After the rank 3 terra at his left came rushing at him, Nick covered Failed Tool in Tyrant Armor's sparking black magic power again, following which, Nick put strength into his legs and rapidly ran to meet that rank 3 terra head on; the rank 3 terra on his right seemed to be suffering from a false reality at the moment so it could not immediately rush at Nick and just stared blankly. When Nick reached within a few feet of the former rank 3 terra, he slashed out with Failed Tool:
(Cross Stream Sword Technique.)
Nick tried to cut through the rank 3 magic beast's mandibles with two consecutive iterations of his sword technique but he ultimately failed because the rank 3 terra's mandibles were currently imbued with soul path magic power; Nick did, however, leave some worthy scratches on the rank 3 terra's mandibles. Nick took a momentary respite from his slashes before casting another one of his spells:
(Tyrant Aurora.)
Nick manipulated the output of Tyrant Aurora to only faintly envelop Failed Tool with blade light so as not to overwhelm Tyrant Armor's sparking black magic power that was still covering the blade. The rank 3 terra lunged at him and Nick countered by performing his sword technique again. After Nick completed one iteration of Cross Stream, the rank 3 terra was forced back and by the end of the second iteration, due to the violence of Nick's black and grey, blur like and seemingly crisscross slashes, the mandibles on the left side of the rank 3 terra's face were cut away.
At that point, the rank 3 terra charged madly towards Nick and using the short lapse in action after Nick completed Cross Stream's sword placements, it crashed into his midsection head first and bit him with its teeth. Despite Tyrant Armor's defense, Nick felt as if he had been struck by lightning as pain radiated from his torso and then moved throughout the rest of his body.
(Neptune.)
Nick immediately disappeared from the rank 3 terra's front amidst a flash of blue magic power and reappeared at its immediate left side in the same manner. Nick momentarily bled from his torso but the injury was quickly suppressed by Tyrant Armor's magic power. Nick immediately cast Tyrant Aurora and manipulated the resulting blade light as expertly as before while slashing at the left side of the rank 3 terra's face using Cross Stream.
Without the mandibles on the left side of its face, that area was left partly defenseless. Failed Tool swiftly cleaved into the left side of the rank 3 terra's face and head multiple times and by the time that Nick completed the second iteration of the sword technique almost two seconds later, half of the rank 3 terra's head had been minced into being unrecognizable and grotesque. At that time, the other rank 3 terra finally escape the false reality that was generated using the effects of Tyrant Specter and madly rushed at Nick.
The latter rank 3 terra closed its mandibles and simply crashed towards Nick's right side. Nick swiftly parried that terra's attack using Failed Tool but he was sent flying almost ten meters away by the impact and his right arm was momentarily paralyzed due to the pain and slight fracturing caused by the force of the rank 3 terra's move. Just as Nick was about to fall onto the ground, back-first, he caught himself using the effects of Saturn and immediately used those effects to correct his body posture and place himself on his feet again.
Following that, he cast Tyrant Recovery in order to heal himself of his injuries while processing black miasma magic energy outside his body. At that point, the rank 3 terra that Nick had severely injured using his sword technique could no longer bear with its severe head injuries and succumbed to them, falling to the sandy ground, dead. The last living rank 3 terra clicked its mandibles in fury before madly rushing at Nick again.
Nick quickly drew the black miasma magic energy currently surrounding his body into his mindscape while cancelling Tyrant Recovery and prepared to collide with the rank 3 terra but as soon as the rank 3 terra reached within one meter of him, it slowed its mad rush to a crawl as a vague, translucent human figure appeared lying on its back before disappearing moments later. The rank 3 terra's eyes became unfocused and it stared blankly. Nick rejoiced internally when he noticed that the magic beast was experiencing another false reality.
Nick ran forward at a speed that made him look like a black blur and slashed at the rank 3 terra's head using Cross Stream, performing two iterations of the technique at a time. Ten seconds passed before the rank 3 terra escaped from the false reality but by then, Nick had cut away its two pairs of mandibles, crippled its left eye and cleaved away much of the thick and tough flesh on its face and head. Blood poured from the rank 3 terra's head wounds and it swayed about desperately as a result.
