Chapter 864: The second day of the evaluation trial (part 17)

"Did something happen on sis’s side?", asked Lina as she noticed that Aster, Valentina, Mikaela, Eris and Angela seemed to be looking at thin air.

Apparently, the previous message appeared to all those that had the official status of "leader" only, don’t get it wrong, basically all the girls with experience like Mylene, Mira, Agnes, Felicia and the like are qualified and allowed to take over whenever is needed.

But "officially", the ones in charge of the camp are Aster, Valentina, Mikaela, Eris, Angela and Mina, the others are "sub-leaders" and they weren’t presented the previous message from the blue flaming board directly, not that it mattered since Aster directly said.

"They crushed those guys and earned a chance for an extra reward of sorts, that wicked sister of yours should be seeing the same message so everything will be fine", said Aster to which Eris chuckled as she added.

"Well, looks like you’ll have a whole bunch of "rewards" to give out in the next days", which made a few girls on the table giggle while the chatterbox runic oak who had joined to eat with Aster and the others added.

"Speaking of that, the alpha said that I didn’t need to use my achievements earlier, so I would like to ask for some personal advice over what manuals to choose from him", said Nim as she "ate" a piece of fruit.

Nim was a "spirit" of sorts, so she didn’t have actual blood and flesh, however the energy that conformed her body, wherever it might be, connected her to her tree, so, food actually turned into nutrients that were used to maintain her alongside those unnoticeable shiny particles and the excess of it was stored in her tree.

Also, and in case you didn’t know, trees can actually "see", "hear", "taste", "smell" and "touch", they get to experience the world through functional equivalents of human’s five senses, though in a different way, this is for mortal trees of course, Nim as a runic oak could directly use all the senses that human cultivators have through her spirit sense.

But she didn’t understand things the way humans did, even as of current that kind of remained the same, so Aster found it amusing that her eyes brightened when she tried a cooked meal with a human’s perspective for the first time, the chatterbox runic oak basically stuffed her face with all the food in her plate in a matter of minutes and then asked for seconds.

So, as you can see, Nim gets to interact like a human through her spirit form now, and that also explains why her usual monotone voice, even now that it was a female one, had a tinge of "desire" in it as she gazed at Aster with her bright yellow eyes, a trait that showed her yang "constitution" in a sense.

"Sure, it won’t take long and it also aligns with the next thing in the schedule, but you’ll have a "companion" paying a visit to the monolith too", said Aster to which Nim seemed to consider things for a second but ultimately nodded.

"Okay", she said while thinking.

’Should I express "jealousy" over having to share my time with the alpha like his mates do... no, I’m not one as of right now, but then I have seen other "non-mates" clearly feeling it though most not show it, there is also that ligress, even when she is happy to be taken into consideration, she growls at the alpha instead of expressing affection though she clearly doesn’t mean harm, as I thought, human emotions are quite complex’.

Mira who was finishing her side fruit dish suddenly felt angered for no reason and directly gazed at Aster, but was confused by the fact that he wasn’t teasingly smiling her way.

’If it’s not that dragon pervert, then it must be the dumb tree thinking something weird again’, thought the ligress as she stole a gaze at Nim, just in time for the chatterbox runic oak to add.

"I heard from Kana that you are going to "play" with her and that new female with orange hair, I’ll join too", she said which made Mira sigh as she saw Kana’s pretty face which had the words "The more sisters the merrier~" written all over it and instantly knew her fate was sealed.

"If you ask weird things, I’ll kick you out on the spot", said the ligress as she gave up in outright refusing the chatterbox runic oak.

Leaving that little episode aside, but still kind of related to the previous in more ways than one as you will see in a moment, the girls of the sect and some among the leading figure table picked up their plates and went to do their own things of every day.

But a lot also stayed behind, basically all those who were really close to Aster, who while still having Kana sitting on his lap, said.

"Originally, aside from Nim who offered herself to be the target of the "belief", the one who came to mind for me was actually Guardian", to which the lynx pointed at herself with her right frontal paw.

