Heaven, Earth, Me

They followed through the luxurious halls and corridors until they reached a tall door, at least ten meters tall. Tatyana raised her eyebrow, surprised. “You are going to use your main smithy?”

Elder Irina snorted, “Do you think you are the only one who wants to spoil her? She asked for my help, so I will do the best I can!”

Yasenia went to her side and hugged her arm, “Thank you, Aunt Rina.”

Elder Irina laughed happily, “Do not worry, little Yasenia! Your mom and I have known each other for many thousands of years already. Calling you my niece wouldn’t be an exaggeration! Therefore, Aunt Rina will do the best she can!”

After she heard that Elder Irina was friends with Tatyana, Yasenia’s eyes sparkled with happiness, “I hope aunt Rina can continue to be friends with mom!”

Elder Irina found her choice of words strange but nodded with a smile. “If my little niece tells me to, how could I not listen to her!”

Tatyana knew why Yasenia was saying this, and her face became gentle. She stepped forward and grabbed her hand. She didn’t mind clearing some doubts, so she explained through a mental link, ‘She said that because she doesn’t know anything “good” that has happened to me long ago and still lasts today. Probably she has linked our friendship as a good thing.’

Elder Irina understood and looked with a gentle smile to Yasenia. ‘You’ve softened up a lot since you had her, Tatyana. I hope you find that happiness you’ve been searching for with her and stop thinking about that stupid technique. You know that its chances of being successful are abysmal.’

Tatyana didn’t answer, but her hand tightened a little more on Yasenia’s. To be honest, Yasenia was her last try to find happiness in life. If she doesn’t manage to achieve it even with her, then…

When they opened the doors, an extreme heatwave washed over them. Elder Irina protected Andrea with her aura, and Tatyana protected Yasenia in the same way.

Inside the smithy was a world of fire and metal. Different machines of different sizes filled the room, and several materials were glowing red and changing forms with automated machinery. This automatic functionality was very limited but useful for all the tedious stuff. The way to make them automated was with high-grade formations and rare materials that had memory. These materials were semi-sentient and could be used in different ways.

There also exists sentient and even sapient materials, but these are always of an extremely high ranking and rarity. Some weapons, armors, or other tools that were used often could also gain sentience and sapience if the quality was high enough.

Elder Irina looked around and disappeared from the spot. Right after, sounds of metal against metal echoed through the enormous smithy in different places. Elder Irina wanted to leave everything aside to be with Yasenia for a while, so she was preparing for that and giving the last touches to some things she was making here.

In Yasenia’s and Andrea’s eyes, some things suddenly changed places, changed forms, and red, gold, and black formations lit up everywhere. It was an astonishingly beautiful spectacle. Tatyana said, “She is retouching some things she is creating right now. The reason we are protecting you is that the current heat inside the smithy is enough to kill high-level unification realm cultivators. Not to mention the two of you.”

Yasenia curiously took out a magic-ranked metal piece and threw it toward a place where there was nothing. When the metal left the protective bubble, it became a liquid in three seconds and then evaporated. Yasenia opened her eyes, stunned. ‘Metal evaporated!?’

Andrea and Tatyana laughed, seeing her expression. Andrea said, “It has been a while since I entered here. I think it was four years ago? Seeing all of this brings memories back…”

Elder Irina appeared before them, sweating a little, and said to Andrea. “There wasn’t any reason for you to come here since you got that heaven-rank smelting machine. By the way, I’m still waiting for another heaven-ranked treasure from you! Have you been slacking?”

Andrea scratched her cheek, “I haven’t been seriously smiting for a while. I’m focusing more on cultivation. With Yasenia running behind me, I can’t slack in cultivation, or I would be overtaken before I know it.”

Elder Irina nodded in understanding, “With my talented niece behind you, I bet you are feeling pressure for the first time!”

Andrea was speechless. “You’ve appropriated of that title quite fast, master. Doesn’t your cheeks burn?”

Yasenia hugged Andrea and tiptoed to bite her chin, “Do you have any problem with Aunt Rina, mmm~?”

Andrea laughed and kissed Yasenia, “None.”

