One hour later, inside an earthy building, a woman who resembled a dark elf but was so bulky that she was the complete opposite of what she should look like opened her eyes and fully recovered.
Her gaze immediately met with a small figure resembling a human child of 10 years old but was a pure dark elf. Without any hesitation, the woman’s eyes trembled, and she jumped, grabbing the young boy. Alm and Bruno watched that with a strange look; the contrast between the two was peculiar.
Cough, Cough.
The whale coughed, and she timidly let go of him, realizing its presence. Yanson bowed to the whale. "Thank you, sir."
The woman, in turn, bowed in gratitude. Her name was Lirelia; she was a descendant of a phoenix that came to the underworld millions of years ago. According to their ancestral tales, the phoenix managed to escape from somewhere in an almost dead state to a nearby planet before a dark elf found her; then, they joined together. But after having the first descendant, the phoenix fled, feeling something was chasing her. After that, there was no news.
Alm and Bruno sighed. If the story is true and the phoenix is pure and primordial, she was captured and must be sealed somewhere. Then, they learned more about the relationship between the two.
Lirelia was exactly 10 years old, but she was nurtured by her clan that lived in the city, so she grew explosively; a characteristic of a beast. In compensation, her mind didn’t evolve much. Her bloodline was 90% Phoenix, with 10% Dark Elf. She was considered a genius among all in her clan, so she was specially nurtured for this opening of the Elemental Condensation World.
As for Yanson, he was 30 years old; his childlike appearance was due to his race, with characteristics similar to an elf. It was a convergent evolution, dark elves had nothing to do with common elves, besides being descendants of the Chromaraic. An elf aged very slowly compared to a human. But in the case of a pure Yin elf, at 50, his body would start burning his life due to his condition. Then, he would age more rapidly until he died around 100.
The two met when Lirelia was 5 years old, just starting cultivation. She fled the city to venture into the forest and encountered powerful tree demons that almost killed her; it was Yanson who narrowly rescued her. Then they started a friendship; clearly, on her part, it was something more. But the scene of the two together now was very strange to see.
Bruno listened indifferently but learned from Ruri to pretend interest. Alm, however, noticed something and asked, "Why did your clan nurture you so quickly for this opening? And why were you being attacked?"
She answered lightly, "I don’t exactly know why. But, during this opening, I was told that all the major beast families in the underworld sent their top young talents. They even sealed the cultivation of the most talented so they could undergo the tribulation in the Elemental Condensation World."
’Hmm... something big is happening. Everything must be related to that missionary.’ Bruno commented mentally.
"As for the reason for the attack. Those idiotic hawks were sent by the young bastard named Dexo. He approached me, saying that my family accepted my engagement with him. I just spat in his face and left. Then later, I was pursued by his lackeys." She answered dryly and squeezed Yanson’s hand beside her.
Yanson, in turn, sighed. The whale then asked everything it could. First, to make her more comfortable, it asked about them, despite not being interested. Lirelia had picked a fight with her clan a year ago, saying that she would stay with Yanson. Obviously, they didn’t accept, but they saw a strange talent in him. It was very rare for a native to reach where he got on his own. So they told her that if he could make it to the world, they could reconsider.
The dark elf was stunned by this information; it was new to him. He had only tried to enter the place to help his people. Then he turned to Lirelia and saw her blushing face. He definitely didn’t see her like this before, so he was stunned by her intentions.
Alm began to mentally curse at the strange scene in front of him. Bruno then broke the tension but understood. Among families with powerful bloodlines, descendants were planned and of utmost importance. They made crosses to generate the strongest possible offspring always.
Marrying someone from another powerful bloodline would generate equally powerful children, but both families would have to share the children. However, for this dark elf, if his talent fully bloomed, all his children would belong to the Black Phoenix family. The bloodline of a pure dark elf was not bad; Lirelia possessed it and was extremely powerful. So surely, later on, Yanson would push to have children with as many clan members as possible, generating infinite descendants. All of them would be from the Black Phoenix clan, so it wasn’t a bad thing for them at all.
