"Welcome back," Ygdris said, doing a remarkably better job than his son at hiding his astonishment and fear of Elizabeth's power.
"Anything interesting happen, while I was away?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well…" Ygdris helplessly smiled, but before he could continue, several interlopers arrived from the throne room's entrance.
"Ha! See? I told you we'd beat her when it came to pure cultivation," Jane gloated to Sun as they walked over to Elizabeth's side.
"I doubt that even with the support of everyone in this building we'd stand a chance against her, though," Sun seriously said as he instantly picked up on the new aura of Yang around Elizabeth. He knew that the Energies she majored in must be on an even higher level if her Yang, which she previously didn't even entertain the thought of cultivating, was this impressive.
"Hmm," Elizabeth nodded approvingly as she gauged their Statuses, including Liam; who had quietly been following them.
[Status
Name: Sun
Level: 48
Rank: Pure Yang Divine Core Refinement (67% Complete)
Affection Rating: Forever Loyal
Sex: Male
Strength: ~1,500,000
Endurance: ~1,750,000
Speed: ~1,500,000
Defense: ~1,500,000
Intelligence: ~550,000
Luck: 10
Core Qi: ~45,000
Innate Skills:
Yang Affinity
*New) Tier: Consummate
Fire Affinity
*New) Tier: Consummate
Space Affinity
*New) Tier: Excellent
Status
Name: Jane
Level: 49
Rank: Pure Yin Divine Core Refinement (81% Complete)
Affection Rating: Undying Loyalty
Sex: Female
Strength: ~475,000
Endurance: ~475,000
Speed: ~475,000
Defense: ~475,000
Intelligence: ~2,350,000
Luck: 10
Core Qi: ~95,000
Innate Skills:
Yin Affinity
*New) Tier: Consummate
Ice Affinity
*New) Tier: Consummate
Water Affinity
*New) Tier: Excellent
Status
Name: Liam
Level: 47
Rank: Pure Yang Divine Core Refinement (62% Complete)
Affection Rating: Doting Brother
Sex: Male
Strength: ~1,333,000
Endurance: ~1,333,000
Speed: ~1,750,000
Defense: ~1,500,000
Intelligence: ~475,000
Luck: 10
Core Qi: ~37,000
Innate Skills:
Yang Affinity
*New) Tier: Consummate
Space Affinity
*New) Tier: Consummate
Earth Affinity
*New) Tier: Consummate]
'I should probably work on my Affinities,' Elizabeth thought before returning to the world outside her mind.
"Must be easy only having to deal with ninety-odd Spiritual Pillars," she helplessly sighed.
"Well, how many did you cultivate?" Jane asked, not even attempting to probe Elizabeth Cultivation Base.
"A hundred," Elizabeth replied flatly.
"Damn, I only made it to ninety-six," Jane frowned.
"I only reached ninety-five," Liam added.
They both turned to Sun and grew skeptical due to his sheepish looks.
"What about you, Sun? Why've you put on that smug smirk, eh?" Jane said as she glared a hole into his being.
"Ninety-nine," Sun said.
"What?!" Jane had the most expressive reaction as she couldn't comprehend how his Pure Yang Cultivator Status allowed him a greater Energy Cultivation than her.
'This probably has something to do with that godly soul he's got in the recesses of his Upper Dantian,' Elizabeth thought.
"Right…" Ygdris coughed, "As you can see your friends have all become… stronger." He nearly choked at the comparison between his centuries of dedicated cultivation against the progress the four before him had made in less than half a year.
"With their help," Ygdris continued, "virtually all the most important resources we have here in the palace has evolved a step forward. With Madam Jane's mastery of arrays and Sir Sun's pills, various facets of my Agrian Empire have developed tremendously these past couple months."
"Is that so?" Elizabeth let loose a schadenfreudian smile she hadn't felt in a while before saying, "Well, I'm sure they had their fair share of fun helping you and I'd be more than glad to stay for a couple of days if only to dismantle the Irelian Empire, but our return home has been long overdue."
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"D-dismantle?" Ygdris and Ygny's reactions startled Elizabeth.
"That would be unwise," Ygdris seriously said. "At least as you are right now, going against them would be suicidal."
"You sure do seem sure about that." Elizabeth paused, before asking, "What? Do they have Nascent Cultivators or something?"
"It's not that simple…" Ygdris said.
"Whatever," Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, "we'll discuss it some other time."
…
"So," Sun broke the silence that plagued the group after returning to Earth, "How many days do you estimate we have?"
"The second stage started around a hundred-six days ago but according to the Divine Transmission of the Opal Devils, we should still have over eighty days before the portals finish completely stabilizing."
Sighing, Elizabeth continued, "Unfortunately, since we're all Core Stage Cultivators, we can't pass through the portals until then."
"If that's the case, why'd we even return?" Liam asked, "Wouldn't we be better off in the Shadow Realm, visiting other Danger Zones and searching for lucky chances like in the Ancient Redvile Temple?"
"Hmm, I can certainly send you back if you want, but Sun, Jane, and I have a reason to return. After all, there's only so much the Cultivators here can do against the rapidly escalating alien invasion," Elizabeth said.
