Everyone took a detour. Julius continued to head on. He glided down into the scenery, dodging rounds of explosives. Bits of dirt flew to his face while speeding through. Heat swarmed his entire back as he was about to do a landing like a plane. His arms moved in the opposite direction, pulling him into position. The feet hit the ground first, tearing up the floor. Dirt and water splashed into his face. Not this crap again. It reminded him of when he almost always had a bloody face. Madly, Julius rubbed his face of all dirt away and threw it at a hidden enemy farmer in the grass. What separated them from the allied farmers were the nicer and designed clothes. Ironically, that was the only thing, or if they looked too nice to be on the field. I guess it’s time for me to use this then. He waved the right flap of his overcoat, pulling out his new qi pistol from his inner holster.

  With the help of the agency and Qiang Zhao’s approval, he crafted a few new handguns specialized solely in qi. Right now, he brought only one, and he was about to test it here. One pull of the trigger fired a cannon blast from the barrel’s small muzzle. Because it was qi, the recoil was much stronger, and if it wasn’t for his forearms, he would’ve flown. The blast grew wider and longer as it distanced further from the muzzle. It struck at a group of farmers, effortlessly decapitating their heads. A manifestation of a meat grinder as it was clean cut, and it didn’t surrender when it crashed into the ground, further tearing it apart. Smokes and debris filled the scene. Multiple farmer silhouettes charged from within the debris clusters, prompting him to fire like an automatic.

  Goodness! There’s so many of them, like fucking insects. Julius ranted. He returned his pistol to his holster and summoned his longsword that he received at the end of Level Three. Lich Emperor, he called. Time for an authentic experience. He summoned a surge of qi after firmly gripping on the longsword’s hilt. The longsword’s qi emerged from the blade's edges, swarmed his whole body, and unleashed an entire colossus-sized pillar of black energy. Julius didn’t forget the pain from his feet, specifically the ankles, as those were extremely heavy and pressured like a clamp. As he felt gravity coming from below, he pushed out his own sky-blue qi that hopefully counteracted the pressurized weight. A solidified qi hugged him like a tightened wrapping. It went around his whole body except for his head and neck. Therefore, the qi transformed into a black metallic armor from the bottom to up, starting at his feet. Julius prayed to not have his feet fucked up.

  Clank! Clamp! Clank! Clank!

  The pillar dispersed, exerting shockwaves in the vicinity. But it felt different. This time it stayed. The vibration didn’t faze in one bit, and Julius’ helmet was formed, using the last bits of black qi left from the dispersed pillar. It hovered briefly before descending to his head. The helmet echoed his hollow breath. His lungs instinctively worked as the helmet overwhelmed his head.

  Click.

  A steady, rasping noise departs the helmet’s breaths. There was a natural circulation system in place to keep his face from sweating. He was relieved that it had that function. So, another breather, resonating the rasping voice. I don't know about others, but this sounds freaking cool. Julius didn't know why the sound gave him a euphoric feeling, but he went along with it. His focus moved toward his feet, and he realized there wasn't as much pain.

  Julius looked up again, finding he was about to be surrounded by the farmers again. A mad stampede of them.

  Black qi encircled him as he bent his knees. With both hands gripped on the longsword’s hilt, Julius went for a huge jump into the sky. The launch generated a crater, exposing a wide area of bedrock. A whoosh sound passed around his head. In a blink, he was hovering above all the debris and smoke. The sight of the silhouettes remained vivid, and in calibration, Julius went for a dive. He released a qi boost from his armored back, amping his speed by tenfold. Almost like a jet pack as the heat unleashed into the air.

  Slice! Rumble! Kaboom!

  After the blade pierced into the ground, the spot raised up high like a hill and imploded, tearing the layers of dirt. It erupted madly, becoming like a hot boiled soup in red food color. He flew off as it thrust off from the flat plains. Screams cried as the farmers flew into the air before fatally crashing around the site. Julius redirected back to the battlefield, flying past the spot. He joined with Solomon, who clashed with the enemy’s disorganized front lines. Míngyuè came along, visibly expressing a notable moment of bliss. Her white clothing was stained with torn fabrics, exposing a lot of her skin from the arms and legs. She received near-deep cuts earlier and was healing as the three fought against the stampede.

