In the middle of the Assassination Academy, everyone gathered. Be it teachers, students, Dominic and the others, everyone but four people. Most of the ones gathered there had cold and detached looks in their eyes, while the rest had crazed and devoted expressions.
This was the work of Dominic and Declan. They had utilized the Formation Arrays surrounding the Academy and made a wide illusion inscription. In it was a time dilatation where everyone trained according to the techniques and knowledge Xue Mo left.
Although it was only for a few months, nearly half of the Mana and Qi stones got depleted as it took that much just to keep it running. However, the results were worth it. Everyone had experienced years of constant training under immense pressure due to the various illusions they were under.
"How are the results?" Dominic asked Declan, who was removing the almost completely dimmed Mana and Qi stones from the Formation Array's eye.
"I have checked their progress and can confirm that this experiment was a success," Declan said with a neutral voice. "This might even be better than what we expected. They have basic knowledge of everything we used the illusion to make. After testing their abilities, I assigned each of them to a certain branch of knowledge that would utilize and enhance their abilities to the max!"
Declan suddenly remembered something and shuddered, "if this experiment were a failure, we would have died in the most horrible way ever." He looked into Dominic's eyes profoundly and asked, "you know, that right?"
Dominic clasped his hands behind his back and, without averting his eyes, nodded. "But we succeeded. That's what's important. Master and Miss will forgive us for doing this before asking them!" he really hoped.
BOOM, BOOM!
Sounds of explosions from nearby buildings neared the plaza. Two figures who looked middle-aged were constantly appearing and disappearing at high speed that no one, including Dominic, Declan, and Sarah, could follow.
"Are they still at it?" Sarah asked while approaching the duo. Declan stared at the sites of the explosions and answered, "yes. It's been three days since they got out and started sparring. Both Master Hesroth and Sir Nathan have improved. Although we cannot feel Master Hesroth's Cultivation, the stronger aura proved this."
"It's Sir Nathan that is amazing," Dominic commented, watching the show even though he barely saw anything. "To keep up with Master Hesroth and match him blow for blow shows how great his potential is and why Master and Miss got him to join us!"
Suddenly the two sparring partners stopped and looked in the distance, their eyes shining brightly and excitedly. Everyone knew that there is only one reason for these to do that, and it made them all have the same expressions. Their Masters are coming back!
True to their guesses, a silhouette approached the Academy at fantastic acceleration. It looked like a creature carrying a small animal on to it.
"It didn't take us much to get here?" Lu Yao said when she saw the Academy's buildings from a distance. "Of course, no. We aren't the same anymore. Can't you feel it? Our entire beings feel more!" Xue Mo explained while sprinting.
With every step, they crossed tens of meters. This time there was no reinforcement from their energies. Thanks to their new power and Cultivation, they quickly passed this distance. While talking, they focused their vision on the Academy and saw an astonishing scene.
The previous students were standing like trained, battle-hardened troops and had two expressions, one crazed and the other calmly cold. Xue Mo liked these looks and had some idea how they came to be. He felt traces of large amounts of Qi and Mana from that area, but the students' general cultivation hadn't improved, which meant one thing; someone used a Formation, an Array, or a combination of both.
Moving their gazes from the troops, they saw some people they recognized. They stood on a platform bowing in their direction, obviously welcoming them. "WELCOME BACK MASTERS!" the individuals screamed as the troops cheered by stomping on the ground.
Xue Mo and Lu Yao calmly stopped in front of the crowd. They didn't say anything, their expressions cold and severe as usual. But, contrary to the lack of attention, both of them nodded in greeting. Although this was nothing, to everyone present, it was akin to acknowledgment.
"What happened here?" Xue Mo asked, already forming an idea.
The higher-ups on top of the platform exchanged gazes before Hesroth stepped forward to explain. "You see, Master," he started with nervous eyes that tried looking everywhere but his Xue Mo's eyes. "Dominic had an idea."
Hesroth took a deep breath before resuming, "Since we are leaving this world, we won't need all the stones. They are mostly low grade and won't have much value in the Sect."
He calmed down the more he talked, "so, why not put them to use. If we utilized these stones for training the troops, we would use both the Formation Arrays for the best application and get rid of extra worthless baggage!"
"We agreed thinking that it made sense and until Masters' return instead of wasting time we could strike the iron while it's hot. With the war's tempering still fresh in mind, we made the troops enter an illusion Formation Array where they would spend months learning various techniques, knowledge, and information.
Some of them would fight and die countless times to improve their instincts and battle prowess while others learned arts like Forging, Alchemy, Rune Making, Potion Brewing, and Array Inscriptions. That way, they could all be useful for Masters and view their performance to see if they are worth keeping."
Hesroth was looking at Xue Mo straight in the eyes at the end, yet his expression was anything but disrespectful. "Finally, we instilled intense loyalty and reformation in their minds to make them Masters' followers. They are basically fanatics now with the knowledge of Fundaments that would suit assassins!"
After Hesroth finished, he looked at Xue Mo's eyes, looking for any disapproval or surprise, but he didn't find any. Lu Yao saw that and cleared his doubts, "we already guessed all that as soon as we came here." Her words surprised everyone, but they quickly nodded their heads as if expected from their Masters.
"We have wasted enough time," Xue Mo spoke with indifference. He stared at the higherups that he chose to take care of things and nodded, "you all did a fine job. Good work."
They all bowed for the praise and had excited and fanatical expressions no different than the students. No, they were his troops, his elite force now. 'We should make a new classification for this new reborn group,' Xue Mo thought in silence.
'We should give them a new name too!' Lu Yao transmitted when she accidentally heard his thoughts. 'But that's for later. Let's do what we came for. As I said, we wasted enough time!' Xue Mo replied with a transmission ending the conversation.
Xue Mo looked around and saw how everyone appeared ready to depart. He smirked, "Were you all waiting for us?"
Seeing Xue Mo's amused smirk, they all nodded. They knew what was going to happen next and already prepared for it.
Nathan was the most excited as he wanted to leave this world for a long time now, "Master, we prepared everything. Hesroth just needs to open the portal, and we can finally leave this stinking world behind!"
Lu Yao and Xue Mo saw everyone nod at Nathan's words and waiting for the order. Seeing that they had nothing more to do, they declared, "let's leave this world!"
After Xue Mo said that, the higher-ups turned towards the troops and organized them. The troops couldn't hear them as the platform they were on was pretty high, which allowed them to converse freely.
Hesroth stepped forward and took a small cube and ten Qi stones from his space ring before arranging them in a specific pattern. The cube started gathering the Qi emitted from the stones and shined brightly.
A gateway of uneven circle shape that had a liquid look materialized in front of the cube. Hesroth withdrew to his place next to the higherups giving Xue Mo and Lu Yao the lead. They looked back at their subjects and nodded before turning around and taking the first steps through the portal!