chapter 571  domineering (part 1)

    inside of the trial''s secret realm, aster was still being hugged in a slightly weird position by vivian, now aster isn''t someone that gets scared by physical contact, heck lilia always wore light clothing when sleeping with him, even before the nature of their relationship changed.

    which is why he wasn''t uncomfortable by feeling vivian''s smooth pale skin touching him, nor by seeing her pretty face up-close, but unfortunately, they didn''t have that much time here, they will be forcefully transported out in a few minutes after all.

    "say aster, will it be a problem if we do things like today even if we aren''t in a date... quite often", mumbled vivian as she looked away to avoid aster''s eyes.

    today has been probably one of the best days vivian has had in her life, she got to do a lot of things she wanted, aster cooked for her and even personally fed her, she slept next to him, they fought together, he even carried her and now she the date ended with her taking care of aster.

    well, she still had to open her gift, but whatever it was, she was sure that she was going to love it, since it is a gift from aster.

    aster chuckled in response as he said.

    "a gift like that one everyday will be a bit too much, but for the other things i don''t see the problem, as long as vivian is okay with it", he said.

    ''well, that and you can''t stay in my room, otherwise those girls will get mad at me'', he added to himself, but didn''t say it out loud.

    as "inexperienced" as vivian might be, she knows that those who stay in aster''s room are certain to be in "that" sort of relationship with him, either right now or in the future like in kana''s case.

    of course, kana saying that she will be one of her big brother''s "wives" when she grows up, makes it obvious for all the other girls, the type of relationship aster has with sarina and the others, not to mention he doesn''t hide the fact that he has multiple lovers.

    surprisingly, vivian is probably the only one so far, that didn''t have even the slightest reaction, after finding out that lilia and alice were also aster''s lovers, in part because she lacks knowledge in terms of society as she was isolated until not too long ago.

    "mm~", vivian happily nodded and then let go of aster, she grabbed the giftbox and opened it, just be amazed at its content.

    "aster this...", she touched her present a couple of times and was temporarily in awe, as she gazed at aster who smiled at her.

    "i wanted to give you a nice present back when we had our first date, but the result kept being either blood red or light golden, and while i''m sure you''ll still look really good in them, i bet you''ll like this one more".

    what was inside of the large flat giftbox was a long dress, which seemed to have been made of the finest silk, in part because that was the case.

    "i know hard armor isn''t your thing, so i ordered a few kilograms of the processed silk from a peak transcending realm moonlight silkworm, believe it or not, that was the easy part, since i could only get the last needed materials recently...", said aster as he scratched the back of his head.

    the materials he was talking about were the scales that the little wyrm shed of after reaching the mortal transcending realm, dust from yin accumulation crystals, as well as eris''s formations after she had recovered enough to use her soul queen cultivation for a short period of time, in other words this dress was completed literally not too long after they returned from the silicon forest.

    naturally since it was for vivian''s use, her blood was also mixed into it, and for the finishing touch, aster''s one was also added to it, the result was a white long dress with an elegant design.

    unlike the usual dresses that vivian wears, this one was short sleeved and also didn''t reach all the way to her shins, but had a though short, still conservative cut a bit above knee length.

    on the other hand, it was pure white just like the ones she always wears, but it had a certain glow to it, as if star dust was being radiated by it, one would think that the vivian who is sick and tired of white clothes, wouldn''t be that excited about another one, but this dress was a gift from her dear friend aster, so how could she not have sparkles on her eyes as she unfolded the dress.

    "it seems to be a perfect fit for me, did you take my measures back when you had to analyze me for the first fragment of the cycle?", innocently asked vivian, unaware of the double meaning that her words had.

    of course, there was no malice nor accusation behind her words, in fact she was amazed at the fact that the dress''s size was like a carbon copy of the other ones in her wardrobe.

    aster chuckled in response, luckily, he was quite thick skinned since he is by all means a pervert, naturally he didn''t take vivian''s measures himself, he half guessed it and half asked alice to do the "dirty" job for him, which was ask vivian for her measures making it look like random shameless moments of that sister of his, naturally alice asked for a "payment", but after receiving her bribe she did her job perfectly.

