform with the cross daggers.

Big breast but no ass. Haha, Zhou Wuhan is still the same. I glanced through the males until my eyes laid upon Fan Wen who once challenged me to fist fight. He was currently hiding behind someone while looking at me with a hostile gaze of jealousy.

I think he had some hots for little General Wu.

I turned to the other female then Wuhan before smiling.

“You two fight and the winner will become squad leader.”

The two girls stepped out of the crowd who backed up and formed a horseshoe. The swordswoman pulled out a gleaming white blade and struck. Her form came off as aggressive but I didn’t see a lot of flaws in it. Her teacher must have been a brilliant swordsman, not that I had much experience with weapons.

Fire God Palace taught me purely hand techniques. Weapons didn’t enhance the power of dragon moves to them.

Zhou Wuhan pulled out her own blade. Blocking the first strike but I could see her arm waver from the impact.

The swordswoman instantly put Wuhan on the defensive. Each stroke was aimed at the vitals and faster than the eye could see. A gleam of the blade and I almost jumped forward to stop the match but Wuhan just barely got her sword up.

It’s clear to me who the squad leader is but I let them continue fighting it out. I wondered what kind of motivation it would give them.

Swordswoman paused in her attack and her stance changed. I shook my head as Wuhan took the pause as an opportunity to balance herself. She should have forced herself to attack. Not allow the better train sword user to adjust offense.

The blade came slower but the power behind it left ripples through the air. It's clear to me she was using some kind of technique. The best techniques or skills were the ones that didn’t give your opponent an opportunity to catch their breaths.

I saw way too many people spam skills that they had to build up power or momentum for. When all the opposition had to do is strike within that build up phase. Disrupting that kind of process would wound and throw the opposition off balance.

It’s one of the reasons why demons were so formidable and the losses we endured reached thousands even though we won that small battle.

Wuhan slipped on a rock and found a blade placed at her neck the moment she spread her arms out to catch herself.

I sigh but not in disappointment. I had an excellent squad leader and I am sure once I explained something to her. She will immediately understand it. Just one problem, swordsmen will power and mindset are extremely unyielding. How will I talk her into bed?

Tsk, this needs to be put up for enlightenment.

“Your Squad Leader of the Sixth group. Congrats.” I clapped my hands and then pointed at Hou Yu who was watching in the distances as his men took turns bullying the new recruit.

“Go talk with Squad Leader Hou Yu to get your quarters squared away and your uniform. When on duty, you must always wear the uniform issue and have your badge visible. Failure to comply and you will face the most severe punishment the army has. These orders pass down from the Martial Monarch of the Great Tian Dynasty.”

I waved my hands dismissively and looked at the shell again. Fuck, it will take me a long time to build this ship to submerge underwater. I guess I can start working on the cannons barrels now.

**

I wiped the sweat of my brow with my forearm and began hammering the wooden planks down. The last floor needed to finish the whole floor to ceiling. With this done, all we had to do was install furniture, sails, and dance under the moon to come up with a name for the ship.

I pulled a nail out from between my lips and nailed the board down. I scooted to the side and began on the next board. I pulled the last nail from my mouth and hammered the bish down. I felt like I could lose a few pounds just from the sun glare.

Imagine what could happen if the sun actually gets upset. The terror!

Leaning back on my heels, I reached around for my water bag and found that little bish, Wuhan taking a sip out of it. Does she think she's the hottest thing around?

Shaking my head, I shot up and took Gao Jian’s water container from her hands. She had just put it to her lips when I chugged it back and passed it back to her.

“Thanks.” I put on my trademark smile but her sword’s will was too strong.

Gao Jian acted like nothing happened and drank down the rest of her water. She didn’t even look up at me, just knelt back down and began hammering the nails into the boards.

Talk about trying to succeed at entering space in a bucket. For fucksakes, at least give me a glimmer of hope, ya? I don’t mind if you crush it later. Just tease me!

“Captain, you have a guest!” Qin Shun shouted from the ground.

I walked over to the edge of the ship and looked out. There was indeed a guest. If I remember correctly, this young lady watched us for a while when we were building the ship. The guards beside her were fairly strong. Peak of Nascent Soul realm and while she wasn’t as impressive, she was in the mid stage of nascent soul realm.

However, what annoyed me was that she was absolutely the perfect specimen for what you didn’t want a woman to be like. Small breast, small ass, and pretty face. You can even say that she had the temperament of a Queen with the body of an organ donor.

Tsk, I wondered what the Tian Dynasty wants with me?

I jumped over the edge and floated down. My trademark red lotus flowers’s petals drifted around me as I glided down.

“How can I help you?” I glanced at the woman but was mostly looking at the Guards’ Captain.

I expected him to talk because lackeys usually have something to say first, right? However, she usurped my expectations.

“I am Princess Zhou Nuan. I want to accompany you out to the sea. Me and my men won’t fight with you over treasures or lands you discover. We just want to experience the sea.” She didn’t sound haughty or too demanding.

Well, to get a free ride out of me? A vacation at that? Bish lost her damn mind.

The Princess tossed a storage bag over and I opened to a delightful smile. These were some of the things I needed for the power system I had in mind. There is still enough room for me to install the first half and while it wouldn’t do a lot of good for the offensive of the ship. It could handle the load for defense for a few minutes at a time.

“You can leave someone around or I’ll send someone to notify you when we are ready to take off. It still will be a few weeks as I need to lay down the formations…” I trailed off as I began thinking of the daunting work ahead of me.

I half expected a reply but the Princess turned around and her group left. Similar to how the Crown Prince acted. Maybe this group had the same teachers? How vexing.

Hehe, but I got the supplies though. I greedily rub my hands and ran towards the ship. Diving into the work that would take me many weeks. Working like a bus driver sure is tiring work.