The information Cao Guang bought from the Zhao's stated that Viscera Hunters, Sirens and more Sea monsters have undergone a few bloodbaths between them and humans for the past two to three years in the Bohai Bay.
Every June, they move in mass from the deep sea area towards the shallow waters. Most of information Hunters have been curious about this phenomenon, hence the Zhao's bought the information to sell.
However, the truth happened to be not far from what everyone expected, there was some resource that attracted these monsters. What nobody expected was the fact it was something like a Galaxy Veins.
A vein of Galaxy Vein could be mined for a few years and could yield up to fifty seperate Galaxy Veins.
Cao Guang needed a couple of Galaxy Veins but those things were rare and only often found in auctions. He had planned to buy a couple or have his teacher pick up a few from markets when he came back. The man was known for his keen eye that could pick up diamonds from trash.
Cao Guang had to consider the next trip to Bohai ver carefully and time was still on his side.
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It was June of 2005 when Cao Guang rounded up a few old and new teammates for a trip to Bohai all of them knew the stakes of the mission and the rewards attached.
Song Xia, Gao Xuan and Luo Heng had taken leaves on Cao Guang's instruction and flown in from their postings to meet the rest of the group at Cangzhou.
The group was meeting up after almost an year and had many things to catch up on.
A lot of things had changed in the past few months, Cao Guang had reached the third tier in his Summoning element as well.
He spent his time between cultivation and fighting monsters for resources. His savings had climbed to 450 million from the loot he accrued and that after excluding the amount he spent on resources for Little Flame Belle and Fenrir.
Little Flame Belle had reached the Great Warrior stage finally and was now pushing towards her next evolution soon. Cao Guang had sold most of the Soul Essences he collected for her resources.
The rest of them he used to complete the streghteninng of the 49 stars of Lightning Nebula, but that wasn't yet usable as it was still at the second tier.
It was his friends who had more impressive improvements, Song Xia reached the third tier in the Shadow element and therefore could use the fourth tier spell already.
Luo Heng had reached the third tier in the Fire Nebula just like her, and the energy in both of their Nebulas had allowed them to feel the barrier stopping their promotion to Advanced level. Fourth tier Nebulas exerted more pressure on the barrier in default, while Luo Heng's double spiritual energy did the same.
Gao Xuan on the other hand had reached the peak of spirit grade seed with his talent and third tier in his cultivation of Earth element. They would be necessary if Cao Guang had any chance of getting a few Galaxy Veins.
As for Yao Nan and the others most of them had reached the second tier in the primary element and remained in the first tier for Secondary except for Yao Nan who reached secondary in both elements.
Zhu Li had integrated with the Soul grade seed they had stolen from the elemental sacred land in Kunming using an expensive method. Soul grade seeds were for Advanced mages for a reason. Only they possessed the elemental resistance to integrate with one.
Integration with one earlier was a painful process and delayed cultivation as well. Innate talents were less painful but even they had delayed cultivation to deal with the sequelae. Gao Xuan may have reached the peak of intermediate level in the Earth element but he was still a year away from breaking through.
Same went for Song as her primary was dimensional magic. It was harder for her to break through to next levels unless she found specific resources even a Galaxy Vein wasn't enough. It was still bearable for Advanced level but for Super level, she had better chances with breaking through in Shadow element first.
Yan Liling and Nie Huan on the other hand had decided not to participate in this mission because of its difficulty level. Leaving Cao Guang with five teammates, about the minimum he expected to need.