Nick followed Charley as he gave a two-hour tour of the facility, and while Charley explained the strength of the materials used to make it. The facility was made of a mix of rank 2 and rank 3 materials that had been mostly prefabricated into sections before Charley and his team even met Nick. The team of five Magicians basically spent two and a half months assembling ready-made sections of the structure to produce what was detailed on the building plan that Nick chose. Nick mused when the tour had almost reached its end:
(Despite this facility costing 5 vatas, it is mostly made of rank 2 materials and only reinforced with rank 3 materials at what would be especially vulnerable places. The building looks fine, but I doubt that it would really last within Reckless State if not hidden by my Absorb Life Battle Formation. Keeping the latter magic formation active over a long time will be expensive because it requires many rank 3 materials to sustain its operations indefinitely, so I might have to make this building stronger in the future.)
The tour ended with Charley saying:
"I hope that you get your money's worth out of this facility."
Nick silently nodded his head, thinking:
(The magic materials used to construct this building are nowhere near as precious as the magic materials that usually go into laying my most important magic formations, so I should assume that most of the costs involved in erecting this building are actually fees for the Magicians and not material costs.)
Nick and the five High Beams rank 3 Magicians left the facility after the tour ended, and Charley handed all the keys over to Nick, saying:
"It was good to do business with you. I assume that we can use your space path magic formation to leave this realm?"
Nick indifferently replied:
"Just give me some time to make a call, first."
Nick called James Dwyer on his inter-realm smartphone and said to him:
"James, I need you to meet with the High Beams Magicians within my workspace. They will be there after a couple of hours, so be prepared to escort them out of the building."
Using the space path magic formation to return to Grand Earth would take about four or five minutes, and so multiplying that by a rate of thirty in terms of time difference would result in the High Beams Magicians getting to Nick's workspace after a few hours. James accepted the instructions, following which, Nick hung up the phone and led the five rank 3 Magicians to his space path magic formation before saying to Charley:
"Stand over the magic formation, speak with intention, its trigger phrase, 'Begin', and then you will be teleported to my workspace on Grand Earth. You are to leave the building immediately once you are there."
Charley replied simply:
"Naturally."
Charley and his team walked onto the magic formation and followed Nick's instructions. The five of them were quickly enveloped by a silver light, and after about four minutes, the silver light abated, at which point, the five other rank 3 Magicians could no longer be seen. Nick then called James and asked:
"How did the departure of the High Beams Magicians go?"
Dewy replied:
"They left as soon as they appeared in your workspace, and no suspicious activity happened throughout."
"Good. Alright, just keep doing a good job."
Nick hung up the smartphone and breathed out a sigh of relief. He proceeded to call Ben Facey and told him to gather up the other seven rank 2 Magicians and meet him at the entrance of the new building. Ten minutes later, all eight of Nick's rank 2 subordinates stood in front of him, observing the new building aimlessly. They had not stood so close to it even while it was under construction; they had not even bothered paying much attention to it because they did not know its purpose.
Nick spoke to them with the confidence of a leader:
"This facility...we will all use it while we are staying on this plateau. Our purpose in maintaining this position is to use this land to cultivate calamity lilies, and we want to do that as quietly as possible. The environment around us is extremely hostile, so it is in your best interest not to wander outside the Absorb Life Battle Formation at your current ranks."
The rank 2 Magicians nodded their heads once in response to Nick's words to show their understanding. Nick continued:
"...Follow me."
Nick raised himself two feet off the ground and slowly hovered to a position that was a few hundred meters away from the new building while his subordinates followed him on foot. He soon told them to stand in one place while he laid a Calamity Cultivation Formation over most of the undeveloped half of the plateau.
Nick spent two hours doing that, after which he used Saturn's power to plant twenty of the calamity lilies near the center of the magic formation after he fully activated it. The Calamity Cultivation Formation glowed with a brown hue that wasn't too luminous.
Nick then stood on the ground, near the calamity lilies, and called his subordinates, who had watched the entire process of Nick laying the magic formation. Nick's subordinates were all visibly in awe of his skill, even the four subordinates who had been in proximity to the Calamity Cultivation Formation before. Shawn Martin asked:
"Sir, how exactly do you plan on growing luck path flowers in this place? Can one formation substitute for a proper environment? The surface of this plateau isn't even great soil, and you can tell that by the fact that it had sparse vegetation growing here when we arrived."
