The time dilation chambers of the Haven were less like rooms and more like living, breathing worlds caught in a permanent, gentle twilight. On the other side of the door Ash and Vaeloria found themselves standing on soft grass that felt springy. It was the color of pale jade, as a warm sunlight kissed their skin even though the skies had no sun whatsoever.
The sky above looked endless in depth with soft emerald on the horizon bleeding upward into deep violet, glittering with slow-moving constellations. No wind was present in the realm either, yet the air itself felt like it was constantly exhaling, sweet and heavy with mana.
All around the vast land were floating islands that were no bigger than palace balconies, hovering ten to thirty feet off the ground. Connecting them were arching bridges made of pure silver light.
Clear streams of mana-infused water flowed upward from the grass, like gravity itself was nonexistent, forming mythical rivers that looped and spiraled through the skies before changing into mist that drifted down like warm snow.
In the distance, a single colossal tree of starlight grew upside-down from the violet sky, its roots spreading like frozen fireworks, its leaves made of liquid moonlight that dripped upward in slow, luminous droplets. Every droplet that rose became a new star.
The mana here was so dense it felt like warm honey against the skin. Just standing still made pores drink, cores sing, blood hum with quiet euphoria. Sound traveled strangely: footsteps were muffled, voices carried like whispers in a cathedral, and laughter lingered in the air long after it should fade.
There was a single structure: a simple, open-air pavilion of black marble veined with living gold, sitting in the exact center of the plain. No walls, just eight slender pillars and a domed roof of slowly rotating constellations.
Just below the roof, glowing letters of pale fire read: Training Hall.
After taking all of this in, Vaeloria was the first to speak out.
"Just where did you find this place?" She asked with genuine interest. Even in her time a place this mythical didn't exist.
Ash grinned before walking to the Training Hall.
"Well, someone owed me a big debt apparently." He said with a shrug. As he stepped into the training hall a panel showed in front of him.
[Welcome to the Lesser Chamber. This chamber provides a 3:1 time dilation, mana here is also two times denser outside. So, cultivating by absorbing through the atmosphere is also doubled. Finally, this hall is the only place were combat is allowed.]
"So, it really is a time-dilated space here…" Vaeloria murmured as she read over his shoulder, silver hair brushing his arm like cool silk.
Ash turned as his golden eyes flickered to her.
'Hmm, I haven't tried appraising anyone yet.' He thought before trying. His eyes flashed white for a moment as a panel bloomed next to Vaeloria's head.
[Vaeloria Lunareth
Race – Celestial Fox (Ten-Tailed Sovereign Bloodline – SS)
Age – 230,000 years
Rank – S (Existence Level – 21,000)
Soul Brand – Lunar Apostate
Path – Path of the Dreambound Eclipse
Talents – Sovereign Dreamweave, Ninefold Starlight Veil, Eclipse Sovereign's Gaze, Moon-Devouring Regeneration, Eternal Night Dominion
Affinities – Lunar · Dream · Illusion
MP – 250,000,000
Remarks – The Moonbound Sovereign is eternally bound to the bearer of the Obsidian Contract. Increase strength to learn more...]
'Damn she's strong.' He thought, then aloud, "Of course it is. Did you think I'd lie to you?"
"Tsk, who knows? Humans are fickle like that." She said before walking into the center of the hall. She turned around and looked at him with a frown.
'Although he's beautiful… he's weak.' She thought, remembering the curse she was bound to. Just the thought of her situation made her frown. By now her affection for Ash was close to hitting the first mark. She was at 45%; at 50 % she would begin to dream of him at night and even randomly through the day.
"You're weak… I will train you until you're to my likin—" Her words cut off short as she covered her mouth, cheeks flashing silver.
'What the hell?'
Ash smirked, already catching on.
He walked in, peeling off his shirt in one smooth motion, fabric whispering to the floor. Moonlight and starlight slid over carved muscle like water.
