just a second after their voices, three people descended from the sky right at the entrance of the valley, agnes had free access but she decided not to directly walk in, out of respect for mikaela who was accompanying her.

    the very moment the three newcomers became visible, aster felt a surge of bloodlust coming from behind of him, which he easily recognized since it belonged to none other than that dragon sister of his.

    which is why he flashed towards alice''s side and wrapped his right arm around her waist, to prevent her from attacking the plus one that mikaela brought as a guest.

    in case you wonder why alice reacted like that, that''s because said plus one looked rather familiar, as it was one of the girls that appeared to cause trouble with edward back then.

    despite alice''s clearly aggressive reaction, the girl in question remained calm, she even raised her hands showing that she had no ill intention, so it was time for aster to question not only mikaela but also agnes.

    agnes felt especially ashamed to be looked like a girl who did something wrong by aster, so she cleared her throat to explain.

    "ahem, i also reacted like that when i first saw her, but she isn''t the one that played along with those guys from the blacksmith peak or more accurately the pawns of the stall family, but a relative of that girl", she said.

    "i''m her younger sister to be more accurate, perhaps you would recognize the name lieze", added the girl.

    aster raised an eyebrow in interest, of course he recognized that name, since that was the one engraved at the highest spot of the heavenly ranking, in other words the girl in front of him affirmed to be the number one core disciple.

    "well, i do admit that despite having the same realm as the woman that lingered around that guy and looking pretty much like her, you do possess a different aura, not to mention you appear to be way stronger than her", said aster to then add.

    "that being said, i don''t think you can defeat iris nor nerissa, not only at their current level, but even before their recent advances, so it''s a bit hard to believe that you are the "mysterious" top ranked disciple".

    the reason as to why aster put emphasis on the word "mysterious" is not because the number one disciple isn''t seen often, but because she wears a helmet at all times and she is out of the sect all the year long with the exception of the day where the ranks reset, which is why aster has never stumbled upon her.

    "she is a disciple of the white sword, in a direct battle i do admit that a tie would be the best outcome if lieze faced the disciple of miss valentina or that girl from the bladeheart family, but she is indeed the top ranked disciple, merit point''s wise, because while those two focus on sharpening their swords, she does all kinds of tedious missions for the sect", said mikaela on behalf rieze.

    "i would have loved to proof my identity by using my helmet and sword but... i lost them, also ellizabeth and me aren''t twins, i am two years younger than her, but sisters in our family tend to look quite similar, it''s a lineage trait", added the girl.

    seeing that mikaela and more importantly agnes vouched for her, he nodded while also letting go of alice who though still looked as if she wanted to rip lieze to shreds, had calmed down already.

    "it''s a shame and here i thought i would finally have the chance to break that bitch''s neck", mumbled alice, in a voice loud enough to make sure everyone could hear it.

    aster bitterly smiled in response, alice hated ellizabeth not because she came to cause trouble with edward, but because she insulted aster quite a few times, still that woman disappeared after edward was killed, so the dragon princess didn''t get to settle that debt, which is why she felt her blood boiling earlier, but everything was alright now... probably.

    "enough, it''s interestingly hard to discern but i can confirm with my own eyes that she isn''t the woman we have met, it''s just an unfortunate coincidence that they look alike", said aster which made alice pout, but she ultimately gave in and instead tightly hugged aster''s right arm while dangerously glaring at rieze.

    while appeasing that dragon sister of his, aster didn''t forget to state the obvious.

    "that being said and while i firmly believe that agnes has already dealt with the obvious, the sister of someone who is being raised by a super force that doesn''t see me in a good light, seems to have shown interest in coming to my valley since some time ago, so i must ask why?", he said.

    judging by how mikaela didn''t hesitate to ask for an extra invitation, lieze must have asked her to get this chance to come to the valley for her, the question here is why and also why did mikaela comply, since as far as aster and everyone in the sect knows, she has no direct disciple under her, unlike valentina or the other core elders and lieze clearly isn''t related to her.

