Chapter 102

It was time for Smoothie's evolution.

She had finally reached level 30.

"Smoothie, are you ready?" I asked.

She nodded, "Yes, Mother."

"Have you decided what you wish to involve into?"

"It's a surprise! I promise I'll be useful to you." She smiled with a light blush.

Let me guess, she'll optimize her special ability. Even so, it cannot enter my realm until she has become a celestial or spirit being.

Then, an idea hit me. I could technically allow her to evolve within my subspace. By adjusting the time flow, she could theoretically reach level 70 within a day's time. The only issue was whether she could obtain ascendant traits to allow that evolution. Without proper stimulus, evolution was next to impossible past level 70.

"Go ahead. I'm here until you complete your evolution."

"Smoothie, best of luck!" Haelley joined in to cheer her on.

That group of winged beasts and Haelley had nothing else to do around here so they gathered around to watch her evolution. It was like a graduation party from elementary school to middle school.

Just prior to this graduation party, I provided plenty of mana to help Smoothie achieve whatever trait or ability she was planning to get. [Transformation] was obviously one of them.

As expected, the evolution was completed within minutes.

Once she had separated from her plant body, I examined her status. I didn't bother checking her detailed stats because the numbers weren't worth looking at.

[Level 31 Fey (Plant);

Species: Strawberry Cream;

Physical: 21/21;

Spiritual: 92/92;

Traits: Bewitching, Rapid Growth, Ardent, Bond;

Abilities: Charm, Producer, Sage, Transformation;

Blessings: Ephemeral Breath;

Description: A plant fey that is admired among its kin.]

She managed to gain a new trait and a new ability. That special ability of hers had evolved into [sage] which probably just meant it became more versatile than [soothsayer]. If my speculation was correct, her [soothsayer] ability or her ability to process information and predict future was somehow a carryover from her previous existence. Alas, I couldn't figure out why or how she was able to follow me into this world.

That's an interesting blessing. I wonder if it's because she was given a soul core?

I had only noticed the blessing recently. It was already there when I had collected her plant body from our old home.

She covered her plump breasts with one arm and another hand "Mother, how long do you plan to stare at me like that!"

"Oh oops, well, it's not cold in here. And... You look absolutely adorable!" I chuckled before draping her in a new silky dress incorporating the flowery design of my celestial gown, "You've grown well!"

Now that she had evolved, she had grown in size including the feminine ones for some strange reason. When I had evolved to level 31 fey being, I only grew taller with no lumps of fat or anything. It just didn't feel fair.  

Are you the type to mature early? But, it can't be...? I guess the |bewitching| trait probably took my view as majority since I'm the owner here. Excellent! We only breed beauties in my world, thank you. Handsome folks are welcome too!

I was tempted to create a handsome strawberry fairy just to pair her up. However, I still had urgent matter to attend to afterward so this idea left on the backburner for now.

"I still can't compare to you..." She lowered her head, slightly pouty and her cheeks bit flushed.

Why do you blush in front of me? I'm your parent. I'm not your lover. Maybe I should drill that into your head. Or, are you at that age!? I know it certainly has nothing to do with the crowd here... They aren't even from the same race.

Currently, she stood two heads shorter than me. Just to get an perspective, in my natural celestial form, I was actually fairly tall, on the taller side of humans. In a sense, I was one of the tallest beings in my subspace. The only one taller than me was Oortez.

"Don't mind it." I tried to brush off that topic. 

"I do!" She crossed her arms.

"No you don't. By the way, how far can your transformation take you?"

"Eh... This is as far as it goes."

"I see. Smoothie, come here." I opened my arms. 

She happily jumped at the chance of a hug with me. When she did, I whispered to her ear, "Use [sage] as often as you can to keep yourself safe. I can't always guarantee your safety even in my subspace. As you know, not everyone here is a friend. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

"Good girl. Another thing, I can alter your constitution if you wish. This way your evolution won't require your plant body. Would you like that?"

There was a reason why I didn't offer her this solution at first. I needed to see her successfully obtain [transformation]. Otherwise, if I altered her constitution without the necessary ability, there was a risk that she might not be able to evolve again.

"Yes, please!"

"Then, here you go."

It was a really simple matter for someone like me. I extracted the proxy fey core along with all its information from her plant body and anchored it into the fey core within her. By doing so, she would no longer have a plant body. As for her fey magic or ability to manipulate her plant body, that was gone as well.

Now that she could no longer defend herself using her fey magic, I had to step up on her security. Though, she could technically still use her fey magic to fly and regular magic spells to defend herself.

I'm not doting on her or anything! That sounds so weird if it comes from me.

Five capable maids would have to act as her secret service agents for now. Their abilities and traits were next to none, but at least they could pack a few mean punches to buy time. That was a joke. What kind of secret service agents didn't carry hidden weapons? Just because Smoothie couldn't use her fey magic to defend herself didn't mean these maids couldn't.

The entire preparation took only a few seconds in my time frame.

"Done."

"Thank you. I love you!"

She tried to do her little trick again but I wasn't going to fall for it twice. I skillfully dodged her and pecked her on the forehead in retaliation.

"Ah!"

"Heheh. Nice try."

To think you're bold enough to try this in front of everyone, you certainly aren't holding back.  

After our little family drama, I briefed everyone on their options. They were to inform me of their decisions upon my return.

Their choices were simple. They could stay here and recuperate for the next few weeks or they could return to Vera immediately. Of course, daily necessities were covered by me, including super delicious meals. In addition, since I didn't know what to do with the other rescued folks who were still in suspended state, I asked for their opinion.

After that briefing, I bid them a short farewell, "I'll be back shortly. Smoothie, Haelley, and everyone else, enjoy your stay."

The next moment, I was following up with Oortez who was staying in the second layer of my subspace.

"I trust it was fruitful."

"Accessing knowledge stored in soul energy has proven to be more difficult than I imagined."

"Oh, it was your first time? I thought demons were adept at manipulating soul energy."

"Give me some more time."

"That's fine. But, what will I get in return?"

He pondered for a bit before replying, "I will catalogue it for you."

"Sounds good."

Now that he was working diligently, I decided to sort out the remainders of that demon's soul energy. I could technically just absorb all of that information into myself but I didn't want to be potentially negatively influenced.

Over the next couple of days, I sorted out the heap of soul energy, cutting them down to even smaller pieces for better organization. The keeps were for Oortez to catalogue. The ones to be discarded was to be recycled and absorbed by me which I did as soon as I could.

By the end of all this, I had a library full of soul energy painstakingly catalogued and locked away in a safe location.

On a separately note, apparently, somewhere in that world, a similar facility was rumored to exist. Its existence was shrouded in mystery that not even Oortez had seen it with his own eyes.

He theorized that such a facility might be located within a subspace similar to mine.

"Is there no black magic that can trap souls? De Planck should be able to accomplish that much, no?"

"Such black magic does exist but it wears off the soul of the user. That kind of magic is usually left to the mortals to experiment with."

In addition to that piece of information, I was able to learn that De Planck had access to an abandoned subspace hidden somewhere. Apparently it was supposed to be a remnant of an ancient civilization accessible only with a divine relic. Regardless of the accuracy of the information, this would explain how De Planck was able to interact with my subspace externally.