Meanwhile, back in Distancia, the girls noticed that Tatyana had changed slightly after spending a few months in closed-door cultivation. The woman seemed sharper, and her aura had become somehow more profound and imperial.
Yasenia looked at Tatyana for a few moments while they all ate in the main dining hall and asked. "So… What happened? Did you have some kind of realization?"
Tatyana looked at Yasenia and smiled faintly. "Well, something like that."
The dragoness raised her eyebrow. "Oh? What happened?"
Tatyana smiled. "Well, I broke through. I also increased my control over the [True Aura Manifestation]. Of course, the most important part is that my other body is now out of its meditative state."
The girls were surprised, but it didn't take long before they started congratulating her. Tatyana nodded in thanks and cut the tender meat on her plate with the knife and fork. Yasenia observed Tatyana and commented with a hum. "You feel slightly different."
Tatyana looked at her and tilted her head. "How so?"
Evelyn asked, looking at Yasenia. "Are you sure? I can't really feel anything different."
Valeria was also eating since she loved Yasenia's food as much as the rest. She observed Tatyana and asked. "Is it strange to feel that much power again?"
Tatyana paused and looked at Valeria. "What do you mean?"
Valeria looked at her. "While your other body was meditative, your senses were primarily in this one, so you became accustomed to its feelings, strength, and the relatively lackluster mind. Now, with your main body awake, everything you've felt with this body feels like a snippet in a long story. It is making it hard for you to… connect."
Tatyana looked at Valeria and answered. "Nonsense. Those words would mean many things that are simply not true."
Valeria smiled and hummed as she threw a croquette into her mouth. "I wonder~... Oh! These are really delicious. What are they made of, Yasenia?"
Yasenia answered with a sigh-like smile. "You drop a bomb and then ask that? Well, they are quite simple, actually—Ham and cheese croquettes."
Andrea coughed. "You are not going to address their conversation, love?"
Yasenia looked at Tatyana and shrugged. "She is big enough to know about it herself. If she wants to speak about it, she knows I'll hear her out anytime, as I would with any of you."
Tatyana munched the meat slowly, not really showing much of an expression on her face. Estrella poked Tatayna's arm and asked. "Are you sure you are okay, Mama?"
Tatyana gulped down the munched food and nodded. "I am. If there is something wrong, as Little Treasure said, I'll tell her."
Estrella nodded, and they continued to eat dinner, changing the theme to what the children were doing. Some of them were in the sect, trying to advance with resources there, while the other children were traveling around Distancia on their own adventures.
After everyone was done with the first and second dishes, the dessert came. Dianna exclaimed happily. "Cheesecake! Delicious~."
Kali smiled and placed the plate in front of her. "Eat slowly, Yasenia has made enough for everyone."
Dianna nodded and started digging in.
At the side, Katarina ate slowly, matching Cecile's eating pace. Cecile noticed and found it cute, but she didn't say much.
Yasenia looked around and spoke slowly and calmly. "We'll be leaving very soon."
The children and girls looked up and blinked. Aurelia asked, curious. "Where are we going? Will we go to the Forgotten Star Area to visit Uncle Ayanduin and Uncle Gu Chen?"
Yasenia shook her head. "Me and your mothers will be leaving soon."
The children froze and looked at Yasenia confusedly. Yasenia smiled and commented. "It has already been many years, and this place has finally become too… small. Your mothers and I need new resources to continue our cultivation paths. So, we plan to leave in two years at most."
Skye jumped. "Huh!? You will leave us behind!?"
Yasenia looked at her and asked with a smile. "What if I do?"
Skye froze and frowned. "I will catch up and follow behind you!"
The dragoness laughed. "That's my girl." Then, she smiled a bit sadly and commented. "Sadly, baby, I really need to leave before my cultivation speed starts to slow down. Right now, I can make do with the combination of the Cosmic Energy and Distancia Energy that we are sucking through the formation. But it is clear that I am just squeezing this place beyond its utility."
"What if we can never catch up?"
Aurelia asked, somewhat somber while looking down. Of all of them, Aurelia probably understood just how ridiculous her mother's cultivation speed was. She had been using the Grand Cosmos Array not only to train but to see her mother's cultivation path. She noticed that there was a strange 23-year gap where her mother's cultivation speed slowed down to a crawl compared to the rest of the time.
Then, she recovered her usual speed, and her strength increased exponentially. Right now, her mother was probably in the top 5 strongest people in the Distancia Continent with less than 100 years of age. That achievement was nothing but ridiculous.
Yasenia looked at Aurelia and asked. "Baby, look at me."
Aurelia raised her head and looked at Yasenia, seeing the usual loving face of her Dragon Mother. She had kept such a loving gaze since she had memory, making Aurelia's heart somewhat relax.
"Even if you never catch up, that doesn't mean that I will leave you behind and not look back. If I can, I will probably try to see how you are all doing. We can stay connected through formations built in this area. However, love, your Mommy needs to catch up to someone very important. For that, I don't have much more leisure time to waste around here."
