While they were flying to the heart of the valley, the girls with the exception of Mylene, Camila, Vivian and Lilia, were surprised to see how fast was Kana flying, the little girl was twirling around Aster while she was asking him to play.
Agnes who was proud of her eye for talent was all smiles now, the three Stellar Systems that are fighting for the chance to join the high ranked files, have different classifications because they have different disciplines and traditions.
All will be considered for the competition that will be upheld later on, and among them there was a junior tournament, for the youngest member of each force or family participating.
Though technically Kana's age was just a few months behind of Aster's, he couldn't be counted for that, nor he wanted it, as he doesn't look his age, it will be the same for Eric, at this level people knew there are some constitutions which made people look/be more mature than their real age.
And they are considered to be the age they look not their biological age by the sects and forces, based on some things like mental age too, due to some certain incidents that happened a long time ago, involving a ruler level family.
"Her control over wind improved a lot, no one in your family can't be average right, Aster~", mumbled Agnes.
Mylene laughed, she considers Kana her little sister, so she is happy to see her getting stronger, also the little girl is indeed really talented, it's just that she didn't have any interest in cultivating before, so only now she has started to shine.
After that display of Kana's newly improved control over wind, cause by her breakthrough and the fact that Esmeralda had formed a contract with her, giving her access to her spirit wind, they soon arrived at the center of the valley.
Aria and Sarina's face reddened remembering what happened here the previous night, Alice on the other hand was pretty fresh while she clang to Aster's left arm, because Lilia of course had the right one, since she wanted Aster's attention today.
They descended from the sky and the girls separated in different teams to do different things, Kana, Mylene and Vivian stood aside, Espi had followed them so the little girl started playing with it.
Eris smiled, she tapped her foot on the ground and a large spirit formation appeared on the ground, the runes illuminated and different constructions raised from the ground, a gazebo a couple of stone benches encircled around a small stone circle, lastly there were also a line of beach loungers, which immediately attracted the attention of the mothers, Sarina, Lilia and Felicia placed their towels and laid down to enjoy of the sunlight a bit.
Aster could already feel his mother's teasing gaze on him, while she took out a bottle of some kind of cream for the skin.
"What do you think, Kana told me she missed playing at the shore of the river in the royal castle, so I tried to replicate it while adding a few more things", said Eris to Aster.
Aster saw Kana's eyes sparkling, she loved that stone gazebo back at Orson's castle, where she used to have small tea parties with the daughters of other important nobles and her mother when she was healthy.
"Thanks, we'll make some other modifications later, so I'm counting on you and Camila", said Aster.
"Mm~", both Eris and Camila nodded, they were the rune masters of the family, so they were happy to help, that formation is something Eris prepared for when Kana returned, it was a gift to welcome the little girl back.
Vivian took the beach lounge which was directly under the shadow of a tree and sat there, as she enjoyed the peaceful nature landscape.
While the girls were accommodating in the different available places, Aster went into the forest to cut a few trees for wood, the idea was to finish the day with some star gazing at night, so a bonfire was a must.
"Mm?", Aster heard some sounds coming from the nearby bushes and he turned around just to see Agnes approaching him.
Agnes saw Aster looking at her and her face reddened a bit, they were alone in the woods and she was wearing such revealing clothes, to her surprise only now she realized it might be up for misunderstandings.
'I have fought against the barbarians of the Black Bone sect, why is my heart beating so fast right now?', she wondered.
Agnes didn't realize she had been staring at Aster this whole time.
"Agnes, do you need something?", asked Aster
"Ah, sorry I spaced out, I thought you might need a pair of extra hands here", she cutely said.
Aster chuckled, she clearly just wanted to be near him as much as possible, but he decided to play along to not embarrass her.
"Sure, a couple more of trees would be nice", said Aster.
Agnes nodded and then she grabbed a tree from its trunk, before she effortlessly uprooted it, she then let it down and did the same with another one, the sight of such a delicate lady showing such a extreme physical strength was rather interesting, unlike Mylene she isn't a body cultivator, but an energy soul one, so she has increased her strength the old way, a hell ton of exercise.
Aster waved his hands and Agnes's eyes glowed, only an intent user can see other intents, and she is a sword intent user, so for her, a net made out of golden rays turned the large tree into small perfectly cut logs.
Aster saw the interest in Agnes's ayes and he explained.
"I realized that the destructive power I can draw out when I use all my sword intent is too much for the current me to control at once, I don't need a power that can harm my allies instead of just my enemies, so I'm focusing in polishing my control... once I can combine my original sky rendering, the destructiveness I achieved in the secret realm and control, I should be able to give form to my own intent".
Agnes was fascinated by Aster's words and idea, she is a soul cultivator so she saw how he manipulated the slashes created using sharpening and ghost sword, with his soul energy, it was guided attack so to speak.
As a proof of that, Aster didn't touch the upper part of the tree to not make a mess with the leaves and just turned the trunk into logs, the key wasn't raw strength but accuracy.
After remaining silent for a couple of seconds, Agnes spoke in a low voice.