"Me?", she said by softly growling.

Which made sense, in fact this is something that came to mind after Aster connected the way those guys who had also helped to make the Lynx learn the word "guardian", suddenly turned wary and then hostile against her, with the exception of their leader.

"Though the blue flaming board wasn’t around back when you dealt with your first human groups, the way they turned against you in your story was rather unnatural, first I thought that they might have just been put up against a group that had a non-human member, a tamed spirit beast for example".

Surely, after getting destroyed by an enemy who has non-human members on their side, those guys wouldn’t feel comfortable with having this clearly intelligent and obviously stronger than her peers, lynx around.

"Then the centipedes appeared as "special" enemies for the match so I thought, that group was unlucky and met something like that and were afraid you would turn out like that".

"But that was a bit of a stretch, after all, there is no way those lazy guys who simply wanted to use the smallest effort to make the participants kill each other, would prepare a proper "stage" like the blue flaming board did".

"Also, at least their leader was outstanding so she would have clearly known that you had no spirit energy in you and you were clearly smarter than normal, so the right answer to that mystery came to me after this function was available, back then some participants must have used their "belief" in animals native to this place", said Aster.

Don’t get it wrong, the previous didn’t mean that they were allies with animals, much less friends like Guardian is to Aster and the others pretty much at this point, the animals were probably used as the target for the beliefs because the participants didn’t know what the exact effects of it were, in other words they were treated as test subjects.

And here you might wonder how did that work, given that while there weren’t limitations for inanimate objects, besides having them at the camp, for living targets, they had to be an official member of the group for them to be selectable targets and the answer is simple, that last part was something Blue Sky added.

Precisely because of what happened in the past where animals were used as test subjects against their will, the group that Guardian met was put up against an enemy group with something like that and they were defeated despite their outstanding leader.

This also could sound strange because the belief function was a reward given after the first match, but the decline of Guardian’s relationship with those guys started the very same day they went into a fight with another camp’s group, and that’s because there were no "rules" properly in place back then, it all depended on the supervisor in charge of the group in question.

Some participants were given the belief function, others didn’t, some were given it before the first match, and some after it, it was chaotic, but that was when the blue flaming board wasn’t around, now things were somewhat restored to how they were supposed to be.

"The results must have varied but the vast majority must have been "negative" to say the least, and it should have been possible to be noticed by even the lowest ranked participants that those used to be animals like those that could be easily found in this place", concluded Aster.

"I see, that would indeed explain what happened back then...", mumbled he lynx, to then gaze at Aster who proceeded to add.

"Though I’m pretty sure I could tailor a "belief" that shouldn’t result in anything negative for you to receive it, for starters I don’t think you would be comfortable with the idea, and also I would have asked for you to wait for another chance as well, because you are already capable of fully participating as our teammate with your current capacities, and you can properly use manuals as well, so this function shouldn’t have been created to be used on animals native to this place originally", he said, to which the lynx nodded.

Unlike Nim, Guardian didn’t have the instinctive urge to have the belief implemented in her, though it sounded interesting, she also didn’t feel positive towards it after learning how it was used on fellow native animals of this place, against their will.

Of course, she knew Aster wasn’t like that and that if he considered offering her this chance is because he was sure it wouldn’t harm her, but like he stated she didn’t have a "need" for it, as she was even given manuals and could fight and move on her own unlike Nim before receiving the belief.

What’s more, the giant centipede was proof that animals of this place could further evolve, though he was prepared by a supervisor, namely Blue Sky, Aster now knew that he wasn’t implemented with a belief, and it only received a portion of the energy that was produced through the belief, as he also had spirit and divine energies in its body.

"Grrr", that meant something along the lines of "I agree, though I’m not against the idea of being selected if it’s for the sake of the group because I trust it won’t harm me, if it’s up to me, then I don’t feel particularly interested in it", said the lynx.

Which takes us to the direct other choice that came to Aster’s mind as soon as he pieced the situation Guardian lived back then, together.

