Ignoring the commotion that was ongoing outside, Aster and the girls entered the store, all the girls who worked there had already finished cleaning and left, with the exception of the pigtails short girl that seemed to be the third one in the authority chain, below Helena and Dahlia.
"They shouldn't cause anymore troubles for now, if anything happens just activate the defensive formations and directly attack them, as long as they still breath nothing will happen", said Aster to Helena, making her softly laugh before saying.
"I will do so, since our sponsor is so kind as to proportion us spirit formations that can keep even Law Transcending realm cultivators away~".
Aster chuckled, this was his store, and also a place where the girls often spend some time, though killing is prohibited in the sect, the rules are dead and people is alive, better safe than sorry.
That's why he asked Eris to put some good formations in the store, though they will burn money to operate, they were independent from the sect and turned the store in a little fortress.
Aster's expression became fierce for a moment.
"Give me a list of the ones that have been giving you trouble, people and stores included, it's time for retribution".
Seeing her beloved brother expression, Alice's body shivered, she simply loved when he was like that.
"Mm, I'll have it done by tomorrow and hand it to on our appointment at the valley", answered Helena, making the girls gazes fall on Aster.
"We can't take our eyes out of you for a couple of hours", mumbled Aria with a pout.
The other girls nodded, agreeing with her, which made Aster chuckle, they were obviously just joking making it look as if he invited Helena on a date to the valley.
"Helena and Dahlia will help Kana make a herbal garden on the valley, since the soil there is pretty good and the atmosphere is filled to the brim with spirit energy, also with some "help" the herbs will be of the best quality, naturally those will be for our private use, only the best for my family", said Aster, which made the girls brightly smile.
Unfortunately for Aster, though that tactic worked with the other girls, Lilia didn't get tricked by it, she approached her son from behind and whispered at him.
"And of course, you don't mind getting closer with the cute gardeners at the same time, right darling~".
Aster bitterly smiled, his mother was getting back at him for not letting her accompany them earlier, he turned to see Helena and Dahlia with an apologetic gaze.
Helena simply smiled at Aster, she has spent time with Lilia and the others on the past months due to the store, so she already is more or less used to Lilia's playfulness, Dahlia on the other hand blush a bit.
Leaving that aside, Aster and the girls said goodbye and left the store, the crowd was still outside so Aster used his authority to take them back to the valley, where he spent the rest of the day with Sarina and Kana.
Naturally they chose the gazebo at the edge of the river on the center of the valley, so while Kana played in the water with the white sand wyrm, Sarina leaned her head against Aster's shoulder, just enjoying the calmness of the nature that surrounded them.
"Wasn't it a noon like this, when you jumped on me", jokingly said Aster while he rubbed his thumb on Sarina's soft hand, making her laugh and then kiss her lover.
"I seem to remember a certain someone getting pretty aggressive when kissing, despite it being the first time~", she said with a flushed face.
How could she forget, that day her heart skipped a beat for man for the first time, it was then when she accepted her feelings for the black haired youth who now had her in his arms.
Aster laughed, he offered the mother and daughter to take them out to any place in the planet they wanted, or maybe help them to train their new abilities, but they refused and instead chose to spend the rest of the day here near the river with him, not that he minded, in fact this was good for him.
With Lilia and Alice his dragon nature was stimulated, normally any other dragonkin would have lost to either violence or carnal pleasure after being surrounded by those two all the time.
But Aster who was able to cultivate his soul was different, he could endure the stimulation that their lineages resonating with him brought, and use it to impulse his own development, according to Rya for physical changes to manifest on him, it should have taken more time, due to how many things were being integrated in his case and yet he already could make his eyes change to look like the ones of a dragon.
Though for the moment it didn't seem to have any other effect than increasing the strength of his aura, one would think that Aria's docile shy self would make Aster calm, but no, it only made him want to make her his.
Even if her attribute is in part ice, the base is yin and that makes her too desirable for him, it's just how her constitution works, she is only able to not be stalked and chased by men all the time, because Aster has become the focus of her yin, meaning the excess she produces goes to him, while she in exchange bathes in his yang.
It's with Sarina and Kana, with whom he can take a "break", maybe because they come from the gentle branch of the storm roc clan, when he is with them, his mind it's clearer, they are indeed like a soft breeze, as the surname of their ancestor suggested, thinking of that, Aster looked at Sarina before saying.
"You have been thinking about it, right… taking her surname for you and Kana?".
Sarina smiled and hid her face on Aster's chest.
"I can't hide anything from you~", she mumbled, making Aster shook his head.
"If that's what you want, I don't see the problem, I bet the old general will welcome us with some new "recruits" when we go back to visit them", jokingly said Aster, referring to Sylas's relationship with the royal alchemist.
Obviously they were interested into each other, but the old man was too stubborn to admit it, he remained single in memory of his wife, but before they left Sarina told him to be happy again, with the portal that was left for them to enter Rodia, under the custody of the Terranova sect, and the guide of the Barbarian Heart sect, the people of Prasil was bound to enter into the Transcending realms, so their lifespans would be way longer than before, it would be sad for Sylas to keep living like that, especially now that his daughter and granddaughter had left the nest and spread their wings.
