Aster and Ang didn''t remain too long in the dimensional tunnel; however, it was enough for Aster to keepughing at the irony caused by someone that could see the future to forgetting to bring her stuff when she was going to stay overnight.


    "It wasn''tpletely my fault… I couldn''t have known I would be allowed to stay, since you were going to take the decision", mumbled Ang as she cutely puffed her cheeks, only for Aster to chuckle at her.


    "I don''t think you needed the ability to see the future to know that", he jokingly said, luckily for Ang, Aster stopped teasing her in part because he didn''t want to take things further and in part because they left the dimensional tunnel, arriving at their destination.


    Well, not exactly, even with his authority there were ces to where he couldn''t teleport directly, most would be really key points of the sect, but there was a not so important exception, the living areas of the female disciples and elders.


    So, Aster instead appeared at the entrance of the living area, destined for inner elders of the White Sword faction, also to prevent any misunderstanding Aster used his telekinesis to help Ang move by herself, instead of making her float next to him, like earlier.


    "My mansion''s is the fifth one", said Ang as she guided Aster through the entrance of the living area, straight to her home.


    Naturally a man appearing in this area, drew the attention of all the nearby people, it''s worth mentioning that the inner elder living zone was right in front of the core disciple area, so both disciples and elders of the White Sword faction saw Aster and Ang entering her home.


    Ang didn''t bother to close the door of her mansion, she simply went upstairs to pick her stuff, while Aster waited for her at the entrance, he could feel a wide variety of gazes on him, some were curious, others were of admiration and there were also hostile ones.


    "I''m ready, we can go…", just as Ang apanied Aster to the door and was about to close it so they could leave, a pair of mocking voices could be heard.


    "So, the famous receptionist of the main Mission Hall finally decided to appear, after making us deal with all theins from the disciples that had to wait in line", said a male inner elder.


    "Hey, Ang if you can''t deal with the responsibilities of being an inner elder, you can always be a deacon to match that sole path cultivation of yours", added a female elder.


    Just like with inner disciples, the most talented guys managed to make it to the ranks of inner elders, but got stuck there being unable to meet the requirements to be core disciples, which ended with most of them leaving sooner orter when they realize they can''t cheat their way to the important ranks, but that''s beside the point.


    Despite Ang not showing it on the surface, Aster could tell that her previously bright mood, soured due to those guys.


    "Ignore those losers, they are simply taking their frustration on you after failing to get the privilege for the idiots that are sponsoring them, I can see the envy in their eyes after seeing your name on the records", casually said Aster as he gazed at the male elder to then change his target to the female one to add.


    "What they don''t know is that those ten spots were taken by my Twin Sword valley and I purposely didn''t im the twenty spots out of consideration, something that won''t repeat again, those who end up with nothing next time, can direct theirins to that woman and the 7th ranked core disciple, the one from the Orange Lotus".


    Aster''s words made the female elder pale on the spot.


    ''How the hell did he know!'', she inwardly screamed, while Aster coldly snorted in his mind, he might not be an alchemist, but with his sharp senses and the knowledge imparted by Mylene, how could he not recognize the remaining scent of antitoxin spirit herbs on that woman''s clothes.


    "D-Don''t take things too far, Lord of the Twin Sword valley, all I''m saying is that for someone who asked Lady Mika for the position of head receptionist at the main Mission Hall od the sect, she wasn''t responsible enough to stay behind, knowing that today''s announcement would cause so much trouble!", eximed the female elder.


    What a joke, she could already feel the ill-intentioned gazes from the different elders who were sponsored by other top ranked disciples, since they wouldn''t dare to hold the monster who killed Edward under the eyes of the Supreme Elder that backed him, she was going to be the escape goat for this.


    Unfortunately, she just dug her tomb even deeper than before, Aster snorted as he took out one of his dragon buster series golden swords to then stab it on the ground, his sword intent as well as his spirit pressure exploded in all directions as he dered.


    "So, what, I was the one who asked her to take a day off to celebrate her bing my exclusive receptionist, any insult towards my her will from now and onwards be considered an insult to me, if anyone has a problem with that, feel free toe and say it right to my face!".


    Needless to say, but none of the presents who were gossiping earlier, dared to raise let alone their voices, but even their faces.


    "Cowards who only know how to speak behind other people''s backs", said Aster as he walked right through the crowd of elders and core disciples who opened a path for him on the spot, to then courtly signal the way in an exaggerated manner for Ang who was softlyughing at his obvious act.


