While it was unusual to have two wives with two children, it was also a boon in this situation as they could take turns watching both children while the other meditated to rest and restore their strength. They also took it upon themselves to gang up on Sage. Their level of violence had dropped down to superficial injury and Sage’s newly formed danger-sense didn’t kick in. He carried many bruises during this time and could only apologize endlessly while fulfilling their every request.

I really wish I could use the old Earth excuse of having to go to work.

Unfortunately for him, he was the overlord of this world and not only did he not have to work, there was a whole army of people ready to carry out their orders. Sage could only endure the chiding of his wives and busy himself with changing diapers. He snuck away to conduct his research experiments as much as possible, and was quite thankful there were others that cooked meals and did the laundry for them. He was only forced to change diapers out of spite and also to try and earn some good will from Ling and Jiao.

After the first three months, the signs of their inhuman nature began to show. The Human Seals of the mother’s had extended to the children and only now was that power starting to unravel. Just like it had become a tradition among the Hoplites and Dragoons, there was a sort of baptismal ceremony conducted where the children were given Human Seals. It was also a good opportunity for Sage to test the strength of the ancestral memories that Ling and Jiao had been given with their new bodies. Unlike the Hoplites and Dragoons, where a few important people in every community passed down this knowledge, Sage hoped the new Lang Clan would be able to recover from any disaster. The knowledge of the Human Seal would be something they were born with, so they could always use it even if the clan’s heritage was lost at some point in the future.

To that end, Ling and Jiao were both responsible for applying the Human Seal to their babies. Sage wanted to see how much skill could be passed down through an ancestral memory and how it would compare to the skill of the lower intelligence Hoplites and Dragoons doing the same thing. Their inhuman hands, feet, and carapace parts were all a product of their Human Seals being applied at a much lower proficiency level. Sage had the use of the Timeless Eyes to discover the crux at a very high level, while the Hoplites and Dragoons were merely the equivalent of a village elder or shaman. For his children, Sage hoped that the closeness between mother and child would allow for a very high level Human Seal, but the only way to be sure was to try it out.

When they were finished with the process, a glowing symbol appeared on the baby’s forehead and then faded away till it was invisible to the naked eye. Then Sage closely examined the children to see how well it had gone. He was surprised at the strength of the seals. Using the Timeless Eyes to see the past and present of something, he was only assured of creating a seal with 80% strength. The seals that the Hoplites and Dragoons used were only at 50% strength, which was the reason for their inhuman appearance. After examining his two children, he was sure their seals were at least at 70%, which was one of the milestones that signified complete knowledge. This state was only reached by understanding all that there was to know about a being’s external form. Sage could only assume that because they’d just been birthed by the two women, they were utterly and completely familiar with their bodies.

It would be interesting to find out how much less effective the seal will be if it is only placed a few years later and not so soon after birth. As the child grows, won’t the mother become less familiar with their changing body?

Despite his unusual thoughts, there was no way he was going to conduct any such silly experiment himself. He had no desire to use his own children as test subjects, and it would also be terribly rude to one of the children for them to grow up in a mantis body while their siblings were all cute little human children. Would that child get treated more like a pet over time? How many traumas would the poor fellow suffer?

As the children grew, the signs of their inhuman lineage began to show. Unlike the Hoplites and Dragoons, they didn’t look like your average demi-human. Instead, they were only slightly unusual, similar to the Tiankong Clan. Once they got a little older and larger, their inhuman eyes showed themselves. Each eye had three small pupils stacked vertically on top of each other rather than a single large one. Around this trio of pupils their iris was segregated into tiny hexagons, like a miniature lattice or net over the colored iris. They were most certainly a sort of hybrid of human and Sea Locust eyes. The same eyes the Jade Sky Mantis had inherited. Along with the unusual eyes, the children also had fingers that were a little thicker than usual. Jiao’s son was even more unusual as his knuckles were pronounced with spiky protrusions beneath the skin. For Ling’s child, they were surprised to find that the boy’s pheromones were present in human form even without having to relax the power of his Human Seal.

The two little boys were quickly followed by two little girls, which made Sage very happy that he had many servants to help with cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry. He had no idea how most people could handle all these problems while also having to work all day. Just as they got past the most difficult time of feeding newborns all night and hoped it would be a little easier, the two boys got old enough to start causing trouble. He actually became somewhat proud when he learned that two Dragoons for each boy were not enough to keep them from breaking things. At first they had only one nanny between the two of them, but then they split up leaving the nanny unable to follow them both and giving one of the boys time to pull a tablecloth and spill all the dishes onto the floor.

Then they had two nannies and led the two into a trap which ended up with one son and two nannies locked in a closet while the other boy stole food from the kitchen and ran out of the house to look for something to feed it to. Their house was surrounded by the Purple Mist Sect, so the little boy was easily picked up and brought back, but they didn’t give up their trouble making ways. It was only when they got two nannies each that they finally couldn’t figure out a way to escape. Almost in unison, it seemed that the two girls decided to look down upon their older brothers. They would both sit together on a blanket with a contemptuous look on their faces when they saw their brothers running around attempting to smash things.

Sage’s third pair of children finally broke the mold from before. Not only were they staggered by a few months, but Ling had a second daughter, while Jiao had a second son. More children followed after them. Ling had two more sons, while Jiao had two more daughters. If left to his own devices, Sage might not even be married let alone have so many children, but he couldn’t let down the ancestor that had been so kind to him. It was also his responsibility as the last of the Lang Clan. At least, that was what compelled him to get married and start making children. Like any father, as soon as he saw that first child, any reservations he had about this thing were completely erased and he knew he would do anything for them and also the women that were inextricably involved with him.