Chapter 258: Entering The Heavenly Empress Inner Realm

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Inside a cable- and screen-riddled room underground, countless machines moved from place to place, rearranging cables, connecting screens, and repairing or upgrading all kinds of batteries, cores, and other mechanical technology spread through this large underground palace of metal.

Within its very center, there was a gigantic spire made of silver metal, connected to thousands of cables across the entire hall. A single red “eye” glowed through its cylindrical form; it glanced, processed, and analyzed all the information it was gaining.

All the information it was gaining from her, through her very eyes.

“…”

All the emotions, all the doubt, all the guilt, and also all the happiness, the sensations of being alive—everything. They were slowly assimilating all of that and learning from it, improving, and growing.

Something they had not done in many years since their invasion, something they needed to fully understand the world they’ve been stranded on and its last inhabitants.

With cold, neon-red eyes, it glanced silently without saying a word.

However, aside from their mechanical servants, they weren’t alone either. A powerful presence was ever-present within its own endless, mechanical body.

A powerful presence whose origins weren’t exactly of their original world

Something that came from the stars.

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(Anna’s POV)

Once we entered the Heavenly Empress Inner Realm, we were greeted with a much more beautiful and plant-covered land than with the Heavenly Demon’s Inner Realm. The skies were blue with white clouds too, and there was a bright yellow sun, very similar to back home, actually.

There were green mountains and a relaxing, cold wind. Many rivers covered these mountains, interconnecting on large lakes surrounded by even more greenery. There was a small town here too, with a second golden palace.

Apparently, the Heavenly Empress did keep some people here; there were at least a few hundred. I don’t know their origins, but they are either related to her servants or perhaps something else entirely.

Maybe the families of the Immortals she has been taking care of? The last ever Immortals to have survived. I had retrieved for her that one grass she needed to synthesize a healing pill for their weakened states, I wonder if that ever worked or was solved?

“Welcome to my Inner Realm, everyone. As you can see, it is slightly similar to the outside world,” the heavenly empress said. “There’s also a second golden palace here and a small village. The people down there are mostly the families of my sect’s members. Which I take care of while they are resting and recovering.”

“Wait, by sect members… You mean the Immortals?” I wondered.

“Indeed, Anna, thanks to you retrieving the necessary ingredient three days ago, I was able to successfully synthesize the pill and feed it to them,” nodded the heavenly empress. “Their broken meridians and damaged spiritual bodies have begun to regenerate, and now they’re resting to slowly recover better.”

“Well! I’m glad to hear that; it makes me happy I was of some help. I can’t wait for them to wake up. I wonder what type of people your close allies were, master,” I said.

“I have been wondering the same thing,” Wai Tian nodded.

“They were good people, good warriors, people that fought for righteousness and hope. Powerful and prideful members of the Heavenly Court,” said the Heavenly Empress. “And the very last survivors of the Last Battle against the invaders.”

“What happened to the rest?” wondered Zero One.

“Well, isn’t that easy to guess?” sighed the Heavenly Empress. “…They’re all dead. Everyone, there were once thousands of them, but they’re gone.”

“O-Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask that question out of disrespect,” sighed Zero One. “M-Maybe I wasn’t paying attention; I was confused…”

“It’s fine,” the heavenly empress smiled. “You’re here to learn after all, and I will teach you. Tomorrow classes will begin; Anna will be taught by me personally; the rest… I shall assign special trainings for everyone.”

“Wait, everyone? Even Fang Shuan and Ying Shen?” I asked.

“Yes, Zero One as well as your Familiars,” nodded the Heavenly Empress.

“Wait, little Violet, Snow, and Shiro are also cultivating?” I wondered. “But they aren’t smart enough to comprehend techniques… They’re managing to grow their Ki Stat through constant practice and by imbuing it into their bodies, but...”

“They obey you, right?” she asked.

“Yes, they do.” I nodded.

“Then it is possible to teach them one thing or two,” the heavenly empress said. “Although the Heavenly Demon is a loner, I am someone quite fond of beasts and creatures. One of my secondary abilities was Beast Taming, and I tamed all kinds of creatures to help my sect fight against our many foes. The Dao of Beast Taming is a complicated one, but its techniques could be of some use for someone already very well versed in them. There are special techniques called Beast Techniques, which even Familiars can be imprinted with, learn, and master.”

“I-I had no idea…” I muttered.

To think she was a Beast Tamer too! Is there something my master isn’t? She’s already cooler than the Heavenly Demon.

“For now, be at ease; I shall show you your rooms,” she smiled.

She was very gentle and welcoming, and very warm. It was a total change from the Heavenly Demon. I suppose I shouldn’t even compare them; they were completely different people.

But apparently they had some kind of affair? Was that what she had been implying?

I can’t believe it, to be honest, but that weird dream I had might also be related to that…

After she showed us our rooms and everything, I also decided to show her a few things, first of all, the two Primordial Martial Beasts, the Yin and Yang ones.

The Ying resembled a wolf made of dark purple and black crystals, and the Yang beast resembled a large lion made of yellow and gold crystals.

These two creatures were born from the rewards I obtained from quests, specifically from the [Primordial Martial Beast Heart Fragment (??? Rank)] items.

I decided to be open with my master about their origins and explain her anything she needed to know. As she analyzed their structure and powers, she couldn’t help but gasp in surprise and awe.

“A-Anna, this is simply incredible; how was it even possible for you to get your hands on such beings? A Quest, you said?” she wondered.

