"Woah, it does indeed taste a bit stronger than the boar soup I’m used to, but it’s still delicious!", exclaid a girl from the Black Sword faction.
"Mm, the potato makes a good contrast with the taste of the boar too", added a girl from the Green Lotus, apparently the boar soup was a huge success in terms of taste, but still Aster didn’t forget to give the girls from the sect a reminder.
"It’s good that you like it, but rember to eat slowly to not upset your stomachs".
"Okay, senior brother~", with an answer in unison, those girls shared their experiences with their friends while taking sips of the soup from ti to ti, it was a good way to control themselves.
Aster on the other hand, had no need for that, he was going to eat at a slower ratio than others, because he had three girls feeding him with their spoons, naly Kana who was sitting on his lap, Sarina who was at his right and Aria who was at his left.
It’s worth ntioning that Alice was grumpily eating her soup next to Aria, because she lost the rock, paper, scissors ga they played to decide who was taking the rotative free spot next to Aster, because Sarina will be taking the one on the right during the duration of the whole mission.
"Besides those that already live or stay in the valley most of their ti, I would like to ask miss Valentina, miss Mikaela, Angela as well as Iris’s group to stay behind while the others start taking their baths, we need to talk about a few things in private", said Aster to which the girls in question nodded.
As for Alice and the others, they were going to bath with Aster like usual, so they were going to wait until he entered anyway, but that’s beside the point.
Before dinner ti, the guys from the Wanderer sect had finished building a fifth part of the public bath, they were smart and built one extre alongside the walls at its sides, so that they just needed to extend it and bury more septic tanks along the way, so for tonight that was going to be their "exclusive" bathroom, as in they just put a curtain on the missing "wall" and they were good to go.
On the other hand, once those gluttonous girls had finished their dinner, they started taking turns to refresh themselves at the bath inside the storage, they made it quite large since the room was ant for Aster, and they know he... lives with many girls, so twenty people had no trouble bathing there so long as they remained standing.
While batches of pretty girls entered Aster’s room, not for the usual, Aster himself had placed a table and benches near the entrance of the camp, so it was ti to talk about the elephant in the room.
In other words, about the existence of other places outside of the four Heavenly Quadrants, which were known by all the presents.
"You must have already guessed it, that Jas guy ca from a Heavenly Quadrant, outside of the jurisdiction of the ones that conform our owns, and there will probably be people from other quadrants as well, but I don’t think that’s a shocker for you, after all I’m pretty sure no one here thought the four heavenly quadrants to be everything that exists, right?", said Aster to which Valentina, Mikaela and Layla nodded in unison.
"However, people from other heavenly quadrants aren’t what worries but... those from places higher ranked than Heavenly Quadrants", he said, naturally the previous made those three as well as Angela who were basically the ones from the group that weren’t present at either Esralda’s realm or at the Silicon Forest, where Aster’s group encountered situations that involved Divine Firmants, to be confused for a second.
"As in the people behind these trials are above the Heavenly Conqueror realm?", asked Layla, to which Aster slightly shook his head.
"Well, there is that too, but I ant that there is a big chance we will face participants of the trial, who had co from "Divine Firmants" which is the na of the realms above the Heavenly Quadrants, also known as "Mortal Planes", he said.
Of course, Aster could instantly see both Valentina and Mikaela frowning at the sudden revelation, because they noticed that so among the table, who unlike Sarina and the others, only recently t Aster, for not that much ti than them, and yet they didn’t seem surprised by this information, so he directly explained.
"In case you wonder why I only chose to tell you this until now, it’s because apparently the Heavenly Law in the four Heavenly Quadrants is unusually strict, so speaking about anything that surpasses the scope of the Heavenly Conqueror realm will bring repercussions".
"But we aren’t in the four heavenly quadrants anymore and the Heavenly Law in this place is quite weak, so I wanted to take the chance to tell you a few things, because I have fought people from the youngest generation that ca from Divine Firmants, before".
"And I don’t want to put those girls in danger just because I kept information that I could have shared with you", he said, which made Valentina gaze at both Agnes and Nerissa.
’So that’s the secret you two little girls have been keeping from ’, she thought and she wasn’t the only one, Layla glared at Iris and the three sisters who looked away on the spot, avoiding to make eye contact with her.
