"..."
The declaration of this human generated a stilted environment bereft of sound. The titans that had just been in disarray, almost in total chaos and even striking at their allies in confusion and panic, were all observing this new arrival. This event was so unexpected that the few that had thoughts of deserting immediately, escaping with their lives intact and their souls unclaimed by the fires of war, had those very same thoughts drowned out by this deafening silence.
"...A human?" The silence lasted for several seconds, but was ended by the soft voice of a titan soldier. This voice served as the ignition of a commotion, a series of hushed murmurs and uncertain, uneasy comments followed.
"Why is a human here?"
"Did he just send Ji Tu flying?!"
"...I can't sense his cultivation. Is he an Ascended? Is he a spy?!"
The comments and speculation started to become suspicious, but none of these titans acted. They observed this shouting human that said he was a member of their battalion.
In the face of these accusations and comments, Wei Wuyin's eyes remained tightly shut, but he could sense the titans gazes all veering in his direction, totally affixed to his figure. With the eyes of over a hundred Starlord-level cultivators staring at you, the ordinary Gravity Emission Phase cultivator would collapse, but Wei Wuyin remained unfazed.
Just a few moments earlier, he was soaring through the skies in a spirit bubble, but then, without warning, it popped. The timing matched the beginning of the ensuing chaos, so when he crashed into the large bodies of titans, he went unnoticed.
A titan had even launched an attack at him in a frightful delirium. Wei Wuyin was given a fright and struck back. He even thought this was the Battlefield, and thrusted his fist towards the titan's heart. Fortunately, he caught a glimpse of the double-helix design and the 49th beneath it, and turned his lancing fist into a slamming palm.
The Company Leader noticed all this, including observing the unconscious Starlord that was sent flying a thousand meters out. When Wei Wuyin descended, he had sensed the aura of the Spirit Captain Zun Maja, so he was skeptical of his origins or purpose. It was the only reason he hadn't acted immediately. But after hearing Wei Wuyin proclaim himself as a member of the 49th Unit, a portion of his Company, he was taken aback.
"Could he be an intruder? Is our headquarters under attack?!" A paranoid malentitan questioned, his hands tightly gripping his axe. He had a front-row seat to Wei Wuyin's action of sending a titan not much weaker than himself flying with a single palm. How could he not grow frightful and suspicious?!
The fear in his voice generated an atmosphere of panic, especially since none of them could sense Wei Wuyin's cultivation. Even though Wei Wuyin announced himself, they all noticed he wasn't a titan but a genuine member of the human race.
The various titans started to hoist their weapons to the ready, as if the Battlefield was going to begin here. They started to face Wei Wuyin as if he was a great enemy, getting organised rather rapidly, demonstrating their steady and reliable training of two years had paid off. If Wei Wuyin so much as twitched, they were ready to jointly strike!
The tension in the air was palpable.
"Enough!" The Company Leader shouted aggressively, at the utmost limit of his patience. He violently released his Ascended level aura, causing the titans to shiver in terror. Their tensed bodies caused them to freeze.
Wei Wuyin felt this raging aura and realized it wasn't of a higher quality than those three Venerables, but it was certainly stronger. This Ascended was at the Second Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, the Soul of Mysticism Phase, but his foundation was sturdier and richer than those three by a large margin.
The figure was taller than all the other titans present, yet shorter than Captain Zun. This made him realise that the height of a titan likely reflected their Bloodline Strength. If this was true, then Da Shan's eight feet height was indicative of a weaker bloodline. Still, she must be taller than other titans of her cultivation level because she had the Demonic Lineage of a Violet Mountain alongside it.
The Company Leader stepped forward and arrived before Wei Wuyin, his facial features were concealed by a terrifying looking helmet with a sharp spike at each of its temples, and eye holes that were extremely sharp and narrow. Wei Wuyin could barely see the dark-brown eyes hiding behind them.
Wei Wuyin didn't wait for the Company Leader to ask, or for him to get into position to subdue him, that would be completely silly. Clearly from his body posture and demeanor, the Company Leader was about to act against him. So he brought out his Identity Rune that was the ring and held it in front of himself, giving indisputable proof of his identity and position.
The Company Leader was truly intending to act, suppressing Wei Wuyin before interrogating him with extreme prejudice until this matter was probably sorted. After all, when Wei Wuyin arrived, he sent a soldier flying with a single palm yet still emanated the aura of a mortal. Yet when he saw the Identity Rune being brought out in a direct manner, that ferocious expression hidden beneath the mask changed.
Yet he couldn't help but say aloud, "But you're a human."
Wei Wuyin wore a wry smile. Unfamiliar with the circumstances of this military, Wei Wuyin could gather just from that single unintentionally spouted sentence that there was likely no humans in this division of the military. While it didn't seem humans were a strange sight, they were certainly rare here'”wherever here was.
The Company Leader reached out and the Identity Rune was taken from Wei Wuyin. After he inspected it, including all its details, the expression on the Company Leader's expression became even more awkward and uncertain. It recorded all of Wei Wuyin's preliminary information, and the most notable was his place of origins: Grand Cyclic Stellar Region.
