Chapter 882: The second day of the evaluation trial (part 35)

Despite Aster’s display of "might" and "goodwill" earlier, there were still some people that wanted to look for trouble with him, but they actually ended up being scared away because when they approached Aster’s platform, they were hit with the "fierce" aura radiated by one of the girls that was accompanying him, so they outright turned around and fled for dear life.

’Heh, and you guys consider yourselves to come from a high upper ranked background when you can’t even "enjoy" receiving the attention of our dear grumpy ligress’, jokingly thought Aster.

Mira was a natural for the role she was playing, she was supposed to be the strict and angry one in charge of looking after their "young master", of course those guys simply misunderstood, the ligress was growling to her insides because she could tell that everyone was thinking they had put a lot of "effort" in dual cultivating with Aster.

If her identity wasn’t kept a secret, she would have scratched Aster at this point, but that was the fun part, he could get away with teasing her like this, because all of this didn’t really count, no one knew who they were.

Leaving the ligress’s troubled daily life aside, since everyone in Aster’s group had participated in one duel at least, they came down the stage just as they came up, as a group that didn’t separate even for a second, that girl with the "d" letter mask was waiting for them close to the platform.

Her "brothers" remained in the vicinity but far from the platform, watching over sword five while giving hatred filled glares at Aster, well, only sword one and sword two because sword three and four were still unconscious.

"Phew, things are getting heated up in here, let’s go back to our table, will you accompany us, little sister five?", said Aster as he looked here and there, the middle and high upper background participants were going crazy over trying to achieve "crushing" victories as the ones of Aster and the girls, so, some challenged those that were way lower ranked than them just to humiliate the target and gain fame for themselves.

Even a few among the top table had gone out of their way and challenged low high ranked targets to inflate the difference shown by the duels, since they wanted to keep the image of "absolute" strength that was built around them.

’Fools, in their arrogance they are missing the whole point of the duels’, thought Mylene, the pink haired princess perfectly understood both the point of view of those from divine firmaments and the process of thought of the blue flaming board.

The blue flaming board made the duels to compare effort and progress in relation to one’s actual realm, background, environment and the like, so challenging someone with a lower background than yours is detrimental to your ranking for sure, the idea is to demonstrate that under the same conditions you would be equal or superior to the other party.

And Aster perfectly did so, the gate they came from is from a mortal realm, and it didn’t even appear in a high ranked stellar system but in the chaotic border that can be considered middle ground in terms of spirit energy, resources and the like, but with bad security and much more danger than a middle ranked stellar system.

Then, realm-wise no one in Aster’s group has surpassed the genesis manifestation realm, heck, Aster and Alice haven’t even crossed to the transcending realms.

In terms of "effort" well... before entering this place Aster trained 24/7 and in aspects of the three paths, because even during his daily routine he uses the golden armor in ethereal invisible mode as weights, the only time when he "takes it off" is during night activities, and even then, without dual cultivation manuals, he exchanges "energies" with the girls as in he gives them yang and takes the excess of their yin, and that’s used for physical development, Lilia is the living proof of that, so yeah that counts as physical training.

In the energy path department, he has the replicas of the stars of Lilia and the other maidens in his dantian working, purifying his energy and competing at all times, the book where the twins reside which takes energy through him, a "connection" with Espi, Esmeralda and even Felicia to a certain extent.

For the soul path things are even crazier, even Rya has said that she had never seen or heard about someone "abusing" of their soul like Aster does, he uses insane amounts of soul energy for soul enhancement, the dragon eyes and for the condensations through the soul crushing parade manual, especially the black sword soul weapon which just like the one in which is inspired, namely Lilia, has an insatiable "appetite" for anything related to her darling, in this case Aster’s soul energy.

Rya herself said that for it being the first condensation, the black soul sword weapon required and insane amount of soul energy to be completed and this is for the soul crushing parade which’s standards are monstrous to begin with, in fact, the thing is still missing the tip, though Aster hadn’t stopped the condensation process because it takes places in the mind space.

Don’t forget he also has the soul constitution armor from Sarina’s star and Rigel’s flames which are strangely sentient in the mind space that is connected to his soul as well.

