Before the few of them could even begin to react to this astounding declaration, his next words had already been spoken.
"Mei'er, Qiao'er. As I'm sure you're vaguely aware of, my circumstances are a bit complicated. I cannot simply make the two of you my formal wives, at least not currently. Only once your personal potential has reached a certain degree can I do so without drawing excessive public scrutiny, and making trouble for my family."
His expression softening, he let go of Ninna and gently grabbed the duo's hands, his voice tender and soothing. Not allowing too many negative emotions to start to fester inside of their hearts, he washed them all away at the outset.
"But do not fret. I know that both of you can grow to the point where I can officially marry you two as well. Mei'er, you've got that Origin Lotus of yours to chase after, and Qiao'er, your Long's Heir lineage has far too many secrets yet to uncover. I will support both of you on your journeys, it will just take some time–and unfortunately, there's nothing that I can do about that last part."
Heaving a helpless sigh, he returned to Ninna's side again. Only now did the three women fully digest what had just happened, a wide spectrum of emotions showing on their faces.
Ninna had been the one to bring up the point of marriage to begin with, but to be completely honest, she hadn't hoped for or expected anything more than a vague acknowledgement or perhaps some promise for the future. An outright agreement was so far and above what she had mentally prepared herself for that she was simply speechless. Shock, delight, anxiety, embarrassment, and desire danced across her visage in a dizzying display.
Above all, though, she felt extremely shy. She was anything but a fool–she knew what becoming husband and wife would entail. To engage in such vulgar activities with Theodore was now basically a complete certainty, wasn't it?
Xie Mei handled things much better, merely showing a hint of initial displeasure at her own situation, yet then growing hopeful and excited about the days to come. She hadn't yet found a way to upgrade her Talent, but that was surely only a matter of time.
Under normal circumstances, her 20 Reincarnation Clones would be a cause for worry, but now, didn't they make her far more special than others, opening up heretofore inconceivable possibilities? At the very least, they could help her keep an eye out for more Origin Lotus' Petals!
As for Han Junqiao, her reaction was by far the most composed. She had never been Theodore's one and only–solely Xie Mei had ever had that privilege, and not for long. Therefore, she had always been sharing her beloved with others. She was also painfully aware of her own inadequacy in the Talent department, at least compared to many much more exceptional Heaven's Chosen.
For a century now, she had been content with becoming maybe a concubine of her lover, at most–she hadn't even eyed the position of a regular wife, a main wife, or even the sole principal wife. Now, however, his words seemed to imply that there indeed was a chance to hope for more, causing a cheerful glint to flicker in her eyes.
Sure, all matters related to her race's progenitor were far above her own pay grade at this point in time, and even the Heavenly Empress had seemingly been unable to solve the issue–or at least been unwilling to do so. But she held the steadfast belief that Theodore would become the next Heavenly Emperor one day, and surpass all beings that had come before! By then, wouldn't it be a cinch for him to help her deal with this issue and become worthy of proudly standing at his side?
'It looks like they all took my proclamation well–that's a relief.'
With a calm smile, he patiently awaited their responses. All of this having been dropped on their heads out of almost nowhere, they certainly needed a bit of time to get their thoughts in order.
His decision to hold what pretty much amounted to a shotgun engagement with Ninna on the same day that they had met might appear very rushed–and to a certain extent, it was. He wanted to lock in their relationship status once and for all, so that no doubt about it could ever crop up.
Both his rational side, which told him to fully bind such a powerful ally to his faction, as well as his emotional one, which had rapidly found itself attached to her, had worked in unison to come to this conclusion. Swiftly made as it was, his instincts told him that he wouldn't regret it.
"Well, when will the wedding take place?"
Being the first one to have fully come to her senses again, Han Junqiao asked the question that was surely on the other two's–as well as the listening guards' and maids'–minds.
"Due to the inherent volatility of our current situation, it's hard to say whether we'll have a prolonged time of peace after our imminent short recovery period of a few weeks or months. Therefore, how about we aim for... one year after we've dealt with the Naxsir? They're the next on the chopping block after all. And by then, we should have a pretty good idea whether or not there are any other threats around."
Putting forward the best suggestion that he had been able to come up with, he awaited Ninna's response. As the one to be wed, she–alongside Cheong Suhyeon–was the only one to have any say in this matter that concerned their shared future, other than himself.
"That sounds reasonable to me, but who are these Naxsir?"
Having felt deeply bashful at her wedding date having been brought up, Ninna immediately jumped at the chance of distracting herself from it. Else, she feared that her brain might overheat due to the excessive abundance of indecent thoughts unceasingly blossoming within her mind, spreading like enduring, cancerous growths of erotica.
