"I promise you to become the strongest possible as soon as possible, so that I can guarantee your safety, that of our future children, and that of our entire family," Alex said with a solemn expression.
Anna remained silent for a moment before lightly nodding her head. "I believe you," she said with a soft chuckle, "though it's no luck for you, it's my safe day."
Alex smirked at her words, "I guess that means we'll have to try a few more times before getting you pregnant."
Anna suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine. "Um, s-sure, but if you don't mind, I'll take a rest right now," she said with a stuttering tone.
Before he could add anything, she settled into a comfortable position in his arms and tightly closed her eyes.
"Good night I guess," Alex chuckled and planted a kiss on her forehead.
Before long, Anna's breathing slowed, and she fell asleep, her body sinking into the comfort of Alex's arms.
'Show me Anna's status,' Alex addressed the system a moment later.
An instant later, a translucent blue screen appeared before Alex.
[Name: Annaline Maxwell
Age: 35
Level: 3
Strength: 40
Agility: 50
Stamina: 30
Defense: 30
Mana Points: 40
Abilities: Phantom Veil; Darkness
Bloodline: Ethereal assimilation
Nicknames : child of darkness; Specter of Death]
'No changes,' Alex remarked with a sigh, glancing at the screen displaying Anna's stagnant stats.
Despite the fact that weeks had passed, none of Anna's stats had increased. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing; in fact, it was usual for ordinary individuals to not have a rapid growth of their attributes after weeks.
'Still, with how things are going, it would take her or even years to reach level 4,' Alex noted.
Although Anna was at the high tier of level 3, breaking through level 4 was going to take too much time because each time she absorbed mana through a mana core, she needed to wait for her body to get accustomed.
It wasn't to say that Anna was untalented; it was quite the opposite! At barely 35 years old, she had already reached level 3 and was nearing level 4. For most people, achieving such levels took over sixty years, and for geniuses, at least fifty years!
Genius here designates people whose body constitution allows them to quickly progress through levels. The body constitution may be one that allows them to absorb a larger quantity of mana compared to others, or one that quickly digests the absorbed mana to allow one to absorb mana once again after a short lapse of time, or the combination of both constitutions.
For Alex who could absorb mana through mana core and never feel the need to pause, the concept of genius was completely meaningless.
Seeing Anna's age and level, there was a high chance that her body constitution allowed her to absorb a larger quantity at a short time difference.
'Still, it's too slow,' he thought, as Alex's gaze landed on the section showing Anna's bloodline and abilities.
'That's it!' he exclaimed mentally.
One's strength wasn't only tied to their level; sure, your level determined a great deal of your strength, but it wasn't the only component. Things like abilities and bloodlines mattered just as much as your level, and in certain cases, they had even more impact on your strength than your level!
Due to unknown reasons, Anna had no knowledge of possessing a second ability, much less a bloodline, so she only used the sole ability that she had knowledge of, which allowed her to hide her presence and the ones of people in direct contact with her.
'I should find a way to get her back her memories, or at the very least, find something that might help her with her darkness ability,' Alex thought.
Truth be told, even now, he couldn't comprehend how Anna had no knowledge of possessing a darkness ability. In most cases, even if someone completely loses their memories, they still know how to use their abilities.
It's true that when you awaken your ability, you gain certain knowledge on how to activate it and how it works, but in the end, even if you somehow don't get that information, abilities are also instinctual, so you should still be able to use yours.
'As for her bloodline...' Alex's thoughts trailed off.
This one, he didn't know how to deal with it.
As previously explained, bloodlines are different from abilities. You can possess a bloodline and be completely unaware of it your whole life. In most cases, it is the family elder and people like that who are charged with awakening or explaining to youngsters how to awaken their abilities.
There were instances where the bloodline couldn't be awakened unless a special item was in hand, and Alex wasn't certain if this applied to Anna's bloodline. He could only hope that if he found a way to restore her memories, she would have knowledge of her bloodline.
Alex gazed down at the smiling Anna sleeping in his hands and smiled warmly.
With care, he brushed aside the strands of hair obscuring her face and tenderly planted a kiss on her forehead.
"I'll find a way to help you grow stronger," he murmured softly.
