Andrea opened her eyes in the middle of a rocky landscape in another area, different from Cecile's and Yasenia's. After looking around, she couldn't see much vegetation beside some leafless trees with glowing orange lines through their trunks. Andrea frowned, not recognizing that tree. However, what attracted her attention the most was that the rocks on the soil were volcanic. Andrea thought happily, 'Hmm... So I'm in a volcanic area, lucky for me, I may find something interesting for myself but...'
Andrea took out the two communication devices and looked at them with a frown, 'They are not online yet; this means that we aren't close to each other. I hope Angel, Kali, and Evelyn can avoid trouble. Although they are not weak, many cultivators are stronger than them inside this secret realm, especially with the demons aiming for us.'
Andrea sighed and began checking if her silver armor was correctly worn. The last thing she wanted was for an accident to happen because entering the secret realm messed with her equipment.
She didn't take more than a minute since she was very used to this armor, and her spiritual sense helped her look at everything with greater detail and fast. Andrea nodded with satisfaction, 'Everything in order.'
Then, Andrea took out her helmet, and after gathering her dark curly hair, she put it on. She also took out her halberd and began walking slowly toward the place where she felt more volcanic activity from.
With her armor and halberd on her, Andrea looked extremely heroic. Like a female general ready to slay anything in her way. She had placed the communication devices inside the armor to protect them.
As she walked around calmly, looking out for danger, Andrea muttered to herself, "We have separated again… I hope the devices pick up the signal fast… Sigh."
Andrea then smirked under the helmet, "Thankfully, this area is rich in resources!"
Andrea spotted a one-meter tall metallic grey ore with purple veins in the distance. "Oh~ Look over there, a heaven-rank [Purple Veined Steel Ore]~. Come to mommy, and I will transform you into beautiful equipment~."
She approached carefully, expecting a beast or something to appear. However, to her surprise, nothing emerged even when she was 30 meters away from it. Andrea frowned, 'Strange... How could nothing appear? Could it be that heaven-ranked materials are not high-level enough to be guarded?"
She picked up a stone and threw it with all her strength toward the [Purple Veined Steel ore]. Andrea wasn't worried that the rock would damage the ore because she knew how tough it was. The stone left her armored hand with a sonic boom and slammed onto it with a loud sound.
*BANG!*
The steel ore, even if tough, couldn't remain attached to the ground and rolled some tens of meters away. Andrea didn't move and swept her surroundings with her eyes and spiritual sense. 'Nothing around- Huh?'
Andrea looked at the steel ore stupidly as it grew six spider-like legs, two powerful-looking claws, and a crab-face stretched out of an opening in the side. 'No wonder I didn't see anything around... It was inside!'
Andrea analyzed it for a while and saw that the beast was quite weak, just at the beginning of the third rank. She tapped the floor with her foot and sped forward.
The crab-like thing only saw a blur before a silver-armored claw-like hand grabbed its face and lifted it from the ground. Scared, it screeched and began banging the individual with its six legs, pinching the arm and holding it with claws.
However, the only effect of its hits was dull sounds as the creature holding it didn't even flinch, and the claws couldn't advance the armor. Andrea raised her eyebrow, surprised, 'The claws have a lot of strength; if it was in the high-level, it could have cut through my armor...'
Then, she chuckled and said, "Can you get out of the ore? I will let you live if you do that."
Andrea knew that beasts of the third rank and above had slight intelligence, so it tried to speak to it. Killing it wouldn't help her in any way, so it was better to talk with it. Moreover, after being together with Yasenia, Cecile, and now Kali. Andrea had a soft spot for intelligent beasts. She rather communicated with them than slaughtered them indiscriminately.
The crab stopped struggling after it saw it was useless, and his black bead-like eyes stretched between Andrea's fingers to look at her.
After hearing her demand, the crab somewhat understood that this silver metallic creature wanted its house, so it got enraged and spat corrosive bubbles from its mouth. Nonetheless, Andrea managed to prevent these bubbles from damaging her armor or herself with her current metal element manipulation. Andrea sighed, "Don't be like this... I will give you another house."