"I have always been of the idea that opportunities should be given to the one who can make the most out of it, regardless of their status in the group, and aside from Nim, there is someone else who can’t participate unless given this chance, right Kana?", said Aster as he patted the little girl’s head which made Kana’s eyes sparkle.

"Mm, if sister Esmeralda gets a body like sister Nim, then she will be able to play with me and Espi too~", happily said the little girl, which made a certain green haired girl with a pair of wing ornaments at the sides of her head, who was staying inside of Kana’s dantian, nearly fall from her chair.

’Me!’, she exclaimed in a voice that only Kana and Aster could hear, and while the spirit wind girl was in the middle of being surprised over the previous, Valentina represented the girls who didn’t know who "Esmeralda" is to ask.

"Given that you had that little snake with you from the very beginning and she was an official member of the group as well as that tree, I suppose this person called Esmeralda you mentioned is an even bigger "exception" and wasn’t even evaluated back then, right?", said the purple lightning princess to which Aster nodded.

Unlike Espi and Nim who were evaluated in secret by going with Aster and Kana, Esmeralda wasn’t, she didn’t participate in the trial road actively either, and she wasn’t an "official" member of the group.

In case you have forgotten, while Nim indeed didn’t choose manuals, she did complete missions, they were all related to wood selecting and herbal gathering, but the fact that she could accept missions meant that she was an official member of the group, the little wyrm was the same.

Only Esmeralda was here but didn’t participate actively in any way or whatsoever, though she still watched over Kana, that was pretty much everything she did, she didn’t even communicate with Aster because it could negatively affect his results, because well, she is a spirit element, in the past she might have had a physical body, like Mira who is half of one, has, but now she is an agglomeration of spirit energy, her "green" concept and her soul.

"Yes, some of you haven’t been properly introduced to her, but Esmeralda is Kana’s "teacher" and a spirit element", said Aster, his voice was so casual despite the bomb he just dropped on the purple lightning princess and Mikaela.

"Woah, hold on a second, there is a spirit element on your side, what’s more she has a name and is a teacher to little Kana, which means that she has high wisdom, right?", said Mikaela with surprise all over her usually calm pretty face.

It’s understandable, spirit elements are somewhat known in high ranked stellar systems of the four heavenly quadrants, Lilia knew about them for example and Aster’s Fey godmother played that trick in which one of the things auctioned at the treasure planet was a liquid in a bottle that if "nurtured" it could become a spirit water.

But that was of course a lie, meant to deceive those poorly informed a part of the test made by Mikaela and Aster’s godmother, spirit elements are born naturally as far as any of the present knows, cultivators can’t create them, though they might be able to tell where is one going to be born, because there are signs of it.

In fact, a few had appeared in the four heavenly quadrants, but they were newborn and had no rationality, they were basically natural phenomena given form and after a short period of exposure they always disappeared to never be seen again.

That’s one of the unsolved mysteries of the four heavenly quadrants, and being honest it was probably for the better, because of course cultivators aimed to catch one, study it and use it for their own purposes and that’s now when they don’t know that a cultivator can enter a contract with one if they have use of reason like Esmeralda did with Kana, imagine if they knew about it.

Anyway, the point is that Valentina and Mikaela were given yet another "surprise" by the black-haired youth in front of them.

"Yes", said Aster as he nodded, Esmeralda’s existence was to not be revealed to the public, but those close to Aster and the little girl knew about her and everyone left at the table right now was in that category.

Besides, the vast majority were already aware of her, in fact Lina and Nina knew it because they were present back then, though Layla seemed to have been unaware of it, the same applied to a certain purple lightning princess, which made Valentina fiercely gaze at Agnes.

’You are so getting lectured again later’, thought the purple lightning princess, she understood that Agnes didn’t reveal some things out of respect to her before, but that was then and it’s been a while since she had Aster’s confidence and yet that little sister of hers didn’t tell her a lot of things.

