Chapter 575 Sarina’s Wings (part 2)
To be honest, Aster had already theorized about the best way for all of the girls to develop, the different time flow of the mind space gives him a lot of free time whenever he feels like it, and while Rya limits the information she gives to Aster, nothing forbids her from discussing the paths of the girls as long as they remain within the Mortal realms.
That being said, he won't force them to move the way he thinks is the best, instead of that, he has used part of that free time and the encyclopedia that is his cute Empress, to elaborate a plan to support them to the best of his capacities regardless of the path they chose.
At the end of the day there is no wrong answer when it comes to choosing a second path, at lest not for the members of his family, as even those who had chosen the soul path, won't be limited by the low information about it, that has kept Soul Kings stuck in the transcending realms.
There is a temporarily weakened Soul Queen, who was even stronger in the energy path, back in her prime, present in his castle, in the form of Eris and she won't be leaving anytime soon, after all.
It's worth mentioning that Sarina is a special case among the girls, because she was originally an energy path cultivator, then she obtained a soul constitution, after becoming a Star Maiden.
Sarina leaned backwards, entering Aster's embrace as she looked upwards at the sky, before saying.
"You know, when I got the power of Antares, I had to decide, since it is a soul constitution, that meant that if I chose the soul path, my realm will skyrocket for sure, which is what I originally thought I wanted, to make up for the years I lost back then, I felt slightly jealous of Camila and Felicia who lived in a relatively similar level area as me and yet not only had already started cultivating in a second path, but are also younger than me, dumb right…", Sarina stopped for a moment.
Aster didn't say anything, no matter how harmonious is the harem, it is impossible for the girls to not compete with each other one way or another, and in part that's how it is supposed to be since motivation is one of the most important things for cultivators.
But it is also true that comparisons are hateful, if even Lilia who never envied someone, felt jealous of Rya's Empress appearance, it's not weird for the others to be jealous of each other in a healthy way of course.
However, they all turned that competitiveness into something positive, as Sarina's determination filled eyes suggested.
"But then, I remembered I had obtained your attribute and for some reason I decided to focus into learning how to use it, instead, which turned out to be the correct decision, as I later awakened my lineage, I would have for sure regretted taking the easy path and just like before you "saved" me~", she said as she cutely smiled, making Aster softly laugh as he wrapped his arms around Sarina's belly to then give her a little peck.
"The body path it is", said Aster.
"Mm, I already cultivate in the energy path and have a soul constitution, and while I have a spirit beast's lineage, its focus isn't a strong physical body but an energy manipulation ability, so that leaves the body path being the one in which I have the biggest space for growth~", concluded Sarina.
Aster nodded, Sarina's case was different than Lilia or Alice, the dragon mother and sister started cultivating the body since no pure dragonkin can cultivate the soul, and they have no need as Dragon Aura exists.
In exchange for their impossibility to cultivate their soul, pure dragonkin obtain really high talent in either the energy or the body path, or both of them in Lilia and Alice's cases.
But that is a special situation in which those with strong and pure dragon lineages find themselves in, the spirit beast from which Sarina descends doesn't outstand in the body path, but in the energy path solely.
Of course, they in exchange far surpass dragons in terms of energy path abilities, as a proof of it, Kana who is part of the royal gentle lineage of the Storm Roc clan, can literally transform herself into the elements on which she has a high enough control, currently wind is the only one though and that is thanks to have signed a contract with Esmeralda, but that's beside the point.
Sarina on the other hand is part of the royal warrior lineage, and the ability she obtained from her lineage was to turn other materials into her element, originally that was limited to things that weren't infused with other people's spirit energy, like soil, trees, water etc.
But then she thought of a way to turn the most abundant thing in existence into power for her, in other words spirit energy.
She managed to use the bane of all existence to create something, instead of the annihilation of Aster which is the purest form of nothingness, Sarina destroys spirit energy to then turn it into the ash-red flame attribute she obtained thanks to her constitution.
It's similar yet different to the propagation trait that Rigel's flames have, as Rigel only separates the materials of things through purification, but it won't create spirit energy out of a stone, while Sarina's annihilation does.
"Mm?", Sarina let out a soft comfortable yet confused sound, when she felt Aster gently caressing her belly with his hands, only to momentarily be shocked at his next words.
