While the dragoness saw Flame and Kaleina play, she interestingly observed the other children playing around.
Of course, her spiritual sense was constantly monitoring Kaleina, just in case.
During the last four and a half years, Yasenia and her girls have learned quite a lot about Body Cultivation. Especially Andrea's progress through the ranks gave them a lot of insight.
After observing for a while, they realized that Body Cultivation could be started much earlier than Spiritual Cultivation.
While Spiritual Cultivation needed the body and soul to reach a certain level of maturity, if capable enough, even a five-year-old child could train Body Cultivation.
The only thing impossible before complete body maturity was advancing into the second Body Cultivation Realm, the Mortal Transformation Realm.
Initial Foundation Building, the first Body Cultivation Realm, was possible to cultivate as soon as the person could understand the cultivation techniques.
This was another factor that influenced Flame's current strength. She was already learning a cultivation manual and had tried practicing a few times, increasing her bodily strength a few notches. At seven years old, an ordinary mortal was already not her match.
Kaleina was not that much weaker. She was a Pure beast of a very high-ranking bloodline, and even if she was four and a half years old, she could slightly control her space powers and was very quick.
Yasenia and the girls made a test to see her talents in more detail, and these were the results.
Kaleina's elemental attribute was a mutated one, Void, and she also had the Star attribute from the general list. Then, her bloodline's name appeared as [Endless Void Dragon], and the bloodline level was an astounding Low-level Ancient Beast rank. Being in her infant stage and having that bloodline level meant that she would at least reach Yasenia's current Peak Level, Ancient Beast Bloodline Rank.
Next, it was her constitution. After the tests, they finally got to know the name. Kaleina's constitution was named [Celestial Void Physique]. Similar to her bloodline, this was another high-ranked physique.
Everything together made her talented enough that she would be a nightmare to fight against when she was an adult.
When the girls learned all of this, they couldn't help but look at their dragoness and ask in their heads. 'Are you sure you are not her biological mother!? What kind of little monster is she!?'
The dragoness heard Kaleina's voice. "Flame! Quick, quick! You are going to reach sixteen percent!"
Yasenia looked over with a soft smile and saw the young Phoenix weaving between wooden poles and dodging a few ranged attacks.
While looking at her performance, Yasenia crossed her legs and pondered. 'What about Soul Cultivation? Can you cultivate it earlier or later than maturity? If my guess is correct, it should also be possible earlier. Body cultivation nourishes the body without creating permanent meridians. Hence, a growing child can practice it, and they would actually find it beneficial. If they are opposites, Soul Cultivation should focus on just the soul in the initial realms, nourishing as Body Cultivation does. Therefore, not having a mature soul should not be something that can stop the cultivator from practicing it.'
Yasenia analyzed. 'The reason Spiritual Cultivation needs maturity in body and soul is that it balances and strengthens both forces with the use of meridians. It doesn't… Nourish them in a developing way.'
Yasenia reached these conclusions because of a few of Kali's experiences. Between them, the one that made her feel interested the most was related to Dantian Destruction. 'Crippling a body cultivator by shattering their dantian didn't take away their entire strength. That's fascinating… Moreover, after the Dantian broke, they would retain enough strength to overpower ordinary mortals. Yet, the strength would not be high enough to overcome first realm cultivators.'
They deduced it because one of the captives, a mid-level Epoch-Core cultivator, had his strength reduced to measly first-realm power when they burst his Dantian.
But, even if the strength was feeble compared to their original power, Spiritual Cultivators became much weaker than even mortals after their Dantians broke.
Yasenia blinked. 'I want to capture a few Soul Cultivators and give them to Kali to analyze. Well, that won't happen anytime soon.'
While sitting on the bench, calmly watching her little daughter taking her turn attempting the obstacle course and making friends, she reviewed the Body Cultivation Realm stages. 'Initial Foundation Building, Mortal Transformation, Spiritual King, Ethereal Soul, Epoch Core, and the newest realm we learned about, equal to Transcendence, Undying Monarch Body Realm. Tatyana, Valeria, and Mirrory managed to decipher it after studying Andrea's [Immortal Sun Obliterating Body] technique.'
She couldn't help but smirk under her veil. 'Quite a nice name, to be honest.'
While thinking of that, she couldn't help but wish to learn one Body Cultivation technique quickly. 'My strength will multiply after I learn it.'
However, she knew being hasty with a cultivation technique was stupid. It was better to wait one hundred years for a suitable one than take any method because they had Spiritual Cultivation to increase their strength.
If they only had Body cultivation, then not getting the most suitable one was okay, but it didn't matter much since they weren't in urgent need of it.
