As the army marched forward, their core defenses were this powerful, not what was used normally in defense, but since the rift was this powerful, they had to come out, noticing a large hill. Caelus flew over, landing and then sat, his wings retracting. Only then, next to him, stood a lady watching with a smile, in more modern clothing.
"Who might you be? A Dragon? Cool!" The lady spoke with an accent different from here, so she wasn't from the Empire Tellus was from; maybe the Marou Dynasty. But he wasn't sure, noticing something floating around her, like a spine with a head at the end, connected, though dry. "Well, looks like you're wearing the clothing that the Traditional Empire wears; they still haven't changed."
"This is simply the first set of clothing I got, so I haven't changed from it," Caelus replied. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh! I'm just watching. I could get involved, but the Emperor told me not to interfere with another Empire's army. They're doing well, though."
"I haven't seen an Army ever, so this is my first. But I'll take your word for it right now." Caelus replied that he could trust it, even when he didn't know why. "Though I'm watching because my friend just reached Soul Formation while fighting, so she might be teleported there while they're fighting."
"Oh, well, I guess I could help with that, I just reached the second last realm after all, no one has done that other than me!" She spoke, clearly proud of herself.
"...I mean, nice, I guess, you're very powerful, that's all I can say? I don't know why you expect me to care more when I'm new to this entire Cultivation thing," Caelus replied, almost bored. He knew she was strong, at least from the fact that her Mana was infinitely more dense than his. "What's your name, by the way?"
"Oh, the name is Nyx, and you? I assume it must be something cool like-" Nyx continued speaking, still enthusiastic. Smiling like a madwoman.
"It's Caelus, nothing too much. Also, stop smiling like that, it's weird." He replied to Nyx, not wanting her to keep talking, since he had no interest in speaking much. Being introverted only amplified his Solitary nature as a Dragon.
Caelus didn't continue talking; he was out of energy and, frankly, didn't want to... Unless it was Tellus. Caelus took a second as he continued watching the army clear the undead, moving efficiently as even those at Virtuoso took down those higher in realms than them, as if they were made stronger by one of the people there. Only then did he notice that some of those in the resonant path, standing on the sides, holding whatever instruments they used, from flutes to guitars to even drums, of course, they weren't as loud, but he could feel that he was more powerful just being in range of them.
A soothing melody, almost, which had already made him for a minute forget he was waiting for Tellus, only to remember why, a little annoyed by that, he tried distracting himself, thinking about how she was doing. Maybe she was having it easier, or it was extremely violent because he was there when she went, and that's why it was taking so long.
[Soul Mirror]
Meanwhile, for Tellus.
"Haaah..." A short breath, holding her blade covered in blood, her body practically unrecognizable, even her face looked disfigured from the wounds, they were mostly just superficial if she survived.
Her mirror, on the other hand, stood almost completely still. Its arms and chest were cut off, on the ground, just barely even a husk, where there would be lungs, there were none, yet it was completely blacked out like a Void.
"Tellus. Are you willing to accept the fact that the ones you believe in are wrong? That they have lied about an entire species, if they lied about one, and made up facts that were never true in the first place. Would you still believe in the people who are prejudiced against your friend? Come on. And where's your competitive spirit? Have you lost that against him? You resent him, that's why you still believe-"
"Maybe I still believe in a God, but just because a fire burns does not mean it is unable to be used. I just won't trust the church's leaders, but that doesn't mean I won't trust them. I may not be as talented as him, but I'm growing fast, and that doesn't mean I should hate him. Even if he forgets me, he'll pass me by faster, but that doesn't mean he'll forget what I've done and said." Tellus interrupted, replying to the Reflection, her voice no longer hesitant like at the start of this.
[You have passed the Soul Mirror]
[You have reached Soul Formation]
[Special Trait (Unlocked): Saint of Nature]
"Trait? What is-"
[Soul Mirror End]
Caelus yawned, tired now. He didn't know he had to even sleep until now, with how energized he'd been, but he guessed Dragons slept rarely, and now was one of the times, but he could hold off for right now and stay awake because he needed to wait for Tellus.
As he opened his eyes, a shining light flew down; soldiers and undead pushed back. A gigantic beam, yellow from the outside, like a hue, and white inside, almost like a banana, as Caelus thought, disappeared. Tellus stood looking incredibly tired. Caelus, looking over at Nyx, then saw her not looking at him, looking away, but still standing here.
Caelus shifted his body, transforming into his humanoid form as he launched himself forward, flying down and landing right next to her. He grabbed her legs and swiped her up, like she was a sack of potatoes. "Okay, maybe this looks kind of like Kidnapping." Caelus just realized it as he cleared his throat. "I'm taking her to Kiana." He told the closest guards, who listened and simply nodded, going ahead, jumping up. Tellus was about to protest, only for him to land, put her down, and transform back.
"You- Oh, Caelus!? Wait, was that- You or was that someone else?" Tellus replied, about to punch him, only to stop upon seeing his very evident scales and tail.
