12 Episode 12

An oval shaped spaceship landed right near the platform where the hunch backed Elder spoke almost a month before. Obsidian in color, there were multiple windows which could be seen. The material could not be determined as it seemed to be something which the human race had never seen before. Although the spaceship looked to be fragile, there was a feeling that everyone got when they saw it. The feeling of looking at an impregnable fortress, one which would spell the doom of the planet if it so desired. The overall height of the spaceship was not to big, from the ground to the highest point was twenty five meters. This sparked debate in people's hearts about the capacity. Of course, the questions remained in their hearts as they were too afraid of triggering the warriors.

The door to enter the ship was six meters tall and four wide, big enough for a steady flow of passengers to enter or exit at their leisure. The doors opened slowly, causing a loud sound for all to hear as the insides of the ship were coming into view. Every available human eye on the planet was seen looking at the sight with whatever they could find to watch the news. Some used laptops, others used phones and the elderly watched on their television. A deafening silence ensued once the doors were completely open.

The participants who had already been gathered before the ship, trembled in excitement and fear. From here on, things would be different. Many people still refused to believe that this was real and were simply playing along in hopes to see to the end of this dream and wake up in their bed. As the crowd watched on, the hunched back Elder made his appearance.

Standing in front of every participant, he had both hands on his staff which was planted firmly on the ground in front of him. Behind him, the other robed figures lined up. There were a total of seventeen figures, making the hunched back Elder the eighteenth. As he opened his mouth, his voice was heard all across the planet, even to those who could not presently see or hear him. He was using his Spiritual Energy to transmit his statement to every ear that could hear, animals and humans alike.

"We welcome the participants aboard the Thousand Stones Turtle. The speed may be slow compared to other Spirit Treasures, but the defense is impressive. With that being said, let us leave to Gyoaph. We have so much to see, especially the rise of these human "Heroes"," he emphasized the word "heroes" to boost the morale and he had achieved his goal. As the participants followed the seventeen figures, the onlookers roared with all their might. Some shouting individual names, while others cheered for mankind's next step onto their evolution. Achieving what he had wanted, the hunched back Elder waved his hand as he followed behind the group.

The Thousand Stones Turtle took off while the thousand participants were gathered in a large chamber of the ship which looked to be a training ground. The heroes of Earth looked at each other, wondering what would transpire next. Everything was moving too fast for them in the windows they looked out of, however there was no feeling of moving inside the ship. Many deducted that this was due to the Spiritual Energy. They were half correct. The ship ran on Spiritual Energy, however it was not a pure energy which they saw before. This one was extracted from Spirit Stones, so the purity level was much lower.

As the heroes waited in the training area, below back on Earth, there were multiple people praying to their respective God(s). This was a moment in history which would change everything. Many critics implied that this was nothing more than a significant step for mankind, just like the moon landing. However, there were more people believing that the time for humans to evolve had finally come. As they said, there had been too long of a wait period since the last evolution, so a dawn of new types of humans had arrived. Whether this was true or not was left to public opinion as they were not part of the thousand who would be taking a direct influence of the change, so they could only speculate.

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The hunched back Elder walked slowly from behind the participants. His slow and steady pace was beginning to irk some people, but they did not dare to voice this out. After all, he had shown them before how strong he was. Killing and replacing any one of them would be easy at the snap of his fingers. After a few minutes of the slow walk, the Elder arrived in front of the mass. Putting his right hand in front of him and his left on his trusty cane, he spoke while signaling the people to sit down. At this point, people realized that chairs had appeared out of thin air. Taking a deep breath in, the participants sat down immediately, in fear of angering the old man.

"Welcome aboard the Thousand Stones Turtle and I am your current person in charge, The Fifth Elder of the Obsidian Snake Sect and my name is Janis Thornton, you may call me Fifth Elder Janis. With that being said, we will be arriving at Gyoaph in three days. I will have my outer court disciples pass out the book which has been prepared for you all shortly. The book will be an introductory of what to expect at the planet Gyoaph," He stopped speaking to let the people absorb what he had just said.

After seeing there was no confusion, he proceeded, "The planet, like yours, is undiscovered and will house many natural resources which will be used to promote your strength. There is a six month time limit, after which all the remaining trainees who survive will be promoted and become outer court disciples. If no one survives... well it's safe to say that your home will follow your demise. Are there any questions?"

His words were followed by silence. There was no one who would be willing to give up their life on purpose, so no one wanted to speak out regardless of how many questions they had.

"Why should we be loyal to you even though you have threatened our race since the moment you showed yourselves?" a boy's voice was heard. Many of the people near the voice tried to move away as much as they could, without being obvious about it. This boy had clearly lost his mind and soon his life and they wanted no part of it.

"What a brave man," Janis said as he looked over at the source of the voice. On a seat near the back, there was a boy who's age did not exceed fifteen. His purple eyes were covered by his now long brown hair. The person who spoke was indeed Jacq. He looked at Janis in the eyes as he waited for his answer, even if his answer was death he did not falter.

"A good question. As your time passes on, you shall learn there are many types of cultivators in the vast universe and your home was lucky for us to stumble upon it. We are at least giving you a chance to survive. Other cultivators would have massacred your entire race the moment they laid their eyes on you. Our glorious sect does not discriminate against the races, only the strength. The stronger you become, the more freedom you shall have. After awhile, you will come to understand that we are allies who look to make your pitiful race stronger so that you may fend for yourselves," his response was once again met by silence.

Jacq obviously did not believe such a one sided statement, but the same could not be said for some of the gullible people who had already prepared to become stronger to join this sect. Although he was cautious, Jacq could only do so much.

"Looks like I will need to become as strong as possible if there is any hope for Earth to break off from this slavery," he thought to himself. He would take action once his strength was enough, any sooner would simply be courting death. Jacq nodded his head as if to agree to Janis' words.

Seeing that no one had anything else to say, Janis waved his hand. The doors on the side opened and a batch of outer court disciples walked in carrying books which were passed to the thousand trainees.

"You will all stay in this training ground until we arrive. Meals will be served three times a day, so you do not need to worry about starving to death. After all, you all are our trainees for the outer court and we can't have you dying so soon. How you spend your time here is your choice, you may study the book, train your body, talk to the older outer court disciples, or simply rest up. I shall see you all in three days when we land," saying this much, Janis walked off to the long corridor which lead to his chambers.

"I guess knowledge never hurts," Jacq said as he looked down at the introductory book.