    With a renowned good mood, the receptionist girl followed Aster out of the White Sword inner elder''s living area, to then disappear alongside him, naturally the previous event would spread like fire in the iing hours, but that''s what Aster wanted, Ang didn''t bother to discuss with those idiots, but how could he allow others to badmouth his friend in front of him.


    Back at the living room of the castle, Aster noticed that apparently everyone had already gone to their rooms, leaving Mika who was deeply sleeping on the cough, behind for him to deal with.


    "I hope you don''t mind sharing a room with miss Mika, it would be better just in case she wakes up without remembering anything", said Aster as he made Mika float alongside them.


    "Mm, leave it to me", said the receptionist girl, clearly happy to see Aster made those guys swallow theirins, they soon reached the door of one of the many empty rooms of the mansion, this one had two separated bedrooms, so Mika could rest and sober up without waking up Ang.


    The moment Aster left Mika on her bed, Ang who has recovered the ability to move by herself, saw Aster standing at the door and her face slightly reddened.


    "Thanks for earlier, goodnight!", she eximed to then close the door on his face, making Aster chuckle, he wasn''t going to enter their room, but it was cute to see her react like that, for someone who was used to be a step ahead from others, Ang was experiencing being unable to get even the tiniest hint about Aster''s actions beforehand, it was a new thing for her.


    Aster who could feel Ang''s presence at the door, meaning she was there waiting for him to leave, softlyughed to then leave to his own room, luckily when we passed next to Eris''s room, he heard theughs of other girls meaning that they were holding their usual meeting.


    He approached the little girl and then patted her head as he said.


    "Why don''t you and Espi go attend Eris and Mylene''s slumber party for a bit, I even heard a certain grumpy cat girlughing, so they must be having a lot of fun".


    "Mm~", Kana nodded as she left along with Espi, leaving Aster alone with the four "bad girls" who needed some punishment, speaking of them, Aria who could feel Aster''s intense gaze on them and she cutely hid below the bed sheet to then mumble.


    "Does it make a difference if I say I was dragged by the dragon princess?", only to see Aster shaking his head to then throw his clothes aside.


    "No".


    Aria was taken by surprise, when she saw Aster shing, to then appear next to her below the bed sheet, he moved at an insane speed making it impossible for the poor ice princess to "retaliate" so before she noticed, she was being embraced by Aster.


    "Not fair darling, I wore my favorite dress just for you", said Lilia as she got below the bed sheet, she clearly wanted to go first, unfortunately for her, she only got a soft poke on her nose from Aster who smirked at her.


    "If I were to give you what you want, then this wouldn''t be punishment, right?", he said, the best way to get back at that lewd dragon mother of his, was leaving her forst, theplete opposite of Aria who liked to either go after one of her sisters, or in the worst-case scenario, at the same time as Alice.


    It''s not embarrassing to make those sweet sounds, if everyone is doing it after all, but if she goes first, then she''ll wish to dig a hole to hide, the next morning since she knows she''ll actually enjoy it too much to worry about it right now.


    "W-Wait, I''ll be good… nyaaaa~", Aria who tried to beg for mercy was met with Aster nibbling on her cute earlobe while his hand rubbed her belly to then slowly move downwards.


    "Oh, perhaps spending time with Mira is starting to have some effect", jokingly said Aster, referring to that cute sound the ice princess made earlier, Aster suddenly found himself wondering how would Aria look if she made a contract with the ligress girl and then entered Elemental Synchronization state.


    ''Humph,scivious dragons'', mumbled Rya from within the mind space, making Aster chuckle, he had to admit that the image of an Aria with those cute fluffy ears, is something he looked up to see.


    "Wuuuh~", speaking of Aria, she hid her face with her hands, while letting out soft sweet sounds, only then Aster realized his hands didn''t stop teasing her while he was lost in his thoughts.


    He could also feel a really rare gaze of jealousying from Sarina, which reminded him that she wore her favorite dress and even manifested her pretty wings for him, just like Lilia did, in other words the motherly blond woman wanted his attention as well, maybe because the next mission was for her.


    "Now, now, I know my Sarina isn''t as petty as to not let her sisters have the first turn, when she''ll be my number one girl for the duration of the next mission, right?", said Aster as he used his special telekinesis to caress Sarina''s face, making her blush as she nodded.


    "Mm~", the words "number one girl", made Sarina''s heart flutter, her chest flooded with happiness and even a bit of pride as she felt Lilia''s envious gaze.


