Aster quickly put the Docile Fire Calceolaria in a jade case to preserve its properties and then put it in the mind space, although he maintained calm on the outside, he was brimming with happiness.
He now had two of the rarest materials and one of the “normal” ones from the list, and since his mother has heard about a couple of the normal ones, they can be tracked down in an auction house or with an information dealer, once they reach a higher ranked stellar system of course.
Rya felt Aster’s happy mood and she felt sweet in her heart, while she was also surprised.
“He managed to find two of the three materials that had such hard conditions to be born, but the remaining one is the rarest”, she thought, but then she looked Camila from the mind space and she seemed to contemplate things.
While Rya was lost in her thoughts Aster saw the other flower in the mound and was tempted to take it away, as he had some plans for later but instead of that he turned to see the old man before saying.
“I won’t take the second flower away, but tell me the story behind this place, the purity of the spirit energy here is leagues above the rest of the Rodia star cluster”.
The old man was surprised that Aster didn’t ask for the second flower, specially because after that weird change the other one underwent, he noticed that there was more to it than what he thought.
Even he didn’t use the flower, he just took out one petal every ten years or so, and just by holding onto it the yang energy nurtured his body enough for him to keep living, even if the needles kept stealing whatever he managed to absorb, his body was nurtured allowing him to survive.
“We are currently in what remained of the secret garden of Eleonor Rodia, the one from which this star cluster got its name and the founding ancestor of my native land”.
“Young master might be wondering why the previous city lord gave me this throne and the talisman, the reason is very simple, we shared a common ancestor”, said the old man as he sat down on the grass.
“For countless of years the people of my native land had kept this place as a secret, not because of those flowers, but because that was the last will of our ancestor, she originated from this star cluster and loved the place, but ultimately she couldn’t keep advancing and died out of old age”.
“She asked her family to keep this garden a secret, we were allowed to use the flowers but we couldn’t take them away… the flowers can only be taken away by someone to whom a city lord owes his life to, that was the condition, of course in front of a soul king lying is nearly impossible but why would a person of such status come to a low ranked star cluster”.
Aster raised an eyebrow, while it was obvious that someone from the Drage family were to demand something from one of the subordinated clans, like the Atria family, the latter would have to oblige, the flower wouldn’t change into its better version which has an effect that goes against common sense.
‘The condition is not that hard to meet, but I guess that saving the one who is supposed to be strongest in the star cluster while at its own safeguard is uncommon, maybe Camila’s company helped this time’, he concluded.
The Docile Fire Calceolaria is hard to find by itself, normally areas in which yang energy gathers are brimming with life, but instead of helping treasures birth, is the other way around, yang nurtures life but the effect is spread through the whole area, dividing it into small portions.
Yin on the other hand tends to condense itself in a small object, like the crystals Aster found in the cave where the Black Water Yin flower bloomed.
Not to mention the hidden requirement of the Calceolaria to be heartfully handed by the one that previously owned it, unless you are the first one to ever own it of course.
Aster used his spirit sense to inspect the surroundings in case he was missing something, but besides magma, empty caves, this piece of garden and some spirit formations here and there he didn’t see anything else.
Also, this place turned out to be a planetoid with no life which was hidden somewhere in remote area of the Rodia star cluster.
Kana smiled happy that Aster didn’t take the other flower, she somehow felt that if the other flower was also plucked, then the garden will cease to exist, which wasn’t far from reality.
There is no atmosphere in this planetoid so the chaotic spirit energy of the space would normally kill any kind of living being under the mortal transcending realm, the spirit formations create a barrier which protects cultivators from that, but the garden only exists thanks to the vast yang energy of the flowers which is continuously nurturing the ground.
Once the old man gave Aster the Calceolaria, only then he did a soul oath to follow Aster’s orders and protect the star cluster.
“This is the contact of the guardian sect that is in charge of the development of the Rodia star cluster, you know what to do, start stablishing commercial relationships with other low ranked star clusters that have resources we don’t”, said Aster as he handed Tomas the contact of Arthur’s communication talisman.
