"..." Tellus paused for a moment, only to grab her blade at how serious he looked. About to unsheath it, Caelus launched a wave of Mana, somewhat shaky as it crashed into her, launching her back into a tree.

"Oh? Looks like you can’t keep up, as expected of someone who’s a Human." His tail twitched as it curled up, ready to come out like a whip whenever it was needed.

She shook off all the debris that fell on her head. The damage was incredible, but she could heal it... But she thought for a second, "Why would he be talking like that?" Taking a moment to scan the residue, she felt weirded out; it was way too sloppy for someone like Caelus, but she wasn’t gonna waver just because he did that. "Maybe it’s just to trick me."

Holding her sword up, she faced him, ready for whatever attack he was going to make. Her Mana began piling up on her blade, with her eyes narrowing.

"Oh? Why are you on edge? What do you think that useless blade of yours is going to do against my scales?" Slowly walking forward, the wind around him growing colder, though that was the usage of Mana to make it look like that. "...I want to rush at her, but I know she would think that’s me."

His hands, spread out in a calm expression, stopped. "A world which is as lowly as this, which rejects Dragons, would not deserve to exist. So, unless you wish to die, then join my side and become one of my pawns!"

His voice boomed out with Tellus staring at this Caelus and froze, not because her threat response was activated, or thinking of joining. "...Oh, he’s evil... Wait, wait, wait, no, why is Caelus speaking like this?" Her brain began buffering, trying to compare the one she met and this one.

"He would rather eat rocks and sand than speak like that. Also, it just sucks. He would never suck if he tried that, unless this is rehearsed." The thought that this was the rehearsed one broke her confidence that it was even real. Shaking her head, she charged forward to see how he’d reply to it. Her hands were gripping the hilt tightly.

As the blade swung down to cut him right at his crown, Caelus’s eyes moved up, though Tellus wasn’t able to tell if he was looking at her or the blade. He turned at least eighteen inches while shifting his chest as though it looked like he was always right there, her blade barely missed, almost chipping his ear had it not been naturally protected, yet even with using Mana to protect his body, Caelus didn’t make it efficient, wasting more on his head and less on other parts of his body, instead of an equal amount which could be allocated anywhere.

"You think you can hit me with a weak strike like that? Pathetic, I didn’t even need to move, and you couldn’t even hit me." He changed his tone to be more condescending. He gave her as much time as she needed to recover with her blade, and yet he didn’t even hit back, other than one time against her.

"Shut up!" Tellus turned to him, her blade ready to strike again, coated in Mana to bypass his own protection.

"You aren’t allowed to order me, you worthless vermin!" Caelus’s eyes narrowed as he grabbed her sword by the blade, stopping it with two fingers, pulling with more force than she could use, forcing her to let go. Throwing it away. His eyes turned to Tellus. "...I have no idea what vermin means, but I’m gonna use that anyway."

"Why is, okay, no, he’s talking way too much to be serious, right? He has to be joking or something..."

A few seconds passed as she stepped back after her sword was thrown away. "...Wait, joking? That would mean this isn’t real, but I have this talisman to see through illusions-"

"Oh? You’re thinking for some time, have you finally decided you’re going to join to be my Concubine?" Caelus’s shoulders shook ever so slightly, his mouth twitching. And his tail was completely stiff. And... "Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh, I have to commit to this bit so she escapes."

Tellus, ready to reply, paused, her hand completely still, not even in the fight, flight, or freeze, but completely still as if reality itself just lied and contradicted itself. "I-I-I-I What?? He would NEVER speak like that, no, no, okay, either he got mind controlled, or this is just... A rift." Noticing a gap in her own memory, she realized it was a rift suppressing her memories, not even a few hours ago. "Dreamscape Rifts." She shook her head to get herself together.

"Well, I guess I have to use my ultimate technique, The World Destroying Heavenly Meteor of the Dragon God!" His voice roared across the dreamscape, with his composure at its edge.

"...Nope, this is fake, no way this is real." The cognitive Dissonance was too much for her to accept that this was actually Caelus, to the point she rejected it as real. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

In a moment, the dreamscape shattered as the rift closed, both of them back to where they originally stood, with Tellus staring right at Caelus, who turned away. Not only did he turn away, but he also promptly squatted, with his arms on his knees and his face out of view. "I want to go back to Tianyun Peak and sleep for an entire year. I don’t want to do that ever again. Nope. Never."

Tellus, looking at Caelus, seeing he was still in the same place, took only half a second to realize that was the real Caelus, helping her break out of the rift. On the other hand, she hated the idea. That he was speaking like that, and especially the names of the abilities he mentioned. And at the same time, she was absolutely amused at the names now.

"Caelus, you know you don’t have to be sad, you did it to help me, it was for a good reason, right?" A soft laugh from her as other cultivators approached; Tellus put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know, and I still hate having to do that. Though, did I use the word vermin correctly? I don’t know what that means, but I’ve heard it a lot." Caelus looked up, turning his head back.

