The Dawn of the New World

"Saint Grade? That's easier said than done. How much do you need?"

"A ton combined but it depends on the ores. Some weigh too much while being too little in overall volume. I will have to check myself."

Hao Xuan went silent for a moment while his mind raced with a myriad of ideas. He looked towards Altron after a while.

"Did you make a training ground somewhere?"

"Of course, on the 3rd level underground!"

"Alright, let's go there before continuing further."

With all the team leaders tow Hao Xuan followed Altron to a small building a few tens of meters away from his house. It looked completely ordinary from the outside and kind of resembled a public toilet a little bit but the insides were very high-tech.

As soon as all of them had crossed its threshold the door closed and the entire room started moving down. It was a giant elevator capable of holding up to 20 Orcs.

Hao Xuan could feel it going down even though there were multiple arrays in place that made it feel stationery. A few seconds later it stopped and just as the doors opened a wave of hushed whispers came rolling through.

Hao Xuan stepped through and saw three hallways with the one in front leading to a brightly lit room full of people. There were all talking amongst themselves in low voices but when they realized the elevator doors had opened a curtain of silence fell over them.

"Looks like they were waiting for us," Hao Xuan remarked.

Arthur stepped forward to take responsibility.

"It is my fault master. A couple of them overheard when Malina called and the word must have spread. I will send them away right this instant-"

"No, there is no need. Call the rest over too, it's best I formally meet everyone at least once don't you think?"

"As you command."

Arthur tapped on his left wrist and sent the orders to everyone. Even the ones already there got them.

"Let's go."

Following the middle hallway till the end, Hao Xuan was greeted by around two dozen orcs all standing on the sides.

"At ease," he waved to them before examining the room.

It was a giant square of a room lined with seats and various machines on all four sides. There were a series of glass windows that separated another space further down in the middle.

This room looked to be a simple viewing gallery while the main training hall was ten meters below it. Four sets of stairs led to it from each side.

Hao Xuan went down along with the team leaders while all the rest walked up to the windows to see what was going to happen. As they stepped into the training hall Hao Xuan noticed the presence of numerous gadgets, arrays, and glyphs placed all around it.

They were probably created into the walls to keep all the damage contained. Hao Xuan looked towards Altron for confirmation.

"Looks like a lot of work went into making this place. I see there are many inscriptions and even a few arrays placed around here. Did you do that or was that because of their inheritance?"

"It was all them, master. Four Orcs received inheritances related to magical inscriptions, glyphs, and arrays. They along with Olav are responsible for that. I only put in a few basic seismic removal devices along with kinetic energy barriers."

"Olav too?" he looked at Olav who vigorously nodded in return, "Another piece of great news. While the others gather I will find an appropriate place to plunder. Can you get some dirt in here real quick?"

"Dirt, master?" Arthur asked confusedly.

"Yeah, fresh dirt. Quickly now!"

"Yes, I will be right back."

Arthur had just turned around when he was stopped by Malina.

"I CAN D- do it!"

Hao Xuan looked at her with a twinkling gaze, "Oh? Alright go ahead, right here."

He went to the middle of the training hall and gestured towards Malina to get started. She reached into her sleeve and pulled a long stick.

'A wand?' Hao Xuan thought but that really did just look like a piece of stick shaved off to make it resemble a 'wand'.

Malina noticed Hao Xuan's piercing gaze and blushed, "I co-could only find this little piece with some magical properties. It is not a proper wand but still does the job."

"Mhm."

She closed her eyes for a moment and mumbled something under her breath before moving the wand in an 'A' shape and ending with a little twirl. Hao Xuan tried to listen in but only managed to catch the last word which she said out loud.

"Terarri!"

Hao Xuan's footing suddenly became unstable and when he looked down there was already a small patch of bubbling brown mass underneath him. He bent down to pick up a handful and it felt as real as it should.

"Did you summon this or create it?"

"A bit of both. I summoned a small portion and then created the rest from it. It is not easy to create the 'material' from nothing."

'I bet, and with a broken wand to boot.'

Hao Xuan would be lying if he said he wasn't a little jealous but there was nothing he could do about it.

He spread the dirt around him in a perfect circle and sat down cross-legged right in the center under the scrutinizing gazes of everyone present.