Nick quickly floated backwards, a few meters away from the magic beast because its wild movements threatened to injure him again if they met with his body. Soon, the rank 3 terra stopped moving erratically and glared at Nick with its remaining right eye. It charged forward, seeming to want to get to Nick but it actually charged five meters to his left flank before turning to face him again. It charged at Nick again but this time, it tripped as soon as it moved two meters forward, following which, it fell harshly to the sandy ground and began rolling around in pain.
At that point, the vague, translucent human figure appeared not too far from the rank 3 terra, stooping on the ground and seemingly watching the magic beast's disgrace. Nick was able to reason what had caused this situation:
(The rank 3 terra is not trapped in a false reality right now but is probably suffering pain and confusion because of the blade path laws etched into its soul as a result of having experienced the two previous false realities. Its mind has evidently been affected as a result of its harmed soul. It seems that Tyrant Specter is more effective on magic beasts than on humans. Noted.)
The black coating of Tyrant Armor's magic power receded from Failed Tool at Nick's will, following which, he then cast Tyrant Aura twice, swiftly launching a condensed arc of grey blade light at the rank 3 terra's head each time. With much of the skin and flesh having then been stripped away from the rank 3 terra's head the grey blade light bit into its skull, mincing the bone as well as its brain and the rest of its head's flesh afterwards. The rank 3 terra's body immediately went limp and the scene became quiet; it was evidently dead as could be. Nick had killed four rank 3 soul path magic beasts one after the other.
Nick cancelled Saturn, Tyrant Sense, Tyrant Armor and Tyrant Form while sheathing Failed Tool and withdrawing his dreadful aura, after which, he sat in the sand, exhausted. Nick quickly focused his mind in order to actively meditate for a few minutes. At the end of his meditation, when his mindscape was fully saturated with 200,000 magical units of black miasma magic energy, Nick stood up and walked around in order to collect the carcasses of the dead rank 2 and rank 3 terras by storing them into his newer space band. During that time, Nick did not forget to use Tyrant Armor's power to cover his right hand in sparking black soul magic power in order to capture all four rank 3 terras' souls.
Nick became excited once he had retrieved and stored all the rewards gained from his efforts:
(I obtained four rank 3 magic beast souls. They must have immense value, not to mention the value of four of the rank 3 terras' carcasses. These are what I was after but I have to admit that it was not easy.)
Nick sighed when he had that thought, thinking further:
(I won the battle but I was injured multiple times and if not for my advantage in soul cultivation and my Cursed Vessel talent, I could well have been brought to the brink of death fighting those rank 3 terras.)
Nick was not oblivious to the fact that he had many advantages, especially in terms of how much magic energy that he had to spare, his relatively fast recovery, his use of many advanced grade spells that were made using his high attainments along with the fact that since he made them personally, he was very familiar with them. He also had the advantages of his talents and his intermediate grade sword technique.
(All in all, the risks I had undertaken and the near death experiences that I had over the past two decades during my cultivation within different realms and on Grand Earth were not in vain. I am a truly formidable Warlock.)
When Nick had that thought, however, instead of a smile, his expression became even more indifferent than before as he thought:
(...Right. I am a formidable Warlock.)
Nick waited a few minutes before deciding to move into Ragged Nest. H aimed to clear out as much of it as possible:
(Ragged Nest should have a huge underground network. The over six hundred terras that I dealt with should have only been a relatively small portion of the magic beasts that remained at the higher levels.)
Nick cast Saturn and Tyrant Sense while maintaining his Spatial Awareness talent before floating off the ground and descending into one of Ragged Nest's pits randomly. Nick travelled throughout the dark tunnels without any particular direction or target in mind. He killed any terra that he came across, using just his spells to deal with the rank 2 terras but using his spells, Failed Tool, his sword technique and Cursed Vessel talent to deal with the rank 3 terras that would appear less frequently.
(These insect type magic beasts have a high birth rate and can grow stronger through cannibalism, so the there is a relatively high concentration of rank 3 terras down here but they are at a relatively low combat standard within rank 3; at least they are inferior to the rank 3 moose magic beast that I fought in Forgotten Peril but their soul path method makes them extremely tricky to fight head on, especially in this dark and enclosed space. One wrong move and they could rip you apart in a mob style.)
