Draco eventually returned to the Aether Hall with Eva. From the back of Luxia, he could see some small dots on the ground as the Light Phoenix slowly reduced her altitude.
Once they got closer, Draco was pleased and excited to recognize them as Zaine, Hikari, and Roma at the front with the kids in their arms, as well as his 28 concubines who also held their children from him.
Upon landing, Draco was rushed into a close hug by the three NPC beauties, which made him laugh as he kissed them one by one. He also made sure to hold Loki and Rosella in hand, chuckling when his firstborn daughter and son showed excitement upon seeing their father.
After playing with them a little, he returned them to their mothers, intending to spend more time with them later. Draco then walked around his concubines and spoke to them gently, checking on their health and happiness, before checking on his other children.
Making sure that each and every one of them was satisfied, Draco was content. He then picked up the one he had specially saved for last, his little cutie Rila.
"How was my little girl while I was gone?" Draco asked as he rubbed his nose against hers.
Rile giggled and hugged Draco. "I was good, but I really missed you, Daddy."
Touched deeply, Draco felt mushy. "Awww, I missed you too Darling Rila."
Suddenly, he showed a wide grin that spoke of evil, and Rila felt a bad premonition. Just before she could escape, Draco launched his favorite attack.
"Hehe, sacrifice your cute cheeks to me!"
He rubbed his cheeks against hers, making Rila exasperated. She rolled her eyes and gave up, much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of everyone gathered around as they laughed gaily.
Having had his fill of fun, Draco brought everyone back into the Aether Hall and met with Vitae. The butler-like Aether Apparition bowed upon seeing Draco, greeting him reverently.
"Welcome back, Master."
Draco smiled and nodded to Vitae. "It's good to be back. I will be spending time with my family for a bit, then I have something I wish to discuss with you."
Vitae made his acquiescence known as he faded away, allowing Draco to head the master bedroom with Eva and co.
Back in his familiar room, he couldn't help but sigh and think of all the time gone.
So much had happened in a relatively short amount of time, and despite having lived 15 years in this world during his past life, he had to admit that this timeline made him feel younger rather than older.
Eva moved to lie next to him on the bed while Zaine, Roma, and Hikari sat down in their usual couches with the children in their arms. Draco, for that matter, remembered something else he needed to do.
"Alright, allow me to regale my beautiful wives and precious children with my adventures in the Refinement Goddess' Treasury. I wish to tell you what I've learned, what I've created, and especially what I've gained."
As such, Draco proceeded to spend a few hours highlighting the interesting bits of his journey, from the Godmar Divine Empire's commission to the three resource combat zones in the outer section, to the inner section's 99 villages, the Evergreen Manor, Hoover and Vishad, the enlightenment, the new wave concubines, becoming a Grandmaster Alchemist as well as Grandmaster Blacksmith, all his new Tradeskills, the new items he had created and could now create, the Origin Gods, the story of Norma, and finally, the Universe Seedling, its potential and his plans for it.
By the time the fellow was done, the room was deathly quiet as the ladies made strange faces. Apart from Eva who had already heard most of this, Hikari and co were hearing this for the first time and found a lot to digest.
Nevertheless, Eva was quite surprised because when she had last met Draco, it had been right before the competition. Naturally, the matter concerning Norma and the Origin Gods was news to hear, but after hearing it, Eva realized many things.
The first and foremost was that - as could be expected - all deities were dogs. Whether it was the Supreme Pantheon, Pantheon of Power, or Origin Gods like Kopernico or Dimitri, they all were nothing like what one would expect of a true deity.
They were basically the same as humans, just with a bigger stick. They were not magnanimous, exempt of all evil, seeking justice and promoting the welfare of mortals as the legends would claim.
If they happened to do any of that, it's because they had a certain agenda.
Eva realized that she needed to guard against them even more, which was something Draco had also realized after his conversation with Norma. Luckily, the Aether Hall in the main plane was free of the attention of the Origin Gods because unlike Norma's Treasury where they absolutely wanted to know what was going on, they hadn't yet locked onto Draco.
After all, they shouldn't yet be aware that he had acquired the Inheritance. Norma's treasury had blocked off all probing, so until Draco came out of the Godmar Divine Empire's portal, they hadn't seen shit.
Had they fallen for Draco's ploy, just as the Godmar idiots had? It was unknown.
That wasn't even what was most important. Since all of those occurrences had happened during a Unique Quest, had the Origin God's memories been re-written once Draco exited and completed the quest? This was what Draco wanted to know the most, and now Eva too.
That was why he had dared to narrate this story out loud. He had to check if the Origin Gods still had their eyes on him and would descend or call upon him to find out more about the Inheritance.
Now that it was in his hands, they would have to pander to him, just as they had pandered Norma. However, nothing of the sort had occurred during the time he narrated his story, not even after it reached the end.
This made the duo wonder whether the Origin Gods had really forgotten about him and Norma, if they couldn't listen in on Draco in the Aether Hall or perhaps they had decided to play dumb until Draco achieved the goal they wanted him to.
