As they walked outside, Andrea couldn't help but recall Asterion's gaze. That predatory gaze filled with anticipation, almost a one-to-one copy of Yasenia's, made her laugh. "Are you happy, Aster?"
Asterion, in her arms, nodded with a big smile. "I can play with Mommy, I am happy!"
Andrea smiled. She had already raised Yasenia's daughter, so she knew that they were all battle addicts. Even Aurelia, Angel's calm and collected daughter, became animated and focused when sparring.
Still, even when they gave birth to those babies, they still took a few years before starting the fighting practice. Not many, just one or two, but it didn't happen right after birth.
'Also, weren't Dragon children quite weak after birth?'
In exchange for their potential, a dragon's child was usually weak and vulnerable. If a human picked a baby dragon, they would hit a jackpot because that baby dragon would probably become dependent on that person.
Kaleina was the best example. Yasenia's eldest daughter, who was not really her blood, became attached to Yasenia to the point that, even if she could not remember her real parents, Kaleina was most likely to choose to side with Yasenia rather than them.
Of course, there was no real reason for Kaleina's biological parents and Yasenia to meet, but it showed that baby dragons were easily influenced by their environment.
Yasenia and the others arrived at the empty training grounds, curious as to how Asterion, who was recently born, would fight.
"Alright, baby. Come at Mommy with all your strength."
Andrea placed him down and took a step back. After she did so, Asterion glanced at his chubby limbs and opened and closed his hands. He then subconsciously bounced a little, as if he was getting accustomed to his body.
The rather long and thick dragon tail behind him was perfect to balance his body, and as he moved, Asterion got a faint hang of it.
Unlike Yasenia, who was born without dragon knowledge, Asterion's brain was full of fuzzy experiences of his Ancestor and Mother. Therefore, he could, by pure instinct, understand how to control his immature muscles.
Yasenia didn't rush him and just waited with a smile. After about five minutes of Asterion moving around, he raised his golden slit eyes and smiled. "Mommy, here I come!"
Then, Asterion raised his right leg and leaned forward slightly. The raised foot stomped down.
The earth around his stomping point trembled, and the immature muscles of his legs tensed. His leaning forward, balanced by the tail's weight, supported all his weight as his toes pushed together with the stretching of his legs.
Then Feixue, the only Mortal Cultivator in the group, who had been looking curiously, saw Asterion quite literally disappear.
BOOM!
The sound she heard, loud enough to be confused with a bomb exploding, came from Yasenia's location. Turning to look quickly, Feixue was horrified to see Asterion's fist caught by Yasenia's palm.
Yasenia, smiling faintly, spoke. "Not a bad lunge. Still, your posture leaves too much to be desired."
The girls listening felt their lips twitch. 'Love, have you forgotten that he was quite literally born yesterday?'
Asterion, though, didn't mind those words and kicked the air, flipping forward and bringing down his tail like a guillotine. Yasenia, with a relaxed smile, moved to the side.
Brought forward by his own momentum, Asterion made a surprised sound. "A-Ah!"
Yasenia hugged him from behind before he face-planted against the ground and laughed, kissing his cheek. "Silly boy, focus on basics for now."
Asterion pouted. "I thought I could take Mommy by surprise."
Yasenia pecked his pouting lips with a laugh. "You almost did. Come on, now focus on punches and kicks. If you think you can use your tail, do so."
"Alright!"
So, Yasenia matched his strength, and a second later, both of them began flashing around the training grounds. Yasenia sometimes retaliated, giving his body some gentle pats that sent the boy flying.
Asterion, a Sixth Realm creature, didn't feel any pain from those strikes. Only his body was thrown back without injuries.
Luan Feixue watched closely and heard Tatyana speak. "Frustrated?"
Feixue jumped a little, but a second later, she smiled a touch bitterly. "A recently born boy is able to kill me in one punch… I am indeed a little frustrated."
Tatyana looked at her with a smile. "I can tell you something, though. You will probably reach Transcendence and develop an Intent Domain faster than him."
"..." Feixue didn't answer, but the skepticism was so clear on her face that it made Tatyana laugh.
Tatyana commented. "As we've said before, Aster is strong, and he will be. However, there are some bottlenecks that he will need to break before he truly soars. Of course, once he does, his talent will be absurd."
Feixue hummed. "So… Grandmaster believes that Little Aster won't be able to develop those things before I do?"
Tatyana shrugged. "It is probable, unless he has some kind of enlightenment. If things flow naturally, Asterion should take around 300 to 400 years to understand his first Intent Domain and also reach Level 2 in his paths."
Feixue sighed. "So, it won't happen."
Tatyana blinked. "What do you mean?"
Feixue looked at Tatyana with a pout. "Master's first direct child not having a single enlightenment in 300 years? Grandmaster, are you trying to mock me, thinking I am innocent and naive?"
Tatyana couldn't help but become silent, turning her gaze back to the boy and his mother sparring. "...I guess, you might be right?"
Enlightenment was usually an event so rare that a cultivator might go their entire life without having it even once. However, what about Yasenia? She had so many that Tatyana preferred not to count them.
'I recall that she even had an enlightenment about blacksmithing back when Andrea taught her…'
So, after a few minutes, Yasenia caught Aster in her arms and kissed his sweating forehead. "Alright, Aster. Let's stop here. You did very well today."
