novelhk Chapter 234 Development of the Kinship
Chapter 234 Development of the Kinship
Chapter 234 Development of the Kinship
The Garden of Stars.
After a long journey, Roy, Tione, and Tiona went to take a shower and change into clean clothes.
The goddess Astrea and others had prepared a sumptuous dinner, and the enticing aroma of the food filled the entire hall as everyone ate around the table.
It was the handiwork of the goddess Astraea; the familiar taste made Roy feel the warmth of home.
While eating, Tiony and Tiona recounted their experiences in the outside world to everyone.
He suppressed the army of the Kingdom of Lachia, forced the kingdom to sign a treaty, went to the sword-making city of Zoringen, captured Welf, the only one who could forge the Demon Sword Crozo, and ultimately triggered the forging duel between Tsubaki and Corbrand.
Of course, they kept quiet about the dungeon, but Daphne and Cassandra listened with rapt attention, regretting that they would have gone along if they had known it was this fun.
"Is this the Double-Edged Urga?"
Daphne and Cassandra looked on with envy at Tiona's exaggeratedly large double blades, Roy's top creation used to defeat Tsubaki Cobrand.
Gain the approval of the goddess Hephaestus!
Ryu also frequently cast surprised glances at her.
A helpless smile appeared on the beautiful face of the goddess Astrea. This child would never settle down no matter where he went. After Hephaestus returned from the sword-making city of Zoringen, the news of the forging duel immediately spread throughout Orario, leaving the gods speechless.
Following his legendary status as the fastest level-up maker, Roy has added another title to his list: one of the best blacksmiths.
Roy is comparable to Chun Kobrand, and these days, adventurers wanting to commission Roy to forge equipment are coming in droves, almost breaking down the threshold of the Star Garden.
If it weren't for the unexpected appearance of the floor master, Amphispina, on the surface, which suppressed Roy's popularity, the gods would probably have already rushed over.
At this moment, the goddess Astraea looked at Roy with a strange, suspicious gaze.
Roy noticed Astraea's gaze and was slightly taken aback. "My Goddess, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing, maybe I'm overthinking it."
Astraea shook her head slightly. Because Roy had caused so much trouble, when the floor manager, Amphispina, appeared, she subconsciously thought of Roy.
But Roy is so busy outside, this matter should have nothing to do with the other party.
Astraea felt a pang of shame at the thought of doubting her own child, realizing she was unworthy of being a proper goddess.
The only way to compensate is to sleep with someone.
After dinner, Liu and the others cleaned up.
Roy went to Astrea's room, placed the agreement from the Kingdom of Lachia in front of her, and briefly explained, "—That's how it is."
Astrea's expression was complicated. Although she had expected that Roy would bring back something extraordinary from this trip, she still didn't expect that she would become the Grand Empress Dowager of the Kingdom of Lachia in such a muddled way.
She felt no dissatisfaction whatsoever.
From now on, she will be the true ruler of the Kingdom of Lachia in name only, with a status above Ares, who will become her subordinate god, which will bring her great benefits.
With such capable and constantly surprising family members, any other deity would be overjoyed.
Goddess Astraea's eyes were filled with heartache. How many difficulties had she gone through to fight against a country on her own and finally obtain this agreement?
"It must have been tough."
2
The goddess Astraea stretched out her fair hand and gently stroked Roy's angular face.
"It's alright, it's alright." Roy had no idea what the other person was imagining, but beating Ares was pretty satisfying.
Compared to Ishtar, Roy had a pretty good impression of the simple-minded god of war, Ares. At least Ares never unleashed his full divine power from beginning to end and never used his divine status to intimidate people.
The agreement that Roy had obtained with great difficulty could not be ignored by the goddess Astraea. She took out a silver needle, sterilized it, pricked her fingertip, and dripped bright red divine blood onto the scroll, which spread out like ripples.
The emblem of the Astrea Familia, the Sword of Justice, and the snow-white wings on either side, appeared.
Contract successfully signed!
From now on, anyone who presents this agreement will realize that Ares is a subordinate god of Astraea, without even needing to look at the contents.
Just as a deity slightly unleashes its divine power, everyone immediately understands that this is a deity.
"God, and give me some divine blood as well." Roy smoothly pulled out a bottle.
Astraea smiled gently. "What fun thing have you thought of this time, you silly child?"
"It's all serious business," Roy said with a smile.
When Roy crafted Liu's Boots of Justice, he asked for divine blood. Astraea didn't resist too much and squeezed her index finger, giving Roy ten drops of divine blood.
"Goddess, that's enough," Roy said tenderly, holding Astraea's light and jade-like hands, which were as smooth as the finest jade.
Roy examined it carefully, his movements delicate and skillful.
A blush spread across the goddess Astraea's cheeks as she quietly withdrew her small hand.
Seeing this, Roy walked out of the room with a regretful look on his face, muttering to himself, "It felt so good."
"Pfft!"
After Roy left, the goddess Astraea laughed, rolled around on the bed like a little girl, and patted the blanket with her feet.
the other side.
Roy arrived at the courtyard of the Star Garden, dug a small hole in the spacious grass with his bare hands, and carefully put the World Tree seed into it.
Divine blood dripped onto it.
