Chapter 598 A treasure’s allure (part 6)
Having knocked her enemy backwards, Camila dispelled the treasure aura that was covering her hands, and then dodged a couple of spears whose attention was drawn by her.
She then tried to summon her natal treasure, but instead of the silver and golden spear, appearing to aid her, the only thing that happened was that she felt a sensation of uneasiness coming from her dantian.
Camila bit her lower lip with a slightly frustrated expression on her pretty face, but she knew that the enemy wasn't going to give her time to recompose herself, so she instead grabbed one of the few spears that were aiming to stab her.
It didn't escape Aster's eyes, that Camila's grip on the spear faltered for a split of a second the moment she grabbed it, just before she used her treasure aura to cover her hands once again, which resulted in other spears going out of their way to chase after her.
But the most urging matter weren't the spears, but the deacon from earlier charging towards Camila.
Since in this event using spirit energy was forbidden, to a certain extent body cultivators who could move faster with purely physical techniques, without the need to use spirit energy were at advantage, however it's not like energy path cultivators were the only ones with restrains.
The deacon who just tried to jump to gain impulse and slash Camila with her spear, lost her footing due to the spear path thinning where at the exact moment she had to use it as her support.
"Tsk", the deacon clicked her tongue at the lacking strength she was able to produce due to the spear path making things even, Camila on the other hand welcomed the enemy's spear with hers.
"Clang!", the two cursed treasures clashed, producing the sounds of metal colliding as well as sparks caused by friction, both treasures held out quite well, that being said, Camila was forced one step backwards.
Not only because of the enemy in front of her, but because she had to dodge the spears that were ignoring the deacon and only interfering with her, something that the enemy of course didn't miss.
"What happens, are you trying to brag over your talent with the spear?", said the deacon as she broke the contact to then dash her spear sidewards trying to force Camila out of the spear path.
Camila didn't answer, she used the speat in her hands to block some of the cursed weapons coming at her, and then grabbed another spear, a pained light flashed through her eyes, but it disappeared the next second as she used the second spear she was holding, to stop the attack from the deacon.
'Heh, trying to use dual wielding with cursed weapons, maybe her talent is good as she is younger than me, but her knowledge is still that of someone from a middle ranked Stellar System', thought the Deacon to then throw the spear she was holding trying to catch Camila with her guard low.
Camila's pupils contracted a bit, as she was about to retreat in order to dodge the attack, she realized that her reaction slower than normal, as if there was something interfering with the orders that she someone who has a decent amount of battle experience, was giving to her own body.
And the origin of it was her left hand which was now holding a second cursed weapon, naturally even if she was taken by surprise, there is no way Camila would go down over something like this.
"Clang!", two metallic sounds echoed through the nearby area, one came from the second spear which Camila was holding a second earlier, hitting the ground as she let go of it, the other came from the appear that the deacon threw at Camila, hitting her neck but being unable to pierce through even the outer layer of her skin as a copper-colored mist was being radiated by the point of contact.
The deacon's eyes widened in shock, but she had no time to be in awe at the fact that an energy/soul cultivator just stopped a spirit treasure's attack with her bare body.
You might wonder why the surprise, if Camila destroyed the spear the deacon used earlier with a punch, the reason is quite simple, the deacon thought Camila was using fist intent, aura is not a technique that is known by your average people after all.
The body path might not be as recent in the cultivation world as the soul path, but it was still developed after the energy path in the four Heavenly Quadrants, aura is the response to the weaknesses of the body path against the soul path, so only the manuals that have been revised by families or forces with a long history, would include information about it.
And of course, those who have such knowledge won't share it with others easily, of course rumors and the like are bound to spread but listening about it and seeing something first hand are two different things.
Take Agnes for example, she is a body training maniac and even if she knew about aura, and has probably seen it before, she couldn't tell that it was what Aster was using back at the Silicon Forest, every cultivator's aura is different after all.
Take into account the fact, that Agnes is a princess from a family that rules over a Heavenly Quadrant and you get the idea.
However, that deacon might not know what aura is, but she is now sure that Camila wasn't using fist intent, since that wouldn't have protected her from an attack, as fist intent is an offensive type of intent.
'I thought she just chose the spear path since it was the closest to the ground, but if she is a spear user then why did she had a negative reaction when she grabbed a spear earlier, and more importantly shy isn't she using spear intent?', wondered the deacon before she inwardly shook her head.
