Caelus took a moment, using Simple Cut a few more times, before walking over to the trees he cut, lifting them up with Mana, connecting it once more as he made it so the tree looked like it was no longer cut, turning away, he put his staff into his pocket, going into his inventory, about the direction of where the Empire was, he enhanced his legs with Mana, a single burst forward. He reached the top of the Mountain, blocking his way. Stopping at the top, he'd already reached it in five seconds. From the looks of it, the Mountain was massive because he could also see the Empire and the end of it from up here.
But he didn't stay up there for long. Sliding down his Mana helped him speed down. Continuing to move, he reached the bottom in a few seconds, finally running straight. Nothing was blocking his way. However, he noticed animals hunting each other, trees from afar he would've hit had he not been looking ahead, only shifting to the side because side-stepping would've caused him to crash into something, he'd have to slow himself down before doing that.
After about two minutes, he reached the Empire's entrance. The wind brushed against his face as he felt a lot better, at least about himself, hence showing a smile at the guards as he walked past.
"...What? A Dragon? Smiling? What does that mean!?" The Guard thought, confused, he didn't know if he had to warn, but from the smile, he didn't seem threatening or even wanting to harm, more just genuinely happy. So he didn't want to ruin the mood, especially because self-preservation mattered more to them than anything. "I'm not gonna say anything, I don't want my husband getting hurt by accident because of what I said." The Guard let out a shaky breath before calming themself.
Caelus finally reached where Tellus lived, seeing her putting herbs into the pot she had, but looking clueless as to why it was throwing out fully grown versions of them. Still confused how it was happening she took the fully grown ones and put them away, putting the pot down next to her, only to notice him, staring with a lighter Expression, waving at her, noticing he was waiting, she walked over, climbing over the fenced area, considering she lived near the entrance which was far from the Empire's Royal Castle, from what he could see.
"Looks like you reached the next Realm, Caelus? Well, congratulations..." Tellus spoke, still calm as ever, only realizing now his Cultivation was close to hers; she was at the 9th Stage of Virtuoso, about to reach Soul Formation. Seeing that he was 6 Stages Below her.
"What the hell?" Tellus spoke, bewildered by the fact that he was already catching up to her, and this quickly. She knew he was a Dragon, and that Dragons didn't really cultivate much, but growing this fast felt way too abnormal, even Arjuna, who had Reached her Realm, took a year after reaching the peak of Foundation to reach Virtuoso.
"Oh? Is it about my Realm? Yeah, I just reached it, though I got a rare pill from the Auction, which was only for Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and well, Nobles, I didn't just grow that fast." Caelus replied, though a thought appeared, "...? So there is such a thing as Hell, at least as a concept here."
[Ah, no Caelus, there isn't, it's just me translating it to the best option which makes the most sense to you, and your voice translating to their language, since well, different world and because Dragons don't know the language Humans do!]
"Almost forgot." Caelus sighed.
"Oh, that pill, didn't you know those ones usually make Tribulation a lot more powerful, but I guess you could survive because of those scales," Tellus spoke, coming to a conclusion quite quickly, though a little edge since she wanted to stay ahead of him. "I did make a new technique, I've never really done so because, well, I found the ones the Church had very comfortable, do you want to see?"
"I wouldn't mind, because we'd get to see each other fight at an equal realm, though I wonder how big a difference there is because I'm a Dragon," Caelus spoke, a little worried he might go overboard since he didn't know how to gauge his own strength to a level which was equally lower or equally higher as much as he could go.
"Wait... if Mana is Energy, then wouldn't that mean Mana is never destroyed, just dissipated?" Caelus realized.
"So that would mean it can't be created, and this Mana is recycled from older cultivators. I do want to know... No, that'll probably not be possible." Caelus didn't let the thought continue; he felt at ease with the abilities he had right now.
"Then let's get going, there's a completely different place to train for just Cultivators, not just where Royal Guard trainees are. But I'll have less time to be around because of having to protect the Princess." Tellus replied, turning towards the Pavilions. "Luckily, I've got a Teleportation Talisman made by the Literature Branch of the Royal Guards, they usually act as Servants-"
Tellus realized she shouldn't just be telling such sensitive information out loud. But before she could say anything more-
"I see, well, I'll ignore the last part, I don't think I'm supposed to know that." Caelus knew he was somewhat dense, but not stupid; he already knew that you shouldn't give away who secret agents are, especially for something as high as Royalty. "Will we throw up due to this teleportation?"
"Nope, just make sure to brace for Teleportation, I didn't know we were going to be teleported out, so that's why I didn't tell you, albeit it's rare for those to ever be cleared, because weaker ones are considerably rarer, and so are those way stronger, only those within the Soul Formation or Heavenly Realization Realm are the most common, which is also where most of the Cultivators are, at least those from other Empires." Tellus continued, losing focus on what the entire conversation was even about.