  Julius, with both hands on his hilt, thought of a Hanzi. Anything that could use fewer strokes. While thinking of one, he went on a spree, using his flight coordination and leg movement. All Roundhouse kicks, Crescent Kicks, and thrust kicks were intended to target their heads. It was satisfying because of the additional support and weight from his armor, and each kick inflicted an explosive sound upon impact. By the time he figured out a Hanzi, fifty succumbed to his feet and legs.

  --

  +50 pts

  --

  He changed his mind, going for more of a harder Hanzi. Hence, he cast it from the tip of his longsword, articulating it with the hilt like a brush. A short left-falling diagonal stoke (丿) that started the radical, a horizontal stoke formed at the top of the radical (一), and a vertical stroke intersected the horizontal stroke (丨). Afterward, another left-falling diagonal stroke, forming the left branch of the radical. Finally, a right-falling diagonal stroke with a hook (?), forming the right branch and completing the radical, 禾. That was five strokes. Lastly, there were ten strokes left to complete. He went with the stroke order, did the claw radical (爫), and finished it with the mortar, 舀. Together, it became 稻.

  “Wirken!” Julius yelled in command. He triggered the cast, summoning clusters of clouds out of nowhere. The clouds darkened, covering the bright spring sunlight. Thunderstorms erupted, followed by strands of lightning bolts striking around the vicinity. An earthquake rumbled the ground floor that reached as far as three miles, where the tides formed from an enormous lake. The tides grew wide and began flooding the areas past the lake’s coastline. The rain poured. Julius looked up and saw something solid come down from the clouds. He heard rustling sounds directly from his longsword’s blade. When he turned to the source of the sound, his left hand intercepted and caught a bit of it. A careful glance revealed rice grains. What does rice have to do with this? He wondered. Hence, he relaxed his hand, dropping all the rice grains. His answer came.

  Sizz.

  “Woah.”

  He watched around him and found thin smoke released from the rice grains once they touched the floor. A few enemy farmers, who were about to charge towards Julius, collapsed to the floor, crying in pain as the rice grains hit their exposed skin and developed into burns. Míngyuè realized that too on her side, prompting her to stop. “Is that rice?!”

  “Yes, it turns out I summoned hell’s rice,” Julius said, looking up again. “They grow rice…don’t they? Why not use what they had known for and turn it against them?” His left hand opened again, catching the raining rice grains.

  Solomon, who was focused on his own stampede, launched himself back and landed next to Julius’ right. He raised his battleaxe into the air, taking the lightning bolts for his own gain. “Did you summon rice?”

  “It’s not normal rice, look. The farmers are getting their asses burned.”

  “Rip their robes…and strike them with rice…” Solomon muttered.

  Julius nodded. “That’s the plan. Are you going to follow?”

  “Why not? You gave me more lightning charges, so thanks,” Solomon said, instantly flashing away. Julius’ eye focused on him, jerking his head like a tracking camera. The former crashed into the farmers like a bulldozer.

  Míngyuè grabbed a bulk of rice with both of her fists and fired beams from both. The rice made it hot and smokey and Julius could smell the smoke as if he was in a kitchen where some food was way overcooked. To join the fun, he performed a slashing move, letting some of the rice grains land on the flat surface of his longsword’s blade. He released a qi wave, amplifying the temperature. It swarmed everything ahead of him and brought out a huge wrath, burning more farmers into dust.

  --

  +120 pts.

  --

  Good Lord. Julius reacted to the kill count points. At this spot alone, he killed a hundred and seventy enemies, which was wild considering not counting the damage everybody inflicted inside the capital’s walls.

  Either way, he went on a charge like Solomon, striking down all opponents within his reach. The Lich Emperor's armor was bulky, and the ground had to surrender from his rapid and heavy steps, rumbling the ground in sync. His presence finally caused a reaction among the farmers’ stampedes. The gigantic height of a being donned in black armor terrorized the unfortunate and broke the fa?ade of these farmers. All expressed horror on their faces, and Julius couldn’t hold the developing amusement within. Hence, he let it all out and sent them goodbyes.

