Cycle Of Life

Unfortunately, Volubilem Slimes are simply too corrosive for Edrick to ‘roll in the hay’ with one of them without assuming the form of one himself. When transformed into a Volubilem Slime, the lovemaking was rather bizarre, and it involved melding together and tapping cores.

Regardless, Volubilem Slimes normally do not reproduce much, if at all. So the scion’s intervention sped up their rate of reproduction greatly, especially since even when they did act to reproduce, one of the two slimes would just end up devouring the other one altogether.

While bad for the purpose of mating, it was good in terms of personal power, as even a subpar Volubilem Slime had high potential for growth. The more one of them devoured others, the more corrosive and larger they would become, all the while their core would barely change in size.

The reason why there were so few Volubilem Slimes was simple: The other species with the ability to do so would hunt and kill any they spotted without hesitation. Even Eltysia herself stated that a Volubilem Slime had the potential to ruin large swaths of the realm if allowed to grow past a certain point.

She herself had never had to intervene to stop this, though. Not only because it had rarely happened in the first place, but also because, while lacking a brain, Volubilem Slimes weren’t mindless, and they knew to control their corrosive nature. This was why they rarely left trails in the ground or grass where they went.

It was especially interesting since the True Champion Of Eltysia Bloodline, being technically made up of the champion bloodlines of all creatures of the realm–Despite originally being that of only the intelligent species at its core–Could allow Edrick to imbue ‘blood’ of Volubilem Slime when impregnating anything or anyone.

He had tried a few things when it came to denizens of this realm, but the appropriate dosages weren’t clear just yet. Some bloodlines were simply too incompatible to function.

Melding bloodlines actually worked better with humans, because Edrick’s ruling bloodline was his original one, and it thus sort of acted as a glue that could keep things together and cohesive when he impregnated a human.

The same wasn’t quite true for the rest…

‘I’ll eventually manage it…’

In any case, there wasn’t much for Edrick to do until he was able to attack Journomanp. He couldn’t really go out, as the next wave of assassins sent his way was likely to be beyond his capabilities, and he would rather not bother the Elt clan with sending protectors every time he went somewhere.

As such, he had to once again push back on meeting Bai Xing and Jingyao Zhenniao. Not that it mattered much. They were too difficult for most to handle, and Anoteros could trust Ku and Ting to keep other suitors away. Especially since time wasn’t much of a concern for talented cultivators. This was something scions of promise learned early. 

It was no secret that retreating into seclusion to cultivate for a while was a typical occurrence even for the youthful… Edrick found it unusual because he inevitably retained perception from his former world, where time was of the essence, always.

…The only resources he bothered his clan to make use of were to protect some of his contacts, like Indoramus.

Anoteros didn’t doubt that assassins would be willing to go after people he had met in the past, or anyone who came to visit him at his residence. 

From the outside, it seemed like Edrick had decided to remain at home until the storm had passed, but he was actually doing a lot, even beyond building up his army.

He let several Underwood Elves work under Shu. His Business Maid was still mostly free to do as he saw fit. Extending her tentacular information-gathering ring and set up fake bandit groups, who were actually agents in charge of not only basic spywork, but also of eliminating any real bandits who might emerge.

It was safe to say that Edrick was the one who had truly dealt with the banditry issues within Leynlornd. Forest- and mountain-dwelling thieves were a thing of the past, but of course, they had always been a rather minor form of criminality anyway, but he was certain that this achievement was something he would be able to brag about down the line.

His information network within Leynlornd was mostly used to find business opportunities and hear interesting rumours. It wasn’t like he had any proper enemies to spy upon… But Shu was working on expanding beyond the borders, and she was seeing good success thanks to the roots already established within Journomanp.

Heldeorlt was a tougher nut to crack, but Anoteros had Leondorl, who would be able to give some intel and help in setting things up for the future.

Coupled with the setup he was doing for future business, it might seem like Anoteros didn’t have that much to do while he was stuck in his residence, but since he was deemed to be there for a while, he was planning on giving extra attention to his cultivation.

He was intent on pushing several more techniques to perfection. He didn’t have to move to order certain materials to help his efforts either.

‘Yep, that sounds good. I’ll set up a proper schedule starting tomorrow. It’s better to do things properly in this way’

As he finally reached the conclusion of his thoughts, he paid attention to what he had been doing this entire time and looked down. Eltysia’s massive bottom was rippling under the repeated strikes of his hips. As per usual, the moment she gave life, she was to be immediately bred again.

An arrangement that made his secret wife very happy. It was all a win for her. She got to receive attention often, and got to expand the realm and its inhabitants as well. Lately, the energy he furnished was also funnelled toward nurturing the nascent consciousness of Natucor, who would certainly be receiving the same treatment once she was ready…

After all, whilst Natucor had become a part of Eltysia, it didn’t receive the same boost as the rest when Eltysia gave birth, so it was still a different realm in technicality.

Edrick raised his arm and delivered a spank to the massive hills before him. He wasn’t getting bored of this mass of goodness in the least.

‘Hopefully, Natucor will have an unusual physique as well. Would be nice’

The scion grunted as he released his life-giving flood within the cavernous depths of Eltysia.

‘I guess Five-Legged Devil Goat Physique is another technique I’ll need to train, heh…’