Chapter 635: Arrival & Update on the bigger picture
Lilia who noticed Aster's interest on that giant spaceship, took the initiative to say.
'Impressive right, darling, that's the strongest spaceship that exists in terms of attack power, the Silver Destroyer of the Talis family'.
Aster slightly nodded and then focused on the situation unfolding outside, the same voice of earlier which originated on the spaceship with the emblem of a yellow mountain, shouted back at William.
"Don't be too overbearing Talis, using the main arsenal of a Silver Destroyer outside of the Mystic Talisman Heavenly Quadrant is against the treaty!".
William wildly laughed as he pointed at the spaceship with the yellow mountain emblem, making one of the smaller cannons open fire, complex runes lit up all over the cannon before a stream of silver light was shot from it.
"You, crazy bastard!", the targeted spaceship completely lit up, producing an energy barrier to block the attack.
"Booom!", the shield lasted barely a few seconds against the incoming attack, but it was enough to allow the spaceship to move, preventing it from getting a hole blasted through it.
"I am an executor, I have the authority to deploy my Silver Destroyer if I judge the situation to need it, I see three half step Heavenly Realm old fogeys on your side, while I'm alone here, I would need to be crazy to try and bully you fair and square, right?", mockingly said William, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was misusing his authority.
"Just you wait, I'll send a complain to the Talis family!", exclaimed the man in charge of the spaceship with the yellow mountain as he guided the float away as fast as he could.
"Tsk, if I remember correctly, you were the ones that forced a fight to decide who will be in charge and you got your asses handed to us, so obediently sit on the corner and shut up", said William, making the opponents grit their teeth.
William then flew towards Lilia's spaceship, without taking away his own, just in case those guys needed a second smack on their hands to behave, he quickly scanned that black seemingly "average" spaceship and he felt a chill running down his back.
'As I thought that spaceship has sis's runes all over it, luckily, I reacted in time, who cares about being reported, nothing those old guys would do to punish me will ever compare to what sis will do to me if she learns I allowed those guys bully that kid if he is, who I think he is', he thought.
Truth to be told, William would have stood up for the disciples of the sect, since that is in part his job, but since he more or less confirmed that Lilia was his older sister's beloved friend and she had a vague relationship with Aster, who he was sure was in that spaceship according to what Valentina told him, he had to make a demonstration.
"Ahh damn, I accepted coming to sis's sect to escape from tiring stuff so why am I being worked to death", he mumbled, not daring to raise his voice too much, afraid that the any of the two spaceships present, would record his complains for his sister to listen to them later.
Anyway, William reached Lilia's spaceship and casually said.
"Follow me, the temporary outpost has been set up already, you can station your spaceship and use it as your private living area".
With those words, William flew towards north with Aster and the others following behind him, until they reached a planet sized lifeless asteroid which was surrounded by broken pieces of a recently destroyed planet, result of a battle that was fought here not too long ago, based on the mess.
That being said, the asteroid was perfectly intact and there was a full-fledged city already set up there, in fact there were already people there, some elders that originally accompanied Valentina and William, as well as random cultivators who happened to be nearby and paid a fee to be allowed to stay and witness whatever was going to happen here.
After stealing a couple of glances to the temporary city, Aster and the others followed William to the area reserved for the sole Holy Son of the sect, while nothing was set up there, the security was top notch, with defensive formations that didn't lose with the ones used for the Twin Sword Valley.
"Here, just descend wherever you want within this area, the control over the formations will be linked to your authority ring in a second", said William as he waited for Aster and the others to leave the spaceship.
Agnes perfectly made the spaceship land and then the gate opened, there were temporary housing on the asteroid, but Aster was convinced that using the spaceship as a mobile house was a better idea, it was another layer of security so he didn't send Lilia's spaceship to the mind space this time.
"Yo, kid how have you been…", William's previously relaxed expression as he was about to greet Aster, frost on the spot as he saw not only Agnes but also Mikaela coming out of the spaceship.
Before he could open his mouth, he felt a pair of death glares coming from those two, forcing him to swallow his words, instead of that he cleared his throat and then pointed at a tall building on the center of the city.
