Supreme Magus

Chapter 3568: Extra Steps (Part 1)

The puppy experienced the warmth of a cuddle and the joy of barking while chasing its own tail. The small birds chirped and darted through the air like there was no tomorrow. Because there wasn’t one.

The small Demons faded away as soon as their grievances were resolved, the happiness Elysia gifted them broke the feeble shackles that chained them to the world of the living and allowed the Demons to move on.

While the father issued his call to the lost souls, the daughter answered theirs. She gave the souls the opportunity to experience happiness rather than vent their rage.

Watching the small Demons fade away saddened Elysia because she believed to have made new friends who for some reason abandoned her soon after they met. She felt their absence with her eyes as well as in her heart.

"They are not abandoning you, baby girl." Lith lifted Elysia in his arms. "They love you and are grateful for what you did. They left because they had to go back to their parents."

"Dad?" Elysia used the word to ask: "Really?"

"Yes, sweetie." Lith nodded. "Go back to play with your friends but don’t make more shadow friends."

"Why?" Valeron and Shargein said in disappointment.

To them, the Demons were just cute mystical creatures with which they could play. Their disappearance didn’t upset Valeron and Shargein since Elysia could always conjure more.

"Because if she gets tired, she’ll fall asleep and won’t be able to play with you for today." Lith replied.

Shargein and Valeron the Second gasped in horror and joined Lith in his request.

Elysia felt a bit weird after experiencing the emotions of her Demons but her baby brain soon dismissed the issue. Especially when Dhiral conjured a wood construct he used to wrestle on equal terms with Shargein.

"Challenge!" Dhiral said from the cockpit of his wooden combat suit.

"Challenge accepted!" Shargein wagged his tail excitedly and stood on his hind legs.

On the opposite corner, a small Tiamat faced an equally small humanoid Skoll in the cutest battle on Mogar. Solkar was older, but after shapeshifting Elysia grew bigger, matching his size.

"Does this happen often?" Jirni held Dripha to her bosom as the children tussled and threw each other around, afraid for her daughter’s safety during her future playdates.

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"How does he do that?" Marth blurted out, confirming Jirni’s fears. "How do you go from shaping wood to animating it in a few minutes? I have fourth year students who can’t shape ice with such a degree of precision by using water magic."

"To Dhiral’s defence, a wooden construct is easier to form than a hard-light one." Lith tried to allay his friend’s worry. "Your son is manipulating living plants that have their own mana and mass, or his mana core wouldn’t be enough to do something like this."

"Yeah, right. Easy." Marth grunted. "Can you do something like this, Lith?"

"I don’t know the first thing about controlling plants, Duke. Maybe Ryssa…"

"Don’t look at me." The Dryad replied. "I’m trying to learn from my eleven months old son how to use the bloodline abilities he has inherited from me."

"I can see why you named your son Manohar the Second, Duke." Orion patted Marth’s back. "He has a bright future in front of him."

"Please, don’t call him that." Just hearing that name made Marth want to scream. "The only thing that kept me sane while I worked with Manohar was the thought that I could quit my job whenever I wanted and be free of him.

"I can’t quit being a father and turn my back on my son." He sighed heavily. "Lith, you have to promise me you won’t use Light Mastery in front of him. I don’t want to learn how deep the Manohar hole is unless it’s absolutely necessary."

"I promise." Lith nodded.

"Thank you." Marth nodded. "The next eleven years are going to be hard, but once Dhiral goes to the academy, I should have a bit of respite. Let’s hope he’s not a troublesome student like Manohar the First."

"What if he enrolls in the White Griffon and you have to deal with him as his father and Headmaster?" Jirni asked.

"I need a drink." Marth replied as color drained from his face. "Something strong."

"It’s eleven in the morning." Orion pointed out.

"Which means sixteen hours after dark." Marth turned around and entered the Mansion.

"I still need an answer to my question." Jirni said.

"This doesn’t happen often." Lith replied. "Only when we put all the babies together in a wide space."

"That’s like saying ’always’ but with extra steps." Jirni grunted.

"Don’t be like that, Jirni. Look at Surin and Milla." Elina pointed at the baby girls who were sitting in front of the improvised ring, giggling. "Do you think Brinja and I would leave our daughters there if they were in any danger?"

"Here, let me show you." Brinja dragged Jirni near the play area, clapping her hands to draw the children’s attention. "Come here, I want to introduce you to a new friend."

The fight stopped immediately and the babies looked at the two women with curiosity.

"Children, this is Dripha." Brinja gently nudged Jirni who showed the kids the baby girl.

"Dripha." Shargein, Valeron, and Manohar the Second echoed.

"Difa." Elysia tried her best.

"She’s the youngest and she’s weak." Brinja continued. "You have to take care of her and protect her."

The Divine Beasts and Solkar sniffed at the baby girl like hunting dogs while Manohar the second looked at her with compassion. He remembered all too well the struggles that accompanied having such an inefficient, puny body.

He remembered everything since the day he was born, but luckily for his parents, they had no idea about it.

Dripha looked at the weird flying things for a second and then started to cry.

"I’m sorry." Brinja said. "I didn’t expect her to get scared."

"She’s not scared." Jirni wrinkled her nose from the stench. "She needs a fresh diaper."

***

While Jirni rested at the Verhen Mansion and Orion improved on the security of the Ernas household, Quylla and Friya squealed in joy the moment Dripha so much as looked at them.

"Did you see that? She tried to say my name." Friya said.

"Dream on. That was a burp." Quylla replied.

"Burp or not, our Dripha is without a doubt your mother’s daughter." Orion grunted in mock anger. "So young and she’s already a trickster."

"No offence, Dad, but she has done nothing all day aside from lying on her back. How is she a trickster?" Quylla asked.

"Because of this." Orion pointed at the baby’s iris near the pupils where the brown had turned into a clear blue. "And this."

He moved Dripha’s thin hair, revealing a single yellow streak.

"You couldn’t let me win for once, could you?" Orion snorted.

"That doesn’t mean anything, dear. A baby’s eye color can change during the first six months." Jirni replied. "And this is just an elemental streak. It means Dripha is attuned to the air element."

"Still, she now carries a bit of you with her and it makes me love our daughter even more." Orion kissed Jirni, making her blush like a little girl.