"Ahem, since that’s the case, how high up the ladder were the ones you fought and how do they compare with the people from the four Heavenly Quadrants?", asked Mikaela, interrupting the inward scolding those two were giving to their respective sisters and disciple.
"Well, the ones I t before were decently high ranked young masters from their respective families, though I haven’t fought with a high ranked heir level enemy within my range of age from the four heavenly quadrants, if we take Wade as a asuring mark, those two were probably around two to three tis stronger than him back when he was their age", said Aster after a mont of contemplation.
"Mmm, they should have been around the middle-upper list of heirs from the top twenty forces, within each Heavenly Quadrant then", mumbled Valentina, to which Aster added.
"Take into account the fact that they weren’t fighting in their "elent", the spirit energy to which they are used is mixed with the higher ranked version of it, called divine energy, not to ntion that they were unable to use the spirit treasures they were used to, for the sa reason".
Ley and Rox were certainly not as easy to deal with as other enemies Aster had t before, in fact Ley ultimately managed to escape death, while his sister almost did it as well.
Certainly, they weren’t a deadly threat to Aster and the girls, but it is also true that they weren’t in their elent, here things were even for all participants, not to ntion that those from non-human races seed to have a slight advantage if they conserved a special ability which didn’t need spirit energy, and back then those orcrary guys were present as well.
Not to ntion that in average the girls from the sect are couple of notches below Aster’s group.
"I see... in that case, let’s put them at the sa rank as upper and high-level heirs from the top ten forces of each heavenly quadrant then, I don’t want to sound narrow-minded or arrogant but I can confidently say I could mop the floor with dozens of Wade level enemies, be it back then or nowadays", said Valentina, to which Aster nodded.
She isn’t the "Purple Lightning Princess" for nothing, and Wade’s frightened reaction from back when she was about to take action, was a proof that Valentina deserved her reputation, also Eris, Mylene and the grumpy ligress had all made similar comnts after getting to know a bit more about the forces and families of the four heavenly quadrants.
Which is the fact that there are too many bloodline type forces and constitution owners, for a Mortal Plane, and that ans that the average level of the four heavenly quadrants, should be on the higher end of the ranks, when it cos to mortal planes.
Even if they were lacking behind when it cos to the soul path, it was a strange situation, even for those three who had visited a variety of mortal planes before.
Speaking of which, an inevitable question was directed to Aster by Mikaela.
"I’m not asking with any ill intention in mind, but... are you from one of those so-called Divine Firmants?", she asked, it made sense for Mikaela to have such thoughts, Aster and his group appeared out of nowhere and they kept achieving incredible things ti after ti after all.
"Nope, I consider everyone in this table trustworthy and while I can’t tell you everything about us, for a variety of reasons, I can at least tell you that I was born in a low-grade Stellar System and no, contrary to the rumors, I don’t have a secret super force backing as of current, you’ll get to know more about it sooner than what you think", said Aster.
Though revealing the existence of Divine Firmants, is not sothing to be taken lightly, it’s not like there weren’t any evidences of higher ranked places, known for the upper echelons of the four heavenly quadrants, Lilia has ntioned it before and apparently Valentina also had knowledge about it, since she wasn’t as surprised as others would have been.
That being said, he of course didn’t ntion Eris, Mylene and Mira’s origins, similar to how he didn’t do it for the little wyrm, they will speak about it with whom they feel like it, and Aster decided not to interfere in that, though they all would for sure talk to him before doing so.
Also, Aster isn’t lying, technically he is a candidate to lead the Drage family, since he is Lilia’s son, but even if that’s the case, the Drage family isn’t included in Aster’s plans, because they aren’t under his control, not to ntion that he isn’t exactly fond of them, considering how they treated his mother.
That’s why he his building his own power but the Terranova sect is not at a point where it can beco a proper backer, if anything he has Lilia and those two godmothers of his behind of him, though the latter don’t know about his existence.
"Well, that’s not exactly true, certainly it’s not secret, but I know of a branch from the Fey family who is in the process of becoming your sponsor, because their most talented princess, spoke on your behalf very much to the displease of the Supre Elental sect", jokingly said Valentina as she stole a gaze at Agnes, whose face slightly reddened in response.
