Chapter 870: The second day of the evaluation trial (part 23)

"Don’t mention it, though you were rather stubborn at the moment of deciding to change your weapon type, you still took it in a way calmer manner than a certain someone’s daughter who not only changed from using a war spear with a standard spearhead, to a heavy glaive, but got inspired and created her "dragon slaying" spearmanship due to the previous", jokingly said Aster as he stole a glance at Felicia, who couldn’t help but giggle.

Certainly, Lieze took the fact that she had to change the weapon type she used much more calmly than Tiana, so at least there won’t be "dragon slaying" swordsmanship making its appearance from her end, though amusingly enough the result might be similar since Lieze will use a heavy sword which is more apt to fight against dragons and their tough bodies.

"Tia didn’t need assistance to transition to a glaive in both technique and intent, and I think the same applies to you given that you were dual hand wielding before you even realized it, however I also believe that your case is a bit different than hers, so, insight from someone that experienced something like you and with the sword as well, will be helpful to you, I would suggest to ask some advice from miss Layla while you train to complete your unique mission", said Aster, which made Agnes chuckle.

Layla is from the same generation as the sportsy sun diamond princess, and while Agnes hadn’t really met her many times before, Layla is the princess from the Bladeheart of said generation, so she had visited the Fey a couple of times back when she was around Kana’s age, and Agnes as a sword training maniac, sparred with her in secret, since their families would have created a big mess if they did it in public, with Valentina watching over them of course.

So, the sportsy sun diamond princess knew that Layla used to wield a different kind of sword back then, compared to her current broad and heavy one-edged sword which is a falchion, which focuses in powerful long slashes, she used a swift type cutlass back then, both are slashing type swords but of a different category.

"Did one of those four tell you that?", asked Agnes referring to Iris and the three sisters, to which Aster shook his head.

"No, I saw a good example of her swordsmanship close enough and noticed that she didn’t "lose" her previous swordsmanship, but learned another one and overlapped it, people say that dual wielders are weird but she went ahead and made an even rarer choice, two styles with the same sword, she is probably aiming to make her third level intent into a hybrid", said Aster, which made Lieze’s eyes glow for a second.

’Two styles in a single one, used for different purposes, that sounds incredibly compatible with my constitution and I would be able to use both father’s sword and one made by Aster if I follow that path’, she thought.

Multiple wielding is not something one should try to achieve without being absolutely sure it’s what better fits you and using more than one weapon, be it swords, spears, maces or any other, won’t directly make you stronger either, it all boils down to what suits you better.

For example, Layla had more than enough talent to be an irregular dual wielder like Aster who can use both heavy and devastating as well as swift and stealth swords currently with half step third level intent, in fact if she had taken that path, Layla would have third level intent in one of her swords and would be close to the peak of the second level of the other by now, she is not considered the current most talented ever pure Bladeheart princess, for nothing.

But she chose otherwise and she must have her reasons for it, it just so happened that the path she took was perfect for Lieze, from Aster’s point of view, that little interaction he had with her while in his date with dragon Lilia, was much more fruitful than expected.

"Mm, I’ll ask miss Layla for a bit of her time, thanks", said Lieze as she slightly bowed to then hurry up and leave to start with her unique mission, she is not a sword maniac like those two just to show.

’Unlike Nerissa and Iris, she didn’t have support abilities derived from her constitution or lineage, but in exchange the restrictions on her were completely lifted, still, she should have an active innate ability by the time she finishes her unique mission, just like those two will’, thought Aster as he saw the girl from the white sword leaving with quite the motivated expression on her pretty face.

"I’ll be borrowing Alexandra then, perhaps if I have Esmeralda possess me and use her jade creation to spar in "equal" conditions, it will help with my own training~", said Agnes as if she had read Aster’s mind, since that’s what he was going to propose.

"I shouldn’t have tried to anticipate the ideas of a body training maniac like you", jokingly said Aster to which the sportsy sun diamond princess softly laughed as she dragged Alexandra away with her.

"Wait a second, this guy was going to work in my lance, so...", before Alexandra could finish her excuse, Aster put the last nail to her coffin by adding.

