The second floor of the beverage shop had only two private rooms, but each one was spacious enough to accommodate four females and their beast-husbands.
After leading the four of them into a private room and asking about their preferences, the manager tactfully withdrew.
She went straight into the preparation area and took over one of the drink mixers’ stations.
The drink mixer immediately grew nervous. “Manager, did I do something wrong?”
The manager waved her hands. “No, no, not at all. Go help the others. I’m going to prepare the drinks for those honored guests myself!”
The drink mixer’s eyes lit up. “Manager, why don’t you let me do it instead?”
Those were the Empress and three S-rank honored guests! Being allowed to prepare drinks for them was an immense honor.
The manager shot him a glance. “Are you the manager, or am I?”
No one was going to take this job from her today!
The drink mixer’s inner self gnawed on a handkerchief.
Boo-hoo, the manager was being far too mean. She was actually stealing their work from them.
The drink mixer felt wronged, but had no way to say so.
The manager worked quickly. Ten minutes later, she delivered four different drinks to the private room.
She sneaked another glance at the four guests before quietly leaving the room.
Once the door closed again, Si Zhao glanced at He Youchuan, who was sitting beside her.
He Youchuan understood at once and immediately set up an ability barrier around the room.
He Youchuan was one of the Federation’s few SSS-rank ability users, as well as the official husband personally recognized by the Empress.
His ability barrier was more than enough to block any prying eyes—or machines.
Yunyang pressed her lips together slightly.
It seemed that the Empress had not brought them here today for a simple get-together.
With You Lu and Chu Zhiwei present, Yunyang was not worried. She was merely curious about what Si Zhao wanted to do—or say.
Si Zhao, however, did not rush into the main topic. Instead, she gently stirred the pink drink in her glass with a straw before taking a sip.
“It really is delicious.”
You Lu’s eyes curved with delight. “Sister Zhaozhao, I told you so, didn’t I?”
She was very particular about what she drank. If it had not been tasty, she would never have come back a second time.
Yunyang took a sip as well. A complex yet novel flavor burst across her tongue, and her eyes brightened. Unable to resist, she took another drink.
Her reaction made it obvious that she liked it.
You Lu was filled with a sense of accomplishment at having successfully recommended something she enjoyed.
After Si Zhao smiled and praised her a few times, she took the initiative to start a new topic.
As the absolute ruler, she was neither dull nor old-fashioned. On the contrary, she was a very witty person.
Yunyang had been somewhat ill at ease at first. After all, this was her first time meeting the Empress, and she had not known whether she might accidentally offend her.
But with Si Zhao taking the initiative, she soon stopped thinking about the other woman’s identity, and the trace of nervousness she had felt vanished completely.
When females gathered together, there was always plenty to talk about.
Si Zhao had few taboos and even took the initiative to share gossip about certain nobles with Yunyang and the others.
She had no need to worry about offending anyone.
Such matters were rarely seen on the interstellar network, and Yunyang listened with great interest.
By the end of the afternoon tea, she already had a thorough understanding of several nobles from Central Star.
When their drinks were nearly finished, Si Zhao finally turned to Yunyang and asked directly, “Yangyang, would you like to awaken an ability?”
Yunyang had always used the ability detector Qin Mo had given her.
It was designed for military use, and its results were not uploaded to the Ability Detection Center. As a result, aside from a few of her beast-husbands, very few people knew that she had already awakened an ability.
Of the other three females present, only You Lu had previously guessed that she possessed an ability.
But You Lu had not told anyone—not even her own beast-husband.
Naturally, the Empress assumed that Yunyang had not awakened an ability.
That was precisely why she had pushed aside all her other duties to come here today.
Yunyang did not directly reveal that she had already awakened an ability. Instead, she asked in return, “Sister Zhaozhao… why do you ask?”
Chu Zhiwei explained, “The Federation previously developed a special ability inducer. It can give females with S-rank mental power a second chance to awaken an ability.”
Under normal circumstances, beastfolk awakened either an ability or mental power when they reached adulthood.
It was the only opportunity in their entire lives to awaken an ability or mental power.
However, those who awakened abilities were almost always males, while only females could awaken mental power.
A long time ago, the Federation had begun researching ways for females to awaken abilities and for males to awaken mental power as well.
The research had naturally failed, but by a twist of fate, it led to the development of a special ability inducer.
According to the data, if the user possessed S-rank mental power or higher, injecting this inducer would give them a second chance to awaken an ability.
At the time, countless researchers at the Pharmaceutical Research Center had worked day and night to reduce the inducer’s side effects as much as possible.
But the success rate had been greatly reduced as well.
Before Yunyang, every female who had awakened S-rank mental power without awakening an ability had tried the special ability inducer.
You Lu and Chu Zhiwei were no exception.
Unfortunately, only one of them had successfully awakened an ability—and that honored guest had already returned to the sea of stars.
When Yunyang’s S-rank mental power was first detected, Si Zhao had wanted to ask whether she would like to try the ability inducer.
However, the Federation had too many affairs to deal with, and Yunyang rarely came to Central Star. Si Zhao had never found the opportunity.
You Lu glanced at Yunyang, then at Si Zhao, but said nothing.
Yunyang lowered her eyes to the drink remaining in her glass and wrestled with the decision for a moment.
But soon, she lifted her gaze to Si Zhao again.
Her bright, dark eyes curved into a smile. “Sister Zhaozhao, it’s not that I don’t want to try. It’s just that… I’ve actually already awakened an ability.”
Si Zhao and Chu Zhiwei were both stunned.
“My ability is called Blessing. It can enhance abilities and mental power, but it’s only D-rank. At present, it can increase an individual S-rank ability by fifteen to twenty percent. The same applies to S-rank mental power.”
Yunyang carefully explained her ability.
She concealed only one thing: purifying the contamination in males could increase the strength of her ability.
A D-rank ability could provide a fifteen-to-twenty-percent increase?
Si Zhao suddenly rose to her feet.
As if she had thought of something, she strode over to Yunyang and grabbed her hand.
It was the first time in the Empress’s life that she had lost her composure so completely.
“Yangyang, does it work on all abilities?”
Feeling the warmth of Si Zhao’s palm, Yunyang was somewhat overwhelmed by the honor. For once, she even stumbled over her words. “A-at least, as far as I can tell…”
Si Zhao suddenly smiled.
She clasped Yunyang’s hand tightly. “Yangyang, no matter how many insect cores you need to advance your ability, the Federation will provide them for you.”
“You are the hope of the Federation.”
Yunyang felt thoroughly alarmed by the sudden weight of such a lofty title.
“Sister Zhaozhao…”
Si Zhao did not explain. She quickly released Yunyang’s hand and smiled. “I still have official business to attend to, so I won’t disturb you any longer.”
“Youchuan, escort me back.”
He Youchuan immediately stepped forward and supported her arm.
Yunyang stood with You Lu and Chu Zhiwei, seeing Si Zhao out of the private room.
Even after Si Zhao and her five imperial husbands disappeared from sight, Yunyang still could not figure out why the Empress had said those things.
