“Interesting,” Almond said, his interest piqued as the guard described the nature of the job.
“Yeah, let’s go there,” Lily smiled. “Sounds good, and since it’s such an important and risky job with high pay, it’s perfect to kickstart our journey.”
The guard saw they were interested and chuckled, “You should hurry to the palace now. Today’s ship taking the employees will depart in half an hour.”
Without further ado, Almond and Lily departed towards the territory of the Meuuoran Clan’s palace.
Raicanor soared ahead like a streak of collapsing stars, bypassing sky lanes. In mere moments, the colossal spires of the Meuuoran Palace emerged—carved from cosmic crystal, humming with anchored arrays and cosmic veins.
A ship the size of a small town floated outside it, lined with sigils and armored fins, loading participants for the job.
“It looks like many people are going to participate in the job,” Lily muttered as she saw thousands of people aboard the giant ship’s deck.
The Meuuoran Clan’s people saw them coming, and a few guards quickly arrived.
“Are you here for the job? Show the identification card, please.”
The trio showed the ID cards as the guard nodded.
“Get on board. The rest will be explained on the way to the Floating Abyssal Sea.”
At that, the trio streaked like a light and got on the giant ship’s deck.
Almond sensed several powerful auras.
‘Three Supreme Emperors and twenty Immortal Emperors of the Meuuoran clan alone. There are many Immortal Emperors and Kings among the job-takers,’ Almond raised his eyebrows.
‘Yeah, it looks like the Float Abyss must be more resourceful than we initially assumed. Also, judging by how everyone is positioned, each party has at least two Immortal Emperors,’ Lily raised her eyebrows.
‘Indeed. That must be the reason that the guard asked about Raicanor’s rank. Without Immortal Emperors, the rest would get looted and killed.’
As the ship took off at Hyper Speed 1, one of the Supreme Emperors conjured a giant bell and rang it.
Gong!
“Welcome to both old and new employees! For starters, let me give you a simple rundown of the job. We are all going to a cosmic phenomenon of this Azureprism Cosmos—Floating Abyssal Sea!”
“To those who don’t know about it, it’s a vast sea filled with gigantic and powerful cosmic monsters ranging from Immortals to Immortal Emperors! We are primarily going to hunt those Monsters! Know that these Monsters could even be stronger than Griminions, let alone normal Monsters.”
“The pay will be based on the Monsters your party kills and gives their bodies to us! The more complete the body is, the more reward you shall get.”
“And heed this warning: do not take anything with you from this Floating Abyssal Sea!”
The black-haired Supreme Emperor’s eyes and voice both turned sharp as he continued, “That Floating Abyssal Sea belongs to us, the Meuuoran Clan, which means all resources within are also ours. We will be watching everyone, and if anyone dares to take what is ours, we will not show mercy.”
“Aside from that, whatever you all do in the sea is up to you. Now, onto the next subject. There will also be some anomalies in the sea. They are dangerous even for Immortal Emperors, so make sure you escape if you think there’s any strange portal forming or any volatile phenomenon in the making.”
“Worry not, on top of the high-tier Arcane Crystals that we’ll give you based on the Monsters you hunt and give us, we will also give you 10% of the resources we extract from them.”
“And to those who don’t know, the Monsters in this sea are unique, as they have a core in them that directly increases one of the three—Body, Mind, or even Soul constitutions. Of course, not all Monsters have such cores, but if there’s one in the Monsters you bring, we will give them to you, as we have no need of those cores.”
Almond raised his hand.
The Supreme Emperor turned his gaze on him before speaking, “What?”
“Then why do you collect these Monsters? What are their uses to you? Just curious.”
“These monsters from the Floating Abyssal Sea possess divine tastes for their meat and other body parts. They are a unique delicacy that no other cosmos has aside from this Azureprism Cosmos, and when these monsters are cooked by the Mystic Chef Emperors, they are worth way more.”
“And for your information, the major market for these dishes is in Arcadia Spectrum, which means it also goes to the Spectators of the third layer who watch the Arcadia Spectrum. Their final worth is simply significantly more than the rare few resources some of them possess.”
Almond nodded and cupped his fist.
Lily blinked and said to Almond, ‘Darling, I want to eat one then.’
‘Well, we can’t make a scene here. We’ll eat when we go to the Arcadia Spectrum or if there’s a way to buy a dish from them.’
‘Alright.’
Meanwhile, the Supreme Emperor continued, “Once again, do not think about stealing even a small Monster of Immortal-rank. To show you the importance of this, there only exist five Floating Abyssal Seas in this cosmos.”
“Three of them are permanently occupied by the three ruling clans. The other two are rotated each month among the other ten clans of this cosmos. We won’t tolerate any loss on this opportunity that the Meuuoran Clan gets once every five months.”
Everyone nodded as they understood the importance and heaviness of this job.
But their eyes were also shining because the pay was uber high.
“One more thing, you should already know this, but allow me to tell you clearly that the dangers you encounter and conflicts that occur among you all are not our responsibility. However, we will give a token to each of you that can send you back to this ship in case you want to escape.”
“You may go in again, but you will not get another token. For that token, you will have to pay 10,000 high-tier Arcane Crystals because when you are in this Abyssal Sea, teleports of space elements don’t work. If you are confident of making up for the loss, as I know some of your parties are, feel free to buy the token and dive in again.”