"Now that I think about it, it would be such a shame if my Sarina ends up becoming one of those bulky body-builder female body cultivators, should I convince you to cultivate in the soul path instead", he jokingly said.
Sarina cutely pouted as she mumbled.
"As if I would believe, you would leave that happen, aren't you training Aria into the body path as well".
Aster laughed at her cute reaction, he rubbed his face against hers as he whispered at her.
"Aria is a special case, you know she returns to her "pristine" state while retaining the positive changes that had occurred to her body, so no matter how much exercise she does, she'll never develop any noticeable musculature".
Sarina bit her lower lip, she wanted to use Lilia as her example, since she has such a strong body and yet besides being slightly toned, her figure is deliciously curvy, but that is because of her dragon lineage, so her result will obviously be different than hers, the same applied to Mylene, she asked before of course.
But then she remembered one of the newest additions to the group, which she didn't consider before as she hadn't spent too much time with her.
"There is Agnes, she is toned but kept her feminine charm… also I have seen you flirting with her, so you don't find her unattractive!", she exclaimed in a rush, making Aster laugh.
Of course, he was just messing with his Sarina, she could use the exact same type of training which he planned for Aria, one which would result in only slight toning without diminishing any of the smooth curves of which Sarina can be proud off.
In other words, she just needed to train under a strong pressure while taking an elixir to reinforce her body, that will make her body get stronger without the need of her muscles thorning and growing to compensate, that is the same type of training Lilia used for Aster when his body was that of a kid, to avoid future problems, he just needed to replace the elixir with the refined version of his blood which won't have side effects and that was it.
'Ah, the wonders of the cultivation world', thought Aster, now that the decision was taken, it was time to start, so he unwillingly let go of Sarina to then take out a bottle with a gold and red liquid, which Sarina recognized immediately.
How could she not, when her life was saved with the exact same thing before, well, there was a difference, first the quantity was way larger, also the red tone was brighter while the golden tone was more intense making it look like molten gold.
Sarina smiled and then took the bottle from Aster's hands to then gulp down the contents without a second of hesitation, the dose she got was larger than the one Aria could take, since she has a spirit beast's lineage and also, she is a Mortal Transcended.
That being said, Sarina's face cutely blushed as her body was suddenly brimming with vitality, Aster's bodily fluids contain an insane amount of yang which is nurtures life after all, but his blood is even more effective, thanks to the paragon body.
Seeing Sarina filled with energy, Aster smiled as he took some distance from her to then sit on a rock.
"Now, show me your wings", he said.
"Mm", Sarina nodded and the next second a large pair of feathered white wings with a pretty light magenta shade, sprouted out of her back, her wings were smaller than Lilia's, reaching a wingspan of four meters, while Lilia reaches an amazing six meters, but Sarina's realm was also lower, despite she having jumped all the way to the infant stage of her lineage thanks to all the preparations Aster did for her awakening.
So, they will grow longer and more magnificent as she advances, not like right now they aren't pretty, their feathered shape give Sarina an angel like appearance that adds up to her already breathtaking beauty, and their unique color give her an slightly "Now that I think about it, I haven't played with these yet", said Aster as he rubbed his fingertips against Sarina's wing's feathers, exotic charm, to describe the result in a single word, she looked gorgeous.
Aster could look at Sarina indefinitely and not get bored, but right now it wasn't the time for that, she choosing her second path wasn't the sole reason as to why he brought her to this specific planet after all.
He approached Sarina from behind and then gently caressed the feathers of her wings, enjoying the strangely pleasant sensation on his fingertips.
"Mm~", a cute sound couldn't help to escape from Sarina's mouth, making Aster's smile widen.
"Now that I think about it, I haven't played with these yet", said Aster as he rubbed his fingertips against Sarina's wing's feathers, the extremes of her wings cutely fluttered in response, to which Aster chuckled.
Unlike Lilia and Alice who had those cute scales from where their wings and tail, respectively, sprouted, Sarina and Kana didn't have a physical base for their wings, instead of that, when they want to manifest their wings, thin light green lines appear on their upper backs, which then turn into their wings.
Maybe because their lineages fully focus on the energy path, but their wings can switch between being ethereal or being physical.
While Aster played with her wings, Sarina was reminded of how Lilia accommodated her wings to create an isolated space, where she had Aster for herself.
'I'll have to try that during our mission~', she thought as her eyes sparkled.
