Ashlock awoke to cloudy skies, a cold breeze, and the promise of rain. But that didn't bother him, as today was the end of the Mystic Realm. For once, he hadn't been entirely left out of the fun due to his new {Dimensional Overlap}skill letting him explore distant pocket realms as a tree, and he could even traverse them by floating around with {Skyborne Bastion}.

"I can't wait for them all to get back." Ashlock had been rather bored since Kaida went back into the Mystic Realm. Ideas on how to use Kaida's new abilities had occupied Ashlock's mind since, alongside his vain attempts at learning Warp Strike. Thankfully, the technique seemed more manageable to grasp than Spatial Lock, but it would still take him some time.

Warp Strike aside, Ashlock was still amazed at how Kaida could use his ink Qi to manifest a technique from a book into real life just by gaining heavenly insight from the ink.

"His affinity would be rather useless on Earth, where everything is digital," Ashlock chuckled as he imagined Kaida hissing angrily at a computer screen. Luckily, they were in an ancient-style world where the most profound scholars recorded their deepest insights in ink on parchment for the next generation of heaven-defying youngsters.

"We didn't get a chance to test so many things as I didn't want to hold back Kaida's cultivation just to sate my curiosity, but the potential of Kaida's ink affinity is near limitless," Ashlock mused as the sunlight snuck through the clouds and illuminated the dreary, quiet mountain peak. "Like what if Kaida wrote a hundred different techniques into the scales on his body and then, during a battle, activated them? Could he wipe out an entire army by himself with enough preparation?"

It was an exciting thought, but Ashlock also hoped for great things from the others. Stella should have grown in power, the Redclaws might have gained something useful from down that staircase below the slain fire titan, and Diana and Elaine went off with Maple's siblings, so he had no idea what to expect from them.

While waiting, Ashlock glanced at his sign-in system that had popped up to notify him of a new daily credit. It was weird to think that those daily credits had been so important back when he had been a sapling, but now they felt like a drop in the ocean.

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3559

Daily Credit: 7

Sacrifice Credit: 2303

[Sign in?]

"Seven days have passed since I signed in for my SSS grade skill. So today should be the day" Ashlock paused as the sunlight hit the Mystic Realm fog, and it evaporated away like foam from a beer. "Yeah, there we go."

He caught the briefest glimpse of pocket realms vanishing, and if someone from his group was inside, they were deposited out. The first to appear were the Redclaws.

Elder Brent, who looked exhausted, turned to the Grand Elder wearing a smug grin and shouted at him. "You bastard!"

"Quiet, we are in the presence of the immortal." The Grand Elder berated him and turned to look at Ashlock. "By the grace of the Ashfallen Sect, we have returned."

"You have done well, Grand Elder," Ashlock said within the man's mind with {Abyssal Whispers} while confused about their odd behavior. What had the Grand Elder done to Elder Brent?

Just from passing his spiritual sight of the group, Ashlock could tell they had grown considerably in strength. However, since they were grouped together, he couldn't tell exactly how far they had grown, so Ashlock opened his {Demonic Eye}.

"It's essential I know exactly how strong everyone in my sect is, so in the future, I never send someone to complete a task above their capabilities." Ashlock mused as the sound of his trunk splitting open filled the mountain peak.

Inspecting them one by one, Ashlock had mixed feelings.

"Grand Elder, you have improved by a single stage and now reside in the 6th stage of the Star Core Realm." Ashlock was a little disappointed as he had hoped the Grand Elder would be closing in on the Nascent Soul Realm a bit faster than this. Curious about why the Grand Elder was seemingly progressing slower than he expected, he asked, "Is there a reason for your slow progress?"

The Grand Elder bowed his head, "I assisted Elder Margret and Elder Mo with reaching the Star Core Realm, and the Qi density in the pocket realm was a bit too low for me, but I must admit there is no justification for my slow progress."

"Mhm, that is an acceptable reason," Ashlock replied as he shifted his gaze to Elder Margret and Elder Mo. They had both reached the first stage of the Star Core Realm. If the Grand Elder only went up one stage to get two Elders to the Star Core Realm, that was a win in his book.

Deciding now was the perfect opportunity to implant a mental seed in his followers while they were all grouped before him. Ashlock used {Abyssal Whispers} on all of them.