The other rank 2 Magicians looked at Nick intently because they also wanted to know the answer to those questions. Ben thought:
(This ground is relatively hard. Even if Nick uses magic to alter its properties, what Nick wants to do seems unrealistic. That is far more the case than when these flowers were planted within Beast Land of Forgotten Peril. At least Beast Land had very fertile soil, even if it had no obvious trace of luck path. How in the world would he enable it to produce luck path materials?)
Nick expected the doubt of these people, and for most Magicians of their rank, it would be justified because most rank 2 Magicians were not masters of a path themselves, nor would a master bother explaining something like this to them. Because they were his own subordinates, Nick felt obligated to enlighten them:
"The earth path properties of this magic formation are extreme. Considering that the calamity lilies are only rank 2 magic materials, my method is more than enough to get the job done. While the soil of this plateau is not very fertile and the presence of luck magic is relatively scant, so what? Remember that magic spells are manifestations of a Magician's will. If I want luck path flowers to grow in these poor circumstances, so long as I have enough skill at manipulating magic, that can be the case. Just wait a few months, and you will see some results."
One of the more recently hired rank 2 Magicians, Edison Calhoun, spoke out at this time while his brows creased in uncertainty:
"You say that, but skill that can overcome these arid circumstances to produce something not in line with the properties of the environment would require an incredible amount of skill. Not exactly a skill level that an ordinary Magician could possess. Are you an earth path master, Sir Nick? That is the only thing that makes sense to me because you are basically using earth path to induce the generation of luck path. No earth path Magician that I know can do that."
After hearing those words, the other rank 2 Magicians creased their brows and were doubtful because it never occurred to them that Nick had significant skill in earth path. Also, the rumors going around indicated that Nick specialized in space path. Nick shrugged his shoulders and replied:
"I won't answer your question definitively because the answer is none of your business. Just know that I do have some knowledge of earth path."
Nick was not going to carelessly discuss his attainment level with his subordinates because that would gain him nothing while putting him at a possible disadvantage when interacting with them. What Nick said was true, though. As an earth path and rule path master, he had the qualifications to conjure the essential magical conditions that would allow the calamity lilies to grow within the bounds of his Calamity Cultivation Formation despite his lack of luck path knowledge.
All of Nick's subordinates swallowed their questions after they heard his answer and knew that such a response was not uncommon when asking a Magician about their exact skill level. Nick spoke again:
"Well, there are a few living spaces inside our new facility. For the next month, Grand Earth's time, you will all be living here to oversee the growth of the calamity lilies. Ben, Jordan, you will be responsible for manning this Calamity Cultivation Formation under the same instructions as the last time. I want you two to introduce the magic formation to your colleagues so they can take over from you if the need arises."
Nick's subordinates knew that a month on Grand Earth was about two and a half years within Forgotten Peril, and although they were not excited about spending so much time here but this is what they signed up for. They knew that many rank 2 Magicians graduated from their academies and did this sort of work to better themselves before somehow promoting themselves to rank 3.
Nick handed over much of the control of the Calamity Cultivation Formation to Ben and Jordan before saying a few more words and giving Ben the keys to the facility:
"Remember, don't leave this area no matter what, and if you find yourselves in danger, call me."
Nick then dismissed his subordinates, following which, they moved to enter the new facility. Nick himself spent some time assimilating more rank 2 and rank 3 magic materials into the Absorb Life Battle Formation so that it would last at least until the end of the time of the next calamity lily harvest.
Nick also spent two days laying a space path formation that he could use to teleport to this plateau quickly if he needed to. Nick etched a few sub-formations into crystal-blue projection stones so that he could make use of his space path formation at any time.
After doing that, Nick discreetly left the plateau by using Saturn's power to fly through the soul haze produced by the Absorb Life Battle Formation. He still maintained a high degree of control over the magic formation despite having given Tony and Shawn a degree of control over it, so its power did not harm him whatsoever.
Nick committed to exploring Reckless State and killing magic beasts while he waited for the calamity lilies to be cultivated. He did not bother trying to have Riley procure him more souls to fuel his Space Craft Formation because doing so would take time, and all the Magicians that could use his transport formations were already within Forgotten Peril.
Nick flew using Saturn's power alone, actively seeking out magic beasts to fight. He summoned Stoic Grave into his left grip from Advanced Blade Works' special space and killed the rank 2 and rank 1 magic beasts that he came across. Nick traversed the region slowly while fighting magic beasts so that he could spend time learning their habits and characteristics thoroughly.
