The next morning, Draco left Zaine's room. Once Zaine had let all her hindrances and hesitations go, she had fully committed to Draco in the same manner as Eva, Hikari and Roma.
As such, Draco naturally became more intimate with her. They didn't do anything s.e.x.u.a.l - of course - since Zaine could literally start giving birth at any moment, but they spoke deeply for almost the whole night until Zaine dozed off.
Zaine truly felt happy deep down for the first time in a long time. It's not that she had been sad or depressed before, but in retrospect, she had felt strangely dull until she discovered the power of emotional bonds.
Then again, it just might be the freshly acquired obsession talking.
Draco called over Roma, who was now up and about with his firstborn daughter in her hands, as well as Hikari and Riveting Night who were doing their own things.
They all sat outside Zaine's room as the other Grandmaster Midwife and her two wet nurses had come in to prepare Zaine for her own birthgiving process.
Rosella sat in Roma's arms and looked around curiously, her reddish-orange eyes scanning the environment for clues as to why she was here. Hikari held Rila, who also seemed intrigued by her horn.
The White Dragoness seemed utterly depressed by her circ.u.mstances. Why did all the children want to pull her horn about? Would her own hatchlings act in the same manner, seemingly trying to turn her brain into mush?
After a few hours, there was some commotion coming from Zaine's room as well. Draco had seeded her with his purest devil blood, minimizing the other aspects greatly, since Zaine wanted a supreme devil child.
Devils were different from demons. Demons boasted immense physical, combat and military might. They were violent, brutal and war-like due to the nature of their home world.
Devils though, were more of a race built around their minds. They had extremely strange abilities, most of them dealing with solicitation, seduction and trickery. They were master of illusions and magical methods related to thoughts as well as emotions.
They weren't like Ultima Sunt who could consume mass and energy like whales to spark growth. Even though the high-tier ones like Zaine could absorb Aether Energy, she had been rendered drunk by just a little of it.
It was unrealistic to expect Draco's second child to be the same as the first in how they were delivered. Rosella had needed all that energy for her bloodline, but this one would suffice with just a little at most.
It didn't mean that this second child would be weaker or lesser than Rosella, only that they had different things they focused on. As such, the birth was silent and more normal than before…
Haha, sike!
Torrents of Aetheric Energy were once again pulled into the room, making Vitae appear in a fl.u.s.ter as he panicked on what course to take. He certainly couldn't deny the Young Masters some Aetheric Energy for their birth, but that was quite literally his lifeblood, and that of the state too!
Draco and Riveting Night shared a look of surprise. They truly hadn't expected something like this to happen again given their considerations about Zaine's child.
It meant that they had grossly underestimated what exactly it meant to be a supreme devil! After all, Mephisto had been bullied by Nakiu for so long, so Devils couldn't be all that great, right…?
Clearly, this was untrue as the child drew in Aetheric Energy for just as long as Rosella had. Even Rosella, the culprit of the last event, seemed a little startled by this change in atmosphere.
While Ultima Sunt may prefer mass over energy, they could still sense it, and even better than Dragons could. They were just really useless when it came to manipulating the energy around by default.
Everybody waited in silence for a verdict to be passed while the thin Vitae looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown.
Soon, the Grandmaster Midwife came out and smiled happily while bowing. "Congratulations, you have an heir. Your son has come into the world healthy and extremely powerful too."
"Extremely powerful?" Draco asked with incomprehension.
"Heh heh, come in and see." The Grandmaster Midwife beckoned them in.
Thankfully this one wasn't as mischievous as the last and she delivered the good news straightforwardly. The whole group filed into the room to see Zaine who was lying lazily her bed.
She was just like Roma, who didn't seem sapped at all. According to Roma, the birth was painless for her because of the Aetheric Energy. It sort of 'yanked out' the baby from her w.o.m.b, and the same must have been true for Zaine.
When Zaine saw Draco, her eyes lit up and she smirked lightly. She patted the spot beside her for Draco to sit.
Draco smiled and went over. The wet nurse who was holding their son brought him over to his parents.
Draco noticed that the lad also took more after his mother than himself. He had dark-skin that was slightly lighter than Zaine's, but his skin gleamed with a certain sheen.
He was slimmer than most babies who were usually chubby, instead his features were sharp like Draco's and Zaine's. He had her nose and mouth, but had Draco's jawline, eyeshape and general head shape.
The little one's eyes had been closed, but he soon opened them and met the eyes of his father. Draco was surprised to see some intelligence there too, although it was nowhere near Rosella's level.
If Rosella had the intelligence of a teenager at birth, this boy had the intellect of a 5 or 6-year-old child. However, unlike his half-sister, the boy had a playful glint in his eyes.
Draco immediately recognized it as the same type he had whenever he and RamButt were about to do something stupid.
This boy was destined to be a troublemaker of epic proportions, even worse than Loving Aunt, Jada and Sublime Notion combined. He could literally cause an apocalypse and walk away unscathed, with a 'teehee' expression on his face.
