As I went to look at the new information on the shrine, I was interrupted by a loud explosion emanating from below me, followed by a monstrous roar.
Then, coming from the ground was a massive, ethereal blue Chinese dragon coiling into the sky. After reaching about two hundred feet into the air, it stopped before diving down towards the shrine-like an arrow released from a bow.
However, when it reached around fifty feet away, there was an even louder explosion coming from the shrine as a bolt of rainbow-colored lightning struck out, hitting the dragon.
When the bolt hit the dragon, a bright light lit up the sky and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
What was left was a small, ethereal red and white fox falling to the ground in front of Elinaria's statue. This fox landed on its feet before looking around, confused at everything around it.
It then jumped onto the base of the statue before curling up at her feet. Then, just as fast as all of this happened, the fox slowly disappeared, with the statue glowing the same colors as the fox.
The glow started deciding after a few seconds as a message from my system popped up in front of me.
{Local {World Veins} name changed from [Dragon Vein] to [Fox Vein]}
This prompted me to scan through the new information on the shrine, allowing me to find what had most likely caused this.
[Modifire: Merged Fox Vein (Previously Dragon Vein) (Qi gathering efficiency increased by 1000% (At the center of the shrine), Gives Aura of Refinement)]
There were many other things that I wanted to look at, but I was distracted again by the world changing around me.
Closing the system window, I glanced around and became mesmerized by the sight of multiple holes opening up in mid-air, releasing all the materials I had spent upgrading the building. These materials floated in mid-air for a moment before the gold and silver moved toward the statue.
As the precious metal made contact with the statue, it began to faintly glow as its surfaced changed into the metals that were in contact with it. The materials them selves were disappearing as this process happened.
Soon, the surface of the statue completely changed into silver with gold acting as highlights to finer details.
Then, some of the bags of concrete opened themselves and poured over the ground in the middle of the shrine. The powdered concrete mix then rapidly formed into solid finished concrete without the use of water or any need to dry.
It was then time for the Qi-infused wood to move as it began to shape and form itself into many different wood gates and placed itself around the garden, expanding the radius of the shrine to encompass over one-third of the garden.
This was not the end, though, as the remaining steel and concrete began to move.
The first thing that happened now was that the paths were all paved over with concrete, leaving not a single piece of gravel to be found. Then, the steel formed itself into the remaining gates that would lead to the shrine as well as replacing the external wall that was protecting the place.
Some of the decorations on these steel gateways were even painted in bright colors that resembled some of the plants in the garden. Looking closely at the plants that shared those colors, I was able to see a few of the flowers missing, most likely used to provide the pigment for the paint on the metal.
With that finished, the boxes of gears opened them selves and began floating in front of Elinaria's statue as they started to assemble into something.
This process of assembly lasts for a few minutes before finishing and revealing a swirling galaxy made out of gears. As the gears turned, the entire galaxy rotated while floating in front of the statue.
The continuous movements of the gears were honestly mesmerizing to watch, and I could have stood there for hours doing just that. However, that was not meant to be, as I heard two sets of footsteps walking up behind me.
Truning around I saw Mom and the Sect Master walking up to me while looking around the shrine.
I was expecting to see some sort of amazement or confusion from them, but there was no such thing. Instead, they just looked around, appraising everything, and the only thing that slightly confused them was the concrete they were now walking on.
This still did not seem to confuse them very much, as they eventually looked over to me without much of a reaction. How I felt about this must have been clear on my face as Mom's expression quickly changed to one of displeasure as she said, "Did you expect us to be happy about the fact that you took something without permission and ran away with it only to use it to make something else a moment later."
I looked down towards the ground when I heard this, but not at my feet. Of course, I knew that I should at least feel a little guilty about what I did; however, those resources were also acquired for me to upgrade the shrine, so it should not matter that much.
Especially when I used the materials to upgrade the shrine in the first place, which was the initial point of getting them, besides, if he did not want me to have the materials, he should not have handed them to me to begin with.
Regardless, I was not going to voice this opinion and risk angering my mother. Thankfully, I did not need to, as the Sect Master spoke up for me, saying, "It's fine. I should have expected this when pulling out the materials, to begin with, and besides, this is exactly what the materials were supposed to be used for in the first place.
"Though I am still angry about her shooting arrows at me."
Not letting that last remark slide, I quickly countered, "Would you like someone calling you a child and saying that you should focus on just sitting to the side looking cute?"
Mom was about to intervene and say something when the Sect Master said, "Touché."
After hearing his response, Mom turned to look at him in shock. Then just as I was starting to think she was going to say a classic line in this situation, she actually did. "What did you do to Xiao Luoyang? Where is he?"
This was apparent something she had said a few times before or was already a classic line in this world as the Sect Master just a small laugh before saying, "She is clearly not a child who doesn't know anything. After all, she can clearly protect herself and doesn't seem to be completely clueless.
"She is also helping out the sect, so I have no reason to go against her. I was also able to analyze some parts of her system and figured out that most of the things that she is able to build is because of the world she comes from.
"So even if her system were able to be extracted, which it is not, I would only be able to learn how to make some formations or pills, perhaps forage something, but nothing like what she can make. Thus, it is best to keep her around. Plus, she was able to make me think about the direction I have down my path.
"After all, if even those from other worlds are able to see the uselessness of my path to immortality without even having the ability to reach it themselves, then maybe the path I am walking is the wrong one. This is why I am now treating her more like an equal than a disciple that needs guidance,"
Hearing his words, I felt that his thinking was not necessarily wrong but more of not going in the right direction, so I quickly spoke up, interrupting Mom as she was about to say something again, "That was not entirely what I meant. It was more that standing on top of the world is more of a momentary goal than a long-term one, and having that as your only reason to reach immortality is fairly shallow.
"I mean, it isn't bad to have goals, but you need to have a better reason to reach immortality than simply I want to be better than everyone."
Hearing my response to this, he looked down and sat there for a moment thinking before looking up at me and asking, "Why are you seeking immortality then?"
This question made me smile as I thought it was the right direction for him to think, and I responded by saying, "I want to be there to see the universe's technology develop. To watch as the major events in history unfold firsthand and to walk upon the edge of the galaxy, pondering how to go farther.
"In short, the reason why I seek immortality is to see how far I can push the world and the universe it resides in until I can't push it any farther."