740 Hierarchy of Dimensional Exploration Teams

That was why they issued these as missions in the Dimensional Hostel. Of course, the type of missions was definitely not limited to finding these treasures. There would be others, like finding out dark secrets, obtaining information, and even revenge killing. As long as one could afford to spend Holy Coins, the Dimensional Hostel would accept them. Then, those Dimensional Exploration teams, mainly made up of Holy Disciples, would accept the missions and fulfill conditions to obtain rewards. Naturally, the hostel was also divided into classes and certain under-the-table missions were also secretly issued. This was a system in the Holy Land.

Freshmen could also choose to join Dimensional Exploration teams. On the one hand, they could help their team with odds and ends to build good relations with seniors, and some seniors might give them pointers. On the other hand, they could earn a little money and gain experience from certain missions.

However, it was obvious that the better teams would want to select people with potential instead of a good-for-nothing. They actually welcomed freshmen to join them because freshmen would definitely grow up, and fresh blood was needed to maintain the rank and resources of a team.

In fact, the higher-ups of the Holy Land did not attempt to restrain the people below. In the Holy City, the Holy Disciples may be split into three factions, but outside the Holy City, most relationship circles are actually divided according to the respective Dimensional Exploration teams. More often than not, the circles formed from Dimensional Exploration teams were more stable than the circles within the three major factions in the Holy Land, and the bond between them was unbreakable. After all, they had all experienced life and death together on their exploration and could trust each other to have their backs. The simple senior-junior relationships between the people in the three major factions were a far cry from theirs.

After entering the three major factions for around half a month was also the peak period for freshmen to join Dimensional Exploration teams.

It was said that the top three Dimensional Exploration teams, the Storm Listeners, the Imperial Court, and the Phantom Squadron had already invited Scarlet and Solomon to join them. Hyde Alexander, one of the first-class apprentices, had also joined the Seekers silently. The Seekers were only one of 10 Dimensional Exploration teams in the Holy Land that was purely made up of dimensional humans. Compared to others, dimensional humans were relatively low-key and pragmatic. Other than showing some amount of discrimination against freshmen from Earth in the Tyrants, they would not pick a fight with people from Earth on purpose, perhaps because of their birth. Even the so-called discriminatory behavior in the Tyrants — excluding the individuals with deeply-rooted beliefs regarding races — were more or less directed at those 'weak people' who dared not enter the Smelting Faculty. Noraba was living a good life recently after having entered the Smelting Faculty. The dimensional humans advocated the strong. Thus, they would be rather accepting toward those who had the same ideals as them, specifically those who aspired to become strong.

Some of the other outstanding freshmen had also joined their respective Dimensional Exploration teams one after the other. Freshmen needed opportunities, and the teams needed to develop and draw in fresh blood. The top ten Dimensional Exploration teams in the Dimensional Hostel were naturally the goal for all freshmen. The respective teams had also set up some basic assessments for freshmen to see if they were good enough to join them. The assessments were not difficult, but it was said only a meager number could pass them. At present, other than several second-class students such as Carolyn and Vladimir, anyone else being able to join a top ten team was still unheard of.

Wang Zhong was originally interested in joining a top ten exploration team, but he quickly dismissed the idea after hearing about the situation there from Grai. It was not because the assessments were difficult, but it was the strict rules of the top ten teams which deterred him from doing so. In places like the Holy Land, special treatment often came with a price, but Carolyn and Vladimir paid no attention to that. Being highly valued by their family's predecessors and entering the observation list of a Great Teacher, they were the pride of their families. As long as they had emotional intelligence, they would be in their element. However, Wang Zhong's situation was quite the opposite. Relative freedom might have been the only thing he currently had.

However, there was a serious problem. Wang Zhong was really short of money. Cellular Cosmology had entranced him deeply, and concrete practice required a lot of Holy Coins. Other than that, he also needed to read other books to avoid being a frog in the well. After all, Cellular Cosmology was just a concept. It was purely a theory that the author himself was not very sure about. At the very least, he had to look at other things, especially books regarding tempering the body. Although he was not one to undervalue himself, he would not belittle the others.

For the past two days, Wang Zhong had been dreaming about making money even during sleep. His mind was completely filled with it. It did not matter whether he could join an exploration team; what was important was— Money! Money! Money! Important things had to be said three times. Be it interpersonal relationships, social circles, or the top ten exploration teams, they were just empty talk without money. Now, his dreams were all filled with how he was going to get the 500 Holy Coins to build the Micro Mirror.

He had to rethink his options!

Maybe he should try alchemy? It was said that quick money would come from that, and Simba had been blowing his trumpet about his alchemy skills in Wang Zhong's Soul Sea all day long. However, another problem arose. Alchemy also required money, especially for raw materials and equipment. Also, Wang Zhong honestly knew nothing about alchemy. He could not simply listen to Simba and get in over his head. How could he really go to the alchemy department to rent a ridiculously expensive alchemy workshop? That would be a big expense every day. Furthermore, he himself had no idea what to alchemize. At the very least, he should wait for a while before doing that. He needed time to organize his thoughts, learn more about alchemy, and raise some funds. Maybe it would be more reliable to take Simba with him as well.

