For many months, this one's paws carried a journal.

Now they carry a sniper rifle. The travelling is not finished. The stories are not finished.

But perhaps it is time for a different kind of journey. This one has set their sights upon a new destination:

Rear Admiral.

And perhaps, if the ammunition holds and this one's questionable decisions do not catch up first...

Beyond.

So begins a new chapter of this one's journal.

Each week, this one will look back through the scope at the battles fought, the damage dealt, the victories won, the defeats endured—and perhaps most importantly...

Whether firing all those bullets actually accomplished anything.

Welcome to Week One.

🇿🇦 The Week Begins at Home

There was little time for a gentle introduction to this one's new career.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 began the week fighting.

The https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28, backed by https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa forces, continued a cycle of revolts against https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 territory.

Battle after battle had already drained our fighters.

Equipment was disappearing. Supplies were being consumed. Pills were being swallowed.

And this one was about to discover that taking one of those pills creates a rather complicated relationship with the following twenty-three and a half hours.

Eight glorious hours of +60% damage.

Followed by fifteen and a half hours of regretting every decision that brought you here at -60% damage.

This one is still learning.

🛡️ The Battle That Got Away
https://app.warera.io/battle/6a79a00069124c83cc17a921

One of the hardest fights of the week came early. https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 had already endured previous revolts when another attack arrived. This one took the pill. The scope came up.

And for most of Round One...

We were winning.

This one poured damage into the defence as https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 and its allies desperately tried to hold their advantage.

Then https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7aa began its push. Slowly the gap disappeared.

The final stretch became desperate as both sides threw everything they could into the battlefield.

When the guns finally fell silent, the round had been lost by the smallest of margins.

The numbers tell the story:

85,245,316 vs 85,059,557.

Less than 200,000 damage separated the two sides.

Round Two was different.

The enemy rushed early, took the lead and never surrendered it. https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 and its allies pushed hard, but this time there would be no comeback.

Binya's Damage: 1,924,835

A defeat. Nearly two million damage spent without a victory to show for it.

But wasted? This one does not believe so.

Sometimes holding the line matters even when the line eventually breaks.

⚔️ Hold.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a7ba7e8fa3516ff41192847

The revolts continued. https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f and https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 were beginning to cast their eyes toward Africa as well.

But before https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 could look across the Atlantic, there was still unfinished business at home.

Another https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 attack came. This time...

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 held.

This one stood his ground against https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28, dealing:

1,152,578 damage

Fourth among the defenders. More importantly, https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 won.

That battle marked something larger.The cycle of https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 expansion had finally been stopped.

This one lowered the sniper rifle.Looked through the scope.

And realised something.

We had spent long enough defending.

⚔️ Counterattack.

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a7c806a4280ad1201d7d476

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612, https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15fa and https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15b7 began striking back against https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 across several fronts.

One battle in particular would become this one's largest fight of the entire week.

Round One passed without this one firing a shot. During Round Two, this one was still suffering through the miserable recovery from an earlier pill.

-60% damage.

This one fired anyway. Admittedly, not always in the correct direction.

Somewhere during Round Two, this one managed to deal:

528 damage... to our own side.

This one wishes to formally apologise. The scope was possibly dirty.

Regardless, https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 convincingly secured the round.

Then came Round Three.The recovery ended.

Another pill was taken.

+60%.

The sniper came out.Then the better equipment.

Then the legendary equipment.Eventually this one looked at the tank.

The tank looked at this one.There was an understanding.

Everything went onto the battlefield.

And still...

It looked like we were going to lose.Then, when hope seemed almost gone, a familiar name appeared.

https://app.warera.io/user/69196f4f6021f881e21f90fbThe former President apparently decided subtlety was unnecessary.

A jet appeared overhead.And in just under two minutes, approximately 2,000,000 damage came crashing into the battlefield.

The round tipped.https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 won.

This one's final contribution:

2,164,856 damage.

The largest single battle of this one's week.

This one believes the 528 friendly fire was therefore strategically necessary.

Please do not investigate this claim.

🌍 A New Threat Arrives

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a7c0c4d135df1b5f1edd8cb

But while the https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28 front was turning...

Another front was opening.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f and https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 were moving into Africa.

South America had arrived upon African soil. This one's scope turned west.

In one particularly close attempt to stop https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f expansion, this one emptied the remaining damage from the pill into Round One.

887,012 damage.

We pushed. They pushed harder.

https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f slipped through.

Another defeat. Another battle where this one would gladly have taken back a few thousand bullets if given the opportunity.

But again...

Not wasted. We had made them fight for every step.

♟️ Colombia Moves

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a7e7900dfbc8ed903f2a475

The answer would not come only from defending Africa. Our allies in https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac85f opened another front.

