Kael shivered—he had only seen a glimpse before Stella turned her attention toward the shopkeeper, but that was all he had needed.
As a Rift Born, born into captivity, he was considered a dreg of society by the others stuck here in the Tessellate Citadel. So he had experienced bloodlust more times than he could count while stealing. That’s why he knew this was different. Whatever had overtaken Stella’s eyes carried the same fear as weaponized bloodlust, but it was something else—something incomprehensible. Almost as if she were a monster wearing human skin.
The shopkeeper, a man who was in the Star Core Realm if the waves of pressure radiating from him were anything to go by, stopped dead in his tracks. Frozen in place, he stood there, wide-eyed and staring at Stella.
The blonde-haired girl casually walked up to the shopkeeper with the decorum of someone who knew they were in total control and paused before him. Her black cloak, adorned with golden stitching of an eye, was oddly form-fitting, showing her slender proportions compared to the more traditional oversized cloak that the bald-headed shopkeeper was wearing. While still a head shorter than the shopkeeper, Kael was surprised at Stella’s height. While the loose cloaks made it hard to tell, he knew most people in the Citadel were shorter than cultivators on the sixth layer typically were due to the spatial fluctuations suppressing natural growth.
“What are you—” the shopkeeper began, only to be silenced.
“Hush,” she said, reaching out to place her finger on the shopkeeper’s neck while maintaining eye contact. At her touch, the man trembled like a leaf and didn’t utter another word.
“Kael,” she called out.
“Uh—yeah?” he replied quickly.
“Can I really not kill him?” she said casually, as if talking about the weather.
The shopkeeper stiffened.
“No, please don’t,” Kael said, shaking his head. Remembering that Stella had arrived here only a minute ago, he quickly added, “The Citadel is a carefully controlled environment. The Tessellate Council can track down any disruptions in the spatial plane. You will be hunted down and killed.”
“That’s not a problem,” she said, tracing her nail along the shopkeeper’s neck. “My Qi is untraceable.”
Kael went to refute that claim but shut his mouth. It was true, he had thought Stella was a mortal at first—a person without a hint of Qi. Yet clearly, she was far more powerful than she was letting on if she could make a Star Core Realm cower in fear from a mere glance.
“Still…” he trailed off, exchanging a look with the shopkeeper and feeling bad for him. “Killing is wrong, you know?”
Stella scoffed, as if that were the most naive thing she had ever heard.
“It really is,” Kael insisted. He had never seen someone outright kill another person in cold blood before. Stealing, kidnapping, and violence—he had seen plenty of that in the Rift Born wards. But outright killing was not tolerated by the Tessellate Council because anyone in here was considered their property. So killing another was the equivalent of robbing from the Tessellate Family, one of the most powerful families with operations spanning over the middle layers.
“Killing is wrong,” Stella repeated, as if testing how the words sounded. “What an amusing view,” she chuckled, slowly withdrawing her hand from the shopkeeper’s neck. “I wonder how all those who have tried to kill me would react if I told them that? Laugh in my face at my naivety? Torture me for fun? But fine, I’ll play by your rules.”
Kael felt relief but knew they weren’t out of the woods just yet. This girl was unlike anyone he had dealt with before. Her mental state seemed more unstable than the spatial storm crackling overhead and keeping them all trapped on this drifting rock.
“What do you want in exchange for forgetting about all this?” she questioned the terrified shopkeeper—he, as expected, didn’t offer a response. Stella gestured for Kael to come over, so he cautiously approached. “Kael, what should I give him as compensation?”
“Uhm, money?” Kael said, unsure why that was even a question. He kept his eyes on the floor, not daring to meet her gaze.
Stella opened her hand with her palm facing upwards, and that’s when Kael noticed the many silver rings adorning her fingers. Metals untainted by spatial Qi were scarce and precious on the Citadel, usually kept as heirlooms and passed down. Yet she had so many?
One of them flashed with silver light, and a small pile of stones appeared in her palm. “Will this suffice? I know it’s not much, but it was only a wall we broke.”
We? You were dumbly standing still in the street, not letting off any Qi signature, so how was I supposed to know you were standing there? This is hardly my fault, he thought, but didn’t voice his thoughts. It’s not like she was asking him to pay, but these were just rocks. Was this a joke?
He picked one up and felt the Qi inside.
His eyes widened. “What is this?!”
“Keep your voice down,” Stella hissed.
“Right, sorry,” he said quietly. Holding up the rock, he asked again, “What are these?”
“High-grade spirit stones?” Stella said, as if it were obvious. “Why the fuss? I have thousands of these.”
Kael looked up in shock, the absurdity of the situation making him forget about the efforts he had taken to avoid Stella’s gaze. Yet instead of swirling abysses, he met her slightly crazed pink eyes. Something about her gaze deeply unsettled him.
He gulped and focused on the topic at hand. “You have thousands of these?”
Stella’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me—why the reaction?”
“These spirit stones contain untamed Qi.”
“Yeah, so?” Stella said impatiently.
“I didn’t even know spirit stones could form with untamed Qi,” he said, a hint of awe in his tone as he inspected the rock in his hand. “The Citadel has many spirit stones, as the whole island is constantly absorbing spatial Qi from the surrounding storm. But I’ve never seen one so untainted. A spirit stone like this would be immensely valuable here for making arrays.”
He carefully handed it back to Stella. “I don’t think the shopkeeper would even want something so precious. It would only invite trouble from the Tessellate Council.”
The shopkeeper nodded, his senses slowly returning.
“What about pills?” Stella said, bringing out a pungent pill that smelled strongly of nature. Or at least what Kael thought nature would smell like, only the wealthiest people on the Citadel had gardens or the capabilities to grow trees. He only knew towering buildings constructed out of spatially treated metal, as that’s all that could withstand the constantly warping environment.
“Put that away,” Kael begged, pushing Stella’s hand down.
“Why?” Stella pouted.
“Are you crazy?! Something like that will get us killed.”
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“It’s just a pill—”
“Look around,” Kael said, gesturing at the buildings. “Where would someone get the ingredients to make a pill? We don’t have any pills here except for the scarce few the Tessellate Council brings in from the outside and sells.”
Stella’s eyes glinted.
Kael felt worried. “What are you thinking?”
“Nothing much.”
“I’ve known you for like a minute and can tell that’s a lie.”
“I just thought of a business opportunity, is all,” Stella said, making the spirit stones and pills vanish.
A business opportunity? Kael thought, confused. There’s no such thing here, unless you want to compete with the Tessellate Council. Wait, she doesn’t think she can, right? Surely not…
“Sorry, shopkeeper, it seems everything I have is too precious to repay you,” she said, turning to the man.
“It’s f-fine,” the shopkeeper stuttered.
“Once I get some local coin, I’ll come pay you back. How about that?”
The shopkeeper backed up, shaking his head. “Stay away from me.”
“You sure?”
The distance glyphs embedded into the alleyway flashed, and the shopkeeper retreated in a blur without offering a reply.
“What a rude guy,” Stella said, crossing her arms.
Kael was more focused on inspecting the glyphs and the spatial Qi radiating from them. “Whoa, he used the 9x glyphs. He really was in a hurry to get away.”
“9x glyphs?” Stella questioned.
Kael stared at her blankly. “You really know nothing.”
“I told you, I got here minutes ago,” Stella frowned. “Are you going to explain to me or not?”
Kael appraised Stella for a moment, wondering if he should abuse his knowledge of the glyphs to also flee like the shopkeeper. While this girl did interest him greatly, she was no doubt incredibly dangerous to be associated with. They were more hidden in this random alley, but if she had brought out that pill in a public space? They would have been imprisoned, questioned, and disposed of by sundown.
Yet, when had he not lived life dangerously? Still clutched under his arm was the package—a bomb designed to take out one of the Anchor Pylons that kept the Citadel eternally trapped inside the spatial storm.
Perhaps Stella could be his people’s answer to freedom, or the source of their downfall and his gruesome death at the hands of the Tessellate Council.
Fuck it. I’ve always wanted to make a deal with a demon.
He smiled to himself as he gestured to the glyphs embedded in the walls and offered a quick explanation.
