Inside the dimensional tunnel and more accurately inside Lilia's black spaceship, everyone gathered in the living area of the ship.
"Since you made the reservation for this dimensional tunnel, can you set the best route for us?", asked Aster to Agnes who happily nodded in response.
"Sure, but... I need to know the destination first", mumbled the Fey princess, between yesterday's party, the excitement of going to a new adventure with Aster and the worries in her mind, she actually forgot to check the information about the mission.
Luckily, seeing a chance to shine, the receptionist girl Angela, who was the one who registered all the present core disciples, had read the information a dozen of times.
"The coordinates registered in the information of the mission lead to the 95th ranked Stellar System", she said, the took the liberty to verify the exact location to which those coordinates led.
In case you wonder why she did so, it's because they led to one of the las ten Stellar Systems of the Dragon Legacy Heavenly Quadrant, in other words their destination was one of the unpredictable wastelands that surrounded this Heavenly Quadrant, in such a place it was better to not leave anything up to fate.
"I see, that might be why we haven't received any new information since yesterday's announcement, those places have harsh atmospheres, but with this spaceship we can take the fastest route without worrying about anything", said Agnes to then add.
"That being said, we'll have to come out of the dimensional tunnel at the last third part of the route, because the portal there isn't managed by the sect, no one claims it because not only leads to the wastelands but it is too chaotic for most spaceships to move through it, in exchange we'll be there by the end of the day, in around eight to ten hours at most, is that okay?".
Aster nodded at her, turbulence and a small stop were nothing to worry about, after all the other spaceships of the sect should only arrive until tomorrow's midday the earliest.
While Agnes and Angela went to the captain's cabin to trace the route, Aster couldn't help but think.
'Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that Stellar System the one that acts as the border between this and the Sun Sprite Heavenly Quadrant?', he asked to Lilia in a voice that only the Star Maidens could hear.
'Yes, are you worried that you still haven't progressed with Camila and now you'll have to deal with that little Fey girl~', jokingly said Lilia, referring to Agnes.
Aster bitterly smiled, as he dismissed everyone, not without noticing Camila who has been stealing glances at him since earlier.
"Feel free to explore the facilities of the spaceship, but no training, it's better for everyone to be at their prime just in case, if you have any doubt, or simply want to hang out with us, the door of our room will be open", said Aster as he proposed to go to his room accompanied by Lilia and the other Star Maidens, as well as Kana and the little wyrm, just to feel a soft tug on the right side of his shirt.
Aster turned around expecting to see the little girl, but was instead met with the shily blushed pretty face of Camila as well as the smirking Eris and Mylene who were watching from the sides.
"C-Can I tag along?", she asked in a really low voice, Aster who was genuinely surprised, nodded in response and so the group went to Aster's room, which used to be Lilia's room when she travelled back then.
Contrary to what Camila imagined in that innocent mind of hers, spending time with Aster and her new "sisters" wasn't as intense as she thought it would be, the situation developed like this, Aster was laying down on the bed, the back of his head was resting on top of Lilia's lap, while Alice and Aria hugged each of his arms.
To top it off, Sarina was resting on top of Aster, her face laying on his chest while Aster gently caressed her silky blond hair they were cuddling and chatting about random things.
As for the pair of little girl and little snake, Kana and Espi were playing around in the room, flying here and there and landing on the top of Sarina's back, on the bed or even on the couch where Camila was sitting, the previous might sound annoying but it wasn't.
Those two were as light as feathers and when they landed on Sarina's back it was to hug her, Alice even took the initiative to use her tail as a platform for those two to sit from time to time, as long as the little girl didn't compete with her for a spot in Aster's embrace, everything else was negotiable and the little girl was aware of it.
'Hehehe in any case, big brother will spoil us later~', said Kana to Espi who cunningly hissed in response.
'Hisss~'.
While those two cunning little girls were fluttering around the room, Aster who was enjoying the smooth sensation of Sarina's hair in between his fingers, turned to see Camila who was obviously surprised to see that they spent their free time in such a seemingly normal way and smirked at her.