"Ahem, come with me, you'll receive more information about the mission directly from Valentina".
William waved his hand and the group disappeared from here, the scenery changed from the open and skyless outside, to a neat and luxuriously decorated room with all the imaginable commodities, it was Valentina's temporary residence.
"I have to go keep an eye on those bastards, she'll be here in a moment, see you later", William who felt intimidated just by Lilia's presence, excused himself as fast as he could, leaving Aster and the others alone.
"Sigh, everyone please make yourself comfortable while we wait for sister Valentina", said Agnes as she took the initiative to sit down on a couch prepared for guests, not without stealing a gaze at Aster, clearly inviting him to sit with her.
Unfortunately for the physical training obsessed Fey princess, Aster was tackled by Alice and fell on another couch which had more space, enough for all his lovers to sit with him, while the little girl rested on his lap.
Agnes looked away feeling a strange sensation flooding her chest, luckily for her, Valentina came to her rescue, the door of the room opened and an obviously exasperated and slightly tired blond-haired girl with purple eyes, entered everyone's sight.
"Master", Nerissa was the first one to greet Valentina, by smiling at her, the usually quiet Nerissa had change of attitude when it came to her master whom she respected from the bottom of her heart, she lately has opened up to Aster but it wasn't to that point… yet.
"Hi, knew you had arrived when I received more complains related to William than normal, did you have a safe trip…", Valentina who was all smiles as she first confirmed Agnes's presence, before her eyes sparkled upon seeing Aster standing not too far away from her, was firstly surprised to see Layla, Iris, her three maids and Lieze among the group.
"I guess that explains why the guys of the Redheart family kept demanding their "kidnapped" princesses to be returned to them, before long distance communication was completely lost", said Valentina which made Aster chuckle while a slight reddish tone flourished on Iris's pretty face.
Valentina then walked towards Mikaela whom she only noticed now, when she saw Angela greeting her.
"I can understand Angela travelling with you, but why is this closet drunkard here too, did she cause any trouble on the way here?", asked Valentina to Aster, while she directly stared at Mikaela, only for latter to softly snort in response.
"Humph, if a certain someone wouldn't have left her responsibilities behind, then I wouldn't have needed a drink to deal with the stress", said Mikaela as she met Valentina's gaze without losing at all.
"At the very least you don't have to deal with William's lazy ass, I bet he wasn't there to receive you and arrived after the trouble had started right?", said Valentina breaking the stare contest, to which Mikaela sighed as she nodded.
"Lika always… pfft", after a second of silence those two smiled and then laughed at the same time, apparently, they are actually good friends and specially shared a united front against William who was always looking for ways to avoid doing his job, which had an impact on their workload.
After sharing a good laugh with Mikaela, Valentina went to sit at her desk which faced Aster and the others, her gaze then wandered towards Angela while she said.
"So, what did you find out about the current situation on your way here?".
"Why are you looking at me", mumbled Angela, making Valentina chuckle at her.
"Well, there is no way someone who was given an exception by cousin to become an inner elder and the receptionist in charge of the main Mission Hall, could stay still after being kept in the dark due to communication talismans not working".
Angela saw Aster nodding in agreeance and she pouted not knowing whether she should take it as a compliment or an insult, at least until she heard Aster saying.
"Don't bully her too much, it would be a problem for me if my private receptionist loses her interest in being at the vanguard in terms of information".
The words "my private receptionist" made Angela smile from ear to ear, before she told what she learned through Shadow Eye to Valentina, who was positively impressed by it, while those pieces of information weren't focused on the source of the problem, they were still quite useful.
For example, Valentina immediately decided to copy the method used by the leader of Shadow Eye to deploy people in order to build a long-distance line of communication with multiple short distance talismans, she just needed to wait until more staff from the sect arrived tomorrow morning, in any case the reinforced long distance communication talisman in which her family and the Talis were working on, will still take at least four days to be finished and they are they are ahead of other forces, so this will bring a good advantage for her faction within the Fey clan.
