"Audacious Creature! We are the top powers of the continent! How dare you, an insignificant second-rate power, act this way!"
The Jade Thunderbird Elder burst with a powerful aura as his voice thundered.
Yasenia lifted her eyebrow, easily repelling the burst of aura. "Have you ever investigated information about me? If you would have, at least, you should know that I'm no ordinary second-rate sect. Not to mention, we have already breached that qualification. We are currently a first-rate power."
The Deep-Sea Shark elder spoke with a deep voice and momentum. "The top cultivator in your sect is just a mid-level Epoch Core realm. You are not qualified to become a first-rate sect with that meager strength."
Yasenia laughed coldly and scolded. "Ignorant! You think you know everything about us while even my top-level subordinates don't! Moreover, even with that information at your hands, the fact that your leaders only sent low-level elders such as yourself is an insult to our treasure production capabilities."
The Ocean Swallowing Elder spoke coldly. "You, as the leader of a power, are not strong enough to even stand in the presence of our superiors. What gives you the courage to speak like that?"
Yasenia shook her head in disappointment. "If you are here to throw your weight around, you are not welcome, and I would like you to leave before I make you. Elder from the Devil Smashing Ape Clan. Will you not say anything? Although we have yet to have any transactions with the other four, your power and ours have had many relations during the last three years."
The other four looked at the man with an inquisitive gaze.
The man shook his head and sighed. "If you continue acting as such, Lady Yasenia, we won't antagonize the other four powers for you."
Yasenia sneered and spat with contempt. "I'm acting out of turn? You five come at my sect's inauguration and suddenly demand everything I've built without any rhyme nor reason whatsoever. I made an announcement months ago, yet you have waited until now to boast your powers and push me down a peg."
The people around began murmuring and looking at the five elders with weird gazes.
Their faces sank, and Yasenia mocked. "You are so high and mighty, ah! This dragon is impressed at the elegant way of acting like bandits entering a village and plundering all. What's next? Were you going to ask me to surrender all the treasures we found in this area?"
The people on the ground saw the faces of the five people sinking, and many understood that it was part of what they came here.
Yasenia said. "I respect the Thirty-Three clans, the Nine Sects, and Three Empires." Then, she continued coldly. "However, I respect them not out of fear! Since the beginning, I've never bowed my head and given up my products unconditionally. If you want to trade, good! I shall make you excellent offers because of your influence. You want to send your children to my sect or clan. Good! However, their treatment was never and will never be preferential. If they commit mistakes, they shall be punished!"
Yasenia unfurled every aura, cultivation included.
"ROAR!"
With a thundering roar that shook the heavens, a massive image of her dragon form appeared behind her, visible to all.
It felt like the skies were falling as the weight of Yasenia's presence flooded the entire area. The five elders' faces became horrified as they felt their blood surrendering to the massive creature.
It was as if hundreds of chains constricted their every limb while Yasenia's presence multiplied and became as threatening as the firmament. The most affected was naturally the Sky Scale Dragon Elder.
The Ocean Swallowing Mermaid stuttered. "Y-You are only a high-level Ethereal Soul cultivator!? H-How is it possible to emit this kind of aura!"
The dragon man's eyes widened as he shouted, dismayed. "Y-You, what kind of bloodline do you have!?"
Yasenia floated above them, looking down with a freezing gaze. "Neither my cultivation nor bloodline is of matter. I won't surrender this area. If your leaders want to have a deeper conversation, they are always welcome. However, as I said, I won't keep quiet if you want to stomp me under you."
The Jade Thunderbird Elder was the strongest and most prideful among them. Hence, being slapped so hard in the face in front of millions made his face redden out of anger and shame. "You dare to disrespect our authority? You are courting Death, Dragon!"
Tatyana's eyes glittered, seeing everything unfold with great enthusiasm. 'A classic!'
Suddenly, she blinked, feeling something strange.
Meanwhile, Yasenia gave Tatyana a side glance and wanted to say aloud that she was not courting death but having sex with something very close to it. However, to maintain her current all-mighty appearance, she refrained from it.
Then, a back-and-forth of words ensued.
Meanwhile, in the crowd, Sarah looked at the situation nervously.
The moment she saw Yasenia again, she couldn't help but have her breath stolen away while the feelings she thought were dead blossomed like flowers in spring.
This dragoness that she met years ago left a deep mark on her. She was hurt, but she also didn't really resent her.
At first, she could not help but have negative feelings, thinking that Yasenia was too harsh. After all, she literally told her with a cold face that she had no time for her.
