"Something that doesn't involve murder?"

"Threats and blackmail!"

"Something other than criminal activity?"

"Cheat somebody legally!"

"Without making enemies of everyone, please…"

"Bet high stakes and win!"

"Gambling is too risky."

"Go treasure hunting in the most dangerous places!"

"Isn't that just gambling with our lives at stake?"

Little Li scowled. "You're impossible! You want to make money, but you won't do anything! How are you ever going to earn at all?!"

"Isn't there an honest way to do it?" Remian groaned. "How much money can I make working as a shop a.s.sistant?"

Little Li gave him a flat stare. The Xue Elder coughed into his hand lightly. "When I was younger, and was forced to work in our Clan Shops as punishment… I received one yellow crystal a day."

Remian paled. One yellow crystal a day… meant a thousand days for a black crystal… a million days for an Earth Crystal… "That would take me thousands of years to get even one Earth Crystal!"

"Yup!! So let's go rob people!" Little Li threw a fist into the air.

Remian thought back to his own world. "What if I built something, or made something?"

In his head, he wondered how much he'd be able to sell an airs.h.i.+p for in this world. Then again, he wasn't very good with building airs.h.i.+ps. Mindy could do it, but Remian had neither the physical strength nor the experience. Even so, a hot-air balloon shouldn't be too hard.

Except that something that simple could be copied by everybody in no time, and that would be the end of his revenue.

The Xue Elder, though, stroked his beard and said, "Are you an alchemist?"

"Uh… no, I'm usually on the receiving end of most concoctions." Remian grimaced. "Though I'd be willing to learn."

The Xue Elder shook his head. "Alchemy isn't easy to learn, much less master. The time it takes for a new student to achieve enough skill to earn a profit… you'd be long dead by then. What about formations? Do you know anything about formations?"

"What are those?" Remian blinked.

"I guess not." The Elder frowned. "What else? Medicinal Food? Rare Herb cultivation? Crystal mining? Talismans? Killing Beasts for valuable body parts and Beast Essence Crystals…?"

"Wait! What did you just say?!" Remian jumped.

"Beast Essence Crystals?" the Elder blinked.

"No, not that. Before that!"

The Elder thought back. "Talismans?"

"Yes! THAT!" Remian leapt up. "Can you show me one of those?"

"You mean… this?" Elder Xue took out something from a pocket. It was like a broad bookmark, with Sigil-like inscriptions on it…

"That's it! I can do that!" Remian exclaimed. "Or at least I've made and sold Scrolls before. This should be more or less the same thing!"

The Elder cleared his throat. "I'd believe it if you had a decent cultivation, but without Qi, how do you Incribe anything?"

"Uhh…" That's right. In this world, there was no mana. "Then… maybe… Beast Taming?"

Little Li snorted. "You're more likely to get eaten, or set them free or something."

Remian groaned. "I wanna go home." And come back with an airs.h.i.+p to sell.

Little Li shook her head. "Tell you what. Why don't we ask Big Li about it? I'm sure she'll have some good ideas."

"Really. I can hardly wait." Remian said in a dull tone.

But oddly enough, Big Li had an immediate answer. "Come with us to the Red Mist Forest."

"What? Why?" Remian asked blankly.

"Some friends and I are going to look for Man-Eating Vinetraps. You know, for their Plant Essence." Big Li said, as if that explained everything. "Wushuang wants to test out her new technique, and there are two guys who says they also have impressive martial techniques to show me."

"Great. So what do you need me for?"

"Mainly in case we get lost. The most dangerous thing about the Red Mist Forest is the Red Mist itself. People lost in the mists get completely disoriented and often never come out. On top of that, the mists nullify all sound, so they couldn't even call for help or find each other." Big Li paused. "But with you there, that wouldn't be a problem, would it?"

"Me?"

"Right. You could accurately find someone in bed in the middle of the night from two blocks away. You should be able to find anyone lost in the Red Mists and guide them out."

Remian considered it. "I've never tried anything like that, but… I guess it should work."

In other words, they wanted a psychic and a telepath. If it was a matter of Psionics, then Remian could definitely help out.