Elder Irina smirked and said, “Enough with the dog food; we’ve come here for a reason! Take out your sword, Yasenia! Let’s unravel its mysteries~.”

Yasenia and Andrea chuckled and separated. Then, Yasenia took out [Draconic Heart]. Elder Irina’s face turned serious, and she looked at it. After touching it through the edge, she frowned slightly and said. “Yasenia, try cultivating while holding it.”

Yasenia sat cross-legged, placed the sword on her lap, and emptied her mind. It didn’t take long before she began circulating her energy and making the energy around her gather toward her. Then she started absorbing it.

The Moon, Sun, and star elements separated from the world’s energy and entered Yasenia through her pores. Then, this energy circulated around her meridians, nourishing her body. The energy that wasn’t absorbed by the body reached her dantian, elevating her energy amount.

Elder Irina saw how the sword absorbed all the energy Yasenia couldn’t absorb and went through complicated circuits inside the sword toward its glowing red core. The red core seemed like a bottomless abyss as it absorbed energy without disrupting Yasenia.

Yasenia continued cultivating for two hours straight while Elder Irina didn’t lose concentration for a second. Then, she nodded and told Yasenia that she could stop.

She went forward and took the sword from her. Then, she tapped the ground once with her feet, and formations lit up on the far right. Some training dummies appeared.

The ten dummies were made from different materials, growing in durability the further they were to the right.

Elder Irina approached the dummy in the middle and swung the sword with unification realm strength.

Yasenia and Andrea saw a blur followed by a loud metallic sound.

*CLANG!*

The sword didn’t pierce the dummy’s exterior, just creating a slight dent. You could see the marvel in Elder Irina’s face. “This sword is… It goes against a lot of concepts I learned… How can it be so resilient yet dull….”

They continued hearing murmurs like this coming from Elder Irina. Then, Elder Irina moved one dummy to the right and used low-level Dantian Spiritualization strength.

This time, Yasenia and Andrea didn’t even see the shadow of the sword.

*CLAAANG!!*

The dummy only had a single scratch on the surface, but what made Elder Irina awestruck was that the sword was impeccable. Even if it looked ancient and slightly worn out, after the hit, nothing changed. There wasn’t even a nick on the sword.

Then she asked, “Little Yasenia, can I swing it with real strength? If it breaks, I will create a transcendent ranked sword for you.”

Yasenia nodded, “This sword seems to have some secrets, but I will trust aunt Irina.”

Elder Irina’s smile grew like a child with a new toy, and she said without losing the smile. “Come with me~ We are going to test this baby!”

They walked through the smithy, passing different objects that were mid-creation. Some seemed weapons, others giant cages, some ship parts also could be seen, and entire buildings that were made of metal… In short, there were plenty of things around.

They reached an unassuming door, not taller than three meters, and entered.

On the other side, there was a room bigger than the smithy behind them, but it was completely empty. Its walls were white, and the floor was light brown colored. “This is one of the few places that can resist against Transcendent realm strength. Don’t move from Tatyana’s side, this will get dangerous.”

Yasenia and Andrea weren’t strangers to the Transdence realm cultivator’s strength, so they obeyed without complaints. Elder Irina prepared [Draconic Heart] and circulated her energy. A scorching aura spread around the whole place, giving the ambient a reddish hue. Space slightly trembled as Elder Irina gathered the energy inside her body.

However, when Elder Irina’s energy reached the sword…

*BOOM!*

She lost control of all of that massive amount of energy, and it exploded violently from the handle.

Elder Irina had been prepared for any situation but this one! She hastily tried to release the handle, not expecting that reaction, but it was too late.

The explosion hit her squarely on the side, and the explosion blasted her away with a mangled arm and internal organs misplaced!

*Bang!*

She hit the wall on the side, splashing blood, and slid downward.

Yasenia, Andrea, and even Tatyana were surprised at what happened. They looked where Elder Irina previously was, and only the sword was there, laid on the ground as if nothing had happened. When Elder Irina appeared before them again, their eyes widened.

