Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 156!
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Bright Star City, Bright Star Island, Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
As Demian stared in disbelief, the massive whirlpool of Elemental Energy started forming a gigantic flower a few tens of meters above their heads.
Its petals—nine in total—were pure white and slightly lifted upward, as if to embrace the immense sky, while its stamens were bright gold, evoking a sense of divinity.
The plant's last notable feature was the barely noticeable golden-red veins coursing through the stem, akin to human blood veins, though with a hint of an unexpected sacredness.
Despite having never seen that particular flower in his current life, Demian could still immediately identify it, as it was one that anyone with the slightest interest in botany, who grew up in North America, would be able to name in a heartbeat.
"Bloodroots."
The raven-haired man mumbled as a flood of old childhood memories surged in his mind, with his mother—the culprit behind his curious foray into the vegetal world—bringing his brother and him on a walk in that Florida's botanical garden whose European name he had trouble recalling.
Although he could remember every second of his current life, his previous life's memories were still somewhat... Blurry...
As if a veil stood between him and his own past...
Although his mind was busy daydreaming, a sudden change brought his attention back to reality.
The flower, which was previously still growing denser, started to unexpectedly 'bleed' from the bottom of its stem.
The drops of 'blood' were actually extremely condensed Elemental Energy drops, each falling on the readhead's crown acupoint before being instantly absorbed by her body.
'Sanguinaria Canandensis. How fitting for her...'
He thought, recalling how the flower commonly known as 'Bloodroot' symbolized purity and renewal, blooming in early spring and signifying the end of winter.
In a sense, it was the bringer of good news, the envoy of hope, a sign that better days were coming and the hard days were already behind.
Wasn't she the same for him?
Bringing him love and comfort in his darkest moments, soothing his fears and healing his pain...
Sanguinaria canadensis...
Aside from canadensis, which simply meant Canadian, even the name sanguinaria—fancy Latin word for blood— was particularly fitting for her now that she had awakened her Carmine Bloodline, something that convinced him that the World had a strange sense of humor.
While Demian was lost in his thoughts, the massive breakthrough phenomenon—its size reaching beyond the previous Foundation Building Rank one—attracted everyone's attention, from those who stood the closest, like Sergei and the other two, to those a few hundred kilometers away from the Southern Nexus Plaza.
After all, although the 'quantity' was lacking as she had only reached the Fourth Level of the Foundation Building Rank instead of the usual Peak Core Formation stage, it was still a genuine Heart cultivation breakthrough, one of the essential criteria for reaching the Void Seed Rank.
In other words, the young redhead had now become a potential Void Seed Rank cultivator in the opinion of those observing the commotion.
Or at least, she would be as long as she succeeded in her breakthrough, which, unbeknownst to everyone else around, but the Mikhailovs, was pretty much a sure thing thanks to Demian's Perks.
A few kilometers away, on the Leaping Yang Fish, the three more experienced cultivators, Sergei, Ling, and Mikhail, looked stunned as the bloodroot flower floating in the air was reflected in their pupils.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, the General turned his head to look at the two lovers, and, with a twitch of his lips, he questioned rhetorically.
"She's having a Heart breakthrough, isn't she?"
Chuckling wryly, the raven-haired man sporting a thin mustache responded.
"Seems likely."
Even Ling, who was previously excited about her own partial breakthrough, felt like cursing at her new friend.
'Damn it! Here I am worrying about you passing your Tribulation, and you casually reach the Refining Seed Rank, while I'm still stuck at that damn bottleneck! Little sis, I really want to kick your ass right now!'
A woman who was barely five years younger than her and whose cultivation journey spanned merely a few months had already reached a level that Ling was desperately trying to attain after years of practice...
Not only that, but the same 'newbie' had also randomly awakened an incredibly rare Peak-level bloodline, boosting her talent from an average genius to the Peak of the Mortal World...