  Suddenly, he felt cold despite having armor on. A breeze erupted from behind. Hóng, demonstrating her newly discovered skills, flew overhead. In her army general-like clothing, her overcoat was frosting as she got colder. Out of all the cold cultivators, Hóng was in the lead. She landed hard, craving off the grass as her feet touched the floor flat. Julius continued and joined her. Hence, the four went all together through this part of the wrecked fields. As mentioned earlier, Julius’ gigantic presence served him well. There were moments when he only needed to trample a group without having to wield his blade across as his foot in one stomp expired them. And that was more mercy. The Rain of rice continued to pour everything it could get. Multiple plumes of smoke surrounded the fields as the rice grains were the catalyst, and prior explosions now grew stronger because of it.

  By the time the four pushed through for a while, they arrived at the lake’s shorelines. Julius went for a leaping kick, striking his opponents’ torsos. The other three used similar tactics. Afterward, they viewed the lake, and it was occupied by floating dead bodies and debris. Julius and Solomon fired a beam, exploding the lake. For a moment, the lakebed was exposed, revealing the dark brown floor. The two beams caused the lake to recede in water levels. Hóng, with her frosty sword, inflicted a slash, and her blade released a sprinkle-shaped beam right into the lakebed before the water returned to cover it up.

  Julius, in his armor, turned to her. “How’s your body doing?”

  Hóng exhaled, releasing a flow of mist from her lungs. “I’m okay, thanks. Sucks, I have to wear this outfit, though.”

  “You’ll be our reviewer because we are definitely going to need your input. There’s going to be a lot of wintry days ahead after stepping foot in Kriegshan.”

  “I like it, though. At least it keeps me from my body going out of control,” Hóng said, making her opinion clear and her earlier comment was only a nitpick. “But don’t take my earlier words seriously.”

  Julius nodded. “I understand. I saw stories of you guys from the village not even wearing that many layers during the coldest days.”

  Hóng drew her katana into her sheath. She looked at his Lich Emperor Armor; the first time she had ever witnessed it in person. “Speaking of fittings, what are you wearing?”

  Julius let his longsword rest on his back. “It’s my new armor. I’m training myself to adapt to this armor because once I reach that point of experience, it will bring a new upgrade to my characteristics.”

  --

  +315 pts.

  --

  The battle at their scene has finished. Hence, the four took a quick break and headed to camp. Hóng and Julius were left alone with Dr. Annia and Gretel, who had never seen his armored form before, either. They were in the general tent that was made for gatherings and any other reason for the camp to hang out. Because Julius was so big, at around ten feet in the armor, he sat down on the floor instead of the chair. The conversation continued for a while as they waited for the rest of the offensive to be completed. Julius kept his armor on for his body to get used to despite the discomfort from its hidden qi effects. At least he could take his helmet out, letting him properly breathe the natural air again. Annia was soaked. Her scarlet red robe was stained by the dried blood from at least fifty. She was a little cranky at her sore legs from going overboard during the battle.

  Dr. Annia wasn’t taking this new life well yet. She complained of the extreme violence and was confronted with vivid insides, which ironically, for a surgeon like her, took it unwell. Everybody in the tent had to assure her that everyone adapted differently. In response, Annia asked Julius how he felt about all of this. The latter shrugged at his opinion. He already had adapted since his time in the Marines, while not forgetting to mention how his time at Level Three destroyed his mental insecurities and issues. So, he was okay with this. Others confided in her when she was about to go insane. Gretel, whose face expressed shock, got up from her seat and hugged her mother to calm her down.

  Julius stood up from the ground and grabbed his helmet. He strolled out of the tent and headed to the “garage” tent where his hypercar was parked. From looking at it, he definitely couldn’t fit inside anymore unless the armor was removed. Not for long, he exited the tent and went to another. This time it was at his. Julius was alone. Hence, he got a breather and sat down on the floor next to the temporary bed. Because the day wasn’t over, there was still work to do, so he summoned his papers from his virtual inventory. The handwritten drafts needed to be completed before the army could proceed further. As of right now, revision and editing were necessary, so he took all the time he could get while the battle outside remained loudly strong.

