Chapter 112: Chapter 3
Over the next couple of weeks, Ben trained in and around Dragonshome. He made sure to keep himself busy and to improve his skills and cultivation while preparing everything that would be needed for the voyage.
The Cruiser Warship they would use to travel to the new continent was already built after a few days and it is a ridiculous sight to behold.
Ben had been expecting it to be big but it turned out to be an awe-inspiring spectacle. It took almost half of the day to walk through the entire ship and explore the various hallways and off branching rooms.
When they eventually found the ship's Magazine, Ben removed the shells from his Warehouse and stored them in the Magazine Storage.
The Ships Warehouse was also stocked with food, drinks, clothing, tools, resources, ores, and other various items or materials which could be of use.
This ship would soon travel far from this continent and having these extras resources and items would help the crew out. If they forgot anything it would not be too big of a problem because Ben would be traveling with them. He could always have them anchor the ship and allow him to teleport back to Dragonshome and return with what they needed.
Ben made another stop at the Naval Barracks and purchased a few lessons related to the various roles of working on the Cruiser Warship. The upgrade in technology and addition of the weapon systems made it much different from the exploration yacht his Naval troops had been operating.
The spies Ben had recruited last year to infiltrate the Ciral royal palace had been given homes inside Dragonshome and had lived normal lives since then. Chancellor Rayner had been informed to have them prepare to set off to the new continent with them in a week or two. They may be needed to infiltrate any kingdoms they find and bring back information that could help Ben learn what the situation was like there.
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Over the past few days, Ben traveled between the kingdoms and the regions he now ruled over. He checked in with his regents to see if they needed anything and how things were progressing in their governed regions.
The main purpose for his travel was to hire the Messenger Union in each of the Capitals. Ben hired them to have criers advertise the opening of his sect.
Any male or female between the ages of 18-30 years old could join sect under a trial period. If they were accepted they would become subjects of the Avalon Kingdom and be properly trained to become cultivators.
For now, he planned to recruit one hundred people and to see how it would work out.
The only problem which concerned Ben is if people would join and then leave once they were given a cultivation technique. It would be tempting for them to sneak off and join another kingdom to earn nobility titles and be provided with bonuses from the kingdom they joined.
A decision on how to avoid this would need to be figured out. They could sign a contract which legally bound them to the sect for a number of years or Ben could somehow use his slave command on them if they were accepted into the sect.
It was a big risk to invest so much money into people and allow them to walk off and make other kingdoms stronger. If this program did not work out then Ben would simply stick to using the recruitment menu from then on create loyal cultivators.
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Ben made sure to return to Dragonshome every night after traveling to the various capitals to hire the Messengers Union to promote the sect.
During this time he held a meeting with Rayner, Stefan, Lysa, Leofric Cosworth, and the seven foreign cultivators from the conquered kingdoms. One additional surprise visitor was welcomed to the meeting at the last minute.
Princess Alessandra Sletten had been escorted to Drangonshome in the carriage Ben had gifted the king. She arrived with a few servants and a squad of Aregard Palace guards also made the journey to protect her carriage from bandit attacks.
The former king of Brandomma Leofric Cosworth was granted the sect title of a Grand Elder. He still had lower cultivation than the other cultivators who attended the meeting but he had been a former king and had a great personality.
Ben felt he could trust the sect to him while he was away. The seven foreign cultivators were granted the titles of Elder.
Princess Alessandra Sletten would not be an official member of the sect. She had the freedom to come and go and she could quit the sect when she wanted. Ben gave her the rank of an honorary Elder but she would be free from dealing with the sect members and sect affairs.
Rayner, Stefan, Lysa would have the responsibility of directing future recruits to the sect just west of Dragonshome.
New recruits would live in the Recruit Bamboo Cottages until they were accepted or dismissed from the sect.
Ben explained his plan during the meeting of having the new recruits perform a weight training and physical training schedule for the first month of their arrival. If they could keep up with their schedule and showed gains they would be accepted as sect members.
Ben would then take them in groups to the sect Headquarters to use the HALO and unlock their cultivation talents. Once they had become cultivators they would each be provided with a cultivation technique which best suited them.
Before any of this, they would first need to sign a five-year contract and submit to a Slave Command. For five years they would remain members of the sect and subjects of the Avalon Kingdom. Just like joining the military on Earth they would become Avalon Kingdom property.
When their contract was up they had the option of moving to Dragonshome and possibly improving their lives. Anyone who made it through their five-year contract would be given permission to attend the Aristocratic Academy. If they graduated from the Aristocratic Academy they would become nobles of the Avalon Kingdom and provided with estates and servants.
If they left the Avalon Kingdom at the end of their five-year contract they would be on their own from then on out.
Once the meeting concluded Ben took everyone over to the sect and showed them around.
