Chapter 606 Tiana’s flashing spear & Nerissa’s flowing sword (part 2)
606 Tiana’s flashing spear & Nerissa’s flowing sword (part 2)
Inside of the dimensional tunnel Aster noticed that the atmosphere was a bit strange, which was understandable, while Nerissa isn't a shy kind of girl but a rather calm and composed one, not to mention she felt quite comfortable around Aster due to the circumstances of their first meeting when he saved her life.
After returning to the sect, she has been constantly asked about her "relationship" with the Lord of the Twin Sword Valley, by practically all the other girls of the Black Sword faction as well as other acquittances she has on other peaks and factions.
And no one believes her when she says that they are just friends, especially since somehow those girls found out she is staying with them.
Unlike the curious and sheltered junior disciples, while Nerissa also doesn't have any experience when it comes to love, she as the strongest disciple of the Black Sword faction has been to many missions outside of the sect and has also met members of other sects, like the guys from the Pleasure Palace who coveted her beauty, so she is aware of the matters between men and women.
So, when she got to know that she would go on a "date" with Aster, she naturally had her doubts, but ultimately after listening to the histories of the other girls she decided to give it a try, in any case if Aster would have wanted to do anything to her, he would have already done it back when she was defenseless at the Silicon Forest due to her wounds, that didn't diminish the tinge of curiosity and expectation that this unique situation brought to her.
'A date without any ulterior intention with a man, I guess I should expect an interesting development from the one master told me to get close to', she thought as she stole a glance at Aster's back.
Tiana was in a similar state, the previous time her mother tagged along so she didn't really register the situation as a date, but it was different now, it also didn't help her quite creative imagination the fact that Camilla recently took the step to become Aster's lover not to mention that Vivian, Eris and Mylene had shown a clear interest on him during their little sleepovers.
Seeing Tiana's "wary" gaze, Aster couldn't help but wanting to tease her, a little smirk appeared on his face as he turned around to see the gray-haired girl before saying.
"What's the matter Tia, if anyone saw us, they would believe I'm bullying you".
Tiana nearly tripped despite them being floating in the dimensional tunnel.
'Since when does he call me like that', she wondered, not even Eric calls her "Tia", only Felicia does that, that nickname makes it seem as if they were quite intimate after all, the surprise lasted only a second before she noticed the teasing light in Aster's eyes, which made Tiana inwardly snort.
'This bastard is doing it on purpose', she thought before saying.
"Hmph, would you dare to bully me?", she mumbled just for Aster's smile to widen in response.
"Well, Eric already calls me brother and I bet Felicia would understand once the deed is done", he casually said.
Felicia listened to Aster's shameless words and she froze on the spot, until Nerissa's soft laugh brought her back to the real world.
"After all those lovely moments with Kana you can't play the bad guy role", she said.
Aster shrugged in response.
"You got me there, come on I promise not to "eat" you… this time", he jokingly said as he hurried to the exit of the dimensional tunnel, leaving behind a laughing Nerissa and a speechless Tiana behind.
The black-haired girl found the previous situation rather amusing, even if Aster tried to pass as the kind of guys, she has met so many times both inside and outside of the sect, she can see that there is no malice in his eyes unlike those other guys, so she simply can't take it seriously, which gives her a refreshing feeling.
"Let's go, it's easier to defend against him if we team up", said Nerissa as she followed Aster.
After a second Tiana could only sigh in defeat.
"Mom, this is definitely different than the last time", she mumbled to then fly towards the exit.
…
Having gotten rid of that awkward atmosphere with those two, Aster who was waiting for them to appear at the outside of the portal, smiled at the two girls who were now curiously looking at their surroundings.
'I understand that this would be Tiana's first time looking at a Treasure Graveyard, but it seems like is Nerissa's first time too', he thought.
Tiana came from a relatively low ranked planet so it's understandable that she hasn't seen a Treasure Graveyard, but Nerissa is Valentina's disciple, and as far as he understands she is Iris's rival, so she should have a high ranked background as well.
'Oh well, the motive of the dates is also to get to know each other better anyway', he concluded before saying.
"You two should already know the purpose of this place, but just in case I'll tell you, here you can improve your weapon related intents by facing the leftover intent in the weapons left behind by other cultivators", Nerissa's eyes glowed for a second feeling Aster's gaze on her, when he said "weapon related intents".
