Acting Sect Leader Maximus Radcliffe
It has been two Earth months since the start of phase two and four Earth months since
Zhao Rui, the disciple who made the pills production line discovery is now the Sixth Pavilion Master, Bai Ruoxi direct disciple. Maximus is not sure if it is just plain coincidence or fate as Bai Ruoxi is a grade seven alchemist, just a step away from achieving the peak in the alchemy field. On second thought, it won't matter in any case fate or not since Zhao Rui was in Thurox when he made the discovery. Thurox is where Bai Ruoxi took charge and there is no way Zhao Rui will be able to outsmart an old fossil like Bai Ruoxi the moment she set her eyes on him. She wasted more than half an hour during the meeting bragging and rubbing it in the face of the other eleven Pavilion Masters. The fact that her newest direct disciple also possesses a grade one spiritual root left the other Pavilion Masters who can always come up with snarky remarks unable to respond.
After holding it in until Bai Ruoxi is done bragging, Maximus can already anticipate from the facial expression of the other Pavilion Masters what they have in mind. Daniel Watson like it or not is going to end up being one of their direct disciple. Thankfully for him, Oryn is neutral ground and none of the Pavilion Masters are allowed to interfere directly or indirectly here. Anyhow, he can only wish Daniel Watson the best of luck. Whichever settlement he ended up going in the future, it better not be one managed by one of the more eccentric Pavillion Masters. On this note, Zhao Rui can count himself lucky as Bai Ruoxi is one of the more normal Pavillion Master among the twelve.
It has been agreed in the meeting that it is time to reveal the sect's predicament and circumstances to it's Earthling disciples. Rather that being horrified, the council is in consensus the disciples will be thrilled with the "game" tragic setup. Just like any other run of the mill game setup, they will become the protagonists that will ultimately save Immortal Ascension Pavillion from its demise and bringing the sect to greater heights. Truth be told, if the sect's grand elder is convinced that we still haven't found all the traitors within the headquarter and have unrestricted access to all the herbs we can buy, it will just be a matter of time before we save the sect with the pills production line discovery alone.
At the forefront of the meeting agenda, it is imperative that the identity of all disciples leaving Eldorin is never revealed. To guarantee that, all disciples will be compelled to wear a specially crafted cloak before being allowed to leave Eldorin. The special cloak has built in features to mask the wearer's voice and other elements that can help to identify or track the wearer. Additionally, the cloak also has a built-in spell that will immediately expel the disciple's soul back to earth upon capture or activation and the body left behind instantly up in flames to destroy any possibility of leaving behind a viable clue that can be traced back to the sect.
Second, only disciples in the second major realm will be allowed to participate. With those in the second major realm being the mainstream combat force in the lower realm, all disciples travelling outside will have a much higher chance of survival as long as they don't have the worse of luck stumbling upon a cultivator in the third major realm or higher. Thankfully, cultivators in the third major realm onwards are rare in the lower realm. They are strategic human resources that empires and sects will only deploy to locations of significant value. In the lower realm, cultivators in the third major realm are sect leaders in smaller sects or senior managers in larger sects. Using Earth as an analogy, how often do see the top management of a mega corporation moving around out in the public? Most of the time, they will be either stuck in board room meetings or sitting comfortably behind their desk issuing orders to their employees (or busy covering their ass or backstabbing one their peer). The chance of meeting a cultivator in the fourth major realm will be even lower to near impossible. The small number of cultivators in the third major realm onwards has always been an enduring problem of all worlds in the lower realm. There is nothing strange about it when powerful sects in the immortal realm are constantly taking away most of the cultivators with a decent cultivation talent. It is human nature striving for better prospect. If given a choice, how many people out there will reject the chance of going to an Ivy League University on full scholarship in preference of studying at a community college? If the original plan can be followed, Maximus wouldn't have to worry about any of his disciples in the third major realm getting captured roaming the lower realm. This is provided they don't do something recklessly foolish.
Regardless of all the contingencies planned, it is still best if the sect's disciples operated under the radar without catching the attention of any local powers. As such, the sect will only choose chaotic regions to "liberate" the natives from their misfortune. Taking advantage of the chaos, missing population in such regions can always be attributed to any number of reasons. With thousands of worlds in the lower realm, there will always be regions where empires have collapse while contending powers fight for hegemony. It is always the commoners who suffers the most when war rages and Maximus truly believe they are doing the natives a favor relocating them. Given the whole cultivation world has never progressed much beyond a feudalistic system similar to Earth in the Middle Ages, the natives will definitely live a much better life under Earthlings management.
Next, the council has agreed to keep the duration of each invasion campaign within a month length or sixty Earth hours to reduce the risk of their operation being discovered. However, opening a portal is an expensive business. With the sect having the habit of optimizing for the best returns possible, it has been decided each invasion campaign will be timed to match the weekends on Earth and participating disciplines' login limit over the weekend to be extended to twenty hours a day. The soul of those disciples who have achieved the second major realm should be strong enough to stay away from their true body for a month. Even if the disciples' soul is slightly overexerted, the rest over the weekdays on Earth will be more than enough to allow their soul to recover fully.
Lastly, Maximus have to redraft the development blueprint on spirit gathering array. As a secondary stopgap measure to address the issue of manpower, he will have to raise the priority for building and upgrading all new settlements spirit gathering array to level two. As a benchmark, his disciples only took two Earth months to upgrade Oryn's spirit gathering array to level two. This will be much faster in comparison to upgrading Oryn's spirit gathering array to level three. Even with the most optimistic estimate, Oryn's upgrade will take at least six more Earth months to complete. The completion of the level two spirit gathering array for all twelve settlements will have increased the disciples limit by another one hundred and twenty thousand. Deducting the forty thousand disciple recommendation slots he will have to give away as reward, he will still be left with another eighty thousand disciple slots. Due to a recent development, he will have to keep a decent number of those disciple slots in reserve. The financial amount changing hands on Earth has exceeded millions and is still growing. It will just be a matter of time before the governments took notice. Those reserve slots will be his initial bargaining chip to negotiate with the governments on Earth. Ultimately, whom among the rich and the powerful can resist the temptation of living longer?
Additionally, he will also need to issue new regulations when it comes to setting up non sect owned spirit gathering arrays. A spirit gathering array operates on an almost similar principle to a wind turbine. It needs a certain buffer zone to achieve full efficiency. The introduction of spirit energy battery has led to haphazard and unorganized construction of spirit gathering across the settlements on Eldorin. If left unchecked, it will only lead to havoc as dispute over buffer zones mushroom. Moving forward, a disciple will need to apply for a permit before being allowed to build a new privately owned spirit gathering array.
Even with an army of assistants helping Maximus, there are still a long list of details he needs to solve, leaving nothing to chances. At this stage, Immortal Ascension Pavillion is moving in the right direction towards salvation but the margin of error is still too thin to be desired. Adding on the hassle that he needs to sugarcoat their action and being politically correct from an Earthling standpoint, the job got even more tedious.