45 A Blessing? A Blanket?

Exedra put down the spell book he'd just learned as he wiped the blood that was flowing freely from his nose. 

He had only managed to learn four spells this time before his head felt like it was on the verge of exploding. 

The upside? All of those spells had managed to evolve.

< Chaos Spell : Soul Breaking Scythe

Description: Summon an ethereal scythe to deal damage directly to an opponent's soul.

< Chaos Spell : Abyss Hounds

Description: Summon up to three hounds from the abyss and use them to carry out orders.

< Chaos Spell : Seducer's Hymn

Description: Imbue magic into your voice to make weaker beings more likely to obey your

commands.

< Chaos Spell : Sinister Burial

Description: Give shadows mass and crush enemies under a blanket of darkness.

Even though Exedra had exceeded in evolving four spells into much more powerful versions, his mind was still screaming that this wasn't good enough.

His determination to never end up on his knees again had filled him with an intense paranoia.

'Is this all I amount to?'

'I have to push harder.'

'I need more power.'

Picking up a high level spell book, he steeled himself for the pain that he knew was coming.

< Spell book detected.

<Would you like to learn this spell?< p>

'Yes.'

Immediately, his head felt like it was being ripped open and force fed information. 

The nose bleed that had stopped a second ago was now back and worse than ever. 

Despite that, he didn't cry out. 

If he couldn't endure at least this much, how was he supposed to survive in the future?

As the minutes trickled by and Exedra silently endured, an eerily cold feeling suddenly pierced through his body.

He looked around for the source of this uncomfortable feeling and his eyes settled on a shadowy corner in the center of the room.

Sitting in a pool of shadows was a single yellow eye.

Instinctively, the dragon turned his head away.

The feeling that he got from staring into that eye was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. 

He felt that if he glanced for even a second longer his mind would have been sent spiraling into a fit of madness. 

After an unknown amount of time, the eye disappeared and the strange and uncomfortable feeling left with it.

< Host has received the blessing of Maliketh, The First Abyss King.

< Maliketh has transferred to the host his original spell: The Goal of All Life is Death.

< Host has gained a new affinity : Death.

< Passive skill : Soul Sense lvl 1, has been learned.

Just as Exedra read the surprising new message, he became overwhelmed by his mental fatigue and passed out.

A few moments later, Lisa calmly strolled into the library. 

She wasn't usually up at this time of night, but for some reason she was feeling particularly restless tonight. 

She had just come from her daughter's room and was entirely surprised to see that Mira looked quite different and even had the aura of a noble dragon.

'It looks like she and Exedra finally did the ritual and she got the eyes she wished for, though I'm not exactly sure where the black hair came from...' As for Mira's new aura, she just assumed it was a side effect of the ritual.

How else would a young lesser dragon suddenly have the aura of a noble one?

As Lisa headed to her favorite seat in the library, she paused when she noticed that someone she knew was already there.

Exedra was seemingly sleeping peacefully, his mesmerizing, tanned skin and blood red hair both shining with the light from the moon.

As soon as her eyes fell upon his face, it was as if she had fallen into a trance and before she knew it, she was walking towards him.

Lisa stuck out a shaky hand and caressed his sleeping face, desperate to memorize every single detail. 

She noticed their were traces of dried blood around his nose, and she immediately took out a handkerchief to clean it.

"It looks like you've been working yourself too hard... Even if I'm merely your wife in name only, I hope you'll listen to me when I tell you to take better care of yourself..." Lisa's tone was soft and gentle, and she had unknowingly began to sound like a woman in love.

She continued to talk to Exedra in his sleep, as she mindlessly stroked his face.

Her words were varied and contained no real focus, she merely said whatever was on her heart without fearing rejection. 

She lost track of how long she'd spent beside him. 

When the sun was on the verge of coming up over the horizon, she finally realized just how long it'd been. 

She finally removed her hand from his face and prepared to walk away, but she felt like there was something she needed to do or else she'd regret it for the rest of her life. 