Grand Elder Leofric Cosworth was assigned one of the current four luxurious Grand Elder Compounds. The seven Elders were assigned to seven of the ten Elder Estates and Princess Alessandra Sletten was given permission to live in the opulent sect Leader's Compound.
Each of their new sect homes also was provided with servants to clean, cook, and do other chores for each of them.
Just as Ben had promised Princess Alessandra was scanned by the HALO and given a new cultivation technique. With the aid of the sect facilities and her new technique, her cultivation base would soon begin to skyrocket.
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The following couple of weeks Ben devoted to fine-tuning the sect and getting his Elders familiar with their new duties. Princess Alessandra was tutored on how to use the Market and Restaurant inside of Dragonshome along with the sect Restaurant which functioned the same as the standard Restaurant.
He had hired a larger crew to operate the Cruiser Warship and given them enough time to learn the lessons he had prepared for them.
The crew was already on board the Cruiser preparing for the journey north when Ben, Mythia, the twenty Fairy cultivator/magi, and the twenty young male and female cultivator/magi were dropped off at the harbor.
Ben had the Stable Hands transport them all by carriage to the subterranean harbor where they boarded the Cruiser with all their clothes and gear. Ben also had brought along two hundred Dismounted Knights and two hundred Elven Archers to protect the ship if he went ashore.
The Ship's crew showed everyone to their rooms so they could dump off their gear. Ben had Mythia's clothes and armor along with his gear in his inventory so he did not bother to head to his room.
The two of them were escorted to the ship's bridge and had to be careful not to trip through the many hatch doors in the hallways.
Unlike a normal door, the ship's doors were an oblong shape cut one foot off the ground in each separating wall. This was a design to prevent the entire ship from flooding. If the ship began to take on water the crew could close the hatch doors to seal off the damaged area and prevent the ship from sinking.
On the bridge, Ben watched as the captain and crew went over their checklists. The new Cruiser seemed to be working perfectly and was soon ready to cast off.
They watched from the bridge as the one hundred foot metal doors slid open to allow the ship to slowly leave the hidden harbor. They slowly cut through the calm waters of the narrow inlet to reach the vast northern ocean.
When the ship was out into deeper waters the captain relayed the new landmass coordinates to the helmsman.
The large compass beside the ship's wheel began to spin until the arrow pointed north by northeast.
They now had a forty hour trip across the ocean with nothing to see but the occasional uninhabited island. Ben and Mythia left the ship's bridge and went to tour the ship.
This was the first time Ben had properly toured the entire Cruiser. The description did not give much information besides its basic specs. It was surprising to discover this Cruiser could function as a mobile settlement.
The mess hall was no different from the one in the Barracks or the Restaurant. If you had the proper ingredients inside the Cruiser's Warehouse it could make any recipe you desired to add to the menu.
There were modern type bathrooms with flushing toilets, hot and cold showers, and sinks. The only downfall was that the cabins were very small. Even the cabins for officers were just big enough for a bed and a desk.
The ship had to house a large staff and anyone else who was stationed in the Cruiser. To fit those people on one ship many of these small narrow bedrooms had two bunk beds. Four men or women would be assigned to one cabin.
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As they crossed the desolate ocean they soon came upon a small island. Ben was curious to test out the weapons on the Cruiser and see what they were capable of.
The Cruiser was placed into battle mode and the crew all rushed to their stations. Ben wanted to watch the men operate the guns and found out it was mainly an automated process.
Once the shells were loaded into the Ship's Magazine room the rest was left up to the mechanized systems. The gunman simply pressed a loading button once the gun was sighted on a target. A lift would transport the shells from the lower Magazine room up to where they would be directly fed into the breech-loading guns.
When the red light above the loading button turned green the gunner would push the fire button to shoot the loaded shell toward its target.
From the bridge balcony, Ben watched as the five hundred pound shells screamed through the air. The explosive shells began to shower huge curtains of sand and soil into the air as they exploded on the sandy beach.
The Cruiser was a half mile away from the island and it was easy to still see the destruction the guns left behind. There were deep craters along the beach which were large enough to park a truck in.
Ben shook his head and thought, 'If our troops ever need to do a coastal landing these guns could provide us with some instant foxholes to use as cover until they establish a defendable beachhead.'
'I can't imagine the damage these guns would inflict on a wooden sail ship. One round and the thing would be turned into toothpicks. The sad thing is we don't even need the guns this Cruiser is so big and heavy if we gently nudged a wooden ship it would end up sinking'
He went back into the bridge and had the men stand down from the previously announced battle mode. They left the small island behind and continued along on their journey to explore the newly discovered landmass.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Termax
Termax “It's when you smell the breeze; taste the salt and feel the waves beneath your feet that you truly know that you are alive.”
― Anthony T.Hincks
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