"Let's see you stop this!", she shouted as she grabbed a spear to then coat it in intent, it wasn't strange for a deacon, who has entered the Transcending realms, knowing the first level of intent.
Camila who had learned her lesson, didn't take grab another spear, despite the fact that since she used treasure aura again, another batch of cursed weapons had been draw towards her and were not trying to stab or pierce her body, instead of that she tightened her grip on the spear she was holding and then rolled it to change their trajectory, blocking the attack of the deacon at the same time.
The result was the deacon's spear destroying the cursed weapons and Camila successfully bypassing her.
With a little cunning smirk, Camila was about to leave the deacon behind when a second figure appeared to block her way, it was the other deacon that was escorting Cecilia.
"Hey, if you let her go, we'll be in a lot of trouble, you know?", said the second deacon.
The first one who was only recovering from the previous clash, took her stance again as she gave a reminder to her companion.
"Be careful, she isn't a body cultivator but her physical strength can rival mine, what's more she might be a lineage or constitution user…".
"Really, damn our luck, having to deal with two of those one from our side and one from the enemy's, whatever, the young miss was about to obtain that spear, we don't have to win, just holding her down for a few minutes will be enough", said the second deacon as she aimed her spear at Camila.
Speaking of Camila, she found herself in the middle of two enemies and once again she tried to summon her natal treasure, but the second the tip of the spear appeared in the outside world, she felt a burning pain in her chest, which forced her to stop.
A faint trace of blood came down the corner of Camila's pretty lips, she clenched her hands in frustration, but feeling the confident gaze coming from the tornado of spears a couple of kilometers behind, she braced herself and grabbed a new spear from the ground to then charge towards the deacon in front of her.
…
While Camila was clashing with the two deacons, Cecilia who was all smiles right now, reached the end of the spear path, which just like the others, led to one of the middle Stellar grade cursed treasures, in this case a spear.
Her eyes were glowing with greed and desire, not only the cursed treasure looked even of a better quality from up-close, but the number of flaws she could see on it, based on her experience as a Spirit Blacksmith, were quite low, to the point that it could be considered a "defective" sentient weapon, instead of a cursed one.
"Amazing, to think I could obtain such a good reference subject, with this I can finally shut their mouths, the one to be chosen by the main family will be me", she mumbled to then approach the spear.
Naturally, Cecilia was aiming to "tame" the spear instead of restraining it, this was the last part of the event, meaning that it was her last change to increase her score.
'Heh, I bet they didn't expect me to be able to tame a cursed weapon, idiots, I was just waiting to obtain the best one!', thought Cecilia.
Normal spirit treasures have no conscious whatsoever, unless they have a restriction placed on themselves, anyone can use them, however to use sentient and their degraded version in other words, cursed weapons, one must have a certain amount of compatibility with them.
One way to prove if you are compatible with a treasure that has consciousness, is to use intent on it, and that's what Cecilia was doing, the moment she grabbed the spear, her ghost spear cladded the cursed weapon, perfectly materializing around it.
"Hahahaha!", a thunderous laugh could be heard coming from the roof of the room, the participants looked upwards, just to see Cecilia who had a black and red spear floating next to her, the difference between a cursed weapon which was restricted and one who has been tamed, is that a tamed one will accompany the user without the need to hold onto it.
"This victory will be for the Brown Anvil faction", said Cecilia to then point at the middle area of the spear path, the cursed spear next to her, flashed and the next second a participant from the Purple Lotus faction was taken out as she would have been killed by the spear otherwise.
"Hey, why the hell are you targeting us", shouted the leader of the Purple faction, just to see Cecilia shrugging in response.
"It was an accident, I wanted to take the pests from the Black Sword faction but it seems this little friend is still a bit too wild", she said as she ordered the spear to return to her side.
"Oh well, I guess I'll have to deal with the closer enemies then, it will be a nice way to practice", she added as she jumped on top of the spear which then flew until she arrived at where Camila was fighting the two deacons, well more accurately where she was about to knock out the second deacon, since the first one had a spear piercing her right leg which was preventing her from getting up.
"That's enough, I'll handle it from this point", said Cecilia, the second deacon whose body was covered in wounds inwardly gritted her teeth, but she jumped backwards to open way for Cecilia.
