Watching the small foot that stuck out of her gently glowing egg, Cely was elated. Her child seemed strong.
The egg shook again, and the foot that had broken through retreated inside. Then, the glow from the egg intensified before, with a burst, the entire egg blew apart like a frag grenade.
"Hihi!"
A small giggle echoed in the room as the figure within the egg was revealed in the dimming glow.
Pearl-white skin lacking any impurities, pure white eyes with platinum-silver pupils. The humanoid form, undoubtedly female, lacked any reproductive organs.
Her hair was the same platinum-silver color as her eyes. It was smooth and silky, cascading down to her middle back.
Most prominent, though, were four appendages sticking out of her back. Again, the same color as her hair and eyes, these spider-like legs were currently splayed wide.
The little girl landed gently on the ground as the last of the glow from the exploding egg faded, and she took in her surroundings.
Look at Cely, whose face was still tear-stained as she smiled at her daughter; the child cocked her head in concern.
"Mom?"
"Yes. I'm your mom."
Although the weird light from the egg had purified the awful feelings she had from Lucifer's words, it did not change the fact that it had just happened. Cely wasn't over it. Far from it. But it's not like she could change the past, and so she could only try to concentrate on the happiness of what had just occurred.
'I'm a mother now.'
Tears, again, welled in Cely's eyes. This time, though, of happiness. Cely opened her arms and picked up her child, taking her into a hug. Devouring others had truly made her more emotional.
The hug lasted for three minutes, as she stroked her daughter's hair and enjoyed the sensation of closeness and calm it gave her. Finally, Cely pushed her daughter forward, holding her in the air.
"Your name will be Aria. Aria White."
"Oke~"
Aria nodded her head cutely, gladly accepting the name. Although just born, she was born with intelligence and knowledge. The most important reason for that was five runes engraved on her soul.
Of them, two shone brighter than all the others. One, a towering tree, embracing the world. The other, a beast, with its form ever-changing.
These runes were blessings of gods. Gods rarely gave blessings. They consumed part of their Origin Energy and could not be reclaimed unless they advanced further or reached the level of Primordial Gods, where they could start recovering Origin Energy on their own.
Naturally, the two most prominent runes were from Gaia and Chaos, yet the other three were not so clear.
One depicted a dragon bathed in blood. Another, a web that stretched between everything. And the last seemed to represent absolute purity. This last one was likely being the reason for the egg's glow and Aria's flawless appearance.
Though the appearance could also just have been Cely's genetics.
Suddenly, a system notification interrupted her.
[Congratulations! You obtained unique pet: [Devouring Mycelium of Purity: Aria]]
[New tab added to system.]
Seeing this, Cely was pissed. How dare it categorize her daughter as a pet?
'I will ask Edward to remove it. I feel like if I keep it around, whatever has caused Lucifer to behave this way might just use it to influence me as well.'
She knew that something had almost certainly manipulated this system before. Getting three grains of AO-500 and even something like the Book of Null is completely abnormal. She suspected that Lucifer made it drop the book, and something else gave her the grains so she would be able to survive the use of her past power without damage.
She hated this feeling of dancing in the palms of others' hands. She wasn't used to it. And she never wanted to be.
Looking back at her daughter, who was still smiling at her while being carried, Cely made up a plan of action.
First, go to Dan and tell him to get Edward so the system can be extracted and destroyed. Then, inform them of her decision to leave for the Central Continent and request a detailed map so she could navigate properly. Before settling there until she advanced to Transcendant God again. At that point, return to Earth. She would see from there.
"Hey, Aria. Can you make something like my clothes to cover yourself up? I know it seems weird since, technically, you are still naked all the same, but it's just to make others less uncomfortable, okay?"
Cely said, pointing at the sleeve of her robe that dissolved into a mycelial mass.
"Mhm!~"
Aria kept nodding in understanding before attempting it herself.
Her roots pressed out of her humanoid form, quickly entwining and covering her whole form. At some point, though, it all kind of fell apart, as the mycelial roots retracted back into Aria's form.