    "she might not be directly related to me, but she is still the number one disciple from the faction i represent so i agreed to get her this chance since it was for a good reason, that being said, my help regarding this matter, ends here", said mikaela.

    "i came here exactly because you are in bad terms with the stall family as well as my sister, due to the recent events and the death of that idiot my family had to look for a scapegoat and they... choose me and took away the helmet and sword that my father left for me", explained rieze.

    "humph, so basically you came here because you heard that aster is a spirit blacksmith and you want to benefit from him", said alice, this time aster didn''t stop her, because she had point, is she only wanted a high quality spirit treasure she could have gone to the store and request a meeting with aster there, but she instead came all the way to the valley.

    something that all the girls in the family had in common is that they didn''t approach aster in order to benefit from him, heck some even considered him an enemy like mylene or alexandra.

    of course, that doesn''t mean that a friend can''t be born out of a situation like that, life has its ways after all, but it is indeed not a reason aster would look at in a positive way.

    what was interesting is that his instincts were neutral towards her, meaning that there must be something else behind all this.

    "mm, i won''t deny that a major part of the motive i wanted to meet the lord of twin sword valley, is because the spirit treasures used by his companions on similar levels have proven to be way above the ones used by others, in fact all the disciples who buy their equipment in your store had nothing but praises to their quality".

    "however, if i could simply buy or order a spirit treasure then that would have been the favor i would have asked to elder mikaela, unfortunately for both me and my sister, we can''t use any treasure like other cultivators, there are requirements to be met".

    "so, i did come after getting to know that you are a talented spirit blacksmith, yes, but i don''t even know if you can make something that i can use, in order to determine that, i have to be around you for some time, so i came to offer my help for the incoming mission in exchange for letting me hang out with your group for a bit".

    "i might not be able to defeat those two, but defending against them isn''t a problem, i might even end up not being compatible with you as a blacksmith, meaning that i would be on the losing side of the deal but you don''t lose anything", she said to then add.

    "also, i heard that you would give some attention to the one who managed to be recognized in a spar with the girls from your group, so i thought of trying that but the waiting line was too long, of course if it is determined that i can use spirit treasures made by you, then i would like you to hear me out".

    aster took a moment to process everything, ultimately shaking his head in response.

    "the answer would have to wait until i hear about the mission, after all if there is a limit of people i can bring with me, i have to be very clear about this, but i would naturally choose them above you, for the time being feel free to join us for the party", he said.

    lieze let out a sigh of relief, she wasn''t directly rejected as she expected, also what aster said made sense, why would he pick her over her trusted companions, especially considering that some were known to be his lovers, but at least she wasn''t being treated as an enemy anymore.

    ''damn elizabeth, even causing problems to me in terms of social life, how unfair'', she thought as she entered the valley accompanied by mikaela, while agnes flashed to aster''s side.

    "follow me, i''ll guide you to the party area, i have asked for some of the drinks of that day to be prepared since i remembered miss mikaela showing interest in them", said aster as he raised into the sky.

    mikaela didn''t say anything, but the sparkles in her eyes gave her away, while ignoring alice who still glared at lieze from time to time, aster turned to see agnes since he wanted to clear some doubts.

    "did something happen, it''s already this late and there is no information regarding the mission?", he asked.

    "cousin contacted the sect yesterday saying that there would be an important announcement today, but we haven''t been able to stablish contact with them since then, i confirmed with my family that she is okay, so there must have been something keeping her busy", mumbled agnes, she might not show it, but she was worried about valentina.

    it was understandable, with her peak void manipulation realm, her talent and noble ascendence, allowing her to cross realms to fight, nothing in a middle ranked stellar system should represent serious danger for her, especially since william whose realm is even higher, should be accompanying her, so something serious must have happened to delay her report.