"We want ten percent each." Little Li said, out of the blue.

"What?" Big Li blinked.

"I brought him into the group, remember? So I should get a share too!" Little Li jumped up. "Ten percent for him, ten percent for me!"

"But you're not even doing anything!" Remian pointed out.

"Oh?" Little Li raised a fist dangerously. "You need my protection, don't you? The forest is a dangerous place, after all. No telling what might happen to weak Lem-lem all by his lonesome."

"Err… okay…" Remian grimaced. "But you need to protect my ten percent too, all right? No beating and robbing me!"

"Fine." Little Li actually looked disappointed.

***

Meanwhile, back in his original world, George enlisted the help of the Deutero Company to send word to all the nations of the world asking for support against the Spectres. Tim took his crew and his clans into the labyrinth looking for the secrets of Fal'Herim. Mindy went to Ecclesia to find her old friends in the Magic Academy and research s.p.a.ce magic. Jim and Arnold worked together to build a tank.

In the far south, the Flame Emperor held the line against the invading Spectres, using her volcanic mountain to boost her powers. This drained the fiery essence of the mountain heavily and would soon result in its depletion, but she held on stubbornly for as long as she could.

Helping her out was the Wind Emperor. He rallied more than half the Wilds in his territories, summoning no less than twenty Kings and their forces to the south. Between them, the Tier 8 Spectre was beaten back during its latest attempt to break through, and it seemed to suffer heavy injuries. The Wind Emperor pushed in for the kill, but then a second Tier 8 appeared, and nearly tore the Wind Emperor's head off. Both sides backed off at that point, and a clear border formed at the foot of Flame Emperor Mountain. All across the border, lower Tier Wilds and Spectres battled, but the strongest champions on both sides held back, watched each other and waited.

Doom and Darian held a serious discussion with Fel and d.a.m.naith about helping out against the Spectres. Their discussion tore up fifty acres of wilderness, started two bushfires, five tornadoes, three landslides, destroyed a hill, diverted a stream, and left roughly fifty new craters in the vicinity before it ended. The conclusion was reached when the Wood Emperor was annoyed enough to personally step into the battle and added weight to the arguments on Doom's side. Finally, Fel and d.a.m.naith agreed to aid the war effort. That very evening, they and roughly two thirds of the dragons at Dragon Lake departed for the south.

Mal'thor-dras woke up a bit late, and found out that everyone had left without him. Grumpily, he called on the remaining Kings of the Wilds in the Eastern, Central and Northern Regions to rally forces at Nine Kings Range. Then, he seriously contemplated going back to sleep for a bit before grudgingly heading towards the south, yawning all the way.

But before the dragons could arrive, the third Tier 8 Spectre entered the fray. The Flame Emperor, relying heavily on her mountain's power, drained it almost to depletion before they drove the three Tier 8 Spectres back and won another few hours of stand-off.

Hearing of this, Doom, Fel, and d.a.m.naith rushed to the front lines ahead of everyone else. This left Darian in the awkward position of leading a ma.s.sive group of dragons right next to the Kor'ag-dras, the Wood Emperor himself. He very gingerly kept his head down, his dragon silhouette up, and his mouth shut as the dragons made their way to the battle front.

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At last, not even Kor'ag-dras could stand it any more. [Darian!]

[Yikes!!] Darian would have jumped if he hadn't already been flying.

[You are too weak!] Kor'ag-dras proclaimed.

Darian grimaced. [Well… sorry for being weak!]

[That must be remedied.] Kor'ag-dras snorted, and that puff of wind blew away the clouds in front of Darian for roughly nine miles.

[That sounds great! But just how do I do that?] Darian asked.

[I will aid you.] Kor'ag-dras said.

[Uh…] Darian wasn't sure what 'aid' meant in this case, or whether he would survive any training likely to be even tougher than Doom's. [Thanks…?]

At that point, a surge of power swept out from the Wood Emperor and Darian fell out of the sky.

When the dragons reached the rallying point at the Nine Kings Range, Darian was not with them.