He even sometimes dissected magic beasts whose behaviors or bodies seemed interesting. Nick encountered quite a few rank 2 mutant magic beasts with exceptional intelligence, but they could not mount a real resistance against Nick's rank 3 powers, so they were usually killed with one slice of Stoic Grave, following which, Nick would find an opportunity to dissect them.
Nick did not seek out any opportunities to mine for underground resources or extract resources of any kind. He decided:
(Since graduating from Richter Order Academy, I've focused on exploring realms to obtain natural resources, and because of that, I feel like my combat training has basically been minimal. I am trying to cultivate calamity lilies to get The Realm Exploration Company a predictable stream of income going forward, not just to increase the company's value but also so that I can focus more on my actual cultivation. Earning money is great, but if I don't maintain my combat standard or even increase it, I could die without an intact corpse someday. As for mining operations, I want to eventually develop teams to do that rather than doing it myself, again, because I want to focus more on cultivation, but the basis of doing so is that I need to be both strong in terms of combat ability and financial means for my plans to work. If any of those are lacking, I will suffer at the hands of legacy families and magic beasts.)
Nick did not forget the 'compensation' that he was forced to give to the Crocker family. He also knew that if he was not fortunate enough to have encountered the two calamity mongrels while they were hibernating, he probably wouldn't have been able to get his hands on the calamity lilies and might have been put in danger if they attempted to use their luck path methods on him, for which Nick did not really have much defense.
(I have been lucky at certain points up to now, but I cannot always rely on luck to deliver me. Luck that my enemies are reasonable people, luck that I happen upon powerful magic beasts that do not try to kill me. I have really been walking on a tight rope all this time, and one slip could have led to my death. Right now, I cannot openly compete with legacy families because they have members with deeper roots than I.
To deal with this, I need both strength and wealth, but strength is most paramount. With this in mind, spending much of my time searching for natural resources cannot continue indefinitely. I need to figure out how to create systems that generate wealth for me rather than breaking my back over every penny. The cultivation of the calamity lilies is a sound step in that direction, but that is so long as I have the strength to maintain my ability to cultivate and sell them.)
Nick also met rank 3 magic beasts during his travels, and although they did push him, most were of a mediocre rank 3 initial stage standard, which meant that he needed to use Stoic Grave in addition to a few of his spells to compete with them. Usually, after suffering a few cuts, bruises, and other internal injuries, he was able to win by slicing up the rank 3 magic beasts using the Cross Stream sword technique or crushing them using his space magic.
During this period, when Nick encountered a rank 3 magic beast that was too powerful to face, which was revealed after they used their magic power to suppress Nick's own magic power, or proved to be significantly faster or more magically resistant than him, Nick would flee using his spell, Neptune. Nick met four such magic beasts.
The first seemed similar to a black and white rank 3 penguin that was as large as an ostrich; this magic beast had a large mouth situated on its abdomen and emitted darkness magic that corroded Nick's space magic. He encountered it within a network of limestone caves. The second was a rank 3 magic beast that seemed similar to a horse's skeletal frame, which could move without having an inch of muscle; this magic beast could cross one hundred meters in milliseconds and did not seem to tire. Its use of bone spikes was so quick that Nick's head was almost impaled three times before he successfully escaped from it; his torso, however, was impaled twice before he managed to escape.
The third troublesome encounter was with a rank 3 magic beast that looked like a furless anteater, but was the size of a mature rhino. Its skin was so thick that even Hard Marvel, used in combination with Tyrant Form, could hardly cut it; Nick's space path spells did even less damage than his blade path spells did, and even Tyrant Specter seemed to be hardly effective on it, so Nick also fled from the magic beast.
The fourth troublesome encounter involved a magic beast that could shift its form into other magic beasts. Nick actually did not know the true form of this magic beast, but it had transformed into ten different species of magic beast during their conflict. Its physical strength could fracture Nick's bones even while he wore Tyrant Armor, and it could cross dozens of meters to approach Nick within the blink of an eye. Fighting that magic beast made Nick feel that death was constantly looming over him, so he endeavored to flee from it after eight minutes of fighting and was only successful after twenty minutes of fighting. Nick escaped from that battle with his right arm broken and three of his ribs cracked.
No matter how much pain Nick was inflicted with or how many magic beasts he had to fight, he never stopped for too long after the battles. Nick pushed himself to exhaustion most days and rested every once in a while by hiding himself within the ground or creating caves in high cliff walls. Most of what he ate during this time was his own supply of butter bread stored within his older space band. He kept himself clean by mostly manipulating Tyrant Armor to destroy whatever dirt or grime ended up on his skin.