Leaning down, Lisa placed a soft and tender kiss on the lips of the sleeping dragon.

She lingered for a moment to ingrain the feeling into her memory before she separated from him and ran out of the library. 

'You're crazy, Lisa! So crazy!'

-

Exedra awoke a few hours later when the sunlight poured into his face and disturbed his blissful sleep.

He was confused about why he'd woken up in the library, but when he remembered last night's events, he immediately became alert and checked his system for answers.

< Blessing of Maliketh, The First Abyss King.

- Increased affinity with the night and all of its creatures.

- Additional buffs in places thick with death.

In addition to his blessing, the dragon also received an original spell that he had never even heard of as well as an extremely rare affinity.

Death magic was something that hadn't been seen in thousands of years and the stories were almost as horrifying as the ones about the void element.

It all left him feeling unimaginably perplexed.

No matter how much he interrogated his system, it did not answer his questions about what the abyss was or who this Maliketh might've been.

He felt his stress building considerably due to a lack of answers, but just as he was on the verge of spiraling, a pleasant sensation spread from his lips to the rest of his body.

All of a sudden he felt much calmer about the situation at hand, though he didn't understand why.

He leaned back in his chair and released a sigh that contained all of his deeply buried frustrations.

"For some reason, I feel like today will be a good day."

- 1 Week later.

"Does anyone know why he called for us like this?" Lailah asked.

Bekka : "Nope."

Lisa : "Sorry, no."

Mira : "Maybe he has somebody he wants us to kill?"

Lailah : "Ahem, I don't think that's it Mira."

Early this morning, Exedra had called for all of his wives and daughter to meet him in the reception parlor for an unspecified reason.

The girls tried to ask Yara if she knew the reason for this, but she simply remarked about how it was nice to be young before walking away with a smile.

Leaving her daughters in law and her granddaughter completely unaware of whatever might have been in store for them.

Mira put her little hand on her chin and seemingly was thinking very hard about something before she reached another conclusion, "Maybe he's going to give us cookies?"

Lailah / Bekka / Lisa : "You just ate breakfast!"

"So?" Mira turned her head in confusion as if she truly did not understand why cookies weren't to be expected.

It's not like she could get fat afterall.

"Well knowing your father, I wouldn't be surprised if he had cookies prepared for you since he knows you're coming." Lailah muttered.

"Yep." Lisa agreed.

"You're probably right now that I think about it." Bekka said.

Mira's eyes glimmered with excitement before her face broke out in a wide smile and she unfurled her wings from her back. "Cookies!!!"

Like a little missile, she took off towards the room at the end of the hall, leaving her mothers in the dust.

"Mira! No flying in the castle!" Lisa cried but it was to not avail.

"Her little wings are so cute." Bekka wore the same pleased expression that she always had whenever Mira was involved.

"You all spoil her too much." Lisa pouted.

"Fufufu, give us a break we've never had a daughter before and she's so cute we just can't help it." 

"But what if she becomes a tyrant one day with no impulse control?"

"Is that a problem?" Bekka and Lailah asked in unison.

"W-what?"

Lailah : "I would still love her just the same."

Bekka : "As would I."

Lisa seemed to realize that she was never going to win this battle in the first place so she rolled her eyes and put on a dissatisfied expression that secretly concealed how happy she was.

It was nice to know that her daughter would always be cared for, no matter what happened.

Reaching their destination, the girls were met with an absolutely stunning scene.

The parlor was filled with fine clothes, dresses, and jewelry of all kinds.

Everything from the brightest gold to the most illustrious rubies and diamonds were laid out in front of them.

Sitting on a couch in the center of the room, was Exedra, with Mira in his lap nibbling on a cookie.

Next to him was a dwarven woman wearing formal business attire and smiling warmly at the three women who'd just entered.

Lisa : "Wow.."

Bekka : "What is all this?"

Lailah "Who is this for?"

Exedra's face didn't show it, but his eyes contained a pleased expression that he couldn't hide.