"What, until I'm to your liking?" He teased, voice low and warm. "Haha, I don't mind, Miss Sovereign."
Then the playfulness vanished. His eyes sharpened to molten gold.
"I was planning on busting my ass anyway. We have eighteen months in here and I plan on being a monster by the time we finish."
The marble floor rippled. A circular arena thirty meters wide rose around them, barriers of silver light snapping into place.
Vaeloria's nine tails twitched seeing the shift in his demeanor. She smiled show her sharp teeth and spoke. "Alright then.... Show me everything. And hold nothing back."
'I need to see exactly what I'm working with...' She thought
Ash cracked his neck. "Sure, just try to keep up."
He moved first, simple, brutal, mana coated his skin in a faint black-violet shimmer. He used no techniques yet, just raw speed and power. Vaeloria met him head-on, palm striking his chest with enough force to crater kingdoms.
BOOOM!!
The impact boomed like thunder, yet Ash only slid back three inches, grinning. His Eyes of First Dawn ignited, white-gold light pouring from his pupils. He saw every thread of lunar mana she wove before she finished weaving it.
When an illusion of nine phantom foxes lunged; he stepped through them like smoke, fingers brushing her wrist.
Heart Sovereign triggered even more.
[Affection 49 % → 53 %]
Vaeloria's breath hitched for a split second before refocusing. She ripped space with a claw of pure moonlight; Ash answered with Inferno Dominion, black paradox flames that froze the moonlight solid and shattered it into glittering dust.
'How does he have so many talents at this low rank? I'm sure those flashing eyes were a talent and then these weird flames of his...' She thought before speaking out. It was surprising he could keep up with even if she was currently fighting with most of her power sealed.
"Where are your skills?" she asked, circling. "And also, you're wasting mana like a child!"
Hearing this Ash frowned a bit, he didn't know much about mana besides the size of the pool. And he sure as hell didn't have any skills.
"I don't have any skills yet." He said simply before focusing.
She didn't speak but simple vanished into a dream-mist. Ash closed his eyes,
|Absolute Sol Invictus|
His third used talent this spar flared and every photon in the arena bent to his will. The mist burned away, revealing her mid-strike. He caught her wrist, spun her, pinned her against a pillar with zero effort, forearm against her collarbone, faces inches apart.
[Affection 55 %]
Her tails lashed, brushing his bare back like silk whips. For one heartbeat her violet eyes went wide, pupils blown.
Ash leaned in until his lips almost touched her ear. "You'll be dreaming of me soon, O' Sovereign..." He spoke with a grin.
BANG!
She shoved him off with a burst of lunar force that cracked the pillar behind him. Both of them were breathing hard, smiles sharp and dangerous.
Again and again, they clashed: raw physicality, stolen sunlight, frozen flames, dream-shadows, paradox voids. Every time she thought she had him, another impossible talent bloomed. She saw flashes of the Primordial monsters she once faced, beings who played with stars with their bare hands, and this boy was dancing circles around the memory of them.
'Maybe... those chains finally did me a favor' She couldn't help but even she knew this was a lie. The curse was something that went against everything she stood for...
When the barriers finally dropped, the floor was scorched black and silver, pillars cracked, air humming with leftover power. Ash stood in the center, shirtless, skin glowing faintly, not even sweating hard.
Vaeloria's tails slowly settled. Her voice was quieter now, almost reverent.
"You fight like you were born in the Primordial slaughter-fields… yet you waste ninety percent of your mana on brute reinforcement. You have no skills. No techniques. Just raw talent stacked to the heavens."
She stepped closer, moonlight eyes glowing.
"We fix that. Combat sense. Mana precision. Skill creation. Eighteen months is enough to turn a monster into a calamity."
Ash wiped a trickle of blood from his lip and grinned like a wolf who'd just found his new favorite game.
"Teach me then, Miss Sovereign."
[+4 EL gained for intense training. Enhanced by 10...]
[EL +40]
[Total Existence Level: 361]