"Mm, we'll do it when we arrive to the places you mentioned, up there in the sky, in the meantime we'll keep father's surname".
Aster smiled noticing that Sarina who has been a bit troubled about such a thing finally left it behind, it might sound like nothing, but now that their lineages had awakened, they naturally felt closer to Neela, specially Sarina who seemed to have inherited part of her attitude from her.
Aster enjoyed the sunset with the pair of mother and daughter and then they returned to the castle, the other girls surprisingly didn't train at all, instead they apparently spend the whole day sorting who will get the next date and to Aster's surprise, the winner was actually none other than Vivian.
Aster saw Alice's gloomy expression and he shook his head, she surprisingly didn't complain and accepted the result, probably because Vivian's plan was to stay in the castle and try to see how things go with Esmeralda's way to help her regulate her poison better.
Earlier when she saw that girl from the Purple Lotus faction using poison to harm the girls from the Black Sword faction, she was reminded of why she accepted to become the Alchemy peak ancestor's disciple if she managed to live past the date of the trial in the secret realm.
For her poison should only be used on enemies, for Vivian who has lived her whole life being a breathing disaster for those that surrounded her, she wanted to use her poison to help others in similar situations to her, and she was perfect for the job, being a poison master isn't forbidden, because many of them specialize in how to cure or detoxify poisons, it's a pretty important branch of alchemy that not everyone can learn.
But that wasn't all, the girls decided to divide the day in two parts, and each would take half of it, that or they could get one day of attention if two of them worked together, like Sarina and Kana, they did it like this, because they were going to spend all their time together in the castle anyway, the one taking the next turn was Agnes, and contrary to Aster's expectations, she asked for a friendly date on the sect, going out to eat and stuff like that, quite different from the training Aster thought she was going to ask.
Probably it had something to do with the girls from the Black Sword faction, who approached her and whispered some things at her, the rest of the turns were still being decided so that was the order for tomorrow.
This time Sarina cooked a nice dinner for everyone and after they enjoyed the food, everyone went to their respective bedrooms to sleep.
…
Inside of the mind space Aster didn't forget to pay attention to his cute sword girl, Rya who has become more "human" lately, received him with her arms wide open, Aster noticed that her "Empress" aura has been decreasing with every strand of her hair which has turned silver, which reminded him a doubt that he got not too long ago.
"You said that after I surpass my star tribulation, you'll be able to leave the mind space, but what if I advance in the soul path first, not to mention I still don't have all the materials?".
Rya thought about it for a second before saying.
"Well, my damaged soul is what was making me stay in the mind space, I originally mentioned the star tribulation or mortal tribulation, because as a dragon you shouldn't have been able to cultivate your soul… then when you suddenly became one, I thought it would slower for you to advance in it than in the energy path".
"If you overcome your tribulation in the soul path, my soul should fix enough for me to leave, but I know you won't let me until you get the materials needed for my physical body, right", she said with a pout.
Aster perversely smiled and dragged Rya who was laying down next to him, into his embrace.
"Of course, these materials are supposed to help you create the perfect vessel for your soul, I only want the best of the best for my girls… that being said I don't want you to stay in this place alone even a second more than necessary, so I already decided it".
Rya raised an eyebrow, confused about what was Aster talking about, though the twins could visit or even Lilia, it wasn't a regular thing or anything he or the other parties involved could control, most likely it was Orionis who did it on a whim.
Aster poked Rya's pretty nose and then pointed downwards at the ground of the mind space, which was visible as they were at the highest point of Hyperion on their "bedroom".
"I have been thinking about it, if you can't go out, then I just have to bring the others here, that will also get rid of the problem of me separating from the others for too long, in case something happens in the missions… I don't want to worry them as well", said Aster, before he confidently smiled.
"I just need to reach the Spirit Trial realm and I will bring all the sisters here, I can't wait to have the whole family together", said Aster with a pervy expression on his face, which made Rya cover her chest and crotch, feeling as if his eyes could see through her clothes.
"Lewd dragons", she mumbled, but inwardly her heart was drowning in sugar, advancing in the soul path is way harder than on the other paths, and Aster is a dragonkin so the difficulty for him is even higher, having to control his instincts and balance everything, that's in part why his soul is monstrous.
In the few years he has lived in this world, he has already faced tribulations in the soul path twice, when he first looked at the void of the space and back then at the secret realm, realizations sounded easy, but they are presented to those that can't see the answer despite it being "obvious" for others, it is ultimately personal growth.
From other people's point of view might look easy, but when they are the ones overcoming their flaws, things are completely different, Aster used his spirit sense to map the nearby areas of the mind space, measuring and doing other calculations while he cuddled with Rya.
'Soul cultivation surely is quite helpful', he happily thought, as he closed his eyes and entered the land of dreams.
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