Andrea waved her hand, and a Magic-ranked ore appeared beside her, the same size as the Steel Ore. The crab looked toward it, and Andrea swore she could see pure disdain oozing out from its black crab eyes. She was somewhat speechless, "Oy, I'm trying not to kill you here; how about you cooperate?"
The crab spat more bubbles in protest.
Andrea sighed and let some of her aura leak to let the crab know about its situation. For the crab, Andrea's presence became like a scorching sun and extremely strong in an instant, and it started shivering with fear.
Andrea saw that it took effect, so she released it. Then, she saw the crab getting out of the ore and crawling toward the magic-level ore she placed on the ground. However, she was again speechless as she saw those vertical black crab eyes seemingly tearing up. 'For a low-level rank-three beast, it has a lot of emotional intelligence.'
Andrea became curious about the thing and spoke with it, "Hey, do you have an ore searching ability?"
The crab looked at Andrea with wariness and feeling wronged. 'You come here, steal my house, give me a shitty house, and almost scared me to death! What more do you want from me!?'
Andrea patted its gelatinous body. "I'm sorry, okay? It's just that this thing can come in handy later. So, do you know how to search ores?"
The crab was still depressed, but before this creature that was many times stronger than itself, the crab reluctantly nodded. Andrea said, "Great! If you can find me ores as good as the [Purple Veined Steel Ore], I will let you have one of them. We can even go against beasts much stronger than you and rob theirs for us! What do you say, little crab?"
The crab's verticals eyes spun as it thought about the meaning of her words. It took Andrea to repeat it three times for the crab to understand, and Andrea saw amusedly how its black eyes shone, and it nodded again and again.
Andrea laughed and grabbed one of its claws, "We will be working together from now on."
The colors of the crab without the current ore it was carrying were similar to the [Purple Veined Steel Ore], grey with purple veins around. The ore Andrea gave it was also purple-colored, hoping for it to find it more comfortable if the color was similar.
Then, one crab and an armored woman continued walking around.
Suddenly, Andrea suddenly saw a black and purple rift open and a male human appearing below it in the distance. However, the method of appearing was like popping into existence, extremely abnormal.
Andrea blinked continuously, almost sure that her brain was playing tricks on her. 'Did we appear like that too? That's… quite funny, to be honest.'
She saw the man open his eyes, confused, and look around. Then, when he turned around and spotted Andrea, he froze there, not expecting to find another cultivator so soon. Andrea was smiling, looking at his actions, amused. 'Do I fight, or do I try working together with him…'
Andrea walked forward with the crab by her side and decided to try to speak with him. "Hello! Which power are you from?"
The man didn't walk forward, looking at Andrea and the crab from what he thought to be a safe distance. Then he spoke, his voice gruff and deep. "I'm from the [Horror Whispering Sect]."
Andrea stopped walking, 'A demonic cultivator. His sect is a second-rate one… They are quite strong because of their illusions and other strange techniques.'
Andrea's thoughts spun as she answered, "Oh! I'm from the Demonic Sect!"
The man looked with doubt at her, "Why do I not know you?"
Andrea sneered, "Do you think you know every disciple from our sect? Moreover, I was in close-door cultivation until this place opened."
The man nodded, somewhat convinced.
Andrea internally sighed, 'I really hate demonic cultivators and their strange techniques. Can't they use just elemental skills like a normal person? Sigh… Well, at least I'm quite resistant to any mind spells thanks to my dear dragoness pushing my mind to the limits every night, hahaha.'
The skills in the world were divided into three big blocks: Offensive, defensive, and movement techniques. Then there were also combination skills, which combined those qualities. Support skills, like the elemental coats, Yasenia's [Waning Moon], Cecile's [Spatial vision], and similar, were important, but those skills were considered secondary, meaning they were important but not indispensable.
Even so, there were two bigger groups before these three main groups, Elemental and immortal techniques. Elemental techniques were the ones our group had been using all this time. Immortal techniques were those that didn't fall in this category, such as blood, illusion, Dual Cultivation, body strengthening, etc.
The elemental skills were powerful and easy to use. But immortal techniques could be more varied and have strange effects.
Even if he wasn't completely convinced, the man visibly relaxed after he heard Andrea. "That's nice; I thought you were one of those righteous bastards."
