Stella stood beside the Redclaw Grand Elder, her stomach churning with nerves. Despite her efforts to steady her breathing, the flashy display of wealth and power from the Silverspires, along with her limited knowledge about them, eroded the confidence she had been carefully building over the past few weeks, particularly through her frequent interactions with Douglas, who often challenged her on various subjects.
Looking up, she saw the Silverspire airship, a weirdly ring-shaped contraption comprised of a metal tube suspended by hundreds of white balloons hovering above the White Stone Palace. The airship dwarfed the mountain, prompting Stella to wonder how many Azurecrest cultivators were employed to keep it airborne.
"They refused to elaborate on the reason for their visit," whispered the Redclaw Grand Elder, his voice laced with fiery Qi. "Nor did they disclose who is coming. We can only hope it isn't one of the Silverspire Grand Elder's children. They are absolute nightmares to deal with."
Stella nodded, her gaze fixed on the gradually descending airship. It seemed destined to encircle the White Stone Palace like a ring. As time passed, Stella could only see the metal tube—presumably the living quarters for the airship's inhabitants—and the white balloons as they encapsulated her entire vision.
A bridge made of metal slabs, connected by chains, shot out and anchored itself into the rock near the White Stone Palace's gate, its two large hooks digging deep into the mountain.
Once this spectacle concluded, a hiss echoed as two sliding doors at the top of the bridge parted. A short child dressed in a white suit appeared, followed by a man who announced, "Please welcome the 7th son of the Silverspire Grand Elder, Ryker von Silverspire!"
The Redclaw Grand Elder emitted a quiet groan, which Stella detected only because she stood beside him. His fears had materialized—a son of the Silverspire Grand Elder had arrived. However, as Stella observed the child in the pristine white suit struggle to walk down the bridge, she couldn't help but think he was rather small. Was he merely five years old? What could he possibly be doing here?
Everyone except Stella and the Redclaw Grand Elder offered the young Silverspire a modest bow as he passed. Eventually, the child and a weary-looking butler stood before them.
Up close, Stella could appreciate their distinctive appearances. For instance, Ryker's hair resembled iron threads, while the butler's hair looked like pure silver, accompanied by a stream of liquid silver orbiting around him.
"Please forgive my rudeness and unexpected arrival," Ryker enunciated as clearly as a young child could, his voice betraying his youth with a lisp and high pitch.
The Grand Elder gave the child a nod and turned to the butler, clearly demanding an explanation with his gaze. Although the Silverspire family was evidently far superior, Stella appreciated that they still showed some respect for the Redclaws on their own turf.
"There were certain circumstances that we hope you will understand after further discussion away from prying ears," the butler said, his expression grave. "Would you please show us inside so we may discuss this further? Or would you prefer to board our airship and converse there?"
"Inside is fine. Please, follow me," the Grand Elder replied before leading the way into the White Stone Palace. Everyone bowed deeply as he passed.
The butler gave Stella an odd look, which she felt was warranted, considering she was wearing a mask and had blonde hair that didn't match the rest of the Redclaws, but she still took issue with his attitude nonetheless.
"She is a trusted outsider," the Grand Elder explained as they traversed the empty hallways devoid of anything lavish.
"Big sister, what's your name?" Ryker asked, stumbling forward as he tried to keep up with the adults' brisk pace. "Mine is Ryker von—"
"Yes, I heard the first time," Stella replied. "My name is Stella."
"Stella... Stella..." Ryker repeated her name a few times, seemingly committing it to memory. "I like that name. Reminds me of the twinkling stars."
Unsure of how to respond to such a compliment from a child, Stella remained silent.
***
"So?" The Grand Elder inquired with his arms crossed. They all sat in a grand yet rather empty reception room. The Grand Elder's cultivation surrounded them, ensuring that no wandering spiritual sights below the Star Core realm could eavesdrop on their conversation.
"As previously mentioned, this is Ryker von Silverspire, the seventh and youngest son of the Silverspire Grand Elder," the butler began. "And my name is Sebastian Silverspire. I am from a branch family and have been entrusted with the young lord's safety."
