Death... and me

After that, Rean and Reliance went back to the Sect and straight to the Blacksmith Hall. After all, the deposit was still inside the Dalamu Sect territory, so they would need to report it. The Blacksmith Hall Head, Lian Boares, was surprised to hear that and immediately brought their members to the mentioned place.

The deposit was very deep into the ground. However, Dalamu Sect had no lack of Earth Element cultivators. Lian even asked two elders at the Core and Soul Fusion Realm with the same affinity. In just a single day of work, they were able to open a tunnel all the way to the deposit's inner depths.

Lian was right there to check ores together with Reliance. Rean and Kentucky were not present since it could catch too much attention. Besides, it didn't matter if they were here. Since they were the ones who found the deposit, they would obviously have a share of it. To make things simpler, Reliance went with Rean to talk with Mia. He explained about Kentucky's needs and that they would need the Heaven-Level Spiritual Ores present in that place. Mia couldn't decide it alone since it was a property of the Sect. But after talking about it with the other elders, they reached an agreement that 50% of all Heaven-Level Spiritual Ores would be Reliance and Rean's. The rest would be the Sect's property. As for the High and Peak Earth-Level Spiritual Ores, the Sect would have 90% of everything.

Rean didn't mind those numbers at all. 10% of the Earth-Level ores was more than he would need for a very long time. He probably won't even use everything. As for the Heaven-Level, he wasn't expecting getting any to start with. Getting 50% of it was more than enough to satisfy him since he would be able to feed Kentucky for a long time.

Lian didn't take long to identify the ore.

"Oh! The High and Peak Earth-Level Ores are Zarkirian Ore. It's excellent for defensive equipment thanks to its low weight and high resistance. It's quite expensive in the market too. To think we would find such a big deposit like this one."

It was then that another elder of the Blacksmith Hall mentioned.

"If Zarkarian Ore is present, then the Heaven-Level Ores at the very center must be Luminun Ore."

Lian nodded.

"Indeed. Let's start the mining process straight away. First, we need to retrieve the Heaven-Level Ores from the center to prevent any accidents."

Lian then turned to look at Reliance before saying.

"Elder Reliance, you probably know how greedy others can become if they hear about Heaven-Level ores. Would you mind staying here to guard the mine for a few days? We will ignore the Earth-Level Ores for now and put all our effort into retrieving the Luminun Ore first."

Elder Reliance didn't mind. However, Reliance didn't really stay behind but left Zunzun taking care of it instead. Zunzun was a Stage Six Demon Beast, so his Spiritual Sense perception was much bigger. Not to mention that no one would pay attention to the little Fire Tanager.

Rean was practicing Formations with Droman once again when Reliance returned.

"So, it's Luminun Ore, uh?"

Rean had also studied the several records in the Blacksmith Hall after entering the Dalamu Sect, so he already knew about it. Luminun Ore was a semi-transparent Ore at the Middle Heaven-Level, which almost looked like glass. However, just like Zarkarian Ore, it was super resistant and light, which was great for defensive equipment. 

The only problem was that Rean was far from reaching the level necessary to work with Heaven-Level Ores, so he didn't know what kind of work he would be able to do with it. He couldn't even forge Peak Earth-level to start with.

"Well, it's supposed to be Kentucky's food anyway. I hope to get a few kilograms since I'll need to feed him around 100 grams every five days."

Reliance shrugged his shoulder.

"Well, even if you run out of Heaven-Level ores, it's not like he will die. Just leave him without any until you can acquire more."

Droman, who was by the side, took the opportunity and passed a bag to Reliance.

"Here are your Formation Flags. I'll make it free this time since you helped find that Ore Deposit."

Rean looked at the Formations Flags and asked.

"Are these the flags used by those who don't know much about formations?"

Droman nodded.

"Yes. However, they are costly to forge and repair. Even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would rarely have them. If Reliance wasn't quite rich himself, he probably wouldn't use it either."

Reliance laughed.