Nick earned himself quite a few injuries while fighting the rank 3 terras in the dark but casting Tyrant Recovery was always adequate to heal himself of those injuries. There were a few times that Nick was forced to escape into Pluto's adjacent space but this gave him the opportunity to use his apparent ability to observe his original space through the adjacent space's void. Nick was eventually able to notice the change that happened involving his eyes while within the adjacent space during that time using Tyrant Sense and Spatial Awareness.
(Those red-blue eyes are the same as the dragon within my mindscape. That can't be a coincidence. This ability of mine to see through the adjacent space's void must have something to do with my deep seeker dragon bloodline and if that is the case, my warlock bloodline has been influencing my rank 3 mindscape all along and that is why the human figure within my mindscape morphed into the figure of a dragon. That seems so unlikely and fantastical but it has to be the truth. I really am a Warlock with the bloodline of a dragon, a real dragon!)
Nick's ego gained a slight boost at the time of his realization but he tried to reign himself in when he also realized that he still had problems:
(The dean of Richter Order Academy tampered with my soul and the wicked being wants to use me as a vessel for who knows what. I have to get stronger in order to deal with these problems.)
Due to these thoughts, Nick endeavored to fight more ferociously during his battles with the rank 3 terras, so that he could learn and improve faster. He had never forgotten about his Dragon's Advantage talent since learning that he had it so that gave him an even greater incentive to fight without cease and so within the equivalent of eighteen months, Nick reached a very low level of Ragged Nest.
Nick floated through a tunnel, remaining about two meters off the sandy ground. His white hair was messy, his blue spiraling eyes showed signs of tiredness but no real emotions and his brown complexion had become noticeable paler since entering Ragged Nest. Nick had Failed Tool sheathed at his left side; he wore a red silk polo shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans pants and a pair of brown combat boots.
Nick 's surroundings were completely dark and he had to rely on the effects of Tyrant Sense for the past eighteen months in order to avoid being cornered or ambushed by magic beasts. Even Spatial awareness was hampered by the darkness within Ragged Nest but would give him a clear image every once in a while when he faced rank 3 terras. Soon, Nick saw light emanating from a few hundred meters in front of him and so he manipulated the effects of Saturn to move himself forward.
Within a few minutes, Nick arrived near to the light and realized the its source was within a cavern up ahead. Nick immediately received images of the cavern's interior via Spatial Awareness. The cave seemed to be very wide and housed large rocks, where glowing vegetation grew on their surfaces. Because of the images that Nick received, he was also made aware that one terra inhabited this cavern and following that, he stopped his movements immediately and slowly floated backwards by about twelve meters.
The image of the terra that Spatial Awareness transmitted to him revealed a rank 3 terra that was about twice as large as the rank 3 terras that Nick had already killed and had it a third pair of mandibles.
(If I had to guess, I'd say that the terra was likely still rank 3 but was at a standard probably higher than rank 3 initial stage. This is troublesome...the fact that it is alone in that cavern likely means that either it does not like its kind, which means that it is absurdly territorial or its kind doesn't like it, which means that it is likely very hostile. There are still many parts of Ragged Nest that I have not searched but this lone terra should be one of the strongest magic beasts down here.)
Nick rubbed his temples in frustration. Fighting terras at the equivalent of the rank 3 initial stage standard was one thing but fighting a stronger terra was something else entirely. Being a Magician was not a fantasy game where you could start over if you made a mistake; fighting an enemy with a stronger foundation than yourself would likely get you killed after reaching rank 3.
That being the case, Nick did not want to give up and turn back too soon because this cavern seemed special and there might be hidden resources inside. Not to mention that the carcass of such a possibly strong terra would be very valuable to him. After contemplating for a few minutes, Nick made a decision:
(What the hell are you afraid of? The magic beast is in the light while you are in the dark, literally. If it is problematic to fight it head on, can't I scheme against it? I am a formation path, space path, blade path, rule path and earth path master as well as a soul path scholar. If I decide in the dark that the magic beast must die, then future circumstances cannot be otherwise.)
While adopting that mindset, Nick lowered himself onto the ground and sat cross-legged, plotting in the dark:
(I have many kinds of magic materials within my space band and I have Silent Ark. My intention should be to somehow trap and kill the terra using a rank 3 magic formation. If this was eighteen months ago, that would be impossible because I would lack rank 3 materials but after spending so much time within Ragged Nest, I have killed close to thirty rank 3 terras and have ample magic materials in the form of their carcasses. I can do something about the terra within the cavern...)
