Andrea placed the butt of her halberd on the ground and leaned on it with an almost powerless body. Her armor was broken in a few parts, but thanks to its high quality, it could slowly repair itself as long as Andrea used enough quality materials. So, Andrea was not too worried about that.
While she felt her legs about to give up, a refreshing natural scent hit her nose as to pair of arms lifted her into quite a broad embrace. From the feeling, even before looking at the person, she knew it was Valeria. There wasn't any other woman in their group that could carry her like this, after all.
Valeria's soothing and gentle voice reached her ears, calming her rapidly beating heart. "Store your armor, Andrea. You don't need it anymore."
Following her instructions, Andrea stripped down her armor with a thought, storing it in her ring and going completely naked. She didn't mind at all because Valeria was a senior and, right now, the person who was probably going to heal her.
The world around her shifted and spun for a few moments, and then they appeared in a room. Valeria's calming voice reached her. "We are in the infirmary. Don't worry about the rest, they will arrive quickly."
Her body was placed down on one of the beds, and their healing formations instantly activated, slowly stabilizing her situation. She was honestly not in any life-threatening danger; however, her injuries were deep and problematic. It was certainly not a type of wound that would heal without extra attention.
Plus, unlike Yasenia, Cecile, or Kali, her body didn't have an insane regeneration factor that could easily mend deep wounds. As a recently advanced Dantian Spiritualization Realm and Epoch Core Body Realm, her body was not completely helpless against deep wounds.
However, it was naturally not almighty. If not, Fu Lang Zu could've regrown his severed arm without much problem at all.
Speaking of which, Yasenia learned via her informants that Fu Lang Zu had managed to gather quite a few of the herbs needed to create the limb regrowth pill. While the maids were interrupting his attempts one way or another, Distancia was too big. Adding the Demons probably meddling in those affairs, it was a matter of time before Fu Lang Zu could find all of the materials.
Andrea laid on the bed relaxed, closing her eyes while looking inside her. She had finally broken through into the Fifth Realm, and the initial changes were honestly terrifying, even for her.
The first thing she realized was why the Epoch Core Body realm was called such. A very small core had appeared inside her body above the place where her spiritualized Dantian was. It was pretty far up, located right below the heart and behind the bottommost part of the sternum.
This extra core was something between flesh and energy, a mix of both, as it connected via a spiritualized meridian with her real Dantian and also connected with the heart.
This [Epoch Core] felt similar to something Andrea had read in the past. At that time, she thought those books were too speculative, but this time, she couldn't help but doubt her previous certainty about the matter. 'That book said that there are three Dantians, one two fingers below the navel, one in the heart, and another in the center of the forehead. Is this the case with this Epoch Core?'
Andrea couldn't help but be doubtful and frown. Valeria, who was spreading medical cream on her body, asked. "Did it hurt, Andrea?"
Andrea shook her head. "No, it didn't- It's just-."
BAM!
The door was swung wide open as Yasenia rushed inside and instantly arrived by Andrea's side. Andrea was bombarded by the dragoness's attractive yet worried voice. "How are you feeling, Darling? Is your body well? Do you feel weak? How about injuries? Are there any that you are having trouble healing? Also-. HPHY!"
Valeria chopped the top of her head, forcing a strange sound to exit her mouth. Yasenia pouted while looking up. "What's wrong? I'm just asking normal questions."
Andrea burst into laughter but hissed right away as she pulled on her wounds. The dragoness forgot about the chop and grabbed her hand while her tail swished nervously behind her, hitting quite a few things and making the fall with a loud clatter. Still, the dragoness didn't mind. "Does it hurt? Do you want me to give kisses in the wounded areas?"
Andrea controlled her laughter and answered. "No need, no need. Why are you so worried? Look at my body. Do I look heavily injured?"
Yasenia observed Andrea's perfectly sculpted body and blinked twice. "Hm~."
Andrea saw Yasenia's eyes roaming her body with a predatory look and coughed once. "Y-Yasenia, look for injuries, not for… whatever you are looking for."
Yasenia smirked a hint of seductiveness in her smile. "You look really… appetizing."
Andrea sighed with a smile, making Yasenia laugh and lean by her side. "But, yes. I can see that Valeria is doing a superb job in healing my darling."
Valeria, who had already finished spreading the cream she had prepared, commented. "With this, you should slowly heal without losing any effectiveness or benefits. It's also completely natural, so it will absorb through the skin and help you stabilize the foundation as well."
