Chapter 99 | Dinner’s Ready
The moment the needle pierced her skin, Dexter felt the pain instead of Selene feeling the sharp prick of the needle, because ikf the Ring of Shared Burdens.
As the serum entered her system, Selene inhaled deeply.
The violent tremors that had begun to ripple through her body slowly subsided and her breathing steadied, the dangerous buildup of frost within her body began to recede.
Unconsciously, her cold fingers wrapped tightly around Dexter’s forearm, pulling it closer to her body as she sought out the comforting warmth radiating from his Flame Demon bloodline.
Dexter administered the full dose and carefully withdrew the empty syringe. But Selene still didn’t let go.
He stood there in an increasingly awkward position. He was hunched slightly over the bed, one arm trapped in Selene’s surprisingly strong grip.
Mira sat mere feet away with her eyes closed, though there was a fault smirk at the corner of her lips,
Meanwhile, Lyra kept glancing curiously at Dexter.
’This foodie.’
Dexter could tell immediately what Lyra wanted. He made a mental note to buy a variety of snacks the next time he went out, something she could munch on whenever she felt hungry between meals.
That way, she wouldn’t have to wait for him to cook every time her bottomless stomach demanded attention.
After a few more minutes of standing there like a human radiator, Dexter gently tapped Selene’s hand.
"Selene," he whispered. "It’s done. You can let go now."
Her eyes fluttered open. For a brief, disoriented moment, she seemed confused about why Dexter was saying to let go.
Then she immediately realized she had been holding him all these time.
"I- sorry."
Her pale cheeks flushed and she immediately released his arm as if his skin were burning hot.
She quickly pulled her hand back to her lap and lowered her head, unable to meet his gaze.
Dexter chuckled softly, pocketed the empty syringe, and turned to leave. As he reached the doorway, he paused and glanced back at the three girls.
Then he quietly closed the door behind him and returned to his room.
***
Sitting back down on his bed, Dexter reached into his system storage and pulled out three shimmering crystals.
They were the Bloodline Evolution Stones, the rewards he had received from the system quite some time ago.
In the chaos and emotional turbulence of the past few days, he had nearly forgotten they existed.
A Bloodline Evolution Stone was a priceless treasure.
According to the system, it could grant an entirely new bloodline to someone who possessed none, or it could evolve an existing bloodline by one full grade.
With these stones, the girls could potentially awaken bloodlines that would drastically increase their overall strength, accelerate their healing, and amplify their existing talents.
He had three stones. One for each wife.
The question was how to give them. If he simply handed the crystals over, the girls would immediately bombard him with questions about where he obtained such impossibly rare treasures. They were already suspicious of him after the second awakenings. Handing them bloodline stones would only add fuel to that fire.
He would need to find a subtle way to deliver them, perhaps integrating them into their meals, or slipping them into their bodies while they slept.
For now, he placed the three stones carefully back into his storage ring and closed his eyes.
It was time to cultivate.
Dexter sank deep into meditation and the two blazing Star Nodes within his inner universe began to spin, generating a powerful gravitational force that reached outward into the physical world.
Across the hallway, the three girls resumed their own cultivation of the Grand Cosmos Scripture.
Mira’s five awakened Star Nodes hummed with power. Selene’s four nodes pulsed steadily. And Lyra’s two nodes rotated along.
As the four of them cultivated simultaneously, something extraordinary began to happen.
Invisible currents of mana started flowing through the entire house.
But as the minutes passed and their absorption rates climbed, the flow intensified dramatically.
The mana in the surrounding neighborhood began to drift toward the bungalow.
The phenomenon was identical to what had occurred the day before.
A Mana Hurricane.
There was no wind. No physical force moved through the house. Yet the window curtains billowed outward as if caught in a violent gale.
Outside, anyone with even a basic sensitivity to mana would have felt it if it weren’t for the protective barrier.
Dexter didn’t fully understand the phenomenon himself. He knew it was a byproduct of their cultivation, but he didn’t realize the true significance.
Three girls with S-Rank mana affinity and one man with an SSS-Rank affinity, all cultivating simultaneously using a 7th-Tier technique and 9th tier technique.
It was like placing four massive vacuum tubes in a single small room and turning them all on at maximum power.
Dexter cultivated through the afternoon and deep into the evening.
"RIIIIIING!"
He only stopped when the alarm on his phone rang out, breaking his meditation.
He had meticulously set alarms for every meal, as well as an alarm every four to five hours specifically to take Mira to the restroom.
It was a necessary schedule, given her paralysis.
Rising from his bed, he walked to the girls’ bedroom door and knocked twice.
Come in,’ a soft, melodic voice echoed directly inside his mind.
Dexter chuckled. Even after hearing it a few times, Lyra’s telepathic voice was endearingly cute.
"It’s dinner time already," Dexter projected back, leaning against the doorframe. "You guys should come and—"
He hadn’t even finished the sentence before the door snapped open. Lyra’s face popped out, her eyes wide and sparkling with hunger.
Dexter let out a laugh and pointed toward the kitchen. She didn’t need to be told twice; she practically teleported toward the dining table.
Feeling Lyra move away, Selene opened her eyes.
"Dinner is ready," Dexter told her softly. He then looked toward Mira. "Dinner is ready, Mira."
Selene nodded and stood up. She glanced between Dexter and Mira’s wheelchair, but Dexter simply shrugged. "I’ll take her. You go ahead."