n

n

nAfter that the Deputy general left and four out of five remaining instructors also gone, they also don't seem to have any intention to introduce themselves to them right now.

nThe remaining instructor took the place of Deputy general and spoke.

n

"My name is Jian

nI am a Regiment commander and so are the remaining four instructors. We train our own regiments individually and each has our own ways.

nYour training will be conducted along with all five regiments and you will be tested in all types of qualities required by our Southern star military.

nFor every three days, different instructor will take charge of the class. So, for the next three days I will be your instructor.

nAs for the rules.

nEveryone should assemble in the same place by dawn and you should be here no matter if you had enough rest or not. It doesn't matter to me, if you have slept the night, cultivated or just roamed around.

nI would be expecting you to be here and if anyone fails to comply, you would be facing the punishment.

nYou will be receiving the same benefits of an ordinary soldier based on your cultivation levels. Every Novice would get 100 elemental stone every week and there would be three meals a day which will provide just enough spiritual energy for you to finish your training.

nEveryone will be dismissed after the supper is over.

nBut, in some cases surprise drills will be conducted which expects you to assemble no matter what time it is.

nAs for duels, any one who has a rank equal to Battalion commander or above has to supervise a duel, and if a person wants to reject it, he has to give a reason valid enough to convince the battalion commander.

nIf you have any conditions or wagers for duels, the supervisor can act as a middle-man.

nOkay, that's it for today and you can relax for today. Your uniforms will be delivered to your assigned barracks tonight, and tomorrow morning you have to report to the place in your uniform.

nBy the way there is one more important thing I forgot to tell you, no communication tokens are allowed to use. If you try to use it, the formation will find out and you would be held responsible for your actions.

nDisperse.

"

nAfter that the instructor left and all of them went to their respective tents.

nEach team has a tent of their own. Sam's group of three also has a tent of their own.

nActually, the tents are made for five people but since they are only three, they have big enough space for them.

nJudging from this, Sam almost confirmed that General Spark just bent so many rules to isolate him and his friends.

nBut at this same exact moment, another tent is not as comfortable. The Southern star city's team who joined with the remaining four members, now consists of the seven people in the team and out of seven people, two are Zeke and Blue fire.

nThe people inside the tent who originally belonged to the Southern star team are quite frustrated.

nOut of twenty people of the southern star city, ten people are from commoners and ten are from Nobility.

nBut Nicholas picked his team of ten separately based on their abilities and left the remaining ten in which the Blue fire, Zeke and others were added.

nThe original members are already quite upset that Nicholas didn't select them and now they are even more upset because they had to follow General's orders and accept his grandsons.

nThey are cursing the old general in their hearts. If he was so capable why didn't he push his two grandsons into the Nicholas' team? Because, Nicholas is Duke's last son and he don't give a flying ** about what the General wants.

n'This Old General is such a hypocrite.' This is the only thought in everyone's mind.

nSam is also curious about this issue, why is the General so adamant about helping his grandsons so much that he was willing to ruin his own reputation? That is the question that he has in his mind since their first encounter.

nAs for the present situation, the original team members could only grit their teeth and allow these two Grandsons to have a comfortable place and they have to adjust in the remaining space.

nAt this moment, the business side of the teams are all moving along the city. Most of the teams are already moving all over the city and trying to buy over a best place, some teams who doesn't have any business experience only have one thought.

nExplore the forests

nThey decided on going hunts, gathering herbs etc.

nBut none of them are thinking about moving to their Marquis territory, because it took a lot of time to travel from one place to another, and the fares are not low either, all of these transportation costs will be added to their investments which would lessen their profit margin.

nThe economy of the Southern Star city is bigger than all the nine Marquis territories combined.

nThe people who has are on business side of the first stage, has a lot of pressure on them, because if they don't make a proper business now, they won't have proper results in the later half of the competition when their team exchanged the places

nNow, all the teams are looking for place to conduct business and most of them are targeting the already established business places.

nSome of them are trying to buy out the whole business, some of them are trying to lease the place for the next sixteen months. All kinds of deals are being discussed.

nBut one team is having an extremely hard time.

nPhilip, Jack and Kelly ran around the whole city along with Watt, but they were unable to cut a single deal.

nEven the newly established buildings in the inner city and the shops in the worst spot are not willing to sell them.

nIn fact, nobody is even willing to talk business with them. Some of them just blocked them at the entrance and some of them sent them out after learning their team number.

nThey are having a complete hard time. They understood that the situation is not good for them, but they still kept on trying.

nActually, all of this is within Sam's expectations, he knew that they wouldn't be able to do anything easily, so he didn't give them any ideas to test the waters.

nHe only gave them some recipes and asked them to start a restaurant or look for a restaurant for a possible cooperation, but they didn't even have a chance to negotiate.

nBy evening, they are left with complete frustration.

nOn their way back to Sam's estate, they encountered Nicholas. When the latter saw Watt, he greeted him with a smile.

n

"Hey, Watt. How are you doing? Are you helping your boss with the mission?

"

n

"Well, I wanted to, but there seemed to be no chance.

" Watt replied. Actually, Watt doesn't talk much but when he saw Nicholas, he has an idea on how to turn around the situation a bit. If Nicholas can give them a recommendation, they would at least find a place to start.

nAfter explaining the situation, Nicholas also has some complicated expressions.

n

"The situation is a bit messy. It is not that I don't want to help you, but if I use my identity as Duke's son, I would be abusing my authority and I would have to put those people in a spot as they would have a hard time between me and General.

nThe second reason is that it wouldn't be fair for my teammates if I help you in a competition.

" He paused for a bit and after some deep thinking he said.

n

"How about this, I have a small land in the outskirts of the inner zone which I bought from a friend. The area is a bit remote and I bought that land to help a friend, I don't have any plans on using it and it is not an ideal location for doing business either.

nSo, if you guys don't have any other options, you can find me again and I would sell that land to you guys, even though it is a bit bad, I guess it is better than nothing.

nPlease forgive me for not helping you, even though I want to help you my teammates might not feel it is fair for them and this is a competition, I don't think helping you would be an honourable deed,

"

n

"Thanks for offering. We would meet you if we don't have any choice, as for apology, don't mention it. You are not the reason for our situation so you don't have any obligation to help us either.

"

nWatt answered and both of them went their separate ways after they exchanged their contact with the communication tokens.

nAfter that brief encounter, Watt led all of them to the new estate, when Philip looked at the land full of impact crystal, he couldn't help but ask.

n

"Why did Sam buy a place full of impact crystals? They are not easy to get rid of and they are not that useful.

"

n

"I don't know, but Boss said that they are actually quite useful and they can be a treasure if used properly.

"

nPhilip didn't answer as they slowly moved towards the Mansion. They called it a day and went to rest immediately after reaching the place.

n