" Obviously the military is thankful for your actions Lieutenant Cao, I have communicated with HQ and they have decided to bestow the rank of Captain to you.
Your service will not be forgotten and you have moved to the top of the list. I can assure you of that."
A military was the strongest organisation in any country in the world usually. But they also had strict limitations in dealing with normal people or mages. Most of that responsibility lay with Magic Associations and Enforcement Unions.
But they had a lot of perks as well. A resource like Earth Pistil when found had to submitted to the relevant military, this was a written law that couldn't be subverted by the Five Magic Associations or even Holy City. This law didn't apply to individuals only organisations.
The military would then allocate it to promising individuals. They had a list for that, Cao Guang had been high on this list thanks to Pang Lai's conversation with a national guardian, now he was guaranteed an Earth Pistil as long as reached the Half step Forbidden Curse level.
His contributions so far and his talent had earned him a spot on the list, but they paled in comparison to submitting a complete Earth Pistil.
" There are some other things that I do need to report but it's about something else, I hope Commander Shao can pass on my words to the general who made the barriers for the Tarim Basin and everything thing nearby.
I saw the Sandstorm Demon Locusts fly into the lava of a Soul grade Fire that was their nemesis on Burning Mountains. I am assuming that it is an effort to acquire better fire resistance and compatability.
I found a few unborn eggs of these Locusts near that place, I have brought them with me and my Contracted Beast also acquired that Soul grade Fire"
Cao Guang then went on to warn Commander Shao about the implications and handed over the eggs and let her store some of Crimson Death's energy to a barrier core. Storing elemental energy was easy and safe storing spells on the other hand was pointless and possibly destructive. Cao Guang had learned that the hard when he experimented with Flasb bombs and Sound grenades.
----
He didn't go back to fight the Desolate Beasts instantly, he was sidetracked and lost the best time to fight them anyway and now he needed to take a more dangerous approach but that was fine as Flame Belle ensured him a certain level of safety.
He went to the largest city in Xinjiang, he bought a Magic Accelerator for 250 million and a new Galaxy Vein for 100 million. He was a bit more confident in breaking through to the Advanced level with it this time.
But the breakthrough wasn't exactly a swift one like he had expected instead he had failed with the only benefit being spending 100 million to bring his Nebula to saturation.
It was August and he had no money to buy another one and therefore needed to hunt demon beasts again, he thought about hunting down the Sandstorm Demon Locusts again before shooting it down, there were incredibly large hordes of them as well.
A certain Versatile Mage didn't go hunting them after he acquired the Ardent Sunset either for the same reason. With the number of those insects he needed to kill the Locust Monarch would definitely be interested in hunting him down, maybe ?
Or should he play Guerrilla warfare with them , they certainly had large seperated hordes maybe he could hunt them down. Besides Little Flame Belle would run out of energy as well. Who was going to cover his ass then?
Cao Guang reluctantly went back to Northguard Fortress and bought another distribution map for Desolate Beasts before making his way to the plains of Xinjiang on a Camel Beasts again.
However his luck had gotten progressively worse as the only Commander he found outside the 'Hole' after scouring the land for a month was an Advancing one and he knew better than to attempt to challenge that thing.
Cao Guang had hunted quite a few Warriors of the species and some Scorpions of Taklamakan, but no suitable Commander came his way.
It wasn't that there were none to be found, but they had either been killed by other Hunters long ago or moved temporarily to save themselves. Commanders were more than capable of self preservation.
He made his way back to Magic City and sold off the remaining Warrior level souls he had for 160 million.
He hadn't let Little Tora pendant attain a single complete Soul Essence during this period either.