Stella glanced at Ryker, who sat quietly on an ornate wooden chair beside Sebastian, swinging his short legs as he stared at the floor.
Sebastian paused before leaning forward and continuing. "As you may know, our family follows a similar but different cultivation path from many other families here in the Blood Lotus sect. We have to absorb the Qi from metals matching our current realm. Do I need to explain more?"
Stella absentmindedly nodded without thinking, as she really did want to know, so the man continued.
"Quick explanation then. Our Soul Cores are metal, and to upgrade to the next realm, we must condense our metal cores and transition them into a higher element. Copper represents the Qi Realm, iron the Soul Fire Realm, silver the Star Core Realm, gold the Nascent Soul Realm, and finally, platinum the Monarch Realm. However, that is just a speculative guess, as we haven't had someone manage to cultivate that far. Anyway, I digress."
Sebastian gestured toward Ryker. "As you can see, the young lord resides in the lower stages of the Iron Core Realm, or in your terms, the Soul Fire Realm. As for myself, I am in the first stage of the Star Core Realm, or in our terms, the Silver Core Realm."
Stella managed to conceal her surprise. She had been used to encountering families with one or perhaps two Star Core Realm experts at most. But for the Silverspire family to employ Star Core Realm experts as bodyguards... they must have far more Star Core experts than the Redclaws, Evergreens, Winterwraths, and Ravebornes combined.
"To be in the Soul Fire Realm at such a young age, the Grand Elder must be very pleased with Ryker's performance thus far," the Redclaw Grand Elder mused, frowning. "But I still don't see why you two invited yourselves here to Darklight City, despite our informing you that the tournament has been postponed."
"Father is going golden!" Ryker announced, clenching his chubby fists. "I must fight my scary brothers and sisters for the leftover silver."
The Redclaw Grand Elder's eyes widened, but Stella had to admit she wasn't following the conversation at all.
"It's as you suspect, Grand Elder," Sebastian confirmed. "Our beloved Grand Elder has entered seclusion in hopes of emerging triumphant and entering the Nascent Soul Realm, or as we call it, the Golden Core Realm."
"So this fight between siblings?" The Grand Elder asked hurriedly. "What does that refer to?"
"If the Grand Elder is to succeed in his ascension to the Golden Core, instead of creating an infant soul, he will create a Silver Core that can be passed down to the next generation," Sebastian said, his expression darkening. "Before going into seclusion, the Grand Elder declared he would pledge his newly created core to whichever of his children could generate the most profit for the Silverspire family while he was in seclusion. If one of his children were to absorb this core, their cultivation would soar."
The Redclaw Grand Elder leaned back in his seat next to Stella, letting out a long, drawn-out sigh that seemed to drain all his energy. "So let me guess, Ryker von Silverspire has come here in search of great profits?"
Sebastian nodded. "All the children fought over which city they would conduct business in, and Ryker drew the short straw—ahem, I mean, he was fortunate to draw Darklight City, so here we are."
"I thought you said there was nothing here, Sebastian?" Ryker asked with childlike innocence. "And you said on the airship that it was being run by a useless group of fire cultivators—"
"Silence, Ryker, before I take you back home," Sebastian glared at his young lord, causing the little boy to shrink back in his seat.
"Excuse him," Sebastian offered a weary smile. "Some things are best left behind closed doors, don't you agree?"
The Redclaw Grand Elder's eye twitched from the words, but he quickly composed himself and asked seriously, "So now that you're here, what do you plan to do? You know you can't just come and set up a business here on our land without our permission and paying taxes to us?"
"I don't even know what any of that means," Ryker grumbled as he crossed his arms. "Mother thinks I'm a genius, but I only like to cultivate. What do I know about selling stuff?"
Sebastian reached over and patted the boy on his back. "You may not win, but your mother believed this was an excellent opportunity to see the wider world and broaden your horizons. What kind of five-year-old should spend all day sitting on a mountain of Qi-rich iron and cultivating?"