The rest of the girls arrived and walked inside with calm steps. Angel skipped over with light steps and asked. "How are you doing, Andrea?"
Andrea reached out and ran her fingers through her silky blonde hair. "Everything is fine; thanks for asking, Angel."
Angel smiled cutely. "Good!"
Embera, the fire spirit, commented. "As always, you have an exciting way of using of heat and energy. It's honestly quite impressive for a young human."
Andrea nodded and admitted. "Our talks on fire energy helped me quite a bit in understanding how to channel some aspects of my Sun Energy. That last attack was an application of a few things you told me."
Embera laughed. "I noticed. I'm happy it helped."
Soluna tugged Yasenia's dress and asked. "Are all tribulations this powerful? Will yours be the same?"
The dragoness paused and realized that Soluna was born in her current realm, so she has not needed to go through any tribulations yet. Embera commented. "Honestly, most spirits don't get complicated Heavenly Tribulations. They are usually really easy to pass. Our realm's largest bottleneck to the next is usually understanding our own element and our ability to manipulate, become one with it, and create it. The closer we are to the energy found in the environment, the further we can bring out its characteristic."
Embera looked at Soluna and explained. "Soluna had been struggling to increase her realm in the first place because she has yet to comprehend a way of developing her own body without breaking the balance."
Soluna laughed. "But I've gained many insights!"
The spirits looked at her with surprise. Embera asked. "How?"
Soluna hugged Yasenia's side with a grin. "Thanks to Yasenia, hehehe. Seeing her use that special energy has been an eye-opening experience. The way she manipulates Sun and Moon energies with Star energy to create such complex and unique skills is dashing and cool!"
Her exotic Moon and Sun pupils glowed with adoration as her body energies danced happily while remembering those times. Embera became thoughtful and looked at Yasenia.
The dragoness smiled. "No need to be so hesitant. You want to ask if I can use those skills to show her, right?"
Embera nodded with an awkward smile. "It would honestly be helpful. While she wouldn't have taken much time at the rate she was learning, speeding up the process is always welcomed."
Evelyn asked. "How much time would she have needed if she had not received Yasenia's help?"
Embera looked at Soluna with a doubtful look. "What do you think, Soluna? Between four and five?"
Soluna pondered. "Perhaps three, but yeah, around that time."
Evelyn nodded. "Four to five years is really quick."
The spirits looked at Evelyn with strange faces, making the blue-haired woman flinch. "Did I say something wrong?"
Embera laughed. "No, it's just that we are speaking in hundreds of years, not individual years."
Evelyn almost choked. "I-I see, so around four to five hundred years… That's… Um…" Evelyn wanted to say quickly, but she didn't know much.
Soluna chuckled. "That's quick! I would be just nearly 3,500 years old by the time I learned! Understanding how to cultivate my elements by that age is really fast! I know a pure Moon Energy spirit; she took over ten thousand years to start cultivating!"
Andrea joined and asked. "What's the average age for a normal spirit to be able to increase their cultivation by themselves? I imagine that there are other ways besides this one to get stronger, right?"
The water spirit commented, her voice soothing like the sound of crashing waves on the shore. "There are certainly other ways other than cultivating in a energy-rich area with our own element. However, these methods are not as reliable. It is similar to the cultivation treasures you find in the wild to increase your own strength. Have you found any?"
Andrea nodded. "I have a Heaven-born Flame, so I know what you are referring to."
The water spirit added. "That's right, there are other ways. However, answering your question, it is very difficult to tell the average. We don't really care much about other spirits, so we don't know an average enough to give you a concrete number. Still, I can say that it should be around one to two thousand years if the elements are simple enough. For example, I took around 800 years to start mine." She pointed at the Light Spirit at the side and added. "On the other hand, Nyxeris here took 6,000 years."
Nyxeris rolled his eyes. "Is there a need to speak about that? It is something that happened so long ago. Also, aren't we in the same realm? I caught up, okay!"
The water spirit laughed.
The girls became thoughtful. From her words, estimating an average was nothing but speculation. The examples she gave were too particular to generalize. But even if they took Nyxeris as an untalented spirit, if they even existed, Soluna's speed was certainly quick.
They spoke for some time, and Andrea suddenly remembered what she was going to ask. "Right, when I entered the Epoch Core Realm, there was an interesting change inside of me."
Tatyana asked, interest clear in her elegant voice. "Oh? Do tell."
Andrea nodded and started explaining. "Well…"