After digesting the information which Angela got thanks to her annual privilege quota, Valentina stole a gaze to Agnes before turning to see Aster.
"How much has Agnes told you about the background of the Myriad Occupation sect?", she said while she narrowed her eyes at her younger cousin, making Agnes look away, she actually kept the fact that she revealed her background to Aster, mostly to avoid getting the lecture she knew was coming for her now.
"Well, she told me that I apparently befriended a pair of princesses from some really strong family", jokingly said Aster, making Valentina clear her throat with a slight reddish tone on her pretty face.
"Ahem, in that case, it will be easier to explain about the bigger picture of our world", she said, knowing that Aster was covering for Agnes, this also worked as a confirmation that Agnes ended up telling Aster more than what she expected her to, after the incident with Edward.
'I don't think a monster like him could be kept in the dark like most people who wasn't born in a high-grade Stellar System though', thought Valentina before she stood up from her chair to then take a chalkboard out of her spatial ring.
"Anyway, let's start with the basics needed for the mission and we'll part from that", she said as she drew a large rectangle that occupied a fourth part of the chalkboard, to then draw a big square on the center of said rectangle that covered around half of the free space in it.
Then she made another square to mark another 25% percent of the space inside the rectangle and repeated the process but reduced the space to around 15%, of course the previous didn't fully occupy the whole space inside the rectangle but it was done on purpose, as she was about to explain.
"I believe you already know about the existence of high-grade Stellar Systems, so I'll skip that part and go to the next level, this is a representation of the biggest agglomeration of territory defined in our world, a "Heavenly Quadrant", a Heavenly Quadrant contains a hundred Stellar Systems, thirty of each low, middle and high grades, as well as ten wastelands at the border".
"The "world" as we know, is conformed by four Heavenly Quadrants, like the one I just drew, of course that doesn't mean these four Heavenly Quadrants are everything that exists, but they are everything in which we can freely move through at all times", Valentina took a moment and then drew three similar rectangles with square-like divisions inside of them, fully occupying the chalkboard.
"From upper left to down right, they are the "Dragon Legacy" Heavenly Quadrant in which we reside as of current, at its right, we find the "Sun Sprite" Heavenly Quadrant, then we have the "Black Meteorite" Heavenly Quadrant and last but not least the "Mystic Talisman" Heavenly Quadrant".
"Leaving the distribution of low and middle grade Stellar Systems which are open to the public to know about, there are four families that have the highest influence their respective Heavenly Quadrant".
"Like Agnes told you, we come from the Fey family who originates from the Sun Sprite Heavenly Quadrant, that lazy bastard of William comes from the Talis family, native of the Mystic Talisman Heavenly Quadrant, the Supreme Elder and the Ancestor of the Blacksmith peak come from the Stall family of the Black Meteorite Heavenly Quadrant and the Ancestor of the Battle peak was sent by… the Drage family of the Dragon Legacy Heavenly Quadrant", said Valentina to then add.
"For disciples, deacons and elders that aren't in the top ten of the heavenly ranks, that is all the explanation they will get from us, in part that is why practically all the inner disciples from some factions left the sect, their forces and families of origin, which approached some annoying guys from high-grade Stellar Systems and they reached an agreement to obtain more information and be sponsored by them".
"Humph, those bastards, even until the end they tried to cause trouble saying that if Aster was expelled, they won't leave, when they were ordered by their families to withdraw from the sect", coldly said Agnes, making Valentina nod in agreement.
"There is a reason as to why we are broadening the horizons of all the disciples of the sect, while still keeping some information from the vast majority, according to the scans and research that we did on these spatial distortions it's highly probable that the Heavenly Quadrants will expand, which will break the balance that has been maintained for quite some generations",
"If the situation in the Heavenly Quadrants was as simple as four families reigning over each of them, then there wouldn't be any problem, however the ruler families aren't absolute, besides the four families, the top three forces and families of each Heavenly Quadrant have equal influence as them, the only difference is that the old guys guarding our families have a bigger fist than theirs", said Valentina with a visibly worried expression, to then add.