Draco smiled wryly as he saw this. It seemed that he would have to be very careful with how he raised this lad, otherwise the world might come to an end before he even had the chance to dominate it.
Zaine leaned over his shoulder and smiled at their son. When the baby saw his mother, all evil fled his mind as he cooed for her desperately.
Draco handed him over to his mother, who held her son with an intoxicated expression on her face. She looked like the type of crazy mom who would refuse to believe that her 'darling angel' could do any wrong.
Honestly, Draco wasn't comforted by this. A crazy mom and a mischievous son made for a deadly combo, especially if both had the potential to become empire-wrecking powers. For now, he could only sigh in lament.
It seemed as if he should make some preparations sooner rather than later in order to fortify the world…
After that, Zaine reluctantly passed over her son to Riveting Night, who also revealed her face to the child. Just like Rosella, this baby boy's eyes bulged from their sockets as he saw his step-mother.
Riveting Night also made a solemn vow to protect the lad regardless of what should come his way, even if she would have to die to do it. The little fellow laughed happily when he heard this, and he knew he would be safe with this beautiful step-mother at his back.
She then passed the child over to Hikari, Rila, Roma and Rosella, who had all come to meet the boy. The little fellow seemed intrigued by Hikari's horn, making her step back while sweating with fear as soon as his tiny arms made grabbing motions in her directions.
He smiled at Roma because she kinda looked like his mother and he seemed curious about Rila, who also inspected him quietly.
As for Rosella, he stared at her deeply and she did same. As children of Draco, they felt their blood roil and call out to each other, creating a certain bond of closeness and kinship.
They giggled happily after observing each other for a little while, making everyone in the room smile. Soon, the Grandmaster Midwife and her assistants left, and Draco paid the bill for the services of the two.
They came from the very same Diad family which had its hands in everything. However, as Grandmasters, their status was something the family couldn't push around, so it was impossible to get a free service. They had already blessed him with their goodwill by waiving the usual introduction fees.
The fellow almost puked blood when he saw that each of them took 100,000 platinum for their work over the past month. If he wasn't a millionaire in terms of platinum, wouldn't he have gone into bankruptcy in order to pay them?
However, he didn't regret it one bit. There were many complications that could have come up for Roma and Zaine since their pregnancies were 'fast-forwarded' by the City-State's boons.
Not to mention the stress that would be put on their bodies. Just getting the right food to supply these babies that were growing at lightspeed in their w.o.m.bs could floor a person.
It was the same theory as superspeed. Just because The Flash could run faster than anyone didn't mean he ate the same food. More often than not, he ate ten times as much as an average person.
Zaine passed the baton to Draco just like Roma had done. After she let go of all her inhibitions, she was now a psycho for Draco so she trusted his judgment implicitly.
Draco pondered deeply and decided to name the little tyke Loki. The name certainly fit a lad who would become the paragon of mischief.
Loki seemed to like his name and smiled. Zaine also seemed to like it and snuggled her baby boy carefully, which made the little tyke even happier.
Draco announced that there would be a week-long celebration to honor the birth of his children. There would be no taxes for the year on business, and the criteria for renting land would be lowered by 1 Rank for a month.
Every person in the City-State was beyond excited and the parties that ensued would be remembered for years to come, because people were unable to get drunk due to the Aetheric Energy.
Watching people walk around with bellies full of beer but sober minds was a truly eye-opening experience. Of course, this was happening on the NPC side, as for the players, there was an uproar.
"What! Players can have kids?! Since when!? Was it part of Update 1??"
"No, this is impossible! I found a hot half-human, half-fox girl some time ago and I seeded her, but she still hasn't shown any signs of pregnancy yet!"
"Same! I found a half-ogre, half-troll and took his seed from his massive donger, but I still haven't felt anything! This is bizarre."
"… Could you run that by me again?"
Players spent the celebration week rushing to get s.e.x.u.a.lly intimate with NPCs in order to test their luck, but nothing seemed to work. Many realized that it was something only Draco possessed.
As such, many complaints emerged, even more than those who had felt the game was too brutal. Everyone went red-eyed when they realized they could have kids.
The fact that many could s.e.x.u.a.lly experiment with different races or enjoy s.e.x.u.a.l fantasies that would have them imprisoned or ostracized in the real world, was one of the reasons many did not support the current demonstration against Boundless.
Knowing that they could even possibly have kids made them excited and curious. The members of Umbra had been just like this when Draco had revealed that he would allow them to acquire such an ability.
Soon, the AI decided to resolve this matter since it was really blowing up.
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
In response to many complaints of the lack of procreative ability, the system is unable to roll out this feature on a large scale yet, and is still undergoing some testing with the help of chosen volunteers.
The alpha-testing of this feature will take a long time and the pool of candidates have already been finalized. Thank you!｣
Players could only take this as it was. It seemed like the system had chosen the candidates who would get to enjoy this feature, and Draco was the most popular one.