Nick then quickly summoned the carcass of one of the rank 3 terras that he had killed from his newer space band, following which, he used the effects of Tyrant Sense and his Eyes of the Fated talent to study the laws etched onto the carcass. After spending a few days doing that, Nick had an idea of the kind of magic formation that he could create using the rank 3 soul path carcasses. Nick got to work on designing a magic formation within his mindscape.
Nick sat in the dark working on a rule path, space path and soul path magic formation for two months and when he was done, he mused about it:
(I call this formation, Absorb Life Battle Formation. It is a rank 3, basic grade magic formation that uses the rule path principles of 'System' to coordinate, better automate and stabilize its effects. I have integrated aspects of my Soul Haze spell into it, meaning that its offensive capabilities mainly involve absorbing souls and not much else. I designed it to also produce a special space that separates anything caught within the formation from their original space, effectively trapping whatever is within the formation while its soul is being absorbed.)
Nick summoned two bags of butter bread from his older space band and ate them in the dark before trying to accomplish his scheme. After Nick finished eating, he went as close to the entrance of the cavern as he thought was reasonable and cast Big Copy in order to imprint the base of the Absorb Life Battle Formation onto the sandy ground. The tunnel that Nick was in was wide enough to accommodate about twenty adults side by side but Nick intended for no mistakes so he sized the circular formation so that it could expand over the sandy ground and onto the pale-brown rock walls at both his flanks.
Nick then summoned ten rank 3 terra carcasses from his newer space band and used the effects of Saturn to place them correctly onto the magic formation. Following that, he summoned many rank 2 space path, soul path and formation path materials from his older and newer space bands and also placed them onto the magic formation. Nick willed and the magic formation's base began to 'consume' each piece of magic material amidst a dull-white magic power. He mused at this time:
(I have no choice but to use rank 2 space path and formation path materials since I don't have any rank 3 materials of those paths. I used up the last of my rank 3 space path materials to make transport formations before I came to Humble Desert and did not want to buy anymore due to not wanting to lower the company's cash reserves by too much. I did not purchase rank 3 formation path materials for the same reason, which would have been even more expensive than purchasing rank 3 space path materials.)
After the magic materials were assimilated into the Absorb Life Battle Formation, Nick summoned Silent Ark from his older space band and entered its cabin. He activated it fully and turned on its scouting method before speeding off, arriving inside the lit cavern after crossing forty meters of distance. There only appeared to be one entrance to this cavern so Nick had only one way out from this situation.
The terra took notice of Silent Ark the moment that it appeared from the tunnel and in response, the rank 3 terra raised its body that was situated at the center of the cavern, which was the size of a football field. Nick moved towards the terra at speeds exceeding two hundred kilometers per hour with the intention of ramming Silent Ark into the terra in order to aggravate it but before Nick could reach its position, the terra moved from its spot on its own accord.
The terra seemingly and suddenly disappeared from its spot only to reappear at Silent Ark's immediate front. Nick was alarmed:
(The damn thing jumped at a faster speed than Silent Ark moves.)
The hippo-sized terra used its three pairs of mandibles that were now covered in translucent soul path magic power to bite down on Silent Ark's bow, not caring about the speed that Silent Ark was moving at. As soon as the terra bit down, Silent Ark froze in place, its momentum dissipating like common vapor. The sudden stop almost sent Nick flying out of his leather chair but he used the effects of Saturn to keep him in place.
(At least now I know for sure that this terra is stronger than rank 3 initial stage.)
With just a swift shift of its head, the terra tore Silent Ark's bow right off using it mandibles, following which, it fell to the ground and threw the piece of Silent Ark that it had torn off to the ground. Nick did not wait for the terra to target Silent Ark again; he turned Silent Ark around and sped off towards the tunnel that he entered the cavern through using Silent Ark's highest speed but now that the magic formation was severely damaged, its highest speed was a few dozen kilometers per hour lower than it should have been.
The terra chased Silent Ark madly and before Nick was able to re-enter the tunnel, the terra managed to jump at Silent Ark's rear and rip away one third of its remaining body using its mandibles. While the magic beast landed onto the ground again and was throwing away the torn off piece of Silent Ark, Nick re-entered the tunnel and moved what was remaining of Silent Ark to the center of his magic formation, facing the entrance to the cavern.
