he orange glove stayed for a minute to observe her user grind away at the billions of Chaosbeasts that she collected for this trial, before splitting off a few Void clones on separate tasks, while herself vanished into a Formation Portal to return beside the Celestial Dean and his friends.
The old fisherman measured her with his unscrutable gaze, as if piercing through her Heart Mirror and other protections layered over the Eternium Armor suit.
"I sense that your ward has managed to Ascend into Iron Realm already. Curious, isn't it?" the man asked in a friendly voice.
The glove could discern a dozen hidden meanings, from curiosity to deadly threat, and far more in between. Such was the world of cultivation, where even the more benign cultivators could become dangerous at the mere hint of something new or valuable.
She just nodded cheerfully. "The Divine Cook has spoken to you about this, as I recall. At most one year for his next Ascension, now that he benefits from your Celestial Library and other resources. The Steel Realm will be a bit more difficult, I imagine."
Beside the Celestial Dean, the High Goddess of Life raised a curious eyebrow, while the Demonhunter grinned a bit too wide. "I will need to fight the boy when he returns from the Chaos Sea. Simple monsters like that are not a true challenge for a real hunter."
The glove goddess smiled and shook her orange hair. Pef would likely demand a rematch anyways, and probably somehow injure the Demonhunter despite his formidable cultivation, already in the ninth Star of the 12th Tier.
As for the Celestial Dean...the fisherman was still lagging behind at around 90% of his 8th Star, which only proved how hard cultivation really was.
Instead she turned to the Formation Master who kept watch over the portal, and measured him with her keen senses. About 70% on his 3rd Star in the 12 Tier. Just enough to receive his new Star with a bit of Ascension Wine.
Nodding politely, she arranged a modest table, and placed a small cup filled with the stolen Ascension Wine.
"Esteemed Daoist, I would presume to borrow a decade of your time, for a small gift." she offered in a polite voice.
The man grunted something and sat at the table with a deep frown. Any cultivator worth his salt could detect and analyze the priceless gift from far away, not to mention a cultivator that actually specialized in Formations.
The Celestial Dean was probably just as skilled with Formations as with any other Dao. If the glove was a guessing glove, she would have guessed the Fisherman cultivated Patience as his inner Dao, but despite her 12th Tier cultivation realm she was still too weak to actually detect what the Dean could do. A single Star at this Tier was an order of magnitude of strength and power over the last, which made even the Formation Master 100 times stronger than her, without taking into account various intangibles.
After hesitating for a single second, the Formation Master took her offered wine cup and drank it in one gulp. Then his body began to glow and arrays englobed his form, lasting for an entire minute.
As she expected and calculated, the man emerged in his 4th Star, and thus even stronger than before. Not only that, but the wine had certainly filled a few gaps in his Formation Dao, as his arrays became more complex and powerful.
"I have took your wine, and thus you will have a decade of my time to use as you need, Eternium Knight." the man spoke in a stern voice, showing no gratitude.
She sighed inward. Perhaps Pef will be able to bring the man around, in a decade or less. He did have a strange gift to do exactly that, even when it seemed impossible.
As she turned back to the group, the Dean was eyeing her with intent, while the Beasthunter could barely restrain his excitement. He was only in the 2nd Star of 12th Tier, and thus easly the weakest cultivator here, even compared to the glove while she wore her Eternium Armor.
Stolen story; please report.
Channeling her inner Pefness, she pointed at the Beasthunter with a gloved finger. "What use do I have for you, weakling? Should I waste my priceless Ascension Wine on someone without a Sword Soul? Or do you have a secret Skill that makes you valuable?"
The Beasthunter slumped in defeat, and bowed his head low. "I will train harder..." he grunted as his gigantic muscles trembled with finding something he couldn't simply smash. Possibly a decent recruit for the Legion though, especially his Body Cultivation techniques. The Legion could use stronger Soldiers.
The High Goddess of Life smirked at the despondent cultivator. "And now you see why I told you several Chaos Cycles ago to focus on mastering the Sword first, my muscular friend. Brute force only works on beasts."
