[Congratulations, your Beneficiary Aria had successfully evolved her bloodline through your help. She has now become a True Spirit, no longer bound as the Artifact Spirit of the Grand Library.]
[Her lifespan has increased tremendously. She no longer has to experience death and rebirth every 100 years. And she can stay by your side as long as you treat her well.]
[×5000 Benefactor's Return, triggered! You received: Fey Atavism Platform, El-Realm Shard, and 1000 Skill and Spell Points.]
Ashton looked at the system prompts floating in his vision. He sighed in relief knowing the meaning behind this.
Since the system gave him these prompts, it means that Aria's bloodline evolution was completed.
This also means that her stomach cramps have also ended...
He still resented the system, just a little bit, for trolling him. He never expected that something like that was possible.
Not that he was saying that the system was wrong or anything...he knows what periods are, he never experienced it himself but from what people have told him, it is indeed extremely uncomfortable.
There's also the fact that most females cultivate for the sole purpose of getting rid of menstruation altogether as their main reason, which tells him how unwanted it was...
But still...he felt as if his anxiety episodes were unnecessary and that's just not a good feeling overall.
That being said...everything turned out well. His worries were for nothing since all that ever happened was Aria feeling as if she was on her period. She then fell asleep and started glowing like a fluorescent light. The glow faded and the evolution was over. That's it.
Again, this entire process made all of his preparations seem unnecessary but it's fine. So long as Aria was okay, he would do it all over again.
It's also nice that she's no longer bound to the Grand Library. This gives her a bit more freedom after all. Previously, due to her situation, she can't go far away from the Grand Library without risking her safety. Now, she could go anywhere within the metropolis without Ashton needing to take the library with them.
The cycle of death and rebirth being stopped was also nice. Aria told her how she never liked those at all. Experiencing real death only to open your eyes a few days later, then realizing that you are helpless since you've turned into a literal infant, was not a fun experience at all. So she's glad that it's gone.
As for the evolution process itself, it didn't change Aria too much. She still retained most of her prominent features...
Her long black hair still looked gorgeous, her complexion look a tad bit better, and her slim body looked relatively the same...yes, this was still the same Aria that he knows.
But on top of this, she now exudes an aura of aloofness. Not in an 'ice-princess' way, more of like an 'ethereal' vibe. An 'elusive' allure that wasn't there before.
These were the same qualities that both Gaia and Acacia (Hilda) have. Both of them were true spirits and Aria is now like them, only...
'What's her mission then?' Ashton asked himself.
As far as he could remember, True Spirits are entities that were born with a purpose. Gaia was literally the collective consciousness of the world and therefore tasked to look after it, while Acacia's task was to tend to the Dragon Vein.
If Aria becomes a True Spirit, what was her mission then?
'Maybe I can ask her later.' He muses.
Right now, he chose to leave to her rest. It's incredible how can she sleep through all of her cramps, though. Girls really are built differently sometimes...
'Let's have a look shall we?'
[Fey Atavism Platform]
Type: Ritual Awakening Tool
Description:
• An artifact of the extinct Elven Race. Used to rouse Fey's Bloodline. This same artifact was the same one that they used. Refurbished and repurposed by the System.
• Can be used to Awaken an individual's Fey Bloodline or convert a non-human creature into Fey.
[El-Realm Shard]
Type: Realm Fragment
Description:
• A shard of El — what the Fey used to call the world they live in. The History of El and Fey Race had been washed by the relentless stream of time. Any attempts of discovering what happened to them might just end up as a fruitless endeavor.
• This shard is the very last of its kind. It contains the essence of El-Realm, albeit incomplete since it's a mere shard. Can only be fused with Pocket Dimensions or Grotto Heavens.
'Okay, resentment's gone. We're good again.' Ashton said inwardly, mostly referring to the system.
These are some seriously useful tools, he didn't expect to receive them just by helping Aria to improve her bloodline.
Ashton's Fey Bloodline has been stuck at 95% all this time. He had been missing the last 5% to complete it. Granted, he doesn't really know if he will end up with sharp ears or not after he completed it but looking at that incompletion felt icky to him which bothers him a lot.
Now, with the Fey Atavism Platform, he can finally fix that. Still, he had no idea what was going to happen to him, but he does know that even as he completes his Fey Bloodline Awakening he'd still be half-human, so his allegiance wouldn't really change that much.
The gripe about this is that...it seems that he couldn't use it on other Human beings to convert them to half-Fey. It would seem that, for other human beings to use this, they'd need to have some concentration of Fey Bloodline first.
And as far as Ashton was aware, there's only him in this entire world, who has this bloodline. So, no other Fey for the time being.
Fey Beasts on the other hand...that's possible.
The requirement of having a Fey Bloodline doesn't apply to the conversion of Beasts. Meaning that he could potentially use this to create an ecosystem for Fey Beasts.
Additionally...Fey Beasts sound more edible compared to Demonic Beasts now, does it? So maybe, a change of plans was needed. Because so far, the DBD Project wasn't having phenomenal results.
Maybe Fey Beasts are the way to go...but more tests are needed so that idea should be parked for now.
As for the second reward he received, he figured that it was the system's way of flexing on him.
A Shard of a whole-ass Realm...given to him as a reward for doing the bare minimum. If that's not a flex then Ashton doesn't know what is...
Also, this is the System's way of telling him to stop giving himself headaches. The El-Realm, the home of the Fey which Ashton just learned at this very moment despite his research for a while now, is gone!
The System was politely telling him to drop it, and leave the idea behind. But then it's also like: 'As compensation, here's the shard of the very same world.'
Contradicting much?
Anyways, he now has a Realm Fragment. Just by looking at it, he could feel the dense Laws sealed within. He could feel the strangeness and difference of the Laws compared to the ones that he was used to but his Fey Bloodline recognizes them.
Studying them might be useful, it's just that, he doesn't know if it would be wise to fuse them with the Blue Marble Grotto Heaven, where the Guild Resides.
He's thinking that the Fey Laws might clash with the regular Laws of this world and that might cause the Guild Members to suffer. This isn't something that he wants to see so he would need to do some thorough research first.
"Mnh..."
He might've given himself a whiplash with how fast he twisted his head to look behind him upon hearing that sound.
Aria was waking up. And because of that, everything that he has been thinking about was automatically thrown away to a box in his memories labeled 'Later'.
Ashton reached her side before she even opened her eyes. And when she eventually did, he was the first one she saw.
She got up and stretched her neck for a bit. She looked around and reached out to Ashton, who wasted no time in closing the distance.
"Good...afternoon, I guess. How do you feel?" He asked.
"Weird." She replied, "But in a good way."
She looked lost for a bit before saying: "I feel strangely light like I lost weight or something. Despite that, I also feel stronger."
Aria then looked back at the Grand Library and said:
"I'm not linked to it anymore. That feels...strange. It's new for me to feel this...free. That might take some time to get used to."
"You have all the time in the world, Babe." Ashton said, pulling her closer to his chest.
"...you can't get rid of me anymore." Aria said, sounding like she was making a statement.
"Good, I never have plans on doing that anyway."
"That's sweet. But also, that's quite literal." She said, looking at him. "True Spirits have a purpose, right?"
"..."
"Well, my purpose is to accompany you as long as you live. I am tied to you now, even without us getting married."
Ashton smiled sweetly at her and said:
"Sounds perfect."