"And you are still the sole Holy Son of the Myriad Occupation sect and our founders will be mad of they heard you are looking down on the sect’s backing", added Mikaela.
’She is right darling, those two would have gotten pretty angry if they heard that~’, playfully said Lilia from within the mind space.
"I appreciate it, anyway if you have any other questions now is the ti, we have until those girls finish having their baths for this conversation", said Aster.
And of course there were a lot of doubts that appeared in Valentina, Mikaela and Layla’s minds, but let’s change the scene to the other side of the wall and take a peek at how is Wade’s side doing for a bit.
...
Contrary to the harmonious, clean and well-organized camp that was stablished by the girls of the Myriad Occupation sect, what would welco anyone who crossed to the other side of the wall, was... a ss.
To begin with, the fence surrounding it, though started in a similar way to the one at Aster’s side, with complete logs piled one on top of the other, only the very first ters of it were like that, past that point, branches which still had leaves on them were tied together and then shoved into the ground, needless to say but the result was a feeble fence which offered a low grade of protection.
But let’s put a pin on the fence’s situation and continue with the next most noticeable problem, the lack of shelters, since there were only a few ones built by leaning stakes against the wall on the back of the camp and pilling branches with leaves on top of them.
Besides those that were designed for one or two people, there was a large one near the center of the camp and that was it and while the design was similar to the ones built by the girls of the sect, they made enough for almost two hundred people to take shelter inside of them, not to ntion the large cabin log they prepared for Aster, so the results on Wade’s side were far from theirs.
Let’s now change to commodities, there were three campfires, one at the back, one at the center and one at the border of the camp, and as you might have guessed, that was also the distribution for the people on Wade’s side.
The area at the back of the camp where the proper fence protected the sides while the wall protected their back, was for the big three forces, the one in the middle where a single large shelter was built, was for the next ones in line, like the Redheart, Bayer, Marius and Telles families, as well as the Pleasure Palace and the Marsh Domain, as for the others, they were assigned to the border of the camp, with no shelter to cover them for tonight.
But that’s not even the worse part, there was only a small bath for all to use and it was placed outside and far from the camp, because there was nothing below but a hole in the ground to store the used water and waste, and there was a large line of people waiting to use it, since it could only accommodate one person at the ti, maybe two if they didn’t need to use the two parts of the bathroom, naly the W.C and the bathing area at the sa ti.
It’s worth ntioning that there were two other slightly bigger bathrooms inside the camp, one was made for the big three forces and could accommodate up to three people bathing at the sa ti, and then there was another one placed next to the shelter built at the right corner, which was for Fawn group’s exclusive use.
The previous is because, they were the only ones who had enough rits to buy the septic tanks and not end up without the other things needed for the missions, like manuals and tools.
And even then, the Mountain Amber, Ocean Aquamarine and Supre Elental sect joined hands because with their respective rits alone, they couldn’t even compare to Fawn’s ones, and that’s without taking into account the ones obtained by the bearded uncle Otto who was standing on watch near the campfire.
"Why can’t we use that bath after that girl is finished with it, it’s not like we are going to ss with it or anything!", exclaid a female elder from the Pleasure Palace.
"Yeah, other things can wait, but at least let us take a quick shower to get rid of all this damn dirt and sweat", added another female elder, they are yin type cultivators who are used to keep their bodies completely clean and fresh, so the sensation of dirt and sweat sticking to their bodies was especially unpleasant for them.
"Not my problem, that’s our young miss’s private commodity, if she hadn’t insisted, even we wouldn’t be using it after her, also can’t you have so sha, she even went as far as to cooperate to buy all the kitchen utensils for the group’s dinner", said the bearded chubby Otto as he gave those won from the Pleasure Palace a disdaining gaze.
"Huh, are you not seeing and slling the sa thing as us, who the hell would be grateful for this horrible at, only those that are getting fish and fruit can say that they are having a real dinner!", said a male elder from the Bayer family as he looked at the uneven, burnt and not exactly good-looking chunks of at that were being grilled on a large pan on top the campfire.
In comparison, there were fish skewers at the border of the campfire which were not only taking way less ti to be finished, but also didn’t radiate any strong sll when cooked.