Of course, compared to Demian's Immortal Grade talent, the redhead was still lacking, but that was like comparing a multi-billionaire with a 'poor' billionaire.
'Just thinking about it is pissing me off.'
Ling fumed for a moment before she let out a sigh and pondered.
'If it had been Bryn, I could've accepted it, since her talent had always been high, but Liya... It has to be something Demian did. Whatever the kid's got, whether it's a Special Physique, Item, or Technique, has to be related to the Immortal Realm. Otherwise, there's no way something at the Mortal level can bring so much benefit to both himself and the women around him...'
That being said, maybe something like that existed, but both her knowledge, which, granted, was not really all-encompassing, and her intuition, told her that it should not be possible.
Well, the only way she could be certain would be to ask the 'culprits' themselves.
Now, if it had been a Demon Beast, she would do so in a heartbeat, capturing those monsters and soul-searching them until she found the answers to her questions.
However, she could not exactly do that with those close to her, now could she?
Actually, she did not even feel comfortable asking them, as she knew that some secrets were better known to as few people as possible.
Otherwise, if many knew about it, could it really be called a secret?
Thus, she would rather wait for them to give her the answers on their own, without her needing to probe.
To be honest, if it were at another time, she may have gone slightly against her own conscience and ask them directly, but now was a special time when following her own Heart was especially important.
At least, it was if she did not want to fail her Heart breakthrough, and end up either crippled or even dead in the worst case.
Letting out a sigh, the beautiful Asian woman knew what she had to do and quickly reined in her curiosity.
However, she still threw a resentful glance at her own husband for good measure, letting out a snort of displeasure when she saw him looking at her with bewilderment.
'Can't even make your own woman awaken a Peak Level bloodline. What a useless husband!'
On the side, Sergei felt puzzled, wondering why his wife seemed displeased with him.
'Wasn't she happy just now...?'
Shaking his head, he decided to ignore her childish antics, as he felt no real seriousness behind her glare.
Instead, he opted to observe the four Mikhailovs staying close to each other, with Adeliya standing in Demian's embrace while Seraphine and Brynhid were both guarding the former two a few meters away.
Strangely, Sergeir noted the lack of strain on the three youngest Mikhailovs's faces and postures, which was exceedingly unusual.
After all, only the one breaking through should have been completely attuned to the Creation Energy granted by a breakthrough, as the Universal Laws always adapted the gifted Energy to the Essence of the cultivator breaking through, making it impossible for others to absorb, or at least so difficult that absorbing ambient Elemental Energy would be a lot more efficient.
Not only that, but the Heavenly Aura for those not attuned should have also been tough to withstand.
Put simply, it was akin to the difference between a solar panel and a wind turbine.
No matter how much sunlight the latter received, it would not power it up one bit, while the same was true for wind and solar panels.
Both wind and sunlight were forms of energy, but you needed the right 'receptor' to absorb them successfully.
Knowing that, it was a wonder why Demian, Sera, and Bryn seemed unaffected by the creation Energy's Heavenly Might, though after everything he witnessed since he took the four in, the older man felt a lot less surprised.
'Honestly, if one day they told me they were about to ascend to the Immortal Realm, I think I would just nod and say 'as expected'.'
What the man wearing an elegant three-piece suit did not know was that because of their shared Soul Bond, the Essence of the four people could temporarily align with each other, making it as if the four were actually one single entity in the eyes of the Heavens.
It was a 'technique' the group had discovered recently, though they were not able to experiment further with it due to a lack of time and opportunities.
Still, the four had many ideas about how to apply that particular 'aspect' of the Perks, though that would have to wait for a time when no one was around to witness it.
Got to keep a few aces up their sleeves, huh?
In the meantime, minutes and hours went by, as the breakthrough was still ongoing.
Of course, because of her Fourth Level Foundation Building cultivation stage, coupled with the Perk's Eightfold efficiency, the time needed would be far less than Demian's three-day breakthrough.