°I thought that stellar region was...° The Company Leader's thoughts were rummaging through his memories. While the event had taken place long before his birth, happening roughly eighty thousand years ago, the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region was once ruled by titans and taught as an important location in their historical studies.
According to his history teacher, the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region was named after the Grand Cyclic Titanic Emperor, a Worldly Saint of their race. He was immensely talented, incredibly powerful, and outright an ambitious character with a dauntless demeanor, yet met an untimely end at the hands of a Star-Devourer. A figure that had the slightest chance of becoming a Heavenly Saint had died to a celestial entity.
How unfortunate...
Furthermore, after that event, the Stellar Region had been segregated from the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone since, deliberately isolated by the Ascended Sovereigns. There was no concrete news regarding it thus far, except rumors that humans had somehow taken control of it.
Just like Captain Zun, this Company Leader of the titan race reacted the same way as he somewhat understood what happened to Wei Wuyin, and even the truths about the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, "So the rumors were true..." There was even a similar tone of melancholy within his voice.
Wei Wuyin's brows faintly furrowed. He felt a strange sensation from those dark-brown eyes suffused with a little bit of frustration and helplessness staring at him.
For a full minute, the Company Leader merely stared at Wei Wuyin and then glanced at the Identity Rune. He was assigned to their Company, specifically the 49th Unit, by Battalion Commander Borus. He was unwilling to accept a human, but seeing that he was merely at the Sixth Stage of the Astral Core Realm, his death on the battlefield will be swift.
Wait...
Wait!
Sixth Stage of the Astral Core Realm? A mere Gravity Emission Phase cultivator? Impossible!
The eyes beneath that helmet bulged slightly. He started to inspect Wei Wuyin closely, finding that he was unable to glean into his cultivation base with precision or bloodline origin. How could a sixth stage Astral Core Cultivator send a ninth stage Astral Core Cultivator, and a titan at that, flying with a single palm?
With a more inspective gaze, he realized that Wei Wuyin had his eyes tightly shut, and there was a faint spiritual sense gathering information from the surroundings. To have such spiritual strength to casually emit out his spiritual sense, was this a Spiritualist? As if figuring out the answer to this conundrum, the Company Leader nodded his head as if to say: "So that's it."
After settling this, his mind figured out what likely happened. Wei Wuyin had arrived with an unrefined Seed of War unintentionally and had been taken advantage of by Battalion Commander Borus, directly recruiting him and sending him off without explaining things about the seed. After all, every acquisition of a Seed of War must be submitted to headquarters with reason and can only be accepted if the arriving group, in this case, individual, was accepted into their battalion.
How cruel. Unfortunately, that was just how greedy and opportunistic their commander was. Instead of sending Wei Wuyin off to the human camp where he might be regarded as a talent and protected after offering his Seed of War, he was pushed onto titans who cared little about his tiny life, even considering him an intruder or spy at first glance.
The very same pity that Captain Zun felt towards Wei Wuyin, now this Company Leader similarly felt.
Wei Wuyin was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable. It was strange to sense the air of pity in others. Even during his Scarlet Solaris Sect days, he wasn't pitied by anyone. However, he still kept his composure. "Sir, is there an issue with my Identity Rune?"
The Company Leader sighed in his giant heart, returning the Identity Rune. "There is none. I am Lieutenant Colonel Zun Torju, you may refer to me as such from henceforth. You'll be the 13th Member of the 49th Squad. Go, find your Squad Leader." After saying this, Zun Torju turned, and his aura grew fiercer, "All of you! Listen..."
As he proceeded to berate these men, he spoke out a tried and true speech in the hopes of delaying their fears. While he had lost control, as an Ascended, could he truly not have suppressed these men at the first sign of their disorderly nature? How could he not notice?
He was deliberately allowing their fears to manifest so that he could deliver this speech, as he'd done many times before. Despite its help in taming their fears for now, the fact he had to give this speech many times was quite telling of its efficiency.
Wei Wuyin was somewhat taken aback by the readied acceptance, including the casual dismissal after he'd sent an armored titan flying for a thousand meters. After all, that was a Starlord-level titan, and he was a mere human. He expected more...he didn't know what he was expecting, just a little more.
Was there something he was missing?
Wei Wuyin was a little frazzled as Zun Torju gestured for him to hasten. He gave a faint smile and shot off to find this Squad Leader of his, preferably to learn more about the Battlefield. When he finally found the cluster of 49th Unit insignias, he received strange gazes all around.
Deciding to take the initiative, he asked: "Where's our Squad Leader?" However, those words provoked even greater looks infused with strangeness. Two titans soon brought over, no, carried in an unconscious titan that had a palm-sized dent in his torso's armor. There was a faint trickle of blood leaking from the mouth area of his helmet.
Wei Wuyin recognized that figure, his eyes widened slightly.
Oh my...
Did he just...
Well, that was one way to make an impression.