Yasenia ran at the helm, but all the high-level people began using movement techniques, catching up to her.
Yasenia's lips arched, and [Heavenly Constellation Steps] unfolded. Her body gained a subtle starry glow while her footwork became ethereal. The acceleration of her body created several rings of condensed air because of pressure.
The slope was separated into ten different parts. It was extremely long, but cultivators of Yasenia's level could see the entirety of it.
Each area leading to the top had a different color, and each color created more pressure on the cultivator.
The colors of the ten sections created a gradient that went from red to orange to yellow and finally to black.
When our girls stepped on the first area, they felt a subtle pressure, but their speed remained unchanged.
Speed-wise, Evelyn could be considered at the top, and soon, she caught up with Yasenia.
The dragoness looked sideways and smirked. "Dear, speed is your specialty, but burst acceleration, you can't win against me. Let's see if you can catch up."
Evelyn's violet eyes shone with competitiveness. "Let's do it!"
Tatyana also caught up with them and smiled. "Can I join?"
The two of them felt their lips twitch for a second, but then their eyes became determined.
Yasenia smiled wildly. "Mom, I'm going all out."
Evelyn laughed. "Tatyana, even if you are stronger, speed shouldn't be that absolute."
Tatyana chuckled, and the energy inside Yasenia's and Evelyn's meridians churned.
"[Heavenly Constellation Steps, first sky: Pegasus Gallop]."
"[Luminous Storm Dress]."
Yasenia firmly stepped on the ground, making her foot sink into the hard rock, and fourteen stars appeared around her. Then, her body shot forward like a white comet, streaking through and leaving the large group of cultivators behind.
Evelyn's body was surrounded by lightning, creating a luxurious blue dress adorned with golden patterns, and then she began accelerating. Unlike Yasenia, who suddenly streaked forward, the group saw Evelyn gradually accelerating but certainly becoming faster and faster and faster.
Tatyana then saw Cecile also using her skills to accelerate and catch up with them. Her skills might not be focused on speed, but her general agility was the highest, making her very quick.
Angel, Kali, Andrea, Sierra, and Ebirah decided to go at their own pace.
A light laugh escaped Tatyana's lips. 'Let's use this movement technique. It is a bit weak, but enough for now.'
"[Transcendent Ghost Steps]."
There wasn't any noticeable sign besides a phantasmal sound that roiled around her body. Then, Tatyana's body became a dark streak that zoomed silently forward.
The top-level people frowned after seeing those four go forward, so many of them also began using their skills and accelerating.
Sarah was one of them; her system had told her that there appeared to be a reward for the first person who reached the top. 'System, use the <5x Speed Acceleration Talisman>.'
[Ding! Speed has been multiplied by five for ten minutes.]
Then, Sarah became a streak of multicolored light that surpassed everyone and closely followed the top four.
Angel and the others were surprised. 'Wow. That's really quick.'
Meanwhile, in the second area of the event, the pressure had increased to the point that the girls slightly noticed it.
At the helm, Yasenia was surrounded by starlight, but her acceleration burst was slowly waning, making it possible for the others to catch up.
Besides her closest people, Yu Lei and other beast humans were also catching up.
Yasenia's lips arched, not afraid. "[Draconic Sun Charge]."
BOOM!
A golden aura surrounded her in the vague shape of an eastern dragon, and her body accelerated again. Her strides were wide, pushing her body forward explosively each time.
Even while running quickly, she looked graceful and elegant.
Evelyn, Cecile, and Tatyana's eyes glowed, each activating another speed skill.
Yasenia saw that her dears were still close behind her and laughed, feeling excited. 'That's right, come after me, dears. Catch up to me, and do not let me go ahead.'
Then, her golden eyes shone, and she summoned [Celestial Cosmos Dress], one of her innate skills.
Her body glowed with Empyrean beauty, and the extraordinary dress surrounded her figure. Her general strength increased several times, making her speed naturally higher.
When the [Draconic Sun Charge] ended, they entered the third section. The red color had noticeably faded, becoming a lighter orange.
Then, Yasenia finally felt the pressure. It was not strong, but now she could feel that something was trying to push her toward the ground.
However, she didn't slow down even when this kind of pressure landed on her. Evelyn's teasing voice was heard not far behind. "Is this all you have, love?"
Yasenia laughed aloud, feeling delighted. "Of course not, dear. I'm going to accelerate further, so be sure to keep up with me. [Draconic Solar Star Charge]."
The combination of charge skills that didn't need Celestial Energy appeared, and swirling white stars orbited the golden dragon Yasenia had been summoning with the Sun Charge, reigniting its brilliance.
