Cao Guang flew back to Magic City to train his fellows. On the way he live streamed Feng Zhuolong's press conference and listened to the guy's lecture with this eyes closed.
Almost One and a half percent humans are now mages. Before it was lower than one and long before that it was just a handful of individuals, who made the Magic Associations and the modern conventions as we know it. Humanity is growing stronger, just not strong enough or fast enough.
Feng Zhuolong's preet meet was one for the ages as he announced the technique he had invented after a year and a half of gruelling research. The guy deserved the plaudits he would be getting.
Cao Guang and his friends trained for a week before making their way to Kunming City. Compared to the place he had been to, Kunming City was vastly different. It was humid, warmer and pretty much evergreen vegetation.
The reported elemental sacred land was beyond the Fuxian Lake south east of the city. The group had to avoid the Lake as any large water source outside the Safe zones would be a territory of a beast or horde they couldn't defeat.
They had to make their way around the Lake through the areas inhabited by a newly discovered species of apes, the Growling Earth Apes.
They were a species of apes with both sound and Earth elements. Their growl held a certain power to break Stardusts and higher level apes could interfere with Star Nebulas and so on. It was a bad match up for a team of young intermediate mages.
Cao Guang was sure that even Yao Nan only had a level two of Mental Strength. As for the others it was worse, Zhu Li for example had left the city for the first time during the practical mission during the academic exchange.
Since the elevation of North and South sides of Kunming City was different, the city itself was built half raised on its south side using Earth magic.
The ape species of the area more or less were descendants or connected to Apes of the Himalayan Range. They were supposedly descendants of the subcontinent's version of Totem Beasts.
Their bloodline can be said to have a trace of noble lineage of a fallen Totem. Every country faced the question of subservience or elimination when it came to Totems or Titans. Every surviving human country had made the same choice. Especially one as old the Chinese.
He had another vested interest in coming to this land. He knew the apes had a noble lineage he wanted to explore the possibility of contracting one. After all he still had an empty contract space.
Even if he could not afford it, if he had a chance of contracting a totem beast, he wouldn't even blink before choosing to do so.
What was money in front another contracted beast with extreme potential. The slope below Kunming City was teeming with Hunters who had heard about a new Elemental Sacred Land. Although troublesome this place wasn't as dangerous as Taklamakan or Northern Burning Valley.
Taklamakan needed at least high Advanced cultivation and so did the Northern Burning Valley. However there was a work around possible if they had a capable Psychic mage available, but such mages didn't leave the city to travel with Intermediate mages.
Those that were willing to leave were part of Super level Hunting squads or larger organisations. There really was no other way to let that happen was there?
Cao Guang scouted the area a few time with his friends before proceeding to Sacred land. Cao Guang let Yan Liling borrow his space element treasure that could improve one's Mental Strength as she needed to be the group's scout and the Growl of these Growling Earth Apes posed too much of a threat to her as of now.
The group avoided a few smaller packs and isolated a Minion level Growling Earth Ape to identify their strengths and limitations. They then proceeded to do the same with a Warrior level Ape, who left Cao Guang a. Soul essences after the test. Which he used to improve Seven more stars in his Lightning Nebula taking them to fourteen.
A/n His basic elements are at the fourth tier so seven stars of the Nebula are already strengthened. Just forty two remained.