Camila who had a slightly tired expression on her pretty face, threw the spear she was using and then grabbed a new one, which she pointed at Cecilia, or more accurately at the spear that was floating next to her.
"What happens, I thought that the lovers of that guy were all supposed to be the best of the best, I guess beauty matters more than talent for him", said Cecilia as she grabbed the spear.
A fierce light flashed through Camila's eyes, her legs were suddenly cladded in a copper-colored mist, which she used to charge towards Cecilia.
"Booom!", the sudden change in the way Camila was fighting, took Cecilia by surprise, she managed to block the attack, but the clash not only pushed her backwards, but she felt a warm sensation coming from her left cheek.
"This is…", Cecilia used her hand to touch her face, just to see a red liquid staining her fingers, the previous impact made the spear Camila was using explode, and one of the shards cut Cecilia's face.
She naturally turned to see Camila, hoping to see her being disfigured by her own attack, just to realize she was perfectly fine, as she was grabbing another spear from the ground.
'You bitch… let's see how you like this', thought Cecilia, she saw a few spears that were attacking other participants, suddenly turning around to come her way and she poured more of her intent into her spear.
The cursed spear in her hand, shone like it did back when the spear path was being formed, and then a stream of spears gathered behind of her.
"It seems you didn't agree with my previous statement, if that's the case, let's see if that bastard still fawns over you with a disfigured face!", shouted Cecilia, the stream of spears which basically took all the ones that weren't forming the path, including the ones that were surrounding Aster before, all advanced towards Camila, who seemed to be lost in her thoughts.
Aster casually stood up from his previous cross-legged position, with his dragon eyes, he could see the silver wolf tattoo on Camila's upper back, shinning.
'Come on, you can do it', he thought, though he didn't show it, Aster was prepared to use annihilation to erase all the spears if they truly threatened Camila, who wasn't moving at all.
The moment the spears engulfed Camila, Aster flashed towards her, but he didn't do anything, as he could see through the wall of spears and surprisingly, they weren't attacking her yet.
"What are you waiting, crush her!", roared Cecilia, seeing Aster coming, who knows what methods does the monster that killed Edward has after all, it was normal that she felt nervous, but the origin of her nervousness was wrong this time.
The nearby area was suddenly engulfed by a dazzling silver light, inside the torrent of cursed weapons, Camila's eyes went from her normal sky-blue tone, to a bright copper color to then change into a dazzling silvery tone, the color of her hair fluctuated from the normal light auburn tone it had gained ever since she awakened the Wolfstein lineage, to a metallic silver one.
And that wasn't all, her clothes which were previously just a normal attire, due to the restrictions of the secret realm, were covered by drops of silver liquid and changed, not only they gained intricate patterns here and there, as well as some pretty metallic ornaments, but the aura coming from them was now that of a… Stellar grade treasure.
"Stop", with a single word from Camila, all the spears that were previously erratic, stopped on the spot, revealing her renewed appearance, which took not only the participants, but also the elders who were observing the event by surprise.
Maybe the elders that were recruited by the sect from middle and low ranked Stellar Systems, were more surprised by Camila's beautiful appearance, but the ones with knowledge above that, were in awe for a different reason.
They knew at least the basic about the top ranked lineages and constitutions, as they were supposed to look for those talents from lower backgrounds to recruit them into their respective forces and families.
Aster and Alice were using something to conceal their lineages, since as much as they have changed, the only known dragon related lineages found in humans are all related to the Drage family, so if others realized they were dragonkin it would be the same as admitting they are related to the Drage, at leas that would be the case in the four Heavenly Quadrants.
"That was a lineage ability…", mumbled Mikaela.
"Are you kidding me, she changed normal clothes into a Stellar grade spirit treasure with a lineage ability, that would make her the
perfect Spirit Blacksmith!", exclaimed the core elder from the Brown Anvil faction, just to see Riley shaking her head at her.
"That's why you guys need to leave those old customs behind, in case you couldn't notice it, she didn't "create" a Stellar grade treasure out of nowhere, the formations would have disqualified her if that was the case, there is something covering her clothes, she used that to manifest that treasure, an interesting and truly powerful lineage ability that would make her lineage be on the top twenty at least, but nothing related to the blacksmithing path", she said.
While the elders were arguing trying to determine what they were witnessing, back at the secret realm of the event, Aster looked at Camila extending her palm frontwards, which made all the cursed spears open way for her.