Then, Evelyn saw Yasenia's powerful and long leg stomping the ground, literally sinking it and forming cracks in one hundred meters around the stomp. In the next instant, her dear dragoness streaked forward, increasing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
Evelyn shook her head with a helpless laugh. 'She is really absurd. I wonder what kind of monster she will become with the Body Cultivation technique when her current body strength is already this stupid.'
"[Thunder Light Overcharge], [Luminous Charge]."
Evelyn's body burst with tremendous arcs of white lightning, creating craters around her, and then she became a white lightning bolt that quickly caught up with Yasenia.
Cecile's blue eyes became severe and activated another skill. [Moon Feather Enhancement].
The skills that were increasing her speed right now were her [Hollow Moon Steps] and [Moon Phoenix Flame Dress]. Adding the [Moon Feather Enhancement, her body became quicker with each flap of her gigantic silver wings.
Sarah also used her movement technique and continued rushing after them, leaving her strongest acceleration skills for later.
Tatyana waited a bit and saw many other people showing competitiveness and using skills to catch up with them. She couldn't help but shake her head. 'The four before you are endurance monsters. If you go all out now, you'll be lucky to reach the top.'
Of course, she didn't say anything. Their success in the trial was irrelevant to her.
'Shall we get a bit serious? Let's first use an [Intent Aura Blocking Formation]. I don't want that cheeky system to start guessing my strength.'
A ripple spread across her body, followed by a massive pressure wave contained by her formation. "[Battle Intent Level Nine]."
Then, she pushed against the ground.
BOOOOOM!
The mountain quaked as the soil below Tatyana literally exploded as if a meteor had just hit the ground.
The people around her were stunned when the aura explosion from the shockwave blasted them flying.
Yasenia was at the lead when a chill ran up her spine, and she threw her spiritual sense back.
Then, something entered her spiritual sense and quickly appeared at her side. That meant that the person had closed the entire distance of her spiritual sense in an instant while she was speeding forward.
Tatyana chuckled at Yasenia's stumped expression. "Little treasure, it was fun playing with you. I will wait at the top~. Good luck!"
Then, Tatyana used an even more powerful movement technique.
Our dragoness could only look as a black blur sped into the distance and quickly faded from her sight. 'Well… I never thought I would win, but this is too much.'
Evelyn and Cecile, who had caught up, commented.
"Well, I want to slap my mouth for speaking earlier."
"Hm… Too strong."
Yasenia looked at them with a smile and suddenly spotted Sarah. Her smile fizzled out, and her tone was flat; our dragoness hadn't forgotten how Sarah looked at her and Tatyana. "Sarah? When did you catch up?"
Well, it wasn't only her. The other beast humans were also slowly getting closer. Their clans selected these people to enter here as representatives so they couldn't be weak.
Even then, our girls still had a lot to give.
Sarah coughed awkwardly at her tone and answered. "I was here since the beginning. Um, did I do something wrong?"
Yasenia's lips arched in a hidden sneer. "Not at all."
Evelyn and Cecile understood their dragoness deeply, and they knew that most of the goodwill toward this strange woman had been blown into the wind.
Evelyn shook her head. 'Criticizing Yasenia's and Tatyana's relationship is the most stupid thing you can do of non-harmful things. You would probably be better off directly attacking us verbally than disdaining Tatyana's and Yasenia's relationship…'
Sarah felt strange, even though Yasenia was smiling. 'It's a bit difficult to read emotions without the system's help… Well, she is at least smiling, no?'
Sarah asked. "Is this your top speed, Yasenia?"
Yasenia shook her head and looked ahead. "Not yet. I want to reach the seventh area before I go all out for the last stretch."
She bothered answering because Sarah was part of her sect, so Yasenia thought of at least being somewhat polite.
'Hm… Now that I don't have the mission, trying to flirt with Yasenia should not have the danger of angering that woman, no? The difficulty is high, though. I need to either assimilate her own harem or slowly separate them… Of course, I don't want to separate them…'
Sarah tilted her head. 'Still, capturing Yasenia should be possible if a quest appeared in the past, no? Maybe she doesn't love her harem that much, and she is with them out of duty? Or a future event might allow me to nestle into her heart…'
Sarah remembered Yasenia's actions in the past and shook her head. 'Unless her acting is top-notch, those weren't the actions of someone who doesn't care about her harem. Well, my beauty has increased several times, and my charm is also very high, so I should at least affect her slightly, no?'
Sarah observed Yasenia's calm, beautiful, sexy, alluring, and gorgeous face for a second. 'Shit, she is too attractive. To think that I still feel inferior after so many appearance-related skills and attributes. Isn't it a bit unfair to be so good-looking?'