“To keep the buildings from being torn apart by the ever-shifting spatial plane, they are imbued with these glyphs, which connect together to create localized pockets of stable space. The chaotic spatial Qi is pushed into the streets, creating tunnels of compressed space.” He paused, checking to see if she was following. To his surprise, she didn’t seem confused and nodded for him to continue. “Erm, it’s nearly impossible to control yourself when traveling through these chaotic spatial channels, so people rely on the distance glyphs to move at incredible speeds without being torn apart. There are three types: the 3x, 6x, and 9x, with each one requiring different amounts of your own Qi and control to use.”
“Huh, so it’s like Tree’s roots,” Stella muttered to herself as she inspected the glyphs. “These help to fold space, making distances shorter, right? How interesting.”
“I have no idea what tree roots you’re talking about, but we should leave here as quickly as possible, in case the shopkeeper reports us,” Kael suggested, glancing down the empty alley where the man had vanished.
“Where should we go?”
“My place? Though I have to warn you, it’s not well kept.”
“Sure,” Stella said, surprisingly unbothered. Her focus was entirely on the glyphs, and he swore he saw her crazed gaze soften into a tranquil state. Her fingers traced the glyphs, and she kept muttering to herself.
“Okay, I figured them out,” she said, not even a minute later.
Kael blinked. “You have? How? You haven’t even used them yet.”
“I deciphered their design,” Stella said as if that were something easy. “Trust me. Lead the way, and I’ll follow.”
“I’ll start with 3x, and we can work our way up—”
“No, 9x is fine. Actually, I think I can override the glyphs and push them to 12x,” Stella said smugly.
Kael shook his head and felt a headache forming. “Let’s not do that.”
“If you say so,” she shrugged.
Deciding he really did need to get her away from the public eye, he looked down the corridor, and his Star Core called out to the glphys. Wanting to actually test Stella’s arrogance, he used the 9x straightaway. The world blurred around him as he shot forward, space folding to make the distance nine times shorter. At this speed, he had to use Qi to speed up his brain and reaction times to avoid being pulverized by missing a turn and face-planting into a building.
“So this is how the shopkeeper was able to catch up to me so fast,” Stella mused while easily keeping up with him. “I’d steal this idea and bring it home, but the amount of spatial Qi needed to power the array is otherworldly.”
“Well, if there’s one thing we have an abundance of, it’s spatial Qi,” Kael grumbled.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Stella said. Sensing his raised brow, she added, “A phrase I read in a book once. It seems to apply here, as I would kill to have this much spatial Qi on hand. But I also like using pills, and you said they are rare here, so…”
“Where are you from anyway?” Kael had to ask to sate his growing curiosity, as there were too many strange things about this girl.
“I’m just a runaway princess who likes to travel the stars,” she said with a playful smirk.
“And you have never heard of the Tessellate family?”
“No. Should I have? Are they important?”
“Yeah… they are one of the ruling families from the 6th layer.”
“Ah. Well, I don’t visit the 6th layer that often, so it makes sense I’ve never heard of them.”
Kael fell silent as he looked ahead. He had overheard from drunken members of the Tessellate Council that the era of ascension had yet to be initiated, making moving between the layers of creation nearly impossible. The Tessellate Family had branches based on the 4th, 5th, and 6th layers of creation, and they were annoyed at being cut off. But compared to the ancient families that ruled the upper layers, they could be considered bugs. After all, the higher one went up the layers of creation, the easier it got to cultivate and the higher realms that were possible to reach.
Supposedly, ancient monsters from the first layer could wipe out a noble family like the Tessellate with a Qi-empowered fart.
He glanced at Stella again.
Is she a princess of one of those families? She said she traveled the stars. Did that mean she had a way to travel between the layers of creation despite there being no era of ascension? If so, maybe she really can help me break out of this hell.
“You asked if I was a drop point,” Stella said, breaking him from his thoughts. “What does that mean?”
Kael was confused for a second, but then remembered the entire reason he had been heading down Main Street in the first place. “I thought the reason you stepped out into the street to stop me was because you were the drop point. I’m supposed to be handing this bomb—err, I mean device—to a cultivator.”
“What are you trying to blow up?” Stella said, her eyes glinting with interest.
Kael debated for a moment whether telling this crazy person so much was a good idea, but eventually gave up. With a sigh, he directed them down a different route so they would pass by one of the targets.
“You see that?” he asked, pointing to the left.
“The giant black obelisk thing piercing the sky?”
He nodded. “They are what prevent the spatial storm from destroying the Citadel. We call them Anchor Pylons.”
Stella analyzed the Anchor Pylons. “If that keeps you alive, why would you destroy it?”
Kael smiled. “We aren’t the only ones stuck here. Members of the Tessellate family live here too, and there’s no way the family would let them die if the Anchor Pylons were to fail.”
“I thought you said nobody can get in or out of here?”
“For us normal people, that’s true. But the Tessellate can escape. They have white flames—like you. At first, I thought you were one of them, but you are far too clueless to be.”
“So the Tessellate can use aether Qi,” Stella muttered, a flash of interest passing over her features. “I’ll have to pay them a visit soon.”
Kael shook his head and said nothing. He had to focus on directing them through the tighter roads while maintaining a speed of 9x. Stella made it look so effortless; his pride wouldn’t let him ask if they could drop down to 6x.
***
“This is it,” he said, almost out of breath and with a headache. “My humble abode.”
Opening the door to the one-story shack made of rusted metal and half-decayed glyphs, it screeched on its hinges, revealing the gloomy interior. It was simple because he had no money to make it interesting. At least that meant it was relatively clean.
He hadn’t received a guest in a long time.
Stella walked past him. “I’ll take the couch, and can I use a table?”
“Uh, sure? Just don’t do anything weird,” he said, following her inside and firmly closing and deadbolting the door behind him. He still had the bomb on him and wanted to hide it in the other room. “I’ll be right back.”
He swiftly made his way into the bedroom and located a good spot to hide the package. He would go find the drop point first thing tomorrow morning, after dealing with his new houseguest.
Straightening up, he glanced at himself in a polished slab of metal he had stolen. It worked as a mirror. He got closer, frowning at his messed-up hair from the journey.
Fixing it, he caught himself. “Who are you trying to impress?” he muttered to himself. “She’s a princess, possibly from the first layer.” He pointed at himself accusingly. “Didn’t you see her perfect features as if she were crafted by the heavens? Give up, you fool.” He messed up his hair again and pushed out any lingering thoughts. He kicked some piles of clothes under his bed—totally because they were in the way, and not because he feared she would see how messy he was. Grumbling to himself, he opened the door and returned to the living room.
That’s where he paused, unsure how to process the scene.
His desk had been transformed into a makeshift pill-making station, with a cauldron brewing, filling the room with a pungent stench. At the center of it all was Stella, her cloak slightly lifted, exposing her abs. They were terribly bruised, bordering on purple. She was applying some kind of green-tinged balm to the wound and wincing as she did so.
Kael stood there, unsure if he should make his presence known or retreat.
Stella finished applying the medicine and dropped her cloak. Looking satisfied, she slowly glanced up and met his gaze.
He froze.
“What?” Stella questioned as Kael stared at her, the slightest tinge of red reaching his cheeks. “What?” she said again, a little louder. That seemed to break Kael out of his stupor.
“Sorry—I didn’t mean to stare,” he looked down at the floor.
Stella had no idea what was happening, so she shrugged and focused on packing away her emergency pill-making setup. It wasn’t anything like the one she had under Red Vine Peak, but it was good enough to cook up some profound-tier medicine. The healing balm she had quickly concocted from memory numbed her chest with a soothing coldness, saving her from wincing with every movement.
I miss Sol’s healing already, she thought as the ingredients and apparatuses vanished one by one and were carefully organized inside her spatial rings.
“How did you get that injury?” Kael hesitantly asked.
Stella didn’t even turn around as she answered him. “The moment I arrived here, I was shoulder-barged by a passing cultivator. They smashed through my protective layers and still left me this bruise without trying, so I suspect they were in the Monarch Realm.”
Kael hissed through his teeth, as if he were imagining the pain.
“Say,” Stella said, turning around to face him, “if you were to place a Monarch Realm cultivator on a scale, where would they rank in overall strength?”
Kael raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
“Like, what is the average cultivation of a sect Elder on this layer of creation, for example?”
