Suddenly, Valeria looked back at Kali, her green eyes with slit golden pupils radiating a soft light, "Mistress, congratulations on becoming stronger."
The other three women's mouth's dropped open.
Kali felt her heart beating faster in excitement and approached Valeria with eager steps. She didn't even realize Yasenia's and Angel's presence. She tripped over her words as she hastily asked, "You can finally talk? You can understand me?"
Valeria laughed softly and nodded. Then, she spoke with a mature and gentle voice, "Yes, Mistress. This evolution finally unlocked... Or, to put it better, it made me regain my sapience."
Kali blinked, confused. "Regain?"
Valeria smiled and said, "I've always wanted to say this, but my thoughts were muddled all the time…"
The three-meter-tall Valeria sat on her knees and hugged Kali into her embrace, "You've suffered, but I'm glad you found mistress Yasenia. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more when you were lost in grief. I will protect you from now on. As long as a single breath remains in me, no harm shall befall you anymore."
As she felt Valeria's warm body surrounding her, Kali's eyes watered, and tears spilled from her eyes. It felt like a mother was hugging her, filling her heart with love for the Flower Queen.
She hugged Valeria back and sobbed, "D-Don't say that. I-I could only hold against my Heart Demons because of you. Thank you, Valeria. Thank you for being with me."
On the sides, Yasenia was smiling happily, and Angel was also emotionally crying. They didn't interrupt and let them their moment.
Valeria looked at the crying woman and felt pain in her heart. "Don't worry, Mistress. With Yasenia and I, you will only feel happiness from now on."
Kali nodded and slowly relaxed. Valeria's scent was soothing and made the body feel pure comfort. If Yasenia's scent were powerful and made you tingle and feel good, Valeria's would seep deep into you and make your muscles relax. They were like polar opposites, but neither weaker than the other.
Kali squinted as her nose twitched, her whole body buried in the very tall woman's embrace. She felt so relaxed and protected between Valeria's arms that her eyes slowly closed, and she fell asleep shortly after.
Her mouth had a satisfied smile, and her two tails tightly clung to Valeria. Valeria didn't move for half an hour, and Yasenia and Angel waited patiently. Angel asked Yasenia in a low voice, "What did she mean about regaining her sapience?"
Yasenia thought about it and said, "I can guess that Valeria is more than a summon, but until we hear it from her, we can only guess. Let's wait until she comes to us and explains things herself." Angel nodded, agreeing with Yasenia.
Yasenia took the time to place Angel before her and slowly massaged her scalp. She had been doing this every moment she could, hoping it would help Angel's problem. Angel felt Yasenia's Yin energy seeping inside her mind, and her body loosened. Yasenia had to hold her up with her long tail, or Angel may have fallen to the ground.
The Mirror inside Angel felt her body twitching defensively, 'Angel, you are too trusting. Each time you do this, you allow Yasenia to mess with your mind as she likes.'
Angel answered with a mewl, "She can do what she wants~."
Yasenia heard Angel's soft sounds of comfort and chuckled. 'Although it isn't much, I think it really helps. I will be able to tackle the problem further when we dual cultivate.'
After Valeria felt that Kali was sleeping, she slowly picked Kali up, and their size difference made Kali look like a young child cradled in a loving embrace.
Valeria looked toward Yasenia's position and jumped gently from the flower platform. Her toes pushed her body forward gently, and her body floated through the sky and landed in front of Yasenia extremely softly. Kali didn't even feel the movement and kept sleeping soundly.
Yasenia looked up at Valeria, and the first thing she said was a thank you, "Thank you, Valeria. I managed to help your Mistress because you stalled her demons enough for me to appear. Your presence alone has been reassurance when dealing with her."
Valeria nodded and crouched down to pass Kali over to Yasenia; she could practically feel Yasenia's desire to hold Kali and look at her closely. However, Yasenia said, her tone calm and collected. "Help me carry her. She is so comfortable in your embrace that I don't dare move her too much."
Valeria smiled with gratefulness. She also wanted to carry her dear Mistress in her embrace. Yasenia asked, "What is this place? Not even the communication device could connect with this place. Only Kali's alchemy resonance fluid helped us reach here."
Valeria answered, "It is a [Life Spring Lake]. They appear only in areas isolated for thousands of years from all living beings besides plants."
Valeria explained further, "This one has been untouched since the creation of this secret realm, about nine hundred thousand years, so it was a tremendous strength boost for Kali and me. Kali couldn't absorb everything; else, she would have entered the Dantian Spiritualization Realm. Therefore, I absorbed everything she couldn't absorb to awaken."
Yasenia lifted an eyebrow, "How do you know? Something you want to share, dear Valeria~."