"You... didn’t know what that meant? Seriously?" Tellus went back to her upright stance, though looking down and waiting for him to do the same.

Once he stopped squatting, the large number of Cultivators nearby was visible. "Well, we have company right now, so should we continue this conversation elsewhere? Also, I guess my acting was good enough that you couldn’t even tell I was in pain behind that." Caelus pointed to the nearby cultivators, who were on standby in case anything came out.

Whispering occurred among the cultivators, though Caelus could hear them, he wouldn’t bother, as it wasn’t something he wanted his focus on.

[Missions Complete!]

[Rewards - Cultivation Grows at the Same Rate as Always, No Hinderance, and you also get the rift core undamaged, even when it was supposed to be destroyed.]

"Wow, you are unprepared. Well, thanks for that anyway." Caelus felt a little bit distant from Aphro, especially since she... "Does Aphro even have a gender? Well, I doubt she even cares." But she didn’t talk much other than giving quests or just answering questions.

"Caelus to Gaia!" Tellus smacked him in the face since even waving in front of him didn’t work, or even poking him.

Caelus, on the other hand, turned to her and softly laughed. "Ah, sorry about that, I was just thinking about something, that’s it."

"Oh, Sorry about that, but we should probably get going before my Teacher gets here." Tellus blinked slowly, staring at him, waiting for him to realize.

Simply nodding, he grabbed her hand, softly making sure his claws didn’t cut her, and pulled her sword back to them, which was lying on the floor nearby. Holding it, he teleported away with her right to the Equator because his teleportation wasn’t based on his Mana range.

"Well, I guess this is a good spot to rest." Looking around, the ground beneath them was still mildly warm to him, but not too cold. A black-brown soil with deep roots, thick moss and fungal sheets, low vines and tough ground-cover plants like a carpet, exposed stones partially swallowed by roots and soil, and shallow water channels which were more like muddy basins and pools made by the scarce rain.

The sky, on the other hand, casts deep red shadows to the ground from the trees, and the greens are incredibly saturated. Dark blue with a mix of green foliage and black rocks, which were probably from volcanoes, and brown with hints of gold mud. "Looks like a rainforest, but the sun is a dramatic villain... Like me in the dreamscape." He frowned at the fact that he reminded him of that.

Looking at the trees, he shook his head, bringing his focus back to Tellus, who had her full Cultivation once again, hence being at Soul Formation. "What do you think of this place? I’ve been here once before."

"Woah woah okay, you could’ve warned me about taking me somewhere-"

"I mean, I did grab your hand, so I thought that would’ve informed you." A soft laugh.

"...Fair enough, but this is the Equator of Gaia?" She took her blade as Caelus handed it over.

"I mean, yeah. It’s fun to be here since I can just sit around and actually feel warm." He looked to Tellus as he noticed her Mana around her entire body compressed, making it so the sun’s light barely touched her.

"Oh... Yeah. I forgot the sun is basically a laser for you." Caelus sat down, his talons still visible, to which Tellus looked down, staring at them and blinking.

"You have talons?" She pointed towards it, confused. "Also, since it isn’t winter here, wouldn’t it be better to fight here?" Silent for a moment after speaking.

"Yeah, I do. Dragons get prey that aren’t as big as Wyverns, but aren’t too small, as for fighting here. Maybe it’ll work, I have no idea."

Caelus’s Mana organized itself properly, barely leaking any Mana; his tail, on the other hand, became more active, swinging side to side. as it smacked into Tellus’s ankle.

Tellus didn’t mind it and simply continued to look ahead, standing upright as she sheathed her blade. "I would like to see how you might do in the next Tournament that occurs, because I shall participate. And I know that you will reach Soul Formation." Calm and concise, her eyes shifted to look down and see him.

"Well, I love the enthusiasm, but don’t expect it with full certainty." Remembering he had something he didn’t need to use, Caelus took out a pill, the one he made for a quest for the Vase of Zurvan. Throwing it up to Tellus. "I was trying to make pills, and I got this. It’s a mid-rank Sage Grade Pill."

Catching it, she looked at it and nodded. "I’ll probably eat it when I stabilize my Soul from that rift first. But, this would help a lot against the suppression it does... But it has limits."

Putting it into her pocket, she kept her focus ahead, her hands kept at her waist. "I have absolutely nothing to do now."

The sound of a foghorn rang across the water; Tellus could hear it, since her hearing was higher than normal and also enhanced by her Cultivation. "That’s a... Ocean Balloon." Sighing in annoyance. "Welp, my luck ran out."

"Looks like something’s going to happen, Caelus. I heard one of those Ocean Balloons."

Turning to her, Caelus blinked slowly, his left eye first and then his right eye. "...You mean a Seal?"

"Whatever you call it, they’re fat and sound like they’re causing an earthquake."