Laughs filled the forest as Dyon held Lyla in his arms while walking along with Ri.
“You’re so beautiful big sister Ri, I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you.”
Ri smiled pinching the little girl’s cheeks, “you shouldn’t lie to your big sister you know. I’ll end up with a really big head.”
The little girl giggled as Ri tickled her.
Soon, they arrived at a small village on the outskirts of a large city they could see in the distance. Actually, there were many villages around the city in the distance. They were continuous with each other – it seemed that the Elvin Kingdom didn’t find it necessary to build walls around their main city.
“Little Lyla, I probably can’t take you into the city with me. But, I’ll leave your other big brother with you, okay?” Dyon’s ring flashed as Little Black jumped out, “well… I guess he’s actually much younger than you,” Dyon said with a laugh.
Lyla seemed really excited to see Little Black. She immediately jumped on his back, happily patting his head.
“I’ll make you a house and hire some maids for you, okay? Then, we can visit the big city together.”
Lyla looked up at Dyon with her wide blinking eyes, “could you… make a house for the other orphans too big brother?”
Dyon’s heart warmed when he heard this, “of course, I’ll make a really big house for all of you.”
Ri was a bit confused as to how Dyon was going to make a house for them. But, she assumed that he just meant that he’d find a big house to rent, so she went to warn him about the expense.
“you know Dyon, houses are really expensive. If you don’t have at least 10s of profound stones, it’ll be impossible to find one big enough to buy.”
Dyon smiled, “if it’s just about profound stones, I’m not lacking in that at all. But, I was being literal when I said I’d make a house. Little Lyla, take Little Black and bring all of the orphans here. Ri, can you find me a few trust worthy people who would be willing to be paid to take care of them? Tell them I’ll pay a profound stone a month.”
Ri was shocked, “an entire profound stone per month?! These people might not see 10 common stones in an entire year, but you want to give them ten times that in a single month?”
“of course, I never want them to have a reason to betray my little sister and her friends.”
Ri shook her head but complied. As she was walking away she suddenly remembered that Dyon was an array alchemist, how could he be lacking in money? Although profound stones didn’t matter to the upper echelon of royalty in the Elvin Kingdom, the standard form of currency for the poor folks was in common stones, so, to use profound stones at this level would only be done by the rich.
Lyla happily held onto Little Black as they began to run around the village, even going to villages all around the large city. In the end, in order to carry the hundreds of kids, Little Black had to use his crystal will to carry a huge platform behind him in addition to it taking practically the entire day.
However, while they did this, Dyon was meditating. He had never done something on this scale before, and his aurora had only just reached the 5th stage. If he wanted a home large enough to house hundreds of kids, it would take quite a bit out of him.
The concept of using arrays to form tangible objects is something only those at the 5th stage of their aurora could accomplish. Although Dyon’s weapon’s hell array could feign this if he incorporated his crystal will to them, the truth was they were still just pockets of energy at their core. To substantiate something real from something practically free flowing and illusory, required a potent amount of power.
The other problem was that Dyon had no experience in architecture or the engineering necessary for it. As such, he had to spend a few hours reading whatever books he could find on the topic within his master’s memories.
Because Dyon was already an engineer and inventor by trade in the human world, it wasn’t difficult for him to pick up on the nuances of architecture.
Dyon took a deep breath, ‘first let me clear this forest a bit and prime the land. I don’t want to destroy these trees though…’
Dyon changed his mind, deciding to incorporate the forest into his design.
A platform shining in rays of gold and swirling complex patterns appeared in the sky, slowly expanding. Dyon’s face was the picture of focus, he sat on the ground, his hands brought together as the fire of his aurora raged larger and larger around him in a purple gold color reserved for those who had broken past the 4th stage.
The array Dyon was using was surprisingly a simpler version of the creation array found at Focus Academy. Although this raised many questions for Dyon, he had no choice to accept it. He assumed it was yet another formation taken from the remnants of the Celestial Deer Clan.
Planks of wood began to manifest from the array, coating the sturdy branches of the tall trees. Pathways, hallways, and rooms continued to appear as the beads of sweat increased on Dyon’s brow.
He built exits and stair cases, filled rooms with low level books from the Celestial Deer Sect and playgrounds he used to love as a kid. He built pools and sports areas. The entire structure was larger than even the village behind him, and that was all the more reason why blood was seeping out of the corner of Dyon’s mouth.
However, he didn’t allow himself to give up. He built massive fence structures and elaborate defensive arrays. He poured Celestial Will into the soil around the trees, improving their strength and better fertilizing the lands for food. He placed protective arrays around so that the high up nature of the structure would never lead to the death of a child.
In the end, he looked up at his work to find an elaborate tree house. It was filled with slides from room to room. Dyon had even equipped the structure with games from the human world like basketball, soccer and football. Because he knew it was likely the children had never heard of the games before, he added information transfer arrays as well.