    ''Hehe, I''m the number one~'', she continuously repeated in her mind.


    What followed were cute sounds and happy giggles as well as cries of "mercy" for the next couple of hours, by the time the little girl and little wyrm returned to the room, everything was sparkling clean courtesy of Rigel''s mes, also Alice, Aria and even the blond motherly Sarina, were happily sleeping with smiling expressions on their pretty faces.


    "Yeei, I''ll have big brother for myself", eximed the little girl, only for her to hear aining hiss.


    "Hisss!".


    "Sorry, I mean for ourselves", mumbled Kana, Aster chuckled, they weren''t exactly right, since a certain dragon mother was basically invincible in bed, that being said and to Lilia''s surprise, she felt slightly tired this time, something that Aster noticed, since she was especially loud tonight.


    ''I guess her lineage''s evolution brought more changes than what I thought'', thought Aster, he was brought back to the real world by a pair of little girls who tackled him, making him fall backwards on the bed, well on top of Lilia to be exact but the soft sensation on his back didn''t lose at all whenpared to a real bed, so everything was good.


    And so, with Aster gently caressing Kana''s hair and Espi''s smooth scales, they entered thend of dreams.


    While Aster enjoyed a good night of rest surrounded by beauties, the rest of the sect wasn''t that lucky.


    …


    A few hourster the moon was reced by the sun and day came to the Battle, Aster slowly opened his eyes only to see pair of cute little girl and little wyrm, resting on his chest, they "demanded" to be caressed by Aster until they fell asleep yesterday, so they had a really nice night of rest.


    "Get up little sleepy princesses, we have to prepare for our departure", said Aster as he pecked Kana and Espi''s foreheads, to wake them up.


    "Mm~".


    "Hiss~".


    With a cute sound and a cute hiss, those two slowly opened their eyes and brightly smiled at Aster to then roll out of his chest,nding on the bed, right next to Aster, who wasn''t sandwiched between the girls for a change, Lilia did demand her morning kiss before letting him leave though.


    "Good morning darling~", said Lilia as she let go of Aster.


    "Let''s go, we''ll have breakfast and then leave", said Aster as he got up the bed, not without waking the other sleeping beauties, Sarina included.


    By the time all of them dressed up properly to follow Aster and Sarina who went ahead, most of the girls as well as the guests were already at the dining room.


    "Good morning, did I miss something?", said Aster, seeing that they were all chatting with quite some interest.


    "Well, let''s say that it was quite a rough night", said Agnes, nearly making Aria who was just arriving to the dining room, trip, thinking someone heard the shameful sounds, Aster "forced" out of her,


    The other girls did turn to see Aria since she nearly tripping down, caught their attention, but they didn''t rte Agnes''s words to that.


    Agnes inwardly frowned, having a strange feeling flooding her chest, but she shook her head and discard her thoughts to then exin what happened within the sect during the past hours.


    Apparently, more than a third of the top hundred inner disciples… left, not for the mission, but the sect, practically all the remaining male inner disciples of the Red Sword, Purple Lotus and Blue anvil factions, officially left the sect, among which a lot had a spot in the top hundred.


    "Humph, they even had the guts to say that it was because their progression was halted as they were being "suppressed" by a privileged disciple, when the truth is that they were too trash to aim at the core disciple position and just made excuses to go back to their families and forces of origin", said Agnes with clear anger in her voice.


    While Aster certainly broke all the records and standards by entering the sect as a core disciple, despite the harsh condition set up for male prospects, it wasn''t impossible to climb from the position of inner disciple to a core disciple, in fact Erick was already halfway there, having achieved fame and status on a simr level to Victor who was considered a half-step core disciple, thanks to all the hard missions he haspleted.


    "Don''t bother with them, all those spots went to the ck Sword faction anyway, so it''s not like anything was lost", said Aster as he sat down on the main seat of the table.


    He was right, those guys forgot that in terms of strength they were either on par of below the regr girls of the ck Sword faction, the only reason as to why they had a higher rank than some of them, is because they had it easier to gather merit points.


    So, all those who left, basically gifted their spots to them and now, more than two thirds of the top hundred inner disciple rankings, belonged to the ck Sword faction.


    "I would have wanted for the Core Disciples to be cleaned as well, but they weren''t that stupid", said Iris, a lot of the deserters were from the Red Sword faction, she could bet that hermunication talisman had a ton of unread messages about it, luckily, she turned it off and used a private one, which only her friends and close people knew about.


