When Gerard and I arrived back at the Celestial Dragon Palace, the first thing I did was call everyone for a meeting.

I was slightly worried before we left - unsure if Sam would be able to keep everyone in check. But, everything is still standing, the forest hasn't burned down, and no one is injured. I think. I'm glad my worries were unfounded.

Sam seems to have learned some valuable lessons as well, judging by the bags under his eyes.

He looks like he hasn't slept for a week straight, I thought cultivators didn't need sleep.

As Sam stumbled to his seat, struggling not to fall, Serket entered the room.

"Welcome back old man! How was the trip?"

"Great to see you Ket." I wave at her with a smile on my face. "Well, Gerard and I learned a few things about this world. That's why we called for the meeting. Did you see Ikkaku on your way here?"

"Ikki won't be coming." She let out a heavy sigh. "He blew up half his lab again and his face isn't healing quite right." Ok, one person is injured.

"Will he be okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Eh, don't sweat it. He's been worse." Serket responds without missing a beat.

"Ok, great, then we're all accounted for." I am only slightly worried about our nonchalance about all this.

"First of all, I am sorry for leaving you all behind while Gerard and I went to explore. Knowing all of you, it must've been difficult to stay cooped up inside." I look at everyone currently gathered. Besides Sam, who's about to fall asleep, they all look excited and eager to learn about this new world we've found ourselves in.

"It wasn't that bad, I got to catch up on a lot of material on how to make improvements on existing formations made by other formation masters without damaging them." Sapphire adds enthousiastically.

"Oh shut up you," Ruby says with a twitch in her eye.

*Pack* Sam taps Ruby on her head with one of his shadows.

Ruby starts sitting up, crouching on her chair, ready to pounce on Sam.

"Guys, please remain calm for a little longer. After this meeting is over, we're all going outside into the world." I think i see why Sam looks so tired.

A lot of the faces at the table lit up as I announced this.

"So, now that I have your attention again. The first thing we desperately need is money. We have a lot of items that are of high quality to this world, but a sudden master alchemist, blacksmith, or formation master that no one's ever heard of, that would be suspicious right? So the plan now is to send you all to these mountains." I point towards the Sacred Cloud mountains the clerk told me about.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"There should be an earth drake active in this region, his core and body parts should be quite valuable. You're welcome to collect any other cores or valuable materials while you're there. Just don't mess up the eco-system too much."

"Little Saph, Ru, and Finn, you're coming with me to the Midor forest over here." I point towards a forest closer to town. "We'll come across fewer spirit beasts here, but seeing as you are still new to the Spiritual realm, I am not letting you anywhere near an earth drake. The decision is final." I expected Ruby to be upset upon hearing this, but she seems fine. She's probably just happy she'll be able to leave the house again." I don't know how powerful a drake is, but seeing as it should a dragon's descendant, I'm not risking our teenagers. They would probably outrank the drake by a whole cultivation realm, but they have no real fighting experience.

"Now, we aren't in the Void Reality anymore, so don't go full power and blow everything up. Making a mountain disappear doesn't matter when we're summoned to a temporary realm, but this isn't a temporary realm anymore. Avoid angering the locals by destroying their backyards, alright?"

"I also need all of you to suppress your cultivation bases, especially Set, Sam and Gora. This world simply doesn't have many Celestials, let's not add any new ones yet. Try to hover around the Spiritual realm. Gerard and I have been pretending to be in the Nascent Soul realm while we were in Iroh, so to not be suspicious we will have to remain at that level for now."

"We will meet at an inn in Kirome called the Fluttering Leaf in exactly 3 weeks from now. You will require about a week to reach the mountains, then 5 days to reach Kirome again. This leaves about a week to explore the mountains. You're free to explore Kirome as you wait, but don't cause any trouble. Iroh is the inner city of Kirome, this place is off-limits. Too many people that are too easy to offend walk around here."

"Before I conclude this meeting, Serket can you prepare the first aid kits? Everyone can go to Gerard for one snack each. And finally you're not leaving until either Sirin, Cal or myself have checked your weapon for any damages."

"We've already checked everyone's weapons, they're flawless." Sirin and Caladrius said in perfect sync.

They know I think it's creepy when they do that, they must have some kind of telepathic connection right?

Sirin and Caladrius both give me a cheeky smile, it's clear they're just trying to mess with me. I should consider employing Finn to play a little prank on them as well. Revenge should always be returned a hundredfold after all. Or was it kindness? It's probably both. I shrug as I return my mind to the meeting at hand.

"Can we really only have one snack?" Little Ru looked at me with biggest puppy dog eyes she's ever given me, Sapphire joined her soon after.

I look at Gerard, he shrugs with a small smile on his face. They must've bribed him beforehand. Et tu, Gerard?

"Fine, two snacks. Dismissed"

After a joint victory shout, everyone gets up and prepares to leave.

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Where's that stupid ring...

Ah, found it.

I rummage through one of my storage rings until I find the talismans I was looking for.

I sometimes use rings to keep a clear overview of things. I only put the really important items in my actual inventory. It has a lot of space, but it's not infinite.

"Ruby, can you go around and make sure everyone has one of these teleport talismans?"

"'Kaay!" She takes them and skips through the courtyard while humming a little song.

Ha, the rythm reminds me of that goblin song about the scandalous shaman.

...

I'm gonna have a serious talk with Gora about this.