"What, were you perhaps expecting something else to happen if you came to my room?" jokingly said, making Camila's pretty face redden on the spot.
"N-No", she mumbled only for Aster to shake his head to then use his special telekinesis to gently caress her face.
"Don't worry, besides getting a bit too cuddly, our routine is quite normal... most of the time, so you can get used to it at your own pace", said Aster as he stole a gaze at the pair of dragon mother and daughter who giggled at him.
If it depended on those two lewd dragon girls, then things would get naughty at the first chance, luckily Aria and Sarina were here to act as counterweight, not like they didn't love to be embraced by their lover, in fact they were sometimes dragged into the mess by Lilia and Alice like yesterday, but it was thanks to them that Lilia and Alice learned to enjoy these normal conversation moments combined with some kisses and caresses.
"Mm~", Camila's previously agitated state, dissipated, though Aster found cute to see her nervous and all, since she has been avoiding contact with Lilia and the others, ever since she kissed him, which was understandable, she never dated anyone and the first time it was with someone that had such pretty girls around him all the time, the poor treasure girl had it rough.
But now seeing the knowing gazes of Lilia and the others who knew how it felt to join the family, she finally found peace in her little maiden's heart, at least for a second until Lilia gazed at her to then say.
"Come on, don't be shy and join us, if you don't take the chance to cuddle with Aster, now, you might have to fight for a spot later~".
Lilia's words were like the whisper of the devil for Camila, yesterday during Erin and Mylene's sleepover, the subject of Aster befriending new girls each time he ventured out, was brought by Mylene who wanted to tease the ligress girl, Mira, since she was a rare guest of their usual night meetings.
That made her think about the Luan girls who were rather direct at the moment of expressing their wishes and so a little seed of anxiousness was born in her mind, "What if other girls steal my spot in his heart", which led to the previously undecisive Camila to take that little jump she needed to openly show the change in the nature of her relationship with Aster.
And then to strike while the iron was hot, the dragon princess added.
"Besides, didn't you purposedly showed off yourself at every given chance before, what's some cuddling compared to that~".
"I didn't do it on purpose!", exclaimed Camila, feeling the urge to dig a hole to hide, as the memories of her showing her barely covered self to Aster a couple of times, flowed through her mind.
Luckily for the treasure girl, the motherly Sarina understood better than no one what being new in the family and having to deal with the pair of mischievous dragon mother and daughter felt, so she offered Camila a helping hand.
"Now, don't take their words to heart or you'll be in for a lot of headaches, here I'll make scape for you", said Sarina as she moved a bit aside, opening a spot for Camila to cuddle with Aster alongside her.
"Mm"
With a face as red as an apple but feeling welcomed, Camila approached them and then rested facing upwards on top of Aster's chest.
'Heh, how cunning of you Sarina, now you have two allies, that's not fair darling, how about you invite that little poison girl over to "even" things~', said Lilia through the mind connection, making Aster bitterly smile in response.
'I have enough "unrestrained" girls to deal with, just with sis and you for the time being mom', limited to say Aster, Vivian was not only quite daring but she didn't have defined limits in terms of intimacy as friends, so it was Aster the one who stopped her from going too far, speaking of which that clueless girl has been dangerously influenced by Alice lately, but that's beside the point.
Camila who was enjoying the cuddly sensation of resting on top of Aster, finally realized that unlike what she has observed, Aster was focusing most of his attention on Sarina, instead of Lilia, the curiosity won her and she couldn't help but ask.
"Are you celebrating something special with miss Sarina?", the blond motherly woman giggled in response before taking the liberty to explain how things worked when it came to missions in the family.
"Just call me Sarina, it's not a celebration, I am the one being spoiled the most because this mission is for me, though that doesn't stop certain jealous dragon girls from fighting with me for attention~".
"Humph, who are you trying to trick with that proper façade, when it comes me turn, you'll do the same anyway", retorted Lilia as she exchanged gazes with Sarina, sparks could be seen flying between those two, making Aster sigh.
"Be good you two, we have a new member in our family so be good sisters and "teach" her about our dynamics".