"Don’t worry, I already have the measurements I need after clashing fists with your armor clad hands, I’ll adjust the hilt’s size and toughness as well as its body heaviness to suit your new state", he said which made Alexandra fiercely gaze at him with those pink grayish eyes of hers, still with no excuses left she allowed Agnes to take her away.

’Where have I seen this before, right, she was dragged away like this by Mylene to their slumber parties at first, but ended up taking the initiative to participate later’, amusingly thought Aster, Alexandra wasn’t really an outgoing person but contrary to what one would believe she got along with them quite easily, which is why Aster added something else to Agnes’s plan.

"Invite Mylene, Mira and Sarina to participate too, perhaps I’ll send Aria, Nina and miss Felicia your way later as well", he said, minus Alice, Vivian, Camila, Tiana and Iris who weren’t present, those were the girls that could use their fists as weapons continuously instead of using short-lived explosive strength like Kana or Dahlia, so it would indeed be interesting to see them brawling for training.

Well, there was Mina too, but that wicked girl would aim for their nerves and joints rather than the straightforward fist fight that the others were going to have fun with in the meantime.

"Okay!", said Agnes as she disappeared alongside Alexandra, and that left us with only Valentina and Felicia who remained as spectators so far.

"I have something to discuss with miss Felicia, so I will "tend" to miss Valentina first, is that okay with you two?", said Aster to which Felicia softly giggled knowing he was messing with the purple lightning princess.

To shoulder a part of Agnes’s punishment, Aster had offered to take "responsibility" by serving Valentina which the purple lightning princess outright refused, she instead told him that she wanted a really good sword to be tailored for her.

But in truth, Valentina was just being bold and she was already regretting it.

"On a second thought, any of the swords you make with a bit of that special steel is quite good, like that heavy sword you handed to Lieze, so just adjust a standard one hand sword out of that bunch to have a narrower blade an that will be just fine", said Valentina only for Aster to shake his head.

"I take pride in the equipment I make being perfectly crafted to protect their users, so I don’t make half-baked products", he said with a rare serious voice to then change back to his usual relaxed self as he jokingly added.

"Besides, miss Valentina is going to be presented as our camp’s leader in the next match which will be our actual "first" proper fight against other camps, since I’ll be in a different battlefield with the blue flaming board, so we can’t have you using a weapon unfitting of that status, right?".

’If he was as serious as a moment ago more frequently, he wouldn’t be... cousin that elixir of yours is too much’, the purple lightning princess whose train of thought abruptly changed midway, inwardly sighed as she said.

"Ahem, fine give me a pen and a notebook, I’ll draw a basic sketch for the sword I want, then I’ll let you take the measurements", ultimately said Valentina.

And while she was drawing said sketch you might wonder what measurements are needed, and the answer is probably much more complex than what you would expect, for a tailored weapon the blacksmith must know the hand measurement, the hilt type preferred, exact arm length, height, average and maximum strength, as well as the fighting style of the one that will use the weapon.

Which is while normally these kinds of commissions are secured with an oath to make sure that the previous can’t be shared by the blacksmith to others, that or the blacksmith in question is contracted with the family or force from which the one commissioning the equipment comes from, which works in the same way as there is an oath in place to begin with.

But here there is nothing like that, well, Valentina could have asked for the blue flaming board to witness a contract between them, but the idea didn’t even cross her mind, which in other words means that she trusts Aster enough to confide all that information about her, to him.

"It’s a bit similar to Agnes’s sword, but you use a standard weight, unlike her narrow bladed for instant unsheathing, still heavy one, despite her style which relies in cutting at high speed", said Aster as he saw the sketch made by Valentina which made the purple lightning princess nod in response.

"I’m not a physical training maniac like that little sister of mine after all, though my sword is also narrow bladed, in between a longsword and a rapier more or less, since I have mastered both slashing and thrusting", said Valentina.

In terms of pure technique, she is the best in the camp after all, and so, a sword that allows her to exhibit all of that is bound to not follow the standard pre-existing types.

’Heh, isn’t she quite a "capricious and rebellious" girl, darling~’, said Lilia from within the mind space, which made Aster nearly laugh by mistake.