And that’s just for cultivation, don’t forget that he is a swordsman with two half step third level intents, a spirit blacksmith and a spirit tamer too.

Arguably Aster’s group is the "lowest" in relation to background and realm, because even those that came from low ranked backgrounds which are basically mortal realms as well, are in the worst case scenario from middle ranked stellar systems, as distortions that could be gates didn’t appear in low ranked stellar systems, and those who were lucky to find a gate on similar conditions as Aster and the others, sent mostly cultivators at the allowed limit, like Wade’s group did, most were transcending realm cultivators that didn’t belong to the youngest or young generation anymore too.

And yet, they were challenged by people from a high upper grade background from a divine empire too, not to mention that realm wise while sword five, four and three should be genesis manifestation cultivators, sword two and sword one are void manipulation cultivators, despite they being in their late teens and early twenties, which would have been "monstrous" in the four heavenly quadrants, but for divine empire level, they are barely on the middle of the upper tier in terms of talent.

Still, the difference was as big as it could be, in other words their evaluation should be boosted according to that, Aster could have done even more because at the top table, there were a couple of people that in the outside world were law integration realm cultivators, and their superiors who didn’t come must be half-step heavenly realm or even at the heavenly realm.

It’s nothing to be surprised really, there is a big difference in terms of resources between a mortal realm and a divine firmament, not to mention that those guys in particular are all divine royalty, their equivalent from sects and other forces, or above, but let’s leave that for later.

"Mm, I do wonder, why is brother golden sword not interested in watching other duels, the highest ranked from the top table and high ranked tables have yet to make their move?", asked sword five.

There were still a few minutes left before the time period for duels ended, which would mark exactly fifty minutes of the hour that the participants are allowed to be in the warrior’s hall, meaning that the last ten minutes would be for the special rewards for the ranking to be distributed.

"They are looking for a target to get a high rank only, so there won’t be any "real" duel anyway, it’s unfortunate but we won’t see anything interested this time, and more importantly, no pretty sisters are participating in the remaining duels so I would rather go back to our table", casually said Aster as he signaled the way letting sword five walk ahead of him, very much to the anger of sword two.

’Humph, useless bastard, he prefers to use this important chance to get a glimpse on the level of those at the top, to flirt’, thought quite a few people as they saw Aster’s group leave the duel area.

Their group was the first one from a table that included high ranked background participants, which had won their duels, to leave, because those that had lost all sneaked away in disgrace, which earned Aster the disdain of a lot of participants, as he had no reason to leave early, so it made his excuse of simply wanting to spend his time with Alice and the others, the only possible choice in other people’s minds.

What they didn’t take into account is that Aster’s seats and table faced the duel area, and with Aster’s monstrous range of sight, he could see the duels while in the commodity of his seat, therefore it was a win-win situation for him, because it is also true that he wanted to play around with Alice and the others and he can gather intel without raising suspicion as he is following his fake persona which has fulfilled its wish to bring sword five alongside him.

’I have found a few people of interest, but to think that none of my specific targets seems to be present, did they all stay behind in their camps and send seconds in command?’, thought Aster.

With a lot of observation, he already identified a couple of groups made of orcrary, they also had those members of a race which is subordinated to them and are lower in rank, probably coming from a mortal realm connected to their firmament, which work as their servants and... food if needed.

But he didn’t identify Merkel among them, the same applied to those hyena head guys, there was a group from their race but the one leading them that Cassandra saw from afar, wasn’t present.

And that’s not all, Aster even found some old acquittances, as in there was a couple of groups with auras that reminded him of the monks he met back at Esmeralda’s realm, and there were also some people from the Tempest family, but neither that young monk named Kai, nor Ley were present, though the latter made sense, getting rid of annihilation’s influence is not easy at all even with the difference in resources, and it hasn’t been that long.

What’s more, he couldn’t feel anyone with an aura even distantly similar to Felicia, Tiana or Erick, so those related to them didn’t come, but Aster knew were participating since Felicia could detect them.

’Are you disappointed that you didn’t meet those two little luan girls, darling?’, said Lilia from within the mind space, which made Alice who was all smiles, suddenly sharply gaze at Aster.

’Mom... that was on purpose’, thought Aster as he stroked the wild dragon princess’s tail, while Lilia giggled at him.

