Chapter 1106. Hidden Forces. Peculiar Solar System.

"Are you sure about this? If she overcomes this challenge, she will be much stronger, and influencing her will be too complicated."

The ethereal voice of a woman echoed in the spacious room, carrying such pressure that the person she was speaking to could barely raise his head.

"My Lady, I can't do much more against someone who has cut ties with Fate. My control over her had disappeared at that time."

"What a subpar technique for the [Shadow of the Sun and Moon]." The woman's indifferent face and noble stance were highlighted by her disdain. She shook her head and turned around. "Since this is all you can do, I am just wasting my time here." Her tone chilled as she disappeared from that space. "Messing with my sister's Fate has consequences."

Meanwhile, the man left behind looked at her back with a hint of resentment. 'If you didn't come, I would have managed to avoid master and mistress failing.'

He clicked his tongue and looked down at the dimmed mirror in front of him. This item was called [Celestial Divination Mirror], and it allowed him to more or less guess the situation of a creature marked by it. Then, with his profound cultivation and knowledge of Fate Law, he could alter some events so very slightly that things would go awry at the most crucial moment.

Sadly, his plans got sidetracked when one of the most influential beings below the heavens somehow discovered him and forced him to accelerate his plans and act according to her wishes. This allowed the people under his superficial control to get out of hand and deviate from what he had initially planned. 'Almost a million years of planning interrupted because of the whim of a childish and overvalued woman! How can someone with her power be that insensitive!?'

Angered, he punched the table. When he did so, the planet he was hiding on suddenly exploded from the sheer power behind the slam, leaving him and the mirror floating in the middle of a destroyed world.

Looking around, he shook his head and stepped forward. His body traveled through the stars, and in a few minutes, he arrived at another one of his hideouts.

Suddenly, he sensed a relatively strong aura spreading from the mirror, making him frown. 'What kind of good fortune has she encountered now?' He paused when that thought crossed his mind, and then, his eyes widened. 'Don't tell me that the good fortune I suppressed when she was born is slowly returning?'

Back in the lower heavens, Yasenia had been cultivating for fifteen years already. All her paths were on the verge of reaching their peak level.

She opened her eyes and exhaled a mouthful of foul energies she had just cleansed. "Hm. Everything is prepared. The only thing left to do is ingest the [Core Collapsing Pill]."

Yasenia took it out and placed it on her hand. The perfectly spherical black pill looked as if it could absorb light around it. Similar to its appearance, the energy in the room flowed towards it naturally. This was probably the strongest pill she had ever taken. "It is one that can kill me as well…"

That thought crossed her mind. Nevertheless, she was not fearful. "I'd rather be a blinding and eye-catching shooting star than a lasting but innocuous rock at the riverside."

While extreme, that mindset was a big help when similar challenges crossed her path. They helped her give her all and push to the limits, among many other motivations within her.

During these last years, her Energy Core had been refined, and what Yasenia focused on was density. Since the form was basically perfect already, other than smoothing the edges, she did not have much to play with. One thing she could do was increase it in size, but with the Celestial Energy Star constantly pressuring it, that option was not very feasible. The solution she came up with was a simple but effective one. 'I'll advance what I need to, to cross into the half-step level while I absorb the energy.'

If she had told this to the seniors, they would've probably bonked her head and called her reckless. The reason for the different levels was that some things were just too difficult to do at once! Well, Yasenia managed to do it. Strangely, as time passed and she inched closer to Transcendence, things that had felt very complicated before were starting to be much easier as if some strange shackles were loosening. 

She crossed her legs, placed her tail around her sitting form, straightened her back, and finally placed her hands in a meditative position in the hollow of her legs.

Then, she moved the pill and swallowed it, closing her eyes as she did so. 'Let's see what you can do.' 

A few years ago, Tatyana and the others had arrived at the blinking star's system. Once there, they couldn't believe what they were looking at. Tatyana crossed her arms and muttered, her face filled with surprise and awe. "A technological society…?"

Standing close to the star, the thing that was making it blink was not some strange effect but a massive swarm of robotic beings circling it. Andrea scratched her head and asked, confused. "Technolgocal society? What's that? Also, what are these massive things surrounding the star?" 

Mirrory and Valeria looked at Tatyana as well, confused. Tatyana saw their gazes and asked. "You two don't know as well?"

Mirrory and Valeria shrugged. Mirrory responded. "I have not been in the lower heavens for eons. This is not something I know about."

