While all this happened, Lucia was on the floor, clutching her heart and perspiring badly.
Anna and Eve began healing her, surrounding her with golden-green energy. After just 20 seconds, she started breathing normally again, her pulse relaxed, and her pain disappeared. Lucia took a deep breath and stood up; she looked at Yasenia with mixed feelings. She wasn't completely unreasonable, and Yasenia's rapid response toward her distress actually warmed her cooling feelings.
Lucia tried to speak with the intention of solving the misunderstanding. However, Gerd wouldn't let things go better for Yasenia. Therefore, he hastily took her hand and dragged her away, using his superior cultivation not to let her do anything.
Yasenia didn't want to let everything be like it was, so she shouted, hoping that her message reached Lucia. "It was my fault! If you want something in the future and it is in my power to do it, come to me, and I will definitely help you! I'm sorry!"
Lucia looked back and was about to speak again, but Gerd used his movement technique and disappeared from there, dragging Lucia away.
Yasenia looked at her disappearing back and sighed, "I messed up…."
Kali and Angel approached and took her hands. Angel said in her silvery voice, "Don't worry, Yasenia! I'm sure she will understand!"
Yasenia smiled and picked her up, holding her and placing one arm under her little butt. After Angel secured herself, wounding one arm around her neck, Yasenia said. "Thank you for cheering me up, baby. But I don't think that she will understand… Lucia is too naïve and with Gerd by her side. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to kill me the next time I met her. Sigh…"
Kali asked, "Why didn't you kill Gerd? With the headmistress as your backer, no one would have said anything even if you killed him here..."
Yasenia sighed, "I know it is stupid letting trouble go like that. But... I'm stupidly reluctant to use mom's influence this way..."
Angel tapped Yasenia's forehead and pouted. "You aren't stupid! Don't say that!"
Yasenia laughed and said, "This time, I was stupid. Baby, in the future, never let danger go away, okay? Try to finish it on the spot, and even if it may lead to regret later, like it happened with Alysa to me, do not try to savor the kill. Be ruthless and fast; that way, there won't be a situation where the bad guy escapes and comes back stronger. A good enemy is a dead enemy."
Angel and Kali listened to her and nodded. Yasenia said, "The only reason I didn't stubbornly finish him off is that I'm confident in defeating him whenever. Moreover, knowing there is a real danger, I will be more motivated to improve myself."
Kali shook her head, "That's a stupid way of pressuring yourself, Yasenia."
Yasenia nodded, "I know... Especially when he could aim for any of you too. This is at the same level of stupidity as when I charged inside the group of cultivators in the formation, eventually getting killed. But... I think this can give us enough pressure to improve fast, and we need to improve fast because there will probably be tons of demons going inside the secret realm. So... One more Gerd or one less Gerd will honestly not change our current situation a lot."
Yasenia giggled, "Don't think I did it out of impulse. I actually thought about it."
Kali and Angel looked at Yasenia silently. Kali gave it one last try, "Then, instead of waiting for them to do something, we could aim for them in one mission and kill them all. I'm sure we can win if you fight with Andrea and Cecile and the rest of us support you from behind. "
Angel's eyes sparkled and said, "What a good idea, Kali! Let's do it, Yasenia! Let's kill the baddies!"
Yasenia walked around, holding Kali's hand and carrying little Angel with one arm. Anna and Eve followed behind, not saying anything about the situation. Although they really wanted to murder that kid that was aiming for their young miss, Tatyana had commanded all maids not to interfere unless the person was more than a whole realm above Yasenia. They were all really hoping for someone like that to appear to vent their current murderous intent on them.
(Tatyana: Pray for the poor soul that falls in the maids hands. That poor fella won't even know what is death for the rest of their natural life... Thanks to myself~.)
(Author ignoring Tatyana: Why do I feel a breeze? Did something break? Well, it doesn't matter...)
Yasenia thought about what Kali said. Then she shook her head. "How do we know about them? Remember that we don't have connections to know things like this. They probably are part of a wide network made by the demons, and they can gather information for them. We don't have anything like that. And again, relying on mom would spoil us in a bad way. What if we don't have the 'Mom' option in the future? I want to rely on ourselves unless there really is no other way."
Angel and Kali didn't speak anymore and thought of solutions. Yasenia said, "Andrea is the one with the widest information network, but who knows if the one she uses isn't the one the demons use. Of course, we could bet that it isn't and use it, but if we aren't extremely careful, we might fall right into an ambush. So... Let's focus on cultivating without taking shortcuts, and let's gain trampling might. So when we are inside the secret realm, we will be strong enough to stomp anything they throw at us."
Angel nodded and said, "I will put extra effort so that you don't have to worry, Yasenia!"
Yasenia chuckled and kissed her, "No matter how strong you become, I will always worry. All of you are my most important treasures, no matter your strength, physical aspect, or profession level. I will always~ worry for all of you."