  Three hours had passed. Julius was still in his armor, and the nagging symptoms mostly faded, making him used to it. He finished rewriting ten pages worth of documents within three hours. Outside commotion quieted for a few minutes now, and Julius stood up from the floor, placing the documents on the bed as he stood. Yinhai. Three hours of sitting. It reminded him of his former Colemond’s office work, which was a little tough to bear. One stretch while in the armor was difficult. He had to exert more effort and force for it to be satisfying.

  Empress Cai came into the tent. Her hair was all down and soaked in dirt and burns. Not forgetting blood, too. She exhaled rapidly but smiled when her attention was on Julius. “Can you pass me some water?”

  Julius threw a water bottle at her. She drank all in one gulp and walked to Julius’ bed, sitting down. Empress Cai sighed and lay flat on the mattress. “How long were you in here?”

  “Three hours. I finished the documents.”

  “How’s that armor?”

  “Improving. However, I’m exhausted. I didn’t think I would be this worn off in a while. Either it was last night or this damn armor,” Julius said. He finally removed the whole armor before laying his back on the bed, succumbing to comfort. “Holy shit. It really was the Emperor Armor.” His back never felt so relaxed. He never recalled being like this in a long time.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  Empress Cai articulated her body and laid her head onto Julius’ stomach as he was reading through the finalized papers. The former got her own smartphone, so she summoned out from her virtual inventory. “Having this in my hands…I’m still fascinated by how this thing can send my words anywhere.”

  “What have you done with your smartphone so far?” Julius asked.

  “I tried sending a couple of messages. However, reading stuff in here is what impressed me the most. This was from the agency, right?”

  Julius nodded. “Yes. It was thanks to them that they could modify all the inventory of Earth’s smartphones that I bought. It will save us a bunch of time, and maybe we can do things better with it and understand how our qi works with technology.”

  Empress Cai turned her head towards Julius. Her attentive eyes stared at him. “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. That’s only my rambling thoughts.”

  “Oh, come on. I want more.”

  “Fine…How about listening to the music? We’ve headphones, which is a device that hugs our ears and sends vocal sounds to it.”

  “Hmmm…Fascinating. You better get our music to this,” Empress Cai said and pointed to her smartphone. “Everything.”

  Julius put the papers in his virtual inventory. “I’ll talk to Qiao (Tess).”

  “One of your Earth friends?”

  “Yes. She has vast experience with recordings and sound. Actually, Qiao was recording the entire battle today. So, I wonder how many hours of footage it will have?”

  “Footage…Still learning to use that word.”

  “You’ll be hearing that more often.”

  After lying quiet for a few more minutes, both got up from the bed, feeling refreshed and recovered from fatigue. Perfect timing, Qiao, in her black butler-like suit and a bloody head, came in with her large duffel bag. When she placed it down gently on the table, the qi dispersed from the surface of the bag with a clap-like sound. “I’m back as promised. You weren’t lying about how crazy it was out there.”

  “I told you it’s a field day,” Julius said, joining at the grand table. Qiao opened the duffel bag, revealing it to be ARRI’s ALEXA SXT camera. Agent Sleep’s agency had a special license, allowing them to have a vast inventory of ARRI cameras and other Earth brands. Of course, all of what they owned and brought over to Planet Raal was modified and specialized for various purposes. Qiao got one yesterday for her own desires without charge. “How many videos did you get?”

  Qiao pointed to the stack of removable storage drives. “I had to use ten of them, so twenty terabytes of footage in 4k from beginning to end.” She took off her suit jacket and let it rest on the chair. After folding up her long sleeves, she lifted the SXT camera off from the duffel bag while Julius took out all the storage drives. Afterward, she summoned fifteen cameras from her virtual inventory. One at a time. “Then these for photography.”

  “All 4k?” Julius asked.

  “Yes. I put a couple of 8k in there to push the limit.”

