Rhys spent a week meditating and comprehending the Eternal scripture. He felt the fundamental difference between eternal energy and prana. The rate at which his body strengthened far surpassed his prior state.

Rhys opened his eyes and exhaled the foul air accumulated in his body.

‘Sigh, the difference is truly immense. I can feel my entire body brimming with an unimaginable amount of energy. Moreover, I reached the blood ascension realm with just the initial comprehension of the Eternal scripture. The universe is truly marvelous,’ Rhys thought, trying to understand his newfound power.

The fundamental difference between various kinds of energy used during cultivation is significant. In the same realm, the cultivators from Zar’Goth could never match cultivators from the Eternal domain. However, this comparison would sound ludicrous to anyone. The foundation of the Eternal domain is incomparably vast and mysterious to many people around the multiverse.

“You reached the blood ascension stage earlier than I excepted,” A lazy voice reverberated in the hall.

Rhys looked in the direction of the sound and noticed Bacu leaning on a pillar while looking at him.

“The eternal energy is unique compared to any energy in the multiverse. Do not feel surprised, this is nothing but the tip of the iceberg. Here, take this book,” Bacu threw a worn-out book towards Renzi.

As Rhys touched the book, he felt an incomparable amount of knowledge entering his mind. Soon after, the book turned into ashes.

“This is the basic sword art of Eternal merchant organization. This set of arts is useful in the unity realm, the singularity realm, the purity realm, and the realm of illumination. You are in the unity realm, but incorporating this art will help solidify your sword foundation,” Bacu explained patiently.

Even though he did not look at it in detail, Rhys noticed that the complexity and depth of this set of sword arts are incomparable to his previous sword arts.

“Thank you,” Rhys replied respectfully.

“Haha, you don’t need to be so formal. Alright, let us go meet your new team,”

“A new team?”

“Yes, every merchant has a team assigned to him. Generally, there is a strong cultivator, a researcher, an intelligence agent. They will help you navigate through different clients,” Bacu said.

At first, Rhys felt relieved that there will be someone to help him. Nevertheless, he knew that he would have to lead this team, and his social skills were never his forte.

‘This job keeps on getting more complicated,’ Rhys lamented in his heart.

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Rhys followed Bacu to a conference room not far away.

As he entered the room, he noticed one person on the chair and two people standing. Surprisingly, the person on the chair was Orkos.

“We meet again, Rhys,” Orkos greeted.

“Nice to see you again,” Rhys replied.

Rhys looked towards the far-right corner, and he noticed another familiar figure, the disheveled dark elf from earlier.

“Yo, Rhys! We meet again,” Dakath greeted with the same lazy smile.

“Nice to see you again, Dakath,” Rhys answered.

At last, he looked towards the far-left corner, and he saw a beautiful woman with fair skin and two pointed ears dressed in black.

“Hello! My name is Tilli Thinsar. I am a shadow elf from the Eternal domain,” Tilli replied politely. Tilli was shy and indrawn when she introduced herself. Rhys felt a natural connection with her personality.

After everyone finished introducing themselves, Bacu began explaining their respective role.

“Orkos is your chief technician or whatever you want to call it. He is already a transcendent. Dakath…” Bacu paused for a second.

Dakath accepting this job still confused Bacu. In terms of strength, he far surpasses his colleagues. If he just completed independent combat missions, he could probably increase his rank very quickly. Yet, he accepted the offer to join Rhys’s squad. Incipiently, Bacu offered him the job as a formality, but he never expected him to accept the job.

“Dakath is the main combat force. His realm exceeds Zar’Goth’s limit, so he will not be able to enter the planet. Therefore, we will use a realm suppression artifact to drop his cultivation to the transcendence realm,” Bacu added.

When he first met him, Rhys felt something special from Dakath. Nevertheless, he didn’t imagine for him to be this powerful.

“At last, Tilli is responsible for intelligence. She is still an amateur in the mortal shedding realm. However, she has a special talent as a shadow elf,”

Rhys looked surprised by Bacu’s assessment of Tilli. He could not believe that the shy girl was already in the mortal shedding realm. Moreover, he could discern the high expectations Bacu had for her.

Suddenly, Rhys felt enormous pressure on his shoulders. He was still in the body tempering realm, and his team was at least two realms above him.

‘Why do I have such terrible luck?’ Rhys lamented in his heart.

“Generally, you’ll have more people joining your squad as you progress. Currently, you are a second lieutenant in the organization, just like the rest of your team. Hence, you will grow together as a team. Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. An individual can’t succeed in this line of work without a solid team. It fuels people to attain uncommon results and grow together,” Bacu added solemnly.

Rhys looked around him and saw three different people of different origins. He would have to work with them and succeed together with them. He can’t predict the future, but he’ll try his best to attain their common goals.

Rhys felt like he needed to make a statement to commemorate the establishment of his new team.