"To start," Elizabeth continued, "I'm going to upgrade our party's equipment again, so you should wait a couple of days just for that. But afterward, distributing some High-Grade Spirit Armaments and raising our family's potential to our level as Extreme Path Cultivators are among the goals for this return trip home."
"Jane can go around and set up some defensive arrays to protect the largest cities around the world, while Sun can go distribute some top-tier pills to boost out Cultivators' average strength." Elizabeth concluded as her eyes narrowed, "The four of us alone could easily wipe out any fodder that slips through the current, semi-stable portals, but we can't be everywhere at once. Moreover, this is only the second stage of the Cataclysm. Who knows what other calamities will descend on Earth in the future…"
Liam could only blankly stare and mutter a weak, "Oh…"
"What?" Elizabeth rose a brow at his reaction.
"Nothing," he quickly shaped up, adding, "It's just, seeing you willing to help Earth to this extent… It's just unexpected."
"Heh," Elizabeth chuckled, "think nothing of it. The Cataclysm affecting Earth is my responsibility, to begin with, so the very least I could do is try to preserve my home planet."
…
"Kekeke…" A fiendish laugh pervaded through Elizabeth and only Elizabeth's mind at that moment before the owner of the voice said, "Are you my target then?"
Instantly, Elizabeth released her Core Sense as she sent sound transmissions to the others in the room with her, "Watch out, a hostile's nearby!"
With a look of understanding between the four of them, Elizabeth rounded them up and used her False Teleportation Skill to appear above Atid's Dojo, in the open skies of Miami Beach.
"What do you hope to accomplish by changing positions?" The fiendish voice asked.
"You're at my mercy no matter where you stand!"
"Fuck!" Elizabeth cursed as she barely had time to react before a terrifying energy clandestinely snaked its way into her Soul Land. She entered a coughing fit as blood escaped from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. But the pain was nothing in comparison to the trepidation she felt upon using her Status Functions on the energy used in the assassination attempt.
[Status
Name: Unknown
Level: 56
Rank: Single Nascent Cultivator
Affection Rating: Antagonistically Sadistic
Description: Judging from the energy used to attack you, this Cultivator's Understanding of Sound transcends the level of Profound Truth. Moreover, with the quality of Nascent Qi used, the user's Cultivation Base should have just recently entered the Nascent Cultivation Stage.]
"Kekeke," the unseen enemy cackled before it's androgynous voice continued, "You must be this Dimension's Cataclysm Chosen if you managed to survive that!"
"This fucking coward," Sun cursed, "fight me, face to face!"
"Are you retarded?" The voice, full of amusement for Sun's idiocy, said, "Why would I do that when I could just wipe you out without any risk to my well being?"
Seeing the situation devolve, Elizabeth decided to enter her Rudimentary Wolf God Form and bring the attention of the enemy to herself, lest Sun gets killed before he could even react. She didn't know to what extent the rest of her group's strength had risen, but it was almost certain they wouldn't be able to deal with a Nascent Cultivator that also had something to do with the Cataclysm.
"Relax," she verbally said. Taunting, "It won't be much longer before I sniff this idiot out."
"Oh? A transformation? Could that be your Goldfinger?" The enemy excitedly asked.
"Tsk," Elizabeth clicked her tongue, "Wouldn't you like to know?"
She was annoyed that even with her Understanding of the Profound Truths of Volume, Divination, Possibility, Spirituality, and her Rudimentary Wolf God Form, she still couldn't detect the location of her assailant. However, with all the Skills she had trained in the Sky Seizing Castle, she was far from panicking.
"Wow, kid, you sure know a lot of neat tricks," the enemy taunted back. "Sadly, with just Profound Truths you won't be able to do anything against me."
As if to prove a point, another Sound-type attack was brazenly directed at Elizabeth's soul and again, Elizabeth was left a bloody pitiful mess. The first attack must have been a probe as this second dose was dozens of times more potent.
'Shitty host,' Lisa, more so annoyed than worried, cursed from within Elizabeth's Upper Dantian, 'can't you do anything by yourself?'
'Hmph!' Ellie squinted at her with palpable malice as she retorted, 'You want to gamble our life away? No? Then shut the fuck up and keep grinding the soul attacks down, please.'
'Ooh, I like you much better when you're stressed like this,' Lisa whistled in appreciation as she savored this much fiercer incarnation of her "shitty host."
Outside of Elizabeth's Soul Land, it truly looked like she had been dealt a critical blow, almost opposite to her current mental state. Moreover, her exchange with Lisa was conducted in a fraction of a second.
"So much for that confidence you had earlier," the enemy taunted. It continued, "To think I was so worried about challenging a higher-ranked Chosen when our difference in Cultivation was so vast."
With a sigh, the voice proposed an ultimatum, "Well, enough about me. Kid, I suggest you quickly tell me what your Goldfinger is unless you want to prolong this kind of torture."
"How rude," Elizabeth feigned weakness as she humorlessly laughed, adding, "you want to know about my Goldfinger without telling me about yours? I don't even know your name!"
A trace of anger could be perceived from the enemy's voice as it asked, "So you want to do this the hard way?"
Without giving Elizabeth a chance to react, a flurry of soul attacks were sent Elizabeth's way. Elizabeth still had no idea where they were coming from, while the others could only look on helplessly; cursing at their lack of ability.