Stella decided to interject into the conversation with some questions of her own. "Ryker, besides the airship and Sebastian here, did you come with anything else? Maybe some starting capital or an idea of what business you want to do?"
"Err..." Ryker twiddled his thumbs. "Mother gave me some starting funds, which I'm pretty sure is against the rules, but all my siblings already had some money, and I had nothing, so it should be fine... right, Sebastian?"
"Ryker's mother gave him a thousand high-grade spirit stones and fifty thousand Dragon Crowns," Sebastian frowned. "I do feel his mother was a little too enthusiastic about this contest, but it should be fine."
So he's a rich fool—that's more money than the Ashfallen had with all the stolen wealth combined, Stella thought to herself as she analyzed the boy. She was no business guru herself, but even she had some ideas for businesses. However, this kid seemed clueless. Could she somehow extract those spirit stones from his hands to create more runic formations for Tree...
"So you came here with nothing but funds and the hopes of beating your well-established and richer older siblings?" The Redclaw Grand Elder asked and groaned in despair a little when Ryker nodded enthusiastically.
The little boy then raised his hand. "I did have one idea actually that my sister gave me when I drew this city."
"Oh?" Sebastian asked, clearly intrigued. "What is it?"
"Alchemy!" Ryker exclaimed. "I hate spending my allowance on expensive pills, so wouldn't it be awesome if I had my own alchemist? Also, my sister said those with the fire affinity make excellent alchemists..."
Sebastian's face darkened. "Young lord, I'm not supposed to offer too much advice, but please remember your sister may love you very much, but she will still try to feed you bad information to win. Alchemy is... resource-intensive, to say the least."
Ryker naively tilted his head. "Does that mean it's expensive? I have a lot of money, though... And aren't you people having a tournament to find one? Can I... err... hire the winner from the tournament?"
"No, you can't," Stella snapped. "The best alchemist is for us. You could hire the others that compete in the tournament, though."
"But I want the best one," Ryker crossed his arms angrily as if someone had stolen his favorite toy.
Stella took a breath to calm her thoughts before she accidentally revealed too much. "What do you know about alchemy?"
"Nothing," Ryker grumbled.
"So how do you plan to train these alchemists or source the materials they need to perform alchemy?" Stella inquired.
"As I said, I just like to cultivate all day. I have no idea about this stuff." The brat then looked at her with sparkling eyes. "Big sister wearing the cool mask, what do you do?"
"Well, I..." Stella hesitated, unsure how to answer his childlike wonder. She wanted to head back to Red Vine Peak and ask Tree about his opinions on this. She saw an opportunity, but there were also massive risks. If the Silverspire family came to know about Ash and his capabilities, it could be disastrous.
Sebastian added, "I'll be honest here. If you two can take Ryker under your watchful eye and help him set up a profitable business, you will have gained great favor with a future Elder of our family. If not—its next leader."
Stella found that hard to believe, looking at the little brat. And those were empty words to her, as she planned to remain here through the beast tide with Tree, so having a connection with a family planning to abandon this place was nearly useless.
"And if we refuse?" The Redclaw Grand Elder asked, and Sebastian frowned. "Then we will leave. We understand he is young and inexperienced, and to force him upon you would be impolite. Although, we still plan to set up a business here and pay the required tax..."
"That sounds perfect—"
"Hold on," Stella interrupted the Grand Elder. "Let me go check with someone about this... I will be right back."
As if on cue, a rift materialized in the middle of the Redclaw Grand Elder's protection field, as if it weren't even there. Through the portal was the view of the setting sun from atop a mountain and a weird mist.
Under the confused gaze of both Sebastian and Ryker, Stella stood up and gracefully walked through the portal, which collapsed behind her with a pop.
"Who is she?" Sebastian asked, his gaze lingering on where the portal had been.
"Someone with an even more frightening background than your young lord," The Redclaw Grand Elder chuckled. "Don't worry. She will be back with an answer that I'm sure will satisfy you both."
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