"That was me, Dragons which Cultivate have Dragon Cores, each of which is different, to go for someone's belief or what they're efficient at," Caelus replied. "It also allows me to shapeshift, kind of to take a fully human form, but only for about a day or two. I'm not telling what affinity I got... For a reason."
"It is wise not to tell, though I would like to know what the normal types are. Since there are different types of Sword Intent." Tellus replied, softly chuckling
"Sword Intent? I see, well- I can tell you since it wouldn't be of much harm, nor would telling about Uncommon types, the most normal is Fighting, and defense, and the Uncommon ones are Spatial, Musical, Literature, and Temporal." Caelus answered, moving to sit down. He moved his Mana under him to create a seat and to create one right under her, though still looking like Mana, a dense, colorless look, changing only if the user wished it to change.
"Now, could you tell me about what Sword Intent is? I already chose Literature as my other path. So you don't need to worry about me using what you know to my advantage." He spoke, deadpan now. Using his Mana to push Tellus back to sit on the chair he gave.
"Well, Oof- Hey! Warn me about that! But Sword Intent is divided into multiple levels. After you even get it, the most common types are Plant, Fire, Water, Air, Lightning, Mist, and Blood." Tellus pouted like she was a child, which Caelus found amusing. "Anyways, the uncommon is Shadow, Stone, Ice, Lava, Night-"
"Night? Like, do you grab the night sky or something to channel it?"
"No, it's misinterpreted as that easily, and it's basically moving the sky down to turn it into weaponry and cloth, it's like more manipulating space in a sense? Though it is kind of weird." Tellus answered, making sure.
"But, as for the Uncommon, there is Sound, and Emotion, Color, which I find most weird, and Plasma, for Rare there is Soul, Nature, Light, Darkness, and Force."
"And there's the Heaven rank, which is Earth and Time... I- Have Earth." She spoke, her voice a little hesitant.
"I see, well, it is good you've gotten something rare, I still do want to know how Sword Intent even works," Caelus replied, his voice calm as his Draconic aura, which reached further; instead of being five meters, it was 50 meters, in a circular area around him. He could feel everything happening within it. Including her hesitance, to which his aura, in a sense, gave a form of boost in morale towards her, causing the hesitance to seep out. Though Caelus didn't know that.
"Ah- Well, Sword Intent goes from Novice, Intermediate, Trained, Mortal, Immortal, Pseudo Sage, Sage, there are higher but unknown." Tellus took a breath, talking extremely fast and needing to catch her breath.
"It's only reachable when you can make it so the world around you uses the Mana instead of yourself. Meaning you don't lose any. I am at the Mortal Stage, which is incredibly high for a Royal Guard Trainee who just became a Royal Guard; they are at Trained. Master Kiana is at the Pseudo-Sage Level." Tellus continued, getting immersed and becoming talkative.
"Usually, at the Immortal Stage is when you get a Sword Domain, which manifests what Intent you even get." She continued.
Caelus listened, nodding. "I see, then good job on reaching that far-"
[Update - New Information on Pills, Chances, Harmony of Herbs and Rarity of Items, Pills, Artifacts, and Talent in Pavilion, check if you wish to learn more.]
Caelus pushed off what Aphro said for later. Seeing the army start to head back, he got up, removed the Mana from where he said, absorbed it again, as Tellus got up, and he absorbed the rest.
Noticing Tellus felt more refreshed now, he tilted his head. "Weird, she feels a lot different, now that I think about it, her physical body is way stronger than even a trained soldier would be, even if she didn't have Mana."
[That's because humans haven't become too overreliant on superficial needs like sodas, like someone here used too, but luckily since your in a different body all the damage is basically undone, but for her, she's at the peak of human physicality, in general, other than being genetically built better, you know, like that guy who runs fast, can't be passed.]
[Basically, she hasn't gotten the damage your modern times have. >:)]
"...Rude, but I guess that's true, it's just more convenient. Either way, just don't say it like that." Caelus was looking to the side, almost like he was daydreaming, at least to Tellus. She moved her hand slowly and grabbed his cheek to feel how soft it was, since she hadn't actually made any physical contact.
Feeling his skin, it was soft, but she could tell it could withstand a lot more than it looked like it could. Moving her hand, she looked at the scales, about to touch them, only for Caelus to grab her hand softly.
"Ep-"
"...? What were you even doing?" Caelus questioned, not even weirded out, just confused why she was doing that.
"Oh, well, no one's really touched a Dragon's humanoid form's skin, so I wanted to feel it. I'm sorry, I was curious-" Tellus replied, about to continue her sentence.
"Then it's fine, curiosity isn't a bad thing, just tell me beforehand what you want to do. And we can start by asking what it'll even do." Caelus continued. "Also, just a heads up, do not touch my blood, it will hurt you. Poisonous is why."
He didn't know if it was Poisonous or venomous, as the correct word, but he couldn't care much right now.