Like this, Nick went through two years and two months of hard training within Reckless State, having killed thousands of rank 1 and rank 2 magic beasts and dozens of rank 3 magic beasts. Nick had not spent too much time looking at his own body, but he was sure that he had become leaner and more muscular at the end of this period. His arms were covered with faint marks of scars caused by attacks of rank 3 magic beasts, in which the injuries caused could not be healed all at once using Tyrant Recovery.
One morning, Nick sat at the apex of a cliff that overlooked a literal boneyard that was littered with the bones of thousands of magic beasts. Nick did not have anything to do with creating this boneyard and only silently watched the creator of the boneyard as it lied down on its belly to chew on a fresh magic beast carcass that it had drawn to this area an hour ago.
The creator of the boneyard was a rank 3 magic beast that looked like a black-furred baboon that was about the size of an adult human male and that was situated some thirty meters from the base of the cliff. It had pure-ruby eyes, inch-long claws on all of its ten fingers and ten toes, a bright red nose, slit-like eyes, a red tongue that could extend two feet out of its mouth, toned muscles from its shoulders to its forelegs, and it had two red buttocks that were not covered by its black fur. Its sharp, yellow, pointed teeth ground the part of the bone that it chewed on into shards within moments.
The baboon magic beast did not seem to notice Nick yet and simply focused on its meal. Nick, however, had set his intentions on this magic beast:
(This baboon magic beast is definitely close to being something that is of the rank 3 middle stage standard. I will defeat it before returning to the plateau to check on the progress of the calamity lilies. I won't lose!)
Nick stood up from his sitting position, summoned Stoic Grave and Hard Marvel within his left and right grips, respectively, activated Sheer Soul's ability, Sheer Hold, cast Tyrant Armor to cover just his right and left hands, and also cast Tyrant Form and Tyrant Sense. Nick's magic power immediately surged, and black miasma magic energy exhaust emanated from his body as a result.
For the baboon magic beast lying around below, Nick's power was too difficult not to notice, and so it quickly threw the fresh carcass that it had aside and got up to stare at the apex of the cliff above it, finally seeing Nick as the latter stood boldly at the cliff's edge. The baboon magic beast lowly growled but did not immediately make a real move in response to Nick releasing his magic power. Nick thought:
(This baboon magic beast is cautious when facing the unknown. I've watched it move about for several days, and I am assured that its intelligence is very, very high.)
Nick wasn't going to hesitate now that the baboon magic beast knew that he was present. He breathed in and out deeply before casting Neptune, and in an instant, Nick disappeared amidst a flash of blue magic power and then reappeared in the same manner on the ground below the cliff, less than a meter away from the baboon magic beast's immediate front, while incidentally standing awkwardly on a few bones.
Nick covered the entirety of his left arm as well as the entirety of Stoic Grave with Tyrant Armor's sparking black soul magic power. Within moments after appearing in front of the baboon magic beast, Nick swung Stoic Grave at a speed that made it imperceptible to the naked human eye, and so Nick had to make use of Tyrant Sense's power to even know that he was aiming his sword correctly.
The baboon magic beast hissed at Nick, but had no choice but to parry the sword swing quickly by using its right forearm imbued with its magic power.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The clash between arm and sword was fast, but the impact was so fierce that waves of magic power, which shook the space, emanated from both sides. A mix of rule, soul, and blade magic was emitted from Nick, while the baboon magic beast only emitted space magic. A stalemate immediately resulted, but Nick ended it by casting Tyrant Aurora using Hard Marvel, which he swung at the baboon magic beast too quickly to be seen, but the baboon magic beast also adeptly parried this attack using its left forearm.
The moment that Hard Marvel and the baboon magic beast's left forearm clashed, however, black blade light was emitted from Hard Marvel's obsidian-black blade and enveloped the baboon magic beast with visually impenetrable light, forming what seemed like a sizable, twinkling star if observed from a distance.
At that moment, a wave of grey space magic power enveloped the black blade light and Nick, and both were then shot into the cliff wall at the speed of cannon fire, six meters above ground in less than one second. The impact caused the black blade light to dissipate, and Nick was pressed into the rock wall so fiercely that spider-web cracks spread out along the wall for at least two meters all around Nick.
