The landing was excellent. Saying goodbye to our transport—which probably wouldn't work with us anymore due to our constant rushing and frequent flights—we girls walked to the Three-Step Tower.
It was about 30 minutes from the landing spot, but we weren't hurrying. After three months of frantic mission flights, a short breather felt great.
"Ah, finally home! I'm sick of all the traveling and hotel nights. I want something homey. And to laze around, especially laze around. Just lie there and do nothing." – TuTu whined, hands behind her back, looking around.
"I have to agree with her. I like traveling and missions, but racing frothing at the mouth on tasks, sometimes without even stopping overnight, is overkill. I even want to go back to school for a day and feel like a normal teenage girl, which is total nonsense." – Ling Ling supported her, and it's hard to wear out this workaholic with workload. But I managed.
"But we earned three whole Galactic Veins ourselves! Not without Ling Ling's talent for sweet-talking clients and finding missions solo, but still. For a Mid-level mage trio, that's pure nonsense." – Jiao Jiao found positives in our training. At least someone isn't complaining.
"Without Mu Bai covering you on all missions and handling Commanders-in-Chief, you wouldn't have achieved those results. For a normal Mid-level mage trio, earning one Galactic Vein in a year is a dream." – Ling Ling raised an eyebrow.
"Ling Ling, don't spoil the girls' mood; go enjoy the week off instead. After that, we'll go fight bird monsters. Their missions are all in roughly one zone; no back-and-forth rushing." – I tried to calm the little spoilsport.
"Yeah, one region. You tactfully omitted chasing them all over the sky." – Muttering under her breath, she turned onto the road to the Clear Sky building.
"Well, ready for the long-awaited breakthrough?" – I asked my girls, who unexpectedly fell silent uncertainly.
"We only have three veins, one each. With my talent, I'm afraid it won't be enough." – TuTu looked at me a bit guiltily. I'd told her earlier I'd get Galactic Veins for her breakthrough, so she wasn't too worried; she just felt bad consuming more resources than us.
"I feel my accumulations aren't enough for breakthrough with one vein. Maybe in a couple months? I'll strengthen my foundation better." – Jiao Jiao suggested uncertainly.
"Girls, I've told you a million times. For me, a problem solvable with money and resources isn't a problem. Stop feeling shame and guilt; think instead how much your power will grow. Especially you, Jiao Jiao. Your totem vessel, once you break through to High Tier, will double your movement magic. It has enough accumulated level for that." – I reassured them and hugged their shoulders.
All souls dropped during training, I gave to the girls to boost their Totem Vessels. We got lucky in missions; one Commander-in-Chief I killed had a whole soul. Combined with the Red Sea Demons leader's soul and a bunch of Pack Leader souls, their cultivation tools got a nice boost, up to x5 cultivation speed.
Finally reaching the Three-Step Tower, we entered ignoring the guards' familiar envious stares. Like last time, I scooped up the girls and ran to the third floor, shielding them with spirit element barrier. Doesn't matter if they have artifacts for it; it's tradition.
"Here TuTu, these five Galactic Veins I prepared specially for you. If not enough, come to me. I'll finish breakthrough before you as always." – I handed TuTu a fabric pouch with five crystals glowing starlight, aiding mage breakthrough to High Tier, ignoring failed promotion backlash and providing extra breakthrough energy.
"I'll live up to your expectations." – She nodded, resolve shining in her eyes. For her, this was a turning point; her family wouldn't allocate resources for it due to her low talent. Breaking through to High Tier would prove them wrong.
"Jiao Jiao, I have more veins; keep the three we bought with mission money." – I told my second girl, and she nodded firmly.
Taking care of my girls, I sat in the platform corner and checked my Inner World. Star clouds of all my elements floated calmly in space. Each had 49 stars triple-strengthened by souls, shining extra bright. But today, two would expand into Star Galaxies.
My pendant hadn't advanced much, still accelerating cultivation x7. These three months, I rarely had free time; when I did, I honed soul extraction from stars. I really wanted to boost my girls' reserves for longer fights and stronger spells.
Pulling a Galactic Vein from my spatial ring and casting "Sevenfold Acceleration," I absorbed its energy, directing it to the ice element Star Cloud. My element lacked saturation for simple breakthrough, but the vein and magic-saturated spot smoothed it.
After eight real hours, my Star Cloud sucked into the main star, then "exploded," expanding sevenfold and increasing orbiting stars from 49 to 343. I broke through to High Tier.
Not wasting time, confirming success, I switched to the Summoning Star Cloud. My body had adapted to magic flow, so the second breakthrough took longer, nearing my accelerated cultivation limit.
That is, after fifteen real hours, I broke through to High Tier in Summoning, a huge relief. Now I can let Pikachu and Bula advance to Commander-in-Chief level. They've been at Pack Leader peak over a year, reminding me whenever possible to hurry.
Sigh, why is Feral power limited by mage cultivation? With our soul bond, no betrayal risk; I could feed them to Warlord level carefree, but no. World Laws dictate rules.
Also, my breakthrough means soon another contract beast for me. With the contract ring, that's two more loyal subordinates. Can't wait for second step breakthrough. For a second, I was tempted to steal someone's cultivation. But remembering consequences, I held back.
Watching the diligently cultivating girls in other corners, I didn't disturb them, pondering my future development. Specifically, which element to awaken post-breakthrough?