"Elder Margret and Elder Mo, you have done well. The more Star Core Elders we have, the better our chances against invading families from the Blood Lotus Sect and the upcoming beast tide."

The Elders in question only seemed slightly perturbed under the influence of his {Demonic Eye} and his {Abyssal Whispers}. It made sense since he had spoken to Elder Margret numerous times, and Elder Mo had an iron will.

His gaze turned to Amber, who gulped, and Elder Brent, who was quivering and looking straight at the ground.

"Sorry, just bear with it for a moment," Ashlock muttered to himself as he looked at both of them but then grew confused. Elder Brent was barely in the 9th stage of the Soul Fire Realm, whereas Amber had caught up and was also in the 9th stage. How was Elder Brent's progress so slow compared to Ambers. Maybe he needed some encouragement?

"Amber, you have done a great job, going up two whole stages," Ashlock said, "Your growth is commendable."

The girl beamed a smile and threw herself into a bow. "Thank you for the high praise, immortal."

Ashlock then directed his Demonic Eye at the quivering Elder beside Amber. "Elder Brent, your cultivation is lagging behind the others. I'm expecting good things from you, so make sure not to fall too far behind, alright?"

"Y-yes immortal," Elder Brent stammered as he dropped to one knee and bowed his head, "I will strive to improve."

"Good," Ashlock replied as he saw the Grand Elder and Elder Margret exchange a look of grave concern.

"There really must be something wrong with Elder Brent if they look this concerned." Ashlock mused, but he had no more time to analyze the Redclaws as other people had arrived.

"You are all dismissed," Ashlock said to the Redclaws, as he wanted some alone time with the others away from earshot, and the Redclaws needed to regain control of the White Stone Palace as some youngsters had gotten rather rowdy.

The Redclaws gave him a final bow before three brought out large swords and hopped on. Amber got onto the back of the Grand Elder's sword while Elder Brent hopped onto Elder Margret's. The five of them then rocketed toward the White Stone Palace in trails of crimson flame.

"Tree!" Stella shouted as she ran out of the fog. "Look what I can do now" She vanished mid-stride as if something had deleted her from existence.

"Huh?" Ashlock hadn't seen anything except the faintest ripple of spatial Qi.

"Down here," Stella was perched casually on the bench below his canopy with a smug expression.

"How? Did you learn how to use Spatial Step?" Ashlock asked in awe. That had looked like a very complex technique when he had glanced through the book. How had she learned it in a month by herself without the technique manual?

"Sure did!" Stella stretched out slothfully like a cat. "I'm exhausted, though. Too much cultivating and thinking." She then whispered, "Oh, and thank you for the guards. I was worried when I saw them that you would be in trouble all alone back here, but it seems nothing happened while we were gone?"

"I was worried and didn't trust the pocket realms anymore, so I might have gone a little overboard with the protection," Ashlock chuckled, "Luckily, it's been very quiet over here. No signs of Nox returning so far, and I haven't seen any rise of monsters nearby despite checking occasionally."

Stella let out a sigh, "Well, that's good."

"So... any growth in your cultivation?" Ashlock asked as he looked at her with his {Demonic Eye}.

Stella clicked her tongue, "Of course! Do you take me for a slacker?"

"You are half asleep right now, aren't you?"

"Ugh, fair," Stella pushed herself up and brought a lilac flame to her hand, "Fourth stage in the Star Core Realm."

Ashlock was speechless. "You grew by three whole stages?"

"Only because I picked such a good pocket realm the second time round," Stella waved him off while dispelling the flame. She then laid back on the bench while watching the rapidly shrinking Mystic Realm fog, "That place was one massive Qi-gathering formation filled to the brim with spatial Qi. No matter how much I absorbed, more was always funneled into me, so it's no wonder my cultivation improved drastically."

Now that she mentioned it, Ashlock recalled that the pocket realm had been named 'Grand Spatial Array,'and the Qi had been listed in his system at the 4th stage of the Star Core Realm.

"No wonder her cultivation skyrocketed. She basically found a jackpot realm specifically designed to speedrun a spatial cultivator to the 4th stage of the Star Core Realm and no further."

Since the pocket realm's Qi was at the 4th stage, if Stella were to go back there as a 4th stage Star Core cultivator, she would experience diminishing returns. A shame, but if they could find another realm like that next time but with higher-stage Qi, then her cultivation might skyrocket again.

