In the middle of the desert, a large circular wall a few meters tall was being erected. Inside were already three buildings, all made with dense and hard earth that resembled steel in a single night.
In the skies, a whale covered in earth runes had such a peculiar aura that it seemed to be one with the desert, blending with everything and being almost imperceptible. This was a place where they had again found good ore for forging. And they decided to establish themselves briefly there.
In the last minutes of the night, when the whale had already finished building everything around, they noticed that all five women from Montide were already awake and training with their swords against Ruri. It was a five-on-one fight, and Ruri had enough experience and technique to easily dominate all the others, even though she was very small and couldn’t use her QI.
At that moment, filled with a sense of pride, they realized that the five women, although still inexperienced, had evolved very rapidly in the use of these swords, being much more advanced than the other ten women.
Ruri also had this talent from the beginning, leaving Alm and Bruno pensive. So, they decided to try teaching the Soul Sealing Technique to them in a test. And to their shock, all five managed to develop in it with relative ease.
All five women were physically much smaller and thinner compared to the other women. However, mental techniques and armed combat seemed to be in the blood of everyone coming from Montide. In the previous universe of Alm and Bruno, they had encountered various different human bloodlines with almost identical talents running in their veins. But they all had one thing in common: they were descendants of a Divine King.
This is the tenth realm of cultivation, something exclusive to divine planets. Obviously, it couldn’t exist on this ascending planet. Now, Alm and Bruno had the conviction of the ancient origins of these people. In the future, they would have to delve deeper into this, and perhaps still have some form of connection with this cultivator or some treasures waiting for them.
It was early in the morning, and all the other women woke up astonished inside a building, everything had been erected overnight. Soon, everyone went out and saw the whale and the others waiting for them. Then, several Green Gems were were distributed, and the whale spoke calmly.
"Oh! You bought a few Jade Slips?" Almin asked Goku.
The whale looked at Almin, puzzled. "Is that how they are called? I always just called them crystals. They are quite good to hold information as you can use your mind and Qi to read what’s inside."
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Almin nodded. "Yes, they are pretty common. I’m quite surprised you didn’t know it."
Well, Alm and Bruno simply never cared about its name before. "So be it, Jade Slip it is."
Right after, Bruno and Alm returned their attention to the girls. "From today onward, you will have to study these techniques inside the Jade Slips, and tomorrow, the practical and potentially deadly training will begin." Everyone listened, trembling at the last part.
"We will move every three days. Langrum will mine any ore I find on those days. Meanwhile, all of you will divide into three groups, and Almin will lead a group every day to kill a beast in the desert that I indicate."
Almin froze in disbelief; these women hardly had any cultivation. How were they going to fight? Were they being sent to their deaths?
"Almin, you must train your instincts to sense the danger level of each beast and lead them so that they don’t die. I gave the Montide women the same mental power technique as Ruri; they will be the support against these low-intelligence beasts, being able to hide the women in the group. The others received armed combat techniques or simple wind techniques. As long as you use your fire as an opening, their techniques should be enough."
"You must do everything without mistakes, being as efficient and fast as possible. Any error, and they will die because of you. If there is a powerful beast that you can’t handle, I will know, and I won’t send you. Otherwise, if everything is done well, you will win in no time." The whale spoke, looking deeply at Almin, who felt the weight of being a true leader for the first time, not a foolish young master.
"During the time the other two groups were here, Ruri will help with their training. We still have 30 search missions to do, and we’ll do everything in a month. Then we’ll move on to the next mission in the village." The whale finished and turned to a building.
Everyone looked at him, frozen; was he crazy? But it was at that moment that the new member, Loeus, ran and grabbed the whale’s leg, making him stop and turn to him. "Sir... I... I want to train too..."
The whale looked at him, already expecting this for a long time. After seeing everyone putting in effort, it was the natural path. But he waited for him to take the initiative himself.
"Langrum, take him with you to mine. He’s a man, and the body will develop faster with physical training and good nutrition. When he gets exhausted, teach him a bit about cultivation and let him meditate." Langrum snorted, threatening to protest, so the boy turned to her with his bright eyes, and she immediately froze and said nothing.
On that day, all the women trained in desperation and fear. The next day, a group of them would face a beast that could easily kill them. It was a great ingredient for cultivation, so all of them broke through to another level. All fifteen were now between the fourth and fifth levels of Qi Gathering.
It was an explosive evolution, and without them even realizing it, the Yin in their bodies was so dense that any other cultivator would be shocked. Yin was known to be the most powerful laws when it came to killing; Alm and Bruno were certain that in the midst of these fights, they managed to extract the maximum from it into their meridians, and their attack power would multiply. With all of them together, they would have the power to kill one of those beasts if Almin guided them competently.
On that same day, Langrum quickly went to mine with the little Loeus. The next day, Almin left several fire runes for the whale to work on, and then he went out with the first group of girls with a tense expression.
The whale locked himself in the building, and they quickly took out the fragments of the immortal weapon with extreme excitement. That metal had a reddish color and seemed to have an affinity with unknown laws. But after a few attempts, they realized the obvious. All the metal that composed the weapon was completely dead. With just a little pressure, it turned into powder.
"It’s a shame, within the Dao of the Forge God, there was no information about this metal. It must be something specific to this universe. Related to a law stolen from another place by the queen," Bruno commented, sighing.
Soon, they focused on a small silver core. It was the same size as a human core after reaching the Core Formation Realm. But its whole body was fragmented and cracked as if it were made of glass.
"Thirty percent of it is still intact. If we build a weapon and connect the new body to the core, we can nurture it and restore it slowly," Bruno said while Alm analyzed the materials they had available.
The best they had was the Celestial Steel from the hammer they picked up inside the prison. The entire hammer was damaged and cracked in the fight against the queen-empowered Ruri. So, without much thought, they began melting it down.
At the end of the day, the body of a heavy saber was forged, and the fusion with the immortal core was done carefully. They wouldn’t risk creating a runic seal and losing divine steel; in the future, when they had a greater chance of success, they could still carve the runic seal on the weapon.
They followed all the steps described in the Dao of the Forge God rigorously. So, when everything was completed, they breathed carefully, satisfied. But... a heat that seemed to be melting the whale’s body hit them within a few seconds.
Bruno and Alm then looked at the weapon, stunned as Bruno shouted, "IT’S EXPLODING!"
BOOM!
Ruri and all the girls were sitting, talking, and eating when they heard the explosion that made everyone fall to the ground in fear. The imposing earth building exploded violently, and a tower of flames rose to the sky, illuminating like a sun that early evening.
But that explosive power and the fire did not spread and were contained by thousands of earth runes. Soon, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the flame was suddenly extinguished, and in the center, a roasted whale emerged with a strange expression.
Ruri saw that and immediately ran, taking another set of clothes before any woman focused too much on the whale. She had already gotten used to her master suddenly getting naked and not caring at all.
Alm and Bruno stood there with empty eyes, focused on their inventory. ’Damn, a complete failure!’ Alm said irritably.
’We saved the core by a hair... but... it’s now only 5% intact...’ Bruno lamented, looking at the core. ’Even the Celestial Steel was almost entirely lost. What a disaster.’
Alm then observed the small fragments that were saved from the celestial steel. ’The level of this metal wasn’t even close to being enough. We have to find something high-level to create this weapon, something at the level of the divine realm.’