Chapter 599 A treasure’s allure (part 7)
A few moments later, the scenery in front of Aster and Camila changed from the inside of that enclosed space, to the area where the spectators could follow the performance of the participants.
Naturally after what just happened, there was a large crowd that had gathered as the participants had been appearing since earlier, but there was no turmoil going on yet, for the simple reason that Mikaela and other elders that somehow popped out of nowhere were already here before the winners came out.
Unfortunately, not all the elders were amazed at the setting of a new record for this event, as the woman with a brown anvil badge, who was glaring at Aster and Camila while giving first aid to a couple of deacons as well as to Cecilia whose eyes were still a bit unfocused, suggested.
"Don't you think that trying to destroy someone's cultivation path, over a small competition like this, is a bit too much, Lord of the Twin Sword Valley?", slowly asked Tina, the Core Elder from the Brown Anvil faction, just to grit her teeth at the straight answer from Aster.
"Well, she is alive and that is a pretty decent outcome considering she targeted my Camila, and don't come with the "It was a friendly spar among fellow disciples" crap, her bloodlust was seeping out of her", he casually said, which caused a few different reactions.
First and formal, Camila who was still amazed at the ability she just obtained, by observing the "improvised" armor that was created with her clothes as the base, blushed at the words "My Camila".
Then we have the girls from the Black Sword and Green Lotus factions, whose faces reddened due to Aster's bold words, before they started exclaiming.
"Senior brother is right, she was the one who attacked first!".
"Yes, the attacks of that spear cut some us too!".
It was as if the elder had kicked a hive, as the many junior disciples expressed their complains, and so it got noisy quite fast, at least until Aster smiled at them while raising his hand, which was enough to calm them down.
"In any case, we didn't break any rules, did we?", he added.
'Heh, I got you', happily thought the elder, but she kept her angered expression to then point at Camila.
"I seem to remember that treasures besides the ones inside the secret realm prepared for the event, were strictly forbidden, so what is that, I want to officially request an investigation to the elder in charge", she said as she gazed at Mikaela.
The eyes of a few other elders and representatives, lit up on the spot, and the next second they actually voiced on behalf Tina.
"Elder Tina does have a point, we saw that armor appearing out of nowhere, but couldn't determine what it was due to the interference of the barriers, a small check wouldn't hurt, just for the record", said one of the representatives from the Blue Anvil faction, to which others nodded in agreement.
Aster inwardly smirked, how could he not know what those old cunning foxes wanted, the Wolfstein bloodline has been lost in time for who knows how long, not to mention that what Lilia who is probably the only one that has took the time to look for it, to the point that she basically travelled through the whole Heavenly Quadrant, only knew the rumor that it increased the innate abilities of other lineages.
In other words, Camila's ability was something none of the present have seen or heard off, so they wanted to use the excuse of "cheating" to get some information regarding her lineage, probably it is true that they weren't sure if it was an innate ability or a constitution though.
And since they haven't heard about such an ability, there shouldn't be anyone else that could confirm the truth, so their petition should be granted or so they thought, until a golden solid armor cladded Aster's body.
"Oh, you mean this, I'm pretty sure everyone has seen this before, it's a lineage ability and according to the rules of the sect, you don't need to know more than that", he said with a sharp light on his eyes, he didn't even bother to hide the hostility in his gaze.
The elders were in awe for a second, as much as they wanted to complain, even if the armor that appeared on Aster's body looked different than the one on Camila's, the aura they gave was similar.
Sure, there were some slight differences, but their genders were different, so the differences were justified if it was a lineage ability, after all lineages come from spirit beasts and differences between males and females of the same species are normal, it also helped that Camila's armor had some golden ornaments that had the same tone and overall feeling than Aster's armor.
So, with those bases and the death stare they were getting from Aster, those curious elders backed out immediately, before they had a reasonable excuse but pushing it now would be just offending that monster from the Black Sword faction.
Of course, not all the elders ceased their petition to inspect Camila's armor, but only the Purple Lotus and the Blue Anvil remained, so it was a 3v3 situation, since the ones from the Yellow Anvil, led by the Core Elder Riley supported Aster along with the Black Sword and Green Lotus factions.
Seeing the ones that talked on her behalf earlier, suddenly getting cold feet, Tina wanted to argue a bit more, but Aster interrupted her by saying.
