Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 96 a few hours late! I had completely forgotten about scheduling yesterday.
Anyway, not much happened this week. I'm almost done with writing chapter 108, which would add the 12th advance chapters to patre0n. Can't wait!
That aside, when I went on RR this morning, I saw 'TuliusII' 's review of this novel and that brought me a smile. If you read this, thank you for your kind words, it really means a lot to me. Writing a novel is a bit like walking on a road in pitch black darkness. You think you're making progress, but you can never be sure. So what you said completely resonate with what I thought: 'Solid novel despite its flaws' is pretty much what I think of it now. Before it was 'a flawed novel that is somewhat interesting'. Since it's my first 'real' novel, I'm exploring a lot of different things and I found that making a good Romance/Fantasy novel relatively original with a universe and plot rich enough to write multiple books about it is anything but easy. But I couldn't see myself writing only one book in this universe and give up on those characters.
There are two upsides, though. The first is that you'll find the plot, power system, relationships, etc, improving as the series advances. I don't know if any of you can tell, but I do feel my story-crafting skill has progressed a lot. The second upside is that any mistake and lesson learned during this series will allow me to write an even better book series once this one is finished. But that's something for the future. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this chapter.
See ya all next week!
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Molvograd, Molkovia, Earth.
Demian's P.O.V.
A short moment later, Demian and Seraphine were back with the others, with Roman trailing silently behind them. After glancing briefly at Roman, Sergei's eyes turned to the two lovers' direction and asked. "Finished what you wanted to do?" Nodding his head, the young man responded. "Yes. Ready when you guys are." With a calm smile, the older man then swiped his gaze over the four Mikhailovs before asking. "The four of you might not return here for a long while. Probably years, if not decades. If there's anything you need to arrange, do it now, or you might lose the opportunity to do it at all if you wait until we leave." The four shook their heads briefly, but then Ling remarked playfully. "Sister Liya, don't you have a secretary? Shouldn't you do something about her?" The words startled the older redhead, who subconsciously let out a curse. "Damn it! I completely forgot about Magdalina! Give me a few minutes. I need to give her a quick call."
As soon as those words left her mouth, she grabbed her phone and called the woman in question, who answered almost immediately. After a quick explanation, the two decided to terminate the woman's current contract while giving her the option to work for Roman instead. Naturally, the man was the one offering, the reason offered being that he 'was partially responsible for the situation and thus had to take responsibility'. Whatever the truth was, Adeliya simply took it at face value and forwarded the offer to Magdalina, who did not accept on the spot but claimed that she would think about the proposition and respond in a few days. After hanging up the phone, the older redhead let out a sigh of relief and commented. "Done! I don't think I forgot anything else." The Sergei couple both nodded, Ling even stating. "We'll leave now, then."
After bidding farewell to the people from the Fallen Fire Estate, Demian asked curiously. "Are we taking a car?" Chuckling at his question, Sergei replied with a mysterious grin on his face. "Cars are too slow." As soon as those words left his lips, Demian sensed his environment blur for a brief moment before the group found themselves in front of an old European-style mansion with no trace of the Estate's Cultivators previously surrounding them. Feeling bewildered, the young man asked curiously. "Did we just teleport?" He was not the only one dumbfounded, though, if the confused look on the three female Mikhailovs' faces was to be believed.
After a light shake of his head, Sergei answered. "Not exactly. It's more akin to a short Void Travel than true Teleportation. For my current Cultivation base and Law Realm, I can't teleport alone, let alone while carrying other people." That explanation brought a bit more information about his mysterious teacher, although his lack of knowledge made it hard for him to transform it into useful understanding. Instead of wasting his brain cells on something he could not yet understand, he simply felt awed by the implied power behind a move like 'Void Travel'. After all, Demian was himself equivalent to a human-shaped missile in terms of strength, and he had not the faintest clue as to how to perform a feat like that. 'I wonder how strong Teacher is to be able to Travel through the Void?' Demian pondered briefly before his attention was brought back to reality when the older man instructed solemnly. "Follow me to the Teleportation Formation, and remember to keep quiet. If the man inside asks you a question, Ling'er or I will answer for you." Cocking her brow, Seraphine questioned. "Is he strong?"
This time, it was Ling who answered calmly. "If you were to fight him, he could crush all of you with a thought. As for my husband and I..." The woman kept them in suspense for a brief second before her next words completely shattered his expectations. "We could defeat and even kill him relatively easily." Rolling his eyes at her teasing, Demian then exclaimed. "Then why should we be careful?" Shaking her head, Ling replied. "It's not him that we need to be careful about, but the organization behind him." As the young man was about to ask for more information, she silenced him with a few dismissive words. "There's no need for you to know more for now. Just remember my husband's instructions: Keep quiet and let us deal with anything that annoying guy throws at us." After the four Mikhailovs nodded, the group resumed their walk toward the mansion's entrance. The paved path they were walking on went through a man-made garden leading to a beige-colored building full of ancient carvings and statues of exotic creatures.
