Needless to say but the announcement of a moment ago caused an uproar in the whole Stellar System, but probably the biggest agitation was present in a certain street at the central capital, where the one of whom the announcement talked about was proudly standing straight like a sword.
Sarina leaned her head on Aster's shoulder and gave him a lovely gaze, while Kana was jumping around celebrating her big brother's new feat.
"Big brother is the best~", she said while she hugged Aster.
Aster smiled and patted her head, making the other female disciples feel troubled between being blissful of seeing Kana's adorable expression or jealous over the caresses she got from Aster.
While the girls of the Black Sword faction approached Aster with genuinely happy expressions to congratulate him, the side of the Blacksmith peak and the girls from accompanying Edward had grim expressions.
Especially the Supreme Elder, who was gritting her teeth.
'What the hell is that idiot doing, didn't I tell her to object to everything the other party said until I returned', she thought.
Besides her, the other one whose heart was filled with hatred was none other than Edward, he just literally got slapped in the face, both literally and figuratively a moment ago, the strength behind Aster's slash made his own sword hit him on the face making one side swell a bit, and a if he was set up by someone, just when his argument was based on his rank being higher than Aster, he casually broke all the records in that aspect for male disciples, it was as if he was being played with.
But still he had a way to regain his dignity, so he exclaimed with a righteous voice.
"Humph, so what if you raised your rank so much, it's obvious you took a group mission and then took all the points, instead of properly distributing them with your companions, senior sister Iris probably gave you hers as well, since she seems to have a good opinion of you, despite your selfish and violent attitude".
"If you continue down such a path, you'll be alone, look where did all that group that normally is seen with you go, perhaps they are fed up by your actions!", he shouted.
But then without the need of Aster saying anything, different pretty voices came from above.
"Who says he is alone", a portal opened on the sky from which Lilia, Agnes, Mylene, Eris, Camila, Felicia, Alice, Aria, Tiana and Vivian came out, they all then descended next and behind Aster, Alice and Aria held onto Aster while Lilia's dangerous gaze stopped upon the Supreme Elder of the Blacksmith peak, if someone was trying to bully her beloved son, then she wouldn't mind one peak less existing in the near future of the sect.
But her eyes then fell on Aster and the fierceness disappeared becoming tender love as she hugged Aster from behind, while she leaked just a bit of her real self, making the female disciples all blush while the very few guys paled and turned their faces away, despite the otherworldly breathtaking fairy that was in front of them.
"What is happening here darling~", she cutely asked.
Aster was about to answer, but he was then interrupted by Alice, who cunningly smiled as she said in a loud voice.
"We were all resting on the bed tired, when suddenly we received some sort of huge announcing, even Agnes was taken aback by it".
"…"
"D-Did you hear that, she said they were all resting on their bed!".
"Could it be that they all appeared together, because they all live with senior brother Aster!".
"Kyaah, that's so incredible, even big sister Agnes was captivated by senior brother~".
Listening to the female disciples going crazy with their imaginary scenarios… well not that imaginary since they were all indeed though temporarily, living in Aster's castle, Agnes included, Alice cutely stuck her tongue at her brother, while the other girls had different reactions.
"Alice you little…", Tiana wanted to complain, but her mother simply laughed it off as she whispered.
"Isn't this what you wanted, there has been a lot of guys trying to hit on you lately right, if they believe you are with Aster, do you believe they would dare to approach you".
Felicia's words were like a demon's whisper, though for Tiana it made sense what her mother said, those guys were interfering with her training, back at the Barbarian Heart sect, the guys were more straightforward, she just had to kick their asses once and they would give up since they weren't strong enough, but here even if she forcefully drove them away, there were still gazes being aimed at her.
'The saying goes that "a lie who is repeated a lot ends up becoming truth", good luck~', mentally added Felicia.
The other girls didn't care about the misunderstanding, though some still had flushed expressions on their pretty faces, which made the whispers between the female disciples increase, especially when they saw Agnes who was one of their role models having the same reaction.
"To think even bis sister was conquered by senior brother… and did he do that with all at the same time", mumbled one of the many girls with a reddened face.
The vast majority of the girls that joined the sect had very few contact with males, they applied at a young age as well and were the crème of the crop back at their families and origin forces, so most of them have never had a lover, since the male disciples are considered mediocre here, such a situation was too much for their maiden's hearts.
But they weren't the only ones that were hyperventilating right now, Edward's heart was dying… out of jealous, but he wasn't ready to give up.
"Lord of the twin sword valley, how much of a coincidence is that they appeared to refuse my affirmation at the right moment, did you order them to do it, that's really low even for you".