His second option was to explore some of the secret realms in the Fifth Dimension. After acquiring certain dimensional resources from such expeditions, one could trade the items after returning to the Holy Land. This option was relatively straightforward and money would come quick as well. Sometimes, one could get rich overnight. This was also the reason why the Holy Disciples were keen on joining the Dimensional Exploration teams. If they could get something like the Golden Stone Slab, the amount of Holy Coins they would get would be uncountable! Now, Wang Zhong was clear that he had gotten the short end of the stick when he sold it to the Stuart clan previously.

There was yet another problem. To go to the Dimensional World, one needed a Pioneering Order. Individual travel would cost 500 Holy Coins. Yes, that was how ridiculous the price was. Wang Zhong felt that this place should not be called the Holy City, but the Money City instead. However, it was indeed due to an orderly system that saw to the development of the Holy City. The higher-ups in the Holy City merely needed to establish a fixed set of rules rather than depending on personnel, which might lead to subjective management.

Pioneering, was regulated by the so-called pioneering system of the Holy City. Anyone with a rank below Great Teacher would need a Pioneering Order if they wanted to leave the city. They could be purchased at the business lobby of the Holy City at a price of 500 Holy Coins per order. Other than returning to Earth or exceeding the time limit, there were no other restrictions.

This threshold was actually equivalent to restricting the freedom to enter and leave. It was impossible for ordinary apprentices to purchase such a luxury item, let alone ordinary people in the Holy City. It was known that the moment one entered the Holy City, one would basically live out the rest of one's life there. This was also one of the reasons why so many Heroic Soul Soldiers could not return to Earth after they stepped into this place. At the same time, they would be extremely eager to help big shots with daily chores, hoping that one day they would be lucky enough to be brought out, giving them the chance to look for opportunities.

Another method would be joining a Dimensional Exploration team. For group travel, the group would need the team Pioneering Order, which had an upper limit for people allowed, usually 20. This would be purchased by the leader of the Dimensional Exploration team and only cost 1000 Holy Coins. Team members who wanted to travel with the team had to pay a certain fee to the team leader. The fee was dependent on whether the various team leaders were greedy. A kind team leader might only charge members the original price, which was usually shared equally among everyone. For a group with 20 people, one person would only have to pay 50 Holy Coins. However, some greedy team leaders might ask for 100 Holy Coins or more; then, profits from bringing members out of the city would already be enough for the team leader to line his pockets. Even though the shared cost was rather high, considering the rewards from completing missions, it was definitely still profitable.

Naturally, there were also teams which specialized in smuggling. These teams would go to great lengths and spent huge amounts of money to obtain the Dimensional Exploration qualification. They would then form teams which specialized in helping people get out of the city. A thousand Holy Coins got them 20 slots to get out of the city. There would always be some Holy Disciples in the Holy City who would occasionally encounter things that had to be done outside of the city, and it was not cost-effective to go out alone. With a market for such slots, this profession became very popular. When the market was good, they could sell each slot for around 200 to 300 Holy Coins. Such teams earned a living by profiting from the price difference in the fees alone.

However, this kind of business required background. Without background, one could be detected by the Holy City in minutes and get killed. Most of the time in such cases, the Holy City had already given tacit consent to certain privileged people to earn from this; thus, they closed one eye to their actions.

But this was inappropriate for him as well.

Wang Zhong was a little troubled. He knew nothing about the location of the Holy City inside the Fifth Dimension and nothing about the countless secret realms of Adalia space. Outside the Holy City was a vast and endless space in the Fifth Dimension. As a freshman, with no one to lead the way, he would not know where to go even if he managed to get out of the Holy City. After all, he was not a Spiritual Soul now, he was in his true form.

The Dimensional Hostel was extremely crowded at this time. There was an area dedicated to recruitment, recruiting new people who had not yet found their way. On the glowing Skylink bulletin board, there was some official news regarding the recruitment process, which managed to attract a huge crowd of freshmen. There were also many experienced members of several dimensional exploration teams on the scene trying to recruit people and voicing support for their own teams.

"The Oceanic Beasts are recruiting! We have low requirements. As long as you have a Dharma Idol of at least a B grade and are obedient and diligent, we guarantee you a minimum of ten Holy Coins per month!"

"The Victors are recruiting. Those with a Dharma Idol of at least a B+, feel free to participate in our test. There are awesome senior brothers and lovely senior sisters here. Don't miss this chance!"

… Wang Zhong rubbed his nose as he realized that he had given it too much thought. Even the worst Dimensional Exploration team would only recruit freshmen with potential. It was already the lowest requirement for a team to accept someone with a B-grade Dharma Idol. Looking at the C+ on his Skylink, he was a little stumped. These exploration teams were in the midst of being highly sought after by the enthusiastic freshmen when someone shouted out of nowhere. "The Gourmets are recruiting! We need taste-testers, ten Holy Coins per dish! Chowhounds are welcome!"

In an instant, the originally noisy crowd quietened down, and countless people looked over at the direction of the voice.

The Gourmets were absolutely famous. The team was actually rather small-scale and only recruited Holy Disciples who were gourmets. The former leader was also an extremely well-known teacher in the Holy City, Teacher Lan Daier. Her superb culinary skills had subdued countless powerful people in the Holy City.

The team was ranked eighth among the top ten Dimensional Exploration teams in the Holy City. This was mainly a comprehensive ranking. The rank of a team depended on how many tasks it had completed instead of its direct combat ability. In fact, the Gourmets didn't need to specifically form groups to complete dimensional missions; they merely needed to collaborate with other teams. Everyone absolutely welcomed them as they had superb culinary skills and were excellent at various healing techniques.