Within a few seconds, the terra crawled into the tunnel and chased after Silent Ark like a moving train. In less than two seconds, the magic beast reached Silent Ark and bit down on it using its mandibles. Nick immediately cast Neptune in order to teleport over three meters away from Silent Ark, appearing amidst a flash of blue magic power. Nick momentarily watched as the magic formation that he had spent hundreds of billions of pounds to construct and repair was torn apart within mere seconds by the ferocious terra.
Silent Ark's destroyed components fell onto the surface of the Absorb Life Battle Formation until its very base was destroyed by the terra's soul magic that was imbued within its mandibles and at that point, Silent Ark was no more than scattered magic materials. Nick shed a tear from his right eye before speaking the trigger phrase of the Absorb Life Battle Formation:
"Begin!"
The magic formation that had been designed in a red pigment immediately glowed ghost-white and a thick fog enveloped the magic formation and the tunnel that Nick and the terra were situated in. Following that, the terra finally focused on Nick and was about to lunge at him while it glared at him hatefully but the thick fog also enveloped Nick, which resulted in the latter vanishing from view.
The terra thrashed about until it reached Nick's previous positon but could not find him. It looked all around at the soul path magic power that now surrounded it, which manifested as thick, grey fog and it tried to rapidly crawl in one direction in order to escape the fog but ultimately it could not find a way out.
Nick hid within the fog and observed the powerful magic beast, thinking:
(A beast is still a beast, after all. Although it might be intelligent, it cannot see through the workings of a magic formation and because the magic formation includes rank 3 soul path materials, it cannot brute force its way out or even find me due to the cloaking of all this soul fog. Soon enough, I will bring this magic beast down!)
True to Nick's thoughts, over the equivalent of two weeks, the terra could not find a way to escape and its soul was gradually worn down through absorption by the Absorb Life Battle Formation's soul fog. At the end of the two weeks, the terra was so weak that it simply lied down amidst the soul fog and waited to die. Nick had been observing the terra's condition frequently and had spent his time meditating within his hiding place in order to keep his magic energy reserves at an acceptable level while he maintained the magic formation.
Nick had dark circles around his eyes and his head was filled with a slight buzzing. He was truly tired but the fight with the powerful terra was still not over.
(I wanted to get a hold of this terra's soul even if it was weakened but considering its strength that could effortlessly rip Silent Ark apart, it is too risky to reveal myself to it in order to directly fight with it. It is safer if I just wait until its soul is completely absorbed.)
Nick waited the equivalent of another week before the terra lost all signs of life. To test whether it was really dead, Nick cast Neptune to appear in front of it amidst a flash of blue magic power while being immediately ready to cast Pluto if the terra's body moved. Lucky for Nick, the terra seemed to be truly dead. Nick cast Tyrant Armor and covered his right hand in its sparking black soul magic power in order to try to recover any remnant of the terra's soul but he failed; the terra's soul seemed to have been completely absorbed by the Absorb Life Battle Formation and was therefore irrecoverable.
(It's not that I couldn't have designed the magic formation to also recover souls but that would have required a more complex magic formation and other kinds of rank 3 soul path materials. The Absorb Life Battle Formation is just rank 3, basic grade, so I cannot expect too much from it.)
Nick tapped the terra's carcass with his newer space band and stored it before willing for the Absorb Life Battle Formation to self-destruct, which resulted in the soul fog quickly dissipating and the magic formation's base disintegrating into free flowing magic energy. Nick then cast Saturn in order to raise himself two feet off the ground and flew towards the cavern.
When Nick entered the cavern, the light slightly burnt his tired eyes but he managed to bear with it. Nick observed the space carefully; the ground was filled with pale-brown sand, there were at least fourteen large rocks that were scattered within the cavern and that were covered with a vegetation that emitted soft, white light, which lit up the cavern. The walls and ceiling of the cavern were made from relatively soft, pale-brown rock.
On the surface, other than the lighting, this cavern seemed to be average at best but Nick planned to check thoroughly.
(Since such a powerful terra resided within this cavern, there might be something special about it.)