With the shock of Void Traveling disappearing, Demian suddenly noticed something, prompting him to mutter. "What's up with the Spiritual Energy concentration?" Indeed, compared to Fallen Fire Estate, the Energy concentration was easily multiple times higher, which was shocking to the young man. It was similar to a man who had been constantly starving for years, unexpectedly finding himself in a free all-you-can-eat buffet. It felt... Overwhelming. His confusion, though, was instantly resolved when he heard Sergei's explanation. "It's a Peak Tier 3 Energy Gathering Array powered by a great number of Tier 3 Energy Stones. In this resource-lacking region, it's the only way for Mid-Level Cultivators like Ling and I to replenish their Energy." Feeling curious, he was about to ask for more details, but his words were stuck in his throat as Adeliya was faster than him. "What do you mean by Mid-Level Cultivators?"
The question was answered by Ling, whose resolve to hide things from the four novice Cultivators seemed to have weakened. "Low-Level Cultivators correspond to Tier 1 and 2, Mid-Level to Tier 3 and 4, and High-Level to Tier 5 and 6." Pausing for a second, she added. "Don't take those distinctions too seriously, though. Even two Cultivators of the same Level can have drastically different combat powers, let alone between Tiers. What matters is how high your own combat power is. The rest is just useless rhetoric." The four nodded their heads while Demian noted inwardly. 'So Teacher and Aunt Ling are either Tier 3 or 4 Cultivators. Well, not that it makes any difference to me since either of them could crush me easily.' Having their curiosity satisfied, the four Mikhailovs thus stayed silent all the way until they reached the mansion's entrance door. Once the group reached the dark wooden door, they stopped, and Sergei projected his voice through his Inner Energy. "I, Formation King Anrepov, and my wife, Alchemist Queen Feng, wish to use the Teleportation Formation for the Flowing Stars Federation."
In one sentence, Demian caught so much information, with some of them confirming some speculation he had while others baffling him completely. 'Formation King and Alchemist Queen? And what is that Flowing Stars Federation?' So many thoughts tangled in his head, but instead of voicing them out, he decided to keep quiet. After all, his doubts would ultimately be resolved in the future, so there was no need to go against his teacher's instructions because of a bit of impatience. "Enter." A male voice filled with power resounded in their ears as the previously closed door suddenly opened seemingly by itself. 'Cultivators really enjoy their theatrics...' Demian thought with amusement while keeping a poker face outwardly. With a slight gesture, Sergei declared. "Follow me." Before the man went inside the building with the others trailing him closely.
As soon as Demian entered the building, he noticed how the decoration followed the same theme as the Fallen Fire Estate. Class and sophistication were the two things that came to his mind as his gaze fell on the well-decorated room. 'Too fancy for my taste. By the way, is that guy trying to assert dominance?' He wondered after noting the fact that the unknown man did not even bother coming to meet them. Instead, the group had to walk to what should have been the center of the building, the latter being thankfully smaller than the Estate. There, they found a massive room with what looked to be an altar set in the middle of it and a mysterious man standing there, with his back facing their direction. "Guardian Beardsley, it's been a few months since we last met. I hope you've been well." Sergei politely declared to which the man responded. "What are a few months for someone who can live for thousands of years? Especially in this god-forsaken place where one can barely reach Tier 2..." Letting out a sigh after those words left his lips, he then turned his body to face them, his gaze moving from one person to the other, his eyes, filled with an interested glint, briefly resting on the two sisters before he finally looked at the Sergei couple and stated. "I see you two have been busy lately. You even managed to find two women with rare bloodlines. I do envy your luck."
As those words left his lips with a slightly threatening tone, the handsome thirty-year-old-looking man let out a sliver of his Aura, prompting Feng to frown as she questioned coldly. "Beardsley, my husband and I gave you face, and this is how you treat us? It seems that you need to be taught a little lesson." While speaking, Demian felt a massive Aura erupt from the black-haired woman, immediately followed by one that seemed as powerful as Sergei, who, after letting out a sigh, declared wistfully. "Barely reached the First Level of the Void Seed Rank, and you're trying to flaunt your power against us... I'm not sure if it can be qualified as bravery or stupidity. Although I tend to think the latter should be more accurate." As the couple's Auras fell on the man, a frown appeared on the other man's face. "Both of you have comprehended Late-Grade Void Intent? And you've even reached Half-Step to the Void Seed Rank..." His voice was laced with jealousy and fear, something that Demian did not completely understand due to his limited knowledge about Cultivation. What he understood, however, was that the Cultivator in front of them who radiated Energy strong enough to obliterate Cities was both jealous and afraid of his teacher and his Aunt. 'Having a strong backing in the Cultivation World is truly the Royal way!' He exclaimed inwardly while discreetly using his mastery over Water Elemental Energy to dry the sweat that appeared on his back when the man's sliver of Aura briefly washed over his body.