’Humans see this very differently. It’s very strange for us, but it’s a culture of beasts, demons, and other races. Being stronger means survival, stop judging them.’ Bruno spoke to Alm mentally.
The whale then requested important information, and Lirelia spoke without hesitation about everything. In the city, there were three beast families considered the most powerful in the underworld: the Black Phoenix, the Infernal Mammoth, and the Abyssal Bakunawa. Surprisingly, all were known creatures born in universes but came to the underworld and crossed with native races.
They were not natives of this planet and arrived after the star formation was created. So, she provided information about the main beast races from the underworld that came to this place. There were many names, and most Alm and Bruno had never heard of, but one name stood out: Cerberus.
In the underworld, Cerberus was considered a common creature. However, it didn’t suffer from body issues because it naturally possessed a balance of Yang and Yin. They were perfect beasts for living in universes and also the underworld’s dogs. Therefore, their bloodline was not mixed with anything, and their pure power stood out. Thus, it was a demon beast above average among others.
’Great, here Cerberi are powerful and have maintained their bloodline. There’s a chance for us to go back. Besides, it would be good to have a brain always nearby...’ Alm started talking and became thoughtful.
’Don’t even think about stealing a puppy from them!’ Bruno responded immediately.
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Seeing that the whale seemed interested in Cerberi, Lirelia remembered something and spoke, "I met a friendly female Cerberus. If you want, I can introduce you."
’There’s a good solution! Why not?’ Bruno spoke to Alm, laughing.
Alm cut in sharply. ’Don’t be an idiot. But if there’s a friendly one, we might have an opportunity.’
Thus, they heard many other things that they left to analyze calmly. In the midst of it, Yanson had to leave. Then, stunned, Lirelia saw him defeating a medium-level demon beast alone. She could have won that, but he did it so easily that it seemed he wasn’t inferior to her.
"He has a pathetic and fragile cultivation, but currently, he’s no worse than you." The whale interrupted her thoughts, easily reading her mind. "You only possess power but have no technique and intelligence. He has no power, but he has what you lack."
Suddenly, Alm thought of something and spoke lightly. "You’re already good, perfect; go help him. Be the power he doesn’t have, and obey everything he says without hesitation."
She turned to the whale, and Bruno added, "The two of you together are a perfect combination. If you make him realize that, things will be smoother for you. Yanson is already leaning towards your side; you just need to push a little."
Immediately, Lirelia seemed to jump, understanding the meaning of that. Then, a smile blossomed on her face, and she bowed, running out.
The whale sighed. Memories of a radiant smile like that overwhelmed the minds of Alm and Bruno. ’When did we get so attached to that girl?’ Bruno commented, and Alm just chose not to respond.
’We have to seize the opportunity to get stronger and go back. Or we’ll end up like before.’ Bruno spoke, and then they sealed the formation and extracted all the Qi from the black gold they had.
They absorbed everything into their meridians until the last day of the first test. With no one from the array nearby, it was obviously disabled. So, a great weight was lifted off their shoulders as physical cultivation and common cultivation together were challenging enough.
The rough estimate was that they absorbed enough for two regular cultivators to go from the elementary level to the ninth level of the Heaven Stage. But... they only went from the fourth level to the seventh level. Just three measly levels, and the remaining ones should have an even higher cost.
Bruno sighed, saying, ’Well, the Elemental Condensation World stays open for a month. There should be opportunities...’
’Yes, we have the Black Phoenix from the black gold eggs. Let’s attract the moths and get all the resources.’ Alm added dryly.
’No! The tribulation of the place is Yin and Yang lightning; we can absorb that!’ Bruno retorted.
’Don’t be an idiot. We’re matchmaking the couple. For our honor, we can’t allow others to interfere. Youngsters in the prime of their lives being traded for a simple native? Hahahahahah’ Alm laughed sinisterly.
Thus, the end of the first test occurred. Then the gates of the central city were opened for all the survivors.