After those few hours of observation, the three standing on the Leaping Yang Fish estimated that Liya might only need a day in total to go through the whole thing, giving rise to a hint of astonishment in the three's hearts.
The reason behind their reactions?
Normally, that was the average speed for Peak Core Formation cultivators when reaching the Refining Seed Rank, and thus not a feat that a Mid Foundation Building Rank cultivator should have been able to achieve.
Still, three days for a Peak Chi Gathering cultivator breakthrough was also way beyond normal.
That and the fact that someone at that cultivation stage could actually reach the Refining Seed Rank at all...
Realizing it would not take much longer, the group of three experienced cultivators let out a collective sigh of relief as the 'dangerous period' was quickly coming to a close, both because of the breakthrough itself and potential attempts at disruption.
While observing the Heavenly phenomenon in the sky, Mikhail remarked, his tone having none of his previous light-heartedness as his eyes narrowed with a dangerous glint.
"Strange... With that level of commotion, there's no way those disgusting demons aren't aware..."
Turning his head toward the powerful General, Sergei asked curiously, his face less solemn than the other man.
"Aren't there any movements from the Frost Demon Palace?"
Shaking his head, Mikhail turned his head toward the other two and replied, his expression puzzled.
"No, and that's what's bothering me. Eldoria and Core Elder Anrepov are both guarding down in the Void Layers, but so far, there's no sign of them..."
Tilting her head, Ling suggested.
"Well, they may not have the guts to come. After all, we did kill a bunch of them a month ago, so they're probably afraid we'd ambush them again. After all, they don't know how many of our Core Elders are here, so even if they sent a few Emperor Beasts, they might not only fail in their assassination attempt but also lose their lives in the process."
Nodding his head slightly, the Protector General commented.
"That's true. Still, with traitors still at large, they could still attempt some kind of suicidal mission."
Cocking his brow, Sergei questioned.
"Was the investigation useless? I thought even Core Elder Anrepov participated...?"
His words brought a frustrated expression to the other man's face, who replied.
"It's not that it was useless, but more like it wasn't as useful as we expected."
Seeing the question on the other two's faces, Mikhail explained.
"We did find a lot of those rats, but most were below Tier 4, and even those few who were at Tier 4 were unaffiliated cultivators or Spiritual Beasts. The thing is, an event of that scale couldn't have been orchestrated by those few riff-raffs. Only a King-Grade Family could have done it. To be honest, we even suspect that more than one of them was involved, though we found no evidence so far."
Pausing for a second, an expression of disgust appeared on his face while a few strands of powerful Killing Intent subconsciously erupted from his body as he added.
"Those damn ungrateful rats know how to hide well, but it's only a matter of time before they slip up and we find them. Once we do, they'll understand the meaning behind the words 'wishing to die, but unable to'."
Those words brought a heavy feeling to the Sergei couple's hearts, as thinking about having an unknown number of Void Seed cultivators targeting them from the shadows was not something that anyone could easily accept.
Seeing their somber expression, Mikhail, who had regained his calm, asked.
"Speaking of Void Seed cultivators, when are you two planning on going through your respective Tribulation?"
With a solemn look on his face, Sergei responded, his tone as firm as his inner resolve.
"In a few days. I'll wait until Seraphine goes through her own first and then I'll trigger mine."
Ling then added.
"I still need to reach the Refining Seed Rank. I feel like it won't take me long, though. If I'm lucky, I could break through in the next second, and if I'm unlucky, I may need a few weeks. It shouldn't take more than that, though."
Hearing the good news, Mikhail felt much better as he remarked.
"That's great news. The sooner you two reach the Void Seed Rank, the safer you'll all be. After all, although with us patrolling the City, the risk of anything happening is low, especially since those rats are certainly too selfish to sacrifice themselves. Still, it's better not to rely on the enemy acting... 'reasonably', shall we say."