“Um,” Kael pondered for a moment. “Well, we don’t really have a sect here in the Citadel. But if I had to guess, an Elder should be at least at the Monarch Realm. Though I would suspect most reside in the Sovereign of Realities Realm.”
Stella kept a calm expression, but internally, she was bewildered. On the ninth layer of creation, there wasn’t anyone in the Sovereign of Realities Realm—it was a literally impossible height to reach. Yet on the sixth layer, they were considered nothing more than Elders of sects? That’s when she remembered that for every layer of creation, a new highest cultivation realm was added. Sovereign of Realities was the highest level one could reach on the eighth layer of creation, meaning there were two more above that here on the sixth layer.
Suddenly, Monarch Realm didn’t seem very impressive, and she felt like a bug with her Star Core Realm cultivation. Honestly, she should be glad the passing cultivator hadn’t been stronger and pulverized her into paste on the sidewalk.
Kael seemed to misinterpret her silence as he walked deeper into the room, chuckling. “I know, it must not be impressive where you’re from.”
It definitely was, but she was pretending to be someone important, so she kept that to herself.
“What cultivation level are you?” Stella asked, her eyes following him as he made his way around the small apartment and tidied up.
“Me? Star Core ninth stage,” he sighed. “I know, it’s pathetic.”
Pathetic? Stella felt second-hand insulted, as they were at the same cultivation stage, and it was made all the worse because she had only reached this stage due to Ash’s amazing resources. As Kael had already mentioned, he didn’t even have access to pills—yet Star Core Realm was considered pathetic?
Maybe she should fear the Tessellate Council. She was also really glad she didn’t kill that shopkeeper now, even if her Qi was untraceable.
“If it’s pathetic, why haven’t you reached higher?” Stella questioned, checking if it was simply an arrogant statement.
“How? Without a spatial stabilization array, ascending to Nascent Soul Realm in the Citadel is basically suicide,” Kael said.
Good to know, Stella thought as she planned to ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm herself within the next few weeks. “Why is it suicidal without the array exactly?”
Kael gave her a dubious look and pointed at the ceiling. “You’ve seen the spatial storm overhead, right? Imagine that storm, but it’s endlessly striking down and directly attacking your soul. It’s why we are all trapped in here in the first place.”
“What do you mean?”
Kael let out a long sigh and began to rant. “The Tessellate Council wants to raise powerful spatial cultivators, apparently in hopes that one will be powerful enough to connect the layers of creation. You know, because of the lack of an era of ascension, the branches of the family have been trapped across multiple layers.”
Stella nodded as she began to connect the pieces. “Yeah, you mentioned something about that earlier.”
“The only known way to get off this prison is to impress those bastards—only to become their slave. They will bind you in physical and spiritual chains to the family, and if you can’t breach the gap between the layers of creation, then you will forever be used as a walking portal for the family’s elites,” Kael’s face twisted in disgust. With a grunt, he pushed a relatively empty bookcase into its rightful place. “Sorry, I get heated whenever I think of them.”
Stella appraised Kael for a moment as he cooled his expression. He seemed a little more mature and put together for his age than most, likely due to his rough upbringing as a Rift Born—whatever that meant. It seemed they shared that in common: a rough childhood that forced them to grow up quickly to survive the cruelty of the world, or die a dog’s death.
“How old are you?” Stella asked.
Kael glanced at her. “Seventeen, why?”
“Mhm,” Stella hummed as she appraised him. They were of similar age and cultivation level. Right now, she was wondering…
Who would win in a fight between them?
Kael tensed under her gaze and swiftly went back to busying himself.
Stella walked over and lay down on the couch, her head resting on the backrest as she lazily watched Kael go about his tasks.
“What age did you reach the Star Core Realm?”
“Six,” he replied.
“Really? That’s quite young,” Stella couldn’t help but remark. Of course, Ryker had managed a similar feat, but again, that was like comparing apples and oranges. Ryker was the seventh son of one of the wealthiest families, joined the Ashfallen Sect, and enjoyed the cultivation aids that Ash had to offer. Kael didn’t even have access to pills or any cultivation manuals if his empty bookcase was anything to go by.
“Yeah, it sounds impressive, but the Rift Born that don’t make it to the Star Core Realm fast enough die of starvation.”
The bluntness of that statement caught Stella off guard.
“Starvation?”
That was a problem even mortals on the ninth layer of creation rarely had to worry about. Qi was abundant, blessing the land and flora, allowing for regular and plentiful harvests. Problems only arose when Ash teleported a hundred thousand more people into the area, or there was a storm rolling in cast by a Monarch Realm monster.
For the most part, the people ate well—Mortal and cultivators alike.
“Remember how I told you there are no pills because we have no way to grow them?” Kael asked, his hands crossed as he leaned on the bookcase.
“Yeah?”
“Well, it’s the same with food. Most of the Citadel’s food is brought in from the outside—and you best believe the Tessellate Council uses its monopoly over food to maintain control over the populace. That’s why we have to rush to the Star Core Realm, no matter the cost. Even with the passive Qi generation from the Star Core providing my starving body with a hint of sustenance, I’ve barely managed to stay alive until this point.” His gaze met hers, his expression darkening. “The Citadel takes the saying ‘survival of the fittest’ to the extreme. You not only have to be talented, but you also have to be talented in specifically spatially aligned affinities to make it through childhood. I got lucky—many others didn’t.”
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Stella stayed silent, sensing he was debating whether he should say more.
“It’s why I begged you not to kill that shopkeeper. He’s not the enemy here, the Tessellate Family is.” He clenched his hands. “For all I know, he might have been a Rift Born like me and was finally making it, only to be struck down by an outsider.”
Stella could only imagine the anger flowing through him.
“You’re right, I’m glad I left him alive, and I’m sorry you had to go through that,” she said genuinely, almost surprising herself.
Kael clenched his teeth and then relaxed—if only a little. “Yeah…” he said, slowly looking at her. There was a long pause before he asked the question on his mind. “I’ve always wondered, what’s it like being a princess?”
Stella’s mood soured.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Kael quickly clarified. “I felt your bloodlust earlier—it was on another level. While not starvation, I’m sure being a princess comes with its own challenges for you to have sharpened your bloodlust to such an extent.”
Stella retreated from the backrest and Kael’s anticipating stare. Instead of providing an answer, she opted to look at the plain stone ceiling, which was cracked in many places.
“You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to,” Kael said, and Stella heard him shuffling away through the room.
She opened her mouth a few times, but no words came out. Reflecting on it, her life had been hard, and she had every right to complain. However, Kael was right—although she didn’t struggle with starvation, she had her own set of struggles and tribulations. Yet somehow, they seemed lesser. She took a moment to soul-search the reason why. Shifting through the memories, there was an ever-present person she could rely on.
Her emotional rock—or tree in this case.
Because of Ash, I always had someone to depend on. Someone to fight for. Now that I think back, that had made everything easier and the world seem less dark.
Glancing around this apartment, she guessed that Kael was the only resident. Perhaps if he had someone to depend on, his life would have felt easier.
Looking at her hand, she inspected her spatial rings. Within them were apparently enough spirit stones, pills, and other things to topple the enclosed economy of the Citadel. A small smile appeared on her lips. Maybe she could repay Kael for helping her by showing him the high life.
But first, she would make sure to reach the Nascent Soul Realm.
She sat up. “I want to set up a spatial stabilization array. Where could I do it?”
Kael perked up at the change in subject. “Huh? You know how to make one?”
“No, but I’ll figure it out,” Stella said with utmost confidence.
“Right, okay,” he said, not questioning her further. He looked around the small room, his brows furrowing in contemplation. “Not here, that’s for sure. I don’t think the building is big enough to support such an array. Besides, you would want to set up on a higher level.”
“Higher level?”
“Right now, we are in the lower levels of the Citadel, as far from the spatial storms’ influence as possible. It means life down here is a little more tolerable for weaker cultivators like me, but there’s also less Qi to cultivate with and fewer opportunities,” he said, shrugging. “At least the rent is cheap.”
Wait, the Qi down here is less dense? She had already been so impressed with the Qi density that she dared not think of what the quality of the Qi was like on the higher levels of the city. Now she was interested.
“Mhm, well, I plan to be in town for a while,” she tapped her chin. “Do you think there are any houses for sale on the upper levels?”
