Working on a plan

Carrying Bucky on his shoulder, Ryu returned to the mine and took up a position on top of the rocks, near the entrance, from where he could see all movement in the camp safely. In this position, Ryu could monitor the entire base, from the slaves, who occasionally came out pushing laden wagons, to the route that members of the high valley used to patrol the base's perimeters.

One of the things Ryu was most wary of was the obese man. However, he was nowhere to be found at the base. There was the possibility that the disgusting man might be locked inside his barrack since the time Ryu left, but his absence was a disturbing factor for every plan Ryu could make.

Earlier, Ryu was able to see the man's cruelty, but on that occasion, much more was revealed, which was his strength. Despite his fat shape, there was real power and agility within his movements, indicating that the man had combat experience and that his level was high enough to ensure his dominance among the other members of the highvale and the townspeople in general.

Therefore, it was necessary to pinpoint his location, for having such a strong figure on the prowl is extremely dangerous. It didn't matter if the man left the base to go into town to solve whatever problem was going on there because he could return at any time, destroying any eventual Ryu's plan by himself.

As time went on, Ryu began to learn the faces of each member of the highvale, as well as their route while patrolling, about the carts, there was no proper schedule, but Ryu noticed a certain frequency between each time one of them appeared.

When the sun began to set, the slaves were led out of the cave, ending activities in the mines. On the way out of the mine, the slaves took an alignment stance, and two members of the highvale began a rigorous inspection, checking each of the slaves and groping them to ensure there were no hidden gems.

Only after the inspection was over were the slaves allowed to proceed to the big tents. Not long after that, three members of the highvale arrived carrying the great cauldron of soup to the side of the tents, and the slaves went out in order to receive their meal. In a line, the slaves received their single tiny bowl of soup, after which they went back to the tent, and the only people allowed outside were the highvale people.

Although it was still early in the evening, the slaves were all forced to retire to the tents, with which Ryu they fell asleep immediately, as they were exhausted from work in the mine. As for the soldiers, they went to their own accommodations and took turns patrolling the base.

Seeing their condition, now that Ryu planned to have them fight, raised serious doubts whether he really should use them as a fighting force to deal with the highvale or not. Previously, Ryu saw their resistance after standing up straight after a beating and placed them in high esteem.

Despite the evident lack of health, transparent by their skeletal forms, that display of tenacity showed that these people were indeed strong and had the capacity to fight if given a chance. However, after witnessing more about the physical condition of the slaves, it was evident that they didn't have much strength left, so even if a good fighting opportunity did present themselves, they wouldn't count for much in a battle.

"If we want these people to fight, we need to find a way to get them to regain at least some of their strength." Ryu told Bucky, and Bucky responded with a "Squick" agreeing.

"Let's back off for now. Tomorrow we return with a cool head to see if an opportunity would arise. " Ryu said, still angry with the obese man.

With nothing else to see, Ryu ran to the rocky field, fleeing the base in search of a safe place to camp and rest for the night. And it wasn't long before he found a good spot on top of the rock rising from the ground above the rest.

It only took a single look for Ryu to develop a taste for the stone, so he easily climbed it on top of it and set up his camp. On this level, there was a beautiful view of the city's rooftops in the distance, in a direction clearly visible by the light that broke through to break the night's darkness. There was also a broad view of the forest in the distance and a monotonous view of the rocky field, but the view that really pleased Ryu and the most beautiful was the unobstructed view of the bright stars in the cloudless sky.

Sitting on top of this rock made Ryu remember the first time he spoke to Enlil on top of a rock in the sect, making him feel nostalgic as he thought of the people and things he had lived with since joining the sect. Despite the short time since he became a cultivator, Ryu had already had some adventures, but he still struggled to understand the life of a cultivator.

"Another time, I am alone in the middle of nowhere thinking about what it's like to be a cultivator. I wonder if I'm going the right way or just moving on without purpose." the words in Ryu's mind escaped through his mouth.

"Auch." Ryu yelled when Bucky bit his hand. By this time, Ryu was beginning to be startled by the ferret's intelligence that apparently understood his speech and even protested that Ryu was not alone, remembering its presence with a bite. But Ryu relaxed a little when he realized that the animal was looking at him with pleading eyes as it was asking for more food.

Before those pleading eyes, Ryu took a piece of meat from his ring and gave it to Bucky, who jumped on the food with ferocity as if it was starving for days. This extreme reaction caused a switch to turn in Ryu's head, giving him a sudden idea.

"What if I can find a way to give these people more food. Will they recover at least a little so they can fight? Ryu spoke to himself, and the answer was pretty obvious since the slaves had been suffering from severe food deprivation for a long time.

But unfortunately, Ryu's ring did not have a large amount of food capable of feeding so many people, but the highvale base did indeed. Ryu knew this for sure because he saw everything when he was spying on them from a vantage point.

In one of the sheds, there was enough food stored for at least a month, considering the low amount of food they gave to the slaves. However, this was not even the biggest food storage shed, as the biggest was actually the one that served to feed the soldiers and especially chief Byron, an obese man with binge eating.

This new idea provided a workable plan, and Ryu knew what he had to do, which was to steal food from the sheds, but that would require him to infiltrate their base, which might not be so easy.