After a moment of silence in which Edward thought the spectators, that now weren't only the girls from the Black Sword faction, but the ones passing by or the people in the restaurants and other locals, were considering his accusation as true, a disdainful voice woke him up from his fantasy world.
"What is this clown saying?", as always when it came to be sharp tongued, Alice was second to none, she pointed at Edward while she lovingly looked at Aster, making the latter chuckle, of course his sister was doing it on purpose.
"He thinks I climbed to the rank 50th because I forced you to give up your own contribution on our group mission, to me", said Aster while he caressed Alice's face, good girls get rewarded after all.
This time it was Agnes, the one who stepped up for Aster, she snorted and then pointed at the black stone plate, where a lot of names were being moved in real time.
"Humph, not to mention such a thing is severely punished by the sect unless both parties agree to it, in our Black Sword faction that is completely forbidden, when someone of us gets a high rank, it truly reflects the merits and hard work required for it, unlike a certain faction where a lot of spirit blacksmiths exchange "gifts" for merit points and it is overlooked".
It didn't escape Aster's eyes that apparently no one in the top five was part of the Black Sword faction, despite the fact that they were the original faction of the Battle peak, but there was a reason to it, per the orders of their ancestor, the disciples of the faction weren't allowed to use any shortcuts to climb through the ranks.
Some disciples with good reputations often were gifted the contribution points of their teammates, it wasn't illegal as long as both parties consented to it, but in the Black Sword faction that was seen as cheating, since the rank would be just based on popularity and won't reflect the prowess of the one who held it.
So, for them was harder to advance through the ranks, which explained no one in the top five was from the Black Sword faction, but in exchange everyone from the rank 15th to the 30th were members of the Black Sword faction, not to mention the current 7th ranked is also a member of the Black Sword faction, so they do have someone in the top ten.
Iris knew it so instead of just accepting the "free" merits she got by tagging along with Aster's group, she refused to accept them and instead fought with the previous 5th ranked to obtain her position, and converted the merits in resources for her maids, though she wanted to give the points to Aster.
The Supreme Elder gritted her teeth at Agnes, being directly insulted by someone weaker than her was humiliating, unfortunately she didn't dare to try and attack Agnes whose status was on par with her own young miss who was kicked out of the sect by Aster, not to mention William was still glaring at her like a beast who has set its eyes on a prey.
'That psycho is the executor appointed, it's better if we retreat…', unfortunately for her, Edward still hadn't given up on trying to demonstrate he is the one who deserves to be a holy son.
"Don't be deceived by that guy beauties, the circumstances of him becoming a Lord of a valley are pretty irregular, why don't you instead join my group, with my blacksmithing abilities I'll make sure to craft the best of the best equipment that fits your needs, not to mention I have the support of the Blacksmith peak for the strongest in your group", he said with a bright smile.
The result however wasn't what he was expecting, starting with some of the female disciples of the Black Sword faction and quickly followed by Alice, Aria, Kana, Vivian and even Tiana, they all laughed.
Normally so many pretty girls laughing at the same time would be a delight to ears, and for Aster that was the case, but Edward could clearly tell they were mocking him, and the three girls accompanying him frowned in response.
The girl with the Purple Lotus badge snorted and her spirit energy flooded like a tsunami towards the girls who started laughing first.
"Hisss!", sizzling sounds were created as the spirit energy of the girl from the Purple Lotus faction clashed with a pretty pink mist, coming from a fragile looking beauty who had a small pink clover mark below her right eyes, as if it was the legendary "beauty mark".
"Using such a vicious poison on purpose, you are old enough to know the consequences of poisoning innocent people", said Vivian as she shook her pretty index finger, the reaction of the poisonous spirit energy against the poison she created was both of them being cancelled and a sweet fragrance being released.
The girl from the Purple Lotus faction saw red, not only she was being looked upon down by someone she has never heard off, a nobody in her eyes, she was being considered an old woman instead of a girl, a sore point for poison masters, since a lot of them age temporarily or look older than their ages, because they have to deal with too much poison before getting used to it.
That wasn't exactly true, as those three girls were younger than Sarina, rounding their 30's, on the other hand Vivian, Alice, Aria and Tiana in other words the younger girls, didn't even pass their early twenties, so in comparison that was the case.
Edward was about to have a heart attack, the girls in front of him were looking better and better with each second that passed, Vivian's fragile gentle nature, despite the dangerous power she had, was pretty eye catching, not to mention she is a beauty in all the meaning of the word.
"Why are you laughing at me, look at my partner's equipment it's the best of the best for their realms…".
