After enjoying a nice warm meal with the girls, during which Aster took the chance to set up the schedule for the next days, he saw that Alexandra and Tamara had started to mingle with the others.
Alexandra never had any friends since she didn't have time to relax due to her mother's condition, so it was still a bit awkward for her, but she seemed to have gotten a bit closer to the youngest girls, namely Alice, Aria and Tiana.
Tamara participated in making the dinner along with the other mothers, and surprisingly Camilla who also tagged along with them, because she wanted to learn more from Sarina, who was the best chef of the family as of current.
As for the ones that were missing from the dinner, Eric and Sofia will be returning tomorrow according to a message they sent to Felicia, there was also Tomas who called beforehand to tell Tamara he would stay all the night as he was discussing some things with Julian.
Aster honestly thought that the poor man wanted to recover after being sucked dry by his wife, so he gave him the "order" to discuss about how to improve the cooperation between the sects that were part of the alliance.
Once they had their fill, everyone parted ways, some of them had other things they wanted to do, while Aster and the girls went straight to their bedroom, there won't be any naughty things tonight, as they went quite hard at it earlier, but they wanted to cuddle all together, Kana included this time.
And so, the hours passed and the moon was replaced by the sun at some point, just as he proposed earlier, Aster went to the mind space to have some cuddly time with Rya, and also help her with her daily recovery session.
Since the process took quite a toll on his soul energy reserves, this also worked as part of his barbaric way to train his soul and more importantly, both of them ended up pretty tired after it, so they enjoyed hugging each other to sleep even more than normal.
Aster opened his eyes and was received by the sight of Rya's pretty face up-close, she slowly opened her eyes almost at the same time as Aster, and then sweetly smiled at him.
Aster couldn't help but kiss her soft peachy lips as he caressed her face, making his cute Empress blush.
"Doing perverted things first thing in the morning~", she cutely mumbled, making Aster laugh as he stretched his body, naturally they went to sleep wearing light clothes, but while Rya was wearing some of the lingerie that Lilia "recommended", Aster used shorts and a t-shirt.
"Think what you want to do for our date, I'll fulfill all the desires of my cute Empress", teasingly said Aster as he pecked Rya's lips one more time before leaving the mind space.
On the outside world, things were a bit more crowded, though Aster's bed could accommodate more than ten people at the time, the girls always clang to Aster, so they occupied a relatively small part of the mattress.
Aster opened his eyes in the outside world, he looked downwards just the see Kana snuggling on his chest, while mumbling "Big brother", with a happy smiling face.
Since the others had their fun with Aster, they left Kana have the "main" spot, which was basically sleeping on top of Aster, and she was enjoying it to the fullest, as her smiling sleeping expression suggested.
If you wonder how were the others able to convince Lilia to concede her rightful place, she and Sarina acted as Aster's pillow tonight, as those large and fluffy breasts on which he was resting his head suggested.
"Mm~ good morshning big brother~" Kana cutely rubbed her eyes as she greeted Aster to then peck his right cheek, as she "demanded" some head pats, which Aster gave to her with please, the little girl giggled and hen got up the bed, since she was going to assist her beloved big brother with the first activity of the day.
Aster could then feel Alice's tightening her grip on his right arm, and he chuckled, this sister of his was awake since a few minutes ago, and was waiting to get her morning kiss, or she won't let go of him.
Aster lifted his right arm and Alice came along with it, to put her on top of him and then press his lips against hers.
"Mmm~", after getting what she wanted, Alice "woke up" as she let out a happy sound to then get up and follow Kana to wash her face.
Next was the ice princess's turn, Aria was actually sleeping, and since he had a bit more leisure to move, Aster rolled his body to be accommodated sidewards, while facing Aria, as always, she had hat soft and sweet scent which Aster loved, on her.
"Uhhh~", Aria let out a cute sound as she felt her lover gently pecking her lips, she smiled while keeping her eyes closed, before getting up.
Last but not least, Aster decided to attack the two mothers at the same time, so he flipped his body over, and his face landed in between those two giant pairs of breasts, after getting a nice taste of their feminine fragrance, he moved upwards and then kissed Lilia, before doing the same to Sarina.
"More darling~", Lilia dragged Aster towards to get seconds, making Sarina pout as she did the same, only after they got ten kisses, they let go of him, since they knew Aster had something important to do, they will be looking anyway, so it's not like they won't be seeing him.
…
After a quick breakfast, the girls followed Aster outside of the mansion, Eric and Sofia as well as Tomas and even Julian joined them as they went deep into the valley, to an area Aster designated for something he has been planning for quite a while, this visit to the silicon forest, made him realize the importance of having a ride.
And while with the deep pockets he has obtained thanks to all the "donations" made by the idiots that have antagonized him, as well as the earnings from the store and other deals his family has made with, he could afford to buy an enslaved spirit beast through a private channel, which would be prepared by Julian, as that kind of goods were only available in high ranked Stellar Systems, he didn't want a spirit beast with a broken will.
Though in this mortal realm there weren't spirit tamers for sure, it's not like cultivators didn't have ways to control spirit beasts, but they were too rough compared to the ability that spirit tamers had.