    "Well, more like they sacrificed someone to test the waters", added Nerissa.


    One core disciple decided to leave the sect, despite Aster''s godmother warning, it was a girl from the Purple Lotus faction, and as promised she was exiled and punished, though she wasn''t killed nor crippled, something that brought joy to the ones behind her resignment, their celebration was short-lived.


    She was sent out through an unstable dimensional tunnel, which resulted in her meridians ending up in disarray, making it impossible for her to properly use spirit energy for the next year at least, thus keeping her from being able to participate in the iing event that would unfold in the four Heavenly Quadrants.


    Of course, if the force behind of her, was willing to use precious resources, the problem could be solved, but it wasn''t profitable, unless we are talking about someone in the top three of the core disciples ranking and Aster had the three of them, sitting at his table, right now.


    And since the punishment wasn''t even permanent and normally a year of not being able to cultivate properly is nothing for a cultivator, then no one could raise waves about it, in other words those old guys behind this petty scheme, werepletely outyed by Aster''s godmothers.


    "Big brother, before we leave can you apany us to pick up something at the Central Capital?", cutely asked Kana to Aster.


    "Oh, don''t tell me you little girls asked arge number of snacks and candies, behind my back", jokingly said Aster.


    "Pleasee~",


    "Hisss~".


    Those two gave Aster puppy eyes, he guessed correctly, the little girl and little wyrm knew that they might be out of the sect for quite some time, so they went up and made big orders of their favorite snacks.


    "Fine, but we''ll have to be fast, okay?", said Aster ultimately being unable to refuse those two, also he wanted to see the state in which the sect was as of current, so after having their fill of Sarina''s delicious food, the three of them got up the table to leave, only for Aster to meet Mika who had just woken up and wasing to the dining room for something to eat.


    It''s worth mentioning that while her hair was a bit messy, her clothes were perfectly tidied up, she looked like a mix of the usual elegant Mika and the carefree drunk one.


    The White Sword''s faction core elder had clearly sobered up and was back to her elegant and calm self, with the exception that she seemed to have trouble to remember what happened yesterday.


    "Hi… sorry about yesterday, I might have taken it a bit too far", she mumbled.


    "No worries, but I would advice miss Mika to enjoy with moderation from now and onwards", jokingly said Aster.


    "Mm", Mika limited to shily nod, slowly but surely all what she did and said wasing back to her, so she just remembered how she was marveled at flying thanks to Aster''s telekinesis, it was embarrassing enough for her to feel as if her face was burning.


    "Perhaps, a bit of fresh air will be a good idea before leaving, that is if you still want to travel with us", said Aster to which Mika cleared her throat in response.


    "Ahem, I''ll dly take on the offer, Lisa got angry at me for passing my responsibilities, to her, so she already left after sending me a message earlier", said Mika, apparently her maid took her personal spaceship with her, so she had no other option than to travel with Aster, just as her drunk self wanted.


    And so, with a third person joining them for a quick stroll, Aster used his authority and disappeared from the castle to the merchant district of the Central Capital.


    The moment they appeared, Aster frowned as he saw therge number of disciples in the nearby stores, all of them were junior girls from the ck Sword faction, who should have already left at this point.


    "Good morning senior brother~", said those curious girls in unison as they saw Aster appear out of nowhere, they immediately surrounded him like usual.


    "What are you all doing here, shouldn''t you have already left?", asked Aster, making one of them, giggle, before saying.


    "We decided to stay behind and ask senior brother to take us with him, what do you say little Kana can you share senior brother with us, just for this little travel", she said making Kana pout in response.


    She hugged Aster with a defensive expression on her pretty face, to then say.


    "No, this is mom''s mission, the only one who big brother can spoil besides mom, is me", she said, making Aster chuckle as he patted her head a couple of times.


    "Now, these sisters are only joking, otherwise they would have waited at East Sky city, not here", he said.


    "As expected of senior brother, you noticed", mumbled the same cunning girl that answered earlier, while veteran disciples from the ck Sword faction were regrs at the Central Capital, the junior disciples didn''t go there, they remained at the East Sky city where they didn''t have to worry about anything.


    "Sorry little Kana, but it was worth a try", said the girl as she proceeded to exin why they hadn''t left.


    "The inner elders who are in charge of escorting us, received a message and then told us that the Supreme Elder arranged an extra escort to apany us, we are waiting for her to arrive", she said.


