First Steps

Hiro’s POV:

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After having sex, we woke up two days later, our bodies numb. Opening our eyes, we realized we were in complete darkness. Moving my hand, I knocked on the thing in front of us. If felt the same as our scales. Hard, rough, yet pleasant to the touch. Clenching my fists, I punched the texture around us.

It was so dry, that it not only broke under my strength but exploded into smithereens. The whole thing fell on us, in the form of dust. Alice looked at me, coughing dust on to me. Shaking our heads, we used our energies to clean our bodies. Alice used her energy hurriedly and sensed another life form in her body. We looked at each other, happiness clear in our eyes. I embraced my wife, feeling true happiness.

“Now you must be very careful! I won’t let anyone near you!” I growled in a low voice, generating a different sound than I intended. It was more… bestial. Clearing my throat, I looked at her with inquiring eyes.

“Haha, I know. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t risk the life of our child, no matter what,” she replied with a smile, caressing her belly. Placing my ear on her belly, I was waiting for something to happen, like an idiot.

“Pfft, hahaha~ Dear! I don’t even have a belly. If not for being cultivators, we wouldn’t even know about it!” Alice laughed at me, a bright smile on her face. Feeling lost in her eyes, I leaned closer to kiss her. We sprung up from the bed and after sweeping the room with our energies, we went outside.

The sun shone on our bodies, blinding us for a moment. Feeling its warm sun rays, we closed our eyes in bliss.

“Hahaha~ So cool!” A small boy ran on the beach, laughing and playing.

“Eh?” We gave out a stupid sound at the same time. Rose was running after the boy, chasing him with a smile on her face. Catching him, she raised him into the air, spinning. As she turned, she noticed us.

“Oh! Did you finish? How’d it go?!” She asked, rushing over, Dre in her arms. His body was barely bigger than a newborn’s, yet he was talking and running. Sticking his thumb into his mouth, he looked at us with curiosity. Nodding, Alice told her that she was pregnant.

“Mommy, are they my parents as well?” He questioned, pointing at us.

“N-No. You can’t say such things…” Rose replied, sighing loudly.

“Then why do I have a similar feeling towards them?” He questioned, eyeing us.

Stopping in front of him, I observed his looks, replying, “It’s because we are your godparents!”

“Eh? What is that?” Rose asked with a surprised face before Dre could.

Placing my hand on my chin, I realized that people didn’t have godparents here. “Uhm. They are usually close to your parents and they are like your second parents! Although our blood isn’t exactly the same, you still have our blood as well,” I answered them, scratching the back of my head.

“So you are my secondary parents!?” Dre shouted in a questioning voice with bright eyes, surprising us. He seemed to be an easy going child.

“If Rose and Hēi don’t mind it, then yes,” I answered him, looking at Rose with inquiring eyes.

“It’s fine by us. We would be happy to hear such a thing,” she replied with an honest smile on her face.

Looking around, not seeing him, “And where is Hēi?” Alice asked. Rose’s brows twitched upon hearing my question. Her face stiff, she still answered, “He is… sulking. Both of us wanted to hold Dre and asked him. He… he said that he preferred me because father’s chest is hard and flat, while my chest is soft and comfy. Now he is off somewhere sitting in a dark corner, mumbling about growing boobs…”

Raising a brow, “And since when could he run and talk?” Alice asked the most pertinent question.

“He started crawling on all fours after one hour, walking after two hours and running after three hours… It was a real surprise. Although stuttering and broken, he started talking on the first day. As he continued to listen to us talking , he learned how to talk coherently in half a day. And by now, he is able to think” she replied, her chest stuck out, visibly proud of her child.

“Because I had to understand your words! And my body was still growing! But the energy of this place is much better than anywhere else I’ve beene. So I came here to grow. It is them!” He shouted, pointing at us. We understood his explanation about energy… but how did he know about it was a question in itself.

“You can sense the energies?” I asked in my curiosity, only to see him nod.

After thinking for a few seconds, I decided on something. “Could you leave our world for a few days? I want to speed up our world. If Narihi was to give birth, Dre would have someone very similar, who he could play with.”

“Oh, that would be great. By the way, Sawolond was terminated because the leaders stepped into the Universe Founding Realm. This happened even before I gave birth to Dre,” Rose replied, adding an important detail.

Waving her hand, Alice told her that it didn’t matter at this point. We will just move and create this on the next or the third level. With our speed, we would break through to the ninth level quickly.

“Mommy, I want to eat!” Dre shouted out of nowhere, in the middle of our conversation. Although we laughed, Rose reprimanded him, saying that he shouldn’t cut into other people’s words. Leaning closer to him, I asked, “What do you want to eat?”

“Breasts! Mommy always gives me breasts! They are very delicious and fill me with energy. But I always use it up quickly… and then turn sleepy!” He shouted, surprising us. Looking at Rose, she visibly wanted to facepalm.