In the long run, getting it now or in ten years didn't make much of a difference. Especially when the technique they would wait those ten years for was theoretically better. Their lifespan was bound to be thousands of years, and a difference of ten years was nothing.
'Speaking of strength…' Yasenia looked into her dantian, focusing on her Beast Core, the [Primordial Energy Core]. 'It is getting stronger.'
Her inner gaze moved around her Dantian, inspecting the [Celestial Pearl] and [Draconic Heart]. 'These two are also getting stronger.' Then, her eyes moved toward the center, and the previous tiny [Celestial Energy Star] was at least five times bigger, while the energy lake around was ten times larger than before and much denser.
She was satisfied with this progress.
"Hahaha, you are so weak, snake!"
Yasenia blinked and looked over, seeing a tall child pointing and laughing at Kaleina. Her mouth arched. 'Where did this brat come from?'
Kaleina didn't like that and frowned. "I'm not a snake. I'm a dragon!"
The boy laughed. "A dragon? That's even worse. You are a snake!"
Yasenia lifted an eyebrow, placed her chin on her hand, and didn't intervene.
Kaleina retorted back, her pupils thinning in anger. "I'm a dragon! Dragons are strong! My Mommy is the strongest, and she is also a dragon!"
The boy mocked her. "A dragon is strong? Those are very weak! Daddy says to me that they only serve as armor and as accessories."
Flame interjected and stood before Kaleina with her arms crossed and an angry face. "Kaleina is very cute and strong! Her Mom is also super beautiful and strong! So, if you say that again, I'll beat you up!"
The boy snorted and poked Flame's chest. "I could do twenty-five percent of the obstacle course! You could only complete fifteen! Do you think you are stronger?"
Flame didn't back down and pushed him, making him stagger. "Reaching further doesn't mean you are stronger! Also, don't touch me again!"
Then, she placed her arms akimbo and spoke. "Moreover, our sect leader is also a dragon! Dragons can be strong, too!"
The young boy frowned and didn't know how to answer.
So, like many children, when they couldn't win with words, he decided to resort to violence. "Shut up, short woman!"
He went forward and attacked Flame, punching at her face.
Yasenia continued not to interfere. She herself had had fights when she was little. She believed that small conflicts like these were not bad for a future cultivator. They taught that you need strength to protect yourself and that you need to work hard to get that strength.
From the first movement, the boy showed that he was stronger than Flame.
Moreover, as a young Phoenix kin, she couldn't use her wings properly, so they were a bit of a drawback.
Kaleina saw that the boy was stronger, so her clever mind spun quickly. Yasenia has always taught her to think about her actions, so instead of mindlessly entering the fight and getting beaten up together with Flame, she turned in Yasenia's direction and called her. "Mommy, help!"
Yasenia's lips arched, and when the boy's punch was about to land in Flame's face, she appeared by their side and used a hand to stop the fist. "Okay, enough."
Kaleina slithered forward and climbed up her body, coiling around her. Then, she hugged her face and gave Yasenia a long and loving lick. "Mommy, I love you!"
The dragoness's eyes flashed with mirth, and she patted Flame's head. "You did very well. Thank you for protecting Kaleina. Here, eat this."
Flame felt her arms aching a bit because of the punches she blocked, but when she heard Yasenia's praise and felt her smooth and warm hand on her head, her lips arched in a bright smile, and she hugged Yasenia's leg. "Thank you, Aunty Yasenia!"
Flame opened her mouth and ate the pill Yasenia gave her while her red wings flapped in happiness.
The pill was a low-level healing pill with 100℅ purity. Kali made them for Kaleina and to avoid any side effects. It was so pure that nothing would happen if Kaleina ate them like candy.
On the other side, the little boy saw Yasenia, and he spotted the long and charming dragon tail behind. He couldn't help but become scared, remembering what he just said. He anxiously thought. 'Dad is not here! W-Will this aunty get angry? Wuwu, what do I do?'
Yasenia saw the scared boy and smiled, poking his cheek. "Little one, you are so short-tempered. You need to control yourself more in the future, okay?"
The boy's eyes met with Yasenia's charming golden slit eyes, and he couldn't help but blush. After he heard her, he nodded and stuttered. "S-Sorry Aunty. I-I also didn't mean it about dragons, um…
Yasenia smiled. "Don't worry, child. I won't eat you. But you should tell your father to be careful. Speaking is free until someone who shouldn't have listened knows what you said."
The boy quickly nodded like a chicken pecking rice. "I-I'll tell Dad."
Yasenia patted his head once and nodded. "Go. And be better in the future. Being arrogant is very bad and will eventually give you trouble, like today."
The boy nodded thoughtfully and left. "Goodbye, Aunty. Also, sorry again."
