Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 3010: Earth Forces

Guinevere had grown noticeably heavier these past few months.

Emery felt it as he carried her across the sunlit courtyard, the infant’s dark hair now thick against his shoulder while her bright green eyes darted from bird to banner with an endless, tireless curiosity. Klea walked beside him at an unhurried pace, and together they approached the group waiting near the far gate.

Fjolnir stood at the front, the Voidwolf crew gathered behind him. Thirty hardened cultivators waited in travel gear, packs secured, weapons checked, their ship already fueled and ready in the hangar beyond.

The day Emery had quietly hoped would come much later had finally arrived.

Nearly a decade ago, he had promised his senior that whenever Fjolnir chose to resume the search for his lost homeworld, Emery would help him do it. Since then, he had done everything he could to delay that departure. Rare pills, cultivation resources—Emery had spared nothing in the hope of pushing the old warrior into the Two Cosmos realm before he left.

It had carried Fjolnir all the way to the peak of the One Cosmos realm.

And no farther.

In time, Emery understood why. The longing for his lost home had become a knot buried deep within Fjolnir’s Dao Heart, a weight no treasure or cultivation resource could remove. Until that yearning was answered, the path forward would remain closed.

So Emery had finally stopped trying to keep him.

He came to a halt before the gathered crew, shifting Guinevere gently in his arms as his gaze settled on the two men who would lead the expedition in the field. Varek stood sharp-eyed and unreadable, while Brollack looked as though he had been carved from grey stone, broad-shouldered and immovable. Behind them waited the rest of the crew, former Neutral Zone raiders who had served the Earth faction faithfully for fifteen years.

Emery had only ever asked half that much of them.

"When you’ve seen my senior through his search," he said, "your duty to me is done. Come back safely, and a big reward will be waiting for you all."

A low murmur of anticipation rippled through the crew. Brollack broke into a broad grin, while Varek remained perfectly still. In that stillness, Emery read understanding. They all knew that searching for a lost world would be anything but an easy voyage.

Then Emery and Klea stepped forward to face Fjolnir one last time.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Too much history stood between them for easy words.

"Take care. I hope you find it," Emery said at last.

Fjolnir’s gaze moved from Emery to Klea, lingering there for a brief heartbeat before he gave a single nod. Then he turned away, and his crew followed him toward the waiting ship.

Not long afterward, the vessel rose into the sky, dwindled to a distant fleck of light, and vanished among the clouds.

Neo Terra felt quieter after it was gone.

####

With his senior gone, Emery found his thoughts turning to a colder matter.

Neo Terra’s defenses

Typhon’s decision to join the frontline had been welcome, but between that and the Marquess leaving to command his own regiment abroad, the city’s upper ranks had noticeably hollowed. For now, only a single Three Cosmos expert remained to anchor Neo Terra’s defense: Soltz, the planet’s last and heaviest line.

Emery carefully reviewed the forces still under his command.

The city’s permanent garrison numbered roughly three hundred Magus cultivators, forming the backbone of Neo Terra’s forces. Among them were the fifty Twilight Wolf warriors under Chief Beowulf, whose disciplined unit had become one of the city’s most dependable fighting forces.

Two newly promoted Grand Magus had also joined the garrison. Both were former refugees from Baeldum who had chosen to remain after the war, settling their families within Neo Terra. Neither had advanced beyond the One Cosmos realm, but Emery had long believed that loyalty mattered as much as cultivation. Having chosen this city as their home, they had been entrusted with training the garrison and safeguarding its people.

Below Soltz, the strongest cultivator currently stationed within the city was Kazrik, the Two Cosmos insectoid Grand Magus who had settled in Neo Terra following the alliance with the Insect Queen.

Beyond the standing army, the Earth Faction possessed several other pillars of strength.

Oeno continued overseeing the Immortal Gladiator School, where fifty battle-hardened Magus gladiators trained year-round.

Nyx maintained control of the Red Lotus intelligence network, supported by a Grand Magus operative of her own.

Yet the most remarkable growth had come from an altogether different direction.

Varkul’s Midnight Brotherhood.

What had once been a loose collection of criminal organizations had gradually absorbed and united nearly every underworld faction across Neo Terra. Rather than resisting the city’s rise, they had become one of its unseen foundations, and every one of the brotherhood’s ten command seats was now occupied by a Grand Magus cultivator.

