"...Uh, could you give an example?"
"...There is only one being stronger than me, or if there are others, say us. it’s... Not that hard to figure out," Pausing for a second, he was confused how she wouldn’t have guessed that.
Only now he’d realized he’d been having a full conversation with someone who had almost killed him twice, once at the jewelry area and the other time when he got the Core at the Arena.
"I see, also, you seem to be contemplating something... Are you okay?" Theresia tilted her head. "Hmm, I do-" A blink, her Mana flared up as she noticed his Foundation. "...Incredible, that Foundation isn’t something I’ve seen before, how did you discover it?"
"...Why would I tell someone who is literally the highest rank of the Church?" Theresia noticed that his eyes were half-lidded.
"Because I don’t usually tell anything to the ones there, they’re way too old to relate to and annoying," Theresia spoke, her voice lax as she sat upon the air, casually.
"I see, well, Annoying how?" Caelus was confused, while she was his enemy at least... For right now.
"They keep acting like the information involving the small creatures around your body being revealed was a bad thing, like it causes too much chaos and self-reliance," Theresia replies with a sigh. "Honestly, that’s for the better. Also. Also, I’m making sure only you and I can hear each other."
Caelus, noticing this, though still seeing no one outside and seeing it was nighttime, found it practical that she was doing this, just in case. "...Efficient, someone could’ve been spying."
"Anyways, your body is doing something weird, ah, the thing plants do for energy, I guess that works, but you won’t need to eat past soul formation, it’s mostly a commodity from then."
"Well, yeah, I’m not at that level yet, so this is the best I get to work with." Caelus sounded confused why she’d say this and not let him figure it out himself, only now realizing he disliked things being revealed to him.
"Though I wonder, what did Elysia see in you to ask you to train her? I mean... We knew she could cultivate, and you do as well. I wouldn’t mind revealing it. The other elders are way too annoying, but are too helpful for the Empire now, but I can’t get rid of them since they’re equal to me." Theresia continued, sounding a bit irritated if anything.
"Maybe ask Nyx if she shows up or something, doesn’t she have enough power to get rid of them completely?" Caelus asked, puzzled as he tilted his head to the side, the same way her head was tilted.
"...I would if she didn’t have a grudge against us."
She looked calm but wasn’t amused.
"Then maybe you shouldn’t have done something that warrants a grudge. Why does Nyx have a grudge in the first place?" A sarcastic tone in his voice.
"Ha, very funny, she has one because the other Holy Mothers, even though some are men, won’t allow her to use resources since we have most of the resources that the Alchemist Organization Uses." She sighed right after. "Hence why she’s looking for someone with a Creation Artifact which only she can detect." Her voice sounded dry.
"Well, I’ll have to go now, I’m late to meet my daughter and pick her up." She turned to him, somewhat bored. Getting up from the air as she disappeared, in a flash, though slower than Nyx.
"I keep comparing people to her, I guess she really is that strong... Maybe the Strongest." Caelus thought for a moment, only to shrug it away.
Caelus noticed the rain slowly fade as the soaked pathway absorbed it, and, still not wet, he ran Equilibrium without losing any of his Mana, having saved up so much of it.
Continuing to walk around the Empire, finding he had basically nothing to do right now, other than just wander, his mind or body wasn’t restless, finding this movement relaxing, going from the lower class area, to a higher class area, an immediate but subtle difference, the houses bigger and more clean, along with that, less stalls and more buildings which were closed right now but contained tons of food, taking up space, each step he took only felt lighter, the next felt as if he would begin floating.
"...Seems like I’m getting used to this." It felt... Right, not weird, not wrong, just... Real, finally reaching the Pavilion, Caelus moved his head to the side, tilting his head to the left, seeing a doorway past them, having already entered by jumping past the entrance.
As he continued forward, he noticed a light on in the third Pavilion, the Pavilion of Economy. Though he didn’t check, he knew it was a Cultivator at the Foundation Realm. But curiosity got the best of him. Getting closer, he peeked inside and noticed Elysia holding a book for the Arcane Path, reading it.
"Well, I am in no place to disturb her, I’ll just continue onwards... She should get some sleep, though."
Caelus moved away, going past all four pavilions, reaching the exit, and opening it. Noticing a very, very big difference in how it looked, the homes were extremely large, not only that, but they were decorated and almost festive, had it not been for the fact that some houses had different symbols.
Still nighttime, Caelus finally got another notification from Aphro.
[Notice - Four days till the Winter Season Begins.]
[Cultivation will slow even further, and may take up to two months to advance even a single realm. Winter will last three Months before becoming Summer.]
"Ah, I guess it will take about eight months till I reach Soul Formation."
[Affirmative :3 And for Soul Formation, too, Heavenly Realization, it’ll take at least a hundred years.]
Caelus froze for a moment; that long a time meant it was gruesome and incredibly slow. But, he wouldn’t mind it; he’d get a lot more experience when trying to reach the next realm, imagining how much better with techniques and fighting he’d get.
