12 Returning Victorious

Having defeated this throng of goblins, the expedition members felt a great sense of achievement. In particular, their awe and respect for Kael grew even more after his defeat of the seemingly undefeatable huge goblin.

That goblin was at least in the Herald Rank Lower Phase stage. Yet Kael, who was not even in the Commoner Rank Lower Phase, had taken care of it so easily. This spoke great volumes about Kael's abilities.

However, it was impossible for such a minor victory to let things get into Kael's head. After all, he was the renowned Invoker who struck fear into his enemies' hearts across the Hundred Realms. The defeat of a Herald Rank monster was only a matter of course for Kael. He would drill a hole to hide his head if he couldn't even deal with such a low ranked monster.

Besides, it took much time for Kael to conjure and draw out the formation diagram of the Spirit Array. In an individual battle, it was impossible for Kael to draw a Spirit Array right under the nose of the enemy and expect it to work out. It only did this time around because Patten Eagle was there to distract the huge goblin and that the whole battlefield was in great chaos. During normal times, it was unlikely that Kael would be able to pull such a feat off.

That didn't stop the Beastmasters and the rest from praising him from head to toe though. The incessant praising lasted for a good 10 minutes.

Kael finally quietened them and he spoke to Patten Eagle, "I think we should camp at this mineral vein and harvest the Whitemoon Stones from it. Further down, there should be goblins of higher ranks and levels guarding over various richer mineral veins. With our current abilities and strength, we could barely fend off this wave of goblins. Our chances of survival deeper down the mines is thus equivalent to zero. Let us not be greedy and just obtain what we originally sought for."

Patten Eagle said, "I agree. Let's split up into 9 different teams and harvest the stones from different locations in this mineral vein. The team where the team leader has died should split up and join the other teams. Let's start now. We are running short of time. Soon the goblins deeper down will realize what happened and come up and attack us. We got to harvest the Whitemoon Stones before that happens. Let's move!"

The different teams split up like a well-trained army, going for different spots in the mineral vein. The mineral vein was about 100 feet in length, thus there was ample space for the different teams to start harvesting the Whitemoon Stone.

The mineral vein was exuding a faint luminous white light because of the Whitemoon Stone. However, it was 99% impure. For every chunk of metal that was mined, only 1% of it was Whitemoon Stone. That was why the miners in each team had to use spirit arts to harvest the 1% from the rest of the useless metal. To that end, it took time and effort, which was why the rest of the team members were standing on guard, vigilant against any incoming attacks.

After 5 whole hours, the miners were finally done. They managed to extract 10 kilograms worth of Whitemoon Stones, double of what was originally expected of them.

Patten Eagle quickly called for a retreat while the enemies deep in the mines hadn't discovered their presence.

On the way back to Fledgling City, Kael thought to himself, "I caught a whiff of a spiritual trace of a Guardian Rank item in the mines. It had to be a Guardian Rank item, if not the spiritual trace wouldn't be giving off such a potent feedback. Ah well, I can't reach it given my current cultivation level. I should wait till I reach at least the Herald Rank Late Phase before coming back here for that item…"

With that, the journey to the Whitemoon Mines came to an end. The expedition came back victorious, and they were not shy of proclaiming it to the masses in Fledgling City on the main streets.

After hearing the news, people were cheering them on, for they had done an impossible task of infiltrating deep into enemy lines and coming back alive.

Patten Eagle, Kael and the rest quickly entered the presence of the City Lord, Richard Duran, who welcomed their arrival in the city square.

Richard Duran was a tall and burly man, almost twice the size and height of Kael. The profession of Beastmaster was befitting for a man like himself. He waved his hands for his men to collect the Whitemoon Stones, and then ordered them to distribute the bounties to each individual member.

The expedition members' eyes went red at the money, and each of them clutched at the pouch and was unwilling to let go of it.

"Thank you City Lord! You are so generous! You are the real deal alright!"

"That's right! 20 gold is so awesome! It can last us for a really long time!"

Each of them cheered the City Lord as they received their remuneration. Only Kael was left.

Richard Duran went in front of him and said in a low and deep voice, "You must be Kael? I detect no spiritual aura from you, yet you are remarkably wise and strong. This item bag, together with 100 gold is inside. Treat the additional 50 gold as thanks for training up my men in the two Spirit Arts as well."

Richard Duran placed the item bag on Kael's hands. He clasped Kael's hands and tried to detect magic power from within. Even though Richard Duran had expected it, he was still surprised to find out that there really was negligible amount of magic reserves in this young man.

Kael received the item bag and performed a curtsey. He replied, "It's merely my duty. Thanks for the remuneration. I wish to make an additional request though, City Lord."

"Hahaha! Speak! Feel free to ask!" Richard Duran thought that this was the chance to recruit Kael. Little did he know that he would be disappointed at the next sentence.

"I wish to be granted special permission to enter the Fledgling Myriad Institute."