Basically, they beat them until they were broken and then used an enslaving collar to turn them into obedient pets for rich young masters, literally, because the process is not only quite long but the collar is really expensive and the limit is the Transcending realms.
Heavenly realm slave cultivators do exist, but no one has owned a spirit beast on the heavenly realm, as they posses intelligence on par with humans, but stronger minds, that being said, there are sects and forces that had for one reason or another managed to form a deal with some spirit beast, to act as their guardian deity.
The Drage had one, according to Lilia, but those cases are really scarce, and those enslaved spirit beasts have no potential, they are bought mostly for vanity to show off one's status, and that's not what Aster wants.
What he is aiming to, is having a trustful companion, a mutual benefiting association, and the little wyrm was worth investing in.
Speaking of which, the only one who didn't know what was happening here was Espi itself, they all arrived at an open area in the valley where the spirit energy was relatively thin, meaning it was basically on par as the public areas of the Battle planet, but that was about to change.
Aster descended from the air in front of the little wyrm accompanied by Kana, Espi curiously looked at Aster and Kana, wondering what was happening.
"Today, you'll be advancing to the Mortal Transcending realm, with the help of this", said Aster as he waved his hand, taking out a few things from the mind space, a human sized pitch-black sphere, a piece of wood which released some yellow blazes from time to time, a light blue diamond crystal that reflected the light of the sun and lastly another core which seemed to be covered in lavender colored mist.
The cores were obtained from the leader magic beasts which Aster purified with Rigel's flames inside the mind space, the wood was a piece of one of the most radiated trees which he obtained, that was safe for use in the Transcending realms, and the diamond was part of the extensions created by the Diamond Bone Orchid, meaning it was perfect to nurture the physical body and increase the defense against energy type attacks.
Those were the materials he had prepared for Espi to choose, they all had different attributes and properties, he did so, because according to Mira, Espi was a rare variant among dragon subspecies, it had been born without an attribute, but it had the amazing capacity to adapt to its surroundings, thanks to its special scales, something that none of the girls had heard about, it might even be an ability that Espi inherited from a distant ancestor.
Espi's eyes glowed, it perfectly understood Aster's words and it could tell that all those materials were quite precious, which made it let out some happy hisses, that made Kana giggle.
"Espi says "thank you" big brother", she said before adding.
"But it says that if it would be possible to get more of similar materials, with other attributes?".
"Oh?", Aster's interest was picked, he prepared these ones as they had the attributes which everyone agreed could be the most beneficial for the little wyrm, but he had more of them, which spoke of how vast was his wealth, since they were all half step Heavenly realm, ranked after being refined by him.
Aster has never been stingy when it came to resources for the members of his family, if he has it then it's as good as theirs, if he doesn't have it then he will obtain it.
With a snap of his fingers, other materials were taken out of the mind space and placed in front of the little wyrm.
There were metals, minerals, plants and even liquids, all with different attributes and properties, Espi observed all the things and then used its tail to point at exactly nine of those materials, which Aster separated from the rest.
He then returned the other things to the mind space and then saw Espi hesitating, before a determined expression appeared on its face as it hissed at Kana, the little girl smiled and then patted Espi's head as if to comfort the little wyrm.
"Espi wants big brother's blood to be the tenth and most important material, since it temporarily can't share its true name with big brother, in exchange this will formalize the contract between you two and it also is supposed to bring prosperity to the bind parts", said Kana.
Aster nodded without putting too much thought into it, he has used the refined version of his blood to help Tiana and Felicia temper their bodies, not to mention he gives something even more "intimate" to the Star Maidens, so some extra bottles of his blood won't amount to much.
He took out a small container and poured the contents of a few bottles inside of it, until a mix of red and golden liquid had filled the bucket, the amount was around the same which Sarina drank to fully recover back then, which was enough for her to smoothly advance, as soon as she surpassed her personal tribulation of course.
Aster then accommodated the objects to form a large circle with the contained with his blood in the center, according to Espi's request, needless to say but all the others were surprised at the fact that a low ranked spirit beast was smart enough to ask for things like this, but Mira was here to explain things through.
"That wyrm is around that little girl's age in terms of maturity, which means is quite young, in fact I was surprised that it wasn't hunted and managed to survive alone until now, since I don't feel the mark of a strong spirit beast on its body, but now it makes a bit more sense, it has really good instincts, which is what is dictating its course of action right now, it instinctively knows how to obtain the best possible result".
"That being said, knowing it and it being easy are two completely separate matters, if my calculations are correct, the intensity of that method won't lose at all when compared to the one I used for my breakthrough, but with the atmosphere of this place, it's going to be harder", she said.
"Espi will be fine, because big brother is here", confidently said Kana, making the girls smile.
"She's right, there is nothing he can't do", added Sarina, they were the living proof of that, he literally found a flaw in the heavenly law of this mortal plane, in order to give them the best foundation possible, everyone here has benefitted of the miracles caused by Aster, in a way or another.