  “Sounds typical, coming from you.”

  Empress Cai joined along, sitting on a chair. She watched the rest as more people came into the tent. There were so many new things that her mind couldn’t process yet. It felt alien to her.

  Julius turned to the tent’s entrance, greeting a couple of fellow classmates like during his old university days. “Kross and Vil. Perfect timing…Jesus, you two look like horseshit.”

  “Any other time…” Vil muttered without being able to finish her sentence. She looked totally exhausted. Her southern accent only made her verbal expressions more jarring. Hence, only a few steps inside, she collapsed to the floor. Kross, who looked totally fine, ignoring his ruined hair braids, went to her aid and lifted Vil into a comfy chair.

  Kross was very well built. Coincidentally, he was in the same Marines unit as Julius after graduation, despite enlisting three years after him. After Vil rested on the chair, he joined Qiao, organizing the cameras along the table. Julius put the ten pages of documents next to Empress Cai, and she began reading them through.

  The ARRI’s ALEXA SXT was in Qiao’s large duffel bag because she liked to lift large cameras for long periods. A habit from her filmmaking days and studies. Before the agency gave her SXT, she owned a Sony 55 and brought it with her too. It wasn’t customized, and she was planning to get it done in the future. Julius observed all the fifteen cameras Qiao summoned. The price that sat on the table was beyond one year’s worth of earnings. The SXT alone was at least sixty-five grand, not counting extra costs from the agency’s customized upgrades. Next to the SXT were six Sony Alpha a7 III (~$12,000), 5 GoPro HERO5 Black, 3 Canon EOS Rebel T7i (~$2250), and one Panasonic Lumix GH5 (~$2000). All sixteen cameras were used during the C?m Offensive. Qiao used her ALEXA SXT and had to trust fifteen agents to use it and not break it. Luckily, they abided by the promise and came back unscathed. There were many photographs taken and quick clips recorded from the fifteen cameras, while long footage was all on Qiao’s ALEXA SXT.

  “I think I can tell Solomon to request the department to draft an idea of a camera that can be taken anywhere and unimaginable storage,” Julius said his thoughts. “And put it on an inquiry for the Book of Future Inventions.”

  “For a world that doesn’t have recordings or film, do you think they could create one? Sounds unrealistic,” Qiao commented.

  “The new vehicles…Its structure is unrealistic, and Han made it work…The blueprints were all he needed and boom. He made his first truck in six days, and the rest of the three took less than two weeks.”

  “Jesus, all of those…Then what about your car?” Qiao asked while looking at one of her Sony Alpha a7 III.

  “I built it. I remembered it took me four to five days straight.”

  Qiao shook her head in bewilderment while acknowledging the achievement. “And no internet…Except what you brought over here, and that was the documents, right?”

  Julius nodded. “Yep. Some of the interesting inventions I saw before I got involved in this life were interesting. No internet. They have glass computers with no keyboards, and a specific camera connected to a printer that prints these cards.” He pulled out his ID card and handed it to Qiao. “All of you will get one of these soon. Lin, the head of the Office of Moon Registry, will take these pictures.”

  Qiao focused on the ID card. She gave a few knocks on the card, and her finger ached. “Christ, what kind of material is this? It’s so hard.”

  “I don’t know. It’s probably a type of metal plastic.”

  “Metal plastic?” Kross and Qiao said simultaneously.

  “You’ll get used to it. There are a lot of different minerals and materials here. You would think it is fictional.”

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Kross said while unbraiding his hair. The battle ruined it all. Hence, he released all the hair strands. Julius’ head turned to see what he was doing. In response, he leveled his right hand over his hand and summoned a pint of water, dropping it over the former’s head. Kross almost took it personally but said thank you. Julius told him to get used to that more often because there would be plenty of splashes on the face, mainly blood. The revelation put him stuck, and it got quiet. Oh, another one. Julius realized and controlled a spare chair from the other side of the tent. With telekinesis, he articulated the chair right behind Kross and made him sit down. He doesn’t understand why Kross acted like this. Never happened, ever.

