"So, you agree?" Pef asked with a bit worry. What if she said no?

'She will say yes.' the glove commented with a know-it-all voice.

"I do"

"Excellent. I'm also curious what my cultivation would do for you. Make you a lot stronger, but how much more?" Pef wondered in a low tone.

"I'll miss my people though. My brother the most."

"Really? You never went for a vacation or hidden away with a lover?"

Nellie blushed and hid her eyes. "A few times. But that was only for some weeks! And Ceres was furious when I returned."

"Entitled brat. He should be glad you did return." Pef muttered with a grimace.

"If you had siblings, you'd know it's not that simple. I'd feel the same if he left me." Nellie replied in a sad voice.

"I...I do. I have some back home. Half-siblings by the grace of my father. Not that friendly though."

"Oh! Your father, is he a Tier 4 like mine?"

Pef snorted at the thought. "No. He had just reached Tyrant rank by the time I left."

"Whoa, your talent might not be genetic." she realized with a frown.

Pef rushed to divert the ugly thoughts from his future wife's mind. "However, he had been a Tier 7 before he died. Gold aura and all. In time, he will Ascend back."

Nellie's eyes glinted with something like lust. "Two of your wives have golden auras. And even your father...perhaps you do have good genes. Hmmm. Our vestal has golden aura too. It would make sense, why she's so capable."

Pef didn't need his glove to prompt him. Duty was clear. "You have someone like that? And what's a vestal?"

"She's...a holy virgin. Her mind and body must be pure, to extract and handle new mind stones. They are very fragile as they form." the elf goddess explained with a far-away look.

"I think I should meet her. There's a delicate problem I need her help with." Pef mused thoughtfully.

"The demon cores." Nellie concluded instantly.

"...mhm..." he muttered ambivalently. The cores as well. But more importantly.

"Okay. We should go now, before it gets dark at her place." Nellie replied with a glance at the rising sun.

She took off running like the wind towards the east. Pef sighed and grabbed her mid-step, then blinked up.

Another blink, and they arrived in orbit above another continent, fully covered in bluish mists.

'Here?' Pef sent with a mind pulse.

"Put me down! I don't like heights!' she yelled in his mind, straining his shields to maximum.

Another blink, and they arrived on a river, the only part of the forest not blocking his blink ability.

"You can walk on water?" Nellie observed with surprise, as she held on him to avoid sinking.

Pef sighed and willed the river to form flat and solid steps. "Even children can walk on water. I was 14 when I learned." he said with a soft sigh.

Nellie stepped hesitantly on the water steps, then stomped with full force. The water shield cracked, then reformed. "You could use this as armor. It's quite durable."

"Indeed I can. Did that at 15. It's a bit harder if there's no water source around, but only a bit. At Tyrant rank I already formed my water Domain. Your people do not use elemental spirits?"

"Not like you do. We could, if one took time to imbue some water with their magic, then one could shape that water. ." she replied after some thought.

Pef nodded. Obviously, the method was different. Weaker, but much more versatile. You could imbue any element with magic, and gain some control over any of them.

"So, the vestal?" he asked instead.

"Follow me. On foot!" she demanded as she took off running.

A minute later, they left the river and reached a cloudy barrier. Nellie sang a few words, and an arc formed.

They entered the vestal's glade together, Nellie a bit reverent while Pef was just strolling and gazing around.

Streams of nearly solid magic flew up from the ground, then spun like a cyclone around a large pit of stone, before sinking back underground.

And at the edge of the pit, the vestal sat on a stone disc, fingers blurring as she was crafting something with magic. Pef took in her aura and looks. Platinum hair, like most elves, but with bluish electric-like highlights. Skin of pale white could be seen at her nape, while thick white clothes covered her body.

"Is she cold? Those clothes..."

"Cold and insulation. Go try the pit." Nellie answered with a smile.

Pef stepped forward, entering the pit for a meter. It was very cold, like on the sunny side of the moon. Not that it would affect him, but for a mere Saint rank like the vestal, it would be tiresome after some time.

A stream of mana passed just around him, chilling the air even more.

'Condensate. The fifth state of matter. That's what she uses to stabilize raw mana into mind stones.' he realized with a start.

'Conductivity is the key. You should learn this, Soldier. It's a Tier 4 ability with many applications.' the glove advised him at once.

Pef took a seat in mid-air, focusing to observe the delicate manipulations by the vestal. In about an hour, he managed to copy the process, and condensed his first mind stone.

Then he blinked away, presenting Nellie with a gift. "Made something for you, my princess."

She took the stone and tapped it to her forehead, inspecting it for flaws or damage. "It's good enough. A third ranked mind stone in one hour. Holy Vela needs about a day to make one, but she makes mostly first grade stones."

"Hey! Took me an hour to learn the bloody method. Wait a few minutes." Pef threw back, then returned to the pit. A small mound of stones began forming in his hand, and then got stored in the glove.

