System's POV
chapter-209

"Pops, can you make it on time?" Thirteen asked Gerald, who now had a troubled look on his face.

"I don't know," Gerald commented. "I've never made something like this before."

The father and son duo were currently looking at a rough blueprint which Thirteen had drawn an hour ago.

At first, Gerald thought that Thirteen had gone mad and was about to ask him to build an Attack Helicopter from scratch.

Fortunately, the blueprint was not the one in his head, but it was still something that he had never attempted to do before.

What Gerald was looking at was a Ballista, but it was not just any ordinary Ballista.

It was a Ballista that could "theoretically" launch a one-ton payload that could travel up to two miles.

"Frankly, this is going to be a monumental task," Gerald could already feel the pressure of having to build the Ballista from scratch. "Also, you wanted it to be portable, so it needs to have some wheels. This thing is going to be massive. How about we just build your Attack Helicopter instead of this? I have a feeling that doing that will be easier."

"Pops, do you think that an attack Helicopter can beat a Majin Prince?"

"Of course not. Even if there are hundreds of them, they will not be able to defeat that thing. But, do you think this Ballista of yours can defeat Arundel?"

"No." Thirteen shook his head firmly. "But, it will be the trigger for his defeat."

Gerald once again looked at the blueprint in his hand before sighing deeply.

"What material are we going to use to build this thing?" Gerald scratched his head. "Wood? Stone? Metals? Can we really finish it in two months?"

"We either finish it in two months or we kick the bucket, Pops," Thirteen replied. "It's all or nothing."

Gerald sighed before ruffling his son's hair, who didn't even offer any resistance.

The younger boy knew that his Father would go all-out to make the weapon that would help them win. However, time wasn't really on their side at the moment.

Thirteen knew that after the Ballista was built, he would have to reinforce it with dozens or perhaps even hundreds of Runes in order to enhance its range, lethality, and mobility.

Right now, the seven-year-old no longer had any time to focus on the war, so he left the war preparations of the Tigerkins to Paven.

As for the side of the Barbarians?

He decided to let Gael, Arthas, and Netero handle it themselves!

He was just a seven-year-old!

He couldn't handle everything by himself!

With this in mind, Thirteen decided on the only thing that mattered, and that was to prepare to light the Beacon of Hope.

All of his actions would only be poured in this one and only goal.

If the plan didn't end up the way he envisioned it to be, at least his Father and the other Wanderers would still make it back to Pangea.

As for him? He and his subordinates could hide inside Rocky and order the Rocky Bal-Boa to dig as deep as he could.

He would wait it out until Arundel left the Valbarra Archipelago then make a boat that would take him to the Main Continent.

"Don't worry, Pops," Thirteen said. "We'll make it happen."

"Okay, let's do this," Gerald pumped himself up. "If we succeed, I will have something to brag to my Old Man about."

Thirteen watched his father with a faint smile on his face. Since he had promised to his Mother, Shasha, and Remi that he would bring back Gerald to Pangea, he would do it using all the means in his disposal.

A month passed swiftly, with both the Tigerkins and the Barbarians preparing for the upcoming war.

Arthas' pendant was currently inside Rocky's miniature world, preventing Gael from tracking it.

During this time, Vassago and Poca would regularly carry messages from both sides, allowing everyone to coordinate their movements.

Thirteen and his team left Gronar City and built a small stronghold in the Warsor Plains.

The area where they chose to build their base was the most ideal location that Thirteen could position himself during the war.

It was three miles away from the Furvus Grasslands, as well as four miles away from the location of the potential main battlefield, according to Paven's estimate.

"Young Master, everyone is ready to go," Cristopher said as he approached the younger boy, who was busy inscribing symbols on the body of the Ballista, which was over fifteen-meters-

long.

Thirteen had named the Ballista Athena Version 1.0, which made everyone look at him weirdly.

For the past month, everyone had been working hard to finish the body of this weapon, which was made from wood, and steel.

Rocky was the MVP who made the gathering of materials possible because he served as the Pick-Up Truck, carrying everything they needed back to their base.

"Very well," Thirteen replied. "I'll be done in a few minutes."

After imbuing the last rune symbol with the power of a Core, the boy was finally able to sigh in relief.

Against all odds, they were able to finish the Ballista within a month. Now, he only needed to do two things to finish his war preparations.

The first one was to deal with his neighbor, the Diabolical Hyena, which would probably submit to Arundel the moment the latter appeared in the Valbarra Archipelago.

Thirteen had no intention of letting it live, for its existence would only make the already difficult situation even more difficult.

After doing a few stretches, Thirteen walked out of the cave and saw that everyone who would accompany him was already there and ready to go.

Cristopher and Rianna stood beside each other, and behind them were the Wanderers who had prepared intensively for today's battle.

Dixon, plus his Scouting Team, Payton, and the rest of the Tigerkins were raring to go as well.

But, that wasn't all.

Adira, Arthas, Netero, and four more Champions, who were loyal to the City Lord, were there as well.

"Let's go," Thirteen said before riding on top of Giga Chad, who had now become his personal steed. "Time to meet Cranky."

Several Wagons departed from their base, leaving Gerald and the non-combatants behind.

They were going to meet up with the Purple-Furred Honey Badger, whom Thirteen had named Cranky.

After nearly a month of negotiations, they finally settled with a deal four days ago.

In the end, the Purple-Furred Honey Badger would help them defeat the Diabolical Hyena in exchange for its Djinn Core, as well as the monster's body parts, with the exception of the Hyenas' head.

The Wanderers and a few of the Champions would focus on the Diabolical Hyenas' subordinates, while the rest would help Cranky fight the Rank 6 Hyena Overlord.

As they neared the location of their meeting place, Thirteen and his people could already smell the stench of blood.

The Purple-Furred Honey Badger laid on the ground as if taking a nap, with several Hyena corpses around it.

Clearly, it was trying to decrease the number of small fries that would hinder their plans today. The seven-year-old smirk seeing that Cranky still did things at its own pace.

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