The wind's flow caressed Yasenia's scales, and the sun shone against her back. The clouds floated in her path, some below and some above her. A sea of white extended before her, with holes from cloud to cloud revealing the diverse ecosystem down below. She saw mountain ranges, forests, towns, and cities.
It had been four months since she started flying freely and seemingly without any restrictions. Yasenia felt incredibly liberated during all this time. Wherever she passed, all beings on land would raise their heads. After all, her giant body could blot out the sun when she flew over them due to her incredible dimensions.
A few children in a town opened their mouths wide while looking up, while others called their parents. "Father! Father! Look up! Quickly!"
The parents followed their children's pointing just in time to see Yasenia flying past. The giant dragon was like a patch of night sky streaking through the sky, leaving a trail of starlight in her wake. The ethereal and otherworldly spectacle left everyone speechless.
Meanwhile, Yasenia flapped her wings slowly and flew. She just flew without any fixed direction and allowed the energy flows and wind to guide her through the sky. 'While this is not my first time flying in my dragon form, since I've done similar flights with my dears, I never really… flew alone and relaxed.'
Yasenia's eyes looked toward the horizon as her senses soaked in the silence and sensations that came from flying so high up. "Where to go… Where I come from… Everything feels so irrelevant when I fly like this." A smile full of contentment appeared on her lips. "Flying is so… wonderful. I feel like this is my first time truly sinking into my Dragon nature."
A chuckle escaped her as a feeling of joy rushed up. Then, with a smile, she opened her maw and roared to the sky.
"ROAR!"
Yasenia's dragon cry reverberated around, echoing for thousands of kilometers. "Hahaha!"
With a laugh full of joy, Yasenia flapped her wings powerfully and soared upward. Her golden eyes reflected the space far above, and her body trembled as the energies of the cosmos became clearer.
While she ascended, Yasenia felt the [Celestial Pearl] stir within her. Her sight blurred as she entered a trance-like state. Even then, thanks to the dreamy sensations flowing inside of her, Yasenia's lips were kept in a faint upward arch.
Once she had almost reached outer space, Yasenia stopped ascending and took in a deep breath. The cosmic energy filled her body, while the celestial energies of the cosmos surrounded every single inch of her massive dragon body.
The [Celestial Pearl], as if sensing Yasenia's current mood and situation, exploded out with incredible energy. The petite artifact, despite its size, quickly flooded Yasenia's entire body with Celestial Energy and pulled Yasenia into an enlightened state.
"So… This is the true nature of the Cosmos… this is what hides behind the so-called Cosmic Energy."
In the past, when she learned to control Cosmic Energy, Yasenia could see the energy flow in the otherwise empty cosmos. Her change in energy control allowed her to see the beauty of the cosmos beyond the usual emptiness reflected in the gaze of others.
Now, as her body soaked in the high-quality energies of a superior Heavenly Layer, Yasenia could finally sense a very fundamental energy that hid behind the Cosmic Energy.
"It's diluted primordial Celestial Energy. Energy so old that one can't even start guessing its age."
As Yasenia relaxed her body in the cosmic soup of energies, her [Celestial Intent] was forcefully triggered by the [Celestial Pearl]. At that moment when truths of the cosmos around her flooded Yasenia's insights, Yasenia's aura disappeared.
If one looked at her, it would look as if she had become part of the environment around her. It would be easy to confuse her with an asteroid drifting through space without any aim. However, if that same person were to be gazed at by our dragoness, they would feel as if the entire cosmos had suddenly turned to look at them.
"Being part of the cosmos is my nature. Cosmic Energy is the primordial form of the Celestial Energy, and not the other way around. That doesn't mean that Celestial Energy is weaker…" Yasenia closed her eyes and breathed in the cosmos around her. "If I needed to explain it simply: Cosmic Energy is a lump of extremely pure iron, while Celestial Energy is a forged iron sword."
Yasenia stopped drifting and allowed gravity to take over, pulling her down to Earth. Her enlightened state slowly came to an end as her aura slowly returned to normal. However, as Yasenia's body descended, she absorbed Heavenly and Cosmic Energies inside of herself.
Her wings were loosely opened, slowing down her fall and giving her just enough time to end her realization.
"To create a domain through Celestial Energy… I need to transform my surroundings into the cosmos."
Her eyes opened, and all creatures within several thousand kilometers felt their hearts stop for a fraction of a second. The feeling was extremely clear because that fleeting instant stretched seemingly without end.
Finally, all creatures in the area heard a voice that seemed to come from the stars.
"[Celestial Intent Domain]."
Her wings opened wide, stopping her descent. Right after, the sky and land around Yasenia disappeared, leaving behind a patch of relatively empty cosmos. Looking around her, Yasenia smiled. "No wonder I couldn't develop my Celestial Intent no matter what I did. I needed to stir my bloodline and energy within the cosmos itself to understand some basic truths."
