Elaine, Douglas, and Stella stepped through a rift Ashlock had conjured up.
It was almost creepy how much Elaine had changed from two days ago. Before, she had been a perfect example of an overworked researcher, with a hunched-back, reserved presence and the plague of sleep at the edge of her eyes.
However, now she looked full of life while laughing with Douglas. She had a slightly more mature demeanor than Stella and Diana, but it made sense as she was almost a decade older than Stella.
Elaine stopped chatting and glanced around in confusion, likely at the distorted view that enshrouded the mountain peak. Stella had successfully created the concealment array over the last two days, but it was nowhere near as good as his personal technique.
Neither Stella nor Douglas was an array master, so the concealment array was an amateur's work at best. But it got the job done by attempting to mimic his previous technique. Ashlock actually had to divert some of his attention and Qi into the array to make it function, but it was far less than before.
The Qi gathering array was also almost completed, and Stella had been in the middle of finishing it up when the communication jade in her spatial ring that she had confiscated from Elaine's lit up. Deciding this was a perfect opportunity to test how her oath functioned, Ashlock had sent Stella to meet Elaine down in the cavern.
It had been unfortunate timing, as Elaine had been in the middle of bathing, but even after seeing her bare bust, Ashlock had felt nothing. Even with his slightly human mind, his tree biology made seeing naked humans feel the exact same as seeing a naked animal. However, even he had been just as surprised as Stella at Elaine's drastic change.
For Stella and Diana, the truffle had made their skin smooth and their hair more silky, and that was about it. Whereas for Elaine, it had made her a different person. Maybe Ashlock hadn't noticed how different cultivators and mortals looked in this world, as he never really paid much attention to mortals, but after witnessing Elaine, he realized the drastic difference in appearance between the two.
"You can cultivate with us up here if you want, Elaine," Stella said nonchalantly, "The Redclaws will be here soon, and then we will head into the mystic realm."
"What is the mystic realm?" Elaine asked. Douglas also seemed curious.
"Tree will create a weird mist, and when you walk through it, you will find yourself in a pocket realm full of Qi that matches our Soul Cores. Although we have only gone there once, so that may change."
"A pocket realm?!?" They both said simultaneously, and Stella grinned, seeing Douglas and Elaine gobsmacked.
"That's right." Stella pointed her nose to the sky, "Isn't Tree awesome?"
Ashlock wished she would stop flattering him over a system-given skill. It wasn't like he got the skill out of his own hard work, unlike his cultivation techniques that required hours of meditation for him to reach a mutual understanding with the heaven's will.
"Will I be entering this pocket realm?" Elaine asked curiously.
"Sure, we all will—"
"Hold on." Diana cut off Stella as she walked over. "We know little about the mystic realm, so allowing someone with little cultivation and combat experience to enter may lead to their death."
Ashlock had to agree that was a good point. "I wanted to use the mystic realm a few more times to gauge its capabilities before sending more people in, but I don't have time to waste months on testing."
His current plan was to send everyone in and try to get Maple or someone else to somehow end up in the same pocket realm as Stella so she could ascend to the Star Core Realm with less risk.
"Patriarch, do you mind if I test Elaine's capabilities?" Diana asked, and Ashlock replied with a flash of his leaf.
"I don't plan to bring the Redclaw Grand Elder and his chosen people over for a few hours, so testing Elaine's capabilities is a good idea, as I am also rather curious." Ashlock mused.
"Go do it over there." Stella pointed to the area behind Ashlock, "I need to finish up the Qi gathering array and don't want you accidentally damaging it. Douglas, come and help me."
"But..." Douglas glanced between Elaine and Diana, "Will she be alright?"
Diana snorted as she summoned a sword to her hand and walked past Ashlock, "I won't go too hard on her, don't worry."
Elaine gave Douglas a reassuring smile before running after Diana. On the way, she stopped before Ashlock and gave a short bow, "Patriarch, I just wanted to apologize for not seeing the greatness of your gift earlier."
Ashlock appreciated the apology, and since she didn't know the ancient language, he flashed his leaf to show he accepted the apology.
Elaine pointed at the leaf and shouted after Diana, "The leaf flashing once means the Patriarch is happy right?"
Diana didn't turn to look but still chuckled before calling over her shoulder, "If it flashed once, it means yes, twice for no. You can talk to him directly if you learn the ancient runic language like Stella."
"Oh!" Elaine said, "I'm good at languages. Maybe I can learn it quickly."
That reminded Ashlock of the skill fruit he had been growing. "I will give them to her later alongside the truffles." Ashlock decided as he watched her walk away and stand opposite Diana.
"Draw your sword." Diana said, and Elaine gave her an awkward smile, "Err... I was never given one."
"You have never held a sword?" Diana furrowed her brows.
"No, no!" Elaine waved her hands, "I held a sword... back when I was fifteen."
Diana let out a long sigh, "So what? A decade ago? How haven't you held a sword since? You are a cultivator, right?"
Elaine seemed to suffer emotional damage as she recoiled, "I... I was a cultivator until my family said I was better suited as a researcher at the academy."