To effect the checking, Nick spent two hours laying the Mining and Detection Formation, sizing it at about a ten-meter-radius, following which, he searched the cavern using the magic formation's scouting method throughout the entirety of the space fifty kilometers below the cavern. After about two hours of searching, all that Nick discovered were more tunnels and locations of more terras but because he did not plan to descend any further into Ragged Nest, he paid that information very little attention.
Finding no valuable resources, Nick was about to give up when he thought of checking the walls and ceiling for possible resources:
(It is possible that there are resources embedded into the rock walls and ceiling.)
Nick spent some time moving the magic formation across the rock walls and eventually found large deposits of a rank 3, rock like material embedded into sections of the walls. Nick spent one month collecting the material before searching the ceiling, at which point, he found deposits of the same rank 3, rock like materials at higher concentrations. Nick spent two more months harvesting the magic materials before assessing his gains.
Nick summoned a piece of the rank 3, rock like magic material from his space band; it had a dark brown surface that made it appear like common rock but it emitted the unmistakable signature of strength path. Nick observed it, thinking:
(I should have extracted about twenty thousand tonnes of this magic material. Hmmm...why would strength path magic materials be here? I would understand if it was soul path or earth path but I did not expect to find strength path materials.)
Evidently, the path of the magic materials found within an environment did not have to coincide with the path of the magic beasts living within it.
(Now that I think about it, the rank 3 terras have an absurd amount of strength that does not coincide with their relatively compact size and the fact that they are soul path magic beasts. The last terra I fought was a great example of this; I wonder if its strength and this magic material have some kind of relation. Sigh, I still have a lot to learn about magic.)
Nick stored the magic material back into his newer space band, following which, he summoned a crystal-blue projection stone from his older space band and threw it at his feet. A blue, space path magic formation quickly appeared and adopted a bright, silver color in response to Nick speaking its trigger phrase as it radiated with bright-silver light that enveloped Nick and his vision.
By the time that the bright, silver light abated, Nick found himself within his workspace on the third basement floor of his building, standing over his main transportation magic formation. Nick immediately fell backwards onto the hard floor and fell asleep. He had not been able to sleep for months while he was within Humble Desert and he was weary beyond belief at this time.
Nick slept for two days before he woke up feeling rejuvenated. First, Nick summoned a bag of butter bread from his space band and ate it while sitting cross-legged on the floor. After that, Nick left the third basement floor using the elevator, following which, he went to the ground floor storage area, where he unloaded the twenty thousand tonnes of rank 3, rock like magic material.
Nick then took the elevator to the fifth floor and went to his office, where he took a shower, after which, he got dressed in an orange silk polo shirt, a pair of light blue jeans pants and a pair of black, laceless suede dress shoes. Nick sat at his modern-styled desk and made a call to Dewy using his smartphone. Dewy picked up almost immediately:
"It's good to get a call from you, sir. You've been gone for almost two months this time."
Nick politely greeted Dewy and then got straight to the point:
"I need you to call Hank and Carl and instruct them to meet me in the fourth floor's first conference room. Oh, and tell Riley to be there as well."
Nick hung up the smartphone after giving those instructions, following which, he took the elevator to the fourth floor and went to the first conference room, where he sat at the oval table. Nick summoned his laptop from his older space band and checked the company's corporate account, soon discovering that the company's expenditure over the past two months amounted to £370,000,000,000, which Nick could mostly ascribe to energy costs involved in refining magic materials, appraisal fees and other sales related costs.
Nick also discovered that the company's revenue was over £1,160,000,000,000 during this time, so he wasn't going to cry about the high expenses. Soon, Carl, Hank and Riley entered the conference room and each sat opposite to Nick. After exchanging greetings, Nick got down to business:
"Carl, I have more magic materials for you to possibly process and package but I don't know what it is, so you'll have to wait until Hank has the material appraised."
Carl nodded his head in acceptance of the instructions, following which, Nick spoke to Hank:
"Hank, like I said, get the new magic materials within the storage area appraised, packaged if need be and sold. Also, I saw our new account balance, so good work to all of you."
Hank smiled and replied:
"It was no trouble, Mr. Capitol. I'll get the new materials appraised as soon as possible. Great Appraisals has started to think well of us, so they have arranged a representative to be assigned to us on a twenty-four-hour basis."
Nick laughed internally when he heard that, thinking:
(Has started to think well of us? Yeah...if someone paid me over £130,000,000,000 in fees over two months, I would think well of him too.)