Some five minutes later, he stepped back and disgorged a meter-high pile of low value stones. A few of them were even glowing, very slightly.

Nellie picked up one of the glowing ones and tested it for flaws. "Second degree mind stone! And not even damaged." She then measured Pef with a somewhat bewildered face.

"Should I keep trying? Maybe a few better ones will appear." Pef asked curious.

"Is this really that easy?" Nellie asked in awe.

"Well, it is a little tiring. But I could do it for say...five hours." he mused while monitoring his qi depletion.

"With your speed, I think one hour would be enough. A vestal needs many years to be able to craft second degree stones."

Pef shrugged and stepped back in. One hour would use at most 20% of his qi. Not that big of a deal. And he was advancing his Water Dao quite rapidly with this method.

And so he did, rapidly condensing stones in his palm and storing them away. Some 30 minutes later, the first bright stone appeared. And by the end of the session, he had four. Plus a small hill of lesser stones.

Nellie blinked a bit at the size of the mound, then stared at the fistful of mind stones in Pef's hand, all four glowing brightly.

"I did good, right? Do I get four kisses for these?" Pef asked innocently, while handing over the stones.

Nellie sobbed and cried a bit, holding the stones tight to her chest.

"I'll go make some more then. But I want at least ten kisses!" Pef announced as he returned to the mana pit.

Some two hours later, the mana stopped flowing, forcing Pef to stop.

"Why did it stop? Well gone dry or something?" he asked confused.

"Sun has set. Mi'ridolor has gone to sleep." another voice answered instead.

Pef turned around, his gaze drawn to the pale vestal's face. She wasn't actually pretty, being gaunt and tired, but her face had something dignified that stole his eyes.

"Hello, I'm Pef, Pef Xi. I own this planet now." he introduced himself with a small bow.

"You made Nellie cry." the vestal replied sternly, walking past him like he was some kind of scoundrel. Or maybe a scumbag.

Pef scratched his cheek in confusion. He'd work so hard to make Nellie happy!

He decided to ignore the tired vestal and return by Nellie's side. She was sitting on the ground, and indeed crying.

"Hey, love. What's wrong? You heard the lady, it's not my fault the mana dried up. It was the sun!" he explained in a panicked voice.

"Shut up, idiot. How many stones?"

Pef poured some thirty stones in her lap. "Thirty one. But it's the sun's fault!"

"We'll come back at sunrise. I'll go wake my father." she replied with a head shake, collecting the stones and pouring them into a purse.

Pef took her hand and placed a gold storage ring on her finger. Then gently wiped a tear and bound the ring to her. "Storage ring. So you don't lose things while running."

Nellie tested her new ring in a daze, then stored her purse and a wooden wand inside. Then with a flick, the wand appeared in her hand. "More wonders. A treasure, for simple convenience."

"Storage rings are easy. I'll make a few hundred if you want to gift them to your friends or such." he answered with a shrug.

"Vela, I'll leave Pef in your care till tomorrow. As you can see, that hill of stones took him a couple of hours."

"Err. You have enough room in there. Take the hill with you."

Nellie wiped her tears and began filling up her ring. "Why not? A mountain of mind stones should please father even more." Then she ran away, chasing after the sun.

Pef turned towards the vestal. "Vela, you have a place here?"

"Why?" she asked in a flat tone.

"I'll cook some food for us. You look quite famished." he replied with a shrug.

"You really are an idiot. However, since Nellie asked... I hope you can offer me food without meat. As a vestal, I must stay pure." the woman spoke while walking towards a tall tree.

Pef blinked and trudged along, too tired to argue.

He did have the Legion maize and the mana fruits, as well as tea and wine and some few oranges.

Should be fine.

The tree bark drew apart as the vestal touched it, letting them inside. The treehouse was simple and rugged, a small low table, and a flat blanket in a corner. A hanger with a green robe and another white coat made for heavy winter. That was it.

Pef had lived in a cabin in the woods as a young boy, but this place was ten times worse. Not even a stove.

"Are you a criminal of sorts? Or maybe a prisoner? Contagious with some disease?" Pef muttered as he took out his utensils and started boiling maize and slicing fruits.

"Because I live in a tree?" the vestal asked looking around her treehouse.

"I rescued some slaves a week ago. They had cells looking much like yours. The demons made them dig immortal jade for them. And they were not paid." Pef explained while serving the food with practiced moves.

Vela ate slowly, recovering bit by bit as the maize and fruits nourished her.

"The slaves, did they eat meat?" she asked softly.

"Of course not. Meat is expensive. They ate hard bread and water. Sometimes walnuts or such, if they did good."

"Not even tea?" Vela wondered while sipping her tea with some wonder.

"Maybe. Some leaves could be thrown in water, I guess. Anyway. The monthly production of jade was valuable. In fact, I bought this planet with a month's worth of that jade."