Caelus was worried he’d get obsessed with how close he was to the next stage and with every little detail, which he was used to doing.
Instead, he’d let himself learn and grow as a person without some external thing giving him ways to survive, except when it’s unfair to anyone against him or any other person on the same level.
Stopping midwalk, Caelus looked around, noticing he was a lot farther inside the Empire, at least in this area. He assumed he was far from where Tellus lived, as she was a Viscount, which, from what he could remember, meant they lived on the outer edges and were trusted more by the Emperor and Empress to defend against an invasion.
"Oh? Looks like someone came into the wrong area, so why don’t you leave?" A man spoke, sounding more like a lady than anything; he looked towards Caelus, noticing his tail. "Not to be rude, but I don’t suppose the Empire would let a Wyv-"
"Dragon, not Wyvern, also leave me alone for right now, I’m thinking. If you can ignore me, just do that." Caelus didn’t even move his eyes to focus on the Noble. It was the usual now; he assumed most nobles would react that way. "I’ll just wait and see what they say first." Caelus thought to himself.
The noble tried to continue speaking, but Caelus walked past them, to which they looked bitter but wouldn’t attack. Caelus had gone through the laws while training Elysia, seeing that even Nobles were subject to laws enforced by cultivators.
Reaching what the Emperor’s residence was, Caelus looked up, seeing the entrance as extremely grand, larger than him and probably longer than his tail. "Even Vanity isn’t enough to describe this." Caelus chuckled, seeing Elysia walk past and go inside, only now noticing him as she turned.
"Oh, what do you ne- CAELUS??? H-How I didn’t see you." Elysia jumped, and the Guards looked to the side, realizing Caelus was standing there, though he hadn’t been visible for a second.
"Ah, sorry, I’ve had a technique activated, so it might’ve made me barely visible. Don’t worry, just go on with your day." Caelus saw the inside as Tellus opened the gigantic doorway, seeing it decorated with gold, silver, and other such jewels, along with staircases and at least ten rooms on the ground floor.
"...Way too excessive, but alright, maybe it’s just due to Nobles and the Church having to stay there." Caelus assumed.
Turning away, Caelus began to walk, only to bump into someone, though shorter than him. Caelus stepped back, and he looked at her. Blinking rapidly. "...Oh, Nyx."
"Well, hello, you remember the favor I asked for?" Her voice, softer now, though it’s probably how she spoke when she wasn’t watching an army or a fight.
"Yeah, what is it for-"
Only to remember what Theresia spoke of just a bit earlier... "Looking for a Creation Artifact." Caelus took a second, looking down at her. "You aren’t taking the artifact."
"...I wasn’t gonna ask that, I was gonna ask if you could use it once on a pill of mine." A chuckle rang from her voice.
"Oh, then that’s fine, I just don’t think we should do it in a place that is going to be extremely crowded..."
"So like, a mountain peak or some unknown dimension?" His voice was more sarcastic now, assuming it’d still be on the Planet.
"Well, no, it won’t me, that’s too boring, tell me, have you seen a star up close without dying?" Her voice took on a teasing tone, a smile on her face as she bent forward, looking up.
"...I have not, why are you-" He was confused, assuming she was talking about going up to the clouds-
[Warning, movement exceeds normal level for your Cultivation]
[You have left the Planet]
"Not what I was expecting but alright-"
After a full minute of travel, Caelus finally realized where he was. Behind him, the barrier hummed against nothing; there was no wind here, or air, or anything, small, way too small to be a star. Still way bigger than him, but even Burning Temptation had a larger range than this entire Star.
The surface of the object crackled, not like fire... But neither liked Lightning, either, like something was pacing inside it, like a dog with a lot of sugar. The light coming off it wasn’t light, or maybe it was, but every color Caelus had ever seen felt secondhand. The space around it looked wrong. The stars behind it weren’t where they were supposed to be, almost smeared sideways.
"...What the hell, Nyx?" He sighed. It was crazy, he knew that, but he felt this was the least of his worries.
"Oh come on, the other option was a spectacle, a star stretched and eaten by something, though you’d probably survive the heat, the barrier isn’t to give oxygen, you can survive without it at Virtuoso."
"The barrier is for you to not get ripped apart by the thing this has, anyway, what else do I need to say?" Her hands moved as she grabbed her own head, panicking for a second, Nyx vanished. Caelus stood in silence that wasn’t silence because sound doesn’t exist here. The star pulsed. He counted to four before deciding that was enough existential crisis for one evening.
"Wow, you are fast, Nyx. Okay, hold on, what did you even forget?" He blinked, way too calm for this situation, but she’d already said she’d do worse.
"I forgot the pill is what, also don’t worry, your Creation Artifact won’t be damaged, it’s way too strong for that, in the name after all." Nyx blabbered for a bit.
Caelus looked into his inventory, taking out the Vase and throwing in one of the Creation Essences, refilling it fully since, even after all this time, it was only half full.
"Well then. I’m ready to start with whatever pill you’re trying to upgrade." He blinked.