Nick continued:
"I also have the carcasses of over twelve thousand magic beasts called, terras, that originate from Humble Desert. Carl, I need you three to figure out how to store, process, package and sell such materials. Any purchases, contracts or hiring that need to be made as a result, talk to Dewy first and he will delegate tasks to Kurt, Sai or Joyce. Do you all understand?"
The three managers nodded their heads in understanding in response to Nick's instructions. Nick had killed many rank 2 terras and decided that he did not need so many magic materials derived from them, so he planned to keep a portion of the carcasses and sell the rest; he was of course neither going to sell their souls nor the carcasses and souls of the rank 3 terras that he had killed.
Nick finally focused on Riley and instructed:
"Alright, I need you specifically to find me a company that employs decent magic tool makers that know how to make soul path magic tools. I need a support soul path magic tool made from a certain rank 3 magic beast, whose carcass I possess. Also, I need you to find me a decent company to that sells magic weapons, so that I can replace this..."
Nick unsheathed Failed Tool and placed it onto the table. Riley observed the sword with a weird expression, then softly gasped because of the damage to the sword. Failed Tool's once exquisite grey blade now had several visible chips and cracks in it. it was clearly on the verge of breaking apart. Nick sighed internally, thinking:
(This is the result of using the sword to cut up over thirty rank 3 terras. I also think that much of the damage originates from covering the sword in Tyrant Armor's soul magic power in order to increase its base sharpness as well as its cutting power when Tyrant Form was cast in combination. Although Failed Tool is a great advanced, apprentice grade sword, it is a blade path weapon while I had been forcibly influencing it using intense soul magic. Although the effects of Tyrant Armor temporarily increased its offensive capabilities, the conflict between the soul path and blade path laws was apparently more than Failed Tool could bear over such a long period of fighting. This outcome is both a result of the rank 3 terras being tough and me not using my sword properly. In regard to the former reason, Failed Tool was made from rank 3 blade dragon materials which might not be greatly superior in toughness to the mandibles and bodies of the rank 3 terras.)
Nick continued:
"I would prefer you contact a company that specializes in swords and make sure that they have a stock of soul path, space path or blade path, apprentice grade swords. It would be even more preferable if the company had had those swords made from dragon related materials."
Riley slowly nodded her head and said:
"I'll find good companies and have them send over representatives to talk to you about creating your support magic tool as well as to showcase new swords."
Nick nodded his head in acceptance of Riley's words. The good think about being the head of a relatively successful company is that Nick did not have to seek out skilled people. Companies that had the resources would send representatives to The Realm Exploration Company in order to create long term bonds; this was basically the way things were done in the business world, at least among magical companies.
Nick picked up Failed Tool and sheathed it before storing it into his older space band. Following that, Nick dismissed his three employees. Nick looked at his corporate account balance again before creasing his brows, saying:
"Hiring a magic tool maker to create a decent support soul path magic tool won't be cheap and neither will be buying magic swords that meet my standards. This corporate account is going to take a large hit but if I want to explore realms more efficiently, these are necessary purchases."
When Nick thought about his recent loss of Silent Ark, he developed a headache. He had lost a magic formation that he had poured hundreds of billions of pounds into and during one fight. To him, the loss was barely acceptable but he had to accept it no matter what.
(I can't slack or else I won't be able to move forward. I've taken too much risks and had too many losses to stop here.)
Nick stored his laptop within his older space band before calling Dewy using his smartphone. When Dewy accepted the call, Nick instructed:
"Dewy, I need someone to drive me to a good restaurant within the city. I don't care which one; I just need to get a break from all this."
Dewy replied:
"I'm busy with other tasks, so I'll have Nate drive you around using the town car. When should I have him be ready?"
Nick answered with an indifferent tone:
"Tell him to meet me out front in five minutes."
Nick hung up the phone after saying that and made his way to the ground floor and out the sliding automatic, glass entrance door, where he met Nate, who was leaning on a clean, black town car a few meters away from the entrance. There were two security guards stationed on either side of the entrance, wearing their blue uniforms and they greeted Nick with a slight nod of the head; they were well aware that Nick was the strange looking owner of the company.
Nick approached the town car and told Nate:
"Drive me somewhere that sells good fried chicken."
Nate smiled and replied:
"No problem."