    Aster frowned at her words, the inner elders of the ck Sword faction specialize in battle, so they are among the strongest inner elders in the sect, they might not be as strong as Agnes, but fighting at early-stage Void Maniption level is not out of their possibilities, coupled with the spaceships of the sect, unless a Law Integration enemy appeared, they should be enough to protect those little girls and yet the Supreme Elder of the Battle Peak called reinforcements to escort them.


    ''Mmm, something must have happened, but then why hasn''t Julian told us anything, or is it just out of precaution, well in any case the Supreme Elder is trust-worthy ording to mom, so everything should be fine'', thought Aster, as he put the matter at the back of his head for now.


    "Okay, I hope you have a safe trip, don''t cause trouble to the elders", said Aster, which made those girls giggle.


    "We''ll go cheer up on senior brother~", they eximed in unison, making Aster bitterly smile, he could already imagine those cute but fierce girls wreaking havoc at the slightest opportunity.


    ''We can go now'', Mika who had hid her presence, went to pick up the snacks of the little girl and wyrm, returned, giving Aster the signal for them to return to the castle, she kept herself hidden from those girls for some reason.


    Aster nodded and they disappeared from the Central Capital, leaving behind a bunch of hyped girls who were already thinking on how to cheer up their idolter.


    Back at the castle, Mika handed the snacks to the pair of little girl and little wyrm, who were happy for a short time, before Sarina confiscated them.


    "I''ll administrate the snacks for you two, here miss Mika I prepared some food for you", said the motherly blond woman as she took the ring containing all those delicious treats, and ced a te on the table for Mika.


    "Thanks… I''m not really fond of formalities, please feel free to call me Mika", said the White Sword core elder as she sat down to eat her breakfast, just the first bite made her eyes sparkle, she loved Mylene''s elixirs but Sarina''s food was just impossible to ignore as well.


    Seeing Kana and Espi''s "depressed" expressions, he petted their heads to then give the little wyrm a blood candy, while Kana got a sweet pill, courtesy of Mylene.


    "Big brother is the best~", said the little girl as she ran away, afraid that her mother would take her candy from her, making Sarina sigh.


    "Don''t spoil them too much…", mumbled Sarina as she pouted at Aster, making thetter chuckle, the real meaning behind her words was "spoil me".


    Aster gently pecked Sarina''s lips and then wrapped his arm around her waist, to then say.


    "Heh, if you want me to spoil you, just say it, also don''t worry those were only cultivation resources with good taste".


    "Humph, so I ended up being the bad parent, while you they like you instead", said Sarina with feigned anger, to which Aster chuckled.


    "Well, one has to be the responsible one here", he said as he walked towards the living room, where everyone had gathered with Sarina hugging his arm.


    "Are you ready, onest check is never a bad idea?", said Aster to everyone, they all nodded at him after going through their respective spatial rings, while Lilia shed and held onto Aster''s free arm, while intensely gazing at Sarina, making Aster sigh, he could already see those two fighting for his attention during the whole travel.


    But he couldn''t get mad at Lilia, considering the fact that the mission wasn''t realm restricted, there is a huge chance that Lilia will have to stay behind, on the other hand, she can now send her consciousness into the mind space, so it''s not like before, as she will be with Aster at all times, but she won''t be physically present.


    Also, Aster could feel the curious gaze from a certain receptionist girl, Ang already realized that the "in" girl that was with Aster when he invited her to the valley, was actually Lilia, needless to say but she was surprised to see the normal appearance that Lilia uses on her daily life.


    ''I guess it was to be expected of her to be so beautiful is she is Aster''s lover'', thought Ang, she was still unaware of the fact that she was his mother though, in fact most of the recently joined girls didn''t know that, since Aster has a different eye color, they all thought she was Alice''s mother only, but that''s beside the point.


    Seeing that everyone was ready, Aster snapped his fingers and arge portal dragged them away, making them appear the spatial station that floated in the middle of the fours that conformed the main branch of the sect.


    "Let''s go to the VIP port, I already made the preparations for us to use it", said Agnes as she guided the group.


    The elders in charge of guarding the portals greeted them and then opened the portal to the VIP dimensional tunnel.


    "We wish you a safe trip", said both female elders as they saw Aster wave his hand, making arge ck spaceship appear at the port, the whole group was transported into it the next second and the ship then dived into the portal, marking the official start of Aster''s new adventure.