Reaper of the Martial World

Book 8: Chapter 176: Birthday (2)

The atmosphere froze, even Dyon himself froze. What the hell was this girl saying?

Partner? That was a term only used between Beast Master and Beast or husband and wife, there was no other context. Considering the circumstances, Damaris was definitely asking to become Dyon’s beast companion.

“Why?” Dyon’s brows furrowed slightly.

He wasn’t opposed to the idea, but Damaris doing this would put unnecessary stress on his relationship with the Agios Clan. The matter of Giralda now being his subordinate was already on shaky ground, if Damaris too acted like this, they might believe there was some foul play involved even if Dyon did nothing. And, even if they learned that there was no such foul play, that wouldn’t stop them from feeling uncomfortable at the end of the day.

“Because I want to.” Damaris grinned like an innocent child. It wasn’t the kind of smile one would expect to see on a beauty of her caliber, it felt like it deserved more of a place in a children’s playground.

Dyon felt like facepalming. She was straining the relations between two Clans because she wanted to? That was all? No grand or philosophical reasonings, just a simple whim?

“We… Will talk about this another time. Now isn’t appropriate. You have the future of your Agios Clan on your shoulders. Your sister’s potential was already largely derailed, don’t ruin your own.”

“I have a feeling that becoming your Partner will have the direct opposite result.” Damaris said defiantly. But, seeing Dyon’s glare, she lowered her head like a child who knew she was wrong.

“The Agios Clan doesn’t need me.” Damaris said softly. “There’s nothing stopping big sister from retaking her place as Heiress now. And, even if she doesn’t, my little nephew is amazing.”

Damaris smiled, tippy toeing to ruffle Ryu’s hair.

The boy had grown tall in recent years. Not as tall as Zaire, but definitely tall enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dyon. Even to now, he remained a mute, though. No one seemed able to get him to talk. Though, from what Dyon could tell, he was an incredibly gentle person. He showed this with his actions rather than his words, it made his resonance with nature far higher than even his own mother and without question far better than his aunt’s.

“Princess, can we…” An outer elder cleared his throat. “… Can we wait to talk about such important matters when your Royal Father and the Empress make their way back? The Conference should be starting in just a few months…”

Damaris pouted, wanting to argue some more, but Dyon’s meaningful gaze stopped her.

Seeing the odd atmosphere, Dyon immediately took action to sooth it.

“Don’t worry about anything. All elders of your Agios Clan can place requests for themselves. Simply use our alliance’s channel and someone will handle it for you.”

Dyon’s words snapped the elders out of their uncomfortable feeling. They had thought that the support of the Planet Lord would be limited, but who would have known that even they as low-level elders could make requests of their own so simply.

Who among dao experts didn’t have countless resources they had accumulated over the years? The issue was using it efficiently. After all, the number of Moon Lords was pitifully small in their tower quadrants. But, Dyon gave them an outlet to use these resources. Many could see potential for breakthroughs where they had previously stagnated.

The best part was that Dyon even provided a few formulas for pills they might be interested in. Of course, these were just the ingredients and a description of the pill, so the most important parts were missing, but even still, if the summaries were accurate… They couldn’t slow the beating of their hearts.

Dyon let them know that comet and moon grade requests could be fulfilled within a few weeks while planet grade requests would take a few years, but even that didn’t seem to dampen their enthusiasm. What was one or two years to the life of a dao expert?

Dyon signaled Damaris with his eyes. It was best if they went now, before she said something ridiculous again.

Damaris smiled bitterly before turning toward a massive vault.

Dyon couldn’t have imagined something of this caliber in his mortal world. It was an over 50-meter-tall wall of silver and bronze metal, outfitted with countless turning dials. But, what was likely even more impressive was its thickness.

Damaris’ small hand seemed to awaken the vault doors, causing the dials to turn amongst themselves. It was a complex system, but Dyon felt that he saw through it. Those dials, they were almost like star charts and they turned to represent positions over time… Basically… The Agios Clan’s secret code was the day their Clan was founded… Or… Their birthday.

Dyon felt his lip twitch when he saw this, but he refrained from saying anything. Imagining a mighty Dragon Clan using their birthday as their password was forcing him to use every muscle in his body to not die of laughter.

Luckily, the next scene was enough to take his breath and that laughter away. It was a scene that could only be described as heavenly – a true Heaven, descended upon the mortal plane.

The water was a mix of light pink and lavender, cascading downward into a near endless number of lpwer tiers. These tiers, however, didn’t rest upon land, but rather clouds of pink. In fact, even the thick vault doors gave way to allow a fog of pink to enter the deep underground structures of the Agios Clan.

And that smell… The kind that made your body shiver and your nose twitch for more… The smell of a woman you loved with all your heart.

Paradise. That was Calming Lake.