As they came into the hall they saw so many nobles mingling and making connection James couldn't help but think about the multiple purposes of this banquet as this could help build trust and friendship between the forces and also allow the nobles to make connection they wouldn't have made any other way James couldn't help admire the ingenuity of the person that thought this up James and his father then moved to a group of three men who were surrounded by an aura of valor dressed in red and black armor which was used to denote captains in the sky empire

Hello captain Locke, Thomas and Larry, this is my son James, James this is Locke, Thomas, and Larry, they are captains in my battalion they are among the chief captains and are all half-step transcendent mortality experts who have rendered

tremendous merits if they breakthrough to transcending mortality they would immediately be made commanders in the army.

`

"Eric you praise us too much"

"Hello James how are you, you look as elegant as your father captain Locke said while smirking but morose

"Where is Richard hasn't he come, "sir

asked while looking around

"No Richard perished he was too close to where the transcending mortality fight was going on and was affected by an aftershock although he and his men defended against it their formation was disrupted which caused an opening with which they were attacked and massacred although will all knew that something like this could happen when it does happen I can't help but be shocked" profound sadness could be seen in captain locked and the others

After a few minutes of silence they branched into other conversation while waiting for commander garret who was the bald muscular man who was the chief commander under viscount Carey although he was also a viscount him and viscount Carey couldn't be mentioned under the same breath first of all viscount Carey was from the main branch of the family and also an earth realm cultivator who was said to be the greatest talent the clan has seen in a thousand years a few minutes later commander garret came whereby the banquet started in earnest and everyone got to sit in their placing first commander garret sat at the head of the table and then the other commanders and transcending mortality experts and at a lower table were the barons, knights and rogue xiantian cultivator.

"Welcome gentlemen this is to celebrate our successful repulsion of the snow empire forces although we have not yet won the war I believe that with determination and preservation victory cheers men to the empire and the emperor may he live forever cheer," he said this he raised his glass and toasted

"For the empire and the emperor" the other commander and soldiers raised their glass and toasted back then the banquet kicked into full effect as they started making conversations this banquet was held for the express purpose of relaxing the troops and growing trust so no heavy stuff was discussed but this banquet was quite eye-opening to James

Nonetheless gained much from his discussions as they were true movers and shakers of the region and the empire he gained more information about the empire and its environ along with other miscellaneous information from them than in all the books in the library the saying was true the man who travels is better than the person who read ten thousand books at home this was so interesting to him that he didn't know how time passed and soon it was time for the banquet to break up although the party had ended James was pretty happy with what he had gained and it would help him in determining what directions to take in the coming day ,

The following few weeks were quite monotonous for James as they involved him training his sword arts and when the occasional skirmish came he would join his father to go to battle the only break from this was when three earth realm cultivators appeared on the battlefield this was a revelation to James about what the human body can do he had killed a few hundred soldiers before an earth realm expert from the sky empire could stop him, with this sight of how callous James was more confident on his path to get more power for without it you meant nothing

But this also helped him he had completely refined his marrow and twenty five percent of his bone and also he had refined his five sword arts he had also mastered the five foundational sword arts to the transcendent level he could help but be surprised as it only needed to be trained to the expertise level as training to the transcendent level in any art was very hard as that meant you have mastered the essence of that art but he thought that it made sense with the constant battle his sword battles arts were frequently being used and also his great comprehension because of natural intelligence and his powerful soul which made comprehending the five foundational sword arts very easy and he used the platform given by this robust foundation he got to the expertise level in" the bountiful waterfall" and this was a peak stage sword art which was very hard to master the five foundational sword arts weren't ranked sword arts they were just meant for training but sword arts were ranked into unranked, mortal, earth and heaven level there was also fabled to be an immortal level, for the knight to have a peak stage mortal fighting technique was astonishing to James

But it was also the truth the only reason the sir Eric had that technique was because of a fortunate encounter he had many years ago it was this encounter that helped him reach the half-step transcending mortality stage was because this provided him with the cultivation technique which helped him to break through this level at his age because even with his talent without good cultivation techniques he would have broken through to his current level as an old man but with that fortunate encounter his life changed forever.

"With my pure energy and my level of comprehension of my techniques I am equal to peak houtian stage experts so at least I have reached the minimum level to participate in this battlefield I have completely done anything that can be done in a short period of time".

"I have gathered enough information about the war and I think I should tell father about my drug if it is used correctly during the war we might heavily damage their forces if not outright win because although we have less high tier fighters than them we outclass them In term of quality viscount Carey aloe could hold four earth realm experts by himself so although they were still disadvantaged against the snow empire but not overwhelmingly so if the Houtian and xiantian stage experts were defeated the war has been won in the sky empire's favor unless a new variable came into place.

that was what had James worried because of how long he had been in this world he knew that an earth realm fighter was more frightening than a missile on earth

Because they have their destructive power and also can also move around which makes it frightening now to make two empires that has multiple earth realm fighter and even the more formidable heaven realm experts to be defeated almost instantaneously that the other empires had no time to react and also hasn't been able to figure out how it happened was something that scared James but he can only move on with his plan even if it would not put an end to the war it would force the enemy to reveal their trump cards which would be a pretty good outcome for him.

it would provide him with the status he needs's in order to procure the resources he needed both for his runes studies and for his cultivation he had a feeling that when he broke through to the refining organ stage of his cultivation that he wouldn't need mortal herbs but high tier spiritual herbs and other spirit material of it as because of fourth dimensional energy the plants here could live longer and also strengthen the properties of the herb.

Very soon James was at his father's office he saw his father poring over some paperwork you could see from him and from everyone in the castle that the lack of progress and being confined to this fort combined with the constant attacks on the fort everyone nerves were wearing the thing

"Father you shouldn't overwork yourself as this could affect your cultivation you should know that," James said ever since he came to this battlefield he had barely had any free time with his father as this drawn-out war was affecting the logistics of the army very heavily

"Yes James son I know about that but the length of this war is crippling this regions and even the whole empires economy and added with the bandit infestation getting the necessary resource here is a hurdle, I think that if nothing changes soon something would break in our defense strategy" Sir Eric said deep worry could be seen deep in his eyes.

"Father Can you tell the guards to get out I have something to talk to you about its important"

"Son what is the matter is there did something happen"

"Father I have an I idea I would like to see if you would contact viscount Carey I have something which could produce an excellent result in the war, if used correctly the war would be won in our favor"

"What is this idea and how could it change the war this tremendously in our favor"

"It not an idea in the full sense of the word you know how I have been going to the library lately I also developed an interest in botany I thereby developed a drug which can kill most houtian experts and scatter the spiritual energy of xiantian experts although it can't do anything to transcending mortality experts I believe that if it is used correctly we will be at an advantage.