  “Sorry, I have never seen him like that before. The first time I've ever seen him take things too literally,” Qiao muttered, handing Julius back his ID card. “Anyway, this is it?”

  Julius looked outside of the tent. He saw Helda and Father Kang both give a one-finger gesture, and he then headed back inside. “Yes, it’s done. The offensive is finished,” he announced to the tent and sent a message through his smartphone. Immediately, the Skoltor System counted the points. He promised an idea after the destruction of the Arena where he fought against Qiang Zhao called WWHCC or World War Humanity Championships Campaign. Finally, Hu authorized it into every Skoltor System before the army headed down to ??i Nam Cai. Ever since its authorization, the points system counted every legitimate kill inflicted. One point for each.

  The system began counting the points and validating them. Everyone with the Skoltor System was notified of a leaderboard, processing the numbers. As it was doing it, Julius counted all the cameras and then got a laptop out. It was also customized by Agent Sleep’s private agency. Hence, it could be considered to be indestructible. He took a USB-C cable and began analyzing all the photos and videos. Every camera. One at a time. When that was done, an hour had passed, and the tent was gathered by everybody except the army, who were resting in their respective tents.

  Fifteen cameras, each with an SD card up to 1 TB of storage. So, thirty-five terabytes of storage were used to record and take pictures of this entire C?m Offensive campaign.

  A leaderboard notification stated the process was completed. Hence, Julius opened it, revealing the points. He looked only at the top ten and twenty.

  --

  --

  For the top twenty, the numbers don’t lie. Huge casualties on the enemy side. It was expected, but Julius wasn’t expecting it to be so skewed. At least twenty-four thousand enemy casualties from the top twenty were a wild feat. He breathed as the total invasion eased and concluded. Twenty-five thousand cultivators from the Moon Empire were on the field against eighty thousand enemy farmers. All wiped out from their fields or hidden within their giant-sized crops. Hoàng thành Phong ??m died at sunset. Either later tonight or tomorrow, Julius ordered a meeting to happen on what to proceed next with the capital and the reconstruction of ??i Nam Cai.

  Since the dimming sky was clear, dinner would be held outside again, so everybody in the tent departed and headed to the few campsites. They smelled something smoky, like anything found cooking on a grill. Julius and Empress Cai sat down on a log. Helda, Celeste, and Solomon joined as well. The smoky smell got stronger, but it was pleasant and smelled savory, near mouthwatering. Gretel would soon arrive. She held her mother and kept a close distance. Annia looked better, and her mental breakdown was a shock to Julius. He never knew she had such moments. Despite the incident, she wanted to join after feeling a lot better and passed through an episodic moment. Whatever anticipated food was cooking would take away all the negativity for the time being.

  Father Kang, Feng, and Míngyuè joined along with the latter, mentioning it was Quynh and her fellow farmers doing the cooking tonight.

  “I’m starving,” Míngyuè said, feeling impatient.

  “Aren’t we all? The smell is too nice to ignore,” Julius answered. “I can smell its heavy meat for dinner, like that steakhouse in Colemond.”

  Empress Cai nodded. “Oh, my gosh…If it's like that, I’m all for it. Each plate was so tender, and I had to eat five plates to be full.” She turned to Julius, tapping his shoulder as the latter was looking toward the smoky smell. “What do you call those again?”

  “The Juicy one?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. And very juicy.”

  “Oh, yeah. You ordered five plates. Three of them were specifically filet mignon. You were craving them, and I never saw you devour them so mad.”

  “What else do you want me to react to? It was very appetizing.” She pointed at him. “You better take a record of it?”

  “I did! So, you don’t have to worry about missing it.”

  Father Kang, who didn’t come on a mission trip to Earth, was curious about the steakhouse's cuisine. Julius told him it was like the inauguration of the House of Kang’s Library dinner, except solely on steak varieties. Father Kang wanted the ideas. Hence, he sent him a message through his smartphone. Julius gave a list and cooking instructions. “Do you want to hear about the drinks, too?”

  “Sure! Send it!”