She was curious about what the Celestial Intent Domain could do. After three years of experimentation with the [Tyrant Warlord Intent Domain], Yasenia understood that this intent was perfectly fit for battle. It not only steeply boosted her strength, but she could read everything that happened within the domain as if time had slowed down. Her instincts sharpened, her energy consumption reduced, and finally, everyone who couldn't resist the coercion of the Intent Domain would fall under her influence.
Oversimplifying, Yasenia's strength increased sharply, and everyone around her became weaker.
Her mind sank deeply into the Celestial Intent Domain, and she quickly tried to see through it and its uses. "Hm… So strange."
Yasenia was confused as time passed, and she continued looking around with puzzled eyes. Her Celestial Intent in the past would boost all her Celestial Energy usage while making it easier to manipulate. It was because of the Celestial Intent that Yasenia could freely use many of the Celestial Skills before Transcendence.
Now, as she looked around the Celestial Intent Domain, Yasenia became confused. "Why does it feel like… I am not inside the world?"
It was such a strangely specific feeling that our dragoness felt confused. "Right… Now that I think about it, there is nothing here."
Looking around, the Celestial Intent Domain should've swallowed a large patch of land, which included wild monsters and animals, of course. However, the entire space around her was empty, and there was not even a single patch of earth. Only cosmos.
With that in mind, Yasenia flew around the Intent Domain with a thoughtful look. "For starters, energy consumption is more than agreeable. If I only had my Spiritual Path, I would end up dry in just a few hours. However, with the support of all my cultivation paths and my powerful energy regeneration, I can maintain it indefinitely."
That was good. After all, what Yasenia feared the most was running out of energy mid-fight. Her ability to fight above her weight class meant that she was always fighting in a disadvantageous situation in drawn-out fights. The other party would have better energy reserves and much more advanced energy to use, after all.
"Hm…" Yasenia frowned deeply. "How large is this space? I've been flying for two hours already!" Her body streaked through the mostly empty cosmos at ridiculous speed, yet she couldn't see anything other than occasional stars, planets, and other celestial bodies.
Yasenia decided to stop using the Intent Domain and activate it again to feel the process more clearly. During her enlightened state, she peered more into how to develop it, not how it worked. So, there was some work left to do.
Once the domain disappeared, Yasenia looked around her with puzzled eyes. "Um… Where am I?"
She was flying in the middle of the ocean, water spreading in all directions, and without a single patch of land in her vicinity. "Did I… leave the continent?"
The dragoness was confused. After all, that should be impossible. The continents were enormous. For Yasenia to fly out of it, she would need at least half a day at her top speed. Moreover, the location she was at before she deployed the Intent Domain was clearly deep inland. A mere two hours of flying should not have landed her in the middle of nowhere.
Her intelligent mind spun, information about a myriad of intents and other information flashing through her mind. After a while, she finally came to a conclusion. "There is no way… Does it really do that?"
Yasenia deployed the Celestial Intent Domain once more and looked around it. Then, her mind sharpened further, and her Spiritual Sense flew out and expanded outward violently. Soon, her spiritual sense reached the confines of the rather empty space and came into contact with… the world outside.
"Dimensional Intent Domain! It is actually an Intent Domain that creates its own dimension when unfurled!" Yasenia exclaimed with a look of excitement. Only the strongest Intent Domains could do something similar to this. For example, Yasenia was sure that when her Baby Angel developed her Truth Intent Domain, she would also be able to create this type of separate dimension.
"From what I know, this kind of domain is basically invincible within the same level. Once someone falls into it, the effect is similar to a foreign soul entering your own soul. Unless the other side has enough strength to shatter the domain open, they'd be completely under your mercy."
Yasenia muttered the summary of her knowledge, leaving complicated details aside so that she could grasp the essence of the Intent Domain. "Then… Attack power-wise, these domains are not worse than offense-focused Intent Domains. The reason is because…"
Yasenia looked around and thought of creating a thousand stars ten times bigger than her. The second she thought about that, Celestial Energy stirred around her and thousands of gargantuan fireballs manifested in her surroundings. "Yep." Yasenia chuckled. "As long as it is related to my Celestial Energy, I should be able to manifest and manipulate this space to my will."
Yasenia had wanted to find a place to stir the Celestial Intent Domain when she left the sect. She never imagined that the trick to do that was just… flying around.
If other geniuses learned of that, they'd probably bash their heads against tofu until they died, feeling inappropriate to even continue living. After all, their many years of accumulation couldn't even compare to Yasenia flying around and doing acrobatics for a few months!
Either way, Yasenia still had 4 years before she needed to return to the sect. So, she thought of using this time to perfect her Intent Domain control and, if she could, reach the peak of the first level of the Transcendence Realm.
"Soluna, love," Yasenia smirked and commented. "Come out. Since I can manipulate this space, I probably can reduce my dragon form into a… human-sized form, hehe."
Soluna appeared with a bashful look, and then, she was jumped by the dragoness. 'Dragon form? Can she do it in this form?'
The poor spirit learned that Yasenia, in her dragon form, was too dangerous to copulate with; her mind almost got enslaved due to the soul-deep pleasure. Soluna, melted into a blob, thought slurredly. 'I will never be the same…'