"Also, if I really wanted to destroy someone's path, I would have done this…", Aster's overall aura changed from his usual relaxed self to a shark and domineering one, it was as if a sword had been unsheathed.
But that's not what caught everyone's attention right now, but the fact that all those who had swords hanging from their waists or backs, suddenly felt their spirit treasures being pulled towards Aster!
"What the hell, is it due to his sword intent!", exclaimed a disciple from the Purple Lotus faction.
"Impossible, how strong would his intent need to be, for it to draw non-sentient spirit treasures with an intent that isn't at the concept level!", added a disciple from the Brown Anvil faction.
A terrified light shone on the eyes of the elders and representatives from the Red Sword and Purple Lotus factions, the former didn't express any opinion due to a variety of reasons, but seeing that only made them feel the urge to leave.
"Ahem, I need to refine some poison pills, so I'll take my leave", said Darla, the Core Elder from the Purple Lotus, sure she hated Aster, but the disciples that came with her weren't talented or strong minded enough to remain unaffected after seeing something like that.
As cliché as it might sound, confidence is probably one of the most important things for cultivators, even if one is crippled there are pills, natural treasures and other means to recover, however once one's resolution has been shattered, the path to cultivate would be extremely harsh as there is no external mean to help with that.
It really speaks highly of Lilia who overcame her inner demon thanks to becoming Alice and Aster's mother.
And that was the last nail to Tina's coffin, with Mikaela whose duty was to remain neutral, nodding to then declare.
"The winners of this year's Treasure Hunt are, the Lord of the Twin Sword Valley and his companion…", the winners were the top ten and while there were others from other factions, including Cecilia who ended up in the third position, the gap between her score and theirs was huge, so no one really paid any attention to her.
"I'm looking forward to that visit, let's go Lisa", said Mikaela at Aster, before she disappeared using her authority.
Aster chuckled, but he nodded at Mikaela before he followed her example, very much to the unhappiness of the junior disciples that wanted to spend some time with him, but they also understood that he came with Camila so they'll have to wait until he is free.
…
Using Aster's authority, he and Camila disappeared from the town that was opened for the Treasure Hunt, the scenery changed to that of a beach, more accurately they appeared at the top of a rock formation that was near a shore, the sight was spectacular to say the least, especially since the sky has started to gain that orange tone since the sun would be going down soon, and that same color was reflected on the water.
Feeling Camila's curious gaze, Aster smiled as he sat down to then playfully say.
"What, you think I didn't notice that cute amazement in your eyes when we stayed at the river in the valley, so I thought that a nice sunset near the sea would be a good way to end our date".
Camila slightly pouted as she mumbled.
"Calling me "yours" and "cute" all the time, you really like to tease others…", that being said, she happily sat down next to Aster, to then change the subject.
"I didn't think they'll believe your armor and my new ability were the same".
"Well, they probably weren't convinced, since I have never increased the level of a spirit treasure like a certain someone, however I simply put a bit of emphasis on the amplifying part of my blood and that did the trick", said Aster.
Aster inherited the trait of the Wolfstein that amplifies other lineage's traits, it integrated with his Drage lineage as well as the one coming from the Paragon Body, which resulted in his blood being a priceless treasure.
"Speaking of which, can you tell me more about that ability of yours", said Aster as he gazed at Camila's clothes which had become a spirit treasure.
Camila's eyes sparkled, she really wanted to talk about it but didn't want to brag, but it was obvious that she was expecting him to ask, which Aster found rather cute.
"It's called "Treasure Resonation", similar to my Treasure Aura, it uses the drops of liquid that are stored in my dantian, but instead of improving my physique, it allows me to upgrade anything which has properties into a better version of it".
"Of course, I can't make something out of nowhere, I was only able to turn my clothes into soft armor because the materials were of a high quality enough for that, also since they weren't a treasure originally, I used a lot of the "treasure liquid" for it".
"On the other hand, changing those spears required more than just the drops of silver liquid, I felt a bit tired after that", she added.
Aster nodded in understanding, technically even if something isn't a spirit treasure, since spirit energy exists practically everywhere, even the worst quality clothes or other objects, still have some properties, it's just that they aren't of much use since there aren't formations engraved on them.
So of course, even Camila's casual clothes, which were made with Stellar grade materials, had enough properties to become an improvised armor, with the correct process, her new ability probably brought out the potential of the materials to transform them into some sort of spirit treasure.