It wasn’t on purpose though, Agnes honestly kind of forgot to mention them, her mind was occupied with swordsmanship training and Aster and physical training with Aster not to mention that she was in the process of understanding the difference between interest and romantic attraction that she experienced for the first time in her life.

"I think it will be easier if you meet her directly, you can come out in a limited form like Nim was before, right, Esmeralda?", said Aster as he looked at Kana, it took a couple of seconds but a palm sized green whirlwind actually formed in front of Kana’s lower abdomen to then float upwards until it was at head’s height for everyone who was sitting on the table as of current.

"For those that haven’t seen me before or know too little of me, like Aster said I’m a spirit element, originally a spirit wind also known as the "Emerald Whirlwind", though my tittle later changed, you can call me Esmeralda, it’s a pleasure", said Esmeralda as she greeted all the presents cordially, to then turn to "see" Aster who could feel the spirit wind girl’s "glare" on him.

"Don’t look at me like that, even Nim is participating so of course we couldn’t leave you out of the fun", jokingly said Aster to which Esmeralda sighed.

"I could just sit out of this one, Kana growing is the same as me growing you know", she said to which Aster shook his head.

"That’s not how we do things, besides I know a certain someone was interested in those strange seemingly "artificial spirit elements" that we faced at the trial road, and the fact they exist means that there are opportunities for spirit elements in this place too", he said.

Which took Esmeralda by surprise only for a fraction of a second.

’His eyes of course... well, the connection between me and Aster was still on back then, and he was as compatible with me as little Kana is too’, she thought.

Aster had established a connection with Esmeralda to supply her with spirit energy when she wanted to come out of Kana’s dantian so that she wouldn’t burden the little girl, and could spend some time in the outside world as well, but while it was maintained within the trial road, she temporarily closed the connection after they arrived at this place, for obvious reasons.

Said connection made her "closer" to Aster, not at the same level as Kana is as her contractor, but half-way to that more or less, and also Aster was originally an incredibly compatible choice for Esmeralda, but he gave the chance to the little girl who didn’t lose in that aspect either.

So, Aster pretty much understood Esmeralda, which is why he felt her interest in those strange spirits possessing rocks of the trial road which were slightly similar to spirit elements, Mira was also interested in that, but had put it at the back of her mind for now.

After all, the ligress was taking care of a whole bunch of girls of the sect, teaching them how to fish and swim, not to mention she spent time with Kana and the little wyrm and now there was the orange haired badger girl too.

"Join us too sister Esmeralda, I know you won’t be able to come out for long periods of time until I grow up a bit more, but here we can play together~", said Kana to which Esmeralda cursed to her insides, given those cute puppy eyes which she couldn’t refuse.

"Fine... I’ll be in your care then", said the hand sized green whirlwind to which Aster nodded.

"Perfect, now that it has been confirmed how does a "belief" more or less works, we can be a bit more ambitious, nature spirits already "exist" in our camp, so what do you think of this...", Aster stopped there for second to then add.

"Let’s make the belief that "Nature spirits are our friends", a thing too".

"...", there was a moment of silence there, for different reasons, Valentina and some others were trying to think on the effects that said belief might bring, others like Esmeralda herself were surprised, because this meant that from the very beginning, Aster had "set his eyes" on her.

"You planned to make me come out since earlier, right?", she said to which Aster nodded.

"Of course, Nim volunteered to go first and since her life wasn’t at risk, I agreed, but while I indeed changed my original idea which was that "green spirits exist", to a broader and safer category with the word "nature" to prevent any accidents, you were included in my plans for the usage of the beliefs", he said.

Both Nim and Esmeralda fitted the description of "green spirits", the chatterbox runic oak had partial green hair and Esmeralda had changed her original wind concept to "green" concept.

But then Aster, inspired by something those two had in common, namely their closeness with Kana, thought of using the word "nature" instead, and it was a much safer and actually better fit than the previous.

Just think about it for a second, what were Esmeralda’s current elements, her green wind and the green jade, she had more, but they were sealed when her realm regressed after entering a contract with Kana, and both of the previous could be found in "nature".