    "just a coincidence, here put it on, since we are about to leave", said aster as he took out one of the portable tents he had in his ring for when they ventured outside.

    "mm~", vivian eagerly jumped into the tent to change her clothes, making aster softly laugh at her acting like a child in a candy store.

    ''she didn''t even ask why i gave her another white dress, how cute'', he thought, to then change his expression to a serious one as he received a message from lilia through the mind space.

    vivian didn''t take too long to change, so aster''s smile returned quite soon as he saw her do a little turn to show off how good the dress looked on her.

    "so, do you like it?", asked aster as he admired vivian''s fairy-like aspect.

    "yes, it''s a bit heavy but to for the incredibly tough defense and all the functions it has as soft armor, it''s amazing, not to mention is a gift from aster~", cutely said vivian.

    just as aster was about to explain more about the dress, a formation appeared below the two of them, meaning it was time to go out of the secret realm.

    ''well, it''s always better for it to be a surprise'', thought aster as they both disappeared.

    ...

    outside of the secret realm of this monthly trial, there was a turmoil ongoing, as people from all over the sect has gathered.

    to enter, since the trial had already started, they were free to stay to try and get to exchange words with their idol, as long as they originally, a lot of junior disciples came because they heard that the male idol of the sect, the lord of he twin sword valley was attending the trial, and while the guardian elder didn''t allow them to enter, since the trial had already started, they were free to stay to try and get to exchange words with their idol, as long as they didn''t make too much of a ruckus.

    things were normal for a few hours, besides the fact that there was an unusual number of young girls camping nearby, but since they were calm and friendly, the guardian elder overlooked it.

    then the first batch of eliminated participants came out, they looked different than what others were expecting, the pill that is available for all the disciples below the core rank, for a "reasonable" price, doesn''t have healing properties, it just cleanses poisonous effects.

    "yes, senior brother protected us and then suggested us to leave, "senior brother aster was ambushed twice by those despicable people, they even tried to use us as bait, but a pretty white-haired sister taught them a lesson!", shouted one of the girls.

    "yes, senior brother protected us and then suggested us to leave, because things were getting dangerous inside of the trial due to some people playing tricks behind scenes", said another girl.

    "so, the one who used that "external" item to make our disciples end up like that, was that girl mentioned by you, tell us who is she!", said the supreme elder with a thunderous voice, trying to intimidate those girls, just for her pressure to be stopped in cold by another huge pressure that fell from above.

    "that would be the young miss from my galatia family defending herself, is there a problem with that?", julian''s cold voice and half-step heavenly realm pressure, made the three core elders behind of the supreme elder slightly tremble.

    julian might not have the backing of a high ranked stellar system or an even stronger force, nor he is a genius-like existence like william, as he isn''t part of the young generation, but he still stands at the top of the pyramid in what middle ranked stellar systems regard.

    ''tsk, i told those idiots not to target anyone else besides that little bastard'', thought the supreme elder as she cancelled her pressure, even if honorary, julian is considered an ancestor, so while his status is lower than hers, as he isn''t from a ruler level family, she can''t just ignore him, unless she doesn''t care about staying in the sect.

    "if that''s the case, then our disciples must have mistakenly antagonized the princess of the galatia family, in which case i apologize in their stead...", the supreme elder hadn''t finished speaking when julian interrupted her.

    "no, they were on the right, since she is on a... date, with that young fellow from the twin sword valley, so attacking him is the same as attacking her", it took julian a lot of effort to say the word "date", but he still backed aster, especially because earlier when he was just taking a few drinks with tomas calmly, he was suddenly bathed in cold sweat after seeing lilia appearing out of thin air in front of him to say a single word.

    "go", just that word, made it impossible for julian to let alone be calm like before, but refuse in any way, he immediately stood up and excused himself, only now he knew why he was told to come.