Sarah looked into the distance, calming the heart that had started beating slightly faster. 'Speaking of which, what the hell was that speed? Is Yasenia's mother that strong?'
[Host. Her mother had achieved speed equal to a powerful level five Dantian Spiritualization with a high-level speed-related intent and powerful movement technique.]
'That's impressive. Is she a speed-related cultivator?'
[Unknown.]
'How are my chances of winning in a fight?'
[Host. I can't do a comprehensive analysis with creatures outside of fate. However, they are low.]
'Hm… I see.'
Sarah nodded and asked carefully. "S-Say, Yasenia. If there is a chance at later events, can you form a party with me? You know, we can go together to reminisce like in the previous secret realm."
Yasenia was stunned at her shamelessness.
Cecile looked at Sarah deeply with her usual cold face. 'Does she want to die with an arrow to the head? Should I shoot? Hmm… I really want to… But she is from our sect, no? Hmm… But I want to pierce her skull and spill her brain matter with an arrow… Hm… I'll let her live for now.'
Evelyn was squinting. 'Aren't you too shameless to try and flirt with my lovely dragoness in front of my face? Do you think I can't see your eyes flickering toward my dragoness's giant, peerless, jiggly breasts? Shit, each time you look, I want to gouge your eyes out, and you still have the gall to flirt? Deep breath, Evelyn. She is from the sect, so let's resist the impulse. You can't attack everyone who looks, or the world will go blind.'
Meanwhile, Yasenia looked at Sarah deeply, analyzing her feelings, but she didn't feel strong affection coming from her like before. This was confusing to her.
'She does like me, but she doesn't love me as deeply as before… Why is she still trying to court me, then? Is it something like pride in not being able to capture me the first time? Is it that she covets my beauty?' Yasenia's eyes flashed. 'Or is it because of the thing inside her?'
'If my guesses are correct, and the thing inside her makes her stronger depending on the lover she gains and having sex with them, are my talent, beauty, background, bloodline, and all those things appetizing for her?'
Yasenia felt hostility growing inside of her. 'Does she look at me like an object to charm and add to her harem and not another being? If that's the case, she is dangerous…' A flash of murderous intent flashed deeply in her eyes. 'Should I kill her?'
Her head turned extremely quickly, thinking all of this in an instant. The ability of a dragon to read emotions was strong, and Yasenia was particularly sensitive to that topic. Hence, adding her intelligence and wit, guessing most of what Sarah was thinking was something she could do.
Yasenia answered two seconds after Sarah asked. "Thanks for the offer, but I will have to refuse. I feel like we are not compatible skill-wise. If I have a chance to choose, I'll probably decide on one of my lovers. Isn't that the best for you, also?"
Yasenia hinted to Sarah that she also had lovers, but Sarah didn't seem ashamed. She just smiled brightly. "Don't worry. I'm strong enough to pair up with you."
'Can't you understand my words!?' Yasenia wanted to open her head and see what the hell she was thinking, while Cecile wanted to open her head in a non-figurative way.
The dragoness decided to be blunt, and she plainly refused. "I don't want to be with you. Sorry."
Sarah's face stiffened, and she nodded. The thickness of her face was outside of Yasenia's expectations, though, as she responded right after. "If you change opinions, you can always call me."
Evelyn was frankly impressed. 'Not even a city wall can compete with the thickness of her face.'
Yasenia ignored her and looked forward while Cecile's fingers were twitchy for a while before calming down.
Then, they all continued climbing the mountain in silence.
***************************************************************
Andrea: Wow…
Kali: Wow, indeed. It's one thing for someone with a harem flirting with another person. But I don't even know how to react when someone with a harem tries to seduce the head of another harem…
Cecile: I want to shoot…
Author: I summon you!
Randomplant: Hey!
Angel: Hello!
Randomplant: Well, seniors. I have a question about Natural Treasures.
Tatyana: Go ahead.
Randomplant: Is there a limit to the number of natural treasures that can be integrated into an artifact?
Tatyana: There should be, right? I haven't had the luxury to try, though.
Valeria: Depends on the strength of a treasure, but usually, using one of them per treasure is ideal.
Randomplant: Why?
Valeria: You allow the Natural Treasure to fuse with the treasure perfectly, becoming a strong artifact. Natural Treasures are somewhat territorial, so accidents might happen easily.
Randomplant: Territorial… Are they sentient?
Mirrory: They have a bit of intelligence, but nothing too impressive to be considered "living beings." They are like most flora. Of course, natural treasures becoming more intelligent is not unheard of after they've lived many years.
Randomplant: I see.
Author: And that's all for today.