Three figures could be seen walking through the garden of the mansion. The serene atmosphere of the garden was in direct contrast to the heated discussion revolving around them.
"Darling, you never explained what all that screaming was about yesterday! Were you hurt or was someone trying to harm you!?"
"That's right! Explain yourself, husband!"
Caught between the heated, curious stares of his fiancees, Nevaris didn't know how to respond. He couldn't just say, 'yeah so I transmigrated into this body, swallowed the existence of the previous Nevaris, and then reconstructed his body for my own use!', now could he.
So, he went for the next best thing.
"I can't tell you guys yet. Let's wait for mom to come back so I can explain it to everyone together. She may have more answers to what happened than I do." he said.
That's right, push it to mom and let her take the heat!
Lilith shot him an unconvinced glare as she huffed and turned her head, "Fine, keep your secrets. You'll spill them sooner or later."
Ana giggled as her eyes shimmered beneath her mask, "We'll be holding you to that promise husband~"
Nevaris turned to Ana, his gaze complicated as he looked at the mask once again covering her face. Noticing his look, her eyes curved as she took his hand in hers and spoke softly.
"It's fine, I am used to it. At least when we are alone I am able to take it off so it isn't all bad."
While he knew she meant what she said, he was still dissatisfied that his wife had to hide her beautiful face behind that stupid mask. He tried to ask Cue for a solution, but the damn guy hasn't been answering him since earlier.
Frustrated, he had suggested they take a walk through the mansion and give them the tour they should have gotten yesterday, were it not for all the craziness of the last 24-hours.
After showing them around, they had finally reached the final spot and the most sacred within the mansion, his mother's garden. Normally, Garren would be with them, but he had left last night to send out a message to his mother and hasn't yet returned.
'And I wanted to spar with him too. How am I gonna gauge my strength now that my punching bag isn't here?' he complained inwardly.
As they walked over to the lake side pavilion and sat down, a curious impulse overtook him.
"Can you guys show me your interface screens?"
The two girls froze as they turned to him simultaneously. While showing someone your interface wasn't necessarily inappropriate, it was a bit of an intimate action. The interface was after all, like a window into the soul.
Coming out of her daze, Lilith smiled arrogantly as she puffed out her chest and spoke in a bragging tone.
"Hehehe, curious to see how amazing this wife of yours is. Well feast your eyes, peasant!"
At her words, a transparent screen appeared in the air between them. Nevaris and Ana both leaned in to look at it curiously.
[Name: Lilith Silkweave]
[Race: Royal Arachne]
[Age: 25]
[Level: 15]
[Evolution Path: Spider of Abyssal Threads]
[Health: 1100]
[Strength: 500]
[Vitality: 1000]
[Agility: 1200]
[Mana: 1500]
"Wow! That's so cool Lilith! Venomborne Arachne are quite rare as a race!" Ana gushed.
Lilith wiped under her nose with a smug look that screamed praise me more as she basked in Ana's praises. Though a mischievous glint passed her eyes as she cast a quick glance at Nevaris out of the corner of her eye.
"Hehe, that's right, I keep telling people I'm a badass but no one seems to listen~"
"She's right, you're pretty well rounded with stats for your level, not bad." Nevaris said with a note of praise, but before she could speak he said, "But what Venomborne Arachne? It says her race is Royal Arachne right?"
The second the words came out of his mouth, the pavilion dropped into dead silence. Ana turned to Lilith in confusion while the woman in question stared at Nevaris in disbelief as her expression shifted shades before deciding on a color.
Indignation.
"Oh come on! Is there nothing you can't do!?" she screamed in helplessness. "Even my unique skill is useless in front of you."
Ana's eyes widened as she looked from the interface screen to Nevaris and then finally to Lilith. "You have a skill that can mask your true attributes? Incredible…"
Being praised again Lilith quickly forgot her dissatisfaction and began peacocking again.
"Of course, my skill [Thousand Mirrors] was tailor made for me. I can make any reality the truth I want." she said proudly, only to deflate slightly as she glared at Nevaris. "But it seems it doesn't work on our "useless" husband."
Ana giggled while the man in question shot her a provocative smirk.
"Tsk, tsk. Thinking you're the only one with a unique skill is quite arrogant don't you think wifey~?"
