Elder Lucy and the three students Mikey, Veronica, and Vanessa walked up to the Sect entrance of the cultivation habitat known to the sect as Monster House to the students.

"Elder, are we really just going to examine the array formation? is there some secret task that we have to do?" Mikey asked politely.

"Yes, Mikey we are going to test the formation. The reason why will be known when we are inside." Elder Lucy spoke to her student.

Mikey the oldest of the three students was confused by the seriousness of Elder Lucy's tone.

Veronica spoke up and said to Mikey "If the Elder has something to say to us, she will let us know inside when we are alone and not outside where others can hear us."

You're right. Mikey told Veronica.

Elder are we going to stay for a while or will this be a quick trip? Vanessa asked.

If things go well we shall be gone for a day or two if not who knows how long it will be. Elder Lucy replied to her enthusiastic student.

Everyone get ready the door will open as soon as I place my medallion on the doors.

Yes! they all replied.

Elder Lucy reached into her robe and took out a bronze-colored medallion it had the yin-yang symbol with The zodiac animal's surroundings being the perimeter of it.

Vanessa's eyes sparkled. She had noticed that the medallion was an array key.

Elder Lucy placed the medallion into the door and dozens of array lines appeared causing the door to slide open.

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Everyone get ready we are going inside.

The Elders and students all took their steps forward and entered the sanctuary.

A Bright light embraced the group and when the three opened their eyes they saw a gigantic forest.

Elder so... can you tell us the task now? Mikey asked impatiently.

The Elder sighed at his impatience but replied anyway.

Yesterday when I was doing my weekly maintenance on the formation bubble that keeps others out and animals and monsters in, I found out that it was tampered with. She paused to let the information sink in.

There have been more runes added to the formation and I don't know what they do. If it was someone malicious intentions we need to assess the risk and plan accordingly. She communicated with the three students.

The three had their mouths open wide.

Mikey was the first to speak.

"How is it that nobody sensed the change?"

There are a few ways that could happen. One is that their attainments in arrays are much higher and they managed to work on it without triggering any of the alarms.

Two is that they had a key and were able to shut down the alarms and make the adjustments that way. If this is what happened then it means the sect has a traitor.

If we have a traitor we need to study the formations and figure out the intent behind such a transgression. We can't afford to have the sanctuary be a staging ground for an attack. Elder Lucy said in a solemn tone which made the students more vigilant.

Elder, I have a question. Why is the sanctuary so big? It's even bigger than the sect?

We spent most of our time gathering species of beasts and plants that are on the verge of extinction and hope to increase their population. All though not every species is on the verge of extinction here we grow these beasts because they're valuable to cultivators.

Whether it's their blood, body parts, or special abilities we try not to over-harvest. For those that have special abilities, we tend to partner with them via contracts. One example is my beetle. She has a much higher sensitivity to the presence of others and qi. She has helped me with finding arrays and kept me from danger when out collecting resources.

Can we see your pet, Elder? Veronica asked.

Of course, we were going to use her anyway so it's better for you to get used to her presence.

The Elder patted her beast bag and inserted her energy to notify her partner.

The pink beetle with a horn in the shape of a heart ❤️ appeared before everyone. This is my partner Frizzle. It was very friendly and greeted everyone with a friendly buzz.

The female students thought she was cute want to pet her on the top of her head complimented how pretty her horn was.

Mikey however wasn't interested other than greeting it he just looked all over. He had then thought of the many various creatures in the sect and looked around. He couldn't help but ask Elder Lucy a question.

"Elder, does everyone get a pet?" He asked with anticipation.

Elder Lucy replied. "If you earn enough credit you can choose one for free or you can pay to exchange for one we have at the sect. If you want to get a wild one you need to pay an entry fee and you have one week to find one plus you need to pay for the contract scroll or learn the spell."

She then placed her hand on Frizzle.

"I found Frizzle when I was doing maintenance to the Arrays she was just watching me. I think she likes arrays as much as I do. Elder Lucy then smiled warmly at her pet beetle."

It was then Frizzle started buzzing quite loudly as if in a panic. The heart shaped horn tip started glowing.

"On guard everyone Frizzle has found a threat!" Elder Lucy yelled at the students.