She had never cared much for accommodation, but it was clear that if she wanted to do things away from prying eyes, she was going to need an estate of her own, one with plenty of space and maybe a garden so she could plant one of Ash’s offspring.
Kael narrowed his eyes at her. “What are you scheming?”
“Did you forget? I’m a princess,” she said, standing and gesturing lightly to the room around her. “You can’t expect someone like me to sleep on a couch in a dingy apartment like this.”
She left out the part that she often slept outside on a bench and was more than happy to lounge around on the floor. If anything, this apartment was better than what she had back home.
Kael frowned. “It’s not dingy, and that couch is perfectly comfortable.”
It was pretty comfortable compared to a bench…
“Fine, but this place is rather small. Do you really want me cramping your style by lounging around here?” Stella questioned. “I might be here for a whole year.”
Kael contemplated her argument, and his cheeks tinged red again for some unknown reason. “I don’t think you’re cramping my style at all…”
Stella looked him up and down. He was a head taller than her, which was rare, as she usually rivaled most people in height. Perhaps it was because she was a descendant of the World Tree that she was tall for a girl? That aside, he had bad posture, his hair was a mess, and his unkempt stubble was doing him no favors.
“You’re right,” she said, which seemed to surprise and excite Kael for some reason. “You’re the one who will be cramping my style,” Stella clarified, and he instantly deflated.
“Who was I kidding?” he muttered under his breath.
Stella walked over and planted a truffle in his hand—a skin improvement truffle to be exact.
He glanced up, his keen gray eyes peering through his messy black hair. “Why are you handing me food?”
“It’s not food, you idiot. It’s a… present, from me to you.”
He gave her a dubious look. “I know I’m thin, but I make enough as a courier to afford food. It’s been years since I last starved.”
“Just eat it, will you?” Stella said impatiently.
“Fine, I guess—”
“Wait,” Stella said. Digging into her spatial ring, she found some random male clothes. Since she had stolen many of these rings from cultivators she had killed in the past, many of their old items remained inside. As she passed the clothes to Kael, he grew even more confused.
“And this is for?”
“Clothes, trust me, you will need them. Though I suppose you could eat the truffle while naked, but I’m sure the clothes you have under that bad-fitting cloak of yours are well-worn out anyway.”
“Huh?” Kael said, looking at her as if she had lost the plot. “What are you on about?”
“Just think of the truffle as a skin care routine. You see my skin? It’s because I eat these.”
“Why do I need to do skin care?”
“Because I can’t go house shopping while accompanied by a ruffian.”
They won’t take us seriously with you looking like a thief, she thought, but kept that to herself.
“Ruffian?” he grumbled.
“Stop sulking and get on with it. I’ll wait out here,” Stella said, pushing him toward what she assumed was his bedroom. He seemed like he wanted to ask more questions, but she slammed the door shut before he could.
Sighing to herself, she shook her head and sat back down on the couch.
While the Qi down here wasn’t the best the Citadel had to offer, it was still so thick that the air was rippling from random spatial fluctuations. Even this shabby place had dimming glyphs built into the walls to prevent these spatial ripples from tearing the house apart.
Closing her eyes, Stella started cultivating.
***
Kael stared at himself in the polished metal mirror.
Taking Stella’s advice, he had stripped down before eating the truffle and was glad he did. The room now had a terrible stench, likely due to the impurities staining the bed. What horrified Kael only slightly more than what he was seeing in the mirror was knowing those impurities had once been inside him. Now that they were out, he was like a different person.
His skin was luminous and smooth like polished marble, his hair looked silky, his eyes sharpened, and his jawline was more defined than he thought possible. The better skin he could understand, as well as his hair. But the changed jaw structure? His weight increasing to an acceptable level? The abs he now had that hadn’t existed before. The fact that she had referred to the truffle as simple “skin care” elevated her further in his mind.
Forget being a princess. Was she the daughter of a god?
“Just who have you gotten yourself involved with?” he muttered, shaking his head. Quickly getting dressed in the clothes he had been provided, he noticed they were form-fitting like Stella’s, but he wasn’t embarrassed like before. He almost wanted people to see his figure now.
Opening the door to the living room, he glanced at the couch. Stella sat upon it, cultivating. She was cross-legged with perfect posture as her blonde hair and earrings floated weightlessly. An unspeakable aura, like that of a true master, radiated from her, and he simply stood there in awe.
When he cultivated, he struggled to get the chaotic spatial Qi around him under control. But Stella? She did it as easily as breathing. Suddenly, her domain over the surrounding Qi relaxed, and it fled from her in a desperate surge, making him almost stumble back.
Stella’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked at him intently for a long while.
“Oh,” she eventually said.
Kael gave an awkward smile. “Quite the change, right? Is it supposed to do this much?”
“Honestly, I thought it would do more,” Stella said, shrugging and looking away with disappointment.
Kael was baffled. Had she seen the state of his room? The changes to his body? What did she mean by expecting more?
He felt oddly insulted.
“Ah,” she snapped her fingers, arriving at some realization.
Kael felt scared.
“Your physical features improved, but the aura around you remains much the same. Too mundane, and that’s the problem.” Her spatial ring flashed, and a dozen pills and two more truffles appeared. “Come back to me once you’ve taken all of these and improved your cultivation to the absolute peak of the Star Core Realm.”
He accepted the floating mass of truffles and pills with trembling hands. If one truffle had done this much, he was actually terrified of what taking all of these would turn him into.
“What are you going to do in the meantime?” he asked with a shaking voice. “It might take me months or years to eat all of these and reach that stage.”
Stella scoffed. “If it takes you that long after eating all of those, I’ll eat a shoe.” She then smiled at him. “Don’t worry about me, I’m just going to rebuild my foundation with the dense Qi here in preparation for my pending ascension. Oh, wait.”
Kael tensed. “What is it?”
“One of those truffles… it releases your heart demons. Like, they will literally crawl out of your throat and try to eat you. Be careful with that one. Usually, I have my friend Diana around to devour them, but she’s off exploring like I am.”
“Sorry, come again?” Kael said, but Stella had closed her eyes, and he felt the Qi in the room once again still and start to gather toward their mistress—the crazed blonde-haired princess who had made his couch her home despite her previous protests.
Retreating to his room, he put the haul of truffles and pills on his desk, and his eyes watered from the stench.
“You can run away from her, you know?” he said to himself in the mirror. A small chuckle escaped his lips. “Who am I kidding? Run away from her? I can foresee a future where the Tessellate Council is fleeing for their lives, and I don’t want to be joining them.”
He looked down at the ‘presents’ he had received and shuddered. “You got this, Kael,” he said to himself. His voice dropped to an uncertain whisper. “Right…?”
He picked up one of the two truffles and hoped it wasn’t the heart demon-summoning one, as he had quite a few.
“What plant could even grow something like this?” he wondered, inspecting it. “I hope I never meet such a horrifying thing.”
With that, he chowed it down.
An unsettling feeling stirred deep in his chest, and he paled. Frozen in fear as something began to claw its way out.
He had eaten the heart demon truffle.
Two weeks had passed since Stella and Diana entered the Eternal Realm, and Ashlock had not been idle. He was currently out to the north, scanning the land for any stray monsters.
He had been forced to take a more active role in fending off the beast tide due to Stella and Diana’s absence. But over the last two weeks, with the assistance of Zephyrine and the other Primal Overlords, the beast tide had finally parted and was now traveling in two large groups around his lands toward the Celestial Empire.
“I can’t believe it’s finally over,” Ashlock muttered after not finding a single monster. By now, most of the sect had returned to Red Vine Peak with only a few left on patrol duty alongside the thousands of Ents he now commanded. “The threat that had loomed over me since the day I was reborn as a tree is gone.”
He let out a long sigh of relief. Millions had depended on him, and for once, he felt like he had stood up to the occasion and surpassed everyone’s expectations—perhaps even his own.
“If not for Zephyrine being Stella’s older sister, I wonder if the talks with her would have gone as smoothly,” he pondered. Thinking back, it would have definitely been an uphill battle, as he had been the reason the spiritual spring was drained of Qi, and the beast tide had to start early.
Luckily, it had all worked out.
The threat of the beast tide was over.