Learning more about the Naxsir was a good excuse to make use of. After all, she had spent most of her time in the Tetrachroma Palace locked away in her cultivation world and focusing exclusively on growing stronger. She hadn't invested much effort into researching the various forces that her people knew about. If there were any dangerous entities, then they surely would have come to inform her post-haste, just like back when Theodore had activated his Array!
"They are certainly much more impressive and interesting than you'd expect. Even I still feel significant dread and danger whenever I consider heading out to face them."
Giving Ninna a quick rundown of this still partially enigmatic faction, he shared everything that he had discovered about them with her. Some of these pieces of intel, Xie Mei and Han Junqiao hadn't even been aware of either–but that was mostly because he usually kept some of the non-essential knowledge to himself until it became relevant. He had never deliberately excluded them from these matters.
"So even the Brocade Guards were involved in the distant past!? I'm excited to see what such a civilization has developed into today! I didn't think we'd get a chance to properly fight side by side so quickly!"
With a beaming smile on her lips, Ninna was almost giddy with anticipation. Supreme Pillar heirs that had been trained as extensively as Theodore and her normally didn't get many opportunities to fully live up to their potential and grow past their limits. Especially now that the two of them had teamed up, most threats in these early stages of the competition could practically be ignored.
Because of this, discovering that such a powerful tool to properly sharpen themselves with was nearby almost made her want to jump up and rush over there that very instant. Yet, Theodore's reminder that even with her in the mix, the threat that he felt hadn't diminished much, she managed to rein in her emotions again. Now, they had returned to a state of calm before the inevitable storm.
'I wonder what that so-called great undertaking is truly about. Judged based on Theodore's instincts, they might have actually figured out a way to trouble the Brocade Guards? Or to at least significantly surpass this round's limits, in some way. I can't wait to find out!'
Her eyes sparkling with immense joy, she grinned like a Cheshire cat, fighting intent and bloodlust seeping from her core. Much like her, deep inside, Theodore was the exact same. During their duel, both of them still had to hold back, as it was just a friendly exchange. Even his upcoming spar with Sarasvain would be much the same. But with the Naxsir and whatever disastrous threat that they harboured, he would not have to restrain himself in the slightest!
'It's too bad that the two of us will have to mostly observe from the sidelines during that conflict–we're still simply too weak to fight against true powerhouses...'
With a helpless look on her face, Han Junqiao sighed, further igniting her desire to grow stronger. Xie Mei and her were more than a notch above Theodore's regular guards and maids, but they were still lagging behind even some average Named Family descendants. Truly, they had far too much work to do until they could catch up to or even surpass them.
"By the way, is Harmony over there going to be useful to you, Theo?"
Bringing up this important topic from earlier, Xie Mei glanced at the restrained Universe-type world still steadfastly guarded by Annis. More so than the future, she was concerned about whether or not their most recent, gruelling efforts had been useful to her beloved. Powerful foes, marriage, a new sister, and such all could take a backseat for now.
"I can't say for sure yet, so how about we find out?"
His intrigued gaze wandering over to their prisoner, he led the way to the decent Lesser Void Guarding Array a short distance away, stepping into its bounds without a care in the world.
"Theodore Winter, Your Excellency, you're finally here! I've been awaiting your arrival all this whi–"
Completely ignoring the Harmony segment's sycophantic words and actions, he flash-froze the entire captured world within a moment, covering it under endless layers of Eternal Ice.
He wasn't interested in its explanations or even its loyalty. Clearly, it had been scared by the means that his Subordinates had employed, but so what? All that it amounted to in his eyes was an experimental subject.
'Time to find out whether or not my Existence's Foremost Calamity counts a special entity like this fragment as a 'being'.'
Casually waving his hand, he shattered the entire Universe-type world, all of this particular Harmony, into ice crystals that rapidly dissolved into nothingness. And, right on cue, a familiar Heavenly Dao notification popped up in his field of view.
[ Existence's Foremost Calamity has activated.
There are three Talents to choose from. They will be listed in order from the highest to the lowest grade. ]
[ Will Harmonization (Supreme):
• Capable of fusing one's own will with any other will in existence, incorporating it into oneself and gaining control over it.
• The fusion can only succeed if no mental resistance is encountered. ]
[ Soul Fragment Entanglement (Transcendent):
• Parts of the soul can be split off, and doing so will not lead to any soul-related injuries.
• The main soul and these parts will always stay connected, regardless of any being or influence that does not surpass this Talent's grade. ]
[ Mind Encroachment (Mythical):
• Gradually infiltrate the mind of any being, influencing it slowly but surely in the way that one desires.
• Only Talents above the Mythical-grade, mind-related Proficiencies at the Transcendent-level or an entity vastly surpassing one's own cultivation realm can resist this effect. ]
[ Will you choose one of these Talents or a fixed amount of Attribute Points instead? ]