New Job (2)

In the cultivation world, the Dragon vein plays a critical role. It's more precious than Qi Crystal and held in the same regard as Celestial grade cultivation technique or mythical grade weapon. 

The cultivation world has many Dragon veins flowing and many important and powerful organizations control these locations. Like the Sun sect's sacred ground, The land of the platoon.

Every major central continent's sect has built its main base on a Dragon vein. And for this, they had to fight for ages just to defend it. The main reason why all the sects in the central continent hate the Iron Empire is not a secret that no one knows.

Before the Alliance of Sects, many sects were wiped out from the map by the Iron Empire. After the Alliance, of course, peace arrived but still this very day the border between the Iron Empire and the Alliance of Sect is the most chaotic region on the planet. The sects tier list in the central continent is also derived from the Dragon vein. The sects that control more high-grade Dragon veins usually rank higher than the rest. 

There are estimated that the total number of 3rd-tier sects is around 153. The value changes regularly as many are formed and many are destroyed frequently. These sects are small and don't have a large history because of their constant breaking and forming. Those who are a little decent in this tier have at least 200 to 500 years of history which again is possible because they have control over a low-grade Dragon vein. 

The next group is the 2nd-tier sects. They are much decent compared to the 3rd rate sects. They control a sizeable amount of lands and their disciples are also well trained compared to the bruits of 3rd-tier sects. And most importantly they have a fully functional Dragon vein. Unlike the 3rd-tier sects, their Dragon vein is much more mature. Although it's not high-grade, it's still close enough to train a decent rank 5 cultivator. There are 47 2nd-tier sects in the central continent which all have at least one thousand to two thousand years of history.

Finally, the most powerful sects of the central continents who control the Alliance of Sects and the most feared buch among them are the Nine 1st-tier sects. They are the ones who call the shots on the central plain. The Sun Sect, the Ice Heart Sect, the Boulder Sect, the Poison Lotus Sect, the Firmament Sword Sect, the Shadowmoon Clan, The Ocean Heart Temple, the Celestial Crane Order, and the Golden Blood Sect.

These Nine sects all have a history of more than 5000 years while the Sun Sect and the Golden Blood Sect are known to be the oldest with more than Ten thousand years of history.

It is said that almost all the 2nd-tier sects are one way or another controlled by the Nine sects. And the same goes for the 3rd-tier sects, who are controlled by 2nd-tier forces. This hierarchy system has been going around for eons and the only thing that topples it down is the control of the Dragon veins. So when an actual Dragon vein is presented in front of them everyone becomes curious. 

In front of them, is a high-grade Dragon vein, usually occupied by the Nine sects. But now a new question raised. Magnus glances at everyone who is quite confused at the presence of high-grade Dragon veins, "Why does the deep forest sect possess such a cultivation ground?"

"It seems like everyone read the Alexander Rover's works."

Alexander Rover is an eccentric cultivator who dedicated his life to the research on Dragon veins and the culmination of his life work is the Temporal Qi extractor in front of them and the book called Introduction to Dragon veins. Because of his book ordinary people got access to information on Dragon veins which was once a closely guarded secret.

The Dragon Vein is nature's most powerful machine. Cultivators take the world Qi inside their body and refine it to their core. This refining process takes time. But what if there is a pure world Qi around them? Well this excludes the boring refining process and cultivators can directly solidify their core without the worry of wild Qi. 

And the only place in nature where you can gather pure Qi is in the Dragon veins. Dragon Vein is like a world Qi recycler. The veins inside the planet warp the entire globe and gather Qi. Then it goes through a special recycling process that makes the Qi pure for cultivation. 

This is the ideal condition. In nature of course things are different. The young Dragon veins produce very little pure Qi. In comparison, the mature older Dragon veins produce a high concentration of pure Qi. 

After the pure Qi is separated from the world Qi there remains only the impure wild Qi. Now there is no evidence of what happens to the wild Qi, but Alexander hypothesized that the wild Qi constitutes the fuel for the planet's core. 

Now this is where the Temporal Qi extractor plays a role. It was built to gather pure Qi faster. Even with high-grade veins, it will take years for a rank 4 master to break through to rank 5. Veins produce pure Qi like trees produce oxygen. But with T.Q.E you can gather Qi at a faster rate.  

There are 2 such machines in this world. One is in Red Dragon Empire and another went missing from Iron Empire 500 years ago. But it turns out it was here all along.