    ''that kid is going to make me die early, not only he casually took vivian out on a date without saying anything but his mother, almost scared me to death'', thought julian as he inwardly sighed.

    on the other hand, he had to admit that aster drew others to his side quite easily and that was the quality of someone with a great fate ahead of him.

    the atmosphere which was already quite tense, only worsened when the last batch of losers appeared outside of the secret realm.

    "...", a sepulchral silence reigned on the area as everyone saw the pile of severed limbs, and another pile of limbless bodies, while one would have expected the young girls to scream, pale or vomit at such a gory scene, they instead cheered because they didn''t see aster among them, meaning they were the enemies.

    "as expected of senior brother, he can''t be defeated by such lowly tricks as ambushes~", said the girl who first spoke on aster''s behalf earlier.

    two of the three core elders got bloodshot eyes at the sight of the reserves from their families, ending in such a state, while the elder from the red sword faction frowned, wondering where were her clansmen, but as she was about to ask the guardian elder, she heard her saying.

    "young miss iris asked to be transported to another place, using her privilege as a top disciple, i allowed it because all the ones that fought her ended up half death not by poison but by fire, she also left a message behind for you, "punishment", my condolences", said the guardian elder.

    the core elder of the red sword faction paled on the spot, a thousand things flashed through her mind and ultimately, she actually bowed towards the supreme elder before saying.

    "it appears that there are some personal matters i must attend to back at the fireheart family, i will take my leave here, sorry".

    before the supreme elder could say anything, that red haired woman became a flash of red light which disappeared in the horizon, she even left behind the disciples of the red sword faction, which is understandable as none of them had red hair, in other words they weren''t part of the fireheart family, as those guys were the ones that iris half burned to a crisp.

    and the bad news kept coming, well, bad for some, as the message declaring aster and vivian the first ones to ever clear the mountain stage, thus becoming the new first and second position of the leaderboard, appeared and spread through the whole sect and all of their branches.

    ''sigh, that kid doesn''t let down... still you could have at least told me beforehand, that little girl is like my daughter you know'', thought julian as he bitterly smiled.

    then amidst the celebration of some and the bitterness of others, the portal opened one last time and a tall handsome, black-haired youth accompanied by a pale fairy-like young girl, came out of it.

    "i was hoping to see how many dogs would gather if i enjoyed a three-day date inside of the trial, but i guess that after clearing it, you can''t stay there", aster''s sharp voice reached the ears of all the presents, making those young girls softly laugh while the core elders, edward and of course the supreme elder, were spewing flames from their eyes.

    he actually remained inside of the secret realm to flirt, meaning that he made them wait for him on purpose.

    "how dare you...", just as the core elder from the purple lotus faction was about to lash out at aster, he raised his hand to stop her from speaking to then say.

    "let''s cut down to the chase, you are stupidly accusing me of killing that stupid woman from your zabback family, because the guys from the light blue anvil faction told you that, right, show me the proof that i had anything to do with her death, and that it wasn''t just her being stupid when cultivating and dying due to deviation".

    aster then gazed at edward with a disdainful expression to add.

    "alternatively, if the only one that was with her through the whole last mission she took, has something to "confess", i bet you''ll get the answer you want".

    edward clenched his fists and then yelled.

    "i didn''t kill her you psycho, she was my woman!", edward actually tried to rush towards aster, but he was stopped by the supreme elder grabbing him by his shoulder.

    "you don''t have to listen to that murderer, he''ll be judged by the sect...", of course since when has aster left others take the lead in front of him.

    he gave edward and all the others next to him a condescending smile as he said.

    "this is like the third of fourth time you all try to cause me troubles, i didn''t come here to waste my time on you, so let''s make this the last one, let''s go to the life and death arena, it will be me against a representative from the four of you, if you don''t have the guts then get the hell out of the sect".

    the supreme elder was about to refuse, when edward who had a vein popping on his neck shouted.

    "deal, i will smash that damn mouth of yours!".

    aster didn''t react at edward''s provocation, he instead gazed at the supreme elder and smirked, which made her grit her teeth.

    ''this damn brat!!!'', she inwardly screamed.