    ''i''m so going to punish these three later, not to mention that lewd sister of mine who knew about this and didn''t say a word about it'', thought aster, alice were a nice red dress too but she intentionally didn''t put that much effort into her outfit as to not give away those three''s plan.

    surprisingly alice didn''t participate actively, but she still knew so punishment was in order as well, anyway now it wasn''t the time for that, aster snapped his fingers and the multiple tables containing all the food trays, plates and silverware disappeared along with all the girls in the room.

    ...

    back at the party area, the guests as well as the other girls suddenly felt a nice scent coming the sky, they all looked upwards just in time to see aster and the others descending, the delicious smell naturally came from the food.

    in a high-class banquet, out of respect the food couldn''t be taken out of a spatial treasure, but had to be manually moved into the hall by the chef and his assistants, in this case sarina was the chef and aster and the other mothers were her assistants, though aster was carrying everything with his soul energy.

    "hi everyone, my name is sarina and i took the role of being this event''s spirit chef, i hope you enjoy the food", elegantly said the motherly blond woman, showing the etiquette of a noble which she learned as well as the knowledge of a spirit chef which she was in the process of learning.

    aster then evenly distributed the multiple trays of food on the main table, there was a set of all the dishes at the reach of all the guests, so that everyone could get to try everything, as for the drinks they were placed at a separate table and golems prepared by eris were serving them, acting as waiters.

    while all the attention naturally fell on the three stunningly dressed girls that were surrounding aster, he sat down at the host''s seat and then rose his glass to make a toast, lilia, sarina, alice, aria and kana each took their respective seats next to him and on his lap respectively.

    "thanks to everyone for coming all the way to my valley, please enjoy the food and i hope you like the little entertainment prepared for you, cheers!", with that aster drank from his glass".

    "cheers!", all the guests accepted the toast in unison, for those who hadn''t tried the drinks prepared by mylene, the surprise in their eyes was evident, to those who knew about it the comfortable and refreshing feeling was also there, it was a major success.

    speaking of entertainment, alexandra nearly drowned with her drink when she saw her father descend from the sky on a semi-circular platform made out of the same material as the tables and chairs, raise from the ground, facing the main table, courtesy of the little wyrm which had slid down from aster''s neck to eat from a plate which kana set up for her.

    thomas was holding a long bamboo flute, but he wasn''t alone, julian who mikaela and also angela recognized as the honorary ancestor of the sect, was also there holding a dark brown luxurious looking fiddle.

    "brother thomas and i will have the honor to play music for the guests of the twin sword valley, please enjoy it along the delicious food offered by the host".

    with those words, julian started playing, surprising more than one of the present people, he was actually quite good with it, thomas didn''t fall behind though, he really learned how to play the flute in order to court tamara so he was really good with it, everyone enjoyed the harmony of the music while being brought to paradise by sarina''s delicious food.

    well, everyone but alexandra who could see her mother''s love filled gaze on her father, which made her feel a bit embarrassed, vivian on the other hand didn''t pay too much attention to julian and instead merrily talked with aster and kana, very much to the pain of the "musician".

    after around an hour and half, aster nodded happy at the festive atmosphere among the guests, everyone was finishing to have their fill while they chatted with the people of their choose, no one was left aside, including lieze and mikaela who weren''t known by most of the girls, also julian and thomas were playing their last song of the day so it was time for him to use the little surprise he kept in store.

    with a snap of his fingers, all the guests as well as the girls were surprised by the pretty show of lights that lit up out of nowhere behind julian and thomas, nearly making those two stop playing, luckily they were told beforehand by aster that he had a surprise, so they managed to not stop in the middle.