Of course, he still had a long way to go. He was only on the Ninth Layer of Creation—possibly an origin, making him an enemy of Heaven—and even down here, there were threats still beyond his means. While he was starting to close that gap, the Celestial Empire still represented a significant danger, with many of its members residing in the Monarch Realm. In contrast, the Ashfallen Sect only had a handful of people touching that level of power. With Zeph and the Primal Overlords now effectively on his side, however, the combat strength of the Ashfallen Sect had jumped considerably. And with the existence of the Eternal Realm, many of his sect’s core members would soon attain the Monarch Realm as well.
Astralis had also made a full recovery and returned to the Spiritual Spring.
Ashlock had offered Zephyrine and Astralis the opportunity to stay on Red Vine Peak, but they had declined. He was sure that once Stella returned from the Eternal Realm, she would pay regular visits to her sister in the wilderness.
Honestly, Ashlock was relieved they were gone. The idea of having Astralis and Zephyrine hanging around all the time, especially given how strong they were, worried him. They were great allies in battle, but what if Zephyrine took an interest in the Eternal Realm? Or one of his fruits, or any of the many other things he possessed? He could easily pull the wool over the eyes of the Redclaw and the people in his cities, but there was no way he could trick such ancient monsters. They would see through his façade as a fake god or that he was far too human-like for a spirit tree. Keeping them at arm’s length for now was for the best.
Nymeria had decided to hang around. After learning the truth about the beast tide—and knowing that all those monsters diverted around Red Vine Peak would eventually run into the Celestial Empire and be slaughtered—her confidence in continuing her journey had evaporated. So, she was the only one to accept his offer and was quietly cultivating somewhere on Red Vine Peak.
Ashlock didn’t mind her presence, as she seemed a bit more naïve than Zephyrine or Astralis and got along well with Stella and Diana.
[Notice: Diana has exited the Eternal Realm]
Ashlock was broken from his wandering thoughts by a system message floating in his mind.
“Diana has finally returned?” he mused, excitement rising.
Honestly, it had taken longer than he expected. Although only two weeks had passed for him, that equated to over two hundred days for Diana in the Eternal Realm.
Eager to see the results of her time in the Eternal Realm, he quickly returned to his Inner World. Sure enough, the demoness was striding out of the eternal fog. Her raven-black wings were spread and seemed larger than before. Two finger-length black horns curved up from her forehead, and there was an unmistakable aura around her—that of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm. A constant mist radiated off her, cascading like a waterfall into the surroundings and masking her footsteps in a perpetual swirling fog.
If Ashlock had to describe Diana’s appearance, it was that of a Demon Queen.
She stretched her back and let out a sigh as she glanced around. Ashlock realized that for her, it had been so long, so maybe she’d been expecting a welcome party? From the shadows, he had Anubis rise, catching her off guard.
“I see you have reached the Nascent Soul Realm,” Ashlock said through Anubis. “Let me be the first to offer my congratulations.”
Diana grinned, showing off her fangs. “I appreciate that, and thank you for letting me be the first to use the Eternal Realm alongside Stella. I stayed in longer than I intended, though—I wanted to reach the third stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. The pocket realm I ended up in was really good.”
“Oh?” Ashlock said, intrigued by what she meant. “Was there anything different this time around compared to the previous Mystic Realm visits?”
Diana contemplated for a moment. “The actual pocket realm wasn’t much different. However, it’s the way we chose which pocket realm we entered that was far better. Last time, all pocket realms were clumped together in one mess, and it was luck of the draw if you got sent to a low Qi one or a dense one. This time, I could float up, and it seemed the pocket realms were ordered somewhat by layer of creation. I managed to rise to the Sixth Layer and picked a pocket realm from there. I believe it belonged to a cultivator from beyond that layer.”
“How can you be sure?” Ashlock asked.
“I found an inheritance that referenced a family from the Fifth Layer. Of course, it’s possible the pocket realm was established during a previous era of ascension, where movement between the layers of creation was more fluid, so it’s hard to say.”
“That is indeed a possibility,” Ashlock agreed. “I guess we’ll have to ask Stella about her experience.”
Diana glanced around. “Stella hasn’t returned yet?”
“No—surprisingly not. I thought she would have returned before you, but she’s still in there.”
“Huh,” Diana said, looking back at the eternal fog behind her. “Well, fancy that. Maybe she found something good.”
“I hope so. I’d like Stella to stay in there for as long as she is comfortable, as I will need her to be strong for what’s coming. I can hardly ask her to sit out from the fight with the Celestial Empire now, can I?”
Diana shook her head in agreement. “Yeah, there’s no way she would accept that. Though, since I’m now out, are you going to send in more people?”
“I could,” Ashlock replied, “but since I have no idea how long Stella plans to stay, maybe I’ll let her enjoy the full thirty-times time dilation before sending anyone else in.”
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Diana agreed, her eyes lingering on the Eternal Realm.
“You could go back in if you please,” Ashlock suggested.
She shook her head. “Over half a year was enough for me.”
“I see. Though I must ask, how did you find your ascension to the Nascent Soul Realm?” Ashlock asked, curious.
“Not too bad considering the stories I’ve heard. Once I had enough Qi stored up, all I had to do was eat all of your fruits, set myself up in a safe place, and then let the heavens go to town on my soul. Honestly, now that I think back, it was one of the most painful and traumatic experiences of my life. But at the same time, an enlightening one.” She looked down at herself. “My second soul, which is this super-condensed demonic mist, seems very easy to feed with demonic Qi, so I can’t complain,” she glanced up, “Is the Beast tide still ongoing?”
“It’s over for the most part,” Ashlock admitted. “You can always go hunt down the monsters veering their way around Red Vine Peak and toward the Celestial Empire. Though Zephyrine did ask if I could leave them alone, as they’ll be a useful force for sieging the Celestial Empire and freeing the World Tree.”
“I won’t bother then,” Diana said. “Half a year in the Eternal Realm is enough nonstop cultivating for me. I think I’ll go get some rest.” Rolling her shoulders and letting out a yawn, she took to the skies with a giant flap of her wings. “Since Stella’s not here, I’ll take my rest in her house while she’s gone. I was stuck in a mist-filled forest for half a year, so I’ve been craving the comfort of a bed.”
Ashlock watched her go, and his attention drifted back to the glittering celestial fog of the Eternal Realm. “What are you doing in there, Stella?” he muttered, hoping she wasn’t up to too much mischief.
Like a nervous tick, he checked on his system.
[Tessellate Citadel:
Description: ???
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it’s taken without the author’s consent. Report it.
Qi Level: ???
Environment: ???
Monsters: ???
Current Occupants: 1]
For whatever reason, the system seemed unable to decipher much more than the name of the pocket realm Stella had ended up in. As Ashlock was reading over the system’s message again and again despite it never changing, a sudden foreboding feeling overtook him—yet it had nothing to do with what he was reading. It was something else, almost as if the Heavens were whispering dark secrets in his ear. He focused intensely on the whispers, and before he knew it, the sun had set in his Inner World and the nine moons were high in the sky.
[Comprehension of demonic dao has increased]
Ashlock felt a sudden rush of Qi flood into his soul. His entire Inner World shuddered with power as his cultivation realm went up by a stage.
[Demonic Demi-Divine Tree (Age: 10)]
[Nascent Soul Realm: 7th Stage]
[Soul Type: Nine Moons (Desolation)]
It was then that Ashlock understood what had been going on. Those strange whispers and the sudden surge of Qi had come from Diana’s time in the Eternal Realm. He knew he was already on the verge of rising to the seventh stage, and the little bit of Qi he had siphoned from Diana’s visit had pushed him over the edge. While the Qi was appreciated, the demonic dao comprehension was truly valuable—it made his desolation far more effective against monsters, as they typically possessed demonic Qi.
Ashlock hoped he hadn’t woken Diana from her rest as his Inner World finally settled down. He thought about going to sleep as well, but his mind was too abuzz from the demonic dao comprehension. So, he decided to distract himself by bringing up his sign-in system.
Idletree Daily Sign-In System
Day: 3708
Daily Credit: 15
Sacrifice Credit: 11387
[Sign in?]
Since he had stopped devouring monsters from the beast tide, he was now at a standstill in farming Credits.
“Though eleven thousand credits are nothing to scoff at. I can do a lot with these. System, show me my skill list.”
