As Muku and his girls were having a heated conversation telepathically. Althea was observing them from a distance.

There was no way she wouldn't do such a thing right? They had just met so she didn't trust them at all. Even if they were no threat to her.

After all, their background and strength were too mysterious. Sure they answered what she asked and she sensed no lies. But she still felt like she was missing something.

So she hoped to spot what she was missing by spying on them.

Unfortunately, she got nothing.

But that just made her even more suspicious of them. After all, it was clear that they were communicating somehow. She just didn't know how nor felt anything. Which should have been impossible considering their power difference.

"Interesting. There really is more to them than just luck huh? Even if I don't meet that variable, maybe they will be enough. How to get them to trust me though..." Althea spoke to herself.

That's right, she was being truthful when she said she meant them no harm. After all, Monarchs weren't inherently evil or twisted. They all had different personalities. It was just that most let their power get to their heads.

Though there are total scum like Ares who were rotten from the start.

Anyway, Althea tried to figure out how to make them trust her more and maybe bring her into their secret communication method.

She thought of showering them with gifts, but that seemed way too sus and obvious even to her. Only people with terrible intentions do that. At least most of the time. Especially when there's no justifying relationship between the two parties.

Anyway, that route was ditched on the spot. It definitely wouldn't work. She needed something else... She couldn't think of anything else.

"Eh. I'm not much of a conspirator. I'll just show them my sincerity and hope it gets through to them. After all, I have all the time in the world..." Althea spoke to herself again as she gave up on doing anything out of the norm.

After that, she stopped spying and focused on herself more.

What she didn't notice was the glint of desire that had appeared in her eyes when she looked at the group.

It wasn't that she wanted a romantic relationship with Muku... Or any of the girls.

She just wanted to have comrades as they did.

Ever since she was young, the only close one she has had was her father/master. Her mother supposedly left soon after giving birth because baby Althea was weak and frail which made her feel ashamed as well as hate the baby.

She was a warrior who worshipped strength, so it was somewhat understandable. Not to mention that most beasts didn't care about familiar ties in the first place.

Anyway, every other beast either wanted to use her in some way, feared her, or hated her. This included all her subordinates. They were all scared of the larger-than-life strongest Monarch. Which was understandable really.

But it left her feeling extremely lonely. Even the other Monarchs had cliques. She had no one.

It was one of the reasons why she focused on cultivation more than anything else. There was simply nothing else to do.

At some point, she forgot that she was lonely. But that didn't mean she wasn't. She just couldn't feel it anymore.

That's why she missed it this time and didn't find her actions weird.

Oh, and they were definitely weird. How can a Beast Monarch desire to have weak humans of unknown origins as her friends?

Well, it was Althea's problem to figure out... As soon as she realises she has the problem.

But hey, it was a good thing for Muku's group otherwise they might have long gotten killed...

....

A few weeks later...

Althea mostly kept her distance not wanting to disturb their cultivation which they furiously undertook after their weird silent talk.

She'd only appear when Muku stopped cultivating for breaks and chat with him a bit. She you quite liked those times.

What she didn't know was that at first Muku only did it to see what she was up to. After all, they were still in a weird place completely at her mercy so...

Anyway, after seeing how eager she was to talk, he made sure to come out once a week for an hour or two.

He had noticed what Althea hadn't. And that was her loneliness. As a lover of women, he couldn't just sit by right?

It definitely had nothing to do with Althea being as hot as Audrey. He was just a good person okay?

He felt quite bad for her after learning more about her since she was always ready to overshare when asked.

So he decided to leave her a phone and show her how to surf the internet this time. Yup, it even worked in the secret dimension. That's how Op his mother was. He wouldn't be surprised if it works in the void too... Which unbeknownst to him, it actually did. After all, that's where she calls him from.

Of course, he wouldn't leave her his phone... His search history was on that. A man never risks revealing that for anything!...

They were currently speaking about a random topic on the beast world when he suddenly pulled out his phone.

"What's that?" Althea asked while eyeing it curiously.

"It's a mobile phone. In my world, this is used to..." Muku went on to explain what it was to her.

And as an extremely intelligent being like any high-ranked being really, she understood everything he said easily.

"Okay, so why do you pull it out. Do you want to call someone?" Althea asked confusedly.

"This is a gift from me to you. It's a small way to thank you for everything you've done and are still doing for us. While you say it's an equal exchange, I still feel like we're taking advantage of you. So I'd be honoured if you would acce..." Muku was busy being a gentleman when she snatched the phone and started playing with it with a grin on her face.

She was trying to implement what he had just told her. And seeing it working made her so happy that she couldn't stop herself from smiling with her eyes glowing with happiness.

At that point, Muku stopped speaking. She was clearly not listening to him anymore. Hell, she had probably forgotten that he was there.

As for how she could read it. That was another thing his mother did, anyone could read anything on the phone from the moment they looked at it even if they weren't familiar with the language.

Hell, it even taught the language in less than a second. So Althea was just as good at Muku's language as any human who knew it. Probably better than most even.

[I think it's safe to say you like it right?😅] Muku asked her through text.

[Yes. Very much! Thank you!🤩🥳😘😍🥰] Althea replied instantly.

Looking at the emojis made Muku's mouth twitch. She was already behaving like a typical crazed phone girl from day one. Who knows what she will be like in a day or two?

Maybe she will be using slang he can't understand like the other girls.

[Well, enjoy your phone. I gotta go back to my cultivation] Muku bid her goodbye then got up and left.

[Later!✌️😌😉😘] Althea replied with more emojis than made Muku's lip twitch.

She didn't even look up to say it in person despite him still being right there.

He promised himself never to text her unless it was necessary because he didn't know how much of her weird use of emojis he could take.

He also hoped that the phone wouldn't consume her like it had consumed many before her... Pfft, she was already consumed. He could only pray for her soul now..

.....

A few days later...

Althea finally managed to unglue herself from the phone's screen.

On day one she explored the functions and looked into some random stuff. On day two she discovered K-dramas. And she wasn't able to escape them until now.

"Wow. This thing is amazing. If only I were a human. I would have long had this thing and wouldn't have been so bored all these years. Then again, if I were a human, I might have long died because of one reason or another. So I guess this is fine. But it shouldn't be able to work here from what I know. Let me see what it's made of..." Althea spoke to herself.

Her eyes began glowing a dark purple as she looked at the phone. She was trying to look into it. Which should have happened easily. But it didn't. Her [all-seeing eyes] actually failed her.

Something that has only ever happened when looking at ancient relics. Even the other Monarchs could be seen through. Yet this thing couldn't.

She refused to believe it and focused more. Yet nothing changed.

This made her mad and she decided to prob into it instead of just looking. Which would be her biggest mistake that day...

The moment her divine sense tried to enter the phone and look around, an invisible force repelled it and she was hit by a headache so bad she wished she were dead.

Before she knew it, she fell to the ground and fainted from the pain.

Blood flowed out of her nose and mouth...