“Yes, it is part of my System abilities that I explained to you before. They’re also related to the Sponsorship I gave to you and my many Skills,” I was open with her because I knew she was someone I could trust.

“I see,” she nodded. “I suppose people from another world do have their unique powers, indeed. But do you realize what these beings truly are?”

“I… kind of know a bit; I had a dream of sorts,” I explained as we had dinner with everyone else. I didn’t mind talking about these things with everyone, not even Zero One. “When the first one, the Beast of Yang, had been born, I remember they slept over my body, and I had that weird dream.”

“What sort of dream?” asked the empress.

“It was… Like I saw the creation of this world,” I answered. “I saw everything come together, and the Yin and Yang were there, the Primordial Beasts themselves forming the heaven and earth and unifying them to create the world of Bestia.”

“Really?” wondered Wai Tian. “It must have been an incredible experience!”

“More like scary….” I sighed.

“That dream you had was most likely a message of sorts from them,” the empress said, looking at both creatures sitting by my side. “Our world, as you may know, has gone through great cataclism. Even though we won, we lost too much of everything. The world as it is is slowly beginning to fall apart and decay. The balance that the Heavenly Dao brought to us has been shattered, and it is not returning even after everything. The Primordial Beasts were beings that created our world, born from the Heavenly Dao itself. But on their fight, their very lives also vanished.”

“And now, do you think that…?” I wondered.

“Perhaps your Quest is somewhat connected to this world’s balance, maybe with the Heavenly Dao. These two creatures, even if very young right now, might be one of our last hopes to restore the balance of our world,” the empress sighed. “I knew your purpose here was much grander than just defeating the machines. Anna, you’re perhaps our savior already. These two beasts, if nurtured well, could restore our world to how it used to be!”

“R-Really?! That good?” I wondered, gasping. “No way…”

“Is that really possible?” Wai Tian asked.

“Incredible! Ying Shen said.

“To be expected of young lady Anna,” Fang Shuan nodded.

“I’m so happy! Thank you, Anna!” Zero One clapped, smiling cutely.

“Wait, it can’t be that easy, right?” I tried to calm them down. “Master?”

“Well… Indeed, it is not too easy,” the heavenly empress nodded. “It would approximately take them a few thousands of years to mature enough, but it is within an approachable time frame.”

“Approachable?! That’s too much…” I almost hit my head into the table.

“Well, it could be greatly shortened if enough compatible materials and energies are fed to them,” she commented. “Inside of my Inner Realm, there are many places where they could enjoy some decent growth, so we can leave them there. However, to truly help them grow, we would need to feed them fragments of Crystalized Yang Essence, and Crystalized Ying Essence, both of such things cannot be easily harvested. And even in my Inner Realm, there’s only a few.”

“Where can we find these crystals?” wondered Wai Tian. “Is it possible to mine them?”

“Maybe… You see, in the center of the continent of Pangea, there used to be a gigantic mountain named the Bridge Between Heaven and Earth. It was such an enormous mountain that it reached the nine heavens and created a connection with Earth. It was in this mountain and its depths that these crystals could be properly mined at a rapid pace. It was part of the Heavenly Court’s territory. I do remember that annoying crow trying to always mine in there, and me always coming to scold him and stop him…”

The heavenly empress smiled and laughed a bit after recalling her past a bit.

Huh, that’s a bit suspicious; she remembers him more fondly than I thought…

“So that’s it!” said Ying Shen. “Perhaps we could go to Pangea and mine them?”

“Yeah!” nodded Zero One. “I want to help too! I think I could equip myself with powerful mining tools if you need help.”

“I suppose you two aren’t completely aware of what happened on the only continent of this world…” sighed Wai Tian. “Pangea has been sunk into the sea long ago; the mountain was probably also sunk.”

“Indeed, right now, if it hasn’t been destroyed already, that mountain must be right below their Mechanical Tree, the largest of them all. I fear the machines are extracting all those precious resources that could help us restore balance in our world…” The heavenly empress directed her gaze at Zero One. “Zero One, do you think you could ask them what they’re doing there?”

“Bttzzz… Can’t!” Zero One gave a weird sound. “I think something is interrupting my connection with the Data Bank—woah, this feels weird. I do have mostly all the essentials, but… this feels weird to not be connected. I’m offline…”

“Hmm, it must be because you’re inside my Inner Realm…” the Heavenly Empress sighed. “Well, this shouldn’t stop us.”

She waved her hand, creating a golden portal and walking outside with her.

Then, a bit afterwards, they came back.

“I’m so sorry. but they don’t seem to want to disclose any personal information. Mother is not responding,” sighed Zero One.

“I suppose it is fair they don’t trust us yet, as much as we can’t trust them yet,” the Heavenly Empress sighed. “So be it. You’re the bridge between the two of our factions, Zero One. But I just hope you can be enough to convince your “mother” that we might be willing to cooperate, perhaps.”

“I… I’ll try!” nodded Zero One. “Mother is stubborn, but there’s a reason why I was made to begin with!”

It seemed that her relationship with her “Mother” wasn’t as good as I thought.

She doesn’t easily listen to Zero One, and she doesn’t want to compromise either…

So what is her true goal with all of this?

Are all machines still our foes or allies?

Could…

Could Zero One have unintentionally created a separate faction from the machines now that I think about it?

Too many things to think about, ugh.

I need to go take a nap, honestly.

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