Nick coughed out one mouthful of blood but still gripped his swords tightly, their hilts having been raised to the level of his head, and his arms were forced into the rock wall, too. The baboon magic beast could still be seen standing in its spot; although both its forearms appeared to be bleeding, the blood that left its wounds was held in place by the faint, grey space magic that was now tightly wrapping around its fur. It soon forced the blood it lost back into its forearm using its space magic and then forced its wounds shut while appearing to snicker at Nick.
Nick cast Saturn and forced himself out of the cliff wall using its magic power while he lamented internally:
(Space magic...it's not good to be on the receiving end of it.)
Nick floated in midair after having just removed himself from the impression made in the cliff wall. Immediately following that, the baboon magic beast pointed its right index finger at Nick, and the space around him warped, attempting to fold him. Nick had already decided that he was not going to be outdone by an overgrown monkey. Nick cast Tyrant Domain in response to the baboon magic beast's space magic, following which, the space around him was forcefully normalized within a split second.
The baboon magic beast opened both its ruby eyes wide in response to having its own power overwhelmed and so quickly; it growled fiercely at Nick. Nick sneered at it:
"There was no way that you were going to best a deep seeker dragon Warlock using space magic."
Following those words, Nick mobilized the power of his Cursed Vessel talent:
(Dreadful Aura.)
A dark, fear-inducing aura spread out into the surroundings with Nick at its center. The baboon magic beast's fur stood up as soon as it sensed the aura. After that, it witnessed a pitch black winged magic beast take Nick's place, following which, it menacingly opened its mouth at it, but no sound came out. Seeing the baboon magic beast freeze up, Nick used Tyrant Domain's power to instantly appear on the ground, within less than a meter of the baboon magic beast's immediate front.
Nick covered his entire body with Tyrant Armor's sparking black magic power within a split second and ruthlessly swung Hard Marvel at the baboon magic beast's torso. Although the baboon magic beast's body was still tightly wrapped in faint, grey space magic power, Hard Marvel cut through it and into the baboon magic beast's tough skin and flesh, from its right shoulder to its lower-left abdomen.
Before the baboon magic beast could react to Hard Marvel's cut, Nick swung Stoic Grave at blinding speed towards the baboon magic beast's chest.
(Cross Stream Sword Technique.)
Stoic grave swiftly carved into the baboon magic beast's chest, cleaving past its space magic, using two iterations of Cross Stream before the magic beast reacted by propelling the space magic remaining on its body away from itself. This resulted in Nick being forced away from the magic beast by a little over fifteen meters like a thrown rag doll, but instead of falling, Nick manipulated Saturn's power to ensure that he landed on his feet.
As soon as Nick landed, he immediately began processing black miasma magic energy outside his body. The baboon magic beast, in the meantime, was reeling due to the cuts that it had received. Although it naturally had tough skin and flesh disproportionate to its size, Nick's sword cuts made it feel as if this natural armor that had protected it for so long was as thin as breath. Its torso burned as its wounds bled lightly, less than the bleeding that such severe cuts would usually cause. It rapidly and tightly wrapped its wounds in space magic power to stop the bleeding and force them closed, but its flesh was cut up so badly that it could not force its wounds closed. The bleeding did abate, though.
Soon, however, the baboon magic beast realized that its sword wounds were not the only problem. For some reason, its arms and legs were moving more awkwardly and more slowly than before. Not only that, but its eyes, ears, and mouth had begun to bleed unexpectedly. The baboon magic beast howled gruffly in response to discovering all its injuries. It now glared at Nick, or rather, the winged magic beast that had blue and red eyes, with pure hatred.
By that time, Nick finally drew the black miasma magic energy that he had processed into his mindscape and was ready to trade blows with the baboon magic beast again. Before Nick could advance towards his opponent, however, the baboon magic beast pointed its left index finger toward him. Following that, the space around Nick basically took on the likeness of a dark grey sphere, and everything in it was forced to be stationary, even the air.
As Nick struggled for breath within the 'space sphere', the baboon magic beast bent its left index finger towards itself, and the dark grey sphere was raised one foot off the ground and dragged rapidly towards itself. Halfway to the baboon magic beast's position, it felt that Nick was about to break free from its magical grasp, and so it acted early on its intentions by quickly clapping its hairy palms together.
Following that, the space sphere seemed to shatter like glass, but contrary to what the baboon magic beast was expecting to see, which was a broken-up and bloody Nick, it saw empty space as a result of its power. It grew slightly confused until a few seconds later, Nick appeared at its immediate right flank. Nick was bleeding heavily from his mouth and ears, but his eyes were filled with steel-like resolve; by this time, Nick's dreadful aura had dissipated, and his human body was what the baboon magic beast saw clearly.
