Emperor Amn says "Alright, we will do that. Once we find a method, we will share it with the other kingdoms that border the desert. There is no point just blocking one part of the desert."

"That's certainly true. Over time, depriving it of mana might even be able to weaken the desert."

Emperor Amn says "We can certainly hope. Even if it doesn't work, it won't be like we are losing anything. Anything we learn about the desert could end up being of use later."

"True. Knowledge is power. Hopefully, what they learn now will eventually lead to defeating the desert for good."

Empress Atesh says "That would be amazing. With the threat of the desert gone, not only would we have more land for our people, but we would have more troops free to fight the demons."

Emperor Amn says "True, but unfortunately, I doubt that defeating the desert is something that we will be able to accomplish anytime soon."

Shiro says "More likely, once the demons are defeated we will have more resources available to devote to fighting the desert."

Empress Atesh says "That would work too. Either way, as long as we win, the future of our empire will be bright!"

Emperor Amn says "Both are goals that we will work towards."

We chat for a while over tea and then I decide that it is about time for us to leave. Lin and I say our goodbyes and thank the emperor and his family for dinner. This was a really pleasant trip and from the looks of it, Lin had a great time.

I am really glad that I brought her with me, even if it does mean I can't get into trouble. She is still smiling as we say our final goodbyes and are escorted back to the gate platform. We are escorted to the room we arrived in by guards, but they don't enter with us.

Lin says "So, I'm creating the gate back to the castle, right?"

"Yeah, but aim for the cabin on the ship instead of the castle. The time dilation causes the gate to cost a lot more mana for some reason."

Lin says "Okay, is it safe to open the gate now?"

"Yep! There are no monitoring spells, I checked when we arrived."

Lin doesn't say anything else, she just turns and opens a gate on the platform. As soon as it opens fully, I head through and Lin follows once I am through. We arrive in the cabin and then immediately enter into the castle.

"Jarvis, we are back. What time is it in here? And where are the kids?"

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Jarvis says "Welcome back, maker. It is just after noon and the kids just finished lunch and entered the shadow plane with Chloell."

"Okay, thank you. Lin, are you alright to stay awake or do you need a nap?"

Lin says "I am fine, I will just go read for now."

"Actually, I think I will join you. I want to read some manga."

Lin smiles at me and then leads the way up to the library, I really enjoy following her up the stairs. Since we are back, I shapeshift into my beastman form and then curl up with her. We cuddle and read until Jarvis informs us that the kids are back from the shadow plane.

We head downstairs to join the kids for dinner and let them try all the new dishes. When I take out dessert dishes for them, Lin gives me an angry look, but she still eats some. The kids really enjoy the new dishes, but they quickly head to sleep as soon as they are done eating.

From what they told us, they had a pretty exhausting trip in the shadow plane. However, that is fine since now it makes it easier for Lin and I to go to sleep early. Although, before we go to sleep, I plan to help Lin burn the extra calories from the desserts.

It doesn't take much for me to convince her and we end up having fun for a few hours. She ends up completely exhausted and falls asleep with a smile on her face. By now my mana is full, so I head downstairs and get into the bath to work on my core.

Core Upgrade Progress: 40%

I was right, using my full amount of mana in the bath got me twenty percent. If I use my full mana three more times I should be able to rank up my core again. After that, the rate of improvement will decrease, but I don't know by how much.

At that point, improving my mana recovery will become even more important. However, there is still a lot of experimenting that I need to do to see if the tattoo idea will even work. I will slowly work on that while I am waiting for my mana to recover.

For now, I head upstairs, climb into the bed, cuddle up with Lin, and go to sleep. She is so out of it that she doesn't wake up even when I pull her into my arms. I wake up a few hours before breakfast, but Lin is clinging to me like I am a body pillow.

I don't want to wake her and I am quite comfortable, so I just close my eyes and relax. I had planned to just lay there and enjoy the moment, but I end up falling back asleep. Luckily, I wake up in time for breakfast, but Lin is still clinging to me and fast asleep.

It takes me several attempts before Lin wakes up, but she is still really tired. She gets up to have breakfast with us, but she gives the kids a day off from their lessons. Instead, she goes back to bed and takes a nap once she is done eating breakfast.

As for me, I head down to my workshop and take a look at the ink recipes that I bought. After I am familiar with them, I start experimenting to make my own type of ink. Now that I have examples to work with, I make much better progress.

Making ink isn't too hard, the trick is to make one that has enough mana capacity. I can do that by adding other materials, but it needs to remain viscous enough. This means I need to test out dozens of different mixtures to find the best one.

I take a break to have lunch with the kids, who have just been watching cartoons. Lin is still asleep when I check on her, I think I went a little overboard last night. So, I just let her sleep and go eat with the kids before going back to experimenting.

Eventually, Lin wakes up and comes down to my workshop looking for me. She is a little upset with me, but mostly she is upset about sleeping almost all day. Of course, she won't admit that, it is much easier for her to blame it on me.

It is fairly entertaining for me, so I let her get away with it, besides I know she isn't serious. Although, in the end I do end up having to promise to take it a bit easier on her at night. Once we sort all of that out, we head up to have dinner with the kids.