The intelligence reports arrived at midnight.
Wang Ben was summoned from his quarters by a messenger whose urgency suggested something beyond routine updates. He dressed quickly and made his way to the tactical analysis chamber, where Captain Liu Yanran waited with an expression that combined professional focus with genuine concern.
"The scouts returned an hour ago," she said without preamble. "The enemy is massing."
The chamber's central table held a map of the region, marked with colored tokens indicating troop movements. Red markers clustered in formations that Wang Ben's enhanced perception immediately recognized as aggressive positioning.
[INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS: Enemy troop movements]
[Estimated force: 2,000+ cultivators, concentrated in three groups]
[Command level: Core formation leadership confirmed, possible mortal shedding coordination]
[Formation: Triple-prong assault pattern, convergence point at fortress western wall]
[Timeframe: 48-72 hours based on movement rate]
[Assessment: This is not scouting. This is preparation for major offensive]
"They're not testing us this time," Wang Ben said. "They're coming in force."
"That's our assessment as well." Captain Liu indicated the three enemy concentrations. "Standard doctrine would have them attacking simultaneously from multiple directions. But the pattern doesn't quite match standard doctrine."
Wang Ben studied the map, his mind processing the disposition of forces. The System provided analytical support, highlighting correlations and suggesting implications that his conscious mind might miss.
"The convergence point," he said slowly. "They're not planning a dispersed assault. They want to concentrate force on a single sector."
"Which sector?"
Wang Ben traced the probable approach routes, factoring in terrain, formation coverage, and the intelligence he had gathered over weeks of observation. The answer emerged with uncomfortable clarity.
"The Metal-deficient zones. Sectors 4 through 7." He looked up at Captain Liu. "They've been probing those areas for weeks. They know our formation coverage is weakest there."
"We reinforced those sectors after your last analysis."
"Shored up against probing attacks. Not against a full offensive." Wang Ben's voice was grim. "If they commit their full force to that sector, our current positioning won't hold."
Captain Liu was quiet for a long moment, processing the implications. "You're certain?"
"As certain as I can be." Wang Ben gestured toward the enemy concentrations. "Look at where they're gathering. All of them moving toward the same place. You don't do that if you're planning to hit us from multiple directions."
"Commander Feng needs to hear this."
"I know."
The war council convened before dawn.
Commander Feng Zhaoyang presided, his Fire-aspected presence filling the chamber with warmth that seemed almost oppressive given the gravity of the situation. Around him sat the fortress's senior officers: Vice Commander Chen, Battle Commander Xu, the Formation Commander, and a handful of other high-ranking cultivators whose names Wang Ben was still learning.
He stood at the back of the chamber with Captain Liu, watching as the intelligence was presented and debated. The senior officers discussed troop movements, resource allocation, defensive positioning. Standard military analysis, competent but constrained by traditional thinking.
"The pattern suggests dispersed assault," Vice Commander Chen was saying. "Standard doctrine for forces of this size. We should prepare for multiple simultaneous attacks."
"With respect, Vice Commander." Captain Liu stepped forward, drawing attention to herself and by extension to Wang Ben. "The tactical analysis team has identified a different pattern. May we present our assessment?"
Commander Feng's gaze found the captain, then shifted to Wang Ben behind her. "Proceed."
Wang Ben moved to the central table, conscious of the senior officers' attention. Most of them were foundation establishment or higher, veterans with decades of combat experience. He was a qi condensation youth, barely old enough to be taken seriously.
But the analysis was sound, and that was what mattered.
"I don't think they're planning to hit us from multiple directions," he said, his voice mostly steady despite the pressure of all those eyes. "I think they want to punch through in one place. Here."
He indicated the Metal-deficient sectors on the map, tracing the convergence pattern that the intelligence revealed.
"They keep probing these same sectors. Weeks of it. And now look at where their forces are gathering." He swallowed, aware of how young he must sound. "They know our formations are weakest here, and they're positioning to hit it with everything they have."
