City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Eli Gest

I finished my dinner, thankful it was not a ration again.

For a week and a half, after this outpost had been setup. We needed to make do with rations.

Things have changed in the past four days. We now have fresh food and three new soldiers, with Cook as a secondary class.

It had made things much easier.

Though the danger is everywhere, it is my job to spot it and warn others.

I am one of three monster scouts in the seven outposts.

There were five of us, but the undead had sniped those monsters dead. The two scouts were now back at the Greltheaven, training with the new monsters that the army had got for them.

It hurts losing the monster. Every time, I sent Charlie and Mishka out. I fear something might happen to them.

I went to the roof and nodded at the people before sitting in my usual spot.

I do not need to sit on the roof. I could sit inside safely, but I like the roof. Here, I felt a little more unrestrained, like I am with my birds. Especially when I activate the skill.

As I sat down and activated Share Eyes.

Immediately, an aerial view of the outpost appeared in front of me. I could see my little figure and the figure of the guards under the protective barriers.

That is Mishka. She is keeping sentinel around the outpost.

I am really glad I got Night Vision. It had made things easier.

Cloud Surfing Sparrows have good eyes, but they can’t see through the dark.

Especially from high up.

I looked for a few minutes and scanned every inch for the undead. These bastards have dug tunnels in their territory, making things harder.

Unfortunately, I do not have any skills, that would help me detect movement underground.

After confirming there is no danger. I turned my vision to Charlie.

Immediately, the scenery changed. The quality lessened, but I could still see the units of undead patrolling on their sides.

I looked at the clearly and made notes in the file, under this hour, before focusing back on the undead.

Charlie flew high in the sky under the protection of the Shroud of Limitless Sky. It is my inheritance skill, a very powerful stealth ability.

It makes them hard to discover.

An hour passed, and I once more noted the position of the enemies.

Charlie is circling the whole boundary, the outposts share with the dead. She might not be the most powerful of the monsters, but she is the stealthiest one.

She could get close to the undead, which no other monster could do without getting discovered.

Another pass, and then Charlie flew back toward me, while Mishka moved to take her place.

There are other scouts in the area around the outpost, but not in the enemy’s territory.

It took some time before I saw Charlie and a few seconds after that, she flew to my lap.

Immediately, I took out a small can and opened it, before adding a few drops of thick green liquid to it, before giving it to her.

This is a special diet made for cloud-surfing sparrows. It is expensive, but the army is funding it.

I am the best monster scout the army has. I may not be the highest level, but I am the best and the best one requires nurturing.

These birds deserve it. They are doing the riskiest job.

“That bird's food smells so good. Sometimes, I want to try it,” said Sova from her position.

“You shouldn’t. Even the strong digestive system of orcs wouldn’t save you from heavy diarrhea, you will suffer from it,” I replied.

Hearing that, she shook her head and looked ahead into her spyglass.

The food comes with a strict warning. People could die eating it. It is for the monsters and only monsters should eat it.

Soon, Charlie finished eating the food and closed her eyes to sleep.

Immediately, I activated the Double Rest.

It is one of the most useful skills, I have. We do not have enough aerial scouts. So, my birds works hard and sleep barely five hours.

They need more sleep. They are young, especially Mishka. She is not even a year old.

“Any sighting?” asked Jeb. “Yes, but they are patrolling in their usual spots.

“I hope they don’t attack today. I want to have a peaceful sleep,” said Jeb.

They have crossed the boundary two times in the past two days. Not in our area, but in other outposts. Still, that made us stay awake for longer.

They are crossing the boundary nearly every day. Half of the time, it results in battle.

They are keeping us on our toes, and that is not a good thing. We need rest. If this keeps happening, our morale will suffer, and we won’t be in our optimum state to fight.

It is a good strategy, and they are using it well.

I hope the command will send more people. They are planning to build three more outposts, but that is a month away. Till then, we are on our own.

Cry!

Time passed when suddenly I heard the familiar cry in my mind.

Immediately, I activated the Share Eye. I cannot keep the skill active all the time; it is taxing for me and the birds.

It’s why the Distant Cry helps. It is a passive skill; it helps the birds to alert me.

They only do it when they spot something. I have trained them, it is not easy. These birds may look cute and respond well to basic training, but the harder it gets, the more difficult it becomes.

I don’t like to say it, but these birds are not the smartest of the monsters. Making training them hard.

I have Efficient Training.

It is an average training skill, but I like to believe I am an excellent trainer and along with my family’s methods, which were passed down from my ancestor, I am doing a good job.

The view appeared in front of me, and immediately my expression changed.

I thought about it a while before activating Sky View and Enhance Clarity.

Sky View increases the magnification and Enhance Clarity increases the clarity of the vision.

I don’t use these skills unless it is necessary. It increases the risk of enemies sensing it since these skills are targeted at them.

The Shroud of Limitless Sky offers great stealth, but its power is limited by level and there are a lot of people down below, making the chances of discovery higher.

Immediately, the view magnified and became clear.

I saw what I had expected and even saw the faces of a few people, which turned my expressions bad.

I was looking at it when suddenly a man looked up and said something to the woman beside him. Immediately, Bone Bullets formed in front of the staff and shot toward Mishka.

She is quite high, but Bone Bullets are not the Grade I spell. It is modified to Grade III, to a special undead elemental spell made to snipe the target in the sky.

‘Mishka dodge!’ I shouted.

I didn’t have to say it. She flapped her wings fast and flew toward the clouds fast. It is where she is the safest and the stealth strongest.

She was halfway to the cloud when the Bone Bullets reached her.

The mage was good as they moved to target her while she flapped her little wings to avoid them.

Rip!

She avoided all of them except for one, that scratched through her, cleaning a few feathers off her wings.

I sighed, seeing the damage isn’t big, but the danger isn't over.

More Bone Bullets came, along with real and energy arrows and other spells. Seeing the mage, they have reacted as well and are now attacking Mishka with everything they have.

‘I shouldn't have used the skill,’ I thought, but soon crushed that thought.

There are more undead than I had thought. Using the skills was necessary. It provided me with the necessary information, not only about their numbers but also about their members.

There are powerful people in the group including a level 30. For those below; it is extremely hard to sense.

That Level 30 must have the powerful sensory skill to sense her so quickly.

Rip

Another spell hit it, this time on the stomach. It is scratch too, but it had drawn out the blood.

Cry!

Mishka cried out but kept flying toward the clouds.

This is the time; I hate the most. Here, I am powerless to do anything and wish I had those abilities of my ancestor, that would have made avoiding such attacks easier.

I stayed with her, encouraging her to fly faster. It is the only thing I could do.

Seconds passed painfully as Mishka flew with everything she had while dodging the barrage of attacks coming at her.

Now, I am really glad. I had pushed her in the training. I had asked the mages to attack her while training her to dodge those attacks.

My original plan was to wait till she had finished with the phase of training she was going through, as I had done with Charlie, but I am glad I listened to my heart and gave her defensive training earlier.

It’s the reason, she is still flying.

Finally, after what seemed like hours. She had reached the clouds.

The attacks kept coming, but here she avoided them more smoothly, than before.

She is in her element.

There is a reason why Halmks are called the cloud surfing sparrows.

She flew away from the danger while I got up and moved downstairs fast. Nobody asked me what happened, but all of them became alert.

They will need to be more alert than they had before because the enemy is powerful and coming in large numbers.

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