Valeria laughed, "You are as perceptive as always. As you should have guessed, I'm not a normal summon. I'm a Unique Summon. Unless my master makes me evolve two times, I won't awaken. But once I do, I remember all my previous memories from my multiple masters. However, you don't have to worry since I existed before becoming a summon. I'm myself, and my loyalty lays with Kali."
Yasenia thought for a moment, and then her eyes widened, "You are not a summon! You are…"
Valeria nodded, "Yes. I'm a spirit. The Spirit of Nature, to be exact."
Angel had also read about it and exclaimed, forgetting about the sleeping Kali, "No way! You are the Spirit Queen!?"
Valeria reacted quickly and created a sound barrier, avoiding waking Kali up because of Angel's shout. Angel saw Valeria's movements and placed her hands on her mouth, "Sorry."
Yasenia patted her, and the Spirit Queen chuckled. Then, she answered with a smile, "Don't worry, Angel. Answering your statement... Yes, some also call me that way. However, I'd prefer it if you called me Valeria. I really like the name Mistress gave me."
The dragoness said, "I'm sure she would like for you to call her Kali, tough."
Valeria thought about it and nodded. "You are right." Then said, "Give me a moment. We can continue speaking in a second. I have to do something."
They both nodded and observed her next action.
The Spirit Queen turned and looked at all the plant-based creatures, then commanded in a soft voice. "Come to me, children. It is time to leave this place. [Mother Nature's Paradise]."
After the Queen's command, all of the dryads, alraunes, treants, plant spirits, living vines, carnivore plants, and more bowed to Valeria in unison.
Then, a green pillar surrounded each of them and shot to the sky in an incomparably majestic spectacle. The plant creatures disintegrated slowly in those pillars and transformed into green seeds the size of a nail.
Those seeds floated in the air, giving a green glow and making the surroundings seem illuminated by the light of thousands of green stars. Valeria commanded one more time, "Gather."
The Queen ordered, and her subjects shall comply.
Tens those thousands of light-green lights rushed toward the Spirit Queen, creating green streaks wherever they passed. Those seeds fused with Valeria's floral dress and crown, becoming part of her dress, crown, and hair. Then, flowers blossomed all over her for a second.
It was as if Valeria's beauty bloomed at that moment, showing off a gentle-looking, surreal, but powerful figure.
Angel and Yasenia were impressed but didn't know what she did.
Therefore, after Angel was sure that Valeria had finished, she asked, "What did you do?"
Valeria said, her tone carrying a firm tone that was filled with so much killing intent that even Yasenia got a chill up her spine. "Gathering an army to protect my Mistress. They will have to go over my very soul if they want to abuse her again."
Yasenia and Angel remembered that the ten thousand plant creatures were all in the peak of the third realm. Now, Yasenia was 100% sure that she wouldn't be able to win against Valeria even if she used [Day and Night]. She had already fought against plenty of summoners stronger than her, and she understood the combat effectiveness it had when you were unable to reach the summoner.
No matter how she looked, Valeria was an absolute monster against those in the same realm. Moreover, it was almost certain that she had her own skills to summon, reinforce, and multiply them.
A one-woman army was a fair definition for Valeria.
Yasenia looked at Valeria and complimented, "It's good that you can gather so much strength just after awakening. I will be more relaxed if I know you are by her side. Let's go outside; the others should be arriving soon."
Angel looked back and forth between the two voluptuous women and gulped, 'Having the Spirit Queen and Yasenia as her protector… I pity those that want to go against Kali….'
A voice was heard in her head, 'Hmph, even the Spirit Queen would bow in my presence. You are not any less than that fox woman.'
Angel blinked and praised, 'Wow! Mirry, you are so powerful!'
Mirry's eyebrow twitched, 'Can you do something about that name? I don't like it.'
Angel thought and said, 'How about Mirrory?'
Angel heard a sigh, and the Mirror answered, 'Well, it is somewhat better. Mirrory it is.'
The little girl smiled happily since she could feel that she liked it much more than the previous one. (A/N: I know that the Mirror is "it" since it is genderless, but I will use She to refer to it. I feel that "it" is too... Impersonal? It objectifies it too much.)
Yasenia looked around and saw many high-level plants in the surroundings. She asked Valeria, "Can we take the spiritual plants in the area for Kali? They are all low to high-level Heaven-ranked spiritual herbs."
Valeria smirked, "I've already taken the most precious ones. I don't want to take everything since it would destroy this ecosystem. Who knows if someone in the future will also need this place?"
Yasenia didn't make a fuss, and they left that place. She was sure that this overprotective Spirit Queen wouldn't let something that would benefit Kali go.