Asher knew that he needed more time to think about his decision and whether he wanted to take any of his girls with him, but there was no time left as Arianna spoke once again after a few seconds passed by in silence.
"There is no need to think too much about it. I have already decided who will go into that secret realm." She said while looking at Asher with a firm gaze.
"What? You have already decided without asking us? And who did you decide on?" Asher asked in disbelief, as he didn't want any of his harem girls to go since he would be worried about their safety if something happened to them during the trip.
Even if he believed that cultivators needed to take risks sometimes to grow stronger, this was a very dangerous situation where one wrong move could lead them to their death.
He was fine with them going on dangerous missions in the outside world, as no matter what happened, their souls would still return to the Astral Nexus Core Orb, saving them from eternal separation.
Though the same couldn't be said about the secret realms, as there were too many unknown possibilities inside such places that might cause the girls to die for real, making them gone forever.
So, there was no way he was willing to take any chances with his precious harem girls, but before Asher could refuse her decision, Arianna beat him to it by saying three names that surprised him as well as everyone in the room.
"Alia, Cai Yan, and Lei Liwei. The three of you will go inside that realm with Asher."
Hearing her words, Asher looked at Alia, then Cai Yan and Lei Liwei before asking with a puzzled expression, "Are you sure about this? Why did you choose these three?"
Arianna crossed her arms underneath her chest and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Isn't it obvious? Among all the girls present here, Alia possesses the highest combat prowess, so she would be able to survive on her own. And even when it comes to cultivation, she is a step ahead of you. So she can protect herself better than other girls."
"Hmmm... Big Sis Alia being chosen is reasonable, but why the other two?" Asher asked while still being confused about his grandmother's decision.
But more than anything, he wanted to test himself against stronger opponents and improve his skills to become stronger and be able to protect everything dear to him.
Meanwhile, Scarlet had downcast eyes as she watched Asher walk away with his grandmother, and only after a while did she say something. "I wish I could go too... I am feeling left out."
"Same here, but we can't do anything about it since we don't have enough strength." Cecil nodded with a sigh while looking at her. "And I don't want to become a burden by going with him and then being unable to defend myself from those who are trying to kill us. I am sure the reason we weren't chosen was also this."
Mia, Eleanor, and Maria all looked at each other before nodding their heads in agreement. Even though they wanted to be with Asher, none of them were powerful enough to survive in a place where death could come from anywhere at any time.
"It's not like I was expecting to be chosen for this, but still, I can't help but feel sad about it." Mia muttered under her breath as she thought back to the times when she used to play and enjoy herself with Asher in the city.
However, her thoughts were interrupted by Aria, who walked towards them and said, "Don't worry too much about it. There will be plenty of chances for you girls to show off your abilities in front of Asher in the future. As cultivators, we have long lifespans, and along with the body transformation, each of your talents is beyond this world's standards. Not to mention, cultivators most of the time go in long seclusions for cultivation. So this should be a good opportunity for all of you to become accustomed to that."
"I hope so. I just don't want Asher to think of us as deadweights who are unable to help him out whenever he is in need." Scarlet said with a sigh, but Rias, who was sitting next to her, laughed at her words, "Hahaha, you don't have to worry about that, my baby girl. I am going to make sure you won't have time to even think about anything else except training."
A shiver ran down the spines of the girls who heard Rias' words because they knew very well what she meant by that.
After all, they had already been through her training before, so they knew exactly how harsh it could get. It was almost like being thrown into hell itself, but still, they couldn't deny that it did give results faster than any other method.
"No way. I don't want to die because of your training before Asher comes back." Scarlet ran away in a hurry, followed by Cecil, leaving behind Rias, who was laughing loudly after them.
Seeing them behave like that, Aria also smiled and went inside the kitchen with the other girls to prepare something for Asher to eat when he returned from his training with Arianna.