"Ahem, according to master, once we pass this point as long as we have our weapons in our hands, the respective treasures will attack us, so who goes first?", she asked.
"I'll take the second turn", immediately said Tiana, Aster's previous teasing was still too fresh in her mind.
Aster chuckled in response, the result will be the same regardless of who of those two goes first, so he didn't mind leaving Tiana for later, this was also Nerissa's first date so it was fair for her to be the main focus anyway.
"Okay, in that case let's go to the one-handed sword area first", said Aster as he used telekinesis to make the three of them float towards the sword area of the Treasure Graveyard.
"Mm?", Nerissa slightly frowned the moment they were enveloped by Aster's soul energy, which made Tiana whisper to her.
"What's the matter, did that shameless guy did anything to you with his soul energy?".
Even if Tiana's voice was quite low, Aster's ears were quite sharp so he of course listened to her, he couldn't help but chuckle.
"It's not that, the token given by master Valentina was just an entry pass, this place supposedly restricts flying to anyone besides those with high enough authority, that includes flying through any special technique and of course telekinesis, so…", said Nerissa as she intensely gazed at Aster.
"I guess I kind of forgot to tell you about it, thanks to my attribute, unless I allow it, arrays can't restrict me", he casually said as if it was nothing.
"What!", both girls exclaimed in unison, they knew that Aster had some kind of treasure or ability that ignored spatial restrictions, they had seen him use the mind space before after all, but this and that are two completely different things.
Even high ranked cultivators can't be on the look 24/7, even Soul Kings aren't able to supervise or protect an important place or person, so arrays are used for that, in that aspect this world and the previous are quite similar, the difference is that back at earth humans used machines to deal with things that required attention at all times and here that role was fulfilled by arrays.
And Aster just casually affirmed to be able to ignore one of the major fundamental aspects of the cultivation world, arrays.
"You two should have heard about it from the others right, I used crude weapons for quite some time before I became a Soul Cultivator, the reason is that my Annihilation erodes anything that isn't related to me in some sense, that includes runes, so normal spirit treasures will become scrap after a couple of uses for me", he further explained.
It took a moment to those two to return to reality, they have seen Aster use that terrifying golden light but weren't aware of its uses, Alice has told Tiana that Aster's attribute is monstrous but she took it as the dragon girl bragging about Aster like usual, though she did know that Annihilation was incredibly strong, she didn't think it was to this point.
Nerissa on the other hand was even more surprised by the revelation, her horizons are quite ample already since she knows about Valentina's background to a certain extent, but even taking into account what her master has told her about high ranked Stellar Systems, she hasn't heard of something as outrageous as what Aster casually mentioned and that is including her recent experience inside the Silicon Forest.
"And here I thought that wherever Eris, Mylene and Mira came was a place filled with monsters, but turns out the biggest monster lives under the same roof as us", mumbled Tiana.
18:02
"I would understand if you told that to Tiana since she's been with you for quite a long time, but I'm new to the group so why are you telling me this?", asked Nerissa, sure they were in good terms and could even be considered friends, but a secret of that caliber was something quite heavy.
"Well, since you are miss's Valentina disciple, we are more related than what you think, also you were present back at the Silicon Forest and saw me fighting anyway, like I said I want the whole group to be able to cooperate shall the need arise in the future, so you should know what I'm capable off, just in case", said Aster.
"Besides if there is something I'm confident in, is my eye for people, if I didn't think that I'll be able to trust you, I wouldn't have allowed you to live in the valley", he added, of course he was only confident in what women regarded, since that was a kind of sixth sense courtesy of his dragon lineage, but it was a bit embarrassing to say it like that so he changed it.
Tiana remained silent, her impression of Aster went up a notch just like that, but she was still a bit bitter due to his previous shamelessness, so she limited to nod.
Nerissa on the other hand felt intrigued on why she being Valentina's disciple, related her to Aster, the only thing she could think, would be Agnes's suspiciously closeness with him.
Those two came out of their dazes as the three of them finally arrived at their first destination, the sword area of the Treasure Graveyard, more specifically this was the one-handed sword and light sword area.
Not even a second later, Aster dropped another bomb, but this time it was specifically directed to Nerissa.