Aster suddenly realized he was getting lost in playing with Sarina's wings, so now that he had caressed them to the content of his heart, he cleared his throat to then say.
"Ahem, I want you to disperse all your spirit energy, just keep the bare minimum to avoid backslash ", he said as he took a couple of steps backwards.
Sarina didn't know what Aster was planning, but she didn't hesitate to do as he said, energy cultivators have it when it comes to use up large quantities of spirit energy, which is why their reserves increase exponentially as they advance through the realms.
And so, Sarina simply allowed her spirit energy to flow out of her body, which created quite the spectacle, originally her attribute was wind, when she became a Star Maiden, she gained those ash-red flames, meaning she had dual attributes and they complemented each other pretty well, but then she awakened her Storm Roc lineage.
The royal lineage of the Tempest family to which Ley and the others idiots belong, have wind and poison attributes by innate, curiously enough the royal Breezeheart lineage which is the one which Sarina inherited, is the one that better represents the Storm Roc race, because their attributed are wind… and lightning.
Aster saw the electricity crackling around Sarina, adding to the tornado of wind and flames that was surrounding her, she has turned into a storm in all the meaning of the word.
In fact, the previously clear and blazing weather was altered due to Sarina's spirit energy being released in large quantities, as a result, clouds appeared on the nearby area and the temperature dropped, not enough to make it cold but for a rocky desert environment of Randar, it was unnaturally fresh not to mention windy.
Naturally, Sarina was restraining herself as she didn't want to create a real storm, and it took her almost half an hour to nearly deplete her reserves, she stopped at the bare minimum of energy needed to not feel lethargic or have headaches, which are the symptoms that energy cultivators that overexert themselves, experience.
Aster observed it from beginning to end, using his dragon eyes, which allowed him to see how the spirit energy moved out of her inner universe to then follow different paths, with meridians that were specially dedicated for each of the three attributes she possessed.
'She is different than Vivian whose spirit energy don't run through different meridians based on their attributes, but on the poison she uses', thought Aster with an interest filled expression.
Energy path cultivators can learn to use different elements, if they obtain the respective spirit technique, but that doesn't mean they can just obtain more attributes by doing so.
There are many differences between an element that is obtained through a spirit technique and an element of which a cultivator is capable to control due to having the attribute by innate.
For starters, it is way easier to control the element in which one is attributed, also there is no need to create meridians for them, as the body will naturally produce and increase them with just advancing, the result of that is the Sea of Knowledge developed in the realm with the same name.
The previous is the reason as to why energy cultivators, only use spirit techniques with properties that are related to their attributes, so that they don't have to obtain and train in said elements, instead of that their properties are added to their attribute.
Which is why even if two cultivators have the same attribute, the result of their Seas of Knowledge, Genesis Cores etc. Will never be the same, something similar happens for rune masters, the runes might have the same purpose but the quality, properties, efficiency and the like will vary from person to person.
Anyway, Sarina having three attributes that go along so well with each other, is amazing, it means she has a monstrous potential, but that can be left for later, right now, Aster wanted to set the bases for her future.
"That is perfect, how do you feel?", he asked.
"Mm, a bit empty, but I don't feel dizzy nor tired", said Sarina, though she hasn't started cultivating her body, she is already experiencing one of the benefits of a second path, which is the capacity to continue fighting even if one of the two paths is exhausted.
Not to mention she just drank Aster's blood, so she won't be feeling fatigue for the next hours.
"Perfect, we'll be killing two birds with one stone then, don't resist", said Aster as he released his pressure.
Sarina's body trembled a bit, as the pressure of the paragon body rained down upon her, making the ground below her feet crack a bit, she was about to instinctively use spirit energy to compensate, but stopped herself from doing so and instead slightly bit her lips to use purely her physical body to remain standing.
Aster honestly didn't like to the see the girls struggling, but he knew it was for the best, so he repressed the urge to ask her if she was fine and instead explained in what will her training consist.
"Though as of current you have only been able to use the ability of your lineage to turn unanimated objects into Antares's mist flames, you shouldn't be limited to that, if Kana has elemental transformation, you have elemental conversion, meaning that you should be convert objects in the attributes you have, right?", he asked.
"Mm, but for reason when my lineage awakened, I found it easier to turn other things into Antares's mist flames, despite the fact that I obtained lightning attribute and my wind attribute was reinforced quite a lot… now that you mention it, I have switched from wind being my main to the mist flames and haven't even trained in lightning at all", answered Sarina.