The smile on Anna's face slightly widened and she snuggled closer to Alex, making him chuckle.
Alex took a deep breath and exhaled the black-purple smoke inside his body.
For the remainder of the night, Alex trained on how to better manipulate his smoke element, all the while making sure not to disturb the sleeping beauty in his arms.
Hours later, as the first rays of dawn gently kissed the horizon, painting the sky with hues of pink and gold, and nature began to awaken, Anna's eyes gently fluttered open.
"Good morning beautiful," Alex greeted her and kissed her forehead.
"Morning," Anna greeted with a yawn.
"Others will wake up in a bit, you should start dressing," Alex gently urged, his voice soft and warm.
"Well, you're the one who sent my dress that far, it's only fair that you retrieve it," Anna remarked, pointing towards her dress several meters away.
Alex chuckled and used his smoke to retrieve Anna's dress, handing it to her with a smile. "Here."
"It's ruined now, I can't wear it anymore," she sighed, putting the dress away. From within, she retrieved another dress, its black fabric adorned with delicate white stripes.
"Black seems to be your favorite color," Alex commented as Anna stood up, preparing to put on her new dress.
"Mm," Anna hummed, then frowned. "Jeez, my panties are completely soaked with your cum," she remarked.
Without wasting a moment, Anna gracefully slid her panties off, allowing Alex to admire her naked body bathed in the rays of light.
The moment Anna removed her panties, remnants of Alex's sperm leaked out of her pussy, trailing down her thick thighs in a tantalizing trickle.
"If your goal here is to excites me, you are doing a great job," Alex commentated as he stared at Anna with lust evident in his eyes.
Alex quickly rose to his feet, enveloping Anna in his embrace as he drew her close to his chest.
The instant their bodies pressed against each other, Anna felt Alex's hot member pressing against her stomach, twitching.
"Should we go for a second rou-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Anna pushed him, swiftly extricating her body from his.
"People are already waking up, we can't do anything right now," Anna said with a blush on her face.
Alex glanced behind him and confirmed that some of his subordinates were already stirring awake.
"A pity," Alex sighed, "it will have to wait for another time I guess," he added a moment later.
He gave Anna a peck on her plump lips and then stooped to retrieve his own clothes.
Much like Anna's, Alex's clothes were also dirty, so he had to change into new attire.
He wore a long-sleeved silver jacket embroidered with gold that extended past his waist. It was buttoned halfway up on the right side, with loose sleeves reaching just above his wrists, adorned with fancy bands at the edges. He paired it with comfortable-looking pants of the same gray hue.
Although the clothes he wore weren't the most flashy, it still gave him a dignified appearnmance all the while being comfortable.
'Good,' Alex nodded to himself with a satisfied smile.
"I'm going to wake the others and prepare for our departure," Anna said.
When Alex stole a glance at her, he couldn't help but gulp in astonishment.
The dress she wears is an elegant and tight fitted black dress that clung to her body and showed off her assets in a provocative manner all the while without seeming lusty. The cuffs of her dress are adorned with delicate white embroidery against the backdrop of black fabric.
Her dress didn't reveal too much skin, and even her cleavage and most of her slender legs were completely hidden. But despite that, the combination of the graceful curves of her body and her lovely visage was enough to drive any man crazy and cause even a pious man to sin.
Witnessing her figure, Alex realized that he was nowhere close to having released all his pent-up lust after yesterday's intercourse.
Alex closed the distance between himself and Anna, delicately grasping her chin in his fingers as he spoke with a playful grin, "I had given up on a second round, but seeing how sexy and alluring you look right now, I might have to reconsider." As he spoke, Alex reached out to wrap his arm around Anna's slender waist.
However, just as his hand was about to close in on her, Anna swiftly evaded it.
"Like I said, I'm going to wake the others and prepare for our departure," she said with a giggle.
Before Alex could say anything, she took off, lightly running towards their carriages, her laughter ringing out like bells.
'She's smiling more and more now,' Alex thought, smiling as he watched Anna leave.
Although he found her cute when she wore her usual cold expression, Alex was also pleased to see Anna smiling more the longer they spent together.
'I guess you will have to wait tonight,' Alex thought as he glanced down at his rock-hard dick.
"Well, it might not be a bad thing."