"You robbed the demons. And then bought Mi'ridolor using the stolen jade?" Vela wondered with a small smile.

"Exactly. I own this place now. So, tell me, what changes do you want, and how much should I pay you?" Pef asked with a curious tone.

"I'll think about this. Now let me sleep, I have to work tomorrow." Vela said while swaying slightly.

Pef caught her and sighed. With a gentle pull, he took Vela inside his inner world and placed her in the beach house then tucked her in his own bed. The avatar then returned to stare at the sea, meditating and recovering the lost qi.

'What do you think?' Pef asked the glove.

'She is being kept confined, isolated, and denied Ascension through starvation and constant cold. The stones are worth as much as Immortal Jade if not more. And now, she knows it.'

'I think they both use the same things for the same purpose. Magic. Ascension. Just like I had the idea to use demons to mine, the elves use these vestals.' Pef muttered with a sad tone.

'People do horrible things. To enemies and to each other. Don't throw rocks, since you've leveled plenty towns already.' the glove admonished him sternly.

'I remember. I'm just sad. The elves seemed better. Generous. Self-less.'

'It probably was at first. Their first vestal probably chose this job. Then, the elves just didn't tell the next vestal. Why risk her saying no.'

'I'm keeping her. And neither god nor demon shall stand in my way.' Pef proclaimed with a determined voice.

The glove sighed inward and didn't answer. No need to. A single Tier 7 recovered was worth more than a planet, or a galaxy or even an entire universe.

Not Arden though, with his dubious allegiance to some foreign Dominion. If the Gaia gambit paid off, great. If not, nothing was lost.

But this woman, Vela. She was of the Legion. Leaving a Captain behind was unthinkable. Even Pef had felt it, with his pathetic senses. He had sensed the connection, the alignment. Not quite consciously, but that would change.

The status window the glove had crafted changed again, pointing to growth and new skills.

Veritas Legion Adjutant-User data file

Name: Pef Xi

Alias: Monarch, Emperor, Saint, God.

Rank: Local universe CIC, Legion: Soldier

OS: Standard Veritas Legion Indoctrination method: compatibility 1.0011

Race: Physical God, Tier 2 (improved +31%)

Body stats:

-Strength : 5916. (Physical God bonus 50%)

-Agility : 6778. (Physical God bonus 50%)

-Endurance : 5833. (Physical God bonus 50%. Veritas Adjutant modifier +1000)

-Intelligence : 258. (Veritas Adjutant modifier +1000)

-Wisdom : 158. (Veritas Adjutant modifier +1000)

-Charisma : 501. (charm +5%)

-Ki : 931000.

Cultivation stats:

-Spiritual affinity: Water 18%, Sword 11%, Void 7%, Fire 6%, Wind 2%, Thunder 4%, Metal 4% , Earth 2%, Life 1%, Entropy 1%. (Yin, Yang, Order and Chaos under 1%)

-Core size: Large. (3.774 cms radius)

-Core inner volume: Huge. (Ocean giant. Livable environment. Avatar. Land area 8 sq kms)

-Ki purity: 15%. (~2% trans dimensional injection)

-Soul Aspect: Binary-White/Silver. (Combat/Exploration affinity)

-Soul defense: 1584. +90% bonus (open meridians 1+11)

-Soul attack: 1289. +10% bonus (Veritas Knife modifier +1000)

-Sword Ki abilities: 11%. (One with the Sword: stage 2. Veritas Knife modifier +200%)

-Water Dao abilities: 18%. (Greater Water Domain, ~31000 kms radius)

-Fire Dao abilities: 6%. (Large Fire Domain, ~1200 kms radius)

-Void abilities: 7%. (Blink radius: 9 billion kms) Voidsplitter skill 1% +Veritas Knife modifier +200%

Divine stats:

- Ki sense: Greater (~135000 kms radius)

- coresense: Medium. (~202 kms radius)

- telekinetic field: Minor. Range 0.5 m (Divine strings manipulation: 41%, Gravity generation: 10%, Quasi strings: 1%)

- add-ons: Icesword rune.

- sword intent: Minor. (Swordforce: stage 1, 32%)

- transmutation/alteration: Large. (water: stage 9, fog and ice: stage 7, plasma: stage 3, condensation: stage 6)

- divination: Negligible/???. (trans dimensional injection/soul aberration)

- heartforce: Minor. (Iceheart: stage 3. 2%)

- kharmic luck: Minor. (Minor reincarnation, trace memories)

- logopedic dao ability: Minor. (Soul digestion stage 2, 46%, Soul restoration 2%)

- Extra abilities: water clone: stage 6, Ice wings, Ice armor, fire clone: stage 3, dojutsu: stage 3 (helix spike), mindforce: Medium 2% (shield, maze, pulse, flay).