The glove goddess entered the Elf's smithy and took off her helmet, and showed a bright smile.

Lady Kalima just nodded politely, being absorbed with learning the advanced methods of her new Master, including deep soul forging and Formation imbuement, along with hundreds of specialized Dao which were required to become a real forge master.

"What do you want now, tricky girl?" the Steelsmith muttered, in a slightly displeased voice. Ever since he met this person, his life had been turned around, and incurred quite a bit of punishment from stronger Steel Eminences.

"Oh? You sound unhappy with my visit, Steelsmith? Didn't I bring you a whole ton of priceless Eternium, and plenty of new opportunities to craft amazing artifacts?" the orange-haired goddess asked in a teasing tone.

The old Elf smith nodded grudgingly. That had happened as well, along with the misfortunes. "So what do you want now?"

"I reached the peak of Iron Realm, so naturally I want to ascend again. And I rather not become too indebted with the Celestial Dean. That worked fine as long I was only at Iron realm, but not anymore." the Eternium Knight explained patiently.

"..." the old Elf could just stare at the problem girl. Ascension was a dangerous thing, he had spent a whole Chaos Cycle just preparing his mental attitude. As for the Steel realm, it was so difficult that most Sects and Houses didn't even have a single Steel realm cultivator.

"Don't worry, I only need you to summon the Creation River. And Lady Kalima to open her inner world to the Unreal River as well. I will open the Sword River myself." she said in a light voice, almost giddy.

"You seem too confident. Almost like you have planned this whole thing since you first met me..." the Steelsmith observed in a cautious tone.

The glove goddess just smiled cutely, then returned the helm onto her head. Of course she had planned everything in advance! She wasn't a certain organic that had to stumble into lucky adventures, and survive by the flimsiest chance.

"Hold the convergence tight, Kalima!" the Steelsmith growled as the Creation River began to flow around.

Lady Kalima grit her teeth in pain, as the pressure of holding three Dao Rivers in place was a thousand times harder.

However, to the surprise of the Elf Smith the process took a mere minute. The powers of Creation rushed to fill the whirlpool focused on the Eternium Knight, and the Unreal River added an illusionary aspect to the sharp sword Qi that burst from within the Ascending goddess. Phoenix flames burned bright, gaining dimensional hooks and claws like a wild beast, then vanished.

The armored goddess simply jumped out and flew into the sky, and began to receive steel-grey Tribulation Lightning bolts in a huge torrent, that splashed mostly ineffectively on the Eternium plate.

At the last second, after 1007 bolts had fallen on the glove goddess, she drew Lady Kalima closer and split a thin liquid current over the Fay Godmother, burning her alive and incinerating her Fay wings.

With a pop, the grey and black clouds converged into a point then vanished, leaving only a new Steel Eminence in the sky. A pair of flamings wings covered the sky as the Eternium Knight rose up then flew away, leaving behind only a satisfied laugh.

"Kalima, how do you feel?" the Steelsmith asked in a worried voice, as he rushed over to heal his damaged disciple.

"I feel...lighter? I can breathe so easy now." Kalima discovered with surprise.

"That crazy girl! She cleaned you meridians with liquid Tribulation lightning! The tinniest deviation, and you would become a vegetable..." the old Elf muttered with an outraged voice.

Kalima coughed and spat a whole mess of burned organs and impurities. "I think...she prepared me. For my own Ascension." she whispered in a weak voice, as she began to circulate her qi and recover.

"I know! She gave you a priceless gift, little one. But the risky were also immense." the Steelsmith said in a calmer voice.

"And don't think she makes mistakes, Master. Even her tribulation will likely be presumed another Divine Steel Artifact that you have made. You have been churning them, rather regularly lately. Nobody even came to check here the last time, or this time." Kalima whispered in a low voice.

"Indeed, she played everyone. And the both of us are accomplices now." the Steelsmith muttered in a grave voice, and transported his disciple back into his smithy.

A second later, a new sign appeared on the door. "Closed for repairs"

------

In the Chaos Sea, five Steel Eminences were gathered to ensure the safety of the Academy students, not only the Celestial Dean and the Steelord Demonhunter, but also the new Void Array Wizard, the Steel Beasthunter and the Holy Lady of Life, the only female Eminence in the entire Heavens.

There last three were new Eminences, arisen after the Tree Wars and eager to prove their worth in front of the oldest and strongest Eminences.

"Beasthunter, you take point and clear any Chaosbeasts around the strength of the Iron Realm." the Dean commanded with a level voice.

"I can fight even stronger ones, Celestial Dean!" the young Beasthunter claimed in a proud voice. He had killed mid-Steel Realm Chaosbeasts before, and was quite proud of it.

"Perhaps, but it will take too long. Leave something to do for the old Demonhunter, can you?" the Dean asked in a milder voice, as if he was showing pity for the old singing koi.

Demonhunter only snorted and wrapped his scale suit around, showing he was ready for a fight.

"Wizard, you take point in retrieving any wounded kids, while the Holy Lady will attempt to heal them, if there's anything left." the Dean continued in a more somber voice.

"..." The Holy Lady wanted to argue she could heal anything, then thought better. Chaosbeasts rarely left enough bits to regrow a whole body.

The Array Wizard just nodded and began laying down transportation arrays and range amplifiers, as the Chaos Sea was infinite in size, and kept growing all the time. Even the entirety of the Higher Heavens were a mere floating leaf in an endless sea.

Meanwhile, the kids themselves were bravely exploring the Chaos Sea, spreading out and trying to find a nice ruin to explore, and maybe some strange beasts to fight.

"I'm sitting with Pef, on the nice Iron Realm battle mount!" Lady Gia announced as the first Copper Realm Chaosbeast jumped from a muddy geyser on a floating world. She had advanced quite rapidly in the past months, even reaching the late stage of Tier 7, but that would likely only mean such a Chaosbeast would have to bite her twice. The Bee Queen felt much safer.

Lady Meili had brought her own mount, a giant Tier 9 caterpillar, so she rode on that.

Their study group had remained unchanged, mostly because Pef couldn't bother to trust more Noble brats.

His competitor for the class rep title had just returned from detention, and rode on a Tier 11 Jade-eye Roc, a huge bird-type beast, while a shifty eyed servant with Jade House robes had joined him for protection, possibly also in Iron Realm.

A few days later, they stumbled upon a nest of Chaos zylch, an unholy combination of spider and octopus.

The Hive Queen was at least in Tier 10, going by the qi emissions that Pef could filter from among the planet-sized nest.

"Maybe we should circle around?" Gia offered in a tiny voice.

"... Powder garlic? Or sesame sauce? Why not both?" Pef muttered as he contemplated his next meal.