Merlin Apothecary completed the tally with Kayelin and her two Grand Magus apprentices.

When Emery added everything together, the Earth Faction could now call upon twenty Grand Magus to defend Neo Terra. That number did not include the support of the many allied factions based both within and beyond Dawnstar, nor the Earth forces stationed in the Beta Quadrant.

By any reasonable standard, it was an extraordinary force for a Grade Two faction.

Yet despite the impressive number, the feeling lingering in Emery’s heart refused to fade.

It still wasn’t enough.

When the Tartarus expedition finally departed, several more of the Earth Faction’s strongest cultivators would leave alongside him, thinning Neo Terra’s defenses even further and leaving even fewer people to guard everything they had built.

At the same time, although the Moonlight Syndicate had retreated into the shadows, several lingering threats continued to trouble the Earth Faction.

Foremost among them was the Trader Association.

For nearly two decades, the merchant conglomerate had remained one of the Earth Faction’s most persistent adversaries, and time had done little to soften their hostility. They interfered wherever they could—squeezing supply lines, undercutting commercial agreements, quietly pressuring neutral merchants to withhold strategic materials, and making certain that every step of Neo Terra’s growth cost far more than it should have.

Their objective had never changed.

They intended to strangle the Earth Faction before it could become a true commercial rival, keeping the upstart city perpetually struggling for resources and influence.

Only through Tessa’s tireless efforts and the vast network of relationships she had painstakingly cultivated across Sector Thirteen had the faction managed to weather that pressure.

And then there was Aelric, the Veilbinder—one of the Alliance’s most wanted criminals. The latest intelligence suggested he was still lurking somewhere near Dawnstar.

The mysterious occultist and the shadowy cabal under his command remained hidden, moving through the shadows with remarkable patience and leaving behind almost no trace of their existence. Most concerning of all, every trail they left behind seemed to carry the same traces of the infected scourge.

The thought weighed more heavily on Emery until he finally voiced it aloud.

"It’s still not enough."

Klea did not disagree.

Instead, the two quietly considered every possibility.

Before long, three practical solutions emerged.

The first was to strengthen Neo Terra immediately by inviting one of their powerful half-blood allies to station a temporary guardian within the city. The Serpent Clan and the Silvermane Wolf Clan were both obvious candidates. Their relationship with the Earth Faction had grown steadily over the years, and either clan could likely spare a Two or Three Cosmos Grand Magus to reinforce Neo Terra for a few years.

The second solution looked further ahead.

Their thoughts turned to the lower-grade factions that had remained close to the Earth Faction through years of cooperation at the Magus Academy. Many of those factions had watched Earth’s rise with admiration, and some had already expressed interest in establishing a permanent presence on Dawnstar. A formal invitation, coupled with land grants, trade incentives, and positions within Neo Terra’s administration, might persuade several of them to relocate their headquarters, strengthening the city’s long-term foundation while allowing those smaller factions to grow alongside Earth.

The third possibility was not an immediate solution, but it held the greatest long-term potential.

Over the past decades, the Earth faction’s research into the Randhall golem blueprints had advanced considerably, allowing them to produce reliable Magus-realm golems. However, with Vic’s assistance over the last few years, recreating the legendary golden Grand Magus golems no longer seemed impossible.

If given sufficient funding, rare materials, and enough time for research and development, Vic might eventually succeed in producing a working prototype. Even a small squad of such constructs permanently stationed in Neo Terra would greatly strengthen the city’s defensive capabilities.

"I’ll get on it right away," Klea said.

Emery nodded before his gaze lingered on her for a moment.

She had quietly taken on more responsibilities than anyone else within the faction without a single complaint.

"You’ve been working too hard..." he said softly. "Don’t neglect your own cultivation."

Klea answered with a small, amused smile.

Despite everything occupying her time, she had quietly stabilized the Second Layer of the Two Cosmos realm not long ago, advancing far more steadily than most would have expected.

They were still discussing the matter when Emery’s Cosmic Palace bracelet suddenly pulsed with light.

A familiar crest shimmered above the bracelet before a message transmission connected.

Emery immediately recognized the insignia.

It was from the Karat Faction.

His expression sharpened as he listened to the brief report.

The time had finally come.

Supreme Rosin Karat’s Grand Tribulation was about to begin.