"Tellus, I think we should focus on actually training or well sparring," Caelus replied. As much as he wanted to let her continue, she might spill more secrets, and that would've been worse for her, and Sparring was more critical.
"Ah-" Tellus realized, turning a peachy red and becoming embarrassed, covering her face. She realized she'd gone rambling like she did with Minerva, though she found it weird that it was with Caelus, whom she'd only known for a few days, if not a week.
Caelus's tail swung around more quickly, as if it were happy, hitting Tellus on the leg softly as she realized she had gone off track again, which was slightly annoying for Caelus, but he could let it happen.
Tellus grabbed Caelus's hand, taking out the Talisman and pouring a bit of Mana into it, as it activated, both Caelus and Tellus braced, taking a breath as they disappeared, reappearing at a gigantic arena, it wasn't just bigger then the arena of the Arcane Path's Training Place, but instead it was almost fifteen times the size of it.
Caelus could see the end of it, but just barely; it felt sterile to him, at least kind of, due to there being no trees, no nothing for a long area, which he disliked, even as a human. It felt dumb to do that, but he didn't really have a Say in it.
"Well, we're here, also let go of my hand," Caelus spoke, seeing her still holding his hand while walking ahead slowly, noticing as she let go as quick as possible, to which he followed. Walking up, he saw tons of cultivators fighting around them, flashy attacks, bursts of light and swords flying around, punches raining from the sky and what looked like someone with a demonic being in a shadowy form behind them.
"Alright, then shall we begin?" Tellus spoke, smiling, as she stood at a considerable distance from him. Caelus quickly shifted his focus to her, nodding as he took out his staff from his pocket. Pointing it towards her. Tellus paid no mind, even if she didn't know how he did it. A single moment as Tellus shot forward a vertical slice towards Caelus, aiming to cut him. She spoke, "Heavenly Severance!" Her voice boomed
Caelus, on the other hand, stepped back, Mana forming around him, excluding his staff, which was unprotected because the Mana didn't allow that. As the slash flew out, it cut into the barrier of Mana, which already caused it to crack. As soon as it broke, Caelus responded.
"THINK FAST!" Though Caelus himself wasn't thinking in the first place, he shift to the right, opposite of the sword, and his free hand swung forward, slamming into the lower half of Tellus's chest, and yet the Attack hit before his hand touched her, sending her flying back, only for her to stop herself by having a single leg plant into the ground.
"GH-Shit!" Tellus spoke, looking towards him. He closed the distance quickly, not saying which technique he used, and was behind her almost instantly. As he was about to release his barrage of slashes, she turned, her sword getting stuck into the ground, and released a pillar of Mana upright under Caelus.
As it landed, it launched him up into the sky. As his wings flew out, he made them go back, slowing himself down. He used Mana to make himself fall faster, reaching the ground bear instantly, standing where he originally was, turning as he let out the waffle-shaped slashes towards Tellus, who only turned right then, her sword glowing for a split second and swinging up, connecting with the slash and creating a shockwave, launching the slash back.
Caelus took a second, stepping back on instinct, only for the slash to crash into him almost instantly, creating a thin gash on his body, which quickly healed. "I have to step this up... Might as well continue with my Techniques, I need enough, so others won't know everything I have."
As Tellus came closer, rushing forward at incredible speeds, going almost as fast as he would if not quicker, but even now, he could react. Her expression remained calm while he was panicked on the inside, while still expressionless on the outside.
"Disjunction."
As Caelus spoke, a gigantic wave was sent, flying directly towards Tellus, crashing into her body. Caelus took a few seconds to refine it. The wave flew forward, only to have specific areas that didn't even cover in the same direction it was moving, showing no correspondence or even consistency.
Tellus didn't know what this did, but she took advantage of the gaps, shifting to the side as she went through them, which fit her. Only then would he speak-
"Reversal: Congruence."
Just then, the wave fully formed, launching out from the area, leaving a gap right after, and, with that, the wave initially exploded, turning into a powerful attack that launched Tellus far back, sending her out of the ring. Along with that, she had severe burns, but seemed completely unaffected.
"...Oh, wait, are you okay, Tellus? I didn't mean to actually hurt you that much." Caelus spoke.
Tellus reacted without surprise; she'd expected him now to actually care. If it were earlier, she'd be distrustful, but she found him seeing her close as nice. Maybe it's because Dragons live so long that they've tried to get used to how humans live. "I'm fine, I've dealt with a lot worse." She spoke, sheathing her blade as Caelus got closer.
The burns took but a minute to completely heal, leaving no visible scars. But for Caelus, he noticed just now that Tellus had stripes on her body, or well skin, he didn't know what that was, but he paid no attention to it, only to see it along other humans as well, which only made him more bewildered. "Uh, Aphro, are humans supposed to look like that, or is it something of this world?"
[Ah, No, that's just something humans have, you can see because you know, your Eyes can see both body heat, light, and well Upper Light Bands]
"You could've just- Nevermind."