Pouting, Aria tried again and again. Slowly but surely, the time it took to create the clothes decreased, while their lifespan increased.
After 15 minutes of hard work, Aria had finally done it. Clothed in a sweet little silver floral dress, Aria giggled and twirled in delight.
Cely smiled at this, pride welling up in her. Her little daughter was talented. She could tell.
Though, to be sure, she took something out of her storage ring that she had prepared.
It was a translucent white orb.
"Aria, darling, put your hand on here."
The giggling Aria looked over to her mother's outstretched hand, on which the orb lay, with curiosity.
"What is?"
She asked, pointing at it.
"This is a Talent Pearl. It is intended to test your aptitudes in cultivation. This way, I know what path you should take down the line."
Although Aria didn't quite understand what some of those words meant, she went forward, fully trusting her mother anyway.
Laying her hand on the Talent Pearl, she kind of expected something to happen. Though it was still.
"Now. Concentrate on breathing. Feel how the air flows into you. Get a grip on that feeling. That motion that follows it. And guide it to the palm touching the Talent Pearl."
Nodding her head at Cely's instructions, Aria tried. At first, she couldn't really feel any difference. But after a few minutes of trying, something changed. Aria could feel a kind of force flowing inside herself with the flow of the wind.
The next moment, after she guided that force to her palm, the Talent Pearl changed, numbers appearing inside of it.
Spirit: 879
Mind: 680
Soul: 933
Body: 351
Bloodline: 954
Martial: 124
Fire: 530
Water: 912
Wind: 865
Earth: 420
Lightning: 718
Light: 997
Darkness: 204
Life: 996
Death: 34
[...]
There was way more than this, but Cely could only really focus on a few of these numbers. Specifically, the five talents, which reached over 900.
Cely was dumbfounded. Yes, her genes were good. But even then, having her daughter be so highly talented in five different paths is insane. Even more absurd, two of these reached over 995, a major landmark of talent.
Overcoming her shock, Cely was delighted. Knowing that her daughter wouldn't be left too far behind as she advanced, what else could she wish for? Truly, she couldn't hope to get a child with a 999 talent. That's just unreasonable.
Looking at her daughter's talents, it was clear that the path of light would be Aria's future cultivation direction.
Light was one of the seven elements. All seven have, practically speaking, the same way to be cultivated. First, use Inate Life Energy to temper the body and prepare it for the foreign energy.
Then, sense the Elemental Light Energy in the air and try to guide it into the body. Using the cultivation technique's specific pathway, refine the energy into one's own and absorb it into the dantian to break through to the Light Accumulation Realm (Tier 2).
Elemental pathways all follow the same realms, just using their own specific element. The order is like this:
Elemental Accumulation; Elemental Attunement
Elemental Foundation
Elemental Core
Elemental Soul
And then, the 10 Immortal Realms. At divinity, all paths converge, so there is no need to differentiate anymore. Usually, though, the path is taken as a Divine Title, through which faith can be channeled to the title holder.
(Cely's title was shown in the previous chapter as the chapter name)
Back to what Cely and Aria were doing, though, Cely tapped her daughter's forehead with one of her fingers. After a flash of light, the entire Light Energy cultivation technique was transmitted to her daughter.
One of the few pros of being so old is having seen the best of every path in terms of cultivation techniques. So, she could just give her daughter one of the ones she already has, instead of having to go out to buy one that might not meet her standards, or sit down and make her own.
Aria stared forward blankly for a few seconds before all the information was digested.
"Mom... should I... use?"
"Yes. Come. Sit down here on the mat. I will guide you slowly through this."
Aria sat down on the mat, trying to find a comfortable way for a few seconds before finally settling on a cross-legged position. Looking at her mother, who stood behind her, crouched to get assurance and confirmation. Aria was met with a smile and a nod.
Wasting no time to calm down, Aria began to attempt to sense the Light Energy in the air, with Cely slowly giving tips, trying to give her daughter the best possible start.
Unconsciously, Cely smiled in contentment while teaching. The memories of her oldest friend betraying her were not gone. Just sidelined for what she found truly important right now.
After all: What could beat teaching her daughter?