Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 299 Stop it, get some help

"Oh, you two came back quickly." These were the words that Alina uttered as Queen Mother and Professor Frances went back. "I thought that you two will take a longer time to walk around."

"..."

Both Queen Mother and Professor Frances could only give Alina a nod in response to her curt comment.

After they did this, their eyes started to roam around, as they observed the other people inside the shack.

As of now, Alex could still be seen sleeping, with his face wearing a peaceful smile. Kiera and her grandfather on the other hand were both asleep too, with their snores too loud to be ignored. As for Asteria, she could be seen sitting at the corner of the room, busy on sucking her last bottle of honey.

"...."

With all these people busy, it was no wonder the only one who greeted Queen Mother and Professor Frances was Alina.

"Sorry about the load behind us." Professor Frances apologetically said as she pointed at the five cocoons being dragged by Queen Mother. "We met some enthusiastic lads earlier, so we figured out that we could use their enthusiasm for good."

Alina did not give any comment to that, as she seemed to be ignoring the five unconscious people being dragged by Queen Mother.

Right now, Alina’s stare was only focused on Queen Mother herself.

"..."

"..."

Professor Frances, who was standing between the two women, suddenly perked up as she started to realize what was about to happen.

"Oh right...." Professor Frances exclaimed as she gave Queen Mother and Alina encouraging smiles. "I just remembered something that I should do. Hehehe, let me get out of here fir-"

"Queen Mother, did you have fun walking around?" Alina asked with a neutral tone in her voice.

There were no emotions present on Alina’s voice, making it appear as if Alina was not interested on talking to Queen Mother.

"..." Instead of feeling offended, Queen Mother’s face only showed relief as her tense expression lightened.

"I thought my walk will be boring, but some people joined in to provide me fun." Queen Mother replied as she gave Alina a smile. "It was too bad that you did not join us. You could have enjoyed the way that I beat them up."

"Oh really? I must have missed out on a lot then." Alina replied as she resumed on munching her food.

"You really missed out on a lot. You should have seen my giant form clobbering the boar that they summoned."

"A boar? Did you bring it back? It must taste delicious..."

"Ah about that. The boar was just a manifestation, so there’s no meat involved."

"Ah, now you just made me hungrier..."

"Wait, what? Did you two just make up?" As the conversation between Alina and Queen Mother turned light-hearted, the confused Professor Frances started to question her sanity as she stared at the two. "Didn’t Queen Mother just turn drama queen earlier? What the f**k is with this reception? Why are you chummy-chummy again?"

"Alina, Frances suggested to me that we should interrogate these 5 people." Queen Mother said as she and Alina ignored Professor Frances’ outburst. "Their bodies are at an extremely fragile state, so interrogating them will be easy."

After saying these words, Queen Mother heaved a little as she placed the 5 cocoons in front of Alina. The cocoons split open, revealing the five newcomers, whose bodies were still bleeding. As she showed these 5, Queen Mother looked at Alina intently as she asked her,

"So, do you agree with Frances’ suggestion?"

"As long as it is information that will be of help to us, I will gladly accept it." Alina replied quickly as she set down her eating bowl.

She then stood up as she approached the 5 newcomers. "So, how should we do this interrogation? I can use my Dark Magic, but I am not sure if I can use that on them all. Their powers... seem to have improved their mental prowess. My Dark Magic might not work on them that well..."

"In that case, maybe we can use one of Frances’ new inventions." Queen Mother calmly said as she tilted her head. "She told me that she managed to create an improved version of her brain worms, which will be useful in extracting information. Aside from that, Frances also told me she hasn’t used those worms on live human subjects. Since that was the case, maybe we can use these 5 people as the first subjects of the improved brain worms."

"Hey you two! Don’t ignore me!"

"Those brain worms again? Personally, I don’t like seeing those things." Alina said as her eyes furrowed. "But maybe we can use them here. After all, these 5 attacked you with the intent to kill. Punishing them with these worms could be a good lesson to them."

"Frances, did you hear what AIina just said?" Queen Mother exclaimed as she gave Professor Frances a thumbs-up sign. "You can use your improved brain worms on live humans now! Shouldn’t you be happy?"

"Happy my ass! I am not feeling happy! I am just feeling confused right now!" Professor Frances exclaimed angrily as she glared at the other two women. "You two... how could you talk normally to each other again? Shouldn’t you two be snobbish at each other?"