[Skills…]
{Skyborne Bastion [SSS]}
{Necroflora Sovereign [SS]}
{Divine Cycle of Creation and Ruin [SS]}
{Eternal Realm [SS]}
{Progeny Dominion [S]}
{Dimensional Overlap [S]}
{Nocturnal Genesis [S]}
{Ethereal Roots [S]}
{Voidstorm Aegis [S]}
{Dao Fruit Production [S]}
{Abyssal Maw [S]}
{Soul Forest [S]}
{Eye of the Tree God [A]}
{Abyssal Whispers [A]}
{Magic Mushroom Production [A]}
{Language of the Eldertree [A]}
{Blooming Root Flower Production [B]}
{Fire Qi Protection [B]}
{Superior Poison Resistance [C]}
He had many good options to choose from. While 11,000 credits weren’t quite enough to upgrade his SSS-grade Skyborne Bastion skill, it was certainly enough to upgrade any of his S- or SS-grade skills. He might even have some leftover to do a sign-in.
“With the leap in my cultivation, my stock market should be able to grow well past 10,000 now, meaning I could hold off and wait until I have enough to upgrade my Skyborne Bastion skill.”
It was a worthwhile idea, as his next target was going to be a war against the Celestial Empire. While his Ents had proved invaluable against the beast tide, the Celestial Empire involved far more high-cultivation-level threats than a massive, endless horde of low-level monsters.
It wasn’t the general populace of the Celestial Empire that he wanted to eliminate—it was the high-ranking officials from the Council that he had a problem with. Comparing his Skyborne Bastion and Necroflora Sovereign skills, an upgrade to Skyborne Bastion would be more beneficial.
However, with his rising cultivation, the 2,000–3,000 more Credits he needed wouldn’t be easy to come by. His best way would be through the slow growth of the stock market. Perhaps by performing a few more godly feats for the general populace, he could make it happen, but the question was, what could he do? He had already defeated the beast tide, created an afterlife, and done so many things that people now held him in such high regard—there were only so many Heaven-defying feats he could pull off before he ran out of ideas.
“What should I do?” Ashlock muttered. This was a big decision, and he had a lot to contemplate.
Option one: Upgrade Skyborne Bastion. Problem? He needed a lot of credits. Possible solution? He could go against Zephyrine’s wishes and devour a few of the Primal Overlords because, with his rising cultivation, only they would provide a sufficient number of credits he needed.
Unfortunately, that would have to remain merely an idea, as Zephyrine had proved when redirecting the beast tide that her speed was simply unmatched. And with her strength being a few stages into the Monarch Realm, she could easily obliterate him—and likely the entirety of Red Vine Peak.
So, with that option aside, back to the question… did he wait a few weeks, or possibly months, to grind for those last few thousand credits to upgrade the Skyborne Bastion skill? Or should he upgrade Necroflora Sovereign right now? There were also other skills he could consider, but with his eye on conquering the Celestial Empire, these two would give him the most significant fighting power in a grand-scale war.
“There is one major advantage that the Necroflora Sovereign skill gives me when facing the Celestial Empire,” he considered. “While the general populace isn’t my target, the Celestial Council will no doubt have to step in and put a stop to the beast tide and my Ent armies’ advance. As they are in the Monarch Realm, their ability to destroy my Ents—and probably even my upgraded Skyborne Bastions—is without question.”
The image of a Monarch Realm cultivator simply obliterating his flagship with a slap of their fingers filled his mind. Having seen Zephyrine, he could believe it.
“But that’s not the point. Those old bastards will be incredibly reluctant to waste their Qi, as it’s time-consuming for Monarch realms to cultivate when they don’t have access to the Eternal Realm like I do. And with political strife within the Celestial Empire, they will actually be fighting among themselves to do as little as possible. If I present them with one or two strong targets that they can focus their power on—such as a Bastion—that would be far easier to deal with than an endless, almost immortal army. Actually, now that I think about it, if I can push them out of the Celestial Empire, that would also be good enough. My target is to save the World Tree. I can get my revenge on them later.”
After some more contemplation, Ashlock eventually decided that he would go ahead with upgrading his Necro Flora Sovereign skill.
[Are you sure you would like to upgrade the skill {Necroflora Sovereign [SS]}? It will cost 9028 credits]
“Yes, it’s been a long time coming, and it deserves an upgrade.”
[Sign in successful, 9028 credits consumed…]
[Upgraded {Necroflora Sovereign [SS]} -> {Necroflora Overlord [SSS]}]
[{Necroflora Overlord [SSS]}: You now lord over an immortal army that will be feared throughout the realm.
All armies need a General, so for 1,000 credits each, you can now select up to three Ents at a time to be Generals. Upon selection, the chosen Ent’s cultivation will rise to match yours, and they will continue to advance with you. These Ents will have heightened intelligence and be able to lead the army on your behalf. General-class Ents are also able to raise Ents on your behalf.
Furthermore, when fighting within your domain, all Ents benefit from your aura. They become empowered, allowing them to fight multiple stages above their cultivation level. They can also absorb Qi from the surroundings to keep themselves going and even heal, meaning they are entirely self-sufficient.
Upon death, Ents will now rapidly absorb surrounding Qi to regenerate, but will be weaker than before. This can happen indefinitely until they run out of Qi or become too weak to continue. At this point, they will plant themselves into the ground and revert into a demonic tree seed]
Ashlock ran over the system message a few times, making sure he understood everything. As expected of an SSS upgrade, this was a total game-changer.
Every line of this system message significantly enhanced the skill’s strength with no new drawbacks, except that many of the new advantages only worked within his domain—meaning within his root network or near a Bastion if he was directly controlling it.
“Darn, I wish I had upgraded this skill before. It would have made fending off the beast tide a breeze. Alas, the past cannot be changed, but this skill will undoubtedly prove helpful in the future.”
Unfortunately, he had been presented with a new choice… which Ents should he pick to be his generals? He still had over 2000 credits left, so he could pick two for now.
The first option that came to mind was Khaos, his void Ent.
Since promoting an Ent to General Class apparently raised their cultivation level to match his, which was now at the seventh stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, it seemed like an obvious choice, as anything with void affinity was typically unable to surpass the Star Core Realm. It was also one of the strongest affinities, and since the Ents were now self-sufficient, he wouldn’t have to provide the immense Qi necessary for Khaos to perform her duties.
Calling upon Khaos, the four-armed Ent emerged from the void.
“System, I want to promote Khaos to become a General class Ent.”
[Upgrading the Ent {Khaos} to General class will cost 1000 SC. Are you sure?]
“Yes.”
[Upgrading now…]
Reality seemed to shatter, as if the void were trying to break through. Divine energy from throughout Ashlock’s Inner World poured towards the cracks as if it were a black hole. Despite his best efforts to pull it back, the divine energy was relentless as it swirled around, knitting together the cracks in reality.
Meanwhile, Khaos ballooned in both size and strength.
Void poured into her like an endless ocean. Her claws lengthened, and two more arms grew from her body—for a total of six. If Ashlock’s previous display of going up a single stage in cultivation hadn’t awoken Diana, this certainly did. His entire Inner World shuddered as it tried and failed to prevent Khaos’s ascension. Sure enough, he soon noticed Diana zooming back through the night sky, her eyes wide with fear.
“Ashlock, what is happening?” she shouted in terror. “Should I get help?! Maybe Zephyrine can save us?”
“No, there’s no need to call over Zephyrine. Everything is going according to plan,” Ashlock said calmly through Anubis. “I’m simply upgrading one of my Ents to become more powerful.”
Diana kept a safe distance, her wings gently flapping as she surveyed the scene.
“You can do that?” she said, baffled. “And a void one, no less? I thought they couldn’t surpass the Star Core Realm.”
“I thought the same,” Ashlock chuckled. “But I guess anything is possible…”
“…with the system,” he silently thought, but didn’t add that last part. Stella was vaguely aware of the system and how it functioned, but Diana was still in the dark—though he bet she had ideas. He wasn’t exactly discreet about how every time he got his roots on a lot of corpses, his power soared in unfathomable ways.
Reality shattered one last time before collapsing in on itself. Khaos vanished, and Ashlock wondered if reality had swallowed his new General. But to his relief, an impossibly thin line appeared, and then it widened as a single claw emerged, followed by Khaos’s now smaller body.
