Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-243

[Day 170]

Today in the morning I decided to contact my servants and family back on my Kingdom, everything was going quite smoothly. Nephiana (Harpy Girl) was still diligently taking care of the eggs with her father's help. To her surprise the eggs have not hatched yet and are still developing, surpassing the estimated time that she had for them to hatch, which was around a week. I've also inspected them with my Slime Clones there, they are getting bigger, which is abnormal for laid eggs, as eggs usually don't grow in size but the chick inside.

This was perhaps attributed to their unique traits and my lineage. The seven eggs also had a very strong Magic Aura, something that shouldn't even be developed in such young babies. They perhaps inherited my Aura right away instead of developing one of their own with the blessings given like my previous children. Nephiana said that their Auras had a similar smell to mine, but that the chicks were slowly changing it into their own thing.

Also, it seems that the seven chicks were using their Auras to "connect" with each other, seemingly nourishing each other constantly, it was a very mystical thing, even Nephina ended up connecting with them with her own Lesser Wind Aura and ended up being nourished by our children, she also gives them small quantities of her Magic. Hmm, now that I've learned all of these "Cultivation" techniques using Magic or Aura, what they were doing wasn't so different than this… Hopefully, my children take their time inside of their eggs so I can be there when they hatch. Due to this, I felt the determination to finish this Dungeon quickly if possible.

Because of Nefertiti being the Boss of floor 69, we thought that we could perhaps skip this one, so we need to rush towards floor 80, where the seventh boss is. We are currently in floor 63, where Nefertiti's city is, and we need to go through six more floors to reach floor 69, where presumably nothing is there, but I have my doubts, the Dungeon may have made a new Boss in the time that Nefertiti escaped that place. So, we need to be somewhat cautious. If there is even a Boss there, I would like to taste it today.

Nefertiti will stay here resting, we had already made a Soul Contract so she is mine and won't be running anywhere, (and it's not like she could). Her personality had switched to a very "motherly" one. It all happened quite fast. Anyways, waking up I found Amiphossia still sleeping like a baby over my body, squishing me. Valentia was now on the left side as well, and Aarae, Vudia, and Ailine too! But the rest of my wives were nowhere, it seems that they left the children to be with me this morning.

Haah~ Well, it's not like I don't like this, feeling the warmth of my beautiful children fills my heart, even if I am being squished, it is a very pleasing feeling, I would like to stay like this forever… I wish there weren't any more threats and that we could live peacefully forever…

For that, I need to get stronger, until nothing more is a threat to us. Then, I will be able to create a safe place for my family to grow and live peacefully without any disturbances. A slow and relaxed life, I don't know when did I start to desire this so much… Perhaps fighting so much as got me tired a little bit. Anyways, it's not like I've lost motivation, it's the contrary, now I'm even more motivated to become unparalleled!

I gently caressed my children until they all woke up. Amiphossia glanced at me with her big scarlet eyes. Her Aura had turned into something eerie and phantasmagoric that could scare away most normal people, but for me, she was my beloved daughter.

"Mommy, good morning… Ah! Was I crushing your body? S-Sorry!"

"Don't worry, I can shapeshift into a Red Slime, so it didn't hurt. I actually like it when my beloved daughter is sleeping over my body, so I can warm your usually cool body.

Amiphossia is both a Lamia, a cold-blooded species, and a Vampire, who are known to be as cold as ice too. This made her body very cold, and her affinity with Phantasmal Magic didn't help, giving her an even bigger icy body and Aura. This is why she seeks my warm body, which is abnormal for Vampires.

My warm body is due to my [Heart] Skills, especially the Skill that I fused with them, the [Wyvern Overlord Heart], or whatever it was called. This Skill changed my heart and made it pump very warm blood, which made me regain the warmness of the living while being an Undead. My Immunity to Fire was what most likely made my warmblood don't burn my body to ashes.

Talking about [Heart] Skills, there are two types, the [Heart] in the literal sense, being an organ change Skill, that would shape my heart into that monster that I ate, and the [Heart] skill on the meaning sense, that would boost my mentality or talents and it's not related to one's internal organs. Nonetheless, I was able to fuse both anyways and obtained all of their benefits at the same time.

Anyways, my children had already woke up, Vudia and Ailine were very close to me, looking at me with their cute shiny eyes. Suddenly, both started to kiss my cheeks in a show of affection. I couldn't help but hug them tightly, my beautiful princesses are just too cute. I then started to tickle their adorable and little bodies.

"Hehehe! Mommy, don't tickle Vudia…! Heheh…"

"Mama, it tickles…! Hehehe…"

"I just couldn't help but tickle these two adorable princesses in front of me!"

Then, Amiphossia and Valentia wanted to play around as well, but their big bodies were too much for me and ended up burying me alive. Thankfully Vudia and Ailine escaped in time. In the end, I tickled them as well and saw Valentia and Amiphossia laughing as if they were as young as Vudia and Ailine.

Well, although they are not as young, they are still pretty young, not even a year old in fact, so perhaps because of their quick growth, I've been seeing them as more mature than they really are? Sigh, due to this, I decided to spoil them more and tickled them until they couldn't laugh anymore.

Aarae was also included and was not left out, however, because of his shy personality, he didn't ask for it but seemed interested and excited about playing around in a tickle fight. He obviously lost to my masterful hands. And laughed as I've never seen him before. I then kissed his forehead and cheeks and told him that I loved him dearly.

After our playing around ended, we decided to take a family bath together, the only one missing was my boy Ryo, but I was already accustomed to him not being as close to me. Nonetheless, I know he loves me so I don't want to bother him so much.