But after a few years, her anger diluted and transformed into slight discomfort, which eventually disappeared after she deepened her feelings with her current harem.
However, seeing the majestic dragon woman again, the feeling in her was a mix of reluctance, doubt, and affection, and also a very hidden and feeble but existing desire for conquer.
She has become much better at using her system, and her confidence after gaining ten lovers has soared.
Hence, her previous shyness and insecure attitude had changed. Moreover, the feeling of seducing and conquering her current harem made her realize that she was quite suitable for the [Harem Goddess System]. 'I was ignorant in the past, but not… Maybe…'
One of her harem members looked over and muttered. "That's Yasenia? My heavens, she is gorgeous. No wonder wifey has kept her in the heart."
A short woman, also from her harem, whispered with a slightly rosy color on her cheeks. "She is so cool while facing those five elders."
Sarah blinked and looked at their affection points.
To her surprise, she saw that they had lowered one or two points for her six human lovers and between four to ten points for her beast human lovers. 'Ha?'
The one that went from 92 points to 82 was the recently gained Dragon Princess from the Holy Beast Empire.
Sarah gave her a look and used her system to analyze her.
[Status: Mesmerized by Yasenia because of the strong Bloodline Level and lingering scent in the air accompanying her aura.]
Sarah sniffed, but her nose was much less sharp than beasts or beast-humans. 'Well, I can understand the bloodline shock my little princess must be going through. It only lowered ten points, which is good since this means that her love is untouched. As long as it doesn't go under eighty points, it's okay. I can recover those points easily.'
[Host. My previous estimates about Yasenia have been completely off. From my analysis, she should have been at the fourth or fifth level while not being a close match for you. However, she is in the seventh level, a level ahead of you. The people by her side are also at that level. However, analyzing the red-eyed human female is impossible for now.]
Sarah was surprised. The reason she could advance this fast was because the System help helped a lot.
Sarah was not confident in advancing more than two levels during the last four years without it. Not to mention having her lovers increase their cultivation as much as it did.
Yet, the dragon woman floating like a goddess overlooking the world was overcoming the expectations of her system.
'She looks like she is about to fight that Epoch Core man. Is she in trouble?'
[Host. I ask that you don't ask me about her. You've already seen that most of my estimates have been wrong until now.]
Sarah nodded and asked curiously. 'By the way, who is that red-eyed person besides Yasenia you say you can't look through?'
[Analyzing…]
But asking that was a mistake.
Suddenly, Sarah saw the red-eyed woman turn her head and look in her direction.
Even with the hundreds of thousands of people in between, Sarah could feel it in her soul that those two eyes were looking straight at her.
Her heart thumped as a bone-deep chill erupted in her body while her face became bloodless.
A few moments ago, Tatyana was calmly looking at her little treasure being badass when she suddenly felt something trying to analyze her soul. Moreover, the strength of this analysis was extraordinary. It felt like the eye of the heavens was landing on her and trying to inspect her.
She lifted an eyebrow lightly and followed the traces back to the origin while shielding her soul. Her eyes shone with killing intent. 'Fufufu, who is the little bug that's being naughty~.'
She quickly looked in the direction and found a human girl with brown hair and honey-colored eyes. 'Hm? So young… Something is strange.'
The moment her eyes and pressure fell on that young girl, she saw her become deathly pale. She analyzed her soul back and found a very sturdy barrier blocking her sight.
Tatyana sneered, and her voice boomed in Sarah's head. 'Bold! You dared try and enter this Eminence's soul!? You are a hundred thousand years too young for that.'
Tatyana mercilessly used her soul to counterattack.
On the other side, Sarah felt as if the space around her was crushing her, and her breathing stopped. Then, she heard the system speaking back, but even the usually monotonous voice was filled with hints of pain and increased urgency.
[Analysis interrupted.]
[Invasion Detected.]
[Corruption of the core starting.]
[Counterattack initiated.]
[Insufficient Strength.]
[Using host points to secure the survival of the system.]
[Power boost enabled.]
[Data corruption recuperated.]
[Extra pressure and counterattack initiated.]
Tatyana's voice pierced her soul and attacked a part deep inside, which was the system. 'A child should know not to poke their noses around. Now, suffer.'
[Extreme Danger Detected.]
[Counterattack unsuccessful. The enemy's soul is trying to hijack the System Core.]
[Enemy soul is outside any measurement standards. Unable to find ways to resist the pressure.]
The string of messages in her head scared the shit out of Sarah. 'What kind of monster did I touch, and why is she besides Yasenia?'
And those thoughts were what saved her.
