An Omniscient Lady Cultivator

The man was treated like air as her attention turned to the sky. It was breathtaking!

A bright purple star shone above her head, and as its center, a flattened spherical line of stars stretched as far as she could see.

'Star network…' Another memory lost its mystery as she recalled every detail of this so-called 'Star network.'

And she learned where the previous owner of her current body had been fleeing—to the Star Temple, a place where every fifteen-year-old must go to augment themselves with a star from the 'Star network.'

Only then could one open the Star universe in their body and begin cultivating.

'Interesting… but isn't the way she chose to go there a little strange?'

Alexa glanced at the dead bodies in the carriage. From the conversations between the two men, this carriage was a corpse room.

Her gaze shifted forward, and she was taken aback by the sight of chained children. Her heart hardened.

Did she hide in the corpse room of a child trafficking gang? Smart of her, she thought, giving a mental clap.

"I'm speaking to you…" A hand pinched her shoulder, and she swore she heard the sound of her bones cracking.

She lowered herself in a futile attempt to shake off the hand pinning her. He pinched with such force that it strained her deltoid muscle and may have caused a minor subluxation of the glenohumeral joint if she hadn't twisted her shoulder a little.

"Stop…" She heard the other man speak, the leaves rustling as a figure clad in full armour approached.

Even his eyes were hidden under the armour; if not for his limbs moving in a human way, she would've mistaken him for a robot.

Still, it surprised her that a metallic armor had flexibility like a human body.

"What did you just do?" His voice held urgency. She knew this was her chance. She knew what she had done had somehow intrigued him.

"I did nothing. It's him…" She pointed at the hand on her shoulder. "Ask him…"

The urge to unravel the unknown was a curse; those who could control this curse could become manipulators. Here she was, the manipulator.

The armoured man was silent for a few seconds.

"Bratel…" Just a single sentence from him freed her shoulder. She placed her hand there, gently twisting the dislocated bone back into place.

The armored man studied her actions for a few moments before speaking.

"Are you a medic?"

"No, I'm a surgeon. I solve bugs in the human body."

"Bugs…?" She saw both men take a step back from her. She innocently stared at them, knitting her brows.

"A-are you from the Arthropod Palace?" asked the walking armour.

"You could say so…" She lied.

Her current situation was beyond her expertise. She had no idea what these guys would do to her. If it was just child trafficking, she could manage.

But here, magic was involved—out of her league. There were no memories of Arthropod in her head, so she assumed the previous owner of her body had no knowledge of it.

"But why would an Arthro be in the Primal Master's area?" She glared at Bratel, irritated.

Smart guy, she thought. She liked to operate on such people. The armoured man fell into deep thought again, while Bratel and she exchanged hostile glares like daggers.

She missed her scalpel; otherwise, she'd have operated on this annoying husk.

"True… why would an Arthro be under the Primal Star?" The armor's mouth opened and closed. "…Are you perhaps a spy under the Arthropod Star?"

His question confused her more than it conflicted her. Luckily, the memories in her brain came in handy.

She was in a region under the Primal Star. She glanced up at the purple star. It was under the direct jurisdiction of a cultivator called the Primal Master.

Cultivators, after reaching a certain level, could take their stars out of their core. Doing so would make them immortal under the star. Additionally, the region under the star would gain a domain effect, doubling the strength of its inhabitants.

Fantastic!

Only one cultivator could place their star in any given region. The size of that region depended on the cultivator's strength.

If more than one cultivator wanted to place their star in the same area, they had to prove their worth through the 'Star Line' by challenging each other.

In most cases, cultivators who reached the stage where they could take their stars out didn't want to fight each other unnecessarily.

Such battles rarely had winners, and the chances of injury were high. So unless there was a blood feud that couldn't be resolved through negotiation, they never fought for territory.

The world had many unoccupied areas to choose from, so why fight?

Once a cultivator placed their star and marked their territory, they became a Domain Master, and their star became a Domain Star. The inhabitants of the region could then choose to become the cultivator's minions.

Being a minion had both advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage was that their cultivation speed would double, and the strength of their spells would increase under the regional star, just like the Domain Master.

She considered the advantages and disadvantages and instantly discarded the idea of becoming a minion.

Being a minion meant surrendering your augmented star to the Domain Master, which would erase the star's unique 'aspects' and force the imprint of the regional star onto them.

Simply put, a cultivator would lose their uniqueness and become a slave to the Domain Master. The memories didn't clearly explain the significance of 'uniqueness,' but she had a hunch that it wasn't trivial.