Nate was actually wearing an all-black, three-piece dress suit along with a pair of black, designer dress shoes. He immediately moved to get into the driver's seat while Nick opened the left back door in order to take his seat behind Nate. Nate drove the town car through the property's gates and reached the parking lot of an ordinary looking dine-in restaurant after one hour of driving. Nate asked Nick:
"Do you want me to go inside with you?"
Nick replied without a change in expression:
"No, you should stay with the car."
Nick left the car and walked slowly towards the entrance of the restaurant. There were many people that were dressed casually and had pleasant expressions on their faces, who entered and left through the restaurant's glass, double-door entrance. Nick soon entered the restaurant; it had a counter used for making and serving orders as well as a dining area filled with over ten tables. There was no one in line at the moment and the dining area was only half-filled.
Nick walked up to the female cashier, who had blonde, short hair and wore glasses, she immediately cringed when she saw Nick's strange appearance but realizing her mistake, she put on a smile and asked:
"What are you interested in having, sir?"
Nick didn't mind the woman's reaction to him since his snow-white hair and spiraling blue eyes were not what you would call typical. After looking at the holographic menu board, Nick indifferently ordered:
"I will have two servings of fried chicken along with fries and brown rice. I will also take a serving of your vegetable salad, sausage pasta and a large cup of orange juice."
The woman placed the order using her computer and asked Nick for payment, following which, Nick took out a black Absolute Reserves Bank credit card that Kurt had given to him. When the cashier saw Nick's credit card, her eyes opened wide in surprise as she thought:
(Is that one of those legendary black cards that billionaires walk around with?)
She nervously took hold of Nick's credit card and charged him, following which, Nick took his receipt and his credit card and went to the self-service part of the counter to retrieve his order. After obtaining a tray with his meals, Nick silently went to the table farthest away from the entrance and sat down facing the rest of the dining area. Nick picked up his fork and used it to take up some of the fried chicken before bringing it close to his mouth using his right hand but before he placed the food into his mouth, his right hand stopped in midair.
Nick looked around and saw the families and friends sitting at their respective tables, laughing and talking, before looking around himself, realizing that he was still alone and had been alone for a long time. Nick paused his actions for half a minute before he focused on the food in front of his face again and placed the metal fork into his mouth, thinking:
(No one ever said that going after your aspirations was a road filled with companions.)
Nick spent one hour eating his meal and after he was satisfied, he moved to throw away his trash and left the tray and his fork at the corner of the self-service counter. Nick then left the restaurant and moved to re-enter his town car; the time was well past sundown by now and the surroundings had relatively dim lighting. Once Nick took his seat inside the car, Nate asked him:
"Where to next, boss?"
Nick replied without thinking too much:
"Drive me back to the company. I've got more work to do."
Nate silently complied and half way to their destination, Nick received a call from Keller Oxar. Nick accepted the call, saying:
"Keller, what's good?"
Keller Oxar replied with cheerfulness in his tone:
"Everything on my side is good, Nick. I'm calling to ask a favor if I can."
Nick didn't like doing favors but the thought that he might as well hear Keller out since the latter had tried to warn Nick of danger within Forgotten Peril a few years ago even though he didn't have to. Nick replied:
"Just ask."
Keller smiled in response to Nick's easygoing attitude and explained:
"I've sent Veera to Grand Earth to attend Richter Order Academy. That's your old stomping grounds, right? She has not yet started living on campus and I was wondering if you could meet with her to discuss cultivation. Oh, she might have someone with her as well named, John Rebel; he will also be attending the academy along with Veera."
Nick thought silently for half a minute before replying:
"You know; I still remember the good meal that you gave me at the banquet a few years ago. I'll do you this favor in honor of that. I'm free tomorrow morning. Have Veera come by The Realm Exploration Company at around 10 am. She just needs to tell the guards who she is and they'll let her in."
Keller was confused as to why Nick presumably wanted to meet with Veera at what he assumed to be Nick's workplace, but he knew that the venue of the meeting did not really matter.
(Maybe Nick did not want to spend too much time away from work. He was only licensed a few months ago, after all, and needs to prove his worth to his employer. Man, I remember those dog days...)
Keller just wanted Veera to hear the experiences of an actual rank 3 Magician, who had even attended the same academy that she was about to attend. Keller replied:
"...Right. I'll let Veera know."