"Of course, we are talking about my darling after all~", said Lilia as she created a barrier at a few dozens of kilometers, it was time for everyone to give the little wyrm some space, Aster had already created a spirit furnace to refine spirit energy using Rigel's flames, creating the best conditions possible for Espi's breakthrough, just like he did for Sarina, Felicia and Camila back then.
He was the last one to leave, he saw Espi's eyes were filled with emotions, which included anticipation and nervousness, so he extended his hands towards it and the little wyrm leaned its head frontwards, so that Aster could pat it.
"Don't worry about anything, focus on advancing so that you can come with Kana and me to explore this universe full of wonders", said Aster.
Though he hadn't spent too much time with the little wyrm, he has completely accepted it in his family, so he didn't want it to suffer any harm.
"Hisss!", the little wyrm let out an enthusiastic hiss, and then moved towards the center of the circle created by the materials, where the refined spirit energy was naturally flowing to, as those things were all high ranked treasures.
Aster flew away and then reunited with the others; Julian was amazed at everything he had seen today.
As the ruler of Galatia, he has visited high ranked Stellar System, and those guys love to show off, to demonstrate the "difference" between a middle ranked and a high ranked territory, among which he has gotten a glimpse of some guardian beasts of a couple of sects.
Of course, they did it with the intention of humiliating him, since those spirit beasts were stronger than him, it was as if they were saying "Look, my guardian dog can kick your ass", so he really didn't let them impress him, as to not give them the thrill they wanted, but right now he was genuinely amazed.
"Kid, I have seen the eyes of those spirit beasts and I can tell that they will probably escape at the slightest sign of difficulties, unless their contracts say otherwise, compared to them, this spirit beast of yours is on a whole different level", he said, even if he didn't harbor any ill intention to Aster, there was a tinge of jealousy in his voice.
Aster smiled, he knew Espi was especial since it followed and helped them out of its own will back then, even fighting against the bastards of the Tempest family, of which it had been hiding for a long time.
Kana hugged Aster's right arm and then gave him puppy eyes, which made Aster chuckle, he snapped his fingers and the spirit furnace lit up in light blue flames, as it increased the refinement of spirit energy, until small drops of blue liquid started appearing just to be guided towards Espi.
It was quite a visual spectacle, which helped the little girl distract, and ignore the dangers of the process that was about to start.
Espi stood there in the middle of the circle, its scales surprisingly absorbed the drops of liquified spirit energy, making it put an expression of comfort, before its body started shining in a dazzling white light.
The materials were attracted towards Espi's scales and stuck to them, before they started being slowly absorbed by them, at the same time the sky above the valley darkened and black clouds appeared on the previously clear sky.
Aster saw that the tribulation was about to start any time soon, and he used his authority as the Lord of the valley to open the roof of the barrier around the valley, the formations will get in the way of the tribulation, which might cause Espi problems, no to mention they will be damaged if they were hit by the lightning, but more importantly they will increase the difficulty of the tribulation as they will be counted as external help, which is penalized by the heavenly law.
Naturally, Aster had foreseen this happening, so he made sure that no one could approach the valley, either out of curiosity or just to cause troubles, he did so by asking Eris to put an illusion array at the distance, where the heavenly law won't take it as interference, it basically blocked the sight of others with a fake image, it didn't take her that long since she used her cube necklace to do it.
And in case someone tried to come and cause trouble, he had Julian who is an honorary ancestor, in reserve, not to mention Agnes was here and if authority and strength doesn't work, Lilia can always beat the crap out of anyone in this Stellar System.
All this was prepared, because Aster didn't know what to expect from a spirit beast's tribulation, they are said to be more violent than the ones of cultivators, since they not only go against the heavenly law to obtain more power, but to obtain wisdom, of course things get balanced since they have stronger bodies and higher vitality than cultivators in most of the cases.
"It's starting", Aster raised his head and saw electricity illuminating the clouds, meaning that the tribulation was about to start, every tribulation is different and while they don't know what is going through Espi's mind right now, they can see the color and properties of the lightning that has been summoned by the heavenly law.
The electricity gathered on a cloud until it changed its color, Aster recognized the tone and property immediately, it was that lavender tone that the core of the centipede gained after being refined, in fact the lightning looked illusory but he could tell it was perfectly real.
"Boooom!", the sparks flew and the sky was illuminated as the first lightning fell, directly impacting the little wyrm where it was standing.
"Hisss!", with a slightly pained hiss, the lightning hit the area of Espi's body where the core of the centipede was attached to, making it explode into countless lavender colored wisps of mist, that were then fully absorbed by Espi's scales.
Then, the electricity on the sky changed its color, this time it had a green and yellowish tone, similar to that piece of wood radiated by yang energy which Aster selected for Espi.
Aster could feel Kana's little hand tightening around his, and he patted her head to calm her down.
"Don't put that face, smile, we are here to support Espi after all", he said.
"Mm~", the little girl regained her usual bright smile as she observed the determined little wyrm, which was looking at the sky with a resolute expression like saying "Is that everything you have!".
In response a thunder echoed through the sky as the second lightning descended on the little wyrm.
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