Finally, after hours, he lowered his hands, breathing heavily as he coughed up blood.
“big brother!” Little Lyla rushed over to Dyon, worried.
It was only then that Dyon realized he had been the subject of an audience for many hours now. He had been so focused that he hadn’t noticed.
“you’re… your soul stage is already at the 5th level?” Ri looked at Dyon like she was looking at a monster.
Dyon chuckled, but was too weak to say anything. All he could do was enjoy Little Lyla patting his face to see if he was okay, he found it adorable.
“do you like it Little Lyla?”
Lyla looked at Dyon with sympathy that could melt a heart, “I love it big brother,” she said with tears in her eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had gone above and beyond for the orphans, let alone caused themselves physical pain for them.
Dyon patted Lyla’s light pink hair while bringing her into his arms. He raised them on an array platform and turned towards the crowd.
“This is a place I’ve created for the orphans of the Elvin Kingdom. This isn’t a place for adults, and I won’t tolerate anyone pretending that it is. Although many of you need help as well, I don’t think anyone would think that they deserve more help than a child who has lost their parents. I promise you, if I find anyone doing such a thing, I’ll kill them.”
Dyon turned a warm gaze to the children huddled around Little Black, “this is your new home now. You can eat, sleep, and grow up comfortably. I’ll find you teachers when I enter the city. But, for now, go in and enjoy yourselves. No one deserves anything less for their childhood.”
The children looked at Dyon with varying expressions. But, it was mostly excitement. The delightful sound of children’s laughter filled the village as the ran to the tree house, jumping around on the slides and choosing their rooms. Dyon watched all of this with a smile before gliding over to Ri who had a few middle-aged women with her.
“do any of you have kids of your own?” Dyon asked them.
The women nodded. They were a bit worried and apprehensive about Dyon. Many of them had never seen a human before, let alone a human who was willing to help their children even when their own government wasn’t doing the same. They thought there might be an underlying motive behind it. They weren’t as naïve as children, there couldn’t be anything so good in this world. So, they had their guards up.
“I’ve set up rooms for you all as well. I don’t mind you bringing in your families and leading a good life. However, if I hear that any of you have done anything untoward, I’m sure you understand what that’ll mean,” Dyon said with a serious expression.
Although he understood where these women were coming from, actions were louder than words when it came to gaining trust. There was no point in saying anything at all. The women understood this as well. At least they were willing to acknowledge that this Dyon might lead them to a better outcome than what would have been had the orphans been led to the Norville family or any of the other 8 major families of the Elvin Kingdom.
Dyon, after saying this, finally turned to Ri, “the day’s already gone, how about we rest?” he said with a smile, “We can head out tomorrow.”
Ri smiled lightly and nodded. She knew Dyon was too tired to do much else anyway, so she obliged.
‘I can’t help them like this right now… But I’m glad that you can…’
**
Later that night, the shadows once again appeared around the village outskirts, but they were surprised to find high risings of fences and defensive arrays.
They had no choice but to report this back to the Norville family. The situation had changed too much for them to act.
Within the Norville family, an incomparably attractive man and woman heard the news with raised eyebrows. After being silent for a few moments, they reached the conclusion that they should instead choose to wait and see, not wanting to offend anyone too powerful for now. It wasn’t like what they were doing had them in the right anyway.
“Husband, it seems we’ll have to put this off for even longer,” the woman spoke as her oiled naked body slid across her husband’s.
The man seemed to be enthralled with her body and more focused on how silky smooth her voice sounded as opposed to what she actually said. Their bright white hair tangled with each other and their purple eyes seemed to cast a mutual spell.
The women continued, between moans, in a voice seductive beyond belief, “from the information gathering the scouts brought us, apparently a human boy adept at formations built the orphans a home. He’s even paid for their living expenses and studies. It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted human,” she gently ran her fingers across her husband’s lips.
Oddly enough, her husband didn’t seem too bothered by this statement as he chuckled, “we might be traveling to the continent for the tournament in a year, we’ll get what we’re both craving,” he said grabbing his wife’s ass and relishing in her moan as he slid her onto himself.
Their bodies began to heat up as they circulated their cultivation method. Their souls projected out of them, manifesting as majestic serpents as they twirled around each other.
She road him with a fervent passion, forgetting about the world.
Soon, they laid in each other’s arms…
“the situation with the throne is more important than sex toys right now. The families that side with the king may be plentiful… at least 3 or 4 of the most important 9, but considering the situation, they’ll soon fallout. That means we’ll have to be in a good position to place our family in direct line for the throne,” the handsome man spoke softly to his wife, holding her closely to him.
She gently drew circles on his chest with her fingers as a smile as bright as the stars in the sky bloomed, “I think it’s about time the Elvin Kingdom fell victim to its desires…”