"Your manual is related to "Seven Swords of Transformation", right?".
Nerissa didn't even need to answer, the cute surprised expression on her pretty face gave her away, you couldn't blame her though, according to her master no one else in the four Heavenly Quadrants is using the same manual as her, so besides the one from whom the manual originates, no one else should be able to recognize it.
Still, she didn't think too much about it, Aster's secret for sure outweighed her manual's situation.
"Mm, it is related to it… the one who gave master Seven Swords of Transformation, supposedly obtained my manual from the same place, Seven Swords of Transformation is a purely sword-oriented manual that classifies as a middle Immortal grade treasure, while my Azure Sea of Stars is a peak Immortal grade manual that integrates a very specific attribute which I happen to have", she said.
Aster nodded, back when he saw Nerissa's fighting style, he found it strangely familiar, while he didn't choose to cultivate the Seven Swords of Transformation that Lilia offered him back when his dragon lineage was dormant, he still read it and partly inspired on it to create his "Sword Parade".
Everything aligned, since the two Immortal grade manuals Lilia had, besides the Might of the Dragon King which the highest ranked Drage descendants used, came from her sisters, they were gifts Lilia received before she left to find the traces of the Wolfstein.
His Fey godmother was probably the one who gave Valentina the manual that Nerissa was using.
"I already knew your attribute wasn't simple water, but for it to be a specific requirement for a manual, that's quite amazing", said Tiana.
She has sparred with Nerissa quite a bit, so she has seen some of her techniques and fighting style up close, but her attribute turned out to be more unique than what she thought.
Nerissa nodded, she extended her hand and a ball of water condensed above it in a second, she then snapped her fingers and the ball of water became a stream that flowed around her.
"My attribute is called "Formless Water", at least according to my manual, supposedly it's a water attribute which's adaptability trait has been brought to the extreme, meaning that there is no limit to what I can do with it, offense, defense and support at short, middle and long distance", she said.
But before Tiana and Aster could show surprise over the ample aspects that covered her manual, she added.
"Unfortunately, the first volume which is focused in offensive only has the previous explanation, basic stances and how to cultivate with it, anything related to techniques isn't included in it…".
There was a tinge of frustration behind her voice which Aster could understand, high ranked manuals always included techniques that could be used with the attribute, lineage or constitution to which they were linked to.
For example, his Might of the Dragon King had one technique for each path and major cultivation division, in other words it included a total of eight spirit techniques, four for the energy path and four for the body path.
Aster didn't really use them, because he didn't have Destruction attribute for the energy path and he didn't cultivate in the body path but the soul path, which wasn't included in the manual as no pure blooded Drage could cultivate the soul until now.
Since he wasn't cultivating in the body path, he couldn't develop the meridians needed to execute body path spirit techniques also known as martial arts, however since his body was insanely strong and with the armor added to it, he could attain the same result by just imitating the stances.
For example, a punch from Aster was equal to the martial art "Mountain Shattering Fist", it still required him to learn how to move his body the way the martial art required him to, but he could do it with his bare body without the need to develop the meridians that other would need to.
Alice could do something even crazier since her armor focused on offense, but that's beside the point, back at techniques included in manuals, the crazy bombardment she used back at Zartia was the spirit technique for the Earth realms in the energy path included in the manual, "Dragon Barrage".
"That's tough", said Aster.
"Yes, using the information of the manual I came up with a technique for the offense volume which is "Nine Sea Sword" but I have been stuck at the third sword for quite some time, only after yesterday's advance I was able to get inspiration on the fourth sword but I only know that I need to imbue intent into it to create it", she said.
Aster nodded, he more or less understood her situation, except for one thing.
"Back then when we met, you told me that you survived the attack of the evil spirit because you cultivate the body, so imagine my surprise when I realized you were an energy soul cultivator", he said with a smirk.
"Ahem, I was lightheaded back then, the truth is that my master made me train physically as well, later I got to know that she was inspired by her miss Agnes…", she said with a slightly depressed voice.
Aster couldn't help but laugh at her, an energy/soul cultivator forced to train her body, Aria went through something similar not too long ago, so he could understand her predicament, the Ice Princess suffered quite a bit at first, but for his future plans having traits of the three paths was a must.
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