A strategic revolt was launched in South America—not merely for the territory itself, but to force https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f and https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 to look behind them.

If they wished to fight in Africa...

Then perhaps they should be reminded that their own homes were not untouchable.

This one had taken another pill during Round Two. Damage was spread across several simultaneous battles, but most of this one's attention went toward https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac85f.

999,150 damage.

The revolt succeeded. The scope had crossed the Atlantic.

🎯 The Shot This One Will Remember

https://app.warera.io/battle/6a7da326677ceeea45fe5feb

Then came the battle this one is proudest of this week.

Not the largest. Not necessarily the most important battle of the entire war.

But this one was different. This one helped push Round Two over the edge.

Then came Round Three.

The rifle was ready. The orders were clear.

And this one fought.And fought.

And kept fighting.When the round ended...

This one looked at the leaderboard.

Then looked again.

Surely there had been some mistake.

Binya_Elsweyr — Top Damage.

This one had taken first place for damage in Round Three.

The reward?

A Dragon.

This one has travelled the world hearing rumours about dragons.

Apparently the correct method for acquiring one was simply shooting enough people.

This would have been useful information several months ago.

Battle Damage: 1,505,839

Of all the battles fought this week, this is the one that will remain with this one.

For the first time on this road toward Rear Admiral, this one did not simply feel like another rifle among hundreds.

For one round...

This one's shots helped lead the charge.

🌎 Taking the Fight Across the Atlantic

The fighting continued into South America.

One hard-fought counterattack saw this one contribute:

1,658,372 damage.

Some damage went into Round Two.

Then this one pushed heavily through Round Three.

Another battle saw 669,604 damage spread among the chaos of several simultaneous objectives.

Another https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac85f operation received 328,743, helping push toward a region neighbouring https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858 capital.

The war had changed completely in only a few days.

At the beginning of the week, This one had been staring through the scope at enemies attacking https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612.

By the end...

This one's scope was pointed across South America.

🤝 When the Olive Union Calls

Not every battle this week belonged to https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 immediate war.

Orders arrived from https://app.warera.io/alliance/6a2965afbc253b28fcf0d1c7 And when allies needed damage, https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 answered.

This one's rifle appeared in battles supporting our longstanding ally https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3.

It appeared in support of https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a2. And then there were the Balkans.

This one remembers very little about one particular battle there.

There were orders. There was https://app.warera.io/alliance/6a2966e8f0f195d344d5158c.

There were enemies.This one shot them.

852,654 damage.

Sometimes history is complicated.

Sometimes military service is:

"Binya, shoot there."

"Very well."

Bang.

🔭 Through This One's Scope

At the end of Week One, this one finally sat down and counted everything.

The result was considerably larger than expected.

35 Battles

13,030,016 Total Damage

From desperate defences in https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612...

To counterattacks against https://app.warera.io/country/6873d0ea1758b40e712b5f28...

To holding back https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac82f and https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac858...

To revolts in https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac85f...

To fighting across South America...

To answering https://app.warera.io/alliance/6a2965afbc253b28fcf0d1c7 calls in https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af15c3, https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d446e731854c7ac7a2 and the Balkans.

And somewhere among all of that...

528 Friendly Fire Damage

This one would prefer everyone focus on the thirteen million.

There were also seventeen tiny appearances across various battlefields where this one dealt less than 20,000 damage.

The smallest contribution?

200 damage.

This one does not remember this battle.

This one does not remember firing.

Perhaps the sniper fell over.

🏅 Week One's Scope Report

Total Damage: 13,030,016
Battles Fought: 35
Largest Battle: 2,164,856
Proudest Battle: 1,505,839 — Top damage in Round Three
Reward Earned: Jet/Dragon
Closest Heartbreak: Round One against the Portuguese-backed attack — lost by less than 200,000 total damage
Most Dramatic Reinforcement: StormHazard — approximately 2m damage in under two minutes
Alliance Duty: Iraq, Italy and the Balkans
Friendly Fire: 528
Smallest Contribution: 200
Damage This One Seriously Regrets: Surprisingly little
Pills Consumed: Enough to learn that timing them properly may be more complicated than economics

The Road Ahead

Week One began with this one learning how to fight.

When to pill. When to push.

When to hold damage. When to bring out the expensive equipment.

And apparently...

Which direction the sniper should be pointing. There is still much to learn.

Thirteen million damage sounds impressive until this one looks at the warriors further ahead.

The road to Rear Admiral remains long.

But this one did not begin this journey expecting it to be easy.

Next Monday, the numbers begin again.

Another week. Another collection of battles.

Another opportunity for this one to look through the scope and ask the only question that really matters:

Did this one's shots make a difference?

For Week One...

This one believes they did.

May your roads lead to warm sands.

— https://app.warera.io/user/68e538c09c4aafa6f1a0bd5c