She was still tall, standing at about three meters, but compared to a moment ago, when she was the size of a large building, this was far more preferable.
Diana hesitantly landed before her, eyeing Khaos cautiously.
“Just how strong is Khaos now?”
“The seventh stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Same as me,” Ashlock replied.
Surprising both of them, Khaos turned towards Anubis and kneeled, her bowed low like a servant greeting their king.
“My Lord,” Khaos said—and it was as if the void itself was speaking. “What are your orders?”
Ashlock was going to dismiss Khaos and tell her to stand by, but then he had an idea.
“Would it be possible for you to go and check up on Stella for me in the Eternal Realm?”
It was a long shot, but the system had claimed his General-class Ents would have a level of intelligence. This was a way to test that claim.
Khaos bowed once more before standing up, towering over Diana by a full meter despite being headless.
“As you command, I shall go and verify the princess’s safety and will return shortly with news.”
With that, she vanished into the void.
[Notice: General Khaos has entered the Eternal Realm]
After three long months, Kael prepared to leave his bedroom a changed man—both mentally and spiritually. He half-expected Stella, the strange princess from a higher layer of creation, to be gone, as it had taken him so long to rebuild his cultivation from the ground up.
Rushing to the Star Core Realm at such a young age had terribly corrupted his spirit roots, and his heart demon battle was one he would never forget. His knowledge of the dao had been fragmented, and only with the help of some miraculous pills Stella provided was he able to glean the true insights the heavens had been whispering to him all along.
As he opened his bedroom door, there she was, sitting on the couch exactly where he had left her. Her eyes were closed, and the room was filled with that same dignified aura from before that only someone of high stature could possess. As he stepped into the room, he noticed that not a single speck of spatial Qi acknowledged his presence. It was as if the entire room had yielded to her authority.
Sensing his presence, Stella’s eyes snapped open. She appraised him for a split second, and to his utter relief, she smiled.
“Now that’s more like it,” she said, nodding in approval. “That second skin improvement truffle I gave you definitely helped, and your aura is totally different now.”
“Sorry for the wait,” he said sheepishly. “I hope you weren’t too bored waiting in this cramped apartment.”
“Oh, don’t you worry—I’ve managed to keep myself busy.”
Kael glanced around. The apartment was a total mess. Tables he didn’t remember having crowded the room, and it looked as if an entire pill-brewing guild had set up shop in his living room. The smell was eye-watering, but nothing compared to his bedroom. Honestly, the whole apartment needed to be abandoned at this point. Scanning the floor, he noted masks, dresses, and other garments strewn about. Bending down, he picked up a porcelain mask and raised a questioning brow.
“I used those for disguises,” Stella explained.
“Disguises? Why did you need disguises?”
Stella lazily rose from the couch and picked up an outfit neatly laid on a coffee table—unlike the ones thrown around the floor, it seemed unworn. “I told you I’ve been busy,” she said, floating the clothes toward him with telekinesis. “I got you this.”
Kael was in disbelief. “You bought me clothes? Why? How?”
“Did you forget I’m going to buy a house? One big enough to build a spatial array. It’s why I gave you all those pills and truffles—to improve your looks to match a noble cultivator so you don’t embarrass me.”
Kael took the garments, marveling at their quality. He rubbed the earthy brown fabric between his fingers—it felt like silk sheets. Never in his life had he experienced such luxury, and as someone who knew how rare and expensive fine cultivator garments were, he was stunned.
“How did you get the money to afford this?” he asked.
“I had to get a little creative,” Stella admitted. “While I have great wealth inside my spatial ring, everything is too valuable or strange to sell without earning the Tessellate Council’s interest.” She gestured to the room. “After some snooping around, I discovered which pills the Tessellate Council officially sells. By mirroring them one-to-one, I managed to sneak a few into the supply.”
Kael gave her a dubious look. “While pills are valuable in the Citadel, a few couldn’t cover the cost of these garments that are fit for a king. What about the house? Did you sell pills for that too?” His tone was sarcastic.
“No,” Stella said honestly. “The pill selling worked for a while, but I eventually caught attention. Apparently, the main family missed multiple deliveries and hasn’t been responding to requests. I wasn’t able to get much more intel than that, so I tried to find array experts with money, but they’re all employed and monitored by the Tessellate Council.”
Kael scratched his head. “So how did you get the money, then?”
“Simple, really. I took out debt—a lot of it.”
Kael blinked. “You took out debt as a princess?! How are you planning to pay them back? You don’t have any money.”
“Exactly!” Stella said, smirking. “When you don’t have enough money to pay off debt, how do the debt collectors respond?”
For a moment, Kael recalled his own brushes with debt collectors during slow periods at the courier company when he couldn’t afford food or rent. They were brutal. Those bastards would take everything if you missed a payment. Suddenly, realization dawned on him.
“Did you give spirit stones to debt collectors to settle your unpaid debts?”
Stella grinned wildly. “I sure did. Figuring out how to sell them for money is now their problem. I might’ve been scammed on their true value, but honestly, it wasn’t worth the hassle—they know the black market channels better than I do.”
“Make others do the work for you,” Kael nodded approvingly. “Handled like a true princess.”
Stella narrowed her eyes. “Hey, I don’t like the way you worded that. I put in a lot of effort, you know?”
Kael raised his hands defensively. “You’re right, my bad. Thank you—these clothes are insanely nice. I’d never even get to touch fabric this fine, let alone wear something like this.”
“Great. You should get changed quickly. I will too. I think it’s time we both got out of here.”
Nodding and trying to ignore the thought of Stella changing, he retreated to his room with the new clothes in hand. He stared at them in mute disbelief for a while. Was Stella an angel sent by heaven to grace his life?
Shaking his head, he started to strip down and change. Halfway through, to his horror, he heard the door click open behind him.
“What’s taking you so long? Did you fall and hit your head or something?”
Their eyes met. He froze midway, pulling up his trousers—currently wearing nothing but his undergarments.
Stella looked baffled. “What are you doing?”
Kael blinked in confusion. “Getting dressed?”
“What kind of spatial cultivator gets dressed like this?” she said, vaguely gesturing. “Use a darn spatial ring—it takes half a second. Wait, you don’t have one?” She took off one of her rings and threw it at him.
“Ah, thank you,” he said, feeling stupid and embarrassed as this whole situation was because he had spent a while spaced out.
He deposited his new clothes into the spatial ring and, with a flash of silver, they adorned his body. The texture was smooth and cold against his skin—he almost wanted to lie down in it like a blanket, but now wasn’t the time.
“Where to next?” he asked, turning to Stella. “If you want to buy the house right away, I know a few places in the Upper District that sell property.”
Stella shook her head. “Citadel prices are wildly expensive from the research I conducted on my own. I can’t buy directly. Not without crashing the economy here and earning the Tessellate Council’s ire at least.”
“Then how are we going to get property? It’s not like we can steal it.” He paused, concern growing. “That wasn’t your plan, was it?”
Stella shook her head. “No. I had another idea—we’re attending an auction.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author’s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“An auction? There are rarely auctions in the Citadel,” Kael said, confused.
“A month ago, an anchor pylon was mysteriously destroyed, causing a section of the noble district to suffer extreme spatial distortions and potentially drift off the main island. An auction was set up to sell those properties, and it’s happening tonight.”
Kael blinked in disbelief. “What are the odds?”
Stella didn’t seem to mirror his disbelief at fate.
“Come on, we should move,” Stella said, turning to leave. She’d changed into a typical oversized cloak worn by Citadel nobles. However, it was white with a silver tint, decorated with thorn-covered vines inlaid with gold. He’d never seen such a design. It must have been custom-made, greatly hiking up the cost.
Just how much did she scam out of those debt collectors? Kael wondered as he followed her. I hope they don’t come after us or sell her out to the Tessellate Council when they start asking where those spirit stones came from.
He had a bad feeling his fears would come to fruition. Stella wasn’t exactly as low-key as she seemed to think she was.
“Now listen, Kael. You will be my assistant and refer to me as Lady Roselyn. I’m unsure of the auction’s requirements, so we’ll have to deal with that accordingly. Our goal is to secure a property large enough to accommodate a spatial array. It doesn’t need to be the most expensive or fancy.”