Valeria muttered. "I have not heard of things that work without a soul other than puppets… Are these puppets?"

Tatyana shook her head. "They are not puppets… Well, it is similar, but not the same." Tatyana explained. "Technological societies are those that use science instead of cultivation rules to become stronger. They are rare in the lower heavens, but they become more common in the one below us." 

"Science…" Andrea tilted her head, her eyes shining with curiosity. "Don't we use it as well?"

Tatyana shook her head. "Another type of science." She then sighed. "Sadly, science has its limits. Regardless of how advanced, a [Law] can't really be used by those machines, or at least, I have never seen a society that develops for long enough to reach that level of technology. Hence, a single seventh realm cultivator can easily annihilate this type of society." Tatyana smiled. "They can put up a fight against Sixth Realm cultivators, though. Which is already plenty impressive."

The girls became serious when they heard that. Regardless of how strange this type of society was, if they could threaten Transcendent Realm beings, they could threaten them. Tatyana saw their expressions and chuckled. "Don't worry about this one, though. It seems that they have yet to reach that level, which is a shame."

Angel blinked, confused. "Why is it a shame?"

Tatyana rubbed her chin. "We might've been able to make a combo of mechas and cultivation! Innovation!"

The rest of the people looked at her with a strange expression. Tatyana ignored their gazes and sighed. "Sadly, such a thing won't happen to us… Sorry for those that were getting excited."

Evelyn looked around and asked, confused. "Who was getting excited?"

The girls and maids shook their heads. 

Valeria cleared her throat and asked, looking at the large thing moving around the star. "So… What's this?"

"Dyson's Sphere." Tatyana smiled. "That's its name, from what I know."

"Oh." Valeria blinked, and seeing that Tatyana was not going to say more, her lips twitched. "What is this for?"

"Hm?" Tatyana tilted her head. "Isn't it obvious? It is gathering the energy that radiates from the star so that this civilization can use it."

Everyone was speechless and looked at the gargantuan machine. 

"Identify yourselves! You have breached section DS-05! That's against the laws according to the Interplanetary Regulation S.I.P.R.T. Of…"

The girls blinked when they heard a strange wave of sound traveling through space, ignoring the words being told since they only understood about half of them. Angel muttered, confused. "I can't feel much energy… How are they doing it?"

Tatyana rubbed her chin. "Perhaps they are creating a beam of particles where they can send sound waves to vibrate them and speak in a vacuum? Quite ingenious, if you ask me." 

The girls, somewhat understanding and not understanding, continued listening until the other side got silent. Once they were quiet, the girls all turned toward the Death Empress as one. 

Tatyana rolled her eyes and took the leadership position. First, she expanded her spiritual sense until she noticed a few spaceships in the distance. Then, using her spiritual sense, she transmitted some words. "We came here when we detected an abnormality in the star of this Solar System. We are not enemies nor hostile, so you can stop aiming at us with those weapons."

In the main room of the spaceship, the man in charge frowned. "Did our systems get hacked? How can this woman speak through the ship's speakers?"

"Captain, our audio hardware has not produced those sounds!"

"Huh?" The man was confused and looked at the screen in front of himself. On the screen, you could see a medieval-like flying ship with gorgeous details and without a sail. The ship was surrounded by a gentle but transparent barrier, and on the deck, there were around sixty women and one man. All of them were looking in their direction as if they could see them at the distance they were currently, which was around five million kilometers.

Tatyana asked them, interested. "From what I am hearing, it is your first time meeting cultivators? That's certainly interesting when you have a few between your ranks! Moreover…"

Tatyana squinted, and her lips arched gleefully. "Your souls are quite strong~, aren't they?"

The man's face became serious, and he shouted. "Prepare all weapons! Make sure nothing is malfunctioning! We don't know what we are fighting!"

Tatyana giggled. "Ah~, mortals are so fun to mess with. Let's see, do you want to see what we can do? We can have a little fight if you want! I would hope that you forgive me if I destroy your ships, though."

The captain snorted. "We have five Planet Hawk V10 spaceships and ten Continental Hawk V9 spaceships. We could lay waste to a planet in less than a minute, not to mention your strange ship!"

"Underestimating your enemies more often than not leads to ruin." Tatyana tutted. "Well, you'll understand soon. I'll make sure to ask you plenty of questions about those people in your ship with such big souls once we are done with this small sparring."

The captain shouted. "Fire!"

The weapons on all fifteen ships lit up, and several lasers were shot toward Tatyana's group.