Partly immersed in the crystal clear waters of this small pond, the couple had their stark naked bodies pressed against one another, the husband casually holding onto his wife's left mound, his arm keeping her close.
"Fanqia, how are you progressing in the areas of craftsmanship you have decided to focus on?" he asked, his deep voice making her forget everything else…
"Thanks to your present last time, I have been making steady progress in the formation of arrays… It is nothing much for now, but I am sure that I'll be able to put some up for our residence in the future!" she began by speaking of the area she felt the most confident in, the Teaching Array Tool Anoteros had gifted to her was truly an incredible item, with no fear of committing a mistake in drawing the body and lines of the arrays she was training with, she had been able to progress smoothly.
"As for alchemy, I am not doing too bad, but the success of the aphrodisiac was in big part thanks to Luxuli's help, I wouldn't have been able to do anything so successful without her… As for the crafting of talismans and the refinement of tools, I fear that I can't even be called a rookie yet…" with the hand that was not busy playing with the softness on her chest, Edrick rubbed the top of her head, that really was the biggest advantage of having such obedient wives, he didn't have to worry about them lying or obfusticating the truth, even if being truthful might make them look bad.
Of course, Edrick, with the wife-crests he had placed upon them, could know if they lied to him or not anyway, but it was a matter of his properties being genuinely honest with him, what sort of person would want to own anything willing to try and deceive you?
"Don't worry too much, it hasn't even been that long since you started learning about them… And besides, you have an unexplored talent for those sorts of things, you know? Things that have to do with support, like creating tools or potions, I think you can do a lot in these areas" he said, making Fanqia look up at him with stars in her eyes.
"Really? I can be useful to you, Lord Anoteros?"
"You are already plenty useful, but yes, you can achieve more… You see, I recently stumbled upon something that allows me to know a lot more about everyone within the residence" he began explaining, indeed, when he completed his mission to tear down the script concerning Jingyi, he not only earned the specific crests as an enhancement to Crest Of Domination, but also the ability to receive detailed information on the one's bearing the crests.
It had been a while since he had learned that Fanqia actually possessed a bloodline innately, but the tests could only detect the presence of a bloodline, not actually determine what it was about, such things had to be discovered naturally, and probably with a hefty dose of luck… The issue was the same with Jingyi, actually, but now, Anoteros could directly know, as the system displayed the information in words for him to read.
Originally, Edrick had been expecting to have to collect knowledge wisps relating to Xiao's storyline to get a grasp of her bloodline, after all, Fanqia was originally supposed to be part of his harem, and thus, it was to be expected that her traits or whatever would eventually become known to him that way.
Everything had been made much simpler.
*Velvet Pixie Bloodline*
That was the name of the bloodline she had been born with, Edrick hadn't made mention of it immediately to her, as he had wanted to check a few things first, such as searching whether it was a recorded bloodline or if it was one relating to an existing entity.
It had turned out to be the latter, as velvet pixies were, in fact, a species that existed, being mischievous tiny fairies that inhabited certain forests, they were considered a sapient species, but one would be hard pressed to find one wandering through any town or city outside of where they all gathered together, although sapients, their habits made it hard for them to fit in with other sapients, they just couldn't help but steal, play pranks, or try to lead children off cliffs, to cite a few things they often partook in.
Despite that, no one was willing to incur their displeasure, as they possessed a special ability, which allowed them to make exceptional things- Arrays, alchemy, tool refinement or talisman crafting... They simply naturally excelled at these things, so despite how difficult it was to make friends with them, everyone wanted to become best buddies with these pixies.
Though, from what Anoteros read about them, due to their talents, they were also naturally targeted for trafficking and were often enslaved as workers, so apart from some hidden communities, the only known area where they dwelled was actually the very kingdom Anoteros was in, where they were esteemed guests of the royal family, having a whole forest given to them doubled with protection and special rights.
The velvet pixies would produce a few, extraordinary goods every so often for the royal family, the pixies would work together for the creation of such items, so the quality was certainly incredible, though they rarely left the royal palace.
Surprisingly, Fanqia was born with their special bloodline, which could not be due to actual blood ties, since Fanqia was nothing like a pixie, one just needed to look at the two melons of hers to know that it was highly unlikely to be the case.
Pixies, and velvet pixies in particular, were small in all aspects, being able to sit comfortably in one's hand for the most part, so even if somehow possible that they could mate with humans, it was unlikely to result in something without a whole slew of problems, and neither Fanqia, nor her parents, had shown any signs of defects, so it truly seemed like Fanqia had earned this bloodline purely by luck.
In any case, Edrick explained this to Fanqia, and after learning that velvet pixies existed, he had sought after a cultivation technique that had been created by taking inspiration from them, certain that his first wife would have a natural advantage in learning such a thing, and there was indeed a rather comprehensive group of cultivation techniques that had been devised from taking inspiration from the velvet pixies, but as one might expect, it was monopolised by the royal family, and only exceptional craftsmen could get a chance to learn part of it to further their capabilities, but that would pretty much bind them completely to the royal family.
Since the techniques existed, he could not rely on the system to grant them as rewards, although his family was a high noble clan, getting his hands on this technique for Fanqia was deemed to be complicated.
"...Regardless, even with the bloodline alone, you should be able to pull upon the abilities of the velvet pixies, but don't push yourself too hard, your bloodline has been inactive since birth, so it won't be immediate, take things slowly"
"I see… Thank you, Lord Anoteros, I never would have figured it out without you!"
"No need to compliment me so highly" with a smile, he pushed her closer against himself…