The strikeforce should finally be complete in a couple of days. Well, I don't know why it took them so long to come here. The upper brass of each faction is already here. I would have thought that they would have teams ready for something like this.

  Even if they were caught off guard, it shouldn't have taken them so long. It has already been a month since the necromancers (and the vampires) ran away, and the strikeforce is still not ready.

  I don't know the exact reason they are taking so long. I have a few guesses, though, of what might be the cause.

  One reason could be that the factions have begun to show off. Trying to one-up one another while coming into the place. That would mean hunting pirates while coming here. Knowing how many pirates would be coming here, it is naturally going to take a while to get rid of them.

  Another reason could be that the powers of the Soldar plains have finally begun to react. The Soldar plains have seen what the presence of the legion would mean in their lands. They are not in the least welcome here.

  The scholars are also not particularly welcome here as well. Leaving the Mayfires, they want information on every other force present here. The curiosity of the scholars can be just as terrifying to our enemies as the legion is.

  The people who are coming here are not helping in that regard as well. Each team that they are sending for the strikeforce is an elite one. You can be sure of that at least. They would send the same teams if they wanted to take over the place.

  Well, I don't need to worry about all of that. For better or worse, this is the task of my superiors. Let them break their heads about how they are going to achieve it.

  Right now, my task has been set, and it is no less vital. Technically, I am supposed to be their leader, but I am not strong enough for that. So I will focus on keeping the factions away from each other's throats.

  Well, I have something of a plan ready to have these folks working together. Well, the plan is pretty simple at its core. Each member of my troop is going to be split among the factions.

  For example, I am going to deal with whatever sentinels they send here. I have something of a reputation among the sentinels. My troop is pretty popular among the sentinels after all. The problem is also the fact that my leaving the sentinels was equally famous.

  That means that I can't say if they will be positively disposed or negatively disposed toward me yet. Well, regardless of how they behave towards me, I will be able to deal with them. For better or worse, I understand how the sentinels think.

  On the field they don't mind working even with the guard corps. (Who they fight with as if their life depends on it.) The only problem would be that you need to convince them that working together is going to be useful. I have plans regarding that as well.

  For the scholars, Trevor is going to be dealing with them. He is quite confident that he will be able to deal with them. Well, the man would not have been my first choice if I were honest. After all, he is the weakest member of my troop. Sending him might send the wrong message.

  The scholars are also pretty negatively disposed towards me. Well, it would be more accurate to say that they hate my master. Still, I will be able to get them on my side if I were to put in some effort.

  Well, in that sense, sending Trevor is a bit of a gamble. The man clearly has some history with the scholars, as I have told you before. I am presently counting on that history to satisfy the scholars.

  That leaves Andrew for the soldiers from the Aegis. Now, the guard corps should technically be our best allies here. After all, we are in the same organization. I don't expect that will be the case due to my history, though. Right now, they are going to be the worst pain in the ass for me.

  The way that I am dealing with them is also less than ideal. Sending one of the sworn to deal with a guard is not a good choice. My issue is that I don't have any other option here.

  If I could, I would have dealt with them personally. Well, I am going to piss them off even more than Andrew will piss them off. After all, the aegis are meant to replace the sentinels. That breeds a lot of animosity between us.

  Well, I am sure that Andrew will be able to handle it. The man is cool and collected. He knows how to handle being insulted. More importantly, he can act rationally even during moments of panic.

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  Well, I will think about the guards as the situation develops. After all, they should be even more familiar than me at dealing with hostile forces. They just need to be convinced that fighting the legion would not be worth it.

  Well, that is going to be the main challenge. Honestly speaking, I am not even sure if I will be able to achieve it. I will try my best, though.

  Finally, Jacob is going to be dealing with the Mayfires. At least this is one choice that I don't need to regret. The man has managed to make quite a few friends among the Mayfires. I am not sure if even one of those will be coming with us, though. Still, the man knows how to deal with the Mayfires.

  He is a bit untrustworthy. The man has no real control over his mouth. Sending him to the guards will end up in a fight breaking out. It is not much of a plan. I am sure that it is going to change the minute that we begin our journey. Well, the only thing that I can do is to adapt to the situation.