Whatever the case, Draco spent the next week within the Aether Hall with his family. It was a relaxing period after spending multiple months straight working on Magical Engineering and Scrivener back then.
Another thing Draco had to deal with was the pent-up s.e.x.u.a.l frustration of Zaine, Roma, and Hikari. Not bothering to give them excuses this time, Draco devoured them each and every day the moment they showed the slightest horniness, leaving the three women fully satisfied.
Eva only occasionally joined because whenever she got in the mood, but mostly spent her time practicing with the Celestial Coronet Draco had created for her. Otherwise, she was busy gathering as much Source Origin as possible for Draco's next plan.
To make her a new and unique set!
They had long since bought a set of Supreme-Rank Light Dragon scales with that intention in mind, but at the time Draco had refused to work, because he had lacked the confidence in his skill level to create something like the Dragorugio set.
One shouldn't forget that the circ.u.mstances leading to the creation of the Dragorugio set had been very specific, and it had only gained its 'Infused' trait because of Draco's bloodline merging with it.
Not only that, but since he gained the bloodline compatibility first - and much earlier in this timeline - his bloodline needed to be displayed somehow. However, despite all the favoritism, the AI couldn't allow him to jump straight to Origin Rank Dragon which would correspond to the raw strength of his bloodline.
As such, the Dragorugio set, which was given the Source Origin of a dragon by Clarent's meddling back then, became the perfect medium for the AI. The problem was that Eva lacked this benefit despite being the same as Draco.
If it wasn't for her Celestial Prime class helping her display some part of her bloodline, she would still be stuck with the Source Origin of a Supreme Rank Dragon thanks to the Dragon's Blessing potion coupled with the benefits from Sunna's Heraldry.
Now, she had neither of them after acquiring the class, so Draco wanted her to be able to bring out her light-based bloodline Source Origin freely. Her Celestial Prime class and the various other items Eva had helped her bring out the Celestial Maiden aspect of her bloodline.
In fact, Eva had a little too many items that focused on that specific Inheritance… it couldn't be helped though, as that was the easiest to acquire or make. Her light-based abilities were second and as for her void-based abilities, almost impossible!
So, one week later, Draco entered the Anomaly Realm of the Aether Hall and got ready to craft the set. Zaine, Hikari, and Roma stood by the side as they held their kids and watched.
Eva and Draco stood beside the equipment as Draco cleaned up the scales one by one. Draco took out Mjolnir and nodded to Eva. Eva also nodded right back as she began channeling her bloodline with all her strength.
Draco brought out the now Legendary Rank hammer down on the scales, which automatically caused a phenomenon as Energy was drained from the area to raise the grade of the scales to the Legendary Rank.
Draco worked quickly. He used all his talents to shape and prepare the scales in a way similar to his Dragorugio set but different. While the torso and arm sections remained scaly, Draco melded some together to make gauntlets, knee length boots, and a skirt.
Once he was done, Eva concentrated and roared as she transferred all her acc.u.mulated bloodline energy and as much Bloodline Source onto the set as possible, her complexion greatly waning as she did so. Draco was worried, but knew he couldn't let her sacrifice go to waste. He finalized the infused items and combined them.
Next, he quickly pulled out his top-grade Aether Crystals and created a set of enchantments for the various items within the set, all of them specifically chosen by Eva to enhance her power.
Now that Draco was a Grandmaster, as well as with all his other abilities, doing something like this was utterly simple for him. When he was done, the set glowed on top of the anvil, and even so close to Eva, Draco felt a strong affinity with the set, as if it was a clone of her.
Satisfied, he turned and presented the set to Eva, who slowly wore it after removing her trademark leather armor that signified the presence of Riveting Night. Draco felt amused thinking about how long Eva had worn this same set in both timelines, shaking his head when he realized that they had both finally shed their old identities fully in this life.
They had embraced their bloodline and their destiny fully, taking careful steps to make sure that they could achieve what they were meant to as best as they could, instead of focusing on miscellaneous things or trying to run from it like in the previous timeline.
Once Eva equipped the armor completely, Draco and everyone else gasped. It wasn't just that the armor enhanced her already supreme beauty, but the fact that the power pulsating from her was truly intense.
She wore the Celestial Coronet atop her head, its white color unsurprisingly matching with the rest of her armor and making it seem like it had always been designed to be part of the set. Since Evaterasu no longer cared about hiding her face, her full visage was exposed.
Her body was covered by a scaly chainmail-like b.r.e.a.s.tplate, a scaly skirt that only covered little of her thighs - leaving her smooth legs exposed to the hungry crowd - and slender boots that reached below her knees. Her arms were covered in a length of white scales up until her forearm which had a gauntlet that covered her fists.
With the design and shape of the armor, Eva looked like a Dragon Queen who was temporarily in her human form and was leading troops to war. Her majesty awed Draco and co, even making the babies silent as they were captivated.
This day would mark the birth of the true form of Eva in Boundless World!
(Author's Note: Looks kinda like this, but in white: i.imgur.com/wn4iygo.jpeg)