In a complex of facilities and warehouses, a large group of people put on a set of armor suits one by one. Most of them were human, while the remaining proportion was comprised of Martial Artists.
A highly organized set of protocols was meticulously followed before it was finally time to be deployed into the Great Forest of Hypnonarak. One of the lesser-known facts about Don Carnil was that he came into power at a remarkably young age thanks to his extremely high competence in management, administration, and bureaucracy. Having graduated from the Kandrian Institute of Management as a sage scholar, a feat unprecedented at his age, he applied his expertise to revolutionize the black market and create the most powerful mafia in the substances/products market.
It was thanks to him that the black market for substances and material products went from being a chaotic and unscrupulous affair executed by thugs to a highly efficient and effective force that possessed a state of affairs with as much sophistication and organization as even the most well-honed multi-national companies.
It was the reason that he was accepted as the Sixth Don of the Kandrian Underworld.
His philosophy was reflected in the fact that the drug trafficking operation set up in the Gereign Region operated like a well-honed machine rather than a broken-down vehicle under the influence of his administrative measures.
"Time of dispatch: 900," Senior Nereau announced while an assistant recorded the detail. "Let's get going."
Hundreds of individuals began moving as they exited the dispatch facility before heading towards the forest in the distance. The entire squad moved in relative uniformity. Martial Apprentices were present at the outermost points, with Martial Squires in a line around the middle layer and a scant few Martial Seniors around the human extractors, who immediately began skillfully and swiftly extracting every ounce of narcotic raw extracts that they could.
In order for such extravagant security and protocol measures to be worth it, the resulting harvest needed to be lucrative enough. The group would spend extensive amounts of time in the forest and would also go much deeper than a group this size would otherwise dare to go.
That was how the team was going to justify such expenditure. Most forces did not go beyond a certain distance into the forest. The reason for that was that the risks exponentially increased the further they went and the larger their group was. The profits were proportionally greater, however, most forces were not interested in risking their lives to that extent.
The Carnil extraction squad was different.
They went much deeper into the forest and extracted harvests that were orders of magnitude more potent and pure than the scraps that could be found on the furthest edges of the forest. This resulted in revenues that were exponentially greater than those of forces of similar sizes.
It paid for not just all the expenses of the Carnil establishment in the Gereign Region but generated massive profits for being a highly premium product.
The Martial Artists of the extraction squad remained on high alert as their senses monitored their surroundings. Their suits were able to ensure that they didn't ingest any narcotic compounds that saturated the air, however, it could not stop the mental consumption-ability of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.
It hampered their minds and thus their senses to a certain extent, it was why someone like Senior Nereau had been sent in the first place, only her senses were powerful enough to still be highly effective despite the suppression of the forest. Had she been a Martial Squire during the time of the Shionel Dungeon raid, she would have been a trump card in navigating the dungeon. She remained on high alert as her senses covered not only the extraction team but also the surrounding area. In order to see incoming threats, going beyond just the space that the team occupied was necessary. Only then could she sense and warn the security detail.
She was situated at the center of the extraction team, unlike the other Martial Seniors. In these circumstances, her senses were far more valuable than her combat prowess. She hadn't objected to this role due to the safety that it brought her.
It was also an important role that could propel her up the ranks of the Carnil Mafia as long as he did well. It was one of the reasons that she had begun working on mastering and developing even more sensory techniques in the past few years so that her sensory prowess would increase even more.
Doing this would increase her utility and importance in these lucrative operations. As for her combat prowess, did such a thing even matter anymore?
She talked down to Senior Genshin about not having a mindset fit for the Master Realm, but in reality, she herself had made no progress with the Martial Mind since learning the truth about it forty years ago. She didn't have the drive to subject herself to the torture of endless experimentation, trial and error, improvisation, and innovation over many years needed to make progress with the Martial Mind.
It had taken her everything just to reach the Senior Realm, she was content with leveraging that to gain wealth and status in the Kandrian Underworld.
What was the point of being strong when she had several Martial Seniors protecting her and the extractors from any external threats? She would rather be valuable and important in such circumstances.
'I'll break into the upper echelons of the Carnil Mafia with my contributions to these operations,' She clenched her fist.
Yet, she wouldn't be able to do that.
After all, she was about to die.
BOOM!!
An enormous explosion emerged from a powerful collision out of seemingly nowhere.
One moment, there was peace.
The next moment, it had been torn away.
The Martial Artists, as disciplined as they were, took a moment to recover from the shock. An enormous cloud of dust reaching the skies had enveloped the entire place, but that was not enough to impede their senses.
And what they sensed shook them.