"Does the offer to accompany you on your next mission still stand?", she fidgeted with her fingers and nervously looked at the ground while waiting for Aster's answer.
Aster laughed as he kept the logs in his spatial ring.
"Of course, it's going to be fun to have you around, It's Aria's turn so I have to discuss with her what will we be doing though".
Agnes brightly smiled, but then she cleared her throat before saying in a shy voice
"If you want to, I can show you mine...".
"Pardon?", Aster was taken by surprise over Agnes's words.
Agnes blushed as if she was embarrassed about what she was about to say.
"My sword intent, I'm one of the few that has achieved the third level, not to mention I'm below the one thousand years mark, there is less than ten people in the four Heavenly Quadrants who have achieved that... the others would never do it, but I can show you my intent if you want to".
... "Hahaha", under Agnes's surprised eyes, Aster suddenly laughed out loud, which she found strange.
Aster didn't want her to misunderstand so she suppressed the urge to laugh at this cute clueless girl, who didn't seem to get that her vague words had a way different meaning than what she intended.
"Sorry, but you should be more careful with what you say and how you say it, what if I take on your offer, you wouldn't have been able to marry anymore", jokingly said Aster.
"Mm?", Agnes was confused for a moment, while she rewound what she said, and her face exploded in red, so far, the only man with which she talks in such a "feminine" manner is Aster, the patriarch of the Barbarian Heart sect for example, has some sort of friendship with her, because she enjoys everything related with physical training and people there are mostly body cultivators, she taught her some routines and that's how they became acquittances.
But as Aster and the others witnessed, her way to treat him is quite harsh, she literally beat the crap out of him when she allowed someone to "steal" the talent she scouted for the Black Sword faction, in other words Tiana, that is until she sneaked a peek into Aster's soul of course.
So, she who is used to that rough way of talking and acting, was pretty much unexperienced in being "girly" with a man.
"I-I didn't mean it that way... sorry, do you not want me to go with you anymore?", her expression made her look as if she was about to cry, if he said yes.
Seeing that Agnes seemed to want to dig a hole to hide in, Aster softly laughed, according to Lilia his godmother from the Fey family was really attached to her, she even asked to marry her when they first met, but she didn't mean it in a romantic way, the emotional intelligence of the members of the Fey family who had the ability to peek into other people's soul was different.
They way they acted or felt didn't match with what people would deem as "normal", they were either pretty obsessive or indifferent and they had no censure, if they didn't like something they will say it out loud, if they like something they would externally express it all the time, that's why Lilia was able to become friends with one of them, they had no malice since they couldn't hide if they disliked something.
All of them had unique personalities, some were pretty self-centered, and didn't even take a second to look at anything or anyone they didn't find interesting, in exchange, when they found something that picked their interest they'll focus into it, Lilia's friend fell in that category.
"I was just joking with you, I would be glad if I can see your intent, it would be quite helpful for me".
Aster's words returned the brought to Agnes's eyes, she smiled and then left in a hurry worried that he would change his opinion.
Aster saw that and he chuckled, third level intent cant' be taught by anyone as it's a personal revelation, but seeing other's would indeed give you an overall idea, you might even get inspiration out of it.
But third level is also the peak known of intent, so who in their right mind would share the key to the treasure trove, even among family members it's a secret, and yet she offered to show it by herself, of course he was glad to her.
Lilia actually was one of those in the list, who has achieved the third level of her intent under the one thousand year mark, but according to her she can't use it until she returns to the Heavenly Realm in the energy path, so Aster hasn't seen anyone using it.
Aster returned and saw that Kana, Mylene, Alice and Aria were already playing in the water, the three mothers were laying down on the stone beach lounges, Tiana was eating a fruit while she talked with Vivian.
Eris and Camila were also talking about runes and formations, while Agnes was swimming around, she actually created a current after going back and forth in the water.
'The Fey are too energetic when they are happy, I wonder what did you do to her, darling~', said Lilia through the mental connection.
Aster bitterly smiled, he saw Espi's head coming from below the water raising Kana, so that she could it as a jumping platform to dive.
Everyone was getting along really well and he liked that, he took off his shirt and pants as he had his swim shorts under his normal clothes like Kana and then walked towards the river.
"Splash!", water splashed everywhere when Aster jumped into the river.
"Big brother come play with me~", said Kana.
"Hisss".
Espi also seemed to want Aster playing it, not to mention Alice and Aria who were throwing water at each other.
Aster smirked and then he beckoned, the giant hands of the paragon body grabbed some water and then let it rain down on the girls, of course he was careful enough to not drown them, it was just a playful rain.
Even Espi was bathed by the large amount of water, which Aster found strange as a sand wyrm it shouldn't enjoy being in the water, but the little thing was swimming and giving Kana rides around even creating small waves with its tail for her, its scales had gained a dim blue glow which Aster haven't seen before.
For his previous actions, the girls got back at her, they all joined hands to splash water at him which resulted in a small "war", with collateral damage in the form of Tiana getting drenched too, so she joined the battle, the fun had just started.
This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om