“I’ll openly admit that I have never been a communicative person. Nevertheless, I can promise you that I will try my best to work together with everyone to not disappoint you and myself included,” Rhys said solemnly.

Wheresoever you live in the universe, everyone understands the strength of unity and the incredible things achieved through it. Since time immemorial, a civilization’s collapse begins from within itself before the external intervention. A symphony takes an entire orchestra to perform it, not just one person.

Rhys and the rest did not know where this journey will take them. Yet, their ambitions will not settle for anything mediocre.

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After getting to know everyone, Rhys and the group made their way to see the Major.

Bacu led them towards Chalia’s office. The Major resided on the highest floor of the entire base. Rhys felt a powerful breath surrounding him all the way. This breath did not feel malicious to him in any way. Yet, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

As if he noticed his discomfort, Bacu said, “Hestia is the guardian artifact of the entire base. It scans everyone that comes to the upper part of the base and monitors the entirety of the base. In some ways, it’s the ultimate protection against any external attacks.”

The security of every Eternal merchant organization’s base is very stringent. The vast number of treasures in every base needs a lot of protection from external attacks.

They entered the chamber and saw Chalia sitting on the highest seat with a cold expression on her face. Whenever Rhys saw her, he remembers the earlier incident and could not help but feel awkward around her.

Chalia acted as if she did not notice his discomfort. After all, she did not want her reputation to worsen more than it is now.

“Since you are all set and done, you can start your first mission. Generally, the intelligence department enters every planet and hands over pendants to any potential clients. However, our organization has been inactive on Zar’Goth for a long time. Hence, we do not know who holds the pendants currently. You will have to make do with the old records. Furthermore, there is a severe manpower shortage, and we can’t allocate additional staff to monitor for now.” Chalia said

Every branch’s intelligence department plays a huge role in their networking. All the potential clients receive a pendant, and when in need, the client can request a trade through activating the pendant.

“Nonetheless, you don’t need to worry. The pendants were activated a while ago. You just have to wait for someone to ask for a trade.”

Rhys listened carefully to everything the Major had to say. He did not want to ruin his first potential trade.

“Remember everything you learned in the past few days. A merchant’s job is to trade and explore the mysteries of the universe. I would not mind if you show a little partiality to humans and help with some things. However, the moment your help becomes biased and significant, you will have to revoke your status as a merchant. We will not oppose it if you act independently. The moment you start using the organization’s resources, it’s an entirely different situation,” Chalia added the last part sternly.

Over the years, she has seen several people try to manipulate trades in favor of others. However, the consequences of their actions were extremely severe. Therefore, it is very unusual to see merchants employed in their home galaxies.

The order to appoint Rhys as a merchant to the planet of Zar’Goth came from the higher-ups. So, Chalia did not have enough power to transfer him somewhere else.

“You don’t need to worry, Major. I never really felt connected to anything in that world except for my grandfather. However, my grandfather died not too long ago, severing my last intimate connection to Zar’Goth,” Rhys replied sternly.

Ever since Rhys discovered that he was not human, he lost the last bit of connection he had with Zar’Goth after the death of his grandfather. Nevertheless, it is hard to tell if he can keep up with the promise.

“I hope you remember what you promised today. Alright, start preparing for your journey to Zar’Goth. You will depart the day after tomorrow,” Chalia said.

Everyone made their way out and, Chalia and Bacu were the only ones left in the room.

“What do you think of him?” Chalia asked suddenly.

Bacu thought for a moment before answering the question.

“At first, he doesn’t feel like anything special. His talent for cultivation is average, and his personality does not fit that of a merchant’s. However, he is very calm and never rushes into making any decisions. Is it enough to succeed in this job? I don’t know,” Bacu analyzed calmly.

It’s remarkably hard to determine a merchant’s future success. Every merchant has his unique personality, and their success never depended on their personality. Many factors play a role in their success: a talent for cultivation, luck, fate, treasures, etc. Every merchant’s success depends entirely on their destiny and the path they pursue.

“I agree with you on most parts. However, there must a reason for the higher-ups to appoint him as a merchant. All we can do is wait and see,” Chalia replied.

“You are right. At least, he is not naïve. However, there is a severe lack of intelligence regarding his planet. We do not know the current circumstance. After looking through records, the planet is not simple. Its history is extremely complicated,”

“We don’t need to worry, Dakath is going with him. In my opinion, there are very few things that could harm him with Dakath around,” Chalia replied.

Strength is all that matters in a cultivation world. It is the ultimate solace against any threat.

Bacu nodded his head. He knew more about Dakath than anybody, and he understood exactly how powerful he is.

“Their entire team is full of strange yet talented people. Moreover, each of them has an important background. Maybe they can create a miracle, who knows?” Chalia continued with a smile on her face.

“Haha. After everything I have seen in my lifetime, I would not be surprised by what a bunch of misfits could do,” Bacu added with laughter.

The cosmos is vast and full of endless mysteries. For people who have lived for a long time, there is rarely anything that surprises them.