"Not to mention that there are independent forces with strength and influence on a similar level, such as the Alchemist Association, the Rune Academy and the Soul Palace, others whose power is still a mystery like the Light Palace or the Blood Tower and those are only the "neutral" ones, there are still the twelve evil sects and the four Demon Towers, in other words the world is quite complicated with alliances and benefits being fought over, below the table".
"We are simply telling the disciples about the four ruler families so that they don't let others bully them, as our sect has backers from all of them, but your case is different… you'll probably have to deal with them not only during this mission, but if the territory covered by the high-grade Stellar Systems does expand, then, everyone would of course want a piece of the cake, which would normally belong to us".
"I see… so the event to determine which Stellar Systems will be upgraded to high grade ones, will be held ahead of time?", asked Aster to which Valentina nodded.
"Most likely, in fact I can confirm that the tournament has been cancelled for the recent events, the new format will be announced after the spatial distortions area dealt with", she said.
"Speaking of which, you mentioned a researches and scans were done on them, so what did you find out, Shadow Eye told us that they aren't entrances to secret realms but that's all they could determine in a short period of time", said Aster.
"It's understandable, to reach the conclusion we have, Soul Kings, Mystery Masters, Vision Kings from the four Heavenly Quadrants as well as Rune Masters, had to work together, only then we got to know that these spatial distortions aren't potential disasters, but we also don't really know what will happen when they reach their activation point, however we do know that eight distortions on the high-grade Stellar Systems and two on middle grade ones, are guaranteed to open a portal of some sort", said Valentina with smirk to then add.
"Luckily, while everyone was fighting over the eight locations at high grade Stellar Systems, cousin and miss Talis asked their grandmothers to pay special attention to the distortions at the middle grade ones and even if it was or a moment, the energy firm of this one surpassed the records of the other nine guaranteed locations by at least five times".
"Of course, we had to give up 25% of the benefits gotten by our family branch from the location exclusive for the Fey family as a payment for the Drage family and the Talis did the same on their side but to obtain exclusivity of the other location in the wastelands, to mislead them, of course since it is in the border with the Stalls, those bastards didn't agree and ended up accepting a much lower payment in order to have a share, just in case".
"Still, they took the bait and this one fell in our hands… unfortunately some annoying guys came under the excuse of being reinforces but we solved that after a nice beating~", she happily said.
'I guess it had to be expected from the one who gave mom the array to have sister and me, by only using blood', thought Aster, one of the grandmothers of his godmothers was the one who gifted Lilia that array at the petition of her granddaughter, so that old lady must be a really high level Rune Master, since Aster hasn't heard of anything similar so far and that array had a limit of uses, it must have been something she obtained from a secret realm or something like that.
Leaving that aside, Aster couldn't help but steal a gaze at Lilia who was smiling from ear to ear, she was happy that the Drage were scammed by her sisters and she also found amusing that Aster as the Holy Son of the Battle Peak was technically representing the Drage, since Nerissa was the prospect scouted by Valentina who represented the Fey or at least the family branches that had ties to the Myriad Occupation sect.
"Now that you mention it, where are cousin and miss Talis, besides that bastard of William I couldn't feel any other half step Heavenly Realm cultivator from our side?", asked Agnes, gaining Lilia's interest.
"They had to leave, there were problems on the other location due to the conflict between the Talis and the Stall, since this one is close to the Sun Sprite Heavenly Quadrant and with the guarantee from the Drage, chances of something happening were too low, me and William were left in charge", said Valentina.
'Those godmothers of mine surely are quite slippery', amusingly thought Aster.
"Anyway, we were having trouble deciding how to divide these three to lead the other core disciples that will participate if the situation allows it, but apparently you already have it covered", jokingly said Valentina.
"I'm the only Holy Son anyway, so even if I don't want it, I am the maximum representative among the disciples", casually said Aster making the Fey princess giggle.
"And here I was thinking about how to convince you along with Agnes, so thanks for that~", she said to then add.
"You can go take a quick stroll at the temporary city but don't stay up too late into the night, according to the research the distortions will only start showing changes tomorrow at noon, but you have to be ready since we don't know what will happen, if it's appropriate for disciples, you'll have to be ready to be deployed on the spot… also Angela if you get any "special" information then please share it, I'll make sure to properly compensate you".
