--
Time passed by quickly while Cedric was busy, so much so that he's starting to lose count of it at this point. Well, in terms of time within the Tower of Prodigies, at least.
In his homeworld's time, only five years passed, which is certainly not a lot, but with Cedric going back and forth between Prime Earth and the Tower, his changes were no less than earth shaking, because in Cedric's case, hundreds of years had already passed for him.
Currently, Cedric was back on earth, observing his home from beyond the clouds like a god. There weren't a lot of changes that happened during these five years, but there's progress still, and with the advancements that's happening, this progress will only get faster.
Beyond this, his people are also doing their best to develop other planets to make it habitable for them. It's still going to take some time, but that's to be expected. After all, it's not so easy for a newly risen race like them to make so much progress after regaining their freedom.
Out of nowhere, Cedric peeled his gaze away from the lands and turned into the Sky Castle. With a single step, he breached the distance between him and his target like it was nonexistent.
He appeared next to a crib, and as soon as he did so, a fond smile immediately appeared on his face, especially after seeing three pairs of doe-like eyes gazing at him, accompanied by a silly shuffle of joy.
"Yes, yes. Hello to you too, my tiny bundles of joy. Papa's here."
Indeed. Cedric's a father now to three children. He had gotten all of his wives pregnant after returning from clearing the 6th stage of trials. It wasn't an ordinary pregnancy, though, because instead of it only taking nine months, his women were pregnant for nearly five years, meaning that his children are far from being ordinary.
Still, what only mattered to Cedric was that they were healthy. He didn't care about their extraordinariness or normalcy because whatever it was, he's prepared to deal with them; he's their father after all.
The faint giggles of his children were like music to his ears, especially after he picked them all up to cradle them in his arms. He looked at them one by one, seemingly can't get enough of what they look like even after all this time.
Godwyn, Gilderoy, and Gerald—these are his sons' names. They would be considered triplets if it weren't for the fact that they came from different mothers.
The one he cradles on his left arm wrapped in a white silk cloth was Godwyn, the child of Cedric and Erica. He has a tuft of black hair and has inherited Cedric's golden eyes (Cedric's still unaware if the abilities of the godking's eyes were hereditary).
And then there's Gerald, who, unlike his brothers, seems to dislike the cacophony of colors swarming his vision. He's irritated by them and doesn't want to see them, evident by the constant wiggling of his arms and legs in his poor attempts to dismiss these visions.
'Well, I guess my kids are truly incredible, huh?' He thought to himself.
This might probably be because they spend years incubating within their mothers' wombs. They were also nourished with many resources to ensure their healthy birth, so it shouldn't be surprising.
'But it's a little early for you three to play with concept laws. You might hurt yourselves by accident, so for now, I'll be sealing this ability of yours.'
'Don't worry though; this seal will dissipate by itself when the right time has come, and it wouldn't hinder your potential.'
With a flick of his fingers, a seal appeared on his sons' foreheads, melting to it and disappearing afterwards. His children calmed down as soon as the seals took effect, and one by one, they started falling asleep.
Cedric hummed a tune for them to listen to while controlling the cloud to return to the sky castle. Once they're back there, he got off and walked to the room where his wives were resting.
There, he found them still resting but vaguely aware of their surroundings. He knew that they sensed him entering with the children, so all three of them opened their eyes one by one, weakly and silently greeting him with warm gazes.
Smiling, Cedric walked up to them and handed them their sons carefully. The women immediately broke in fond smiles as they cradled their children, and the children seemed to have sensed this too and instinctively curled up closer to their warmth.
Cedric's heart swelling greatly upon seeing this scene. With a faint clap of his hands, a screen of gentle light covered the entire room, and faint music started playing. The air turned slightly warm and extremely pure and comfortable. A calming scent was diffused in the room, which made it easier for all of them to fall asleep.
A lull of peace visited and remained in this room, allowing his family to rest comfortably. Cedric would wage war to anything that would disturb this peaceful silence.
Seeing as they were resting comfortably, Cedric exited the room and sealed it behind him. He could appear there anytime he wanted to, so the seal was just to prevent them from being disturbed.
"Yeah, a few more years of this, and I can leave with peace of mind."