The other two completely agreed with that statement, as anyone dealing with Demon Beasts could not exactly be called 'sane', and thus were bound to act unpredictably.
While the three chatted together, the next few hours went by relatively quickly, with their discussion interrupted from time to time by the arrival of a random Void Seed cultivator investigating the one responsible for the massive phenomenon.
After all, although Bright Star Island had a fair number of Void Seed cultivators, proportionally to the total of cultivators present on the island, they were still considered extremely rare.
Even the current 'high' number of them came more from the accumulation through a long period of time—their lifespan reaching around 10,000 years for the weakest one at that Rank—than because of how easy it was to reach it.
Not only that, but most of them were stuck at the First Level due to their limited talent and comprehension, with almost no hope of further progress.
With all that combined, it was not really unexpected that the appearance of a prospective Void Seed cultivator, especially one with such a strikingly massive phenomenon and bearing such a conspicuous resemblance to the now famous Immortal-Grade prodigy Demian Mikhailov.
To be honest, some of them even thought about the possibility of a second Immortal-Grade genius appearing in the Federation due to the size of that flower-shaped energy construct.
However, the idea was quickly dismissed as not only would that mean that the Federation now possessed two of them—a feat that even those Peak Tier 6 Forces on the Main Continent would be hard-pressed to replicate—, but also because the Federation's Tier 4 and above cultivators were now 'aware' that the sign for an Immortal-Grade talent during a breakthrough could only be a Nine-petaled Lotus, a Yin-Yang Jade Disk or a Cultivator Jade Statue.
Anything else would merely be treated as signs for exceptional Heaven-Grade talents.
Of course, only Adeliya and the three Mikhailovs knew the true situation...
In any case, with the Island's Protector General present, only Void Seed cultivators were qualified to come inquire about Adeliya, though the inquiry was swiftly met with a curt 'one of the young Immortal's women' by the powerful general, the latter not bothering with giving any further explanation to those nosy old people.
Actually, if it were not for the fact that a simple investigation would suffice to find out the truth of the matter, Mikhail would have even kept her identity under wraps.
However, with Sergei and Ling present, coupled with the event a month prior, trying to hide the redhead's identity was bound to end up as a wasted effort.
Since that was the case, he might as well say just enough to satiate their curiosity and not a word more.
'With Demian's reputation, she shouldn't be pestered by those King Families with marriage proposals. Well, that's unless they're looking for a bit of face-slapping.'
Imagining a few of those useless dandies having their teeth knocked out and bones broken by the young raven-haired man brought a few chuckles out of his lips, eliciting some curious looks from Sergei and Ling, who were still standing by his side.
Shaking his head, he dismissed their unasked question with a wave of his hand and a 'Don't worry about it'.
With all that, time kept fleeting by, until finally, a few hours later, the three noticed the Phenomenon abating slowly before the last few drops of Elemental Energy were completely absorbed by the redhead, prompting that enormous energy flower to disperse.
As for the Mikhailovs, they were still standing motionless, their Aura as sharp as before the event, as if keeping their minds on alert for almost an entire day to guard Adeliya from external disturbances did not affect them at all.
Unlike the three youngest, however, Adeliya seemed a lot more affected.
Indeed, from her Aura, the others could sense a hint of weariness, most likely due to how mentally exhausting a Heart breakthrough was, and that, even with the numerous benefits that came with it.
Speaking of that latter, her Mana cultivation had clearly grown stronger once more, jumping from the previous Low Fourth Level to the high Fourth Level Foundation Building Rank.
While others barely reach the Entry First Level Foundation Building Rank after passing through their Tribulation, the young woman had already traversed almost half of the way in that same Rank right after her own Tribulation.
Some people walked, others ran, while the Mikhailovs just teleported to the finish line.
Truly, if one had a shaky Dao heart, being around them was a death sentence.