The glove measured the mighty Goddess of Life with a cautious gaze. She was undeniably strong, about 60% in her 7th Star, plus the benefits of the entire Upper Heavens realm praying to her for healing and fertility. Faith was a powerful force-multiplyer, so she may even match the Celestial Dean in actual power. Hard to say, and not something she wanted to try. Pef might manage to romance her too, in his stupid way that should never work.
"I'll go visit the Elfsmith now, would you care to join me, Dean?" the glove goddess asked in a soft voice.
"Hmmm. I see what you're doing, Eternium Knight. But sure. I do need to see what that Elf is crafting, as those Steel Ascensions are tingling my senses every week or so." the Celestial Dean allowed in a generous voice, then wrapped the glove goddess in a cloud and vanished, leaving the Academy once more to go on an adventure.
Combining portal and fast flight they traversed the realm in a few hours and reached the Steelsmith's workshop just after dusk.
The Elf and his new Fay disciple were having tea and the familiar jingle on Eternium fingers tapping on Eternium plate announced an unexpected visitor.
"I swear, if she's here to make trouble again..." the Elf smith grumbled as he slammed open his door. "Errr. Celestial Dean....please come in. And your Eternium Knight escort as well, I suppose." the Elf changed tone as he actually saw who his visitors were.
The Dean and the Orange Goddess sat at the table and waited to be served tea by Kalima, while the Elf smith taped his long fingers on the table, looking rather nervous and impatient.
"I want to commission a large arsenal from you, Steelsmith." the glove proposed in a soft voice, then smiled gently at Kalima.
The Fay Godmother's eyes grew wide for a second as she realized what the armored visitor meant.
"Of course you do. I am a decent Smith after all. Why else would you bother me?" the Elf grunted and sipped his tea.
"I was thinking about a billion Tier 10 suits and weapons, and 42 Tier 11 suits with Eternium blades." the glove goddess continued with a careless voice.
The Celestial Dean glanced sidewise at the armored goddess with a frown. "Are you planning a small war in my Heavens, Eternium Knight?" he asked in a stern voice.
"About that. See, my ward and your student was attacked in the Chaos Sea by the Jade Noble House. He fortunately survived, and even Ascended from this event, but the fact remains. An act of war was perpetrated against a Veritas Legion member, and a Legion Captain at that. We will respond in kind, and terminate the threat. Of course, we will provide a minor gift for your non-interference, Celestial Dean. And the same for this brave smith who will forge our new arsenal..."
the glove goddess continued while setting down three wine cups.
Kalima moved first and drank her wine before the other cultivators could steal her gift. In a minute, she Ascended into the 11th Tier and even reached her second Star, without even provoking a Tribulation.
"He still creates miracles, even here." the Fay Godmother said with her eyes glowing in wonder.
The Celestial Dean sighed deeply and sipped his own cup of wine, crossing into the 9th Star after millions of Chaos Cycles of hard cultivation.
"I guess I don't mind more crafting. Especially if this wine works so well..." the Elfsmith murmured in a low voice, then sipped his wine to cross into the 7th Star.
"Here is the schematics for the power suits we already use in the Legion. We'll need something better, obviously. And at least some resistance to the Jade House time magic." the glove added, while passing over a jade slate with the prototype suits used in the Honey War.
"You'll need the Formation Master to anchor some time-repelling arrays on these power suits." the Elfsmith spoke after examining the jade slate for a minute.
The glove just nodded. "The Formation Master has been hired already for the next decade. Come Kalima, we will go visit the Lower Heavens for a while and select what troops can be spared for this war. Work hard, Lord Steelsmith!"
With a slice of her sword, the glove goddess opened the Realm Barrier and enter the Sword Dao River, with Kalima in tow.
"Don't look at me, young Elf. She did just buy my non-interference." the Celestial Dean grumbled as the Elfsmith begged for advice.
"If they bring a billion Legion Soldiers into the Upper Heavens, they may even defeat the Jade House. Replace them too, I believe." The Elfsmith mutttered in a low voice.
The Celestial Dean sighed. He'll need to find and save at least one Jade bloodline cultivator if the Legion exterminated their House. Too bad that Jade Emperor in the Lower Heavens borrowed too much time and got obliterated. He would have been quite useful right now.