    ''wow, boss surely is a genius, i have never seen a music exhibition being complemented with a light show, not even at the parties in honor of the patriarchs of the high ranked stellar systems'', thought thomas as he saw the soft particles of light of multiple colors moving around taking shapes and interpreting a small story for the public.

    of course aster simply took this idea from what would be done in a concert back at earth, but for the cultivation world it was something they never expected, music which was related to the mind, calligraphy which was related to technical knowledge such as runes, strategy which is related to war and lastly craftmanship which is related to culture, those are the four arts recognized in the four heavenly quadrants and taught to noble structured forces, such as the four ruler level families.

    while they weren''t exactly conservative, a trend has been followed since a long time ago and changing it without properly thinking about it would make others think that the host has a poor taste.

    so, for the guests that came from extraordinary backgrounds, such as mikaela or agnes, aster''s display was innovative and fresh while still maintaining the dignity and elegancy of the entertainment for a high ranked party.

    also, while it looked as something easy, it wasn''t an illusion since aster didn''t have any knowledge regarding that subject, those were particles of spirit energy being controlled by him with parallel thinking, which marveled another of the recently joined girls, angela to be more accurate, it was an amazing display of skill and wit.

    the very moment julian and thomas finished their song, applauses came from all over the place.

    "that was amazing big brother, can you teach me how to do it~", cutely said kana while giving aster puppy eyes.

    "hisss~", the little wyrm followed her example making aster chuckle, those two might have a talent for illusions, since they have created a nice strategy based on espi''s mist attribute, so he agreed.

    "sure, but it will be on your free time after your training of the day has finished, okay", he said, while inwardly adding.

    ''perhaps you two will not be the only ones, training on parallel thinking in the valley'', he thought as he stole a gaze at angela.

    kana and espi continuously nodded in response, making most of the girls softly laugh at their charming adorable smiles.

    amidst the soft laughs, agnes and mikaela suddenly looked into their pockets at the same time, they both took out their respective communication talismans and looked at the message they just received, in a different manner though, mikaela read it to herself while agnes reproduced it for everyone to hear.

    [sorry for the delay, a small fight broke out between me, william and some guys from the other two "sides", so we couldn''t communicate until we beat them into oblivion, anyway i just wanted to tell you that a new mission will be published in a couple of minutes, go with that "friend" of yours as well as nerissa to the nearest receptionist, the difficulty will be... sect rank]

    "...", a slightly awkward silence fell in the place, mikaela was a but taken a back that agnes just casually allowed others to listen about the privileged information that only those in charge of their respective factions should receive, not to mention that her message was more detailed than the one she received, since it was from valentina.

    ''mine just said, "sect ranked mission on the way", isn''t that a bit too much of preferential treatment'', she thought, it''s worth mentioning that she was in a much more relaxed mood after drinking quite a bit of the different brews prepared by mylene.

    while some didn''t care like alice and lilia, others did show interest like sarina since the next mission was supposed to be for her, so aster turned to see angela who shook her head in response.

    "it''s also the first time i hear of the term "sect rank", so far, the highest difficulty was "hell" which meant dealing with evil cultivators that had taken a step into the heavenly realms, but those are supposed to be limited for supreme elders and law enforcers", she said.

    aster stole a gaze at that dragon mother of his just to see her shrugging, even if she was the original ancestor of the battle peak, she had never taken the position seriously, since back then the whole concept of the sect was just a fame that the three sisters used to pass time, it only became serious after lilia was forced to leave, since she refused to be used by her family.

    agnes was the same, she didn''t really put too much attention to the sect''s matters valentina probably did have a tough day for her to forget that her cousin was bad when it came to administrative responsibilities, and while mikaela did seem to know, she continued drinking from her glass after saying.

    "i think, lord galatia should be the one to explain this", basically she threw the responsibility to julian since she wasn''t in "work mode" right now.

    "ahem, sect rank means that while the strength required to participate might not be the highest possible, success or failure on it, will affect the existence of the sect, in other words, this mission will propel the sect to new heights or... end its existence", said julian.

    while the implications of said words were impactful for a lot of the present people, aster felt it in a different way, due to some of the specific words mentioned by valentina.

    ''the other "two sides", if she represents the fey and william is from the talis, then the other would be the stall and lastly... the drage, this mission that will involve forces backed by the four ruler families, not to mention that those two godmothers of mine probably left temporarily for this same reason, he thought.

    in other words, this mission might be bigger than what he expected.