"Wait so you’re telling me that as long as the material could be improved, you can bring it to the next grade?" Shiro asked curiously.

  "Mn, but there are other requirements such as how much I know about it and how powerful it can be. If I’m not strong enough to reforge the item then nothing would change." Helion shrugged his shoulders.

  "Regardless, that’s still amazing considering the fact that you can just upgrade anything so long as you have the required knowledge." Shiro praised as Helion scratched his hair in embarrassment.

  "Why don’t you introduce yourself now or do you want to talk privately with Lyrica first?" Shiro glanced towards Isilia who fidgeted with nervousness.

  "If possible, can I talk with Lyrica in private first?" Isilia asked as Lyrica tilted her head and glanced at Shiro.

  "It’s up to Lyrica since it’s something the two of you need to talk over. We can go to the hotel and I’ll set down a few barriers so that others can’t hear." Shiro smiled as Lyrica thought about it for a moment before nodding her head.

  "Sure, I don’t mind that."

  Seeing that Lyrica agreed, Isilia sighed in relief.

  Bringing the party back to the hotel, Shiro and the rest of the group sat by the restaurant section while Lyrica and Isilia talked in the room.

  "So are you able to tell us who she is Shiro?" Madison asked out of curiosity.

  "It’s up to her if she wants to tell you but I can say that she’s a friend of mine." Shiro chuckled.

  "Fair enough." Madison shrugged.

  "Setting that aside for now, do you know how the selection process is going to work in detail or do you not know? The only information we got from it was what they told us last time." Shiro asked.

  "Nah I haven’t got anything like that just yet. I think they’re probably going to tell me once I arrived there or something." Madison sighed while eating some toast.

  "Sounds logical." Shiro nodded her head since the selection process could be changed at any moment so nothing is certain just yet.

  "What about you, have you finished doing all the things you need for the anchor?" Silvia asked.

  "Mn I have. The elders are helping the spirits move to their new home right now. Since it’s going to take a while, I had Nan Tian sit back and assist them so that they could speed it up. We needed to deal with Madison’s case anyways so it was a good time to step out for now. They’re not in any immediate danger and even if they are, the defensive systems should take care of it." Shiro chuckled.

  "And speaking of the anchor, both Attie and Nimue have evolved thanks to me being able to properly use divine energy."

  After saying this, Shiro summoned both Attie and Nimue out as Attie sat on her lap and gave the party a wave.

  Seeing him, both Yin and Lisandra felt their hearts being pierced by how cute Attie was.

  As for the rest of the party, they were surprised at how fast Attie grew up.

  But when they thought about how Shiro was essentially less than a year old, ignoring dungeon time, it didn’t shock them that much anymore.

  "Big sis Yin, big sis Lisa." Attie reached out towards the two since he hadn’t seen them in a while.

  *Badum!

  Feeling as though another arrow had just struck their heart, the two played around with Attie while Shiro and Nimue were talking with the rest of the party.

  During this, Shiro found out that most of their schedule was comprised of clearing high level dungeons, raids and danger zones where adventurers were said to have disappeared without reporting anything back.

  Most of them were cases of high level monsters roaming the place but when they found out that they were in a domain, they would retreat since they understood that fighting a queen was suicide right now. They weren’t at Shiro’s standard just yet so trying to kill a queen or her guard was simply impossible.

  Of course, they would report the location back to the guild and so far they’ve helped uncover 4 anchors. They weren’t sure if they were main anchors or branch anchors but approaching it to check was not an option.

  With the four danger zones marked out, adventurers were more wary when they ventured out since they could be unlucky and stumble across a death trap.

  In addition to this, with the Queen’s building up forces around the world, there had been a few small skirmishes between factions but they weren’t anything serious. So far, no one had been killed yet but the damages that they have caused are starting to increase.

  They believe that there is a chance for war before the new age with how things were progressing but the queens aren’t dumb. Starting a war early before the new age begins would set them back so they’ll avoid war for now if they can.

  As the party were discussing recent news, they saw both Lyrica and Isilia return. Lyrica looked as though she had cried for a bit since her eyes were red around the corners.

  But seeing as how she was holding Isilia’s arm, Shiro could tell that the talk went well.

  "I apologise for not introducing myself earlier. You may have known me as Talia Faeha but I am Isilia, Lyrica’s mother who should have died a while ago and I am also Shiro’s friend from Aria. Due to a few special circ.u.mstances, I am now working with Shiro." Isilia introduced herself as the party widened their eyes in surprise.

  They knew that Lyrica’s mother had died and that in her past life, Shiro was forced to kill Isilia but seeing the elf in front of them, they couldn’t believe that she was now alive and kicking.

  "Wait she’s your mother?" Madison asked in surprise as Lyrica nodded her head with a small smile. Seeing Lyrica’s smile, Madison could tell that Lyrica was really happy that one of her family was alive. Sure she had her other relatives back in the elven capital but it wasn’t the same as having her mother or father back.

  While the party was happy for Lyrica, Shiro glanced over at Isilia.

  "I told you she wouldn’t hate you now didn’t I?" Shiro grinned.

  "Mn." Isilia nodded her head with a smile since she was grateful that her daughter could still accept her.

  "Now that you two have reunited what are your plans?" Shiro asked.

  "We’re going to deal with your friend’s heritage then sort things out in the spirit capital. We can’t leave the elves to fend for themselves after all. Plus, while I’m the elven queen of Aria, it kind of extends to this world too once the new age begins since Aria will be merged." Isilia replied as Shiro nodded her head.

  "There’s a platform that can be ready for your country. It’ll take a while before it is big enough but I should be able to provide decent accommodation for the time being. Plus, I’m thinking of helping Nan Tian and Li Jian move their sect over to the city too. With the way they like to work things, they can act as a scouting unit using drones rather than people when possible so that we can save on manpower." Shiro offered.

  "Mn, I’ll keep that in mind. Pft at the rate that this is going, you’ll probably make a planet out of your nanobots with how many cities and countries you’re planning to integrate." Isilia chuckled.

  "Don’t give me ideas now, Nimue might flip a table at me if I attempt that." Shiro laughed.

  As the party relaxed for a while, they prepared to make a trip to the Demon Continent. During this, Isilia also offered to help Lyrica with her class as the blade saintess since she was the only one who knew of the deeper secrets. Plus, it was also a chance for some bonding between the two.

  Making a family car so that they could fit everyone in, Shiro was the one driving and promised not to go too fast.

  That, of course, was a lie.

  But thankfully, Silvia was able to buff everyone so that they didn’t feel a thing much to Shiro’s disappointment.

  The skies slowly changed the more they ventured into the demon continent. From the somewhat clear skies at the border, it was slowly dyed a dark red which had black clouds looming in the distance.

  There were occasional lower class demon’s that tried to attack but were dispatched quickly with a single flick of the blade by Lyrica. Since they didn’t have any sentience other than to attack everything on sight and even cannibalising their own comrades, they didn’t have any sympathy for them.

  Soon, signs of humans decreased as they were now quite deep into demon territory.

  Activating an item that she had received to communicate with the Demons, Madison called for their escorts which soon arrived.