In any case, her cultivation advancement was only the obvious benefit, as Liya was sure to have received other enhancements, such as improved Elemental and Void Affinity to name just a few.
Just thinking about it would make most cultivators despair at the unfairness, though none of the other Mikhailovs minded.
Speaking of them.
On the four lovers' side, Adeliya finally opened her golden-red eyes, her gaze radiating pure contentment, as if all the previous impurities had been washed away from her mind.
Gazing into her eyes, Demian felt a surge of happiness appear in his heart as not only had she grown stronger, but the few hints of her inferiority complex seemed to have been cleansed from her heart.
With a warm grin gracing his lips, he commented playfully.
"You're truly good at surprising others, my Love."
Giggling briefly, she then responded, her voice having gained a mystically soothing quality.
"I only aim to please, Darling."
After a bit of flirting banter, the two sisters started asking questions about her experience in the hope of increasing their Heart cultivation speed, maybe even catch a clue for a swift breakthrough.
After all, no one would say no to growing stronger, especially in their case, where they were being targeted by Tier 5 Demon Beasts while they were still around the Tier 2 Rank.
However, their hopes were quickly dashed as their mother's experience was clearly something they would not be able to replicate.
What's with 'finding your path, and it will just click into place'?
In a way, it was similar to those people advising you to 'find the reason for your existence on Earth if you wanted to find true happiness'.
Everyone could agree with that statement, but if they actually knew why they were on this planet, they would have long found their Path and reached the Refining Seed Rank.
Seeing that no matter how she tried to explain, the two sisters still did not understand, Liya simply remarked.
"The only thing I can tell you is that I already knew what made me happy, but I was too focused on what made me unhappy to notice. So, maybe you can start from that..."
Although the other two seemed to grasp at something, the insight was vague and even disappeared before they could even try to grasp it, bringing a wave of frustration to the two women's hearts.
Seeing Bryn and Sera's unstable mind state, Demian, who had previously let go of Adeliya's body, grabbed one hand of each sister before suggesting.
"There's no need to force it, you two. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before you both reach the Refining Seed Rank. Remember, we've only reached the Foundation Building Rank, so it's not as if a heart breakthrough was needed right this instant."
Feeling a bit less anxious with his words, the two squeezed his hand in return, while Sera nodded and said.
"You're right, Babe. But that aside, now that Mom has gone through her own Tribulation, it's my turn."
Seeing the resolute look on her daughter's face, Liya questioned with concern in her voice.
"Don't you want to rest a bit before you go through with it? After all, you've been guarding me for almost a whole day without taking any breaks."
Shaking her head, Sera remarked.
"No need. You know well enough that I don't need any rest. Actually, taking a break might even be counterproductive, making me even more anxious. No, seeing you all done with your breakthroughs, I don't want to wait anymore. Now is the best time."
Knowing that the elven woman had access to Demian's Perks at eightfold efficiency, going through her Tribulation would pretty much be a breeze as long as she put the minimal amount of effort in defending, just like what happened with her mother, so the rest were not overly worried.
Thus, the Mikhailovs, minus Seraphine, went back to the Leaping Yang Fish, bringing back Adeliya with them.
Looking at the radiant expression on the oldest redhead's face, Sergei, Ling, and Mikhail gave her their congratulations, prompting the former to reply demurely.
"'I was just lucky, but thank you."
Seeing her humble response, Mikhail clicked his tongue inwardly in surprise while thinking.
'No arrogance despite achieving a feat that most would never achieve... No wonder she was able to break through in her Heart cultivation with only a Mid Foundation cultivation.'
After chatting a bit longer, the group of seven then gazed toward Seraphine's direction, the latter standing in the middle of the Tribulation Plateau while dark clouds began to gather above her position.
"It's starting."
With those words, Bolt after Bolt fell on the dark elf, their power so high that mere flesh should have never been able to resist that level of destruction without being completely obliterated.
Calling it a 'test' from the Heavens might be an understatement, as most cultivators saw it as an insurmountable ordeal.