Kali and Angel smiled and hugged Yasenia. Angel hugged her neck and rained kisses on her cheek, and Kali hugged her arm and shyly pressed her C-cup breasts on her arm. Like that, the three of them returned with slow steps, relaxing on their way back.
Yasenia later heard that Lucia and Gerd left the Academy the next day after their confrontation. Since that day, Yasenia didn't know about them anymore.
Yasenia told Oliver what had happened without holding anything back. Oliver was understanding, and he said not to mind it. He explained to Yasenia that Lucia didn't want to begin a relationship with him because she still had feelings for Yasenia. Therefore, Oliver didn't obsess with her and let it go.
He had a nice group of friends, so he wasn't lonely or anything like that. It was just that he connected quite well with Lucia and wanted to try starting a relationship. This let Yasenia relax a lot, not feeling as guilty for her Big Bro.
Right now, some days later, Yasenia, Kali, Angel, and Andrea were working on the device that would help communicate between them inside the secret realm. They have all advanced their crafts during the last months, particularly for this. So they were working very seriously on it.
Yasenia was overlooking the project because of her wide range of knowledge of the three professions. The other three put her ideas into actual products, fleshing them out and giving their own ideas.
Angel created the formations that let the sound travel from one point to another using energy channels instead of space fabric. This would make the devices work wherever there was energy.
Kali and Andrea worked together, creating the device with the help of blacksmithing and alchemy. Their main role was to create a product that could transform the signals sent and received by the formation into audible soundwaves for the user and vice-versa.
Right at that moment, they were fleshing out the project.
Yasenia said, "To make sure that others can receive the signals, how about encoding the signals with layers? Andrea could make the circuit to encrypt the signal, and then the formation would amplify the sound wave, and using the reactive alchemy material Kali is working on, we could communicate easily."
Kali spoke, "If we want the sound waves to reach from one device to another, we must convert the sound waves into energy signals. This way, they can travel a lot faster than sound."
Andrea nodded, "I will need to ingrain energy circuits able to do transform then…."
Angel intervened, "I can help with the reception and editing of the signals with a formation. But this will create trouble with long messages."
Yasenia chuckled, "we aren't creating a chat device. It would be ideal if we could send a sentence or two without major problems. Our main focus should be security against external interferences."
Kali said, "I can create a concoction that reacts when we are close. This way, we will be able to reach each other swiftly as long as we are in the same area."
Yasenia and the rest nodded in praise.
Andrea said, "The device won't work if it is inside the spatial ring, so we have to make it small and practical to carry around."
Yasenia asked, "Will it be durable? I don't want a sneak attack or something to destroy it."
Angel frowned, "Since the device is small, the formations will be fragile. I don't think we can make it too durable..."
Yasenia questioned, "How many can we create with the materials we have? Is it possible to buy more?"
Andrea shook her head, "We aren't skilled enough to connect more than 24 of these at once. So four devices for each of us."
Kali said, "How about creating two types of devices?"
Yasenia smiled and said, "A sender and receiver, right? This way, we can make each device more intricate since we would avoid placing so much burden on it."
Angel said joyfully, "I can make the formations sturdier this way."
Yasenia hugged her from behind and patted her head with her tail, making Angel squint comfortably.
Now that they had everything planned out, Andrea said with a commanding tone, "Let's get to work! Angel, start designing the formations and tell me the minimum surface needed to ingrain them. Kali, I want to have the alchemy liquid within a week to begin testing. Yasenia, stay with me and help me design the energy circuits; you are better at that than me."
All of them answered, """Yes, ma'am!"""
Angel and Kali went to their respective workshops, leaving Andrea and Yasenia alone.
Yasenia grabbed Andrea's hand, and they both looked into Yasenia's ring. They searched what materials did they have, and Andrea said, "How about we use [Vibrating copper], together with an alloy of [Black gold] and [Voice Jade]?"
Yasenia asked, "Why didn't you ask for the [Profound black gold]? I think it would be better, right?"
Andrea frowned, "Isn't it a little bit of a waste? That is a heaven-ranked material."
Yasenia snorted, "How can it be a waste when we are doing it for our safety!?"
Andrea chuckled and gave up, "Okay, okay, don't get mad, love. Let's use the best materials!"
Yasenia smiled and said, "That's how it should be~. Moreover, how could I get angry with my darling? Let's work!"
Yasenia took out some papers and began drawing the design of the sender with expertise and speed. Andrea looked from the side and corrected from time to time while creating the design of the receiver.
Yasenia commented on what parts Andrea should leave for later, explaining where the formations and alchemy liquid could go. Having knowledge of all the professions was a big plus. It was a shame she couldn't use the tools yet and could only do the assistant role.
With this also on track, their preparation for the secret realm was running nicely.
With everything on track, time flew by, and before they knew it, only two weeks remained before the realm opened.