Wise Words
“Oh… Hey there, buddy” Edrick had to lean forward and crank his head down to look this new interlocutor in the eyes.
“Hello, Mister Anoteros!”
It was his new brother-in-law, Galdoni. A boy still too young to be married, and judging by how politically successful the marriage of both his sisters had been, the youngest child of the Oie family wouldn’t have to be married to anyone for any reason at all. He would be able to choose for himself.
After all, unless he landed himself a girl from another great clan, or a princess, there wasn’t going to be anything that could top Jania and Tylia getting married to Edrick… Not to mention that soon enough, he would be getting a new sibling–Whose mere existence would represent a lot within the family…
“You can just call me Edrick. We are family now” replied Anoteros.
Frankly, he was not the greatest with children, which Galdoni technically still was, even by this world’s standards. One would become both of marriageable age and an adult at the same time. The exact age would depend on the nation you were in, and also what species you were, as not all develop at the same rate… But for humans, it would generally be after either a boy or a girl had been alive for a little more than a decade.
However, when it came to cultivator families, it was far more common for the scions of the clan to be married only until much later than that. They would usually be married to other cultivation scions, and thus, the strength you had achieved within the years of your life would be scrutinised to determine your worth on the scale of marriage.
After all, love wasn’t typically a factor when a man and woman had a union. It was a matter of politics and other profits for the upper class, and a matter of dowry for the lower class. However, like with Galdoni, if a family had either no channels to find a good partner, or if they had already created strong bonds and would rather not appear as though they were fishing for even more–Then they would just let the younger generation pick for themselves.
“Really? Then… Hello, Edrick!”
Anoteros glanced around. It certainly was much easier to deal with his sasquatch son. In that regard, he just needed to let his sasquatch lord bloodline speak and do the heavy lifting.
“Right… What brings you here? If you want to see either of your sisters, then I am afraid that they are resting… It’s my bad, I tired them out”
“Actually, I wanted to speak with you, Edrick!”
‘Oh no…’
“Sure, what did you want to ask?” Edrick replied.
He might as well engage in a conversation. He was set to have a ton of children in this life of his… There was no way Edrick would be able to dodge all interactions with his non-beast spawnlings forever. In fact, there was no doubt in his mind that Ku Xing and Ting Zhenniao would definitely want him to meet the child he had respectively put in each of their bellies.
So, he might as well gather some experience on the subject.
“I wanted to know how I could be like you!”
“Like me? You want seven or more wives? I wouldn’t recommend trying to emulate me in that regard. It could get bad really quickly… Instead, you should just build yourself a nice residence and gather women of lesser status than you to hire as maids and servants. If you play your cards correctly, they will be very grateful for the opportunity, and you can frame the attention you give them as a privilege earned for good work-”
“I meant to be as big and strong as you. I only want one wife when I grow up… My father already warned me about being too greedy in that regard” added Galdoni, making Anoteros rub his chin.
“Your father is very wise, huh? Well, if you mean being strong in general, there is no particular secret. Just train cultivation techniques with all your might, and be dedicated to it”
“I am certain that you also have greater talent than most as a noble, so you’ll likely be able to train multiple at once. Focus on bringing all of your familial techniques to perfect mastery... Then seek out more techniques that suit you”
Edrick marked a pause.
“Though, if it’s solely about being as tall and muscular as me, it’s definitely a bit harder” whilst talking, he and Galdoni ended up sitting on steps leading into the manor’s expansive backyard.
“If that’s what you want, you’ll either need to pray that your genetics are good, or you’ll have to track down and secure several types of resources that would help you overcome that natural limitation. In fact, I would recommend beginning to look right now, as there are surely many more things that work if you are still growing, than things that work when you have already grown into a full man”
Galdoni listened attentively whilst occasionally nodding his head.
“I see! So, to be the person I want to be when I grow up, I should start preparing right now?”
“Basically” responded Anoteros, noticing that Galdoni was quite the verbose kid. Clearly, nobles were just a notch above the rest.
“I understand! Thank you, Edrick!” and thus, Galdoni ran off into the distance.
Edrick stood up, dusted his shoulders, and then left the Oie manor, heading back to his residence.
Since Xiao seemed to remain passive, and Anoteros had no idea what the next plot point might be like, the noble scion instead focused on preparations of his own.
The city of Oie had basically been drained of all of its quests by now, leaving only a few scraps that could be easily completed and wouldn’t yield anything special at all.
So instead, the young noble’s days followed another rhythm: Training of all kinds, eating and drinking, making love to the members of the residence that he hadn’t yet obtained a boon from, preparing for his eventual departure from the Myriad-Arm Sect, gathering as many things as he could gather from the region, visiting the Oie manor nearly on the daily, visiting the two female elders nearly on the daily–And finally… Something he had thought to do the moment he had received a dose of Elixir Of Rossification.
After all, there was someone that he had been keeping in his residence that no longer served any purpose, especially now that Shu had become a maid.
And that person was Yaling.
“Jingyi”
“Yes, Master?”
“Bring our captive to my office, make sure that she is not under the effect of any aphrodisiac or other substance” he ordered, the small vial carefully held in between two fingers.
“This will be done in the briefest of delays” Jingyi bowed down and swiftly exited the room.
Meanwhile, Anoteros leaned back in his seat with a grin. He was looking forward to this.