"Mm, don't worry about it, I owe miss Fey a lot, so I don't mind helping, also there is no need to hide it, Aster and all the ones in this room already know about it", said the receptionist girl, taking Valentina by surprise.
'Not only he got Agnes to tell him about us, but even that wary Angela willingly shared her secret with him… even Nerissa seems to have taken a liking to him, that am I missing here?', she wondered as she stole a gaze at Aster, her curiosity towards him which was at the initial level since she hasn't spent time with Aster unlike Agnes, changed to genuine interest.
'Mmm, I guess I'll find out soon', she thought to herself, before saying.
"I have finished today's boring stuff, if you don't mind, I can guide you through the city, it was stablished by cousin before she left, so there are people from other places selling some interesting stuff, I bet little Kana will love the food from our Sun Sprite Heavenly Quadrant".
Aster could immediately feel the gazes from the little girl and the little wyrm who peeked out of his shirt to give him puppy eyes.
"Big brother~"
"Hissss~".
As expected, those two wanted to be out of the spaceship a bit more, Aster couldn't help but give in, not only because of those two, the other girls also seemed interested, especially Angela, since her communication network has been cut off, she wanted to gather intel in the temporary city, the others were more interested on the stuff from the other Heavenly Quadrants.
"Sure, we can have a nice meal afterwards", said Aster, it was Sarina's mission, so Aster wanted to spoil her, of course she liked to cook for him and the others, but a good restaurant night wasn't bad every now and then.
Valentina who was happy to get invited, couldn't help to gaze at Espi and then frown, she hadn't been to the valley so she hasn't met the little wyrm and Agnes didn't tell her anything either, so her curiosity was immediately ignited.
"Is that little snake a pet, or perhaps someone made it submit to you?", she asked, no offense intended, weak spirit beasts were some times kept as a luxury by some young masters of strong forces, they weren't really useful in battle or anything it was just vanity, to imitate the really strong forces who has a guardian spirit beast protecting them, after their Heavenly Conquerors made them submit.
Aster shook his head as he gently caressed the chin of the little wyrm, earning a few comfortable hisses from her.
"No, she is a member of my family and my contracted spirit beast", he said.
"Hisss~", Espi nodded showing her high intelligence to then cutely lick Aster's right cheek, while Valentina was both confused and in shock.
The little wyrm was earlier concealing herself by remaining hidden below Aster's clothes, but now that she had fully come out to lick Aster, her cultivation was visible for everyone to see.
'No way, a recently ascended Transcending realm spirit beast is not only as smart as a peak Transcending realm one, but there is also no sign of submission, she is obeying out of her own will, how did he do it!', she thought to then give an accusatory gaze at Agnes, who immediately looked away.
'This little girl, has actually changed this much, keeping secrets from your own sister over a boy, humph', she thought.
Aster's previous statement also earned him Mikaela's attention, out of all the presents, only she, Agnes and Valentina knew how important was for a strong force to have a guardian spirit beast, well besides Lilia and the girls who came from the Divine Firmaments, that being said even Eris, Mylene and Mira had to admit that Aster's talent as a Spirit Tamer was incredible, though for different reasons since they were aware of the existence of said profession.
As to why Mikaela was surprised even after having seen the little wyrm earlier, that's because Espi kept her cultivation hidden, so she mistook her as a pet like Valentina did, in Agnes case she did know but remained silent about it.
"Now that I think about it, that little snake looks similar to the spirit beast that I saw lending a hand back at that secret realm, but she is also quite different", mumbled Iris, since the cat was out of the bag, the frank and direct red head girl didn't bother to keep her doubts to herself anymore.
"Hisss?", Espi felt the curious gazes of some of the girls and she gave Aster a confused gaze before sliding into his clothes to cutely coil around shoulder.
"We can talk about that later, let's go take a look at the temporary city", said Aster, the girls agreed, while Valentina gave Agnes a smile which wasn't a smile, clearly saying "We will have a nice talk later".