With an annoyed look on her face, Feng Ling replied haughtily. "So what if we do, what if we don't? It's not as if knowing about our situation would help you increase your trashy Low-Grade Void Intent, would it?" With a twitch of his lips, Demian thought. 'Aunt Ling's tongue-lashing skills are as fierce as her Cultivation Base. I'm truly convinced.' Apparently, he was not the only one subdued as Beardsley swiftly retracted his Aura before a fake smile appeared on his face. "I apologize for my brief lack of control. For some reason, I suddenly recalled a past enemy of mine, leading me to lose control of my Aura for a second. Please forgive my carelessness." Rolling her eyes, Ling did not even deign to reply to his obvious lie. However, the man was clearly too thick-skinned to look embarrassed. Instead, he turned toward the two sisters and asked. "Actually, I've been looking for a few suitable students for a few hundred years. Would the two of you be interested? Although I may not be as strong as Lord Anrepov and Lady Feng here, as a Tier 4 Cultivator, I dare say I'm relatively powerful."
Unlike his seemingly innocuous offer, Demian could tell that the man's intentions were far from pure, especially with the barely hidden desire filling the older man's eyes. Feeling threatened, the young man's body moved automatically in front of the two and declared firmly. "We appreciate your offer, but my fiancée and her sister already have teachers. So, we'll have to refuse." When another man eyed his current woman and 'future' woman, Demian felt compelled to stand up, even if the man could objectively crush him with a thought. Otherwise, wouldn't he be worthless? As a main character in a past novel once said: 'Talent and Comprehension can be lacking in a Cultivator, but Character must not'. In all fairness, there WAS little risk with his teacher and his wife standing by their side, but it was still a matter of principle.
As the young man expected, his intervention elicited an irritated look on the older man's face who was about to reply before being interrupted by Feng Ling who exclaimed. "That's enough. Thousands of years old and still aiming at such young girls... Do you even care about your face? Whatever, just activate the Teleportation Formation. Unlike you, we've got other things to do instead of wasting time with a useless old man like you." Her condescending words diverted the man's attention from Demian instantly, cracking his calm facade and unveiling the anger boiling inside him. "You b...!" Despite stopping himself, everyone else understood what he was about to say, which made both Ling's and Sergei's eyes narrow dangerously. The latter's previously retracted Aura suddenly erupted even more fiercely, crashing on the other man, whose anger immediately turned into fear as his body was bent from the massive pressure falling on his body. Immediately, he exclaimed. "WAIT! PLEASE WAIT! I'm really sorry!" It was only after Beardsley apologized profusely that Sergei retracted the pressure and commented. "I'm a tolerant man, but if you insult my wife, you should prepare for the consequences."
Seeing the couple's attitude, Demian exclaimed inwardly. 'So badass! I really need to learn from those two! Well, I need to improve my Cultivation Base first, or I'll just be thrashed by people like that guy.' After letting out a sigh of relief, Beardsley stated. "I will activate the Formation. Do you have the mandatory fee?" After Sergei nodded his head, a Void Ring appeared in front of him before flying toward the Void Seed Cultivator, who turned back toward the Altar and gestured for the group to climb on it while instructing. "All of you stand in the middle and stay still." Following his instructions, the six of them walked to the center of the round Altar before standing still in silence. Besides the Sergei couple, who were probably used to it, the other four were full of curiosity and anticipation toward that novel transportation method. 'Who could have expected that I'd be able to use a Teleportation Formation barely a few months after starting cultivating...? Why does it feel like I'm cheating...?' Demian contemplated with amusement while using his Soul Sense to feel the space around him in curiosity.
Suddenly, a surge of what seemed to be a massive amount of Void Energy covered all of them before his physical senses disappeared, leaving him incapable of sensing anything outside of his body. Even his Soul Sense was brutally pushed back inside his Soul Space, leaving him incapable of generating a single coherent thought, making it impossible to sense how much time passed during the teleportation. An unknown time later, the dizziness finally stopped, making it possible for Demian to look around and see the place where they ended up. "That's..."