It’s true that he looked for signs of someone related to Natasha and Charlotte though, but no one fit the auras he remembered from the sun graceful and moon stream luan races.

On the other hand, there was someone at one of the groups of the top table, that that should be from a completely different race than those two, but might know about them or be related to them, given that his aura was from that of a bird type spirit beast descendant.

’Those two’s families probably co-rule a divine empire, and they knew about the Tempest and that vulture race guy, so it wouldn’t be strange that there are other firmaments with prominent bird type lineages close to theirs’, thought Aster.

The Tempest took a lot of damage due to what happened at Esmeralda’s realm, considering that those with similar auras he noticed were sitting at a peak middle ranked background force, and they should have been middle high grade ones.

Probably because Ley was the representative of his generation, they have troubles producing offspring due to the curse that they received as punishment, so they shouldn’t have anyone around Aster’s relative age to represent them anymore, at least no one outstanding, their current youngest representative should be someone around Valentina or Agnes’s age that has suppressed their realm to enter the gate.

Leaving external acquittances aside, there was a local familiar aura too, one that he felt because it was slightly similar to the aura of Lilia back when he was born, in others words there was a group that was related to the Drage family.

But it wasn’t from the Drage family directly, but most likely was a descendant from a Drage that married into the family of his wife, most if not all the dragon related lineages in the four heavenly quadrants were related to the Drage by marriage at some point, so that wasn’t strange.

What was weird is that he couldn’t detect anyone from the main Drage lineage, nor was there anyone from the other ruler families.

’Wade’s group is average and they managed to survive this far, sure they had luck given that they came alongside us and didn’t have to face any camp before the matches, but those groups with actual elites from the Fey, Talis and Stall families couldn’t have been wiped out and yet there is no one that feels like them or related to them even, in this place, could it be that... there are more places like this?’, wondered Aster.

If such was the case and the totality of this place which included eastern, western, northern and southern zones, was only one of many, then the scale of the background of this place will reach a scary degree.

Aster ultimately shook his head, there was no point in speculating right now, he would likely get more information from the blue flaming board starting from the next match, since he will participate in the supervisor’s battlefield.

"So, now that brother golden sword managed to "invite" me to his table, what would you like to talk about in the meantime?", asked sword five as they reached the table and took their seats, asides from them a few people where already there, all of them had lost their duels though so when they saw Aster’s group arrive, they found excuses to leave for a moment, but that worked fine for Aster.

"Oh, nothing too serious, I heard little sister five comes from the "sword tower" sect of the Rainbow divine empire, so why don’t you tell me about your sword, the reason as to why I took interest in meeting you is because my native divine empire is led by two forces, a main yang energy cultivator sect and a main yin female sword cultivator sect, and we rarely interact peacefully", said Aster, to which sword five slightly tensed only for Aster to laugh.

"There is no need to be tense, I have a friend with a yin type constitution who is also a sword user, you radiate a similar but also different aura, that’s how I noticed it, your brothers and master shouldn’t have noticed it though, I’m quite talented among yang type cultivators after all, even if I say it myself", he added.

This girl with the "d" letter mask was actually a yin constitution owner, but she preferred to walk the path of a sword cultivator, so she kept it a secret, though her worries were unnecessary, her constitution is not suited for dual cultivation unlike that of Aria, and her attribute is not ice, water, or poison which are the ones that represent most yin type constitutions, but darkness.

Sword five felt wary there for a second since her secret was seen through by the handsome mask youth in front of her, but he only spoke about it after others had left and before her brothers arrived at their table, they were wounded and had to carry two passed out people in that state, so of course they took longer to leave the duel area.

It also made sense that Aster could notice it, because the fake front he had created was that of a "useless" but monstrously talented dual cultivator.

’I have never heard of a dual cultivation force that could co-rule a divine empire alongside a sword cultivation force, so he must be from some place really far away and his status might even be that of a high ranked crown prince...’, thought sword five.

She has met dual cultivators before and no one ever noticed her constitution, because it’s not suited for dual cultivation, at most it would feel like she has a strong yin energy, but she is a girl and is considered quite a beauty by other people, so it’s not strange for her yin to be strong.

