After that, Kan Jun focused his attention on his Dantian and began drawing energy from it, spreading it in waves from the center of his abdomen to every part of his body.
The Qi that covered his body increased Kan Jun's strength to the level of two trained adult men. Kan Jun clenched his fist, and feeling the power, let out a breath, as his worries about survival had diminished to a minimum. Thanks to the knights in grey armor who were overseeing the situation in the camp, Kan Jun was able to break through to a new level in peace and wasn't disturbed during cultivation.
Kan Jun got to his feet, understanding that he needed to wash his body with clean water and eat.
Nearby stood dozens of barrels filled with water, and next to them were several people distributing it. These people were disabled—some missing one or both arms, others without legs or eyes. The disabled performed support work such as cooking food, distributing water, supplies, etc.
Kan Jun encountered a boy at the water station who had no left arm and couldn't speak."Hello, I would like to wash my body," Kan Jun said.
The boy only smiled and nodded. Thirty seconds later, a bucket of water and a rag made from torn clothing were placed in front of Kan Jun.
While Kan Jun tried to wipe the black, foul-smelling grime off his body, he noticed hundreds of people starting to gather again at the food distribution area. Hastening his pace, Kan Jun, thirty minutes later, was also standing in line—his body clean, though his clothes were still damp.
After forming the core, Kan Jun's body was quite exhausted and needed food to restore his strength, so the food distribution was timely. His stomach growled like a hungry beast, occasionally distracting those in line nearby.
After a while, Kan Jun completely filled his stomach with food, and finally, the pain and nausea disappeared. About an hour later, several knights shouted that night had fallen and it was time to sleep, as there would be a lot of work tomorrow.
Kan Jun was even glad to go to sleep, as they handed out a minimal sleep kit: a sack-like cloth stuffed with some kind of herbs and feathers, a mat on the floor also filled with something to prevent catching cold, and a thin blanket that barely protected against the cold.
And even these sets were only given to people who had no home or rented place to live.
Most of the people were let go and ordered to return when the third torches were lit, but those who didn't return in time would be executed on the spot during the next inspection.From the memory of the boy who previously lived in this body, Kan Jun knew that he didn't even have such conditions for living—he simply slept on cold stone slabs.
Morning came.
Kan Jun woke up from the noise around him. Though it was called morning, it was no different from night. Darkness covered everything, and only by looking up could one see how the two kingdoms glowed and dimly lit the streets and squares of this place of death.
Everything repeated again. First, everyone was fed and given time to study techniques and practice.
But today, after lunch, we were gathered and explained the plan for defending the walls from an attack and were divided into teams to practice switching positions during battle.
"From what I understood from one of the knights, we will need to rotate teams every 30 minutes and rest for three hours." — That's fairly reasonable, Kan Jun muttered to himself, as people without Qi likely couldn't fight in intense combat for more than a few minutes.
Kan Jun calculated that for the 4 km of wall we were to defend, approximately 23,345 people would be needed, assuming that one person takes up two meters, and in a group of 5, three are in the vanguard and two stand behind them. This would create 4,669 teams, with additional people required as substitutes in case someone dies or gets injured.
Also today, new people were brought in from the prisons of the two kingdoms. Mostly knights who had broken kingdom laws.
They were given the chance to clear their names on the battlefield—to prove their loyalty to the people, so to speak. For one day of combat here, one month of their real prison sentence was removed. Slightly more than 200 knights arrived, along with more than a thousand regular people who were introduced to their new reality, and judging by their faces, they didn't seem very happy about it.
One of these knights was assigned to my team, as they were sent only to the weakest to reduce losses.
After six hours of training and having the basics of defense drilled into us, we were sent to rest before dinner.
And then I was able to get to know my team better. Everyone introduced themselves, and the first was, surprisingly, the knight. Though he was young, barely over twenty, and full of enthusiasm—unusual for a typical prisoner.
"Greetings, everyone! My name is Trent Barlow. I am a second-circle aura master," the knight greeted a bit loudly, though it was hardly noticeable in the surrounding noise.The second was a guy about twenty-five, just as skinny as me:– "I'm Mark. Nice to meet you," he said quietly.
The third was a man over thirty with yellow teeth and a sly grin:– "I'm Lars, but I'm better known as the 'Bloody Reaper.' I warn you—if you try to set me up on the wall, I'll kill every one of you!" He bared his teeth, staring into each of our faces, making Mark look down at the stones on the ground.
Then it was my turn, as everyone stared at me waiting to begin, but in truth, I had no idea what my name was—I hadn't even looked through this boy's memories. I sat there for a few seconds until Lars lost patience and shouted:
– "I remember you! You're Arthas Darkbane. The son of that Baron who was executed for treason. I remember—we were paid to protect you after you ended up here. I wouldn't have even recognized you if you hadn't washed your face. Ha-ha-ha, the former noble house that lost all authority after losing the aura-sword technique.
You meet all kinds in this cursed dungeon. I heard we weren't paid the second half for your protection, and now you work for us as a street informant so you won't get killed. From now on, you'll obey me! Understood?"
At first, his gaze was neutral, but it shifted to that of a snake ready to sink its fangs into a neck and inject its venom into the victim.
I stared straight into his eyes without looking away, which clearly angered him, but he chose not to lash out since a knight was sitting next to us, and no one knew what he was imprisoned for—so Lars decided not to take the risk.
The fourth among us was an old man over sixty, gray-haired, and his body looked more like a skeleton than a human.– "My name is Pak Son. I've been here for over thirty years. I think this will be my last month—I doubt I'll survive. Nice to meet you."Pak Son was the calmest among us and behaved like a friendly elder, always smiling as if nothing that happened here concerned him.
After the greetings, the knight began asking what weapon we each used best and which position we preferred.– "Now comes a very important question. Who among you has learned the mental defense technique?"
The knight looked at each of us, but after a few seconds, no one raised their hand—except me.
– "Hmm, that's good," he murmured in a surprised tone and said:– "You'll be protecting our backs with Mark. Since only one in a thousand can learn this technique, I'm surprised I got so lucky. You know, they say only people with strong spiritual energy can master it." From his face, I realized he hadn't even hoped for such a miracle.
– "You probably don't understand why I'm so happy, huh?" There was understanding in his eyes, but I only nodded, waiting for him to continue.
– "It's very simple. During the attack, these monsters—resembling various insects—some of them can take control of a person's mind for 10–15 seconds, forcing them to attack their allies. And with a 90% chance, one of the allies dies. Since it's impossible to tell when it's happening, the losses on the battlefield are significant. That's why I've put you in the rear position—because you'll be able to protect both yourself and us."His words revealed new information I hadn't known or even suspected, but he continued speaking.
– "You may have already felt the effect of this technique and noticed that it doesn't last long. Just know this—because your mental and spiritual strength is higher than average, you'll first feel like something is scratching inside your head. And as soon as you feel that, you need to recite the mantra and activate the technique that will protect you.
As for me and the rest of you—except Arthas—according to those who've been affected by mental attacks, you'll first feel a headache and an intense aggression toward others and instantly want to kill someone. So I ask you, please try to restrain yourselves a bit—this will give us a chance to hold you back until the mental attack passes, or Arthas or Mark kills one of you so we don't suffer losses on the battlefield."
Everyone sitting with us, except the knight and the old man, had their eyes bulge out. One of them knew all this and had faced these monsters in battle more than once, and the other was a knight ready for anything.