"That's speculation," one of the senior officers objected. "The troop movements could support multiple interpretations."
"Maybe. But..." Wang Ben hesitated, then pushed forward. "If they wanted to attack from multiple directions, they'd be spreading out more. Giving each force room to work. Instead they're bunching up, getting ready to concentrate. That looks like a focused breakthrough to me."
[ANALYSIS: War council reaction assessment]
[Commander Feng: Attentive, weighing evidence. Fire nature inclines toward action]
[Vice Commander Chen: Skeptical but listening. Conservative tactical instincts]
[Battle Commander Xu: Interested. Combat experience recognizing pattern validity]
[Formation Commander: Concerned. Aware of Metal-deficient sector vulnerabilities]
[Others: Mixed, predominantly deferring to senior leadership]
The debate continued for another hour, Wang Ben answering questions and defending his analysis against challenges from officers who had more experience but less data. By the time it ended, the room's opinion had shifted.
"We'll reinforce Sectors 4 through 7," Commander Feng decided. "Reallocate forces from the eastern wall, where enemy activity has been minimal. Formation teams will work overnight to strengthen the Metal-deficient nodes."
"Commander, if we're wrong about the attack direction, the eastern wall will be vulnerable," Vice Commander Chen cautioned.
"If we're wrong about the attack direction, we'll have strengthened positions that needed attention anyway." Commander Feng's voice carried the finality of decision. "If we're right, we'll have prevented a breakthrough that could have cost us the fortress."
It was the same reasoning he had used before, after Wang Ben's first pattern analysis. Pragmatic calculus, choosing action over inaction when the stakes were this high.
"Dismissed," Commander Feng said. "We have forty-eight hours to prepare. Use them well."
...
The preparation work was exhausting.
Wang Ben labored alongside the other formation masters, strengthening nodes and repairing damage that had accumulated over weeks of combat. The work required precision and endurance, qualities that his Scripture-enhanced cultivation provided in abundance.
But even enhanced cultivation had limits, and by the second night of preparation, Wang Ben was feeling the strain.
"You should rest." Elder Wang Hongwei appeared beside him as he worked on yet another Metal-deficient node. "You've been at this for thirty hours."
"The offensive could begin tomorrow. Every node we strengthen is lives saved."
"And every formation master who collapses from exhaustion is nodes left unrepaired." The elder's voice was firm but not unkind. "You've done more than your share. Get some sleep. The others will continue."
Wang Ben wanted to argue, but his body's fatigue was undeniable. The Scripture's methods enhanced his efficiency, not his stamina. He was still human, still subject to the physical limitations that even cultivation couldn't entirely transcend.
"Two hours," he said. "Then I'm back."
"Four hours," Elder Wang Hongwei countered. "And that's not a suggestion."
Wang Ben yielded to the elder's authority, making his way to his quarters with legs that felt like they belonged to someone else. The fortress around him hummed with activity, thousands of cultivators preparing for combat that could determine whether any of them survived the week.
His quarters were quiet, a small pocket of calm in the storm of preparation. Wang Ben collapsed onto his bed without bothering to remove his boots, his body demanding rest with an urgency that couldn't be denied.
Sleep came immediately.
...
The dream was different this time.
Not the cosmic grief he had experienced before, not the images of dying worlds and feeding entities. This was something gentler, more personal.
He stood in a garden he didn't recognize, surrounded by flowers that bloomed in impossible colors. The air smelled of spring and something else, something that reminded him of his mother's presence.
"You're pushing yourself too hard."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, familiar in a way he couldn't place.
"I have to. People will die if I don't."
"People will die regardless of what you do." The voice held no judgment, only gentle truth. "That is the nature of war. The question isn't whether you can save everyone. The question is whether you can survive long enough to matter."