"That's all thanks to Zunzun, Lanlan, and Jinjin. Anyway, the flags I got are area restriction flags. As long as I position them correctly, I can seal an area around 100km wide. It's very convenient when you are trying to tame some strong demon beast and don't want it to escape."

Reliance then talked with Rean for a while longer before leaving. He would stay in the Sect for a few days to wait for the removal of the Heaven-Level Ores, so he could come to see Rean another time. 

Soon, the news that the Dalamu Sect found an enormous deposit of Zarkarian Ore with Luninun Ore at the center spread. Unfortunately, none of the Sects and the Royal Family could do anything. If it was outside, they could contest for it. Too bad that it was inside the Dalamu Sect's range. In the end, they could only look and do nothing about it.

Still, Lian underestimated the Zarkarian Ore. He thought he would reach the center of the deposit in at most two weeks, but it took him an entire month. Of course, that was also good news since it meant they had even more Zarkarian Ore than expected. Nonetheless, they were able to acquire the Lunimun Ore at the center.

During this month, Reliance spent a lot of time with Rean and Kentucky. Well, he mostly ignored Rean and only paid attention to the Demon Beast itself. It's just that the Minokawa, Kentucky, hated to be far away from Rean or Roan, so Rean had to tag along. During his studies, he came up with a training schedule for Rean to follow from now on.

Another one who liked to visit Kentucky was none other than Malaka. She loved to hug the fluffy plumpy chick the most. At first, Rean and Reliance tried to stop her because of the sharp feathers and the scales hidden under Kentucky's plumage. However, it turned out that Kentucky could also control their resilience, making them soft as real feathers or hard as blades. That was another thing that Reliance didn't know about Minokawas. Or perhaps, that was a result of the mutation as well. Malaka always used the free days that Mia gave her to come and see the Minokawa.

The other person who didn't stop his training was Roan under Old Worm's teachings. During his time, Roan was able to consolidate his Middle Earth-Level Alchemist status. Just as Old Worm expected, Roan's Dark and Light Elements were just way too good for concocting neutral pills. He believed that Roan won't take more than three or four months to become a High Earth-Level Alchemist. Too bad that Roan's cultivation would become a limitation after that. Just like Rean's blacksmithing abilities, Roan would need to wait until he was in the Core and Soul Fusion Realm or at least close to it to be able to advance into the Peak-Level.

Of course, neither Rean nor Roan forgot about cultivating. Their night times were always spent in their rooms, where they focused on it. Thanks to that, they were even closer to the Peak of the Late Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. By now, they had already finished stabilizing their cultivation with the pill Roan made for them.

Finally, Elder Reliance came to see Rean one day to deliver the Luminun Ore extracted from the Ore Deposit. Rean was delighted to find out that 50% of the ores gave him a total of almost 10kg! Don't look down on this number. If Rean tried to sell it, he probably would get around 10,000 Rank Four Spirit Stones! That was a fortune! One should remember that almost no one was willing to part with their Rank Four Spirit Stones to start with, even if you had the money. This rank of Spirit Stones was essential for the cultivation progress of those at the Nascent Soul Realm and above. After all, almost nothing was more important than one's cultivation.

Since Luminun Ore was a Middle Heaven-Level Spiritual Ore, Rean had to feed around 100 grams every five days. That meant Rean had enough to last for 500 days! How could he not be happy?

Rean wasn't sad that everything would turn into Kentucky's food. After all, it was Kentucky himself who found it. Besides, he received 10% of the High Earth-level Zarkarian Ore, which he would use to make some defensive equipment for him, Roan, and Malaka.

And just like that, Rean and Roan continued to train and cultivate. In the end, they reached the Peak of the Late Stage of the Foundation Establishment after another month. With that, they still had two months before the Universal Restraint.

Rean and Roan were pondering when to breakthrough into the Peak Stage of Foundation Establishment when Mia called them over.

"In two month, the Profound Abyss will open. The Sect has five slots in total. Three of these slots are for you two and Malaka. Make sure you two are ready."

The twins looked at each other with puzzled expressions as they asked.

"What is this Profound Abyss?"