The bath was very enjoyable, the aromatic soaps made by Nefertiti were delightful and good for one's skin. I washed my children's back and part of their lower half. Amiphossia, Valentia and Aarae, who had snake and fish tails instead of legs needed to be washed more carefully, but using my [Water Creation and Manipulation] alongside [Heat Manipulation], I was able to wash them with care.

Also, in the middle of the bath Amiphossis shredded her snakeskin, it made her lower half very sensitive and irritated, so I applied some of my Slime, specifically one made to stop irritation. This Slime was once secreted by the Pink Sakura Slimes that I found near the Water Shrine Dungeon. After eating a bunch, I gained the ability to secrete this special Slime. After my massage on her whole snake tail, Amiphossia felt very relaxed and the irritation was long gone, her snake tail was "nude" as it lacked a lot of her scales, which would grow back in the following hours like new.

Nesiphae had changed her snakeskin before, so I was a little bit used to this, I always helped her out with this Slime, and before I obtained it, with special herbs pastes made by Kusuri.

When I had bathed everyone, we dressed up again and went to have breakfast, Nefertiti's concubines quickly greeted us as they started to serve us breakfast, it reminded me of the maids of my castle. I miss seeing Sakura's cute face, she always greeted me with an adorable smile.

After eating breakfast, which now consisted in mostly Familiar and Monster Meat, fruits and other things that I specifically shared from my Item Box with Nefertiti's concubines for them to cook (and eat), I went through different rooms on the large palace and greeted my wives one by one. A big group of them was outside practicing and sparring. Oga was energetic today, perhaps because she rested a lot yesterday.

"Ah! Master Kireina, good morning!"

"Good morning Oga"

Oga was currently sparring with Lilith and was getting beaten a lot by my wife. They weren't even using weapons. But Lilith had grown a lot lately, and her physique, which was already developed, became even greater after taking on the [Legendary Hero Seed]. Although she had developed a slimmer body, she still had the slight fattiness of her Dwarven lineage, which to me, only made her cuter.

Her strong arms clashed against Oga as the Fire Oni tried to contain the powerful onslaught of punches with her arms. Lilith only smiled as she enhanced her punch with her powerful magic and then threw it against Oga's muscular belly, even with such sturdy muscles, Lilith's punch force went through them and made Oga vomit a little bit of saliva, throwing her some meters away with a strong blast of wind. Seeing the Fire Oni Girl fly through the air and crashing on the palace's walls, Lilith then looked at me with a happy smile.

"Good morning, Master Kireina~"

"Good morning… Lilith… You've gotten very strong now, I am impressed"

Over my praise, Lilith's adorably squishy cheeks blushed as her earth-brown eyes looked at me with love.

"Hehe… Thanks…! I'm always working hard; I am not the clumsy Protector from before!"

"Indeed, you've left that long in the past, I'm sure that you would be qualified as an S Class Adventurer by now…"

"Yeah, yeah… But what does it even matter? Those stupid Titles don't really matter at all now. What matters the most for me is to be at Master's side, and to see my family happy"

"Haha… Thanks, I think the same, I'm glad to be at your side… Oh yeah, about your family, I've received some news about several of them evolving their Farmer Classes and leveling up due to their diligence in the farming work. I honestly didn't know that Farmers could get EXP from doing farming… But now it really makes sense"

Lilith nodded as her brown eyes shined with a golden light.

"Ooh~! Those folks are still getting strong. Indeed, Farmers, Alchemist, Blacksmiths and such can get EXP from doing their works as well, and can even level up, but perhaps you didn't know because this only applies to Humans or certain Demi-Human Races, sadly. For the rest, they only learn proficiency EXP, at a slower pace compared to Humans as well"

"So that's how it is… Humans can also evolve their Classes, right? Have you evolved yours?"

"Hehe! That's right! After gaining Light Magic, my Classes evolved and were named [Bright Gemstone Gaia Warrioress] and [Light and Earth Paladin]! I think they're pretty unique, eh? Even if I can't evolve, I still got these tricks behind my sleeve to catch up with the rest!"

"Amazing, the potential of Humans is indeed incredible! I should give you some presents… Perhaps when this is all over"

"Ah! There is no need, Master~ My present is already here on my belly, although it developing very slowly compared to the other children…"

Lilith gently patted her belly as I approached her and gave her a passionate kiss while caressing her belly as well. I could feel the slight Aura of a small life inside, it was shining brightly with energy. It was too small to be even damaged, and Lilith also had incredible armor. However, I still decided to leave some more barriers of magic on Lilith's belly in specific, although she didn't feel any disturbance.

While we were having an intimate time sharing each other's love, Oga was slowly raising her head, being taken aback on how I ignored her, she sighed and clenched her fist.

"I'm gonna get stronger as well, you just watch!"

Afterward, I went around the palace and talked some more with my wives. I also saw Charlotte with Nanako and Rimuru! Rimuru was the new addition there, she was trying to learn Alchemy now, and was interested in all of the chemical stuff. She greeted me with a warm smile as I instructed her in the basics, due to my high proficiency level in Alchemy, I was able to teach her the basics with ease and due to my talent on teaching due to some of my Skills, she was able to learn very quickly, in half an hour she gained the [Novice Alchemist] Subclass.

After two hours of talking with everyone, we had everything packed to continue through the dungeon, reaching floor 64, we were greeted by another forcefield, that Nefertiti manipulated for it to let us go through. On floor 64, some new tasty meals awaited us in the form of strange monsters.

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