"Yes darling~".
"Okay husband~".
Those two stopped fighting and instead tightly hugged Aster, returning to a peaceful atmosphere, all this under the curious eyes of Camila who was just starting to learn about the sisters with whom she'll be sharing her loved one.
...
That's right, as Angela guided the group towards the gate of the space port, Aster noticed quite a few pairs of eyes following them and he wasn't the only one, all the girls also noticed it.
But they didn't enter into conflict and instead returned to the spaceship, once inside Aster turned to see the pair of little girl and little wyrm and patted their heads to then say.
"Pay attention you two, it's time for another lesson".
"I'll listen to big brother~".
"Hisss~".
While those two nodded and paid all their attention to what Aster was going to say, the camouflage of the spaceship was deactivated and with Agnes piloting, they advanced towards an especially large asteroid, entering on a cave that led towards the core of the thing.
The portal to the dimensional tunnel that they will be using to arrive in a short period of time to the wastelands, was at the end of this cave, however as they proposed to leave, a few figures passed next to them, blocking their way, they were a dozen of individual sized space ships.
And they weren't alone, the retreat was blocked by another dozens of individual spaceships and a couple of large ones, judging by the lack of emblems on those spaceships, those guys were bandits and as if to confirm that, a group Genesis Manifestation cultivators approached Lilia's spaceship, the leader, a bearded man in his fifties then shouted.
"To the esteemed guests inside that spaceship, even if you invaded our hideout, this doesn't have to be a bloodbath, give us all your possessions and you'll be free to leave".
'Heh, so bandits stablished here since to rob travelers, I guess it makes sense since no one particularly strong is in a rush to go to the wastelands', thought Aster to then say.
"Every time you listen to someone saying anything along the lines of "pay me and you'll live", you can be sure that they are lying".
Kana nodded but then she turned to see Aster to ask.
"But then if big brother knew that they were bad people why did you allow them to follow us, instead of getting rid of them on the spot, I don't think they are stronger than sister Agnes?", the little girl's question was valid, after all Aster has always told her that the only good enemy is the dead enemy and to never hesitate to eliminate an enemy if you have the chance and with Agnes escorting them, they had the chance of eliminating the ones that were following them.
"Well, sometimes you have to wait for the right time to attack, for example if we got rid of the ones that were following us, their comrades would have hidden themselves to look for a chance to get back at us, so we waited for them to gather and come at us, in order to get rid of all of them at the same time", said Aster to then add.
"Of course, this is something you should only think on doing if you are a 100% sure that your team is stronger than the enemy and their group, otherwise the rule of eliminating with utmost secrecy at the first given chance, still stands".
Seeing Kana and Espi nodding in response, Agnes couldn't help but softly snort.
"Says the one who killed a prospect of the Stall family in front of their representative, without caring about repercussions", she mumbled, only to see Aster smirking at her.
"That's because I counted on some pretty "guardian angels" to have my back", he said with a playful voice making Agnes blush, thinking that he was referring to Valentina and herself.
The others had different opinions though, or example Tamara who knew about Aster's real identity thanks to Thomas, as well as Eris, Mylene and Mira who could tell how much of a monster the dragon mother is, immediately thought of Lilia.
Speaking of Lilia, she appeared out of thin air, hugging Aster from behind to then say.
"Leave them to me darling, it's been a while since I stretched my body~", Aster nodded and then Lilia opened a portal disappearing from the living area where everyone had gathered.
Now, this drew the attention of some of the new additions to the group who had never seen Lilia in action, like Angela.
Outside of the spaceship, the leader of the bandits saw Lilia appearing and he snorted.
"Don't try to trick us with a plain woman, there were at least four girls in the group that visited the port earlier, leave them behind as well...", the bandit didn't even get to finish his sentence before he his head exploded due to Lilia flicking her finger on his direction.
There wasn't any spirit energy involved in that, she used only the shockwave caused by her sheer physical strength to kill a peak Genesis Manifestation cultivator!
And the surprises didn't end there, the other bandits took a second to react and their second in command immediately took over.
