(Raina POV)
It had been a few hours since I heard what was perhaps the most terrifying thing in the past two centuries of this life, and I was sitting on Vale's bed meditating.
Vale was lying across my lap, sleeping calmly like nothing had happened earlier.
It would honestly be the best for everyone in the world for nothing to happen to her thus preventing the doomsday scenario mentioned earlier.
Elinaria had all of a sudden become the scariest goddess due to her control over the system and only needing to give someone a blessing for them to receive it.
This train of thought led to something I had forgotten earlier. Was Elinaria not out of divine energy? How come she is now able to bless more people?
I spent some time thinking about this before remembering something Stephanie once told me.
Deities do not only get divine energy from worship, but they also get it from the action of there authorities functioning.
In Stephanie's case, that means as long as there is something living in the worlds she has a connection to, she will always have divine energy and thus always remain.
Now, if Elinaria was to get the full breadth of the concept of progression and discovery as her authorities, then that means as long as the universe exists, then she will have power.
This also means that if her enemies make progress in working against her, then she will gain power. If they Discover a new way to strike at her, then she will gain more power. Their very existence will grant her power, and there is nothing they can do about it.
She would, in essence, become one of the most powerful deities in existence, and all because Vale chose her authorities.
I do not know what is worse anymore, Elinaria preparing for a potential war or Vale without any restraints.
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(Vale POV)
Getting up in the morning, I stretched before cuddling into Mom for a little while.
This ended when she said, while pushing me off her, "Get up and go downstairs. It's time for breakfast."
Relenting and letting go, I hopped off the bed running to the door while saying, "Yes, Mom."
When I made it downstairs, Raina still had not moved, and I got an idea about the order in which I wanted to do things today, so I shouted into the kitchen, "Don't worry about me, Yuki. I am heading out to the mine for a moment, and I will be right back."
I then ran out the front door in the direction of the mine to collect the ores that should have been processed by now.
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(Raina POV: A few seconds Earlier)
I thought that this morning was going to be like normal, but when Vale called me mom, I knew that there was something wrong.
While I was happy about it, I also knew that it should have taken her far longer to call me that. It even took me about a year in this world to consider my new mother as my mother, so for Vale to do so in only a few months was not right.
It would have been possible to figure it out on my own, but I instead chose to use the quicker and easier solution of just asking someone who know about it. Thus, I contacted Stephanie.
This time, she answered almost immediately, "You have been contacting me a lot more recently. I should give that little girl a gift."
Rolling my eyes at Stephanie's antics, I got straight to the point, saying, "My call is about that little girl. Why is she accepting me as her mother so easily?"
The first response to my question was a burst of laughter for about half a minute before she actually answered, saying, "I was wondering when you were going to notice. It's a kitsune instinct to be as close as possible to one's family, so with you imprinting on her as her mother, she is already subconsciously thinking of you as such. While some may consider this brainwashing, it is just a natural instinct of Kitsune's. This is also why touching a Kitsune's tail or ears without permission is something they will kill over."
Listening to what Stephanie said, I quickly summarised, saying, "So her nature as a kitsune is slowly changing her mind to think of me as her mother."
Stephanie chuckled after hearing this, clarifying, "Essentially, yes. However, after what happened last night, she started to accept you as her mother a bit more, thus allowing the slow change to make significant process."
Concerned about how Vale would feel when she finds out about this I asked, "Is there any way to slow down or prevent this?"
It did not take long for her to respond, but when she did, it was in a softer tone than before, like when someone was trying to break bad news to you. "I am afraid that there is no way to do so. You better get used to her calling you mom."
Taking the news in stride, I then said, "Thank you," before I felt the connection get cut.
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(Vale POV)
Getting back to the house from the mines, I enter the workshop and set the mortal and pestle to make the steel compound with the ore and then run back to the living area of the complex.
Walking into the dining room, I see Raina walk in from the opposite door at the same time.
She looks surprised to see me here but I act like it is nothing and take my seat at the head of the table.
Raina then walked over and was about to sit down when Yuki walked out of the kitchen with one plate filled to the brim with pancakes and another one filled with the spiritual equivalent of bacon.
When Raina saw them, she flipped her hand, and a white bottle appeared in her hand, which she placed on the table.
I did not dare to breathe for a moment, but when Raina pulled out the stopper in the bottle, and I could smell the contents, my heart melted. Actual Maple Syrup, and it was the kind that was made as a condiment and not an additive for cooking or drinks. (A/N: Yes there is a difference)
Not wasting another moment I grab a few pancakes and some of the maple syrup and dig in.
It was not very offeten that I got to eat some thing like this as my mom would rarely make them and could never make them as good as her's.
This thought caused my mood to drop again before I felt someone peting me between my ears.
Looking up, I saw that it was Raina who was now sitting beside me.
Strangely, this seemed to fix my mood and I was mostly back to how I was earlier.
When the pancakes were gone I then grabbed some of the remaining strips of bacon and used them to clean up the remaining maple syrup on the plate.
With the plate now clean and everyone finished with breakfast Raina turned to me and asked, "How are you going to teach Yuki your technique?"
Considering her question for a moment I answered, "Well, I would first need to teach her some of the basics of biology and then get into some of the more metaphical biology surounding meridians. However, if I only touch on the parts nescisary for the technique, I should have a basic over view written in a few hours. After that we would study and go over that until she memorizes the important parts."
Raina interrupted me at this point and asked, "Don't you need to make steel today?"
Nodding in response I answer her saying, "I already set the mortar and pestle in the workshop to make the steel compound. With how much I asked for it will take until noon before it's finished."
Raina nodded at this and then thought for a moment before asking, "Do you mind if I join in on this lesson?"
Not seeing much reason to refuse her I say, "Thats fine, but we will be having the lesson later as I still have not written the text book."
Raina seemed to anticipate this answer as she quickly replied, "Well, I am faster at writing then you, so I could write the text book while you give the lesson. That way Yuki could move on to cultivating by the end of today."
While Raina's response sounded reasonable, there were quite a lot of things I wanted to put in there that she might gloss over. On the other hand, she was right in Yuki most likely being able to cultivate the technique by the end of the day.
Deciding to give a compromise, I said, "We will do it your way, however, I will be going over the text book that you wrote to make sure you got everything that is needed and nothing that isn't."
The smile that Raina gave after hearing this was downright fox like.