"Cultivation is tiring... we spends our days worrying about what ifs and what could have been, any little doubt in our mind and our cultivation slows down. We enter closed door cultivation to avoid distraction and to cleanse our minds but sometimes the opposite is needed, as for when that is, its up to you to figure it out"
- Teacher Dedro ~ Peak nascent soul stage
From the billions of ships in this cluster armada there stands 10 races above the rest these 10 races over time became located on the borders of the central most area dividing up different sections although they did not actually control the people in each direction they had the leading role of protecting these sections.
Sending the most battleships to guard the front, back and sides of the armada while only monitoring above them with the fastest ships, while below they had formed a second group of Arks on what could be considered an upsidedown position that way no real bottom side exists and its up to the abilities and instruments of the individual to detect any sign of danger.
One of these apex groups being the demonic beast coalition, formed from several tens of thousands of ships they had asserted their dominance in this group of arks by pure force showing that they are not willing to be below others even risking the extinction of their kin through battle.
They simply represented one major faction of the greater demonic horde.
12 main demonic beast arks stood above the rest, these arks held enormous military might individually and even tho they had lost 80% of the high grade demonic beast facing the past calamity they could still be considered far more powerful than the fledgling 6 fleet alliance and the like.
While the arks had become the most common place mode of transport for the new era, many older methods still prevailed across this section of the armada
"Bhayi" A low voice called out
A shadow spread across an enormous open chamber
"I am here lord Ozzan, what is your command"
"Send some beasts out to the various smaller alliances, have them form friendly relations with them"
"As you command my lord"
The shadow then receded.
The various lords of the demonic beasts coalition had all come to a consensus, they needed to increase the number of allies they had but it would be a difficult thing to do.
Demonic beasts are one of the main sources of raw materials for many cultivator paths and overall a stigma on the violent, ignorant and predatory nature of demonic beast still held strong across the common populace.
Demonic beast have always struggled to keep friendly relations with xeno species, demonic beasts varied so much in appearance and lifestyles that it was almost impossible to differentiate between whomever was an allie and those of a different clan.
Alien races relied of many different senses to identify each other, from sight, touch, sound and energy signatures of various kinds.
Demonic beast primary form of identification was based on smell and while everyone has different smells, certain smells as still prevalent based on region, city, town and family lines and while high grade cultivators have greatly increased smelling abilities they do not openly practice such abilities on others as it is not seen as acceptable by the vast majority of cultivators who rely on sight, hearing and spiritual sense.
Generally cultivators lacked smell in the first place, they did not sweat fluids but spiritual energy.
So it was simply easier to identify people based on energy signatures rather then smell, while smell might be useful to avoid many dangers, or to test for freshness those types of smells are generally strong enough to not need enhanced sense's.
Should they really need to use smell for identification it was simply easier to train a demonic beast as a pet to do it for you.
In one of the demonic vessels shaped like a great cage, tens of thousands of birds took flight forming patterns in the cages artificial sky's.
A beast in human form watched as the birds flew above her, she watched as they danced in the wind enjoying life without restrictions after a moments thought she disappeared only to reappear while chewing something.
The birds flying above had not even noticed as one of their kin was devoured in the blink of an eye and kept on dancing in the sky
"Not very filling but it will do for now" the woman said
A red streak on light flashed in the distance and turned towards her direction, the bird above scattering in all directions.
The red streak looked to crash into her only to stop 100 feet infront of her.
It was a giant red scorpion no less then 16 meters wide from tail to claw
"Lord, the rest of the demonic lords have sent out envoys to gather more subordinates, should we do the same?"
The woman looked in the scorpions direction but did not move her mouth
"As you command" the scorpion then retreated in a flash
"She's really trying hard to use her new vocal cords, that red shell scorpion will probably soon enter the metamorphosis stage" the woman then went back to observing the flock of birds.
~~ Nordaine family secret area - Shrine of the ancestors~~
An old man sat on a chair basking in the light simply enjoying his time alone.
This ark was not large like others, only being 2.5kms in length with the classic boat appearance.
For some this ark would be a safe heaven for a small cultivation family, but for others this could only be considered a private taxi.
For the Nordaine family, it was legacy.
The inside was full of life, dense foliage covered all directions while only the center was divided by a stone path leading to several small temples all sealed from the outside.
The ceiling of the ark painted in eggshell white with the center of the ceiling going from South to North has a mechanism that carried a headsized yellow glowing stone that provided light to every corner of the Ark.
In one of the temple chambers an urn was placed ontop of a small raised platform surrounded by treasures and trinkets while the walls decorated with paintings depicting the story of the person whom the urn belonged too.
The items soon started to shake and break apart releasing an unknown energy in the room gradually starting to form a vortex of light above the urn.
Over six hours passed the light having slightly condensed until it was finally as small as a bead, this bead hovered for a moment then proceeded to crash down onto the urn scattering the ashes in all directions.
The air shook everything inside the chamber causing enough ruckus to raise the dead but none of this sound making it outside the chamber.
The paintings, vases, candles along with the urn all lit aflame until nothing but ash remained.
When the ashes finally started clearing an extremely beautiful woman with black hair and pale skin in her 30s had appeared atop of the raised platform her eyes closed and sound in the room silent once more.
