After the incident in the market, no one tried to stir up trouble for Lin Li again. Jasper didn't have to keep stepping in, which suited him just fine.
Lin Li, on the other hand, started training like she finally meant it.
Her talent had always been good—people said her aptitude was sky-blue—but she'd never cared enough to put in the work, so her cultivation had lagged behind. Thinking about "sky-blue aptitude" made Jasper remember Skyhawk. The kid had claimed the same talent, only he'd been forced into bandit life over that stolen heirloom.
Hope he's still breathing.
It was March now, and the heat was starting to creep in.
Jasper lay sprawled along the thick branch of a black oak inside the Lin Estate, letting the shade soak into his bones. This was House Lin's territory—safe enough that he didn't have to cling to Lin Li's side every second.
Besides… she was a girl. She had her own routines. If Jasper swept the estate with Eagle Eye at the wrong time, he'd see things he absolutely did not want to see.
He'd also been stuck for a while.
He felt like he was a breath away from Bronze Tier, Rank 6, yet the breakthrough wouldn't come. Same with his willpower—ever since it reached B-grade, upper, it refused to budge.
Then the quiet afternoon shattered.
A boom rolled across the estate like thunder punching the ground.
Jasper dropped from the tree in one smooth motion and flared Eagle Eye. All across the grounds, Lin guards were moving—fast, organized—converging on the same direction.
Steward Xu spotted him on the run and grabbed his sleeve.
"Jasper! There you are. Move—get to the plaza!"
He didn't slow down, just dragged Jasper into motion as they sprinted.
When Jasper reached the Lin Estate plaza, it was already packed. At least seventy percent of the Lin guards had been called in. And at the very front stood Lord Lin himself, the old man's presence steady enough to pin the air in place.
Lord Lin spoke without raising his voice, yet every word landed cleanly in every ear.
"That sound isn't new. The bone-things are coming again."
His gaze swept the crowd.
"This isn't a skirmish. Scouts estimate five thousand skeletons—two thousand mixed between melee and ranged. More than twenty artillery pieces. Ladders beyond counting."
A ripple went through the plaza.
Lord Lin continued, calm as stone.
"Even the weakest among them is Bronze Tier, Rank 1. Their lowest weapons are stone swords. These aren't wild skeletons. They move like troops. Some have seen war more than once. Possibly veterans."
He paused, letting the weight sink in.
"This may be the largest battle Windcloud City has faced since it was founded. Even House Lin must commit most of its guards. Whether the city holds depends on you."
Jasper turned slightly toward Steward Xu, keeping his voice low.
"Steward Xu. What is this? How can there be so many skeletons, and moving together like an army?"
Steward Xu answered patiently, like he'd explained this before.
"The skeletons you've seen until now are wild ones—no true intelligence. Low-grade. Their weapons are usually broken scraps. Most are what happens when a soldier's corpse turns and becomes a dead thing."
He exhaled once, eyes narrowing.
"These are different. There is a kingdom beyond our borders. A Skeleton Kingdom that shares territory with the Cloudspire Empire. Their ruler is called the Dreadskull King."
Jasper felt his spine tighten.
Steward Xu kept going.
"He commands tens of millions. He wars with neighboring realms to expand his land. They aren't the same as wild monsters. They have minds—some small, some sharp. Common skeleton soldiers follow orders with only basic understanding. Higher skeletons think the way humans do. Their souls have evolved again and again."
"And the worst of them," Steward Xu added, voice dropping, "are the king's personal guard. Skeleton special troops. They can wield diamond swords. Some carry powerful bows. But those aren't things people like us get close enough to truly understand."
The Lin guards marched out with the city's forces.
Jasper went too—though he was Lin Li's Shadow Guard, Lin Li was safer inside the estate right now. Lord Lin remained behind, and Lin Li's father, Lin Tian, had already taken a large group to reinforce Windcloud City's defenders.
Lin Tian's cultivation was Arcane Tier, Rank 1.
By the time Jasper reached the wall, he understood why everyone looked grim.
Windcloud City's ramparts were narrow—barely a meter wide in places. Only the platforms for siege tools offered any real space. There were a dozen or so massive ballistae mounted along the stone.
But the wall wouldn't win this by itself.
The real fight would be the people standing on it… and the people standing in front of it.
Jasper stared toward the horizon.
A black line had risen there—long, crawling, endless.
Five thousand? he thought. That's a joke. That's ten thousand at least.
Either the scouts had been blind, or the enemy had kept more hidden until the last moment.
The city's commander didn't intend to wait for the skeletons to slam into the walls.
All ranged fighters were ordered forward to open the battle. When the skeleton host pushed into close distance, the melee lines would surge up to meet them. Then the ranged units would fall back to the walls, continuing to fire while the melee troops gave ground in steps—slow, controlled—until the city could bring the ballistae into play.
Windcloud City's ranged forces included:
one hundred archers
thirty mages
three hundred firelock soldiers
The firelocks weren't like the old-world muskets that took forever to reload. Here, reload time was closer to the "MC rules" Jasper knew—five seconds for a veteran, eight for a new recruit.
Melee forces in the city's army included:
two hundred spearmen
five hundred swordsmen
thirty cavalry
fifty heavy infantry
one hundred axemen
That was just the military.
When the city's five great houses added their private guards, the numbers swelled again. House guards brought another four hundred swordsmen, fifty spearmen, twenty mages, one hundred firelock soldiers, and fifty archers. No cavalry from the houses—cavalry were expensive, valued like mages, and often stronger in mixed combat. A rider without a horse could become infantry, heavy infantry, or a dozen other roles, depending on the need.
Jasper was assigned as a swordsman for this battle.
He carried a Short Sword, not a longsword. A longsword hit harder, sure, but Jasper cared more about speed, angle, and control. A shorter blade moved faster and felt right in his hand. He could live with the tradeoff.
He followed behind the heavy infantry as the black line on the horizon thickened into individual shapes.
His palms were damp.
This was Jasper's first real war—humans versus monsters, in the open, with nowhere to run if the line broke.
The heavy infantry stopped.
Ranged units rushed forward and formed ranks.
Front to back, the formation was clean:
Ranged first. Heavy infantry behind them. Then spearmen, axemen, swordsmen, and cavalry.
The ranged line was layered like this:
Firelock soldiers in two rows.
Behind them, archers formed a loose ring around the mages, keeping them protected while they prepared their spells. Inside that ring, the mages were already building power, waiting for one order from Lin Tian.
When that command came, the first volley would land like a hammer.
Jasper had asked once what fed the firelocks.
The answer was ugly and simple: gunpowder.
Some of it came from Creepers. In this world, creepers weren't terrifying elites—they were disposable threats, walking bombs, and that role kept them from becoming truly powerful. Their powder wasn't the strongest.
And creepers weren't found in swarms. Usually they showed up alone. That meant their powder was limited.
Most of Windcloud City's supply came from mining and refining instead—sulfur, saltpeter, charcoal—processed into usable powder. Creeper powder was only a small part of the stockpile.
Even so, firelocks were still a weapon that mattered.
The soldiers finished loading. Barrels lifted. Lines tightened.
All of them aimed at the approaching skeleton host.
Lin Tian stood ahead of the formation, watching the distance with a commander's patience, waiting for the enemy to cross into effective range.
The skeletons kept coming.
And the war was seconds from beginning.