Tatyana, who was invading her soul, naturally heard her inner voice, and her eyebrow lifted. 'Hoh? Does she know little treasure? Hm… Then, I will punish her less.'
Inside Sarah's head, an elegant, beautiful, but cold voice echoed. 'Little girl, stop your tricks before I get truly angry. Tell your system to stop.'
Sarah was quick to answer. 'System stop! There is no need to fight back!'
[Using remaining energy to escape from the soul prison.]
[Escape successful due to strange weakening of the enemy's offensive.]
[Successful protection of System Core.]
[Host Points Consumed, seventy-five percent.]
Sarah sighed in relief, although her heart hurt a lot at those points. 'Was that weakening on purpose? My God, what kind of thing did I provoke? So scary… S-Should I tell Yasenia? Maybe she doesn't know.'
Tatyana smiled, amused, and answered her. 'No need. She already knows. Also, you are right. I weakened my attack on purpose.'
Sarah's heart almost jumped out of her throat. 'She read my mind!?'
Tatyana's laughter echoed in her head. 'Oh? You are a bit clever, little otherworlder. However, I'll give you this warning. Keep your system in check around little Treasure's people, or I'll destroy it. Also, here is a small punishment since it seems your system has something from Kali and Angel.'
She heard a loud bang in her head, rocking her world and making her see white for a few seconds. Sarah almost fainted.
'There. Now, your system will be in hibernation for a bit of time. Goodbye~.'
Sarah's heart sank, and she looked up at that red-eyed woman with long black hair. Thankfully, she saw that she had turned her head and was looking at Yasenia again.
She couldn't help but tremble in fear.
Then, she heard a voice beside her. "Sarah? Are you okay? You look pale… Oh my heavens, you are sweating so much."
The cool hand on her forehead relaxed her nerves a bit, and Sarah quickly nodded and smiled. "Yes, don't worry. Thank you for caring, love."
She took a deep breath, and her thoughts became complicated. 'D-Do I enter this sect? Or… Ugh… I want to go home and bury myself in my wives' naked bodies.'
Meanwhile, Yasenia's and the man's conversation had reached a boiling point.
********************************************
Andrea: Say… Isn't that woman a bit unlucky?
Evelyn: I mean… She is sticking her hand in a tiger's mouth and not expecting to be bitten suddenly.
Andrea: I know but… She is a bit pitiful.
Tatyana: Well, she is acting as if she is a protagonist, so naturally, she will be slapped quite a lot until she realizes that the world doesn't revolve around her. All otherworlders are like that.
The girls: …
Evelyn: What the fuck? Otherworlder?
Tatyana: I mean… It doesn't matter if you know, Evelyn in the novel still won't know. Speaking of which… Author, how about you give these versions knowledge about it?
Author: Nah, let's get with the summoning. I summon you!
Angel: I'm curious…
Author: Humu, I'll think about it.
Evelyn: … You are too partial.
Author: I am. What are you going to do about it? HAHAHA.
The rest: …
WPOmega: Here I am! Hm? What's up with those stunned faces? Did I miss something?
Author: Nothing, so what's your question?
WPOmega: AHEM. Angel, you mentioned that the sect formation could be built out physically. What are the benefits of that?
WPOmega: I've seen formations and feng shui used as the basis to design places before. Breaking them through force from the outside usually required the destruction of a large portion of the formation's physical setup. Those cases meant not only that they needed enough power to get through the formation, but they also required large chunks of the city to be destroyed with the same attack.
Angel: Well… When formations are needed to cover large areas, we use patterns and repetition to cover extra areas. However, it is possible to build it without the repetition method.
Angel: This makes the formation, making time increase tens of times. Plus, the materials needed are many more.
Angel: The main benefit is sturdiness and longevity. As you've said, very large formations have self-regeneration areas and can work even when a large part of them is destroyed. However, with the correct method, disturbing it is possible since the formation is visible to all.
Angel: Naturally, people can decipher it with enough time. Yet, even after deciphering it, there is a large problem. To influence a built formation, you need to write on it. Hence, unless they have the proper methods, it will reveal just what they will face, more than a way to destroy them.
Angel: Another benefit is that they need fewer requirements for a formation core because the surroundings help them more than for "Pattern Formations." There are other benefits and disadvantages, but the general ones are these. Moreover, after you build the "Pattern Formation," you can physically build the formation, creating a complex double-layered formation. It's very resource-consuming, and it just increases the effectiveness up to thirty percent. So, not many do so.
WPOmega: Nice, thanks for the explanation, little Angel.
Angel: Hehehe, no worries!
Author: Bye-bye! This is all for today.