Death... and me

Gartok City, a city found inside the Dalamu Sect Territory. At this moment, Rean, Droman, and a few elders of the Formations Hall were working in the Router Formation.

"During the time you were in the Profound Abyss, I passed the specs that we wanted for the Lightning Beads to the Lightning Sect. Still, only today did we get the third version of the Lightning Beads."

Rean nodded.

"It's okay. Development is an arduous process. Elder Droman should be aware of this more than anyone else."

Rean then held one of the Lightning Beads in his hand. The Lightning Beads now had a completely different format than before. First of all, according to what Droman and Rean devised, it wasn't a bead anymore. Instead, it looked more like a rectangular cube. Not only that, but it wasn't just 4 centimeters long on all sides anymore. Now, it was 12 centimeters long and 6 centimeters high.

Other than that, there were several small holes on the two extremities, no less than twenty on each side. Unsurprisingly, each hole had the size of one of the copper cables that the communication system used. Sure enough, one side would be where the Electrical Signals would come from, and the other side would be where they would leave. This was Rean and Droman's version of a storage device. Unlike the previous Lightning Beads, this one that didn't look like a bead at all had no attack power whatsoever.

Rean then took a few of the separated cables connected to the important buildings of Garlok City. Those buildings already had the standard communication formations, so they could send messages anytime that was necessary. Soon after, he connected them to the Lightning 'Bead.'

"Elder Droman, ask them to send the message."

Droman nodded as he spread his Spiritual Sense. Thanks to his cultivation, his Spiritual Sense could cover the entire city. That was more than enough to send Spiritual Sense messages to the Formation Masters stationed at the communication formations.

As soon as Droman did that, the formation master began to send several messages at once. Those messages had no real meaning. They were only doing that to test the new storage device.

Rean, Droman, and the other elders kept their Spiritual Sense inside the Lightning 'Bead' as it received the information through the Router Formation. After a few minutes, the messages stopped after Droman asked them.

One elder called Oitive mentioned right after.

"We will need to do a few modifications on the amplification runes."

Rean nodded.

"Indeed. The previous Lightning Beads required a strong electrical signal to save the message information inside, but this one has no need for so much anymore. The Lightning Sect really knows their own product very well. Even though what we asked them was so different, they still delivered an excellent product. Not only can even more information be saved in this little guy, but it can also reduce the consumption of Spiritual Energy necessary."

Droman and the others agreed with Rean.

"Alright, let's start the creation of Version 1.2 of the Router Formation."

All the formation masters got excited and immediately began to work while following Droman's directions. Rean helped in what he could, but his knowledge about formations was still far from enough to understand all those runes. Still, the elders were impressed with his talent. They could totally understand why Droman would take Rean as his disciple.

Time passed as the modifications took place. Of course, not everything worked perfectly.

"Idiot! Can't you see that this connection will delay the information if you use the 56th and 91st runes together? Use the 56th with the 70th instead."

"What are you talking about? This is exactly how it should be. If we try to save it too fast, the information might be lost. Are you dumb?"

Rean narrowed his eyes.

"Just try both of them, for fuck's sake. See which one will work better. If it loses information, we can reduce the speed. If not, we keep it like this and test it for a few days."

Problems kept appearing as arguments popped up here and there. However, no one was really feeling angry. It's just that they were all too excited to be working with this thing. Just like Droman, they never thought that Electrical Formations could be this fun to build.

Suddenly, Droman's eyes narrowed as he looked in a specific direction. Rean noticed that and couldn't help but ask.

"Again?"

Droman nodded.

"Yes. Everyone noticed that we have been working on this Router Formation, so the spies keep increasing. That's because they can't understand the principle behind it. We have deliberately changed those formations so that no one could make heads and tails of how it works."

Rean agreed with him.

"This isn't the only city with our Router Formation set up. Without a doubt, these guys had gone to the other ones to check it. We even received a report that a black-clothed Nascent Soul cultivator used his Spiritual Energy to lift the entire ground to bring the formation away with him. He definitely wanted to bring it back to his own power intact for analysis."

Droman added.

"Indeed. But most of those who checked the router formations should have understood that it is not that easy to copy it. Especially because they don't know about the Lightning Beads. The Lightning Beads we used in the Router Formations are already very different from the defensive bead that the Lightning Sect sold in the past. Unless they find out where we got it, it will be useless to get the formation alone."

Rean couldn't help but sigh.

"Still, they should have already understood what the Router Formation does. As long as they aren't idiots, they should have noticed the problems of not having a Router Formation to deal with the over-information issues. But since they can't understand how the Router Formation works and don't have the modified Lightning Beads, they can only send people to spy over our work."

Droman and Rean found that to be quite funny. Although they were hiding it right now, they eventually intended to give the final product to the Imperial Family. Once they do that, everyone would get access to the Router Formation. After all, the Router Formation was simply a must in a giant network like what the empire would become.

What the sect expected was to make a fortune when it is finished. After all, the Lightning Beads were under the Lightning Sect, Zafa Bank, and their Dalamu Sect's control. As long as others wanted to build it, they would need to buy those things from them.

"Just leave them be. The more they appear, the better. It shows that our efforts were not for naught. Elder Droman just has to take care so that the people who know about the formations aren't kidnapped."

Droman nodded.

"Don't worry. Out of everyone in the Formations Hall, only you, me, and Oitive's group of five here knows the entire thing. The rest that came with us know only small bits. Not enough to have the project stolen. I've been keeping all you six close to me for the same reason. No one will try such a thing with a Transformation Realm cultivator protecting you."

Droman then waved his hand, which sent a wave of Spiritual Energy out.

"Arrrgh!"

They only heard a scream from a distance before it stopped.

Droman didn't kill the guy, just taught him a little lesson at most. The spy was a simple Core Formation Realm cultivator, nothing more than an ant in his eyes.

The spies felt quite helpless. There was only one way to check how Droman's group was working. They had to use their Spiritual Senses to see it, but would Spiritual Senses of such low-level cultivators escape Droman's Senses? Ha! What a joke.

Two days later, Rean's group finally finished making the modifications necessary for the new Lightning 'Bead.'

"Alright, let's try it out."

All the communication formations in the city then lit up once more. The formation masters began to send several messages at once, which all entered the Router Formation.

"Alright, stop."

"We need to verify the..."

A few little changes were then made here and there.

"Alright, again!"

Just like that, the tests continued.

It wasn't before an entire week, and tens of spies were dealt with, that they finally got Router Formation Version 1.2 to work properly.

"Great! It's working!"

Everyone cheered as the Router Formation saved and sent information ahead correctly.

Droman also smiled, satisfied.

However, it was at this moment that his eyes changed.

"Shit!"

His Spiritual Energy immediately wrapped around Rean, and he shot into the sky like a bullet! The G-Force was so great that Rean almost passed out.

But he suddenly stopped. Not because he wanted to, but because he was surrounded. Around him, five Soul Transformation Realm cultivators blocked his path.