Her new ability as worth investigating, just like with spirit energy, cultivators can create spirit treasures, but natural treasures are often stronger, but of course they are much rarer, Camila skipped all the smithing process, and more importantly, she improved a cursed weapon and while based on the aura those spears had, they still weren't sentient weapons, like Lilia's sword, Aster could tell they weren't as bad as before, at least they surpassed those middle Stellar grade ones that were specially prepared for the event.
"Speaking of which, aren't there limitations, I think that you look pretty in silver though", jokingly said Aster, Camila's silverish eyes and hair looked really good on her, they gave her a certain otherworldly aura, it was as if she was becoming a treasure herself.
Camila's face cutely blushed, she grabbed a lock of her hair and started playing with it, while she felt her heart racing, to then smile at Aster.
"I don't really know, I felt tired after changing the spears as if they were using my stamina, it's a lineage ability after all, so I guess is normal, but…", Camila stopped midway as she noticed Aster's curious gaze on her.
"Mm, what is it?", she asked, only to see Aster chuckling before saying.
"Well, it seems that certain "taste" of yours might come from your lineage".
Camila was confused for a moment, before she felt strangely fresh unlike a few seconds ago, so she looked downwards just to see her clothes were dissolving at a fast speed, they didn't completely disappear though, but at this point it would be probably less shameful to be naked, since the ragged parts included part of her underwear, which gave her quite an erotic look.
"…"
After a fraction of a second, Camila's face turned red as an apple, she didn't scream but she took out the golden jacket which Aster had gifted her and wrapped herself in it, using it to hide, essentially becoming a "sphere" isolated from the outside world, all this while Aster was amusingly laughing at her.
"Perhaps, this is the backslash from bringing good fortune", he jokingly said.
"Wuuuh, it's not fair, this never happened before!", exclaimed Camila from within the jacket, with her still startled voice, which made Aster softly smile to then take out a flat box and then place it on the ground next to him.
"What a shame, and here I had prepared a gift for Camila, but she doesn't seem to want it", he purposedly said, not even a second later, an arm could be seen coming out of the jacket, blindly looking for anything near that sphere created with the jacket.
Amusingly enough, Camila didn't use her spirit sense so she was touching the nearby things looking for the gift, Aster pushed the flat box towards her hand, which immediately got a hold of it, to then bring it inside of the jacket.
"…", after a few seconds of silence, Camila's voice could be heard once again.
"Did you know this was going to happen…", she mumbled, to which Aster shrugged in response.
"Come on, the fun part is for it to be a surprise", he said with a teasing voice.
"I'm not an exhibitionist you know!", she exclaimed as she removed the jacket, she was now wearing new clothes while the ragged ones were on the ground next to her, only the heavens know how she changed in such a strange pose earlier.
"I know, that's why it's fun", said Aster as he looked at her current outfit, there wasn't that much of a difference, on her clothes, but she was now wearing a nice set of accessories including hair ornaments, earrings, necklace, bracelet and a belt.
All was made with silver metallic material as the base and had some pretty intricate designs engraved in gold, they were made so that they didn't look too flashy but stylish instead and certainly they fitted perfectly with Camila, even now that her hair and eyes were slowly losing that silver tone.
"Now that I think about it, the first time it happened was after meeting you and it has repeated ever since…", mumbled Camila with a cute sulky expression on her pretty face.
That being said she seemed to have really liked her gift, especially because just like Aster, she realized that the parts of her clothes that didn't dissolve where were the golden ornaments were placed, in other words the parts where Aster's blood concentrated.
If not for that, instead of just showing quite a bit of skin while still keeping the sensitive parts covered, she would have ended up buck naked, not to mention that her improvised armor probably only lasted that long due to Aster's blood, and the golden parts didn't disappear even after the effect of her ability wore out.
So now that she had the belt and the other accessories, add to that the materials of her clothes, and she should be able to not end up in such a shameful appearance with the extra materials, so this gift was both pretty and useful.
Seeing Aster have that "How cute" smile on his face, Camila softly snorted to then say.
"I-I can make a swarm of cursed treasures attack others now".
Aster found her "threatening" declaration amusing, she didn't look convincing at all, but how could he not tease her after seeing that.
"Mm?", Camila saw Aster approaching her all of a sudden and her heart nearly skipped out of her chest as his face stopped only a few centimeters away from hers.