Magnus looks at the gigantic machine infront of him. In his many memories, the Temporal Qi extractor is available in many cases. Humanities greatest invention along with the core extractor. Although the one in front of him is nothing compared to the ones many big forces in the universe held.

This one is a caveman level compared to them and worst of all this one was decommissioned 100 years before it's stealing. This means that this machine can't even work properly and these numbnuts want to poke the dragon vein with this. A serious headache started in Magnus's head. 

Leo went ahead and started speaking.

- "This here is the temporal Qi extractor. Humanities greatest achievement. But compared to the one in Red Dragon empire that you saw in Newspapers or journals this one is rather different."

Telling that, he started to get down below through the stairs. Everyone follows him and finally gets close to the team below, who is working on the machine. 

"Here let me introduce you to our technical team."

A group of white lab coats-wearing three people steps forward and Leo begins the introduction. 

"This is Manager Stephen and his two assistants, Lupita and Jerry."

Manager Stephen is a tall dark-haired man. He has messy hair in his head which tells that he didn't have a proper bath for a few days. He has deep dark circles in his eyeline. All in all his getup tells you that he is a very busy man. The same goes for the two assistants. They too have dark circles in their eyes.

"Nice to meet you guys. You guys are a savior. You don't know how hard it is by just three people..." Manager Stephen wanted to speak more but Leo stopped him mid-way.

"Now now…they just arrived here. You guys will have your time. For now….Lupita will take care of you."

Leo then took Manager Stephen to the side while everyone followed the assistants. Soon they reach a location where a few tents are already prepared with a nice dining table filled with food. 

"This will be the place where you guys will stay. We will shortly assign you your tasks. So relax for now", Lupita says that before leaving.

The group finally had some free time and soon everyone started eating. It was a long day and they were very hungry. So no one cares about formality and quickly devoured everything on the table. 

While Magnus is chewing a chicken leg in a coroner, Clementine and Renna approach him.

"I thought I would never see you guys again. But here we are."

"True, here we are. I will be imposing on you again Neil." Renna replies.

"Comon I am not the leader here. I merely worked to save our skin. You guys are the main lead who controlled the array plates"

"Still, I gotta admit Neil. Your handling of array formation was pretty solid. It's on the same level as one of my senior sisters." Clementine spoke.

"Come on, don't jest. My control is far worse and three times we were near death situation." 

It is true that his control is lacking. Mainly because he underestimated the lava pool. He could've arranged another better array formation from his memory instead, he chose a relatively easy formation. But saying that will not do any good. 

As Magnus, was trying not to stand out too much Thomas and his gang approached them.

"If I were you I wouldn't have run away from the Glory. You did save all of us here including me. So for this, I thank you and I apologize for my earlier behavior."

Magnus felt strange and surprised after hearing Thomas's apology. 

- I didn't think he lamented so quickly. Is the earlier life-and-death situation enlightened him or something?

Magnus chuckled slightly with his thought. There's no way it was that easy. That boy is smart enough to know that gaining a reputation here is quite important. By making amends with Magnus he can create a positive impression. But whatever it is, Thomas is currently planning Magnus doesn't need to worry. So he also returns,

"Don't worry. On the road of cultivation, we all have the right to be arrogant. I also apologize for killing your man."

Magnus didn't have any huge attachment with the boys earlier. He took revenge on the actual killer earlier. It's pointless to pursue the path of revenge for someone you barely know. And part of this trial is to survive. If you can't that means you're weak.

After seeing Thomas everyone else also started to thank him. Jennifer and the brown-haired boy whose name is Eric are also among them. 

Finally, after everyone is done thanking Magnus Jennifer is the first person to ask about their current situation.

"I thought the trial should've ended after we reached the teleportation but why are we still here?"

That's the same question in everyone's mind. The trial should've ended with them reaching the teleportation. That's what everyone thought but in reality it didn't as a result everyone has been confusing their current situation as a new trial. 

Just as everyone is discussing various hypotheses, Clementine moves close to Magnus.

"I felt my Master's presence when we were at the cell. But her aura is weak and we couldn't communicate."

Clementine felt relieved when she found her master but now she is worried about her health. Also, she tried multiple times to communicate but her seal was too powerful, for her to act.

"Don't worry. It's not easy to hurt a rank 5 master so easily. Maybe she is chained like us so her Qi is weak. At this point, we can only hope that she survives on her own. So let us focus on what is in front of us." 

Saying that, Magnus looks at Lupita who just returned.