“Dre… My son… I told you that I’m not giving you breasts and you aren’t eating them. You drink breast milk and you will have to stop doing it at some point,” she said with a tomato-red face, not daring to meet our eyes. Feeling Alice’s evil intentions, I sealed her mouth with my hand. If she was to tease Rose after this, the poor girl would die of embarrassment.

“Let’s go,” I said, snapping my fingers. Hēi, Rose, and Dre disappeared from our world, along with us. Looking at the clean city, we stored it, not minding that Gaia and Anthony were in it. They left our world and looked at us with questioning eyes.

“What are your plans?” Anthony asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“For now, you will enter our world, along with Alice, and wait until Narihi will give birth. I’ll roam the world till then. A few days at most. I should be able to bear with it,” I replied with a tinge of sadness in my voice.

“Hahaha, you can bet on that. I won’t enter our world and leave you alone so that I can give birth to our child sooner. We have spent our lives together. It won’t change this time either. What we mustn’t do is merge… I have no idea what would happen if we did that” Alice replied instantly, laughing at my ignorance.

Looking into her eyes, I saw an unwavering resolution. She wouldn’t budge, no matter what. Knowing that I shouldn’t force something neither of us wants, I nodded with a smile on my face. I felt much happier that I won’t have to spend a few weeks without my Alice. Approximately, she needed three years. It would mean three weeks for me alone, with the current speed of time of our world.

“Wait. Where is Bayezinth?” Alice asked, her brows raised.

“Oh, that dragon guy. He warmed up to Sugine in these few days. He is fooling around somewhere for sure,” Gaia replied, shrugging her shoulders. “But for you to be at such a stage… Soul Eater is really broken!” She added with a proud face, her chest stuck out.

“Do they have breast milk as well? Do they taste differently? Can I drink them?” Dre questioned Rose, pointing at Alice’s and Gaia’s breasts. Gaia and Alice laughed, meanwhile I and Anthony looked at each other, nodding. We were possessive. Even if he was just a boy. Alice’s were mine and mine alone!

[What the hell are you thinking?!] Alice refuted in my mind, her brows twitching.

“No, Dreydon. Remember. You can’t ask such things from other women. If you are still curious about such things, then do it when we are alone. Also, you drink from them, not them…” Rose explained with a serious face. Pulling up Dre, she whispered into his ears, trying to hide her words from us. Unfortunately for her, all of us were much stronger than her at the moment. We heard her through the law of space.

“On a side note, look at those two guys. Hiro and Anthony. Both of them love their pairs and asking such things in front of them, could hurt them. They had envious and possessive faces when you asked about Alice’s and Gaia’s breasts. Watch out for people’s reactions, to reveal the truth. A real assassin would understand this! Don’t you want to be as cool as your father?”

Hearing her whispering, Dre nodded vehemently, his eyes bright. The four of us didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. We were found out so easily… Rose is more dangerous than she looks.

Hēi appeared out of nowhere, hugging Rose and Dre at the same time, shouting, “Did you just say your father was cool?!” Dre nodded upon hearing his question. Clenching his fists, Hēi made a victory pose. Did he live on the Earth as well, or what?

[No, but they have spent a lot of time in our world…] Alice pointed out the obvious, making me facepalm.

“Alright! Enough playing around. Enter our world and we will move. Do you want to stay with us?” I asked Gaia and Anthony. Looking at each other, they sighed loudly.

“Although this wasn’t a part of our plans, we are very old at this point. We are also in the last phase of cultivation and we will soon reach the tenth level. We could train quicker if we were to kill a few people at the ninth level, but we don’t see the point of hurrying. You might be a weird bunch, but it’s nice in your company. So if you don’t mind us, we will just tag along,” they said honestly, smiling while looking at each of us.

“Of course, you are welcome. But don’t you dare pull a prank on us again, or you will be sorry!” Alice replied, not forgetting to threaten them.

Gaia and Anthony entered our world, leaving only the five of us here. The monsters were advancing quickly, some of them even being at the fifth level. A few of them looked similar to beastmen but more animal-like. The humans were doing just as fine, though their progression was slower. The size of our universe was tremendous by now, being as big as the universe we were born in. This was all thanks to devouring so many souls of the top levels.

“Eh? Did you pack up? Where are you going?” Bayezinth questioned, appearing out of nowhere.

“Oh, you’re here. Yes, we intend to go elsewhere. We might just wander around until reaching the ninth level and then settle down on the third level of the Abyss,” I replied with a smile on my face, feeling excited to go.

“I’ll help Sugine training and will stay with her. I’m sure that we will cross roads. Our lives are long, after all. But hey, you have given me something amazing. This gal is really my type. If you need my help, then crush this. I’ll be there,” snapping his finger, a coin appeared and flew towards us, rotating in the air.

Catching it, I observed it from up close. It was made of gold and it had a depiction of a skull on it, containing Bayezinth’s mind power. Smiling, I stored it away. As we looked up, he was nowhere to be seen. Looking at the others, all of us nodded as we left towards our final destination.