However, Seraphine was not most cultivators, and what would have killed an average cultivator at her level in one shot had little to no effect on her.
If Liya's way of passing her Tribulation could be called graceful, then the word incomprehensibly effortless would better define Sera's own way of doing it.
Indeed, where Liya had used her Elemental Blood magic to destroy those bolts, draining their destructive energy that way, Sera used her Void talent to imprison those same bolts while using her Shadow magic to corrode them swiftly.
Injuries?
Well, to injure her, the attack would first need to land, right?
Thus, bolt after bolt was withstood easily, bringing a stunned expression on the three 'experienced' cultivators before it gradually turned to numbness as time went by.
Coupled with the 'as expected' expression on the three spectating Mikhailovs' faces, and the same thought simultaneously appeared in their respective minds.
'Why does it feel like I'm the newbie cultivator and they're the experienced ones...?'
With their strong Will, however, they were quick to recover, their mood then turning cheerful when they realized that the Federation had gained another extraordinary genius.
It was especially the case for Ling, who was Sera's teacher, and thus felt a surge of pride, ignoring the fact that the young woman was mostly self-taught, as her Bloodline Techniques were much more suited than any other that Ling could give her.
In fact, that wave of satisfaction even made her bottleneck grow somewhat weaker, giving her the intuition that, instead of a few weeks, now she would only need a mere few days to reach the Refining Seed Rank.
Once again, Sergei, who was always attentive to his wife's mood, noticed her excitement, though this time he opted to stay quiet, not wanting to be unreasonably glared at.
Some time went by as Seraphine's Tribulation was ultimately down to the last bolt, the latter radiating overpowering destruction.
However, similar to her mother before her, every time the destructive Energy rampaging through her body injured her, mangling her flesh, the horrible-looking wound instantly healed, leaving only pristine ebony skin behind.
Even her long, silky purple hair, which was burnt away multiple times along with parts of her skull, regrew at the same pace, with no trace of anything amiss.
It was truly mind-boggling and something that none of them had ever seen before.
After all, at that level, only those Beasts with Top-Grade Bloodline or those cultivators or humans who practiced some specialized body refining technique, coupled with a matching Special Physique, could—maybe—match that regeneration speed.
Maybe.
Around 15 minutes later, the assault on the dark elf's body finally stopped with no new wounds appearing.
Instead, the dark cloud above transformed into golden creation clouds before pouring into her body, surrounding her entire figure like a bright cocoon.
As they did with Adeliya, Demian and Brynhild, along with the former, were quick to fly toward Sera's direction, stopping only a few tens of meters away.
Nodding, Demian commented.
"Now, we just wait."
The other two women nodded as they knew it would probably take a few more hours for the purple-haired woman to finish absorbing that massive amount of Energy.
In the meantime, the three opted to chat through Voice Transmission, betting on how much her cultivation would improve.
As for the stakes used for that bet?
Well, let's just say that no matter who won and who lost, they would all turn out to be winners in the end.
As the sun started setting on the second day since they arrived at the Tribulation Plateau, the creation cloud surrounding Seraphine's body finally vanished, with every bit of Energy having been absorbed by the young woman sitting cross-legged on the ground.
A few moments later, the eyelids of the woman in question fluttered open, unveiling a surprising change for the three observing her.
Indeed, the empty grey veils whose biological structure, from the woman's mouth herself, was entirely composed of Shadow Void Energy instead of 'flesh and blood' like normal eyes had clearly undergone a massive transformation.
Although the 'sclera' was still the same Void grey, a shimmering purple iris and a pupil indistinguishable from the former had now appeared in the middle of each eye.
Even the grey sclera had a different quality.
It was as if...
Before the three could ask, the beautiful elf emulated her mother's previous reaction as she jumped in Demian's embrace while exclaiming excitedly.
"My eyes are back!"
