While Aster's group was moving through the space tunnel to reach the gathering point at the Steel Tower sect, back at the border station, the old man who accompanied them stayed at the restaurant drinking the contents of his gourd.
He then took out his communication talisman which glowed for a second, before the old man sent a message through it.
"The Myriad Occupation sect has arrived as well", he calmly said.
"Mm, is there anything worth mentioning", a bored female's voice could be heard coming from the talisman a few seconds later.
"You can bet there is, lady Agnes herself is accompanying the disciple they sent… but that's not what surprised me, that kid drank a cup of my Extreme Magma wine as if it was nothing".
"…", after a few seconds of silence, the same voice this time with a more serious tone answered.
"Is it a damn dual cultivator?".
The old man bitterly smiled remembering all the beauties surrounding the black-haired youth he met not too long ago, but he still gave his honest opinion.
"No, I don't think that was the case, and even if I were to be wrong, his companions are the ones receiving benefits not the other way around, I'm telling you in advance lass, don't judge that kid with common sense, anyone else in his age and realm would have turned into ashes after drinking the Extreme Magma wine, and he knew what he was drinking just with a gaze, the Myriad Occupation sect might haven't been exaggerating things at all, I can see that kid being able to become a core disciple".
"I guess we'll find out if he is the real deal or not soon".
After saying that, the communication talisman of the old man returned to normal, Jack bitterly smiled as he continued drinking.
"Sigh, brother, she is as stubborn as you", mumbled the old man.
Using the VIP space gate, the travel to the Steel Tower sect from the border station, didn't last long, in a couple of hours they arrived to their destination.
Aster looked at the scenery that was displayed at the other side of the window of the spaceship, the planet where the Steel Tower sect resided is the Iron Sand planet, which is as big as the Treasure Planet of the Myriad Occupation sect, which makes sense considering the Fritz Stellar System is on a similar level as Galatia, with the exception that their guardian sect isn't weaker.
The old man gave Agnes a pass so that they wouldn't be stopped by the guarding patrol around the planet, so they were able to land in the Iron Sand planet without any trouble.
The gate of the spaceship opened and Aster followed by the girls came out of it, they were at what could be considered the equivalent of the neutral city, in the Steel Tower sect, a place that functioned as a port for those who arrived or wanted to leave the planet.
As Aster was about to keep the spaceship in his spatial ring, another spaceship came from one of the VIP space gates, and stood above them, apparently, they wanted the space in which Aster landed, because the other spots were smaller.
Agnes landed here because the spaceship Julian gave to Aster was huge, the one which just arrived was on a similar scale too.
"Move out of the way bumpkin!", an authoritative voice came from the gray spaceship which was floating above.
Aster completely ignored them and, he activated the defensive formations of the spaceship and then left walking calmly with the girls following him.
The girls laughed, Aster didn't take orders from the supreme elders of the sect, let alone some random guys.
He saw some guards rushing to the area he left behind, but he didn't care and instead he followed the indications the old man gave them to reach the gathering point.
The Iron Sand planet was the main territory of the Steel Tower sect, naturally the visitors couldn't access to all the planet, so the gathering point was in a space which was open for all the public.
On the way Aster saw many people going in the same direction as them, they had all kinds of different uniforms and emblems, most of them were from other sects and forces in the Fritz Stellar System.
The gathering point was a plaza at the center of this port city, surprisingly there weren't any guards placed at the entrance of the stage in which the gathering was going to take place, instead there was just a small counter with a single person sitting there, while other groups seemed to be discussing something with the one sitting at the counter.
Aster looked at the ground and saw the formations engraved on it, though it didn't affect him, those whose realms surpassed the Mortal Transcending realm had their realms suppressed to that level.
Aster came out of his daze, when he heard some of the people that were in front of the counter complaining.
"Why do we still have to wait!".
"Yeah, everyone is here already, since earlier more than twenty thousand people has been here!".
And similar comments could be heard coming from the crowd, Aster looked at the one sitting on the counter who was fully ignoring them, it was a gray-haired girl with a bored expression, she was wearing the white uniform of the Fritz but modified since what should have been a short dress, was changed to a blouse and shorts as well as a black coat that that hanged from her shoulders.
Aster's group approached the counter and everyone in their way was pushed aside, due to the protection of the paragon body.
Aster then took out the permission which Angela gave him, and showed it to the girl who after a quick inspection nodded.
"Now that all the participants are here, I'll take you to the entrance of the Silicon Forest, I shouldn't have to remind you, but only those with an entry pass will be able to enter the stage behind me, so those who don't have it or have any complain, get lost".
The crowd was speechless for a moment, first the ones for whom they had to wait finally arrived, then the one in charge of taking them to the Extreme Silicon Forest simply told them to get lost if they had any complain.
But before they could say anything, they were interrupting by a voice which Aster found slightly familiar.
"Sorry for the late arrival, my path was blocked by some trash, so I had to take a detour, we can leave now".
The crowd turned to see the newcomers, it was a group of people all wearing heavy-looking armors, with a quick glance one would notice they weren't average at all, not only their equipment looked quite expensive, but their auras were strong too.