"Use everything you have, kill her... aghhhh!", the originally fierce shout turned into a horrified scream as one of the large spaceships with around five hundred meters of length, was compressed into a pile of scrap, killing all the bandits inside of it on the spot.
"R-Run it's a trap!", the ones inside the other large sized spaceship gave the order to retreat but the spaceships didn't move an inch, they couldn't, imagine the despair those bandits felt when they saw a giant black metal gate blocking the exit of the cave, isolating this place from the outside.
Inside Lilia's spaceship, Alexandra, Nerissa, Iris, her cousin Layla, the three maid sisters and Lieze's jaws nearly dropped, they could recognize the special trait of a Gate Transcending realm body cultivator.
And they weren't the only ones, Mikaela and Angela who has especially sharp senses among the new ones were even more surprised.
"What the hell is up with that Transcending Gate", mumbled Mikaela, even from this distance she felt suffocated just by trying to look in the direction of that black metal gate, as for Angela she was surprised as she couldn't discern Lilia's cultivation even now when she was actively fighting.
'Don't tell me her other path is on an even higher realm but then... she would need to be on the Heavenly Realms while her secondary one is already at the peak of the transcending realms and no one has achieved that', she thought.
The fight ended before the bandits even had the chance to beg for mercy, Lilia directly used her little fists to punch holes through their spaceships, making them explode in chain, until all which was left was floating scrap.
Lilia nodded satisfied with the result, she didn't even use her transcending gate for anything and only summoned it to act as a blockade, well Aster knew that she wanted to show off too.
She flashed and appeared next to Aster with a happy smile on her pretty face.
"It's done darling, we can leave now~", she said, ignoring the shock on the faces of the other girls.
'It's rare to see mom getting this lively for such a simple thing, is it because she is about to reunite with her sisters from back then?', wondered Aster, Lilia had this youthful charm around them and she seemed to be returning to her time when she roamed the four Heavenly Quadrants stirring up trouble with her sisters, it could also be a change brought by her dragon side finally taking a complete form with the separation of her secondary pair of wings.
And with that, Agnes piloted the spaceship to dive into the dimensional entering, disappearing from this place, she really meant it when she said that they would arrive quite fast to their destination.
The first half of the travel took them around six hours, plus the half hour they spent in the space port they were six and half hours into the travel, as for the second part of the travel they only needed one hour.
In exchange they did pass through a lot of turbulence, that would have destroyed their spaceship had it not been Lilia's one, even the one used by Julian would have suffered some damage according to Vivian.
But they safely reached their destination, the spaceship went through the exit of the dimensional tunnel, but just when Agnes was going to give the announcement for everyone in the spaceship to gather at the living area, she put on an expression of disgust as she saw many spaceships of large size, blocking their way, some of which had some emblems she recognized.
"Ocean Aquamarine and Mountain Amber... what are those guys doing here", she mumbled.
Outside, an authoritative voice could be heard coming from one of the largest spaceships blocking the way, alongside the spirit pressure of a half step Heavenly Realm cultivator.
"Stop, identify yourselves!", demanded the voice.
Agnes turned backwards just to see Aster arriving to the captain's cabin alongside Lilia and the others, luckily for those guys, just before Lilia started to get irritated a second voice echoed through the whole area.
"How dare you losers block the way of the members of the Myriad Occupation sect in front of me!", that second voice was accompanied by a monstrously large heavy armored spaceship with a sole figure "riding" on top of it.
The spaceship was imposing, in size it actually reached a whole two kilometers of length, the only other one what Aster has seen to be able to reach that size is Lilia's one, of course if it changed to its maximum size, it would need more energy to move, which is why Aster kept it at its minimum size, that and to take others by surprise, like those bandits, after all a three hundred meter sized spaceship was "average" in middle grade Stellar Systems.
In comparison the one riding on top of it didn't go along with such an amazing spaceship, a shirtless guy in the middle of his twenties with unkept hair and sandals, we are of course talking about William.
With a snap of his fingers, countless spirit cannons aimed at the small float of spaceships blocking Aster's way, before William casually said.
"Get lost".