This time the girls didn't let Edward finish his sentence, Alice snorted and then pointed at the tower shield Edward used to block Aster's sword attack.
"What a stupid thing to say, considering your own shield cracked after just one clash with Aster's sword".
Edward's eyes widened, he looked downwards at his shield which is one of his latest creations, just to see a pretty noticeable crack running through half of the front of it, the Supreme Elder and also the girls accompanying him frowned, they didn't hear any cracking noise nor see such a thing on Edwards's shield earlier.
Unfortunately they couldn't argue against it, because it either cracked due to Aster's sword, or it cracked by itself which would be worse than the previous, it would be a huge loss of face for Edward as a spirit blacksmith.
Aster smirked and took his sword from the handle as if he wanted to show it to all the present people, the blade was sharp and free from any chips.
"Who are you trying to impress, your rank is lower than our youngest sister, your blacksmithing is worse than Aster and most important you are ugly as hell, and yet you are trying to challenge Aster, you aren't worthy humph!".
Alice's words were the last nail on Edward's coffin, the names on the black stone plate also finally stopped moving at that exact moment, to reveal Kana's new position, after her adventure with Aster she reached the 91st rank.
Kana cutely hid her face on Aster's chest, as she mumbled.
"See big brother I have a higher rank than sister Alice and sister Aria~".
Aster smiled and then patted the little girl's head gently, earning some cute comfortable sounds and giggles from her.
"Of course, my little Kana is amazing".
Aster wasn't just spoiling Kana by saying that, she is the youngest girl to ever become a core disciple and the one with the lowest cultivation too, she just entered the top 100 after just a few months in the sect, it was amazing indeed.
Of course, she wasn't the only one, Camila and Mylene who joined the sect as guest elders, who had their own ranks jumped all the way to the top 100 as well, but they reached the 55th and 56th positions instead, as for Lilia… well let's just say she refused Julian's offer of promoting her to become the 1st ranked guest elder ignoring the requirements of the monthly trials, because technically she already had a position on the sect, as the Battle peak's true ancestor, since the current one was a substitute.
Anyway, this act had already become boring for Aster so he decided to wrap things up.
"If you want to challenge me, first reach the top 100, until that moment… if I ever see you or those bitches faces near my store, you'll lose a limb or two", he said as he pointed his sword at them.
"What!", Edward and the thee girls exclaimed at the same time, but their words stuck in their throats, when Aster's spirit pressure fell on the whole area, making they jump back and hold their throats, a moment ago they felt as if they were about to beheaded.
"Why are you surprised, I clashed with a law enforcer and drove another one out of the sect, what does a couple of arms or legs amount for in front of that, if you don't like it then get lost and never appear in front of me again, also I would hurry up because in a year I'll be 1st ranked".
After saying that, Aster turned around and entered the store followed by the girls, of course a turmoil was started that moment, the first holy son didn't consider the second one to be his equal, not only that, he declared that in a year after completing the twelve-monthly trials, he will be the first ranked, it was like declaring a war against all the disciples that aimed for that position!
William was laughing his ass off on the ground, which earned him some strange gazes from a couple of the female disciples as well as hatred filled gaze from the Blacksmith peak Supreme Elder.
Until the old Salazar arrived at the scene and kicked William on the ass sending him flying a couple of meters.
"Oi brat, why the hell didn't you interfere before", said Salazar with an exasperated expression, William suddenly excised out of the meeting with the Supreme Elders, leaving him to handle all the matters of two peaks, and he didn't even stop the conflict but added fuel to the fire.
William laughed and then got up the ground.
"Come on, old Sal, stress can shorten your life, besides the kid is strong enough to make such declarations, as a body cultivator how can't I not notice a really talented soul cultivator when I see one, who knows another Soul King might be born in a few dozens of years HAHAHA".
Salazar sighed, it was futile to reason with the blockhead in front of him, precisely because of Aster's potential, he didn't want him to rush things, because he knows where the huge amount of merit that Aster's group got, came from, someone from a high ranked evil sect.
The poor old man felt a headache coming his way, as he vanished into thin air, knowing he will had to control the rumors that will be spreading through the Stellar System, so that they don't get to the ears of the other two sects that rivaled them, at least for some months or a year.
Reputation is indeed important, but timing is too, there was still some before they had to fight with the other aspirants and so, revealing one of their trump cards too soon would be a mistake, on the other hand given the impossibilities that were being accomplished by Aster, everyone who didn't directly witnessed them would believe it's just propaganda from the Myriad Occupation sect, and that worked in their favor.
"Ah, I hope the young misses return soon, this old man is going to overwork himself to death at this point and those guys have started to make their moves sooner than expected", he said to himself.
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