Her excitement was contagious as grins appeared on the three's faces while Liya gently pulled her daughter's face toward her, observing her 'new' eyes with admiration.
"So pretty... You said they're back, so that means even the sclera is...?"
Even though she did not finish her words, Sera understood instantly what she meant, and, with an even bigger smile on her face, she nodded and explained.
"They're completely real, flesh and blood eyes. Now I can finally see you, really see you..."
As those last words left her lips, her eyes misted over, and a few teardrops ran down her cheeks.
Seeing her dear daughter in that state, Adeliya pushed Demian slightly away from the distraught young woman and embraced her while whispering in her ear.
"It's okay, sweetie. Mommy's here. You're finally healed up completely, as beautiful as a flower. I'm really proud of you, sweetie. You've been so strong..."
As reassuring words continuously left her lips, Demian could see Sera's shoulders shake, and sounds of muffled sobbing reached his ears.
Although she was hiding her face against her mother's bosom, it was not difficult for both him and her older sister to guess the elven woman's state of mind.
From a vivacious and pretty 19-year-old woman, she not only lost her eyesight after the attack on Damovotsk, but even her ocular globes were smashed into pulp.
As for the other parts of her body, she had suffered from many slashing wounds and a few bone fractures, which ended up as visible scars all over her body once healed, while her bones took a longer than average time to heal, as her physique was more on the frail side, especially compared to her sister's own.
Couple that physical loss with the death of her grandparents from an entire building falling on the car they were driving that day, and it was easy to understand why the young woman's ideas about 'lovemaking' and relationships in general had become somewhat twisted.
In a way, she had followed the principle of 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade', though in her case it was more of a 'when life takes almost everything from you, enjoy what's left even if it means losing yourself'.
Unbeknownst to her, however, bonding with Demian had a surprisingly great effect on her mental recovery.
Of course, it was not apparent at first, but with time, even she could feel herself grow more mentally balanced.
Whether it was her obsessive jealousy of any woman approaching her lover or her extreme indifference towards everyone but the three other Mikhailovs, both grew much milder, though she knew she would most likely never be able to get rid of those two personality traits completely, as they were parts of who she was.
The only thing she could do was temper those reactions.
For example, she could allow other women to interact with Demian without being affected herself emotionally and do her best to grow closer to a few select people, like her teacher and her uncle Sergei.
In any case, she was progressively feeling much better, though there was still one thing that bothered her, something that, despite her growing cultivation, physique enhancement, and bloodline awakening, could not be fixed.
Indeed, it was her eyes.
Although her eye sockets were hidden by two innate 'grey veils', making one believe that her eyes were intact, with their peculiar form attributed to her bloodline, in reality, those same eye sockets were actually empty of any flesh, with the 'veils' in question being akin to a protective energy barrier and nothing more.
As for how she was able to see?
Well, she used both her Soul Sense and Void Affinity to perceive her surroundings, granting her a much more accurate perception than normal vision, though emotionally it still felt lacking compared to the latter.
Was it more practical?
Definitely!
Still, she would have rather had her eyes back if she could, as being without them made her feel incomplete, as if something essential was missing...
At least, it was the case so far.
But now...
After an unknown time, the sobbing woman started calming down before she slowly lifted her head to face her mother, mumbling a discreet 'thank you, Mommy'.
Liya, seeing her daughter feeling better, caressed her cheek and replied light-heartedly.
"As long as you need it, your old Mom will be there for you, sweetie."
The words brought a few giggles from the young woman, who then turned toward Demian and, with a surprisingly sweet and innocent smile on her face, something Demian had rarely seen since he bonded with her, she declared softly.
"From now on, I'm finally complete."
As if on cue, Demian seemed to hear an illusory cracking sound in his ears while the dispersed clouds above their head started gathering again.
With an expression of not knowing if he should laugh or cry, the young commented.
"Well, I guess we're not going back home quite yet, are we?"