Chapter 437: Ability boosting affair

Aren withdrew his gaze and placed a piece of mutated beast meat into Nix’s bowl. "We were just thinking the clothes Wen is wearing today look really nice. Eat up."

Nix looked over at Wen, only then realizing that the clothes Wen was wearing matched Rory’s outfit perfectly as a set of couple’s attire.

Nix’s eyes widened instantly. Where on earth did Wen buy such a good-looking couple’s set?

Nix immediately turned to Wen and asked, "Wen, where did you buy your couple’s outfit with Rory? I want to buy one too!" He wanted to wear matching couple’s clothes with Rory, too!

Everyone: "..."

Wen smiled and said to Nix, "These clothes were handmade using shark-silk, not bought."

Nix looked at Wen with pure envy. "You actually know how to tailor clothes?" He really hadn’t seen that coming.

Wen nodded. "A little bit."

Nix chimed in right away, "Then can you help me make two sets of couple’s outfits too? I want to wear them with Rory. I won’t ask you to do it for free—I can give you beast cores, or a mecha, or even a battleship! Whatever I have, just name it."

Wen raised his eyes, cast a glance at Rory who was quietly eating her breakfast, and smiled as he said to Nix, "We’re family, there’s no need to be so polite. If you want them, I’ll make two sets for you whenever I have some free time."

"Wen, thank you so much!" If they weren’t in the middle of breakfast, Nix would have loved to go over and give Wen a giant bear hug.

Xarion stumbled over on shaky legs. Hearing Nix’s request, he cast a half-dead, lifeless glance at Wen. "I want clothes too. Name your price."

"Xarion, you’re up!" Seeing Xarion, Nix said excitedly, "I thought you weren’t going to eat breakfast this morning."

When breakfast was ready earlier, he had gone to wake Xarion up. But Xarion had been sleeping like a log and didn’t utter a word.

As Nix spoke, he pulled Xarion down into a seat beside him. "Xarion, you probably don’t know yet, but Rory and Vincent’s cubs have been born! It’s all thanks to Wen. He used a special bonding technique that not only allowed the cubs to be born, but also boosted Rory’s rank!"

Nix had wanted to share this fantastic news with Xarion last night, but for some unknown reason, Xarion had gone to bed exceptionally early. He had originally thought about messaging Yuel, too, but remembering how slammed Yuel was with work, he decided not to disturb him. When he went to call Xarion this morning, he intended to break the news then, but he hadn’t been able to rouse him. Now that Xarion was finally up, Nix couldn’t wait to spill the beans.

Xarion snapped his head toward Rory.

Rory offered him a smile and nodded. "What Nix said is true."

Hearing this, Xarion glanced over at Wen and said, "I don’t want the clothes anymore."

Before Wen could reply, Nix asked in utter confusion, "Why don’t you want them anymore?"

Xarion stuffed a stalk of green vegetable straight into Nix’s mouth. "Why do you have so many questions? Just eat your food." In this house, only Nix was stupid enough to make a person feel at ease.

Nix: "..."

Chewing on the green vegetable in his mouth, Nix’s gaze slowly swept across everyone’s face at the table. He faintly sensed that something wasn’t quite right, yet he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

Swallowing the vegetable, he protested discontentedly to Xarion, "Don’t feed me greens next time. I like meat."

"Fine, meat for you." Xarion nodded, indicating he had noted it down.

***

After breakfast.

Rory pulled Xarion off to the side and lightly touched his face.

"Female Master, what’s wrong?" Xarion nuzzled his cheek against Rory’s palm as he asked.

"You seemed a bit off during breakfast just now. What happened?"

Rory had noticed it the moment Xarion walked over to eat earlier. He was exceptionally sluggish today compared to usual; when he sat down, he was practically slumping in his chair. Ever since forming a mate bond with Xarion, Rory hadn’t seen him show this kind of "barely alive corpse" state in a very long time.

Xarion rested his chin on Rory’s shoulder, whispering softly into her ear, "I feel like I’m about to break through to the next rank. That’s why I’m like this—there’s no need to worry, Female Master."

"A breakthrough?" Rory looked at Xarion in pleasant surprise. "That’s wonderful!"

She immediately used her spiritual energy to check Xarion’s mental sea. Once she confirmed there were no issues with his spiritual stability, her mind was at ease.

Xarion held Rory’s hand, pressing a light kiss to the back of it. "I have to thank the Female Master for being able to advance so quickly."

"Thank me?" Rory looked at Xarion with a hint of confusion. "Thank me for what? Helping you restore your spiritual power?" She hadn’t given Xarion any of her blood, after all.

Xarion leaned in close, whispering right against her ear, "Because every time I merge together with the Female Master, my elemental ability grows rapidly..."

Rory stared at him in utter shock—so stunned that she even forgot to blush. "Are you saying... whenever we do that, your elemental power grows?"

Xarion nodded. "Didn’t the Female Master know?"

Rory: "..."

Of course I didn’t know! Nobody ever told me!

"Is this only happening to you, or does it happen to Vincent and the others as well?" Rory asked Xarion.

"It should be all of us, I suppose," Xarion answered.

Then why haven’t I heard Vincent or any of the others mention it?

Rory didn’t continue pursuing the topic. If doing that could help them raise their ranks, it was certainly a nice perk...

She said to Xarion, "Don’t forget your mission for today." With Xarion’s capability, as long as his spiritual power was stable, there wouldn’t be any complications with his breakthrough.

So Rory wasn’t worried about him. After reminding Xarion, she went to look for Vincent to ask him about this ability boosting affair.

Vincent had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and stepped out when he heard Rory’s question. He froze for a moment before answering, "Rory, you didn’t know?" He had assumed Rory was aware of it.

Rory shook her head. "No idea." If Xarion hadn’t brought it up today, she would still be in the dark right now.

"It was my oversight," Vincent explained. "I thought you knew about this, so I never brought it up."

Rory knew that human blood could help beastmen raise their ranks. Vincent assumed she also knew that intimacy could similarly boost a beastman’s power, which was why he had never explicitly mentioned it.

"Rory, this kind of thing should follow your heart’s desire and has nothing to do with raising our strength, so you don’t need to dwell on it."

After all, they didn’t rely on such things to raise their power anyway. What they wanted was for Rory to accept them willingly and happily, rather than forcing herself to accommodate them just to boost their strength when she wasn’t in the mood.

"I understand." Rory nodded. It was enough that she knew now. Even if intimacy could help them raise their strength, it still depended on her mood. She wasn’t about to turn herself into a tool for their power leveling.

"Let me take a look at the egg cubs," Rory said to Vincent.

Vincent offered a gentle smile and unbuttoned his top. The two egg cubs rested obediently inside his inner shirt pocket. Rory reached in and gently stroked them.

After checking on the two egg cubs, Rory went to check on Terry. Time was almost up—she wanted to see if Terry had finished absorbing the beast core energy.

As Vincent watched Rory leave, he buttoned his top back up. The moment he turned around, he ran right into Yuel, who was walking over.