The Spider Queen

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Green blood splattered across the holographic screen as Sophie shot one stumbling figure after another while maintaining a firm grip on her pistol.

Rachel, Astrid, and her were playing an arcade game called 'Zombie Rush Hour' where the objective was to kill as many enemies as possible before the timer ran out.

Zombies were not real but certain parasitic alien species could attach themselves to the heads of other creatures and control their hosts in a zombie-like manner.

The risk was extremely low to cultivators, but ordinary people were especially vulnerable which led to the creation of a booming sub-industry of pharmaceutics purely dedicated to parasite extermination.

"This is unfair!" came a frustrated growl behind Sophie.

Astrid was trying to hold the blaster pistol, but her long claws and the shape of her hand prevented her from getting a firm grip, so all the shots at the zombies were wildly off target.

"Look's like this round's winner is going to be me," Rachel jeered at the other two girls before landing shot after shot on the zombies.

After Astrid's wild performance on the dance game, the girls explored other areas of the Arcade and even picked up Qiana who was now holding a stuffed toy bunny in her arms.

Qiana felt surprisingly bothered while watching Astrid's struggles with the pistol and approached her to offer some assistance.

"Stupid mutt let me help you," an exasperated sigh came from Qiana who was spectating the trio.

She held Astrid's claws in her hand and gently adjusted the grip on the blaster pistol before correcting Astrid's posture and teaching her how to fire.

Qiana still thought that all of her roommates were unnecessarily troublesome but…. hanging out with them was pretty fun.

She would never admit this of course.

[Zombie Rush Hour – Ending]

[Winner – Mostbeautifulqueen045- 100 zombies killed]

[Second Place- Captainliquid- 89 zombies killed]

[Third Place- Magicrulez – 30 zombies killed]

It wasn't necessary to use your real ID when playing the arcade games so the girls each chose a different nickname.

"Wow Sophie, it looks like you set a new record!" Rachel gasped in admiration.

Sophie replied with a grin and struck a pose with a triumphant expression on her face.

All the training done in the Duke's mansion had not gone to waste and her marksmanship skills were quire impressive.

Astrid was very happy with her score as Qiana's help had caused it to rise from two kills all the way to thirty, so she gave the girl a small lick on the cheek as thanks.

"Ewwwww…. don't do that!" came a furious yell.

Rachel could not help but giggle slightly at Qiana's expression of rage while Sophie ran ahead to check out some of the other games.

It was good to have some days to just relax with friends.

Sophie was exhausted after a long day of playing and just wanted to sleep as soon as possible.

She was under the impression that the evening spar would be cancelled today but Astrid seemed to have a never-ending supply of energy and eventually convinced them to have a quick ten-minute session.

Qiana gracefully declined and decided to do some light reading before falling asleep.

Needless to say, Rachel and Sophie lost quite heavily as both were barely conscious by the end of the duel.

All of this training made Sophie's cultivation soar rapidly and she broke into the second stage of the qi spirit realm.

New acupuncture points opened up and qi flowed through her body cells which brought her firmly into the upper echelons of cultivation among the rest of prodigies.

The star pendant on Sophie's neck gave off a familiar warm glow as qi began to circulate around her body in a familiar pattern.

Spider Whisper Art was unlike any other qi gathering technique as no conscious thought had to be used to activate it.

Once the conditions were met, the qi in Sophie's body would just flow automatically.

"Maybe I should visit the space today" Sophie murmured lazily to herself.

When Sophie opened her eyes, she found herself back inside the empty void with only the stone tablet to keep her company.

Breaking into the qi spirit stage had not made the space undergo any visible sort of transformation but Sophie could feel that her comprehensive skills increased when practicing cultivation techniques in the space.

Sophie was well aware of her biggest weakness…lack of cultivation skills.

Other than a movement technique and a whip technique, she had no other moves in her arsenal.

Taking a few deep breaths, Sophie circulated qi to the tips of her fingers that soon turned into a silvery colour.

Steel-tip Strike!

She had been attempting to master a new technique, but it had been very difficult to make any progress outside of the space.

Sophie could turn the ends of her hands into the silvery colour…. unfortunately, that was the extent of her prowess so far.

She was undeterred by the failure and stopped the circulation before trying again while making minor adjustment to the qi flow.

Concentrate on the pattern.

Keep the flow steady.

Avoid all distractions.

Sophie was so engrossed in the training that she failed to notice that the space behind her warped and a figure soon dropped into the void.

"I found you!" came a loud cry that startled poor Sophie.

She turned around and saw the alien girl who had appeared all those months ago.

It had been such a long time since Sophie had seen another person in the space that she had put the encounter out of her mind after weeks of trying to find her.

The alien was extremely humanoid in appearance with golden eyes and pointed ears that resembled Sophie's.

Unlike the last time where her figure was blurred and shadowy, Sophie could clearly see her image and the girl looked…just like her?

It wasn't that they could be considered identical twins but the structure of the girl's face and something about her smile was very similar to her own.

The main differences would probably be the length of her fangs and the presence of six spider appendages instead of four.

"The empress dowager told me about you…" the alien disappeared from her location and appeared right in front of Sophie with an overbearing air.

Sophie clenched her fists tightly and prepared for a fight with the aggressive sounding creature.

She was unsure of what would happen if one sustained an injury in the space, but one could not help but be careful when facing off against the unknown.

"I didn't know that my niece was so adorable!"

Before Sophie could react, she found herself swept up into a tight bear hug by an enthusiastic…

…relative???