Yasenia looked at Kaleina and asked, amused. "Why didn't you join? Maybe you and Flame could've won the fight."
Kaleina smiled and hugged Yasenia's face, licking her cheek. "Because Mommy is around, I can ask for help and resolve it quickly."
Yasenia chuckled and pecked her little girl all over her face. "You clever little girl."
Kaleina giggled and nuzzled Yasenia's face. Yasenia said. "Baby, next time, you should help Flame fight. She is your friend, right? Moreover, if I'm around, I'm not going to let any harm befall you two, so take it as a chance to train."
Kaleina blinked her large golden eyes and then nodded. "Okay, Mommy."
Yasenia looked at Flame and saw that she was looking at them with jealous eyes. Yasenia couldn't help but laugh and bend down to scoop her in her arms, kissing her cheek once. "You also have to remember not to be too violent, Flame. If instead of pushing him, you just spoke, he might not have attacked you."
Flame nodded with blush and hugged Yasenia's neck, her wings flapping happily. "Okay, Aunty Yasenia."
Kaleina looked at Flame and said. "Sorry, Flame. I should've helped."
Flame laughed and patted Kaleina's head. "En. Don't worry. I'll protect you, Kaleina!"
Yasenia looked around at the curiously looking children and smiled. "Those who are below twelve years old. Whoever manages to advance two percent today will receive a special pill from me. Do you want to continue trying?"
The listening children's eyes widened, and they all rushed toward the obstacle course. Yasenia let Flame and Kaleina down, and they also joined them.
Yasenia saw their enthusiasm and laughed softly. "Don't push, don't push. There is enough time for everyone to try once."
They all gave their best, and about seven of them managed to do it, including Flame and Kaleina. The boy was between those, and Yasenia messed with his hair a little bit before giving it to him.
The boy blushed and took the [Foundation Consolidation Pill] with a shy expression, leaving with quick steps.
This pill was a mid-level Magical Rank pill that was extremely good for growing children. It was pretty expensive for ordinary families, so the parents were delighted when they learned about it.
Later, Yasenia would learn that the boy became close to Kaleina and Flame with another three children below the age of ten, which amused her. Since he became close to her pampered little girl, Yasenia also paid a "visit" to the parents and gave them a bit of "education" about how to raise their children.
The parents of the boy straightened their attitude after being "convinced" by Yasenia.
The effects were great, and the boy would slowly grow out of that rebelliousness, becoming calmer and more cheerful as time went by.
By the way, there weren't only children in the obstacle course area. In fact, they were the minority for now.
However, because Yasenia separated adults into another more demanding obstacle track, this part of the sect was mostly filled with little ones and their mentors, with a few sect elders to oversee them from getting hurt.
The entire sect was very thorough and covered almost all bases.
When the Sun began hiding, and the sky took an orange hue, Yasenia called Kaleina. "Love, let's go back."
Kaleina nodded. "Goodbye, Flame!"
Flame smiled and waved her hand. "Bye-bye!"
Yasenia picked her baby up and summoned her sword, mounting on it and flying away. After playing for so long and being snuggled in her Mommy's embrace, Kaleina was quick to fall asleep, smelling Yasenia's calming sweet floral scent.
The dragoness didn't wake her up, and she slowed down to avoid waking her up.
*********************************************
Andrea: Tsk, tsk. That boy had quite the temper.
Kali: Haha. He did.
Evelyn: I honestly thought you might scare him a bit, love.
Yasenia: He is just a child, and it is clear that the influence of that temper is his family. If I approached the situation with a rough hand, the only thing it would do is further negatively affect the child. It's better to be understanding… Of course, with obvious limits.
Author: I summon you!
Randomplant: Alo~.
Angel: Hello!
Randomplant: Seniors, what advantages and disadvantages does it have to disconnect from one's own destiny? And how easy is it to start disconnecting from destiny?
Mirrory: Advantages? Well, you can build the path by your efforts, and there won't be any sudden catastrophes that might kill you. If someone is fated to die on a specific day, they will die on that specific day unless they have treasures or anything related to fate.
Valeria: Fate is ethereal and usually doesn't "control" a person. However, it "leads" the person to certain situations and might affect it subconsciously. It's not definitive in any way, and it's nothing "bad" per se.
Tatyana: Well, I like having complete control, so I prefer if the Heavenly Fate is cut.
Valeria: That's very you, hahaha. Also, cutting Fate is not something you do "willingly" unless you are entirely perverse strength-wise. It just happens by chance. Similar to Yasenia's case. She didn't cut her Fate willingly but just did it because the situation happened to meet the requirements.
Randomplant: I see.
Author: And that's all for today! Thank you for reading~.