In truth, even Aster was surprised by it, sure not all yin type constitutions are suited for dual cultivation, but hers was quite strange, it didn’t give any of the signs he knows about yin type constitutions, had it not been by the connection that formed between himself and Aria as a star maiden, he wouldn’t have noticed it either, unless she lied in front of him or if he used his dragon eyes.

Sword five ultimately noticed that Aster showed more curiosity than anything, well, that and he also called her pretty many times before, but she didn’t feel disgusted nor did she notice his eyes looking at any improper places, what she felt from him was more of a strong interest than lust.

That doesn’t mean she lowered her guard though, he still had four beauties accompanying him and one was completely stuck to him even as they spoke, so he might not be an enemy but that doesn’t mean he is not "dangerous".

Back to the conversation and seeing that Aster wasn’t pushing with the previously mentioned subject now that her senior brothers were sitting at their table, she sighed.

"I guess it’s the same everywhere, most co-ruling forces don’t get along for one reason or another, most forces join one side and that’s why they grow stronger and remain at the top, I joined the sword tower sect because we don’t get involved in those kinds of things, of course that’s also why we have never been able to surpass the top two sword cultivation forces".

"But according to the records of the Rainbow Armament firmament, our sword tower sect was the first sword cultivation force in the history of our divine empire, and the founding Tower Master was the strongest sword cultivator in the whole divine empire, that’s why I joined the sword tower sect and chose the Jet Black Sky swordsmanship though it has not been updated since a long time ago, so it takes more time than the main manuals learned by the core and dao disciples", she said.

"I see, it’s a shame that I couldn’t get a glimpse of little sister five’s swordsmanship, however that sounds like a strong great sword cultivation manual", casually said Aster, which made sword five’s eyes shine with confusion for a second behind her mask, she used a one-handed single edge sword, in other words she was a swift sword user that focused in slashing power, so what Aster said was totally inaccurate.

Unfortunately, the conversation time was over, as the commotion ongoing at the duel area suggested.

"Damn it, someone come up the stage with me!", shouted a participant that had missed a chance to duel someone, there were very few that were left at this point.

[The initial rankings have been compiled, those that failed to participate on a duel will be randomly put against someone from the preliminary top one hundred, the final ranking will be released once all the duels are over]

And with those words, those poor bastards and the ones who purposedly didn’t participate were transported by the blue flaming board alongside people that had already participated in duels.

"Ugh really, that dual cultivator guy is actually in the top one hundred?", said someone as he saw Aster appear in one of the platforms, he was rather "unlucky" because from his group only Aster was chosen, but his opponent was even more unlucky, it’s just that he didn’t know it yet.

"Well, he did crush those guys from the sword tower sect, while even those from the top table only managed to break the arms or legs of their opponents, so it was to be expected", added another participant.

"Heh, that’s only because he didn’t face someone actually strong, I don’t know who those sword tower sect guys are, but they aren’t let alone dao children but even dao disciples, because those guys were defeated by the Earth Marrow sect", said another participant with disdain towards both Aster as well as sword one and the others, he was from that same sect the one ranked 11 in the top 20 of the Rainbow divine empire.

Aster didn’t pay attention to those watching the duel, he gazed at the opponent, who was from a top table and had a strangely displeasing aura, not in the usual way.

’How weird, he is not an evil cultivator, nor does he feel like a piece of trash and yet I don’t like him, this is a first, it feels like instinctive "repulsion", a descendant from a spirit beast race that has a negative relationship with dragon races perhaps, no, he doesn’t feel like Sarina and her roc lineage descend from a race that eats dragons, what’s more this guy feels more like a human... but not from the cultivation world’.

’Perhaps he is a human from the places from which the orcrary and those newly appearing races that emerged recently, came from’, thought Aster, the duel was automatically started by the blue flaming board and both Aster and that guy were surprised, for different reasons though.

Aster was surprised because that guy endured three whole seconds before being forced to kneel, and that guy was surprised because he was forced to kneel while feeling a certain familiar feeling coming from the opponent.

’A dragon lineage, that guy has a dragon related lineage... but then, how the hell am I losing against him, I come from a dragon slayer family!!!’, he exclaimed to his insides.