Rise of the Horde

Inside his tent, Xiao Chen stared at the many stacks of scrolls containing reports, maps and other kinds of information in his surroundings. His hours of sleep have been lacking already for many days, as he had to settle everything in his budding kingdom.

It also didn\'t help that groups of hostile centaurs, goblins, orcs, ogres and other wild creatures frequent their vast farmland. They raided and destroyed the still unripe crops that they were waiting to ripen before harvesting.

He was really having a headache while dealing with all these things, as he also had to deal with his plans to the south. The war with the Ereians and the revenge of Adhalia have been delayed for far too long.

"Agh! When will this end... I\'m already worn out..." Xiao Chen massaged his temples, which were throbbing in pain. He layed down a few of the basics of his kingdom, but it still wasn\'t enough as there are no talented ones under him who could handle the day-to-day things of his kingdom.

"I thought that building my own kingdom was easy... Just own a wide land to settle, a lot of people to be used as a labor and a strong army... But... Ugh... There are too many things to deal with... I\'d rather go out there on the battlefield and command by troops to battle." Xiao Chen put both his palms on his face and deeply sighed.

Draegh\'ana stared blankly at their chieftain. She had been with him for many days and witnessed the numerous times that he sighed deeply. Staring at the many complex things that their chieftain was dealing with, she can\'t help but experience a headache of her own. Killing enemies for him was the only thing that she was good at.

Xiao Chen raised his head and stared at Draegh\'ana, who was staring at his works absentmindedly. Confusion was plastered on his face and it seems like she was having a headache as she knitted her brows together.

"How\'s the progress of your training with the shaman and the troll sages?" he asked and leaned back in the back of his chair.

"It is going well, my chief. I now know most of the basics of the shamans as well as I have now mastered most of the troll sages\' magic arts. I\'ll probably destroy a small army on my own." she reported proudly and tried to make her modest peaks stand out as she stood straight with her chest out.

"Oh! It\'s still broad daylight and you are attempting to seduce him. My... Oh... My... And with those small mounds..." Adhalia mocked as she entered Xiao Chen\'s tent.

Draegh\'ana glanced at the human who disturbed her moment of showing her worth to the chieftain. Her eyes were blazing with fury and her nostrils were flaring in anger.

"You still haven\'t learned your lesson... Do you want another round of beating for me to crush those oversized peaks of yours?" Draegh\'ana muttered as she gritted her teeth in anger while her hands were on the handles of her blades.

"Oh my... You\'re really jealous of my gifts... Don\'t worry... I can help you make them larger if you\'re too shy to ask the chieftain for help. You already know the secret to make them bigger from me..." Adhalia continued as she covered her mouth with her right hand while giggling.

Draegh\'ana was taken aback and lowered her head. "I am gonna squash them so hard that they will be forever flattened." she softly muttered to herself as she gritted her teeth in anger. Her cheeks turned a shade of red deeper, which was barely noticeable because of her natural skin color.

"Hays... When will you stop your petty squabbles? It won\'t do us no good." Xiao Chen mediated as he facepalmed in disappointment from the actions and words of the two women in front of him. "And also, Adhalia, stop teaching her such useless things and halt your provokations on Draegh\'ana or else I won\'t be able to ensure your safety when she goes out of control." he continued while sighing deeply. He was already plagued with many problems to deal with and having headache because of them and these two are adding up on his headache.

"Don\'t worry, our chief. I know my limits, and this is nothing but just a friendly banter between ladies. Isn\'t that right, Draegh\'ana?" Adhalia muttered as she glanced at her while winking.

Draegh\'ana was still gritting her teeth in anger, but she soon let it go and nodded her head in agreement. "Yes chief, this nothing but a friendly banter." she agreed and bowed towards Xiao Chen.

"Hmmm... Alright... How is the progress of our skirmishers?" Xiao Chen asked Adhalia. He already had a good army to start his conquest of Ereia, but he still needed a few skirmishers to support them. It was better for him to be prepared than to be taken by surprise.

"Oh... You mean the trolls whose language I can\'t quite understand well. They just needed a few more days of physical training and they were good to go. Only a few of them could really hit the training targets in the center which was... Uhm... Okay, I guess... Most of them would hit a few feet to the sides or above and below... But when they all hurl their javelins at the same time, it is not necessary to be able to hit thier targets precisely." Adhalia reported.

Xiao Chen nodded in contentment. "And how many of them are available for deployment?" he asked while trying to figure out how they would start their conquest of the south.

"Around eight hundred to a thousand, my chief. And pertaining to the food rations, we have more than half a year\'s worth in stock that can support ten thousand warriors." Adhalia continued to report while showing a triumphant smile at Draegh\'ana.

"Good! And the progress of the road to the fortress to the south?" Xiao Chen asked again. "It is still underway, my chief. The kobolds are only a few days march away from the city since they only work at night." Adhalia continued to report as she had a lot of things to oversee, from the military, logistics, and construction.

Xiao Chen had a lot of things handed down to Adhalia to oversee inorder for the others to not call her as a freeloader, as she had been called too many times, which annoyed her multiple times.

"Chief, A group of centaurs are back again and destroying the wheat field to the east and also taking away a few of our livestock." Mohrios suddenly barged in inside the chieftain\'s tent to report.

"Bastards! I have already a lot on my hands and they are back again!" Xiao Chen slapped his table which caused a few of the scrolls on his table to fall down. "Draegh\'ana!" he stared at his now most powerful ranged warrior. "Let loose and show them that we are not to be triffled with. It seems that they deemed our show of mercy to be a weakness." Xiao Chen snapped as he was incensed by the actions of the centaurs who kept on destroying their crops. "Scratch that... I am coming with you... I need some fresh air and also to stretch my muscles a bit." he stood up from his chair and stretched his limbs as they make cracking sounds as he do so.

"Ugh, right chief, I\'ll go organized the Tauren Guards." Mohrios muttered and quickly sprinted away while their chieftain was putting on his armor with the help of the two ladies who were bickering who should be the one to help the chieftain with his armor.

"Ah! Just let me do it." Xiao Chen grabbed his armor pieces and wore them by himself as the two ladies were still busy bickering with each other. He was already in his full armor and two are still not done with their pointless argument.

"Let\'s go!" Xiao Chen said as he went out of his tent. To the right of his tent was the enormous circular building, which was a few stories high if compared to modern buildings. It was the Hall of Heroes where all the warriors who died for the glory of Yohan had their names carved on the stone slabs that were scattered all throughout the hall.

To the right was the Temple of Light which was just built inorder to honor the Goddess of the Light which his system told him to that earned him 5,000 points. It was him just doing the mission issued by his system and also to earn the favor of the Goddess of Light, even if he didn\'t believe in her. Further to the right was the Temple of Thug\'mukhen which he made as their main god since they needed his blessings in the many wars that they will be going through, if he really exists. Xiao Chen heard the names of the many gods and goddesses of the orcs, but never once did he believe in them, "To see is to believe!" that was what he always muttered to himself.

He has also accepted the reality that he is no longer a human and a creature that was born for war and lived for war, an orc that is what they are called. For almost half a year that he had arrived, he didn\'t witness any other form of divine interventions besides his unexplainable system that came with him. He wanted to learn more about his system, but he had no way to learn more about it as his system kept mum and just spoke to him when it comes to his missions.. The many features of his system, till now he could still not understand them all.