After Xu Tao made a proper "gate" for the wall—fixing the hole Arthur roughly made—and placed a drawbridge out of wood that was manually put on or off, the team proceeded to their next location: the nearest forest with trees.
Xu Tao used his sword to cut and process trees into standard sizes and shapes. By default, he cut them about 2.5 meters long each, with one pointed end, like a long, square stake.
With the wood ready, it was up to Jehanne's five soldiers and five of the Azure Dragon Sect's outer disciples to create a crisscrossed pattern—a spike barrier—holding them together with nails.
It wasn't stable enough as-is, so they had to make small notches to allow each piece of wood to "bite" into the next one, resulting in a more stable form.
"Oh, right." At that moment, Xu Tao pulled something out of his Storage Ring. "Jehanne, come over here for a moment," he said.
"Yes?"
And in a flash, Jehanne arrived just a step away from him. Her usual smile still adorned her cute, thin lips, making Xu Tao wonder how she could keep smiling all the time.
"I want you to have this."
He opened his palm, and on it was a single ring. A ring identical to the one he had—an SSR Storage Ring. It was a duplicate he got during Arthur's roll, along with many others.
"This...!" Jehanne gasped, seeing the ring. "You mean...!"
"Hmm?"
But Xu Tao was confused by her reaction, her shocked face and the faint blush on her cheeks. He hadn't bothered with women during his time as the Great Elder either, so failing to understand what was going on in her mind was only natural.
"I know it's scary to have something so precious," he said, sighing, expression earnest and sincere. "But will you accept it?"
At that moment, Jehanne gasped. Her heart clenched, beating almost twice as fast as usual. Her face turned beet red as her eyes darted around. But despite all that, she sheepishly lowered her head, giving a short, curt nod while extending her right hand.
She offered her ring finger, quite obviously, but she didn't speak a word.
Xu Tao saw her actions and smiled.
Then, he carefully took her hand and slowly slid the ring onto her finger. "There, it fits perfectly," he commented casually, seeing the ring slip on without trouble.
Well, that was obvious, of course. Storage Rings, after all, adjusted to the wearer's finger size. A literal "one size fits all."
Jehanne slowly retracted her hand, staring at the ring now on her finger.
Then, her lips slowly curled, eyes flickering with emotion as her smile deepened.
"You can use that ring to hold the finished spikes," Xu Tao explained to her. "With the dimensions we set for manufacturing, it should be possible to put the completed ones inside."
"..."
But Jehanne didn't seem to hear what he said. She was just looking at her ring, almost as if she were on cloud nine.
"Huh?" Xu Tao tilted his head. "Well, I said what I need. I'll get back to work." He turned around, leaving the still-out-of-sorts little saint behind.
Just to be clear, the custom of giving rings to one's significant other as a sign of either courtship or partnership... was unknown to Xu Tao. It was sort of a "Western" culture, after all. To him, giving a ring was just like presenting a gift—or a sign of trust, of alliance.
But to Jehanne, a little saint who lived through battlefields... the very notion of a man giving her a ring while "proposing" was the stuff of dreams within dreams. She didn't expect to become someone's lifelong partner so suddenly!
Misunderstandings... grave ones that should've been resolved immediately.
But Xu Tao was oblivious to this fact and left the matter alone... A detail that would bite him in the ass later on.
🔷🔷🔷
Construction of the wooden spike barriers was going well.
After Jehanne returned to her senses, she worked even harder than before, speeding up the transport of the finished barriers. While at it, she even set everything around the wall, spaced just far enough from the moat to act as an obstacle.
Other than those, Xu Tao also made wooden spears. Throwing spears.
There was a chance that flying monsters would appear too, and even if the monsters had to swoop down to attack, being able to fight only when the enemy was already attacking felt too passive. As such, he made those just in case, to let them fight flying monsters properly without wasting precious Qi.
"Preparations are over...!" And after a grand total of 50 minutes since the notification appeared, all defense fortifications were complete.
A tall wall, where others could stand and attack from a vantage point. A deep moat that hindered enemies from approaching and attacking the walls directly. Then, there were the wooden spike barricades that slowed enemy advances.
Everything was set perfectly...
"Alright, everyone!" Right then, Xu Tao raised his voice. "In 10 minutes, a wave of monsters will arrive. I don't know what kind, or how many, but be prepared for the worst!"
It was a bit too late to tell them this now, but letting them know earlier wouldn't have changed anything. Rather, to avoid unnecessary panic and worry, this timing was for the best.
As expected, unrest spread among everyone except the two UR characters. It was the obvious result of his sudden announcement, and unfortunately, he could do nothing about it.
"Soldiers! Attention!"
But with a single shout from Jehanne, her five soldiers threw aside their worries and stood stock still—a perfect example of a soldier's response.
The outer disciples, on the other hand, were getting even more worried.
After all, they had seen how "waves" of monsters had slowly torn down the Azure Dragon Sect's fighting forces. If this wave was like those, they feared for their lives.
Xu Tao took a deep breath, about to speak once again, when—
"This mountain is too small for two lions to reign," suddenly said the pretty boy King Arthur, running a hand through his golden locks. "As such, I request we simplify it a bit. Don't you agree?"
"...Arthur?"
Xu Tao raised a brow, not liking the atmosphere he was giving off.
His smile didn't look friendly now—not at all.
But Arthur didn't seem to care what Xu Tao was thinking. Instead, he casually removed the clasp of his left gauntlet and threw it toward him.
"Cultivator Xu Tao... I challenge you to a duel."
And then, he said the last thing Xu Tao would've expected.
Of course, Xu Tao hesitated for a good while. After all, he had already confirmed that Arthur was literally on the same level of strength as Jehanne—someone he couldn't handle at his current level.
"You're asking me to die?"
He grumbled inside his heart.