A few minutes later Bai Jingshen and Sam left the medical building. Looking around the camp, they could see employees hurriedly running left and right. Obviously everyone was already preparing for their departure since the camp had fulfilled its purpose. For a few seconds the two friends stood around, not knowing what to do. Fortunately, a young man soon approached them.
"Hi. I'm from the logistics division. You can call me Zart."
The slightly feminine looking man waited for Bai Jingshen and Sam to greet back before he continued:
"I got an order to tell you two that you officially belong to the elite program now. Congratulations!...
Since you just got this news, I will give you a quick rundown of what this means. The elite program gathers the talented people form our company to receive special nurturing. They will have harsher training, but also more freedom. You will have access to more technology and will have more options to choose your own path. As repayment the company expects you to sign strict contracts. You will get those at HQ.
Now, you will have the privilege of travelling back with Instructor Hord. Please follow me, the instructor is impatient already."
Listening to this man, Bai Jingshen wasn't sure if the elite program was the right way for him. He hoped he could still reject after seeing the contract. Although the man before him wasn't able to hide his jealousy, this wouldn't influence his decision making. He was glad as Zart finally shut up, especially since the last sentence was spoken with glee in his voice. Bai Jingshen figured it wasn't an enviable thing to travel with the instructor. As he followed the young man out of the camp, he thought if Elena would take such petty revenge.
As soon as they arrived on a field outside the camp, Instructor Hord's loud voice could already be heard:
"Finally, you are here! I don't understand why I would have to take you brats with me. Come, I'm in a hurry!"
Bai Jingshen and Sam didn't dare to delay. They quickly came to a stop next to the instructor. Suddenly the impatient man waved his hand, letting a small spaceship appear out of thin air. He looked at the two recruits with a smug face, and at least found the amazement he had been hoping for on Sam's face. Bai Jingshen was used to storage rings, but he was still inspecting the spaceship with interest.
It was small ship in the form of a V. Its exterior was painted red, with a steering device visible behind the only window at the front. Focusing his senses, Bai Jingshen could feel massive amounts of Qi stored in the ship's back.
As the instructor walked up, a hatch opened close to the cockpit. The three men entered and found themselves is a small hallway. One door could be seen on either side, while the hallway ended in a staircase blocked by another metallic door. On the other side the way into the cockpit was open. Suddenly a voice spoke up:
"Welcome on board, Captain. Welcome two guests."
As Sam and Bai Jingshen appreciated their surroundings, Instructor Hord's boisterous laughter could be heard again:
"So? What do you think? This is one of Valor's best models. Personally designed by a tier five scholar. For a short time able to outrun a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator and armed with enough firepower to defeat a team of Golden Core Realm cultivators. Can be automatically piloted by AI or manually by me. I bought this baby after raiding a secret realm!"
How would the young men dare to say anything bad after seeing their instructor's enthusiasm. They rapidly nodded and praised this spacecraft. Only after a few seconds did Hord look satisfied as he told them to take a seat. The young men sat down on a few seats to the side of the cockpit, while Hord obviously decided to fly his baby himself.
As soon as the instructor took place on the main seat, the consoles before him lit up. Bai Jingshen wasn't sure what those consoles showed, but as soon as Qi ran thorough the ship, he realized that a lot of elements of array formations went into this ship. Analyzing them closer, he was soon puzzled however, as these formations were simply extremely clumsy in his eyes. If he somehow had enough Qi, he would have most likely been able to do better as a child. Thinking about it for a while, he could only attribute it to the fact, that he didn't know enough about Mana engineering. He wasn't able to analyze anything about the connections between Rising Force World's technology and array formations from just his seat here.
Instructor Hord seemed eager to start. He put his hand a console, as Bai Jingshen felt in amazement a stable connection between Hord and this ship. From his experience, flying ships were mostly steered with divine sense, after being connected through a blood contract. Therefore, cultivators below the Nascent Soul Realm could only use trash versions connected and navigated through Qi. Those ship were alright as long as you had to fly in a straight line, but would be useless for quick maneuvers. However, Hord's ship seemed to use methods of the Rising Force World to connect directly to the cultivator.
A metallic layer quickly covered the instructor's hand. Multiple lights and numbers appeared and vanished on the console, but Hord mostly ignored them as he started the ship. Bai Jingshen and Sam jolted around in their seats as the instructor obviously never heard about a gentle ascension. The spacecraft rushed into the air, leaving the camp behind in seconds. The young men soon got the feeling that Hord showed off on purpose, as he suddenly began doing barrel rolls in the air. Although a flexible frame kept them in place, Sam still felt like he would fall off his seat any second now. Bai Jingshen managed to stay a bit more composed as he cursed Elena in his mind. By now he was sure this was his petty boss's revenge.
As the new recruits held on for dear life, Instructor Hord laughed like a child. He performed all kinds of maneuvers while the landscape raced past underneath his ship.
Suddenly all three men felt a chill running down their spines. A primal fear assaulted their senses. All their hands kept trembling, as the instructor lost control of his aircraft. The spaceship shot straight towards a distant mountain. Everyone could only watched as the mountain came closer and closer. Fortunately, AI had no emotions. Recognizing the pilot's distress, Instructor Hord's AI took over control. An abrupt break wildly threw the men around in their seats, before the spaceship softly landed on the ground. Sam looked towards Bai Jingshen as he asked with a shaky voice:
"Brother Bai. W-What's going on?"
Even the experienced veteran wasn't able to fight against this primal fear. Although his activated Illusionary Core was completely filled with calming, white light, this deep seated fear wouldn't go away. He could only shake his head, having no answer for Sam.
Suddenly their cockpit grew dark. Their suppressed emotions crept onto their faces, taking them all their strength not to stand up and run. They kept scouting their environment for danger, wanting to know what was going on.
At some point Sam' whole body kept shaking. Bai Jingshen looked at his friend, not understanding where this change came from. It only took a short while however, before he realized that Sam was staring at the sky. Bai Jingshen held his breath as he raised his head in slow motion.
Gradually looking outside the window, Bai Jingshen couldn't see any of the nine suns anymore. His whole vision was overtaken by a majestic sight, as he quietly muttered:
"Dragon…"
Even in the Great Cultivation World, dragons were beasts of ancient legends. But now he was instinctively sure that this was the only explanation for what he observed in the sky. Dark, thunderous clouds covered thousands of kilometers. From time to time a red shimmer could be seen, reminding Bai Jingshen of scales. No lightning escaped those clouds, as they seemingly surrounded something in their middle. Everywhere this cloud went, the laws itself were distorted, as all immortal beasts prostrated in worship. The pure might spreading from this being was enough to suppress Senior Shi many times over. This being was like a real god. It traveled the lands, and all living beings were only ants in front of it.
Bai Jingshen tried to estimate how his former self would have fought against this dragon, but could only let out a dry laugh, knowing that he wouldn't have even dared to face it. Far off in the distance he seemed to recognize a claw sticking out from the thundercloud. He could only imagine, how this claw might simply reduce mountain ranges into dust on a whim, because they dared to stand in a dragon's path.
The whole phenomenon lasted a few minutes more before the dark clouds finally vanished in the distance. The three men sank into their seats while still trembling. Their backs were covered in sweat, as if they had just fought the most dangerous battle of their lives.