Andrea chuckled, 'They are truly like water and oil. Thank goodness I choose the Academy. Even if I had slight problems romantically, the rest of my stay was more than perfect.'
Andrea asked, "Do you know anything about this area?"
The man looked around and shrugged. "I don't. How about we catch someone and torture them to find answers? It would be best if they are beautiful women, hehehe."
Andrea looked at him, speechless. 'Thankfully, I have my [Knight Promise] fully equipped, and the voice distortion of it makes me sound androgynous, or I wouldn't have had the chance even to speak up. Even if the armor is female shaped, it isn't as attractive to look at as robes or anything like that.'
Andrea wasn't a narcissistic woman, but she wasn't ignorant about her appearance and knew that her beauty was above most. Especially after Yasenia's daily 'nourishment.' Her dear dragoness's Yang energy was so nourishing that Andrea was amazed every time she felt it upgrading her body and making her beauty rise slightly.
Andrea could feel her skin more supple, her hands that had big callouses because of smithing had smoothened quite a lot, and her muscles were more compact and toned, avoiding becoming a bulky woman and more of an extremely athletic one. Remembering Yasenia licking her body while lovingly growling made the crotch area on her armor feel tight, but she relaxed fast and refocused on the cultivator.
After some more conversation, Andrea spoke with the crab and told it to guide her to other ores. The man looked curiously at the beast but didn't do anything more. After hearing what Andrea asked the crab, he became excited and began planning. 'I could kill her and then snatch this beast to gather resources.'
After the crab picked a direction, Andrea, the crab, and the demonic cultivator began exploring together. They didn't have to walk too much to find a giant beast. It was similar to a boar, but its skin was similar to rocks, and its tusks appeared extremely sharp. The size was what was impressive; with a seven-meter tall and long body, the beast was like a mass of power and muscles.
Andrea said, "A third-ranked high-level beast. How about you give it a try? You are in the eight-level of the nourishing mental realm, right?"
The man's body twitched slightly, 'She can see through my cultivation? No wonder I couldn't feel anything from her; she is stronger than me... Hmph, but with my illusion techniques, level means nothing! Once you fall into them, I will take my time to kill you.'
For now, the tall and buff man grunted and nodded, agreeing with Andrea.
Andrea stepped back and looked at his fight. 'Illusion techniques can be extremely dangerous; it would be nice to know some of his tricks in case my identity is exposed and he is with the Demons. I also want to learn some information from him about their plans for my dear dragoness...'
The fight was rather uninteresting. The man charged forward with one-handed axes in each hand. The [Volcanic Stone Boar] stomped the ground and charged forward with terrifying speed.
When the boar got close, the man chanted, his voice sounding even deeper and slightly demonic, "[Horror Parade]."
Then, the man turned sharply to the left and evaded the boar. However, the boar continued charging forward as if it didn't realize that the man had moved. Then, it suddenly stopped and looked around. Slight anxiousness could be seen through its movements.
Then it started screeching with obvious fear in its voice and running around aimlessly, slamming on everything about and destroying the terrain. The man then gathered energy and chanted again, "[Devouring Horrors]."
Andrea saw with astonishment as different wounds appeared in its body out of thin air. 'Damaging illusions! He must be a genius from the sect.'
Then, he charged forward and began beating it down with its axes. Ten minutes later, the boar lay on the ground, dead.
Andrea praised sincerely, "Impressive illusion mastery. Well done."
The man nodded, removed the beast core from its forehead, and kept it in his spatial ring. Andrea had already moved with the crab to where the Heaven-ranked ore was and collected it into her ring.
The man frowned and asked, "Shouldn't I get it? It was me who killed the boar?"
Andrea changed her demeanor, laughed with ridicule, and said with a murderous tone, "Are you demanding things with that meager strength of yours? Delusional! You are lucky I didn't kill you, so stop asking for anything and continue walking."
The man's face became ugly, but even if he was bulky, Andrea was taller than him by almost a head, and her aura was also as imposing as the midday Sun, so he didn't dare go against her yet. 'All of these bastards from the Demonic Sect are like this, they think they are the best, and everyone else is under them!'
Meanwhile, Andrea was thinking, 'I hope my performance deceived him... Well, with this, I will be able to loot all the ores for myself.'