You might wonder why only so got to have fish and fruit for dinner, and the answer is simple, the first needed one to buy materials for a fishing rod and then know how to fish, while the second was lacking because that’s what they ate for lunch and the number of fruits in the nearby trees was already diminished as a part of the punishnt, they received from breaking the rules earlier.
Not to ntion that it took them, almost the whole day to clean the corpses and the blood they had spilled in the vicinity, after they managed to scare away the remaining animals, which had turned hostile against them, due to the slaughter they unleashed on them, when they still had so of their strength as cultivators left.
"If you don’t want it, then don’t eat it, while you bastards were sweeping the floor and playing with branches, we ended up filthy with that disgusting blood, whose sll didn’t go even after bathing in the lake two tis, all to cut up those boars and deer so you would have sothing to eat for today!", retorted an elder from the Redheart family.
They are all sword cultivators, so "butchering" the animals worked for their missions, which is why they volunteered for it, thinking that it would be easy to make the slashes on the dead animals, to count for their missions, imagine their reactions when nine out of ten slashes weren’t considered good enough, and they had no option but to wait until the mission’s ti ended, so that they could take another one.
What’s more, since they didn’t want to use too much energy for sothing that won’t benefit them, they did a horrible job at cutting up the at, it was a double losing situation.
"Humph, you wouldn’t even have a fence to protect your ass from animals, if it wasn’t for us spending the whole day using those damn mortal axes to chop trees, there aren’t even pills or elixirs to diminish pain available", complained a rcenary hired by the Telles family as he massaged his arms.
Overall, everyone was unsatisfied with the result of the day, they didn’t even get to enter the forest which they could see into the distance, in part because they were busy cleaning the ss they made and in part because they drove the animals that survived the slaughter, into said forest.
"That’s enough, the food, housing and other commodities were assigned based on contribution, if you want to improve your situation, complete missions and use the rits to buy things for the camp, now go eat your dinner and then those on night shift, watch over the camp by taking turns", said Wade with an authoritative voice.
Which made quite a few people grit their teeth, however they could do nothing about it, well, they could leave, but to where if it took them almost a whole day to make this place barely habitable.
Seeing the discontent on the eyes of the mbers from the other families and forces, an elder from the Ocean Aquamarine couldn’t help but ask to one of the elders from the Mountain Amber family.
"Can’t we just ask that girl from your family to share so of her rits to us, we’ll pay them back later?", to which Bradley answered instead.
"Nonsense, Fawn is one of the very few who can buy Perfect grade manuals, asking her to use so rits for the group besides the ones she destined for her daily necessities, was already the limit of what we can allow, the rest must be used for manuals, so that she can bring that knowledge back to our family".
"Bradley is right, I couldn’t face Bradley’s brother if their family incurred a loss for the sake of so people that are barely cooperating, let’s not think about it anymore, finish your dinner, we have to complete the missions before the daily reset", said Wade putting an end to the discussion.
At the sa ti, Fawn who was wearing much less decorated clothes now, since she had bought a few sets from the exchange monolith, so that her own clothes wouldn’t end up torn to shreds like it happened for quite a few people already, arrived at the campfire.
She casually grabbed the fishes her subordinates had caught for their group and left accompanied by Otto, though only the potential princess and her female subordinate ate inside the shelter, while the other three stayed on guard at both sides and in front of it while they ate their dinner.
’Tsk, I just hope that those bastards are having it worse than us’, inwardly cursed Wade, it took all his concentration not to show his displease at having to give Fawn preferential treatnt, in part because of the whole potential princess situation and in part because she bought a lot of tools and other objects and donated them for the group to use, in fact the plate on which he was eating, was one of those.
If Wade could see the scene developing at the side of the Myriad Occupation sect, he would probably vomit blood out of anger, because now that the conversation was over Aster casually asked, where were basically all the girls that aren’t his lovers, would be sleeping tonight, just to be answered by the clumsy white-haired girl, Vivian.
"We’ll of course stay at the cabin log, I wanted us to sleep inside the room, even if it was only on top of a blanket on the floor so that I could play with Kana and all, but the others refused, so we’ll be staying on the open area of the cabin log", she said.
’Heh, at the end of the day, they are still sleeping in the sa place as my darling~’, said Lilia, making Aster bitterly smile in response.
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