  Copy and paste from his notes over and Father Kang received it at an instant. So far, he has given many allies smartphone access. Father Kang took it to heart and was impressed at the message app. “Thank you. I'll let my chefs and baristas know about this.”

  “Not a problem. Got to spread all the good stuff to this world as consistently as possible.”

  “This private agency you brought with you…They made this?”

  “Sort of. They are responsible for making these as durable as possible.”

  “It's those guys, right?” Father Kang pointed at the satellite tower within the campsite.

  Julius nodded. “Correct. A few come with us to make sure this works.”

  The food arrived. Quynh carried two trays worth of drinks. The tray on her left was cà phê s?a ?á (Iced Coffee with Condensed Milk). Twelve of them. Her right tray was twelve N??c D?a T??i (Fresh Coconut Water). All in large quantities and ingredients came from the capital. Crazy to hear that these two drinks were considered being expensive for the general populace in ??i Nam Cai unless it was in the city, but not everyone could enter its perimeters.

  Quynh placed the two trays down on a wooden platform, and she joined the campsite, taking one cà phê s?a ?á. “The food is almost done. I made the drinks first so we could enjoy ourselves before a good meal.”

  “Thanks for your hospitality,” Celeste said.

  “Not a problem. Unlike our politicians and aristocrats, we treat everyone with a warm welcome.”

  Han drank his cà phê s?a ?á. “Living in ??i Nam Cai during my teenage years, I never got the chance to try this coffee…Man, it's so good.” He raised his glass cup. “I offer a toast.”

  Everyone raised their glass.

  “For humanity,” Julius said. The rest repeated his words, and each took a gulp of their drinks. Julius looked back toward the rest of the camp, and a few chef cultivators came out with dinner. He watched them using their qi, which gave them leverage to hold more plates than a tray or a cart. Another cultivator came out with a stack of foldable low tables. He put it on a perimeter surrounding the campfire. Its layout was like a ring. The wooden platform, along with the low tables, created a complete wall. Two wooden platforms held two drink trays.

  Seven wide and long low tables, each with its own dishes that represented ??i Nam Cai. Two staple and everyday dishes tables: Ph? Bò (Beef Noodle Soup) & Ph? Gà (Chicken Noodle Soup) and Bún Ch? (Grilled Pork with White Rice Noodles) for the first table; the second table has rows of plates of C?m T?m Bì Ch? tr?ng S??n n??ng (Broken Rice with pork skin, steamed egg meatloaf, and grilled pork ribs). Next to it are servings of Scallion & oil garnish, N??c m?m pha (Mixed Fish Sauce), plate of fried eggs, and a plate full of pork chops.

  One table of protein dishes: Th?t kho tr?ng (Caramelized pork and eggs) and Bò Lúc L?c (Shaking Beef).

  A table of vegetables: Rau Mu?ng Xào T?i (Stir-Fried Water Spinach with Garlic), C?i Thìa (Bok Choy), and D?a Leo (Cucumber).

  Two tables of sweets and desserts: Bánh Chu?i (Banana Cake), Chu?i Chiên c?a Tri?u (Trieu’s Fried Bananas), Bánh Flan (Crème Caramel), Chè ??u Xanh (Mung Bean Pudding), and Bánh bò (Steamed Rice Cakes/Cow Cakes).

  There were more drinks on the last table: S?a ??u Nành (Soy Milk), Trà S?a (Milk Tea), N??c Mía (Sugarcane Juice), and of course ??i Nam Cai’s sodas.

  After the presentation was set up, everybody at the campsite got their dinner. The cultivator chefs moved to the rest of the camp, providing the same meals and drinks.

  Julius sat down on the ground, using the log for his back comfort. Others at the campsite did the same. Ergonomically, it provided more comfort. The arms reaching one table weren’t far, and if they needed a meal stationed on a different table, a walk to it or call for one and any of them would pass the food along the circle since the campsite’s seating was organized as a circle.

  There everybody sat on the ground, they devoured their meals while disconnecting from the world’s conflicts. Only relax and enjoy a period of peace for tonight. A new business awaited until sunrise. Until then, everybody proceeded to eat, drink, converse, and do anything for leisure for the rest of the night.