(Tyrant Specter.)
Nick raised Stoic Grave, which was still covered by Tyrant Armor's sparking black magic power, straight up, pointing towards the sky. Following this, the baboon magic beast witnessed that Stoic Grave's blade bent exaggeratedly out of shape before its shape was corrected a few moments later. Nick followed up by swinging Hard Marvel at blinding speed toward the baboon magic beast's torso.
(Cross Stream Sword Technique.)
Hard Marvel moved fast and emitted a strong blade path aura that made the baboon magic beast instinctively nervous, and so it acted decisively. The baboon magic beast quickly coated its right arm in a thick layer of grey space magic power before punching out with full force at Hard Marvel using its right fist. Nick knew that what the baboon magic beast was doing would amount to a significant mistake:
(A beast is still a beast, after all. It cannot discern the truth of the situation. Hard Marvel's blade path power is currently boosted by its own passive ability, Tyrant Form's power, Advanced Blade Works' influence, and the lethality granted to it by Cross Stream. That is not even considering the subtle boosting that it receives from the partly blade path Tyrant Domain. Mr. magic beast, you have messed up by throwing that punch.)
True to Nick's thoughts, when Hard Marvel collided with the baboon magic beast's right fist, the sword cut through the space magic power in a split second. Following two iterations of Cross Stream that were completed in one second, the baboon magic beast's entire right arm, from its right shoulder, was cut away while most of it sustained other slice-induced injuries.
The baboon magic beast shrieked, but it also performed a swiping motion at Nick's throat, which emitted three waves of space magic power that flowed straight for Nick's throat. Sensing the impending danger using Tyrant Sense's powers, in a split second before the space magic power made contact with Nick's throat, he retracted Tyrant Armor's sparking black power from most of his body and concentrated that same power at his throat.
The space magic power crashed into Nick's throat, resulting in it reacting fiercely with Nick's soul magic power. This caused the amount of sparking black magic power to surge violently, and also for grey sparks to develop that surged just as violently. This severe reaction lasted three seconds, but Nick's throat had been injured to such a degree that he could no longer speak, and blood flowed profusely from his mouth. He could still breathe, but every breath felt like his was being wounded by a knife.
Nick ignored the pain, canceling Tyrant Domain and Saturn, and then urgently mobilized the power of another one of his methods:
(Advanced Blade Works.)
Both Nick and the baboon magic beast were then instantly transported into the Advanced Blade Works Formation's special space. The baboon magic beast panicked as it moved its head from side to side while taking note of its environment. A few moments later, after stomping its right foot onto the sandy ground, a vague, translucent human figure appeared at its immediate left side and patted him warmly on the left shoulder before vanishing completely.
The baboon magic beast's expression then went blank, and its eyes clearly lost focus as its actions froze. Sensing that the baboon magic beast was experiencing a false reality, Nick held up his two swords, following which, they both vanished, but reappeared one moment later, floating in front of the magic beast with their tips pointed towards it.
At that point, Stoic Grave was violently stabbed into the baboon magic beast's heart on the left side of its chest, and Hard Marvel was stabbed into the forehead area of the baboon magic beast's skull, quickly exiting through the rear of its skull. Life immediately left the baboon magic beast's body, and it died with an oblivious, black stare on its face. Nick flicked his right index finger, following which, both his swords vanished and instantly reappeared floating at his sides.
The carcass of the magic beast fell onto the sandy ground, and Nick quickly moved to store it in his newer space band. Following that, Nick quickly canceled Tyrant Form and left the Advanced Blade Works Formation's special space. He quickly recovered the baboon magic beast's right arm that he had cut off, storing it in his newer space band as well. Nick then thought:
(Powerful rank 3 space path magic beast, defeated.)
****************************************************************
Back at the plateau where Nick's rank 2 subordinates resided...
Ben Facey, Jordan Kelvin, and four of the other rank 2 Magicians, who were hired later than themselves, sat amidst a field of pale-gold flowers, taking note of the performance of the Calamity Cultivation Formation that was situated below them. Ben openly spoke while the others looked around at the field with clear greed in their gazes:
"Well...Nick was right. Who would have thought that the calamity lilies would grow well in this shit soil just because of a magic formation? Watching Nick's progress, I'm starting to think that I wasted my time in the academy."