After an hour or so of basking in the light the old man finally had enough rest gradually standing up.
Once he was fully upright he looked up towards the temple, seeing nothing amiss as usual.
As he was about to look away the sound of a large stone door being dragged could be heard, he quickly looked attentive and saw the leftmost chamber open slowly and out walked a naked woman pale as death eyes closed yet not missing a step forward.
The old man was shocked, his everyday routine had become so routine that he forgot himself for a moment, an ancestor had revived!
"Ancestor! Ancestor congratulations on your resurrection! This old man humbly greets you" the old man had rushed towards the woman with an expression of great joy, he took out some robes from a pendant he wore and while standing a respectful distance away he extended his hands out holding the various robes.
The woman looked toward the old man "What is your name?"
"I am Proteus, Proteus Nordaine current elder of the Nordaine family ancestor" still holding the robes in his hands he answered respectively
"Elder? Not even in the deity transformation stage and claims to be an elder... are the Nordaine's suffering a major setback?" the woman had a questioning tone taking a black with white robe from the old man
"It is as you perceive ancestor, the family is in what could be considered the best worst situation"
"Explain" Best worst situation? what did that mean?
"Yes! it all started when the vast tree realm was unfortunate enough to come across one of the branches of the corruption calamity over 1000 odd years ago..."
~~Golden flower sect flag ship - Voice of flowers~~
"Anabella bell! come here this instant!" a woman yelled
"It wasn't me! it wasn't me! I've been set up!" Anabella not bothering to look back ran with all her might in the opposite direction of the voice, but it was to no avail she was caught almost instantly.
To the side sat the three Nordaine family children covered in a yellow liquid, they still had looks of curiosity on their face as if amused by what just happened yet also trying to figure out how she did it.
'gahh why did it explode so quickly!? even I got caught up in it' Little Anabella was reluctant, she simply wanted to teach those three a lesson for treating her like a spectacle but she had originally planned to cast a diversion while sneakily getting away from the epicenter of the blast but unfortunately fate had other plans.
"You dare to do such a thing here Anabella, it seems i have not been strict enough with you when we get back home you will be punished by your father!" Madam Bell made a threatening voice in a low tone that carried over to Anabella clearly.
"I'm so sorry madam Nordaine, this troublemaker of mine will be taught a lesson later I will compensate you if need be" Mrs.Bell was a bit panicked she did not have many interactions with the current head of the Nordaine family and did not know how she will react.
"Don't fret to much Mrs.Bell, it is simply children being children and besides it's not like anyone got hurt a small mess like this is easy to clean" Saying so madam Nordaine swiped her hand in the direction of her children and all the yellow liquid evaporated without a trace, a light air surrounded the children drying away any remaining liquid slowly.
Looking from afar Rose was looking at the outcome of the situation and felt pleased, she had been the one to topple Anabella's plan after noticing what was going on - although she didn't really save the victims from the outcome instead adding another one to the mix.
All the children watching the events unfold felt a little more at ease now that such an event happened because now even if they mess up it would not be as bad as the scene caused by Anabella decreasing the weight of their shoulders without them noticing.
"Well now that we have finished trading with one another we can move on to the final event of the day, the gifts from all of us gathered here to the little ones"
Sect master Anne closed off any further talk of trade leaving it for another day and gestured for everyone to return to their assigned seats.
"Gather around young ones" without waiting the sect master clapped her hands and all the children flew up a few feet in the air gathered into a large group and brought to the stage.
"Now then our final event is a collaboration between all of us present and as such representatives of each side have discussed with one another about the gifts provided and who will get what... but of course since these are gifts they cannot be given to the same family that provided them, so even if something is more fitting for another it will not be given unless both parties agree, it is also worth mentioning that not all gifts are of equal value some may greatly exceed what is to be expected from a childs first debut" Saying this the sect master moved to the side of the stage
"Now then the first child to step forward will be the brave boy named Hector who volunteered to go first for during inspections" The sect master signaled to prince Hector who quickly walked forward in stride
Prince Hector then stood on stage
"Prince hector you have both wood and fire attributes and the red pulse physique, the gift you will receive is simply based on current potential, this goes for everyone else aswell" looking toward the directions of the children the sect master continued
"The gift that has been selected as most suitable for you is this"
A clear vial with a red liquid then appeared hovering mid air
"This is called sunset sap, it is a special fire element sap from a rare spiritual tree that when eaten will strengthen the tendons greatly, increase your vital Qi by a small margin and increase the purity of your fire attribute spiritual root making it easier to transform in a single element spiritual root. At minimum you will see an increase in the strength and durability of your tendons by 2-3 times that of the average person and it can be consumed up to three times, as such this vial contains 3 portions of sunset sap. Best to be used in the initial realm of Qi convergence as it is the time it has the most effect on the body lasting a lifetime."
Receiving the gift prince Hector was led back down the stage with a happy yet at the same time with a questioning look.
He didn't know what would benefit his cultivation after all, today was the first step for the vast majority here.
"Next please come up princes Jade of Mejir kingdom"
A young girl with green eyes and long black hair walked onto the stage