Aster chuckled in response before saying.
"My Sarina can be childish from time to time too, how cute".
Sarina blushed on the spot, without noticing she has been acting like a kid that has a new toy, but she can't be blamed, the powers of the stars are supposed to be perfect for their Star Maiden, so it's only normal that they feel comfortable and natural to use them.
Also let alone Sarina, even Aster was marveled when he manifested the paragon body back then, and the same happened for Alice and Aria when they became able to use the powers of their stars.
Still there is another reason as to why Sarina felt inclined to use Antares's mist flames, they were unlocked thanks to the "Wrath" aspect of her soul constitution, anger is one of the strongest emotions, and it is easy to rely on it to unconsciously.
That being said, Sarina's anger came from the fact that Ley and the other members of the Tempest family, wanted to use Kana as a sacrifice, so even if the aspect she awakened was "Wrath", the emotion behind of it was protection, so the reason as to why she has started to rely in the mist flames, is that she thought she would be able to protect Kana better with them.
Luckily, she has Aster to give her a little push in the right direction, even if it has to be a bit strict, just like he did for Alice and Aria, since that is his duty as the head of the household.
"That's why we came here, the contrary of wind is earth, as for lightning it is easier to produce in humid environments, so Randar is a really bad place for wind and lightning cultivators, in comparison the high temperature makes it a paradise for fire cultivators".
"I want you to use your lineage ability to create exclusively wind and lightning spirit energies, you have six hours to produce a storm that covers the rock formation where we are currently staying", said Aster to then playfully add.
"Ah right, if I see even the smallest sign of Antares's mist flames, you'll have to start over again".
"No fair, didn't you say that you were going to spoil me lots and lots, today", mumbled Sarina, making Aster laugh.
"I will, but if you manage to reach that goal in your first training session, I'll give you a gift", he said.
Sarina pouted, she knew Aster liked to tease them, so it was futile to argue, on the other hand, she knows that Aster always goes beyond, when it comes to "gifts", others would consider, resources, treasures, riches and the like as gifts, but for Aster those kinds of things are part of the responsibility he has to provide for his family, his coffers are always open for the girls to take whatever they want or need, without any restriction.
Gifts on the other hand, might not be as expensive or rare as the previous, but they hold a special meaning, as Aster puts a lot of thought into them, a recent example would be the bracelets he gave to Eris and Mylene or the Vivian's dress.
The girls are always happy to receive something that was especially made for them after all, it shows them that even if Aster has a "big heart", he gives his attention to each one of them.
With newly found motivation, Satina sat down cross legged, her wings splendidly spread as she started using the process to turn the nearby unanimated materials, namely the virtually endless rocks, into spirit energy for her.
Aster laid down on the ground using a rock as his pillow, to be honest it was way far from the comfortability of using the lap of his girls to rest, but with how strong is his body the hard and rough rocks didn't really make him feel uncomfortable.
This also helped him train his dragon eyes, since he could see in perfect detail the spirit energy Sarina was creating, and that was good, as he could see the exact moment when Sarina faltered and produced mist flames, instead of wind or lightning, which was his time to interfere.
In case you wonder, how was Aster going to "reprimand" Sarina, if he was sitting quite a few meters ways from her, to not interrupt her training, the answer is quite easy, telekinesis.
For example, just now, he saw a spark of mist flames appearing on the spirit energy that has started to appear due to Sarina's ability, meaning she had to start again, and to break her concentration, Aster gestured with her hand and then enjoyed the cute surprised sound coming form Sarina, as she was surprised by the feeling of Aster's "hand" squeezing her butt.
"Hyaaaa~", she immediately opened her eyes and looked behind of her thinking Aster was there, teasing her, but then she noticed that wasn't the case.
Seeing Sarina's accusatory gaze, Aster giggled at her as he waved his hand.
"I'm have been practicing my telekinesis, it felt pretty similar to my real hand, right?", he said, making Sarina blush.
"Seriously, how did you even come with such a way to train", she mumbled only to hear Aster saying.
"I have a lot of free time in the mind space, so how can I not take the chance to think of ways to make training fun, dragons are apparently quite hyperactive after all, or at least those of my lineage is".
"And lascivious too", added Sarina before she closed her eyes to start all over again.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