Blood covered the side of her body, and deep gashes could be seen in some places. However, most of the injuries had stopped bleeding and were already regenerating.

Yasenia went toward her and asked, concerned, “Are you ok, Aunt Rina? What happened?”

Elder Irina patted her head with her good and clean arm and laughed spiritedly, “To think we had such a treasure in our armory all these years! I will have to revise our inventory to see if there are more hidden treasures like this one. Tatyana, where did this sword come from?”

Tatyana shrugged, “I had it in my ring and left it in the academy. I don’t know when did it appear in it. Probably as I looted dead bodies.”

Elder Irina sighed, “You are always like this; no wonder Xiao Xian is a little crazy….”

Yasenia asked, curious, “Who is that person?”

Tatyana said, “She is the one I refer people to after they join us… She also manages a lot of my affairs, including my secondary treasury. For the curious, the main one is managed by me and only me.”

Tatyana continued, speaking to no one. “Remember the crazy person Gilda, the slave house owner, spoke to? The one that wanted to burn the world? That’s her.”

They became confused, and Yasenia asked. “Who are you talking to, mom?”

Tatyana tiptoed and patted her head, “I wasn’t speaking to you, little treasure. Don’t worry; my crazy mind was just going overdrive… So, what’s wrong with the sword?”

Elder Irina was accustomed to these “speaking to the air” outbursts, so she answered calmly while her wounds regenerated at a visible speed. “This sword has sentience. Moreover, the will inside of it is so strong that it was able to counterattack using my own energy…. Now that I know how it works, I could definitely use it, but I don’t want to risk it. It seems that it has chosen Yasenia as its wilder, and it won’t let anybody else swing it with real strength.”

Elder Irina smirked and said, “If I’m not wrong, this sword is from before the Heavenly Cataclysm. I can’t tell you exactly what rank it will be, but after evolving, it should reach at least the transcendent rank, if not higher. Moreover, its quality is very high. Can you come from time to time to let me see it, little Yasenia? I can also teach you cooking-.”

“YES!” Answered the excited dragoness instantly. Even her tail was showing her excitement with speedy wags. They couldn’t help but laugh out loud after seeing Yasenia’s eagerness.

Speaking of cooking so suddenly made Yasenia remember her problem with energy. Even if Tatyana had told her that she shouldn’t worry much, she wanted to start as soon as possible. Therefore, she asked Elder Irina, hoping she could shed some light on it. She tried to go the roundabout way. “Aunt Irina, how much would it cost for you to do tools that I can use for spirit cooking?”

Tatyana raised her eyebrow, amused at Yasenia’s poor try to cover her intent, and sent her a mental message to Elder Irina, explaining Yasenia’s problems. After hearing them, Elder Irina laughed and said, “You want to hire me for that? Oh, little Yasenia, I’m too expensive for that. Not even me treating you like my niece will change that.”

Yasenia sighed. She already saw it coming. ‘No shortcuts, huh?’

Andrea won’t let her dragoness be down, so she asked, “Then teach me, master. I would love to create something for Yasenia.”

Yasenia’s eyes sparkled, and she threw herself in her embrace. Andrea caught the soft and voluptuous body with a smile. Elder Irina said, “I will start teaching you when you create another middle-level heaven-ranked treasure.”

Andrea grimaced, ‘I’ve created my silver armor and halberd by sheer luck… I can only create earth-ranked treasures with consistency.’

Yasenia looked at Andrea and kissed her neck, “Don’t worry, darling. I don’t mind waiting for it.”

Andrea kissed her forehead and answered, “I will work hard and create them soon. I can’t let my love without her cooking tools for too long, right?”

Yasenia nodded with a happy smile and snuggled in her embrace. Elder Irina continued speaking. “Probably you already know, but this sword will feed off the residual energy you create while cultivating. Moreover, it is extremely durable, so don’t fear clashing with higher-ranked swords. You can also use it as a shield… In short, keep in mind this extreme hardness.”

Yasenia nodded. Elder Irina said, “To end with today’s investigation, I want to see you fight with it. Andrea spar with her; let’s see how much you have improved since you started training with my little niece!”