It wasn't until I looked at my Status that I understood what was happening to Arya. At first I'd been under the impression that it was simply a side effect from the loss of the curse, but once I checked my Status I realized that was not the only thing that was affecting her. My Status was essentially the same it had been the last time I'd checked, there were only two differences. The Corruption Skill had increased in level and its second retainer spot had been filled by none other than Arya, who was in the process of becoming my Retainer of Light, according to the Skill. That helped abate my worries greatly, as Marian had gone through a similar process and had only become stronger because of it.
The other change was a new Racial Skill, one called Symbiotic Reproduction. While I could vaguely guess the purpose of the Skill I couldn't understand where it had come from. But there was nothing to do about it now other than check it with Seshat's Library.
'Symbiotic Reproduction: A unique Skill that resulted from the combination of an Arachne Broodmother's Ovipositor Skill, and a Womb Slime's Reproduction Skill. This Skill allows the user to impregnate via an ovipositor.
Whatever is impregnated will give birth as if under its regular method, unless it has no means of sexual production, in which case the egg will parasitize an area for growth, converting nearby structure into an artificial womb.
The being born from this Skill will take aspects from both the origin creature and whatever hosts it, creating a mixed breed child, even if such should normally be impossible.'
The Skill did indeed do as its name implied, though I wasn't sure how I felt about having it. I mean, it was nice that it would enable me and whoever else I wanted to have kids, but I had never expected something like this Skill to have come out. Probably the best and worst thing about this Skill was the fact that it seemed as if pregnancy would be guaranteed.
Another thing that bothered me was the lack of defining what I could impregnate. Whatever wasn't a specific term and really left it up to my imagination what I could do with it, but for some reason, I felt like it was going to cause an issue in the future. However, it wasn't like I was going to use it immediately, or rather, I doubted I'd be using it anytime, if ever, but no one could know what exactly the future held, so I wouldn't ever rule out the possibility.
Right now though, my focus was on Arya, so I didn't worry about the changes too much, there would be plenty of time to figure things out later. Almost as if she knew my attention to her was slipping as I thought, Arya suddenly flinched and groaned as if in pain, symptoms that I recognized from Marian's experience that meant the transformation was nearly complete.
I was both frightened and excited for Arya to wake up. A boost in strength was great and all, but just as Marian had become a Dhampir and had some Skills that she couldn't let anyone know about, I had no idea what Arya was going to become, though since she was so Yang focused, I imagined that it would be something relating to that.
I had practically not moved from my spot as the dawn of the fourth day since Arya collapsed began and I was busying myself with work on a prototype that would allow anyone with a set to share and cycle both their mana and Essence through, something that was easier said than done. It would mostly only benefit me and Arya, but I also had plans to work on creating a converter or something, so that Marian could tap into it if needed.
Just as the first rays of dawn peaked through the ajar window, Arya bolted upright, causing me to flinch at the sudden and unexpected movement. She looked around for a moment before her eyes settled on me, her pupils now like miniature golden suns that seemed to peer into me. "Are you real?"
I was confused at her question, but nodded regardless. "Yes Arya, I'm real. Was the conversion painful?"
Relief seemed to flood over Arya's face as she nodded. "Yeah, but it was my own choice so I don't regret it."
I stood as she spoke and made my way over to the bed she'd been laying on and sat slightly away from her, closer to the head of the bed, before patting my lap, to which Arya immediately let her head fall onto. I began to stroke her hair, noticing that it was no longer silver gold, but rather just gold now, though lighter than it once had been, so the change wasn't that noticeable. Another interesting thing was that her hair was warm, and not in a, my hands were cold so everything I touch feels warm, way, but rather, it felt like a freshly sun dried cloth sheet.
Not much else had changed about her, which was a bonus, as it meant that if I did need to help her hide something, it likely wouldn't be too much. However, rather than satiating my curiosity at what Arya had become and what kind of Skills she had gotten, I simply allowed her to lay on my lap as my fingers slowly brushed through her hair, as if they could brush away all the troubles she'd ever had.
I spent some time catching her up on what she'd missed that last few days. Mostly it was just mundane small talk, however, there was one topic that I made sure to make her aware of. Obviously the villagers were relieved that we'd come back and on top of that we'd gotten wishes so the village had been setting up for a celebration. With Arya waking up I could only imagine that it was going to get more out of hand since it had been discussed that we missed the after wedding party, so not only did they want to include that, but would likely also stack Arya's recovery as a celebration as well.
We'd already been here for a month and a half, though most of that time was actually spent in the Well of Balance, and while traveling to the Forest of Darkness would take some time, even if we rushed as we had on the way over here, there was plenty of time for us to enjoy ourselves. That said, I wanted to see both Marian and Reine again, and though I knew it was a longshot, Ellie as well, so I didn't want to spend too much longer here, despite the fact that I was sure Arya didn't want to separate from her parents so soon.
However, Arya would need some time to get used to her Status, time I planned to spend researching about suitable Vessels for Steria, as well as looking for information on the Labyrinth Ryona, since Eldora had said it would be a good place for me to find equipment. I could only hope that the knowledge I was seeking had been recorded by someone at some point in time, but for now, I was content to just relax with Arya for a while.
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