Ashlock also couldn't believe Elaine hadn't even been able to practice with a sword in the evenings or something. In a world like this, being smart was pointless in the face of overwhelming might. The beast tide wouldn't care about how many hours you spent memorizing textbooks or advancing the primitive science of this world.
"That's likely why civilization hasn't advanced that much, even with the modern-style stuff they find from rifts. The cultivators are too focused on meditating to care about research, and those conducting research are either looking for ways to overcome a bottleneck or developing demonic techniques. Cultivators care little about fashion trends or new dishes, and the mortals are too busy trying to get through their day-to-day lives to invent new things."
That aside, Elaine needed a sword. "Would it be too morbid of me to give her one of her dead uncle's swords? Or would that prove to her I did kill him and increase her respect for me? Hmmm."
Ashlock delved into his collection and picked out one of the Voidmind Elder's swords with a flowery pattern embroidered on the hilt. It also looked the lightest of the swords and was made from a weird black metal that he was curious about, so he decided to give it to her.
"Oh, looks like you are in luck," Diana said as Ashlock took the sword out of his inventory and floated it over to Elaine with telekinesis.
"That's..." Elaine frowned as she gripped the sword from the hilt and inspected it. "One of my uncle's swords."
Diana remained mute as Elaine traced the hilt with her finger, a mixture of emotions flickering across her face. "So you really did kill him, huh."
"It would seem she still harbors some doubts about Stella's words." Ashlock mused, "Which makes sense as a lot of what comes out of that sly girl's mouth is bullshit."
"Can I keep this?" Elaine asked Ashlock, and he flashed his leaf. He still had seven other swords... "Oh wait, I never gave Diana her sword. I only ever gave one to Stella."
Digging through his inventory, he fished out that dark blue blade in a blue leather sheath he had reserved for Diana and floated it over to her.
Diana gripped the sword out of the air and whistled, "Wow, this is an expensive-looking sword." She then traced her finger along its blade and exclaimed, "It's made from water Qi-infused metal!"
Dark blue flames with a hint of demonic Qi shot out of her hand, curled around the sword hilt and down the blade. The metal seemed to ripple as if it had turned into a liquid substance like mercury. Diana then slashed it at the other sword she was holding, and Ashlock marveled at how the blade harmlessly passed through as if it were made from water.
Diana then sliced through again, but this time solidified the blade halfway through, which caused the other sword to crack in half.
"So this was one of the Voidmind Elder's swords? He had quite expensive tastes. This could cost hundreds of thousands of spirit stones." She then eyed Elaine's black metal sword, "That one must be made out of a metal that harmonizes with void Qi."
Elaine eyed her own blade and frowned, "I don't know how I feel about all this."
Diana shrugged, "He deserved it. He tried to turn the Patriarch into firewood and also kill Stella." The words came out so monotone and cold that even Ashlock was surprised.
"I see..." Elaine shook her head as if trying to stop her spiraling thoughts. "Okay, enough with sentiments. How can I use this thing?"
What followed was Diana explaining at length to Elaine how to insert her Qi into an object as Elaine had only recently made it into the Soul Fire Realm, which was the first realm where a cultivator could manipulate their Qi outside of their own bodies, and Elaine had never had any practice imbuing objects with her Qi before.
"Woah!" Elaine exclaimed as the black metal sword looked like it was made from a starless night sky.
"Don't wave it around." Diana scolded, "Even at the 1st stage of the Soul Fire Realm, your void Qi is dangerous for the rest of us. I'm not even certain I could fully resist it with my own Qi."
Elaine seemed to struggle with wielding the sword and accidentally swung too low, making the blade carve effortlessly through the rock like a hot knife through butter. Shocked, she reeled in her Qi and looked at the gash in the rock.
"Ah... I'm sorry." She muttered while scratching her head.
"I don't think you would survive even five minutes in the mystic realm," Diana ruthlessly claimed while depositing her sword in her spatial ring, signifying the end of the assessment.
Elaine let out a tired sigh, "That's unfortunate."
Diana shrugged, "Don't worry too much. There should be another chance in the future. But between now and then, you must advance a few stages in the Soul Fire Realm and learn to fight and wield a sword."
That gave Ashlock an idea... he would have a week to kill while waiting for everyone to return from the mystic realm. He could totally have sparring matches with her.
"Fear not, Elaine! The greatest sword tree on the continent is here to train you!" Ashlock chuckled to himself. He still found it rather funny that he could swing swords around as a tree.
While he had been thinking, the pair walked past him and over to Stella, who was working alongside Douglas to complete the Qi gathering array. It was smaller scale than the previous one, but it utilized only high-grade spirit stones, so it should have a similar level of performance.
Stella was trying to get rid of the ink that was all over her hands while Douglas melted the spirit stones into the grooves.
"Let me help you with that," Diana said as water from the air coiled around Stella's hands like snakes and washed away the ink.
Stella smiled in response and asked about Elaine's sparring session. Meanwhile, Douglas finished his work, and the array was operational moments later with a flash of power.
Everyone breathed in a Qi-filled breath, and Ashlock felt like he had dipped his roots into warm water as Qi surged through the transfer arrays and into his roots.