"No problem, with the exception of flexible swords, I have made a lot of hybrids in terms of blade size and type, I’ll get it done by the end of the day, though the details will have to wait for later, but let me take your arm length and hand size for the time being", said Aster as he used a measuring tape to precisely take the information he needed.

"Around half to three fourth parts of Agnes’s strength is fine for the weight range of the sword, right, I only make integral swords since all of it being a single entity makes it safer, but there is leather to wrap it around the hilt for a much more comfortable grip now", he added to which Valentina shook her head in response.

"With the protective gloves is enough, I would prefer to have my skin closer to the steel of the sword... I heard miss Sarina asking for the same", she said.

"It’s to improve the conductivity of her electricity, though her hand is still protected by the glove and running her electricity through it wears it down, it’s better than her palm getting wounded due to the full steel handle and continuous strong clashes", said Aster.

"I’ll try the same", concluded Valentina and with that, the specifics of her weapon were settled, which meant that the purple lightning princess was free to go, but before she did it, Aster didn’t forget to add.

"Agnes really benefited from sparring with Alexandra whose ability is of a similar nature as her unmanifested property, I think spending some time with Sarina might be of help for you".

The only thing Valentina is "lacking" to be impossible to classify like Aster, Alice, Mira, Vivian, Espi and the like, is a bit more of brute force or something along the lines of it.

That doesn’t mean she is weaker than them currently, in fact given Valentina’s monstrous talent for technique, she could even clash head on with Mira or Alice in a fight, the problem is that she would lack the power to cause them damage high enough to defeat them, so she would ultimately lose.

If she increased her physical strength for continuous usage instead of explosive short periods of time, she’ll reach that point, alternatively, if she gained access to the mortal version of her lightning like Sarina did, she’ll also reach that.

And right now, Valentina clearly was interested in bringing out her lightning.

"Sounds like you want miss Sarina to zap me with her electricity, though", jokingly said the purple lightning princess, as a bit of her "rebellious" self, slipped past her strict older sister front.

"I won’t deny that it would be fun to look at, but even if you can’t actively use your lightning, just like Iris and others with high elemental related talent, you have support related abilities derived from it at mortal level, so I think that Sarina’s electricity wouldn’t do more than tickling or slightly numbing you", said Aster.

"Thanks for the idea, I’ll... give it a try, since I have to go look at how things are doing with our "newest" members and the flying training session anyway", said Valentina as she left too.

"...", with only Felicia left, there was a bit of an awkward silence for a second, before the playful self of the energy constitution mother which had been lacking due to her own circumstances, made its appearance again as she said.

"So, now that I’m the only left, are you going to take other types of "measurements" in my case?", to which Aster chuckled as he sat down next to Felicia.

"Let’s focus in your hands for now, how is the medicine treating you?", said Aster as he extended his hand asking for Felicia to take off her gloves and show him her hands, which the energy constitution mother did.

Felicia used to wear gloves to hide the bad state in which her hands were before, but after receiving that elixir from Aster and taking other measures on her own end, she stopped suffering from pain and instead wore the gloves just to hide her black nails which looked more like claws now.

"I’m quite better now, earlier I could "feel" that Tia has taken the last step, she should have finally awakened her lineage and unlike me, she is rather stable, so at least there is no need to worry on that end", said Felicia as she placed her hand on top of Aster’s palm so that he could inspect it.

’The elixir was indeed supposed to help her suppress her lineage, but mostly it was a pain-killer, this result is too good to have depended on the elixir only, looks like she made up her mind already’, thought Aster as he observed Felicia’s hand up-close.

"What about the other "subject", I know I gave you enough elixir for this whole week, but even Erick must have noticed that you weren’t your usual self", said Aster.

That honest and loud-mouthed friend of his, has never worried at the time of leaving Aster and both his mother and sister alone with him, neither did he took Felicia’s jokes regarding being "close" to Aster seriously, but so far, he only asked Aster to spend time and pay attention to Tiana.

Until today, when he out of nowhere asked Aster to bring Felicia with him too, which took the energy constitution mother by surprise earlier, but not Aster, his friend might not be the type to use his brain, but that doesn’t mean Erick is dumb, he just doesn’t worry about such things.