Seeing Aria and Camila looking at him Aster chuckled, he handed some pills he got from Riga to the old man as he gave him one last task.
“Once you recover to the sea of knowledge realm, go to the Azure sky planet and impart your experience to the elders of my Terranova sect, Arthur, Nadia, Helen and Ramon are the priorities, I want them to become star tribulation cultivators as soon as possible, okay?”.
“I listen and obey young master”, said Tomas as he respectfully accepted the medicine, luckily hos body constitution was enough for him to recover now that such heinous things, like the yang stealing needles weren’t draining his vitality.
With a snap of his fingers one of the yang stealing needles came flying from outside of the mansion, followed by Trevor which now had a pale skin tone.
Aster kept the needle in his spatial ring as it was a tool worth investigating, then he handed a list to both Trevor and Tomas.
“Do you by any chance have or has heard of these materials?”, he asked without putting too much hope to their answers.
Since he already got the Calceolaria, he just wanted to test his luck, since both Tomas and Trevor came from the main star cluster of the Atria stellar system.
Trevor was the first to shook his head, even before their arrival when there were some decent things in the stores of the border station, he didn’t see anything near the level of the materials listed.
Tomas on the other hand tried to make memory for a couple of seconds before he pointed at one of the names on the list.
“I haven’t seen it with own eyes, but the “Diamon Bone Orchid” has been found once before in the Fritz stellar system… their guardian force is a body path centered sect, so I had some interactions with a few of them, unfortunately my communication talisman was confiscated so I can’t contact my acquittances, but if young master has the chance just ask for Ulises Fritz, he owes me a favor”, said the old man as he handed Aster a letter handwritten by him.
Aster accepted the letter, although it’s just a rumor, having a hint it’s better than blindly looking for the materials, so he marked the Fritz stellar system as a future place to visit.
Before Lilia dispelled her barrier, Tomas made all the guards pledge loyalty with a soul oath, the ones surviving were the original ones which besides some minor bribes didn’t do anything too harsh, so after saying Aster that he will personally turn them into a proper army to protect the station, Tomas sent them to apologize with the people that were oppressed by Trevor and his subordinates.
After that Tomas himself prepared the space gate for the daily activation, he was surprised seeing Aster and all his companions suddenly disappear, but he guessed their spaceship had a concealment formation and just did as he was told.
“Ah, hurry up the gate is activating!”, many other people formed in line for the transition, without noticing the huge black spaceship which floated above them, luckily the space gate was big enough to fit two or three spaceships like Lilia’s one, because apparently it consumed less spirit jades to activate a big gate once than a small one many times.
Aster was marveled by the huge space gate which opened in front of them, it was like something taken out of a sci fi movie, unlike the small portal which they used to arrive at Prasil, this one had a square form and the dimensional tunnel had a blue tone instead of a gray one.
As soon as the gate activated all the spaceships advanced towards the gate disappearing after entering into contact with it.
“Everyone sit down, the first time in a space gate it’s a bit… rough”, said Lilia as the spaceship dashed towards the gate.
Seeing an opportunity Kana hurriedly jumped onto Aster’s lap, earning a gaze from Alice which was inwardly cursing herself for not taking the chance.
“Big brother can use his golden armor to help me stay still, just like when we were forcefully transported by senior Aurelian”, she said in her usual melodious voice.
Alice smirked as her body started glowing in golden light.
“You can sit with your “big sister” Alice too, come let’s spend some time together”.
Kana stuck her tongue at Alice as she snuggled on Aster’s chest.
“No thanks~”.
,m Aster felt amused by those two’s little quarrel, but then he actually had to grab Kana’s body, to prevent her from falling, the very moment the spaceship entered into contact with the gate, things seemed to slow down and then it was as if they were shot from a cannon.
And he wasn’t the only one, Alice, Aria and even Camila felt dizzy and had to hold onto the armguards of their seats, Eris, Mylene and Sarina on the other hand seemed quite relaxed.
Kana hugged Aster and only then she calmed down, while Aster’s pupils contracted as he turned to see the double-sided lateral windows of the spaceship.
‘So that’s how it looks to travel from a star cluster to another’, he thought.