  Dealing with the strikeforce was never supposed to be easy anyway. If it were, my master would have never given me this task. Well, I have not been wasting the last month doing nothing. I have been keeping myself very busy.

  For the first two weeks, I have been working with my master on fixing the ship. I only managed to work as his assistant. Even simple work, such as holding runes for him, takes on new difficulty with the man. (Holding a rune means to create the rune in the air, with no core to hold it for you. Master formation mages tend to use these held runes as a reference while working.)

  The runes he creates tend to be so large that I can't lose focus for even a minute. It will take a couple of hours to recreate it. The work is exhausting enough that I collapse like a zombie at the end of each day.

  Well, that is the nature of working with my master. On top of that, the man was in a hurry as well. I was supposed to chase after the necromancers immediately after the ship was fixed. The only reason that I have stayed here is that the enemy has stopped moving.

  My master has been tracking the necromancers. They have been spending the last couple of weeks in the Bone Valley without escaping into the bone pits.

  Well, if I were in their place, I would have run away as quickly as possible. After all, the combined might of the black mountain would be chasing after them. They know that. They should also know that the bone pits are the only thing that can save them.

  My master believes that they are preparing a trap for us in the Bone Valley. If it is enough for the necromancers to gamble on us attacking them, it is something that we had better be careful of. After all, the Bone Valley is a perfect area for the necromancers to fight us. As you can guess, the Bone Valley is full of death mana and undead. (I also don't know anything else about this place, though.)

  Well, dealing with the necromancer is the duty of the strikeforce. My master has been very insistent in making sure that I don't forget that. My job is just to keep the strikeforce together.

  Still, I have been spending the last couple of weeks preparing for a fight. I have now fixed all three cannons, with a little bit of help from my master. (This means all three cannons have been fixed as if they were new.)

  I have also managed to complete a class eight inscription in the coordination matrix. Now I will be able to shoot the cannons reliably. At least without having to worry about whether my shots will miss or not.

  I have also begun to study that camouflage formation as well. It is taking way more time than I expected it to take. I have never really worked much with light spells after all. Still, if I had it at hand, I would not have needed to worry about the ship being found.

  Whatever undead they have left behind would not be able to see us coming. Well, I will not be able to use it now. It would be wiser not to obsess too much with it right now.

  The point is that I have finally got the ship into a fighting shape. Until now, my ship has been only capable of defending itself. Now it would be able to fight anything in the Dead Valley.

  I have also been cultivating in the last week. I think that I am finally getting a grasp on creating the major bond. Once it is created, I won't need to worry about the bond being snapped. I will have to start working on the third slab immediately after this. Strength is one of the most basic things that you need with diplomacy. This is especially the case when dealing with a hostile force.

  The ironic thing is that all of the people from the hexmountain are the ones who are hostile towards us. The Mayfires can be considered to be our only allies in all of this mess. Even then, their goal is more related to ensuring that the mission is pulled off successfully. After all, it was their own home that was infiltrated. They won't rest until the necromancers are gotten rid of.

  Well, I have been rambling for a bit now. I have started this record to inform that the sentinels and the scholars will be coming tomorrow. The group from the Aegis will be taking a couple of more days to reach here.

  The reason that it is taking them so long is that the guard corps needs to deal with our allies. I am sure that the entire guard corps is busy handling the Soldar plains and its many powers. After all, it is very rare that the black mountain interferes so much with this place.

  I am going to have to manage the sentinels before the Aegis makes it here. The group from the Aegis is also going to be a pain to deal with. They are going to be completely hostile to us. It is going to be impossible to work together with them with the sentinels here. It doesn't take much work to get the two factions fighting.

  People don't understand just how easy it actually is. Honestly speaking, right now the main issue is not the necromancers or the vampires. The two groups coming would manage them as if they were nothing. The main issue with the strikeforce is the sentinels and the Aegis.

  If I manage to get them working with each other, then I have succeeded in this mission. If not, well, they would be busier fighting each other than their enemy.