"I'm not worried about that, after all the army of the "treasure queen" also belongs to the king, right?", he said, which made Camila mumble a couple of things at his shamelessness, but he then got even closer to whisper at her.
"Oh right, I have been reading the book about dragons that those two gave me and fun fact, some species are said to have a strong obsession for harboring, possessing and protecting the most "unique" treasures, so what would you think will happen when a dragon finds an alluring looking treasure?".
Camila's little maiden heart was racing like a motor board at this point, so now imagine what happened when Aster actually leaned to gently kiss her flushed right cheek.
"W-Wah, y-you, kissshed…", Camila tried to speak but she was too flustered to properly elaborate, so she actually hid her face by resting against Aster's chest.
Aster didn't tease her more, he could literally hear her erratic heart beating like crazy, so he just sat there and enjoyed the cozy feeling of Camila leaning against him, also as calm as Aster looked, he had a certain interesting sensation lingering in his chest.
They stayed in that position for quite some time, the sun disappeared and they actually missed it, but they didn't seem to care, especially Camila who after recomposing herself, slowly left accommodated herself.
"Aster", with her soft voice, Camila called Aster who turned to see her, just to be charmed by her lovely eyes which had gained that pretty silver color.
"So, does your dragon species, hoard their treasures forever…", she mumbled, to which Aster smiled at her.
"Yes", it was a straight answer, not sweetened like when he is teasing Camila, but serious and with an absolute confidence behind of it.
Camila's watery eyes directly gazed at Aster's for a second, their silver color certainly made a good contrast with his golden toned ones, but the eye contact didn't last long, mainly because Camila closed hers while Aster gently dragged her into his arms.
"Mm~", the moment their lips made contact was like an explosion, that "something" Aster felt earlier, he wasn't the only one, Camila was feeling the same, it was as if their beings themselves were resonating with each other, in a different way than what happens when a girl becomes a Star Maiden.
Now it's not like Aster hasn't experienced something similar before, in fact he has experienced it a total of seven times, well eight with this one, each happened when he first got to kiss his current lovers, it was an intoxicating sensation of bliss.
"Uhhh~", the kiss didn't last long but it certainly felt amazing, making Camila let out a cute sound, she felt light headed right now, it's normal since that was her first kiss.
Aster limited to place his hand on her hand to gently caress her silky hair, while Camila rested her head on his chest, they both enjoyed this intimate moment.
And they weren't the only ones, inside of the mind space, Lilia and Rya looked at the sky, where another one of the stars changed from the lifeless blank tone to a silver one for a split of a second, before returning to normal.
"As expected of my darling~", proudly said Lilia.
"Well, it's not a surprise that is for sure", mumbled Rya.
Aster inwardly chuckled at those two's reaction, he leaned a bit to kiss Camila's forehead, just to hear a cute rumbling sound.
"Pffft!", Aster couldn't help but laugh out loud, while Camila's face reddened on the spot, that was her stomach complaining.
"Don't laugh!", she cutely said with a startled voice, thinking that such a beautiful moment was interrupted like that, made her want to dig a hole to hide.
Aster softly smiled and then gently raised her head to then rub his face against hers a couple of times.
"It's not something to be ashamed of, your lineage finished awakening, so your appetite will go up a bit, innate abilities consume a lot of stamina after all, let's head back and have a nice dinner", he said.
"Mm", Camila nodded, it's true that she felt her body was a bit different now, but she wasn't sure whether it was because of all the emotions she went through or because of the Wolfstein lineage.
Aster felt the star reacting to Camila, but she isn't a Star Maiden yet, otherwise she would have known the name of her star, but that was enough for now, besides just a kiss was already too much for the current Camila and that was fine for Aster.
Of course, sex wasn't necessarily needed for a girl to become a Star Maiden, different stars had different conditions, the twins were an example of that.
Aster gave one last little peck to Camila, which made her softly giggle to then get up and offer him her hand to get up.
"Say can we… not tell the others about it yet?", she asked with a slightly shy expression on her pretty face, to which Aster nodded.
"Well, it's not like I'm going to be bragging about it, but mom also saw it so…".
"She saw it!", exclaimed Camila just to hear Lilia's voice coming out of nowhere.
"What's there to be ashamed of, we are family~", she teasingly said.
"Uhhhh!", Camila covered her face with her hands, knowing that by the time they return to the castle, everyone will know about what happened here.
Aster softly laughed and then held Camila's hand to then use his authority, making them both disappear.
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