"What are you doing, attack her, I order you!", shouted Cecilia, she poured her intent into the cursed spear she was holding, but it was as if the thing had become a block of wood, there was no reaction at all.
Well, to be more accurate there was one, but she couldn't see it, Aster on the other hand could, the weapon spirit inside the cursed weapon was trembling in fear.
Camila casually grabbed one of the spears that was floating around her, this time she had no trouble to hold two of them at the same time, she gazed at the first deacon who she was fighting earlier to then say.
"Did you think I don't know that using more than one "sentient" weapon causes conflicts and is only doable by someone that has As for Cecilia, she frowned but she didn't leave, though the cursed weapons weren't listening to her anymore, they weren't moving trained with those specific weapons for quite a long time, "she is overestimating herself" is what you thought right?", she said.
The deacon felt a sensation of crisis surging in her heart, she tried to jump out of the spear path to be taken out, but she was too slow, a silver flash of light passed through her body, turning her left leg into a bloody mist.
"Aghhh!", the second deacon reacted late she grabbed her friend and then both jumped out of the spear path, since the fall would have killed them, they were taken out of the event.
As for Cecilia, she frowned but she didn't leave, though the cursed weapons weren't listening to her anymore, they weren't moving either and she still had the better treasure, or that's what she thought until the spear Camila was holding was covered in a silver fluid, changing its structure and more importantly the aura it was radiating.
"I-Impossible, that spear was a low Stellar grade, how can it suddenly become a middle grade one!", shouted Cecilia in disbelief.
And the surprises weren't over yet, Camila aimed her spear at Cecilia and the cursed weapon actually attacked the one who had tamed her.
"Aghhh!", Cecilia whose which was holding the cursed weapon was now a bloody mess, screamed in pain as she was forced to let go of it.
The spear immediately flew away as if it was trying to escape, but Camila threw the one she was holding and intercepted it on the sky.
"Booom!", the air trembled as the two cursed treasures clashed, both exploded on the spot being destroyed until there was nothing left from them.
"You crazy bitch, those were middle grade cursed weapons, do you not know how valuable they can be for spirit blacksmiths and rune masters!", hysterically shouted Cecilia, just to see Camila casually grabbing another spear.
"Are they?", she said, the spear in her hand was covered in a silver liquid and then the spear changed into a middle Stellar grade treasure, and unlike the cursed weapons that had reached that level by being nurtured, the one in Camila's hand didn't twist more as it was a cursed weapon, in fact, the flaws on it were diminished to the point that it couldn't be called a cursed weapon anymore.
Cecilia's face paled, her will to fight disappeared, as she was lost at the impossibility she just witnessed, but then she was taken out of the event, probably by one of the elders observing the whole thing, doubting about one's path is one of the worst things for cultivators, it can lead to deviation, inner demons, and death, so it counted as a life-threatening danger that caused long lasting damage.
Aster who observed the whole thing, approached Camila with a smile on his face.
"It's time to end this event, we have another place to be after all", he said as he offered his hand to Camila, who cutely smiled at him as she accepted the offer.
"Mm~", with a small nod, Camila held Aster's hand, and then the atmosphere trembled, the next second, all the spears forming the speat path as well as the swords forming the sword path, came towards them, destroying the two paths, making the participants walking on them, be disqualified.
But at this point the event was meaningless, because the scores of those two were increasing like crazy, for the simple reason that all those spears and swords, were being tamed.
"That's enough, the winners are clear for everyone right?", said Mikaela, the other elders had no way to refute her words, the ones from the factions that weren't in good terms with Aster and the girls, left in anger.
Mikaela on the other hand, had a curious filled light shining in her eyes as she gazed at the score under Aster and Camila's name.
"I guess I should have expected this much from someone that one of the princesses of the Fey family supported using her influence, specially when it was the one that never brags about her last name as well as the responsible Valentina", she said.
"Humph", Agnes limited to softly snort as she left the planet, back to the valley, leaving Mikaela alone with her assistant.
"It seems like someone who is worthy enough to break neutrality has appeared on the Battle Planet, inform the ancestor as soon as she leaves seclusion and… send the Fireheart family a little warning".
"Understood, young miss", said Lisa as she disappeared.
Visit freewe𝑏no(v)el.𝘤𝑜𝓂 for the best novel reading experience