The augmented stars of minions would be forced out of their bodies and surround the Domain Star, amplifying its strength.

So, a minion was basically fertiliser. She stifled her urge to snicker. The walking armor and Bratel stared at her, and she glared back fiercely.

"Boss, I doubt this little prickly brat is a spy…" Bratel really deserved surgery, "I think she wants a free ride, that's it."

Perhaps he was a bit smarter. It's just she hated his name.

Again, who would name their son Braaaatel?

"You… aren't an Arthro or a Primal…" The armored man circled around her. "We started from Endrax…there was no outsiders allowed, unless you want to take that flying ship…"

Another memory unlocked. Endrax was an unoccupied city on the border between the Primal and Arthropod regions.

She was supposed to take a flying ship from the city to the Primal capital, but something made her miss that ride.

What was it? She frowned, copying the armoured man's movements.

Some of her memories seemed blocked, and she had a gut feeling that what they hid was dangerous.

"Can you two just stop?" Bratel muttered through his teeth.

"How did you get into our carriage without us noticing?" The armoured man asked. "And why did you hide in an envoy escorting death row criminals?"

Surprised, she turned to look at the children. No… something was amiss. They appeared to be children, sure. But there was something odd about their expressions.

Their eye sockets were hollow, and fire burned where their eyeballs should have been. Medically impossible!

Avoiding further questions from the two men, she walked towards the chained… perhaps she could call them children, at least for now.

They stood motionless, their gazes fixated on a fire at the end of their chains. A name came to mind, but she pushed it away as her hand moved toward the chest of the first boy.

A metallic hand grabbed her arm, and the metallic mask on his face retracted, revealing a half-shriveled face. He had blonde hair and dark eyes, and she saw a dangerous glint in them.

"Hollows can't be touched. They're contagious…"

She pulled her hand back, rubbing the red scar as she took a step back. Hollows… those who had lost their augmented stars, either from overexerting themselves in cultivation or losing control during alignment.

Perfect… she understood nothing, except that touching a Hollow was bad.

She had to control her curiosity, or she wouldn't know when she might die. Still, it felt medically wrong for a human body to not rot after death.

Yes, these Hollows had no breath or heartbeat. In modern medical terms, they were dead bodies, yet strangely, they weren't rotting. Wait…

Her gaze shifted to the corpse carriage. The bodies inside were beginning to decompose. She was sure that within a day or two, no one would be able to approach them without gagging.

Were they also Hollows? That couldn't be possible, right?

If so, she would have died. Still, something didn't feel right. She tried to recall the procedure for dealing with a Hollow, but she had no memory of needing an envoy to escort Hollows.

However, she did remember how to manage Hollows. Either an exorcist with the Necrotic element of the Dark-based category could summon or someone with the Radiance element in the Energy-based category could purify them.

According to the previous owner's memories, every city had a cultivator capable of doing either, hired by one of the temples. So, why was there an envoy escort?

The wrongness she felt intensified, and her hairs stood on end when a cold breath washed over her. Years of battle experience, despite lacking magic, prompted her brain to signal her to duck. Her body narrowly evaded a shining metal.

Boom!

A shining sharp iron punctured a tree, slicing it in two. Her eyes twinkled as her body drained every ounce of energy for that ducking, and her vision darkened, pushing her into unconsciousness.

'Shit, this body is a mess.'

---

When she opened her eyes again, she was chained… standing behind the rows of Hollows… no, rows of captured teenagers like her.

Alexa wasn't sure if her eye sockets had become like theirs, but she found that, unlike them, she could move her eyelids.

Her vision was crystal clear, and her heartbeats and breathing were normal. So, she hadn't become like them.

She breathed a sigh of relief, though her mood soured as she realized she was completely clueless about what was happening.

They were moving at a moderate pace, and she decided to continue without alerting the walking armor and Bratel.

"Boss, we're entering Shades…" Bratel said, his tone serious and tinged with fear.

She didn't laugh, though, because she felt that same fear creeping through her. It wasn't from her. She was sure of it.

It was the fear from the previous owner of this body. The previous owner seemed to have an ingrained terror of this place.

A memory opened up for her.

Shades—a place where the Star Line hid behind clouds. Abominations capable of destroying a Domain Master lurked deep within. No cultivators dared to explore this area.

In the Shades, the Star Line lost its control, causing augmented stars to weaken by half. Going deeper would strip cultivators of their power, suppressing their stars to the maximum.

For normal cultivators, this was the most terrifying place they could be. But for her… Hehe.

Time to escape…