"Diana?" Stella suddenly called out and jumped to her feet while squinting at the dissipating fog.

Ashlock turned his attention back to the fog and was surprised to see a familiar-looking woman staring face-to-face with Kaida, who had appeared from a pocket realm next to her. The two looked into one another's eyes briefly before Diana spread her arms, and Kaida rocketed into her embrace while hissing happily.

Surprisingly, Diana wasn't knocked to the ground by Kaida's enthusiastic hug. She dug her heels into the stone and formed two small trenches with her heels as she was pushed back a meter.

"Since when did you get so big and strong?!" Diana grunted as she patted Kaida's large dragon-like head that rested on her shoulder.

Stella used Spatial Step to appear beside Diana instantly, "I could ask you the same thing." She squinted at Diana suspiciously.

Diana yelped, "Ah! Stella? What in the nine realms, how did you do that."

"Not important," Stella waved her off, "What the hell happened to you?"

Ashlock was also very curious. Diana now stood at an equal height to Stella when she had previously been almost a head shorter. Her usual short, tomboyish black hair was now lustrous with a blue tint and ran all the way down her back. She looked a little older with more defined features, especially in certain areas. If Ashlock had to summarize it, Diana had merged her demon and human form to find a middle ground.

Diana grinned, showing off her fangs. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She teased as she burrowed her head into Kaida. Raven wings thrice her size sprouted from her back, and she moved them to obscure herself and Kaida from Stella.

"Hey! Stop being shy and tell me." Stella tried to pull on the raven wing, but it was surprisingly strong and resisted her efforts. Stella blinked in surprise and then mumbled, "Did you reach the Star Core Realm? How are you this strong?"

Diana's wings suddenly spread out, and then, in a gust of mist, she propelled herself into the air like an angel of death. She flew around a bit before perching herself on Titus's shoulder and looking down at Stella.

But Stella was gone.

"So? Tell me what happened!" Stella said as she manifested, sitting beside Diana on Titus's shoulder and swinging her legs.

"You're going to give me a heart attack if you keep doing that," Diana gave Stella a strained smile. "But if you insist... the answer isn't that exciting. Neptune threw me into Hell for a week to fight demons, and then Neptune brought me to a pocket realm that supposedly belonged to my ancestors, which I shall not name to avoid being struck down by the heavens."

"Not interesting, my ass, you were thrown into hell?!" Stella's eyes widened. "And? How was it?"

Diana shrugged, "I wouldn't recommend it for a vacation. Rather dull and full of demons."

"I see..." Stella frowned, "So, what happened after that?"

"Well, I absorbed the Qi in the place of my ancestors and realized the reason for my stunted progress, bottlenecks, and general issues! I haven't been cultivating my affinity. This whole time, I was cultivating water and demonic Qi separately rather than together."

"Is... that even possible?" Stella tilted her head.

Diana shrugged, "Apparently, but I wouldn't advise it. I was stuck in the Soul Fire Realm for years, remember? And my body was wracked with corruption."

"So why did you change into this?" Stella asked while gesturing to Diana.

Diana flashed a fanged smile, "It seems my wrong way of cultivating also stunted my physical growth. I was always rather short and underdeveloped for my age, but I just attributed that to my mother. But as you can see, that wasn't the truth at all. Now that I cultivate demonic mist Qi, I don't have to be so wary of my demonic bloodline and suppressing it all the time."

Stella looked Diana up and down and smiled, "Well, that's good. Glad to see you are yourself now"

"Nooooooooo!"

Stella and Diana exchanged a confused look and peeked down at the sudden shout.

Ashlock followed the noise and saw Douglas kneeling on the floor, wearing a strange gemstone crown. Elaine was standing beside him and patting him on the shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Elaine asked Douglas, who was staring at the ground before him.

Douglas sighed, "My minions... they were left behind."

"Minions?" Elaine hugged his back, "I must have been gone for too long. I don't remember you having any minions."

"It's only been a month, Elaine. Did you miss me that much?" Douglas laughed as he held her hands.

"A month for you, a lifetime for me." Elaine casually replied as she escaped his grasp, ruffled his hair, and got off his back. "Anyway, tell me about these minions, and what is this crude crown you got on?"

Douglas rose to his full height and faced her, then looked around in confusion, "Why are there three of you?"