historical

"Get out!" Re'Kha shouted as she arrived next to the driver's seat. Her tone was arrogant, treating people as if they didn't have much to be worthy about. It was the character of the lady in effect. As it wasn't her first exploration, Re'Kha wasn't bothered by it.

She had been to Earth four times till now. According to the rules established by the Celestial Emperor, a Harmoniser could only visit Earth once per year. There were no penalties imposed by the Celestial Emperor. After all, the portals themselves wouldn't allow someone more than once per year.

But, it was only concerning to the respective portal. The same Harmoniser could visit the portal in another city and reach Earth a second time in the same year. But, no one actually did that. After all, it wasn't as if Harmonisers from another city would allow a slot for someone other than their own.

After all, a slot meant one day. And, a Harmoniser only gathered around 2-3 Prana Stones per slot. So, that was all they obtained during each exploration. Therefore, the Prana Stones they obtained from their limited slots was a Clan's foundation.

Only by using a Prana Stone would a Harmoniser increase the Elemental Qi in him by one unit. And, the greater the quantity of Prana Stones they possessed, the stronger a Clan grew.

But, it wasn't easy to do so. After all, there only existed four pathways to Earth per city. And, each pathway—leading to the portal—was controlled by each Elemental Clan respectively. There were 365 days per year, so it meant each Elemental Clan only had 365 slots to Earth.

They wouldn't give it to someone else for whatever reason. Unless the reason was something that had either been a solution to their troubles or a cause that would profit them, no Elemental Clan would give up their respective slots.

Therefore, a Harmoniser wasn't able to visit Earth through another city's portal. In their home city itself, they only had one chance per year. Though for everyone, this was enough, despite the taxes they had to pay.

A significant portion of the Harmonisers were barely able to comprehend a unit worth of Elemental Qi per year. So, one Prana Stone was enough for their needs.

As the tax per exploration was one Prana Stone, they had to obtain two Prana Stones per exploration, and it would be enough for them. And, any Prana Stones they obtained above that were sold for profit to the Clan Elders.

Only the Clan Elders managed the Prana Stones and prevented it from ever leaving the vicinity of the portal. The reason was to prevent the Prana Stones from ending up in the hands of others. The second reason was that when the Prana Stones were brought a certain distance from the portal, they vaporised.

It was why the Vi Clansman from before had entered a room near the path the moment he exited the portal. Therefore, the entire storage of each Elemental Clan's reserve of Prana Stones was kept in one place and was watched by the Clan Elder.

There also was a delegate from the Royal Family placed in the area to ensure nothing unexpected happened.

The Harmonisers paid a tax of one Prana Stone to the Clan upon exiting. Any Prana Stones they obtained apart from that were for their exclusive use.

They could either use it then and there or store it in the Clan treasury to be used by their family. Everything would be accounted for by the Clan Elder to prevent any malpractice. Usually, no Harmoniser saved any Prana Stones for his or her family members.

After all, an Elemental Clan only had enough active Harmonisers as its number of slots. Based on past experience, when the number crossed this, the overall strength of the Clan eventually reduced. So, every active Harmoniser was able to obtain enough Prana Stones for his/her need through their slot.

And, to someone that failed to obtain even one Prana Stone, they would be permanently blacklisted from entering Earth ever again. After all, their failure meant a Prana Stone's worth of loss to the Clan.

365 Prana Stones, that was the number of Prana Stones each Elemental Clan accumulated every year. This was the foundation they used to recruit guards who would be inducted into Harmonisers to work for their Clan.

In most of the cases, the guards at most possessed 2-3 units of Elemental Qi. It was to ensure they weren't helpless when facing a Sha, which was what threatened the Elemental Clans the most in their city.

After all, the guards had no use for existence if they were unable to stop the threat that knocked on their door. But, it wasn't as if the Elemental Clans could make use of all the 365 Prana Stones.

After all, 270 Prana Stones had to be paid to the Royal Family as tax every year. This was one of the most expensive taxes the Elemental Clans had to pay. Moreover, to prevent the Elemental Clans from taxing their Clansmen more Prana Stones to make up for this, the delegate from the Royal Clan existed.

Every Clan Elder was a person of wisdom who was capable of seeing long term. So, they too ensured nothing like an increase of tax ever occurred.

The 270 Prana Stones seemed like a lot, but they were all the Royal Clan relied on to nurture the growth of their Harmonisers. It wasn't that alone. They also had to take care of the Clansmen from the Four Great Clans under them. After all, they didn't have a source to obtain Prana Stones other than from the taxes.

They had established a complicated system revolving around the Prana Stones, the sole item that was able to increase the Elemental Qi in a Harmoniser by one unit. It was why every exploration to Earth was valuable.

And, there wasn't enough time to finish elaborate quests. It was why Re'Kha was unwilling to let this chance slip past her. "After all, it's rare to come across a deliberate quest like this. It saves me a lot of time in trying to find a quest. Besides, the reward is two Prana Stones. So, this is incredibly rewarding."

Re'Kha smiled and started the car.