“Got it,” Kael said.
Stella glanced over her shoulder and raised her brow. Kael paused, cleared his throat, and bowed ever so slightly. “Your wish is my command, Lady Roselyn.”
Stella smiled. “Much better. Let’s head to the upper layer of the Citadel.”
***
As expected, a problem arose the moment they arrived. The Citadel was a tight-knit community, and the noble district was even more so. Few people came and went from the Citadel besides members of the Tessellate family. Because of this, everyone knew each other, so Stella’s appearance naturally drew attention.
Sometimes he wondered if she did this deliberately, almost as if she were asking for trouble. Whatever her motives, he stuck to his lane and did everything he could to avoid standing out. While his garments matched those of the people around him, his way of walking and talking certainly didn’t. He felt like an impostor, as if his façade would be discovered at any moment. Thankfully, he could walk in Stella’s shadow, as the confident aura she commanded was almost blinding.
Without paying any heed to the people at the entrance, she attempted to stride into the auction like she owned the place.
“Excuse me, miss,” a man wearing the sigil of the Council called out, forcing Stella to halt.
“What might be the problem?” Stella said in an irritated tone, as if in a hurry.
“My apologies, miss, but may I know your name?” he asked. Kael felt his stomach drop. Catching Stella’s gaze, he remembered his role and swiftly stepped forward, gesturing toward her.
“This is Lady Roselyn,” he said with a serious expression. “It would be unwise for you to stand in her way.”
The guard chuckled. “My deepest apologies, but I’ve never heard of a Lady Roselyn before, and we don’t allow mortals to enter the noble district.”
Kael faked his best smile. “You’re mistaken. She is not a mortal, and the reason you haven’t heard of her is that she’s visiting from the mainland.”
The guard’s demeanor instantly shifted, and he appraised Stella more closely. “You’re from the mainland, miss?”
It was high-brow speak for someone originating from the sixth layer of creation, or basically anywhere except the Citadel.
She leaned in, flexing her soul pressure. “I’m trying to keep a low profile, so it would be best if we avoided a scene,” she said, while drawing a crowd of eyes.
The guard frowned. “I understand your predicament, but I can’t let you through without proof.”
Stella sighed in irritation and opened her palm. A small, yet impossibly pure white soul flame ignited.
“Is this enough?”
“A white soul flame…” the guard muttered, swallowing hard.
She closed her hand, dismissing the flame.
“You may proceed,” the guard said, stepping aside.
Stella didn’t say anything more and made her way past the trembling guard.
A well-dressed servant hurried forward and bowed.
“We are honored to host someone from the mainland for this auction,” the servant said in a measured tone. “Please, let me guide you.”
Stella simply nodded and seemed unfazed by the attentiveness. Kael, however, felt out of place. While starving in the slums of the Citadel, he’d wondered what life was like up here. Just months ago, serving nobles would have been his dream. But now he was being attended to like royalty, all because of the woman walking before him.
The servant led them down the tunnel that was ten people tall. There were many other groups of nobles making the trip, yet not all of them had a servant personally leading them.
Which, unfortunately, meant more attention landed on them, a two-person group being attended to by a seemingly high-ranking servant.
The tunnel began to slope downwards. It appeared the auction was held underground, in an expansive space carved into the Citadel’s rock. He’d assumed nobles lived only above, where the spatial Qi was strongest, but evidently, they also enjoyed staying underground beneath all these layers of defensive formations.
He had only been standing in the Upper District for a few hours and already felt relief not being under constant spatial pressure now that they were underground. Sometimes, too much Qi could be toxic, and it was exhausting trying to stop the surroundings from forcefully pulling the spatial Qi out of his soul.
His wandering thoughts came to a pause as they reached the end of the passage, which opened into an expansive hall. Plush chairs were arrayed in small clusters that levitated in three layers from the floor to the ceiling. Their servant led them to a corner seat in the front row with ample space around it. Clearly, it was the best seat outside the balcony boxes surrounding the hall.
With only one chair, Stella took it and dismissed the servant. She clicked her fingers, and suddenly the world around them felt detached from reality. A few nearby glyphs glowed brightly with power but seemed to fail at stopping Stella’s technique.
“Good job back there,” Stella said, reclining in the chair. “But why does everyone react like that when I show my white flame?”
“Because the main branch of the Tessellate family is famous for their white soul flames,” Kael explained. “While having white flames doesn’t guarantee that you are from the main branch, it’s a strong indicator. Your appearance, mannerisms, and that flame made it easy for the guard to believe you.”
Stella nodded and fell silent. Kael took the chance to survey their surroundings. He’d expected a natural cave, but the walls were too smooth, decidedly man-made, with towering pillars supporting the Citadel above. Nobles in silk cloaks chattered or took their seats. While the atmosphere seemed peaceful, dozens of inquisitive eyes bored into them from behind as they sat in the front row. He felt like they stuck out like a sore thumb as he had no option but to stand there next to the casually seated princess.
“Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.”
Kael breathed a sigh of relief as the room quieted and a well-dressed man stepped forward. He wore finer attire than the servants but less ostentatious cloaks than the seated nobles.
“My name is Magister DuVont, and I will be conducting today’s auction of the spatially damaged properties in the noble district. As you know, an Anchor Pylon was destroyed a month ago, likely by a Rift-born.”
Angered murmurs spread throughout the room like wildfire.
Kael silently ground his teeth at some of the things he heard. However, remembering his new position as Stella’s servant, he held back and analyzed the strange situation.
I doubt it was done by a rift born. The Anchor Pylons in the noble district are heavily defended and would need a bomb of a magnitude stronger than the one I had to take them out.I wonder who actually did it? Maybe a noble? I can’t imagine it being anyone else.
Once the murmers quieted, Magister DuVont continued.
“Many landowners in the affected area wish to sell. This is understandable, as any region without an Anchor Pylon has highly erratic spatial Qi and risks separating from the Citadel into the spatial storm. Consequently, these plots will sell below market value due to the danger. Now, without further ado, let us begin with the first lot.”
He walked across the stage toward a large, pulsating slab of black metal. The lanterns, which seemed to be leather-like and floated throughout the room like the chairs, cast a shifting light on his hands as he pressed them to the stone. A projection of a truly massive estate bloomed into view.
“We will be starting bids on this plot owned by Thalos Tessellate for two million—”
Stella suddenly choked on the tea she had manifested out of heaven knows where.
“Are you alright, my lady?” Kael whispered, using Qi to mask his voice as best he could. “What happened? Is the price too high?”
“No—well, yes, I don’t have that much,” Stella said, calming herself as bids began flying through the room. “It’s that name.”
“Thalos Tessellate?”
Stella nodded and looked the most serious he had ever seen her. “He’s the debt collector I sold spirit stones to, but I had no idea he was part of the Tessellate family.”
Kael paled at that information, his eyes darting to the VIP booths around the hall. All of them, no doubt, had someone from the Tessellate family present in them. Purchasing a random cheap house wouldn’t have garnered much attention.
But buying it with money she had gotten from the family while pretending to be in debt?
That was unlikely to go well.
“My lady, I think we should leave,” he whispered.
“I can feel their eyes on me already,” Stella replied, leaning forward in her chair. “Leaving now would only invite more suspicion. All we can do is hope Thalos isn’t here and avoid buying any properties owned by him.”
“Sold for 3.2 million!” Magister DuVont announced, slamming his hand down onto the slab with a resounding thunk. He then gestured to one of the VIP booths. “You can acquire the deed to the property from Thalos Tessellate at the end of the auction.”
A spotlight shone onto the booth. A tall man wearing a shimmering cloak and flanked by two guards emerged from the shadows and waved to the nobles below. His gaze swept across the seats and seemed to linger on theirs for a moment longer than the others.
“You have got to be joking,” Stella grumbled, keeping her eyes straight forward.
“What if all the properties are owned by members of the Tessellate family?” Kael asked. Every bone in his body was begging him to flee this lion’s den. The Tessellate weren’t just strong, they were merciless tyrants.
Stella chuckled nervously. “Then it looks like I’ll be meeting the Tessellate family again sooner than I would have liked. I just hope I don’t run into her again.”
“Her?” Kael asked, confused.
“Yeah, the one who saw me blow up the Anchor Pylon.”