Tiana must have realized that there was something ongoing with Felicia but she was tricked to think that it wasn’t as bad, probably only after she awakened her lineage, did she know the actual magnitude of the problem, still she knew that her mother will be fine on her own or that she would receive the help she needed from Aster, there was not even a second of doubt about that in her mind.

But Erick was different, he noticed it later than Tiana, but he couldn’t passively worry for Felicia, just like he has never been able to talk without basically shouting, he was too honest for that and Aster is a man of miracles and his most trusted brother in Erick’s eyes, so he sent his mother with him hoping that whatever might be afflicting her, would be treated by Aster and he was right in that.

"Girls don’t like pushy guys you know...", mumbled Felicia to then add.

"Speaking of which, when you said that you knew from the very beginning you weren’t referring to the fact that I was the "experimental" generation of the constitution and lineage mixing, right?", she said to which Aster actually shook his head.

"No, I actually only noticed that later, whatever method you used did delay my eyes noticing those "scars" on your middle back area, what I noticed from the very beginning was your other little secret", he jokingly said which made Felicia almost stand up from the surprise, but she calmed down before her lineage flared up which would result in her hands dying of the same deep black color of her nails.

"Those dangerous eyes of yours are really quite something... I didn’t know you referred to that as well", mumbled the energy constitution mother to then lay down on the ground and tap the space next to her as she invited Aster to do the same.

"I knew that soon I would have had to tell Tia about the origin of her perfectly stable lineage, but that other subject was supposed to be kept for much later you know", she said as she saw Aster laying down on the grass next to her.

"I think Tiana will be more worried about you having personally ripped your own lineage away to give it to her in order to perfect hers, than the other subject if you ask me though", said Aster.

The "scars" on Felicia’s middle back area of which Aster had talked and her rather unstable lineage were related, as it turns out, Felicia had not only developed her lineage even further than Lilia and the others, she had reached the adult stage and not the early but the peak of it, which would put her at the same level as the strongest male cultivator in the four heavenly quadrants, Lilia’s grandfather, in other words the Drage ancestor.

And here you might wonder two things, first and formal "Wait a second, isn’t Felicia around the same age as Sarina" and you are right she is, the energy constitution mother is not even a hundred years old which means she is biologically younger than Lilia, though she looks more "mature" than her, that’s because her realm is lower, so in in comparison, Lilia is at a younger age in relativity to her realm than Felicia is in relativity to hers.

Second what should be coming to your mind is "If her lineage had developed on par with the Drage ancestor, how come she is not even close to him in terms of strength and renown", and the answer to that is also simple, she is not a native of the four heavenly quadrants and as a consequence of ripping her own lineage and giving it to Tiana, she basically lost all her cultivation and had to start over.

And considering how both she and Tiana were met with a wall due to the "quality" of the spirit energy in the four heavenly quadrants which was the initial reason as to why they joined Aster’s group, not to mention the scars left out of an improvised or rushed lineage transplanting process, you can tell that she didn’t come to the four heavenly quadrants on purpose, but probably had no other option.

"Ah finally you missed in something, it wasn’t "my" lineage to begin with, it was perfectly assimilated by me, but I was born with the "heavenly behemoth" lineage and constitution and perfected it at a really young age, which is why my younger twin sister who was a bit slower in that aspect and was born with the "heavenly dawn" lineage and constitution instead of focusing in cultivation, married and had children was... killed by our family and her lineage was forced into me", said the energy constitution "mother" as she clenched her hands so hard that her nails slightly pierced her palm, making her bleed.

Yup, in case you haven’t realized it, Felicia is not Tiana and Erick’s biological mother, but their aunt.

"So, I simply returned to Tia what my sister would have passed down to her if those bastards didn’t kill her in secret to try and turn me into a "perfect" weapon for the family", she said as she looked away for a moment, hiding the small streams that were falling down from her pretty eyes, which she wiped away as she regained her cool.

"I realized the truth too late and by that time I had slaughtered the ones who supposedly killed my sister, I mean, I would have killed them anyway as they were pieces of trash since as bait their participation in her death had to be believable, but my anger had been successfully directed in the wrong way, until Baron who had escaped death appeared and went berserk in the middle of the family’s territory", she added.

’So Baron is indeed their father, I didn’t feel the slightest danger from him though’, thought Aster.