A few minutes ago, Blue Moon City.
Dark clouds gathered in the sky, blocking the natural light of the moon and crackling with electricity. A few Cultivators noticed the sudden development, but other than noticing that the scale of the Tribulation was quite large, they didn't pay it much mind.
Most Nascent Soul Cultivators would go undergo a Tribulation after roughly fifty years in the same Realm, so the event was very common. After all, there were hundreds of Nascent Soul Cultivators in a Region, sometimes even thousands.
It wouldn't be odd to see a Nascent Soul Tribulation twice a year.
Inside the City Hall, the higher-ups were engaged in a meeting that would distribute the newest wave of volunteers for taking on the Beast Tide. They hardly even noticed the Tribulation clouds that had covered half the City already. Thıs text ıs hosted at NovelHub(.)net
With the help of Fowley's Teleportation Artifact, they were able to send many back and forth to conduct regular patrols of the Foam Desert, but their efforts were only enough to reduce the number of Magical Beast's by about ten percent.
It was no small number by any means, but it still wasn't a permanent solution to their problem.
While the elders were deep in thought, the Tribulation suddenly turned a lighter shade of grey, changing colors as it alternated between yellow and orange. Their heads turned simultaneously, standing up from their chairs to look through a stained-glass window.
"Is that... a Superior Tribulation?" one of the Elders asked.
"Superior? You must be joking." the oldest Elder replied while wrapping his beard hair around his waist as he stood up.
"This old fellow has seen a real Superior Tribulation before. This one hasn't reached that level yet. See the color? It's barely orange. A Superior Tribulation is red like blood. You'll know right away when you see it, because you'll feel it first." his sentences were short and to the point.
The others nodded, finding it made sense. How could a Superior Tribulation form just like that, without any signs beforehand?
The oldest one continued. "This is a bad sign. Whoever is undergoing that Tribulation is sure to bring us trouble if they survive. A Superior Tribulation may be what's waiting for them in the next Realm, and they don't distinguish from friend or foe."
The Mayor, who was still in his seat, coughed to regain the Elders' attention. "Well it's not a Superior Tribulation, so we have nothing to fear for the next one to two hundred years, right? Let's focus on the issues at hand, everyone."
Everyone nodded and returned to their seats while the Tribulation commenced. The radius was large, but its focus seemed to be on a point far enough from Blue Moon City. There was no immediate threat to their City.
"What are the projected numbers this time?" the Mayor asked.
"Sir," the oldest Elder began, which seemed out of place considering his age. "Because of the recent increase in Adventurers, our patrols have plenty of manpower and a more accurate grasp of how many Magical Beasts formed in the last two weeks.
We assess that there are roughly twenty thousand Magical Beasts in the Golden Core Realm, and one thousand in the Nascent Soul Realm. The World is approaching the limits of its influence in this Region, however, so it's safe to assume that the subsequent waves won't increase in power by very much."
The Mayor nodded, "How can you be sure that they won't get stronger? Is this because of the Livingwood Forest?"
"Correct, Sir. The Livingwood Forest peaked at early-stage Golden Core Magical Beasts, and as you already know is currently under watch by the Adventurer's Guild in that area. Given this information the Foam Desert will probably peak at the end of the Nascent Soul Realm."
The Mayor nodded again. This was great news.
If the Guild continued to receive a steady wave of Adventurers, they might just be able to hold back such a group of Magical Beasts. A month ago, this would be unthinkable, but the quality of Cultivators had suddenly spiked, and deaths were at an all-time low.
Not to mention, they had a powerful Cultivator on their side with nearly inexhaustible Mana Reserves. Yuming was a great asset that could defend many with his Earth Element, Heal even more with the Life Element, and teleport in and out of safety with the Space Element.
If his Cultivation was a little higher, Yuming might have been labeled as one of the most powerful healers on the Continent. Other than that Ancient Family in the Far East Mistlands, Yuming was among the best of the best.
Someone suddenly knocked on the door, to which the Mayor flicked his finger and disabled an Array at the entrance. The doors swung open and a man in his late thirties walked in calmly and whispered in the Mayor's ear.
"Supreme Left is here, and he's fighting with the wanted Commoner, William." his voice was soft, but everyone in the room could still hear him.
"William is here? Right now?" the bald Alchemist with saggy cheeks said in surprise. He had heard that the boy had a feud with the Alchemy Hall, which was the only reason the man had paid more attention to him.
"Not here, but he's just outside the City. In that direction." the man pointed to an area in the distance where the center of the Tribulation was previously. The clouds were just starting to clear up, but one could still sense the remnants of Heavenly Lightning.
"So that's who it was..." the Mayor sighed. Rarely did anyone survive a Superior Tribulation, so he knew that William was only stalling the inevitable. What kind of person could possibly survive a Superior Tribulation? There were none!
There was only one other question on the Mayor's mind. How was a Commoner undergoing a Tribulation? Was the information on this person wrong?
It didn't matter. Supreme Left would handle it with ease, as he always did. If the leader of the Azures Continent came personally do deal with an issue, it was doomed to be solved at the root.
"Forget him, let's continue the meeting." the Mayor waved the messenger to leave the room, then asked the other higher-ups for their proposals on how to layout the new Adventurers.
He activated a set of Arrays on the table, raising a holographic map that detailed the current terrain around Blue Moon City. A few more Arrays were activated, separating the map into zones that one Elder would control individually.
They arranged their forces in the zones one by one, then pieced the zones back together and looked for holes in their arrangement. This was repeated over the course of the next hour or so, eventually settling on one main course of action.
Yuming had shown his worth in the last battle, so the Elders decided to place him and Carl in the Third Section this time, as the central line of defense, while the other Sections would act as support.
With Yuming's Earth Element, even Nascent Soul Beasts would have a difficult time breaching the City Walls. Just in case, though, the Elders dedicated a team of Earth Mages to reinforcing the walls.