A miraculous thing happened: upon contact with the divine blood, the World Tree seed greedily absorbed it like a sponge, not letting a single drop escape its grasp.
Roy blinked. "Are you full?" It was his first time planting a World Tree, so he didn't have much experience.
However, based on the experience of crafting the Boots of Justice, the key to divine blood lies in quality, not quantity. If one drop of divine blood is not enough, then adding another thousand milliliters will be useless.
Roy pushed with both hands and buried it with soil.
As this was the first "god-level" item, Roy was exceptionally patient. After waiting for more than ten minutes, a tender green sprout broke through the soil, was pressed down by the breeze, and stood up countless times, demonstrating its extremely tenacious vitality.
Roy's face lit up with joy; it was good that he was alive.
With divine blood incorporated, any materials produced by this World Tree from now on can only be used by the Astrea Familia, essentially making them their exclusive property.
The next day.
An excited voice echoed throughout the mansion, and Roy, Ryu, Daphne, and Cassandra quickly appeared in front of the goddess Astraea's room.
"Captain, we've leveled up!"
Tiony and Tiona ran out with joy, one on each side, and hugged Roy, their perfectly toned bodies clinging to him.
Roy and the others immediately understood what was going on.
LV.4!
Upon their return, as is customary, Goddess Astraea updated their stats, and unsurprisingly, they reached the limits of their abilities, thus completing their great undertaking!
The Astrea Familia welcomes two new LV.4 adventurers—Tione and Tiona.
"Congratulations."
Roy laughed, thinking that the two of them wouldn't be able to level up before the expedition, which was a pleasant surprise.
When the two arrived in Orario, their stats were already above D-rank. Roy took them through dungeons to raise their stats to the limit. Fighting against the pseudo-LV.7 Founding Giant, it was already a great feat to remain undefeated.
The upgrade was a logical step.
Roy muttered to himself, "I was the one who killed the Founding Titan, but there's been no sign of anything happening on my end."
But that's understandable.
Unlike killing the mutated floor master, which relied on his own strength to achieve great things, this time the Elf Holy Sword contributed too much, dealing over 95% of the damage, leaving Roy with no pressure whatsoever.
As fellow members of the same clan, everyone sincerely congratulated Tione and Tiona.
A hint of joy flashed across Liu's pretty face. As she watched her clan prosper, the fire of hatred in her heart was extinguished as if by a gentle stream.
"Captain~"
Daphne and Cassandra glanced at Roy; they too had run dungeons before. Tiony and Tiona had leveled up instantly after going out with Roy—how could they not have noticed?
"Swipe, swipe them all!"
Roy noticed the exchange between the two and nodded. As the leader, he wouldn't show favoritism.
"Thank you, Captain!" Daphne and Cassandra jumped up happily and hugged each other.
The family members were divided into two small teams.
Ryu takes Tione and Tiona into the dungeon and teaches them knowledge. In this respect, the two are not as good as Daphne and Cassandra. Before the expedition, the two must be made into qualified adventurers.
Roy removed Tiony and Tiona from their teammates' positions and added Daphne and Cassandra.
Enter the world of "Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress," a dungeon similar to "Highschool of the Dead," where numerous monsters have lost their minds. These monsters are slightly stronger than zombies and offer more rewards.
These "Kabane" monsters are perfect for boosting the stats of LV.2 Daphne and Cassandra.
While Roy was causing trouble outside, the two of them weren't idle either, frequently venturing into dungeons to fight. Even without Ryu's (level 5) protection, they were able to clear the 18th floor. Aside from Goliath, the floor's boss, they could handle all the other monsters, and their average stats were H.
level.
The two killed a Kabane in the wilderness.
Taking advantage of this time, Roy cast a defensive magic spell, Dimensional Barrier, on himself. The semi-circular barrier kept the Kabane outside, and he took out the Familia Ledger from his spatial ring to handle Familia affairs.
As a leader, being able to fight is far from enough; otherwise, the position would belong to Ryu.
Roy opened the ledger and, sure enough, found it filled with deficits.
Since joining the Astrea Familia, he has spent money like water, throwing over 100 million faeries at the Loki Familia without batting an eye.
Crafting equipment and purchasing materials will be a huge expense, and even with "Divine Wine" as a cash cow, it will probably be difficult to make ends meet.
Roy quickly scanned the ledger, but then frowned; the numbers were wrong.
The clan actually owed a lot of money; they hadn't even paid back the 36 million Fali they owed the Hephaestus clan for materials used in forging the Great Twin Blades, Ulgar.
No wonder he hesitated to speak when he received the ledger from the goddess Astraea.
The Enlightenment Fruit is, after all, a legendary item. Once consumed, its effects don't just disappear; it significantly enhances his mental strength and memory.
It also contributed to the increase in magic power to 290.
Roy possessed an enhanced photographic memory, storing most of the information about the clan in his brain. He estimated in his mind that even if there were debts, they wouldn't amount to such an exaggerated 150 million.
The Soma clan auctions off divine wine, and each month they receive at least 60 to 70 million fali as dividends.
Roy, as if reading with quantum speed, quickly flipped through the ledger and found the problem: the Soma clan's divine wine dividends had been decreasing recently, and the latest remittance was only 200,000 fali.