"Alina, I think Frances is under the influence of banned substances." Queen Mother said as she once more ignored Professor Frances’ complaint. "Ever since earlier, I have noticed that Frances seems to be ’high’.... Maybe we should make her sleep too?"

"Ah, using banned substances to get high is a big no-no for me." Alina replied sadly as she shook her head. "They will mess you up in the future after all."

"Hey!"

"Professor Frances, no matter how good you feel from using whatever you use, please resist the temptation of it!" Alina said as she shook her head. "It will be better for you if you stop using it now!"

"Hey!"

"Stop it, get some help."

"Argh you two! Stop doing this! You are just making me angrier!" Professor Frances roared out in anger as gritted her teeth. "Will you two even stop?"

"Well, maybe we will stop talking once we finish the interrogation..."

"Argh fine! I will start the interrogation already!" The professor said as she let out a sigh. "Just... let me get my improved brain worms first..."

"No hurries, Frances. We’re not racing against the clock, YET."

"...."

****************

3 HOURS LATER.

"There! I have made these 5 talk already! Now, can you please lay off your jokes?" Professor Frances angrily said as she knocked out the last of their captives. "Maybe you can stop saying that I am high! I am tired of hearing that already!"

As the captives fell down on the floor unconscious, Queen Mother’s cocoon caught them, wrapping around them tightly.

"We get it Frances. You don’t like talking about it. Since you’re like that, we promise to not talk about it unless you wanted to say it." Queen Mother replied as she shrugged her shoulders.

"...Why do I feel as if you are still mocking me here..."

"Okay! Now that we have gathered all the info that we need, I think it is time for us to summarize it." Alina said as she clapped her hands. She placed her katana back on its sheath as she sat on a nearby chair.

She leaned on the nearby wall as she gazed at Queen Mother’s direction. "Queen Mother, give us the summarized version of this world’s power system."

"The power system? Okay, here I go then." Queen Mother replied as she nodded her head. "The power system in this world is called Immortal Cultivation, and it is comprised of several cultivation levels, with each cultivation level having their own unique characteristics. Just by looking at the way that their power system works, all I can say is that it is organized."

"Yes, from what I heard from our captives, the Immortal Cultivation system seems to be orderly." Alina said as she cupped her chin. "For each Stage of Power, there is an equivalent cultivation level, and the cultivators only need to raise their cultivation level in order to raise their power. This on its own is already enough to make cultivation a formidable system."

"Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Dao Soul , Spirit Doman, and Immortal Stage. These are the first 6 levels of the Immortal Cultivation System." Queen Mother said as she narrowed her eyes. "And each of these levels correspond to a stage of power."

"At Qi Condensation, which is the equivalent of First Stage, a cultivator must absorb the Immortal Qi from the surroundings towards their bodies." Alina said as her head started to move back and forth. "As for Foundation Establishment which is the Second Stage, a cultivator must form Dao Foundations to strengthen their power and to create the path for their dao. Core Formation on the other hand leads to the formation of a Dao Core and production of Core Qi, which will make the cultivator’s power skyrocket."

"Then there is the Dao Soul Stage, which is the transformation of the Dao Core into the Dao Soul." Queen Mother said as she nodded her head. "At this stage, a cultivator will gain the ability to conjure soul abilities which makes them more dangerous. The stage after that, which is the Spirit Domain Stage, is all about the creation of Spirit Domain, which is the manifestation of all the insights of a cultivator."

"Then finally there is the Immortal Stage, which is the transformation of both the Dao Soul and the Spirit Domain into the Immortal Soul." Alina concluded as she stood up from her seat. "As for the stages above that, we are still unsure about them. These people that we have interrogated seems to have no idea about it."

"Well, even if the information that they gave us is not complete, that still gives us a larger picture about this world." Professor Frances interjected as she kicked one of the cocoons. "This world is dominated by powerful Immortals, and every step and event in this world has been dictated by them."

"What you said was true, but that all changed 10,000 years ago." Queen Mother suddenly said as she interrupted Professor Frances.

"Oh yes." Professor Frances said as she nodded her head. "From what I can recall, I heard our captives saying that someone who calls himself the Great Time Master suddenly appeared in this world 10,000 years ago. Once he appeared, he immediately defeated all the major powers in this world and he established himself as its sole ruler. He then ’stole’ the Time of this world, forcing all of its occupants to use their own Time as the currency in this world. Once he did all this, the age of the Immortals has ended, as the rise of the Time Masters became apparent."