The smile on the face of the guy who was leading the newly arrived group, a tall guy with a red and yellow armor, disappeared as soon as he heard the girl who was sitting on the counter saying.
"I have counted the participants and all the spots are used, get an entry pass or get lost".
Seeing that the expressions on the faces of the group became displeased, one guy came out from the crowd with a smiling expression.
"Senior brother Patrick, you arrived a bit late, but don't worry, I'll get entrances for your group", said the guy before he approached Aster.
"Little friend, you arrived the last and made all of us wait, how about making up for it, sell me your entry pass, I'll give you five hundred thousand middle grade spirit jades…".
The guy couldn't finish her sentence, when Aster simply said two words.
"Fuck off".
A sepulchral silence fell on the area, the girl on the counter started walking towards the stage, and Aster's group followed here, while the others were frozen on their places, the one who just got told to fuck off, is the young master of the Steel Tower sect, in other words, the son of the patriarch.
"What are you waiting stop him and get their entry pass!", shouted the guy as soon as he reacted, his companions then jumped to action, Aster's eyes glowed, the gray-haired girl, who he already realized was the gatekeeper elder mentioned by Angela, became a flash of gray light.
The next thing everyone saw was that the ones who tried to stop Aster's group, were all stopped in cold by pieces of metal, that stuck to their bodies.
"Aghh!", painful screams echoed through the place, as those who had those strange pieces of metal attached to them, collapsed on the floor, the ground below them cracked and the sound of bones being crushed could be heard coming from them.
"Those who tried to stir troubles and the ones without an entry pass, get lost", said the gray-haired girl, before she continued walking as if nothing had happened.
Aster gave Renard a mocking gaze before he and the girls followed the gatekeeper, most of the others did the same, with the exception of two groups, one formed by one guy and a bunch of girls all dressed perfectly, as for the second group it there were only males and all of them were wearing black and green masks.
"Tsk, even in your own backyard you got trashed, I guess your subordinates weren't able to get anything unlike you huh, Renard", said the guy who was surrounded by girls.
"Just like my brother stated, pathetic", added the masked leader.
After saying that they left, leaving behind an angered Renard, who ultimately gritted his teeth and took out his own entry pass and slightly bowed towards the armored group's leader.
"Senior brother, in this city port that crazy woman is the one in charge, my team mates were already banned by her, so if you don't mind can I join you?".
The armored guy called Patrick nodded.
"Fine, since you are honest in joining us, you can come, it seems these fools don't recognize the people from our Castle Armored sect, since our young master is in seclusion, but after this time they won't forget about us never", said the armored Patrick with a smirk.
"Also, I want to know everything about that woman, I don't remember you mentioning anything about her", he added.
Renard nodded, happy that he could join the winning team, in any case his subordinates weren't too outstanding, the only reason as to why he chose them is because he just joined the Castle Armored sect, and no one was willing to form a team with him yet, since he hasn't gotten any merits.
'This time it will be your end, bitch… now that I think about it, why did I suddenly felt a shiver running down my spine earlier, maybe I'm getting sick or something', thought Renard.
…
At the stage behind the counter, the gray-haired girl guided the participants, until they reached wall, the girl who is the gatekeeper elder then used her identity token and the wall turned into a space portal.
All the participants were surprised by the sensation coming from the portal, there was an incredible amount of earth and metal spirit energy as well as yang coming from the other side of the portal.
"Get in, everyone must enter but only those below the Genesis Manifestation can participate", said the girl.
Aster's group was the one closest to her, since they were the ones who followed her first, and so they were the first ones to enter.
The scenery changed from the city port with a blue sky, to what seemed to be a desertic place, with huge natural crystal formations raising from the ground, the temperature was quite high also.
Not that it bothered Aster and the girls, they just stood aside, since there was still one last barrier covering the whole area, meaning they had to wait for the gatekeeper elder to cross at the other side.
Once by one the other participants also crossed the portal until all of them were here, the portal then closed as the gatekeeper entered too.
"All the Genesis Manifestation and above, come here, the exploration will start then, I trust everyone knows the rules, at the end all your discoveries have to be inspected by me".
Agnes turned to see Aster with an unwilling expression, she also wanted to venture with him, but she had to stay behind, which made her sigh.
Aster felt amused by Agnes's current expression, but he still said.
"Don't worry, you'll participate soon, for now stay back and wait for our return".
"Mm~", Agnes smiled and nodded as she went to take her seat near the gatekeeper elder, Aster then turned to see Eris and nodded at her.
"I leave you in charge of the formations", he said.
Eris nodded back, as she followed Agnes, who was all smiles right now.
"Well, shall we get going ladies?", asked Aster to Aria and the others.
"Hold onto your teammates, you'll be transported randomly within the outer area of the forest, remember that if you die it's only your fault", said the gray-haired girl.
Ara was already grabbing Aster's arm, so she was good, Camila, Felicia and Tiana also looked for something to hold onto, and then they disappeared.
The other groups followed after until only those who weren't participating were the only ones left.
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