One thing was sparring, another was overexerting his body. As a recently born dragon, he still had underdeveloped muscles, organs, and bones. So, the recoil from his own strength was strong enough to damage his own body.
Asterion, breathing roughly, felt a dull ache in his joints. It was not noticeable, and his pumping heart from his first battle kept him from even noticing the ache.
Yasenia, of course, had noticed through his unconscious reaction. That last punch, Asterion momentarily flinched when Yasenia blocked it. So, she instantly knew that Asterion was faintly hurt, stopping right away.
Asterion spoke with ragged breaths and shining eyes. "T-That was so fun!"
Yasenia laughed and smooched his cheek loudly. "I am glad. Come, love. Let's bathe together again and have another meal, alright?"
Asterion nodded happily, hugging Yasenia tightly. The girls naturally moved together, and Andrea approached with a smile. "How was it, love? Did you have fun?"
Asterion smiled widely while soaking in the water. "I had so much fun! Moving and whooshing here and there. Then, bang! Mommy blocked my punch."
Hearing the boy babble away, Angel leaned against Yasenia's side. "Little Aster, I will build you a training formation in the future."
Asterion smiled widely. "Thank you, Aunty!"
Angel pouted. "Not aunty. I am Mama Angel."
Asterion blinked, looking up at Yasenia. Yasenia smiled and nodded. "That's right. She is Mama Angel, and those over there are Mama Kali, Mama Tatyana, and Mama Cecile. There is also Mama Soluna, but she is currently resting. They are all Mommy's mates."
Asterion nodded. 'So… having many mates is what the strong do?'
He tilted his head, a bit confused. Still, Yasenia would teach him properly in the future, so momentary confusion was not a problem. Remember, today was his second day of life.
"Alright, love. I'll feed you, and tomorrow, we will check your constitution. So, relax your body and close your eyes, baby."
Asterion latched onto Yasenia's breast, suckling and closing his eyes. His heart calmed down, and his muscles relaxed together with the medicinal bath's healing effects. It took him no longer than a minute to fall asleep.
Looking at the precious sleeping boy, with his tail coiled around Yasenia's arm, Kali smiled. "You didn't feed him much."
Yasenia nodded, her fingers passing through his wet, dark hair. "He needs to rest a bit. The few gulps he took are enough for this nap. He will feel hungry in about two hours, and I will feed him then."
Cecile looked at Yasenia with curiosity. "How do you know so much?"
It was a bit odd. Yasenia was acting as if she were an incredibly experienced mother, even though it was her first time giving birth. So, Cecile was curious. The experience with their daughters didn't really translate to Asterion.
Yasenia answered with a smile. "Instinct, I guess. I just… know how to take care of him. I am thinking about it constantly, and some thoughts feel correct, and others feel wrong. For now, since I am new to being the mother side and not the father side of parenting, I am trusting these feelings."
The girls nodded, convinced. And, as she said, Asterion woke up groggily around two hours later, cradled in Yasenia's arms while sitting on the couch. Yasenia lowered her dress, and Asterion's nose twitched. He moved with groggy eyes and ate his fill this time around.
Once he did, he fell asleep again with a trickle of milk spilling at the side. Yasenia used a handkerchief to clean him while laughing.
"By the way," Evelyn spoke as she saw Angel and Tatyana set up the formation. "Does he need to relieve himself?"
Yasenia tilted her head. "I wonder. Probably not, as his body is really good at processing nutrients. Everything should be absorbed… though I am not really sure."
After the Unification Realm, a cultivator basically stops having mortal needs due to their strong ability to absorb energy. Women also become easily able to control their monthly cycle, and going to the toilet becomes secondary unless you eat non-spiritual food.
As for Asterion… Yasenia was unsure. 'My milk gets absorbed in the stomach entirely, so I guess it won't happen unless he eats something wrong?'
It was the next day that the formation was completed, and Asterion woke up. The boy glanced at the large roulette with basic elements, rare elements, and extremely rare elements on it. Of course, while those were the main things on the roulette, if the formation detected another exotic element, it would show it.
So, Asterion walked toward the center of the roulette, and the world began to change alongside celestial phenomena.
In the sky, a gorgeous Sun manifested in the very middle. Around this Sun, starlight densely covered the sky.
Strangely, right below the massive Sun, a faint trace of a Moon appeared. But it was hard to even call it a phantom, leaving the girls confused.
Having Sun, Moon, and Star elements was not easy. Of course, the incredibly faint Moon phantom didn't really mean that Asterion's affinity with Moon energy was strong.
After all, in the phenomenon, the Sun covered half of the sky, while the Moon was smaller than even the Moon in the normal night sky.
Once the events ended, the celestial phantoms in the sky diluted and transformed into a beautiful cosmos.
Lights appeared that spoke of Asterion's element.
Exotic Element: Cosmic Element. He who can use part of the Unique ancestral inheritance.
Exotic Constitution: [Body Of The Cosmos]
Bloodline: Empyrean Cosmos Dragon.
Yasenia blinked a few times, quite bewildered. "Cosmic Element…? What is that?"
Tatyana's lips twitched, and she glanced at Mirrory. "...Do you know?"
Hearing that question, the girls were left stunned. Mirrory answered with a complicated expression. "That's… like a diluted version of the Celestial Element."