Aurelia listened and nodded. "I understand. You want to catch up to Mommy Tatyana, right?"
Yasenia didn't deny it. "Yes."
Aurelia hummed, and Yasenia commented. "Either way, things usually don't go silently wherever your Mommy goes. So, if you ever are catching up and you want to search for me, it shouldn't be that difficult. Of course, just that is not enough, so, during all these years, I've crafted these."
Yasenia placed seven necklaces on the table. The emblem in the middle was a beautiful blue with white glittery lights that made them appear as if they were crafted using the night sky itself.
The dragoness explained softly. "These necklaces are artifacts I've crafted with Andrea and Angel; they are made out of my scales and horns. They only have one function. If a drop of blood from one of my descendants is dropped on them, this necklace can guide you toward me. The distance at which they work is vast. Actually, it is so vast that we really couldn't measure it. And, if it can't find me, it will follow my energy traces."
Kaleina, Estrella, Dawn, Skye, Aurelia, Katarina, and Dianna looked at the necklaces with a bittersweet feeling. Once they took it, they would be accepting that their dear mother was about to leave. However, that was something inevitable, and the fact that Yasenia took the effort spoke volumes about something they already knew very well: their dragon mother loved them to bits.
Kaleina picked up the necklace and dropped a drop of blood on it. While Kaleina was not Yasenia's biological child, she was born using Yasenia's blood. Thanks to that, this necklace would also work for her.
As Yasenia expected, the necklace reacted to Kaleina's blood, and it shot a beam of light toward Yasenia's heart. Kaleina blinked, looking between Yasenia and the necklace. "Mommy, why does it point at your heart?"
The dragoness smirked. "Well, to make them as powerful as they are, they needed a very powerful ingredient, my Blood Essence."
Kali's eyebrow trembled in annoyance, but she was the one who helped her extract it this time around, so she held it in.
Evelyn saw the children's baffled faces and smiled. "You know that your mother almost went to her knees to beg us to allow her to use it? Tsk, she is always doing these silly and extreme things." Evelyn looked at Yasenia and sighed. "Always worrying us."
Yasenia blew a kiss and winked. "I love you too~."
Katarina suddenly asked. "Wait, I understand, Mommy, but why are the rest also leaving? Isn't Distancia still good enough for all of you?"
Cecile patted Katarina's head and said bluntly. "Love, while we, your mothers, love all of you lots and lots, you are still below Yasenia. If Yasenia leaves, we'll go after her."
The children deadpanned, looking at Cecile with expressions that clearly indicated that they didn't know what to say. Cecile blinked while Andrea laughed. "You could've been a bit more subtle, Cecile."
Cecile raised her elegant eyebrow. "Subtleness for telling the truth? I have not raised weak children who can't accept the truth when being told to their faces."
Andrea raised her arms in surrender. "Okay, Madam. Don't look at me like that."
Everyone chuckled. Andrea looked at the children and asked. "How are all of you doing with the weapons?"
Her question diverted the conversation, and everyone started talking again. The time went by quickly, and they finished eating shortly after.
When everyone started to stand up, Yasenia's maid approached and took the plates, sending them to the kitchen. They were warriors, but above that, they were Yasenia's maids. They took their duty very seriously.
Yasenia walked away with Angel and looked down at her little love. Her tail coiled around her waist, pulling her into her embrace and placing her arm around her shoulder. "You've been very silent lately, Baby. Is there something wrong?"
Angel looked up and shook her head. "Nothing… It's just that separating from Aurelia will be very hard." While they all loved their children a lot, Angel and Aurelia had a special connection with each other.
Yasenia smiled and used her hand to place Angel's long hair behind her ear. "Angel, you've raised Aurelia impressively. No one can say otherwise. Aurelia is clever and responsible, and she also loves to plan for the future. At the same time, I understand that you are afraid that she might feel lonely without you. But don't."
Angel leaned her face on Yasenia's squishy side breast. "But she will be lonely."
Yasenia nodded. "Yes, she will feel lonely. However, she is our child. The child of a Saint Inheritor and… Well, me!"
Angel burst into laughter. "Placing yourself quite high now, are we?"
Yasenia wiggled her eyebrows playfully. "Any complaints, eh? Do you dare say that I am less than you, my precious Baby~?"
Angel laughed again and hugged Yasenia tightly. "I love you."
Yasenia smiled softly. "Let's prepare, and if you want to leave something behind, do so. However, remember that they need to grow by themselves, okay? They are clever, have talent, have potential, and they have many resources that they've gained over the years. So, think well about what to leave her that can help her."
Angel nodded. "I will. Thanks, Yasenia."
The dragoness smirked. "Now that Baby is in a positive mood again~, come come, time to have a great time with me~."
Angel exclaimed as she was swept off her feet, and her face blushed slightly. "O-Okay."
Then, Yasenia and Angel proceeded to have a fun day together.