With the extra Qi and Elaine having completed her assessment, Ashlock decided it was time to bring over the Redclaws. The mystic realm wasn't opening for two more days, but all of them would need time to prepare and consume the truffles.
Relaying that information to Stella, she turned to everyone, "Alright, everyone put on masks. The Redclaws are arriving soon."
***
"Is everyone here?" The Redclaw Grand Elder asked the ever-scowling Elder Mo.
"Amber will be here any second now, Grand Elder." Elder Mo replied.
"Mhm, good." The Grand Elder surveyed the mostly empty courtyard of the white stone palace. He had made sure the place was cleared out to avoid any chance of angering the Ashfallen Sect's immortal.
He then suddenly felt a surge of spatial Qi as a rift opened. Through the wobbling view of the rift's destination, he saw four people wearing black masks standing in a row with Stella in the center.
"I'm here, Grand Elder!" Amber called out and stumbled across the courtyard to stand beside Elder Margret. "Sorry, I'm late."
The Grand Elder gave a disapproving glance before turning toward the portal and gesturing for everyone to follow him.
There was a pop of air and a sudden temperature drop as he emerged on the higher mountain peak. The wind rustled his robes and hair as he waited for his family to follow.
"Welcome, Redclaws," Stella announced once the Grand Elder felt the rift collapse behind him.
The Grand Elder managed to resist looking around and gawking at everything. But the Elders to his side, especially Amber, could not hide their curiosity as this was the first time they had seen the infamous Red Vine Peak in person.
Without missing a beat, the Grand Elder bowed, "As per the immortal's request, I have brought the four strongest of my family."
He then straightened up and eyed the four people in front of him and was surprised to see a woman with rose-gold hair that he hadn't seen before standing beside the Underlord, the hulking man that wore the black cloak.
"Douglas, if you will," Stella spoke to the man he knew as Underlord and the earth affinity cultivator cycled his Qi, causing the mountain to rumble and an earthen table to rise from the stone.
Stella then walked up to the newly formed table. Her spatial ring flashed with power, and a variety of freshly picked fruit appeared—none of which the Grand Elder recognized.
"Alright, in two days, the immortal will allow us to enter the mystic realm, which allows cultivators to travel to Qi-rich pocket realms that match their affinity allowing their cultivation to increase quickly." Stella waved off their questions, "I will answer your questions later, but first, let me tell you about these fruits and truffles that I am going to give you."
Who cares about some fruit!?! The Grand Elder shouted in his mind while keeping a stoic expression. What do you mean the immortal can send us to a pocket dimension? Only Monarch Realm cultivators can create a single pocket dimension, yet you say he can send us to multiple? Just how powerful is this Ashfallen Sect...
Clearly oblivious or uncaring for the Elder's pleas for more information, Stella pointed at each fruit individually. "Deep meditation, enlightenment, neural root, language comprehension, vampiric touch, lightning Qi Barrier, clairvoyance, mind fortress, and finally, florist's touch."
"What?" The Grand Elder didn't understand what he was hearing. He was still stuck on the mystic realm part. Are these fruit special as well?
Stella cocked her head to the side, "What's wrong? I am just listing the temporary effects these fruits give when you eat them."
"Temporary effects..." The Grand Elder pointed to a random one and asked, "What does the language comprehension fruit do?"
"It lets you learn languages super fast," Stella replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Anyway..."
"Wait—" The Grand Elder felt a headache creeping into his mind. Not that he blamed them for not giving him such a precious fruit earlier, but he had spent weeks learning the ancient language to converse with the immortal and save his family, yet there had been a fruit that could help him with that all along?
"Questions later, please." Stella replied with a huff, "Every time you interrupt me, I lose my place... now where was I?"
"Truffles." The black-haired girl to her side answered flatly.
"Ah, yes, thank you." Stella said cheerfully, pointing at an unassuming black ball with a stubbly surface, "This truffle, when consumed, improves the purity of your spirit root permanently."
The Grand Elder felt ashamed to admit he shouted, "WHAT?!?" alongside his family members, but he couldn't hold back anymore.
"Yeah?" Stella replied with that same dismissive tone, "See? I used to have an impure spirit root."
A light purple soul flame flickered to life in her palm, and all of the Redclaws stepped closer, gawking at it.
What in the nine realms is going on? The Grand Elder cursed. He hadn't mentally prepared himself for these gifts. Would they really give them these cultivation resources? Each one could sell for thousands or even cause wars between families.
"Anyway," Stella pointed to the next one, "This one devours your heart demons and lets you overcome a bottleneck."
The Grand Elder saw Elder Mo stumble forward, his eyes glued to the truffle. "C-can it really?"
Elder Mo had been stuck at the same bottleneck for so long that he had accepted his inevitable death and turned to teach the younger generation, turning him into a bitter old man that cursed the heavens and barely kept his festering heart demons at bay.
"Sure," Stella deposited the truffle in his open palm, "Give it a try."
Elder Mo didn't even take a second to inspect the truffle. As if afraid the opportunity would be seized from his grasp, he desperately devoured the black ball and swallowed.
Everyone waited in silence, anticipating the result of the mysterious truffle.
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