Chapter 0160

Tempest’s group broke camp and followed their dubious overseers deeper into the Emblemic Mountain Range along with a few other groups, Hannah Trellis’ group among them.

Tempest was gnashing her teeth in anger every time she saw Hannah Trellis and her inability to lash out at them further increase her frustration.

Their three stooges overseers, Jurk Tonveil, Morth Venell and Abosh Hasur kept the groups in line, leaving no chance for Tempest to play any tricks on anyone.

Tempest had finally got around to asking about them from Graden.

Jurk Tonveil, a yellow mage with bright blond hair and a rather effeminate appearance, had light and lightning as his elements. His affinities for both ranged around the low sixties.

Morth Venell, a yellow mage with orange hair styled similar to a hedgehog, had fire, darkness, and earth as his elements. Again, his affinities ranged in the low sixties.

Abosh Hasur, a yellow mage with brown hair, had earth as his element. His affinities ranged in the mid to upper sixties.

The information supplied by Anvis Dest was quite helpful. Tempest didn’t think Anvis Dest would give them all the information he and his team had collected given their history but their previous altercation wasn’t a major factor. Skylar Sedonis had made peace with them. There was no reason why their group wouldn’t want to form connections with Tempest’s group.

Tempest didn’t understand what the rest of the information implied so she had to go back and review the hierarchy of the guild which goes something like this:

Guild Master + Council of Elders > (4) Divisional Leaders > (6 to 8) Regional Leaders > Mercenary Captain > Vice Captain > Squad Captain > Squad Vice Captain > Members.

The Hall of Punishment obeys the Council of Elder but they are others outside the regular hierarchy.

The Guild Master and the Council of Elders overseer the guild but individually they might not be as strong as a Divisional Leader or even a Regional Leader. They have to be as strong as a Mercenary Captain since that is one of the requirements to be an Elder and even then that isn’t saying much considering most of the Mercenary Captains refused to be promoted.

Tempest had heard Cardis complain about the Mercenary Captains refusing the promoting because they don’t want the responsibilities associated with being an Elder. As to what those responsibilities are, Tempest had no clue.

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Below the position of Regional Leaders are the Mercenary Captains. From here on out, the Eternal Spirit Guild acts more like an adventurer guild Tempest read about instead of a sect in all the Chinese novel.

The Mercenary Captains are responsible for their own groups.

In this case, each Mercenary Captain acts more like the leaders of their own branch of the military. One Mercenary Captain means one branch of the military and all it entails. The military works together but they are their own separate units with their own specialties and their own agendas.

“You getting it completely wrong.” Graden admonished Tempest when he heard Tempest compared a mercenary group to an army of a kingdom. “A Mercenary Captain is exactly that, a Mercenary Captain. They are responsible for their own group and only their own group. They have to act within the guild policies and keep in mind the overall interest of the guild but they act with their own self interest. Remember that.”

“Then how do the higher up control them?” Tempest asked, completely confounded on inner working of the guild. No wonder no one wants to be the Guild Master and tries to offload that thankless job on to someone else as fast as possible.

“The higher ups as you say issues certificates which grants the mercenary groups privileges or limits their activities and well as guild points.”

"Basically, control their privileges and their money."

"You can say that."

“Hmph,” Tempest said and went to peruse the information they bargained for. Tempest had no interest in the working of the Mercenary Captains or the mercenary groups. She was never going to be a part of it so she doesn’t need to bother. She was going to be fast-tracked to the top.

According to the information supplied, the dubious overseers were members of the Axtel Mercenary Group, a large group with over a thousand members sorted into seventy squads. Their leader, Mark Axtel was a shrewd man who knew how to gain the confidence and loyalty of his followers.

“So this whole shebang is orchestrated by the Axtel Mercenary Group?” Tempest asked Ventus since she figured Graden wouldn’t know the answer if she were to ask him.

Graden was great at general knowledge or research but he wasn’t too good with the complex interactions that make up the society called the Eternal Spirit Guild. Fenix was much better than him at it.

Given their current circumstances, Fenix wasn’t willing to openly discuss any of the mercenary groups.

No. The Axtel Mercenary Group does not have the guts or the manpower to pull off such an elaborate scheme and not get caught. There is a shadow mercenary group silently recruiting and pulling members of other groups into their schemes. With so many people from different mercenary groups working together, the higher ups as you call them won’t know who is the mastermind if they caught the people involved.

“Cardis needs to do some house cleaning.”

The cultivation world is not as easy as you think it would be. The Eternal Spirit Guild knows about the actions of this group. They permit it because they haven’t crossed their bottom line.

“And they also use this group as a whetting stone for their new recruits.”

That too.

“Still, this is too much.”

They aren’t forcing you.

“They are forcing us. If it was only a few groups using the new recruits as cannon fodders then I blame it on luck and their lack of preparation. However, their net is too wide. No amount of luck or preparation will allow the new recruits to avoid their schemes. Unless they have powerful backing in the guild, then they won’t stand a chance. The worst part is the new recruits aren’t supposed to rely on their backing during this time. See, there's no way out. They either have to contract it or give it up altogether.”

What are you going to do? Ventus didn’t like Tempest’s smile. Experiences taught the spirits Tempest was up to something. As much as they watch over Tempest, they still don’t understand how her mind works.

“If the net is too wide, then we’ll just have to cut it.”

55 level four magical beasts up ahead.

“Oh, I’ll get to see an interesting play huh? Or should I play the fisherman in troubled waters?”

Neither. Play the coward. 4 Level 5 magical beasts are controlling the group up ahead.

“Well damn.”