Chapter 4225: Grave Mistake (Part 2)

"He’s a good man, and he’s actually human. That’s a part of Ral’s bloodline that I fear might be neglected if we’re not careful."

"How are my cuties?" Solus whispered while caressing the sleeping babies’ cheeks and giving them a full check-up with Invigoration. "You are more perfect and beautiful than when I left you. Know that I missed you a lot."

"It was less than twelve hours ago." Lith frowned.

"Says the guy who can’t get away from Ral for more than five minutes without going berserk." Solus snorted.

"Okay, pot." Lith raised his hands in surrender. "I admit it. I’m a kettle, and I’m black. How did the mission go?"

"We rescued the fungus folk, faced a bunch of unknown Divine Beasts, and came out of a fight to the death alive." She sighed. "Also, Staff here fought like a champ."

Solus caressed her necklace, which cheered in reply.

"You’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning for the details. I’m beat." Solus caressed the babies one last time and stood up to leave.

"You can sleep here if you want." Kamila said, pointing at the Doomslayer crib. "There’s plenty of space, and we can use an extra hand to change the babies’ diapers during the night."

"Yes, thank you!" Solus would have been offended if not for her deep love for the little ones and the crib being very spacious. "Goodnight, guys. See you in the morning."

She wrapped the three sleeping babies in her hair and brought them close to her.

"You wish." Lith grunted after checking his clock. "More like in two hours."

***

Maybe it was due to her exhaustion, or maybe the hair blanket helped Raldarak sleep, but Solus could swear the baby boy didn’t wake her up more than twice the whole night.

"Man, they grow so fast." A familiar voice roused Solus from her sleep. "It seems only yesterday when she was still in diapers."

"Mom?" Solus yawned, feeling something weird that she couldn’t figure out due to her drowsiness.

"Yes, baby girl. I’m your mom. You’re so smart!" The voice definitely belonged to Menadion, but there was a weird mix of emotion and hilarity in it. "Say that again. Call me mommy."

Plenty of snorts and suppressed laughs made Solus go from half asleep to fully awake in a half a second.

The Doomslayer crib was surrounded by most of the Verhens, including the children. Yet she didn’t understand the severity of her situation until she lowered her eyes to look at herself.

"Why am I wearing a onesie?" To make matters worse, her fluffy pajamas matched Elysia’s, just like Raldarak and Valeron wore matching onesies. "Who changed me?"

"I did." Menadion replied. "When I saw you sleeping in a crib, surrounded by babies, I couldn’t help myself. I changed you into a cute outfit and took plenty of pictures."

"You wouldn’t dare!" Solus rolled on all four to stand up, only drawing a closer comparison to Elysia and making everyone chuckle.

"I sure did!" Menadion showed Solus photos of her sleeping splayed like the kids, sucking her thumb, and several other adorable compositions with the babies.

In all of them, the Doomslayer crib was perfectly visible, giving Solus the appearance of an overgrown toddler.

"Are you hungry, Auntie Solus?" Aran offered her a bottle of milk.

"Don’t be rude, Aran." Rena rebuked her. "You know she’s old enough for baby food."

"I’m going to farming bill you all, starting with you, Mom!" Solus snarled.

"Oh, is my bawby angwy?" Menadion said in mock baby babble, lifting Solus as if she weighed nothing and bringing her to her bosom. "Come to mommy."

"Mom, I swear to the gods, put me down or I’ll punch you in the face!" Solus blushed up to her ears.

The noise woke up the babies, who clicked their little tongues at the scene. They fully agreed with Solus’ outrage since they were also hungry, and Menadion had long been marked as a dry well.

***

Many photos and curses later, the family met with Kalla and Nyka for breakfast.

"How do you feel, Kalla?" Lith asked.

"Tired." The Wight sighed. "My body is a mess. I’ll need to wait at least until tomorrow before calling Loma."

"Do you still need their help, though?" Nyka knew that something was wrong when she noticed that Solus looked daggers at everyone and didn’t say a word. "Your mana crystal is almost as good as a life vessel already."

"I wish." Kalla ate her poached eggs, sausages, bacon, and drank lots of water. "It barely works at skin contact and only if I prime its enchantments first."

She clenched the mana crystal for a second, causing it to flash emerald green.

"If I didn’t have the time to do it or if the Ishara took my crystal as his prize, things would have gone much differently. I need all the help I can get to overcome the distance issue.

"The range of a phylactery varies from Lich to Lich, and even a few extra kilometers can make a huge difference."

"Do you mind sharing the scans of the Hordes?" Lith asked. "I’m curious to see if the stories about them holding the secret of the white core are true."

"Excellent idea!" Kalla ate for two Byks. "If we learn the secret of the white, I can ascend before turning into a Lich! It would save me a lot of time fine-tuning my life vessel to host a superior mana core."

"Or maybe, even though I know it might sound crazy, you could skip the part about becoming a Lich, Mom." Nyka’s voice oozed sarcasm. "As a white core, you would already be immortal. What would be the point of turning yourself into an undead?"

Kalla pondered the issue for a while before answering.

"That’s a good point." She nodded. "Yet right now, yours is just wishful thinking, sweetie. I know that I can become a Lich with the help of the Eyes and Ears of Menadion, whereas learning the secret of the white from a Horde is just a legend."

"Then we’ll talk about this again once you’re done with the scans." Nyka sighed, inwardly praying for good news.

During breakfast, Solus projected a family-friendly version of the events in Verendi, emphasizing the Isharas’ skill and the Sage Staff’s initiative.

"Me good!" The Staff cheered for itself whenever it appeared in the hologram.

"I still can’t get used to that thing talking." Orion snorted.

"That’s hypocritical of you after everything you did." Jirni pointed at Ragnarök, Grimlock, and Skywarp, who had turned around to frown at him. "Besides, that’s by far not the weirdest thing we’ve seen here."

Orikan and Jirya bolted across the ceiling, Emperor Beasts sat with the family at the dinner table, and magical beasts poked their heads inside the dining hall through the windows, lured by the smell of food.

"I stand corrected. There’s nothing weird about the Sage Staff." Orion replied with a shrug.

***

After breakfast and away from prying ears, Kalla gave Lith permission to focus the sensory system of the tower on Loma and help her with her studies.

The Horde was true to their word and allowed the Wight to take a full scan of their spores both under normal conditions and when they triggered the resonance effect to achieve a quasi-white core.

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