On the 173rd day, the girls finally gave birth, granting Kenshin the long-awaited tenth level. Natsumi's son was named the Eleventh, Aya's the Twelfth. Both had "talent level" of twenty. But Kenshin was so shocked he didn't congratulate the two moms on birthing such wonderful babies or tell them the talent level.
Right after the Twelfth's birth, Kenshin got a notification and saw text before his eyes:
[Congratulations. You reached level 10 and unlocked the "Patriarch Mind" ability.]
"What?! Patriarch Mind?" Kenshin wondered mentally and immediately opened the "status" window.
Name: Nakayama Kenshin
Age: 21
Level: 10
Class: Patriarch
Available: 1 skill point
Skills:
Harem Master (MAX)
Will of Patriarch (MAX)
Patriarch Mind (MAX)
Talented Offspring [Level 6]
Shelter Creation [Level 2]
Formation Creation [Level 4]
???
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After a quick status scan, he invested the free skill point into "Talented Offspring," then found the new ability's brief description and couldn't hold back joyful surprise.
Patriarch Mind: Grants the Patriarch absolute immunity to mind control and interference. Grants absolute memory, as well as minor telekinetic abilities. Increases the radius of telepathic connection by 20 meters per level. Accelerates thinking and analysis speed, and also improves the Patriarch's telepathic abilities. Now telepathy is not limited only to descendants, but can be applied to all sentient beings within range.
"Hm, I didn't even notice how my brain changed, and now for some reason I remember absolutely every single thing that happened to me after arriving in this world, and practically nothing from my previous life... Damn, I even remember the smell of Aya's old mattress, and the sensation of stepping into bear shit, which I stepped into when Natsumi and I were walking home..." thought Kenshin, belatedly noticing that the world around him seemed to have frozen, and no more than a second had passed since his sudden "distraction."
"What a beautiful little one, Aya. Twelfth, don't cry, this is your mom..." said Kenshin, suddenly "returning" from his reverie.
"By the way, girls, this time you gave birth to wonderful children—both have a talent rating of twenty points, guaranteed Chunin!" Kenshin congratulated both mothers.
As soon as Natsumi and Aya heard this wonderful news, both kissed their babies on their bald crowns and pressed them to their chests, after which a quiet smacking sucking sound was heard.
Kenshin smiled, turned around, and left the room, not wanting to distract the two moms from feeding, giving them a chance to rest a bit, while he headed to the gym to test the new ability.
As soon as he entered and glanced at the Sixth throwing shuriken, time around him instantly slowed, and Kenshin saw the Sixth move his right shoulder, reach into the small pocket of his vest for the next shuriken, slowly pull it out, swing even more slowly, and then make the throw.
When Kenshin focused on the flying shuriken, everything around slowed even more, and all four sharp edges were visible on the flying shuriken. Kenshin noted with surprise that he could adjust the degree of "slowing" time, up to quite significant values. But the stronger he "slowed" time or "accelerated" perception, the more his brain strained, and after ten seconds of maximum "slowing," his head began to hurt, and he returned to normal perception, massaging his temples.
Seeing their entering father, the Sixth, Fourth, and Seventh dropped what they were doing and approached him, greeting him respectfully.
"Don't get distracted, continue your training—I just came to watch," he said with a smile, and patted the Fourth on the back.
"Yes, Father," said the Fourth, the oldest and strongest among all the children present, and turning around, the trio returned to their tasks.
Kenshin was growing more and more accustomed to the unpleasant thought of the differences in the children's status. On one hand, he wanted to treat them all equally, but on the other, he rationally understood that it was simply impossible. With the increasing number of children, it wouldn't be possible to devote even 5 minutes to each one, but he had no intention of being unfair.
He didn't think that with such immense love among the brothers for each other, they could develop dislike or hatred for their siblings, but in any case, he intended to harshly suppress such antics and had no desire to see "ugly ducklings" in his home—in his opinion, even the least talented son deserved normal treatment and all the benefits of the sanctuary, whether it was the best food or decoctions from blue sage.
Focusing on his thoughts, Kenshin suddenly felt strange fluctuations, like etheric interference. Not understanding what was happening, he turned toward the "interference" and saw the Tenth sitting against the wall, who had just entered.
Kenshin looked more closely at his son, and the "interference" gradually became clearer, turning into heavily fragmented thoughts and emotions. It was hard for him to filter the stream of the youngest son's random thoughts, but he caught several main ones. The primary thought was that the Tenth considered himself a worthless son because the Ninth, born at the same time as him, had already learned to concentrate chakra in his feet and walk on walls, while he still couldn't.
Suddenly Kenshin felt something strange, as if intuitively understanding what needed to be done. He looked at the Fourth doing push-ups from the floor, wearing chakra-suppressing bracers to keep his base physical form in perfect condition, thereby strengthening it through chakra nourishment.
"Fourth, come here," he said via telepathic link. With the current radius of telepathic connection, he could call any of his sons, but he decided that the Fourth would be more than enough for what he had in mind.
"Something wrong, Father?" asked the approaching Fourth, seeing the Tenth sitting on the bench, who also looked at his father in surprise.
"Nothing. Sit next to the Tenth and don't move," commanded Kenshin, and both sons obeyed without delay.
As soon as they sat, Kenshin extended both hands and placed them on each of their heads. In theory, he could do this without touch, but with zero experience, tactile contact for better perception of electromagnetic impulses in the brain was necessary.
"Fourth, your task is to think only about what you feel when concentrating chakra in your feet—during the entire process, concentrate chakra and think only about that," instructed Kenshin, then looked at the Tenth and said:
"And your task is to absorb the information. Relax your mind and go with the flow, don't get scared, and focus on the sensations—try to remember what you feel. This will come in handy."