Wang Ben wanted to argue, but the dream's logic refused to accommodate his protests. The garden shifted around him, flowers wilting and regrowing in cycles that seemed to span years in moments.
"You carry knowledge you can't share. Power you can't reveal. Purpose you don't yet understand." The voice grew distant, fading. "Remember: the goal is not to end this war. The goal is to become what you need to be. Everything else is preparation."
"Preparation for what?"
But the dream was dissolving, the garden fading into the gray of approaching wakefulness. Wang Ben tried to hold onto the voice, to extract answers from the fading presence, but it slipped away like morning mist.
He woke to the sound of alarm bells.
...
The enemy had arrived early.
Wang Ben dressed in moments and ran toward his assigned position, the fortress erupting into organized chaos around him. The forty-eight hours they had expected had become thirty-six, the enemy's advance faster than intelligence had predicted.
But the preparation work had been completed ahead of schedule as well. The Metal-deficient sectors had been reinforced, their formations strengthened to withstand the assault that was now beginning.
[ENEMY ASSAULT: Initiated]
[Target: Sectors 4-7 (as predicted)]
[Enemy force: Approximately 2,300 cultivators, core formation leadership confirmed]
[Defensive readiness: 87% of ideal (above previous attack levels)]
[Assessment: Pattern analysis was accurate. Preemptive reinforcement has improved defensive position]
Wang Ben reached his station at the formation support center, joining the other formation masters who would work to maintain defensive arrays throughout the battle. The fighting had begun on the walls above them, the clash of techniques and the roar of combat filtering down through stone and steel.
"The analysis was right," Captain Liu said as she passed, her words nearly lost in the noise. "Concentrated assault on Sectors 4 through 7. The reinforcement is holding."
It was validation, but it brought no satisfaction. Somewhere above, people were dying despite the improved defenses. The pattern analysis had helped, but it couldn't prevent casualties entirely.
Nothing could.
Wang Ben settled into his work, channeling spiritual energy into formation nodes that needed support, making repairs that kept the defensive arrays functional under enemy pressure. The battle would last hours, perhaps days. His job was to ensure the fortress's infrastructure survived long enough for the combat cultivators to do their work.
Around him, the war continued its merciless extraction of human life. But because of his analysis, because of the preparation it had enabled, the extraction would be smaller than it might have been.
It wasn't enough.
It never was.
But it was something.
The battle paused at nightfall.
The enemy withdrew to regroup, their initial assault blunted by defenses that had proven stronger than expected. The fortress tallied its losses: eighty-three dead, over two hundred wounded. Heavy casualties, but lighter than they might have been without the preemptive reinforcement.
Wang Ben found a quiet corner and settled into cultivation, using the brief respite to advance his efficiency. The Scripture's methods worked even in the midst of crisis, each breath drawing spiritual energy into patterns that grew more refined with practice.
[CULTIVATION SESSION: Hour 2]
[Qi absorbed: 456 motes]
[Qi retained: 39 motes]
[Retention efficiency: 8.5%]
[Primary elements: Earth, Metal, Fire]
[Trace elements: Ice, Water]
[Environment: Azure Dragon Fortress (Combat-stressed, Ice intrusion from enemy techniques)]
The Ice motes were residue from the day's combat, enemy techniques leaving traces in the fortress's spiritual environment. Wang Ben absorbed them without difficulty, his cultivation processing them as efficiently as any other qi.
8.5%, he thought. Climbing toward 10%.
The first milestone was approaching. When he crossed it, his effective power would double, his cultivation speed would increase, and the gap between his true capability and his displayed level would widen further.
Another secret to keep. Another difference to hide.
But also another tool in his arsenal. Another advantage that might save lives when the fighting resumed tomorrow.
The enemy would be back. The war would continue. The casualties would mount.
And Wang Ben would do what he could, one pattern at a time, one repair at a time, one analysis at a time.
It wasn't enough.
But perhaps, eventually, it would be something.