Many thought it was favoritism, but what could they do about it? Even it if was favoritism, it had good grounds for existing, which was the fact that Draco was indisputably the most talented and notable player currently.
After this eventually blew over, another 7 days passed.
-------------
There were 29 days until the Player Auction. There were 11 days until the Dragon Soul hatched as a Combat Pet and there was another 14 days until the various tier 2 concubines - the human maids -would give birth.
Draco had spent these past 14 days solely with his children and his women. He hadn't even looked at his Tradeskills or his other responsibilities at all.
Fatherhood was a new feeling for him, even if these children were purely digital. Yet what made things strange was these two kids - and Rila, his adopted kid - were unusually mature for their age.
There were times where they behaved just like how they should given their age, but most of the time they were very… tame.
Not that Draco wanted to suffer during their formative years with all the crying and whining, but it was something he expected since it was supposed to be par for the course.
Still, he enjoyed this time. He hardly ever took a break since he reincarnated, because he simply had too much to do in order to prepare for the future.
To Draco it was the future that mattered above everything. If he focused on the present, he might feel like he was an unparalleled God under heaven and grow complacent, but he knew better.
As such, he had to return to the grind after this brief period of rest. This was something normal, as families with one father and many mothers as well as children usually had the childrearing handled by the mother until a.d.u.l.thood.
Then, depending on what talents the children had shown while they were growing up, they would be pushed into different responsibilities by their father in order to found a budding clan.
Of course, this practice had been abolished by ordinance marriage and the rout of polygamy in most civilized states, but Boundless allowed one the freedom to do as one liked.
If you had the qualifications, you could build your own Emperor/Empress harem full of either the most beautiful women or handsome men. Whatever taste you had, it existed and could be accounted for in Boundless, should you have the skill to acquire it.
This was why many women had chosen to stay even though there was risk. Putting aside the magic and sorcery, the simple liberation of the s.e.x.u.a.l chains placed on them by nature was like taking a breath of fresh air.
Of course, this had its downsides, and it all had come to a head in the Great R.a.p.e of Update 5 where many evils of the libido bared their fangs.
As such, Roma and Zaine would mostly raise Rosella and Loki in Vita City-State for a good amount of the children's lives. When Draco could sprout the Etz Chaim seedling and acquire a livable world in his body, he could take them around.
Still, Draco remained in Vita City-State, to craft and to handle some of the most important matters in recent time.
The first was the remainder of Vita City-State's development. This was mainly in terms of military and political affairs, which was quite interesting when Vitae revealed the rest to him.
Right now, there was a rigid class society in Vita City-State. The topmost echelon were the members of Umbra, who fell into different categories of nobles.
Core members like RamButt, Slim Fatty and Fitter Cleric were Dukes, who were just below the King and Queen, which were Draco and Eva.
Next were the expert members who were Minor Dukes, the advanced members who were High Nobles and the basic members who were Nobles.
As for Minor Nobles and Lords, there weren't any as of yet. How could people earn nobility rank in a city that rejected them even owning property on a permanent basis?
After that were the citizens of the state, who had the right to own land permanently, grow families, buy more property at dirt cheap prices, along with a slew of so many benefits that one could only drool.
This category belonged solely to the members of the Nshaw tribe. They were a race of dark-skinned men and women who were very ethnic, yet advanced.
They reminded Draco of that super advanced race of Africans in the old Marvel comics, just that they lived in a medieval time. Their loyalty to the state was so high that even Draco was terrified.
Anan, the Rank 4 Assassin Emperor as well as the other two Rank 4 entities of the Nshaw Tribe, who were the Chieftain and the Shaman, had become special members of the State in his absence.
Riveting Night was currently working with them to grant them Minor Nobility status permanently. Even though they were trusted and deserved the role, many things had to be worked out before a non-member of Umbra could become a noble.
The Rank 4 Chieftain was called Dwamena, and the Rank 4 Shaman was called Veg'Mumbo.
Putting that aside, the members of the military were made up of the Nshaw tribe. They handled both matters foreign and domestic, and their trained warriors were more than up to the task.
This was a tribe that had used the invasion of the whole Adventurer's Guild as a tool to sharpen their youth. To describe their fighting force as potent would be an understatement.
However, what the Nshaw tribe excelled the most in was their research and technology. A laboratory had been constructed for their brightest minds, as well as an academy for their intellectual youth.
Only they were allowed admittance to these amenities, which rubbed many residents wrong, but there was nothing they could really do, as they weren't citizens.
The Nshaw Tribe were also making great use of the boons of the City-State. Many of their a.d.u.l.ts had copulated with each other, and their due dates would be around the time his own concubines gave birth.
After this boom, they would continue on to expand as fast as they can. There was so much empty land that needed filling, and Draco wanted the descendants of the members of Umbra as well as the Nshaw Tribe to take up all that space.
When that happened, the City-State would be ready to become a Kingdom!