Lilith blushed at his intimate address as she stammered, "A-Always acting so mysterious. Idiot, dummy!"
The subsequent smirk proceeded to fry her brain as she again thanked the gods for this husband of hers. Ana, ever curious, looked toward Nevaris with wide eyes as she asked excitedly.
"Nevaris, what unique skill do you have that lets you see through Lilith? I couldn't even tell something was wrong."
"A master never reveals his secrets~," he said with a wink.
Ana pouted cutely as she sat back down in disappointment. Not willing to see her looking so down, he decided to compromise a little.
"How about you show me your interface and I will show mine to both of you as a reward?" he said.
Those words instantly reinvigorated her as she hurriedly nodded her head. Within seconds, another floating screen appeared beside Lilith's.
But this screen made both Lilith and Nevaris speechless.
[Name: Anantashesha]
[Race: Titanboa]
[Age: 19]
[Level: 1]
[Evolution Path: Hidden]
[Health: 100]
[Strength: 50]
[Vitality: 100]
[Agility: 20]
[Mana: 1,500,000]
"Holy…"
"...shit."
Nevaris and Lilith spoke in perfect sync, starting and finishing each other's statement. Ana being level 1 was understandable, after all she had spent most of her life locked in a temple without any chance to gain experience to level up.
And while every one of her stats reflected that perfectly, her ludicrous mana stat defied all logic.
'Did she take a loan and dump all her future stats into magic or something?' Nevaris thought inwardly as his lips twitched.
Lilith, never one to hold her words, looked at the screen and then to Ana. She then adopted a serious expression as she said, "Are you the sugar baby of some serpent god?"
Ana blushed furiously as she snapped, "Of course not! I would never do that!"
"Then explain that!" she yelled as she pointed at her mana stat. "Your mana is on par with a fucking demigod for gods' sake!"
Ana laughed sheepishly as she scratched her ear.
Nevaris stared at her interface for a bit before turning to her and asking a question he seemed to already have an answer to.
"The curse?"
Ana paused briefly before nodding her head.
His eyes lit up with a blazing curiosity as he found himself wanting answers to her curse more and more.
'Maybe Cue knows what it is? If only I could reach him.' he clicked his tongue as he thought to himself.
As he observed the two screens, he felt a sense of sudden unreality.
'So this is my life now? New world, status screens, levels, monsters, and two wives off the rip,' he mused, not even really believing it himself. 'What a crazy twenty four hours it's been.'
Of course, someone wasn't content to let him daydream without fulfilling his promise. Seeing him stare off into space without moving, Lilith and Ana each grabbed a cheek as they gave smiles that weren't really smiles.
"Darling you aren't planning…" Lilith started.
"...to renege on your promise, are you?" Ana finished.
Nevaris stared at the two girls holding his cheeks hostage and his thoughts couldn't help but drift back to the face of a beautiful girl who wouldn't lose out in terms of looks to either of them.
He smiled unconsciously as he took both their hands in his.
"Of course not, let me-"
But as he spoke, he stopped. His head snapping toward the entrance of the garden as a familiar figure was making his way slowly toward them.
"On second thought…" he said, a devious grin spreading across his face. "I think showing is better than telling."
Grasping their hands, he turned toward the troubled expression of Garren. The old butler seemed to be contemplating something so deeply, he hadn't even noticed the sudden attention on himself.
"Hey old lizard, I need a favor." he called out.
A vein throbbed on Garren's matured face as he looked at the source of his headache for the past few days. With a sigh of resignation he responded, "What do you require, young master?"
The smile on Nevaris' face widened as his gaze turned predatory.
"Fight me."
Garren paused for a single heartbeat as he looked at him in confusion, thinking that he had misheard.
"You must still have a lot of doubts and questions right?" Nevaris said, the excitement in his voice barely contained. "Well I happen to want to stretch my legs. What better way to reintroduce each other than by working up a sweat eh?"
Garren didn't speak, the distorted, gleeful smile full of sharp teeth was all the answer Nevaris needed. And Nevaris returned that smile in kind.
'Perfect~~!'
As he thought this, he couldn't help but realize that he had smiled more in the day and a half he spent here, than he ever had in his human life on Earth.
As he walked forward with his stunned wives, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"Gods, I love this life."