Looking at his fiancée’s wide-eyed expression, Ryker couldn’t help but bend down and give her another kiss.

Jaana was taken aback again, but when she realized that they were in her room and no longer in the presence of so many others, a weight on her heart relaxed before her face turned as red as a tomato.

At the same time, she was happier than words could describe. It was clear and obvious to her that her fiancé had walked out of the shadow of his heart. If he was acting like this, then it was clear that he didn’t care about the differences in their statuses anymore… mostly because there was no difference any longer.

Not only did they both come from powerful families, if there was a difference in their status at all, it was she who was inferior. After all, in the end, she was still just a 7th Circle Talent. Although this was shocking, what did that mean in the face of an 8th Circle Talent that had once been a 9th?

A click at the door suddenly made Jaana jump up like a frightened rabbit. She would have hit the ceiling if not for the fact Ryker was still holding onto her arm. That barely managed to save her from another layer of embarrassment.

Jaana’s childhood maid walked in with large blinking eyes. After a light cough, she turned around and left, pretending as though she had never seen anything at all.

Mortified, Jaana stared into space for a while before her small fists started pounding Ryker.

“It’s all your fault! Now I’ve lost face twice today!”

Ryker’s laughter boomed. He took a seat on the edge of Jaana’s bed and pulled her into his arms.

“Come, come. Pay more attention. Your husband has come bearing gifts.”

Jaana’s eyes were drawn to the egg again and she couldn’t help but be taken aback. She could sense that Ryker was using his strength to keep the aura of this egg concealed, or else the pressure that it gave off would be even more exaggerated.

The more she looked, the more certain she was that this was actually the best Spirit Beast egg that she had ever laid eyes on. Just what kind of monstrosity was it?

“Just… what is this, Ryker?”

Her words were a little absentminded. She leaned back into Ryker’s warmth and felt completely at peace. Even so, she couldn’t take her eyes off of it.

“A present, of course.”

“But… it’s too pre—”

“None of that. Nothing is too precious for my woman. Are you not treating me like your husband?”

Jaana blushed and then reached forward. Then, seemingly remembering something, she pulled back and sighed.

“I’ve already filled up all my Contracts, I can’t take this egg even if I wanted to. You should take it for yourself. Or maybe, if your Contracts are also full, you can give it to your family to help smooth things over somewhat. I know you’re strong-headed, but right now the Valorian Clan is your strongest backing. You shouldn’t draw a line with them if you can manage it.”

Jaana looked back and up at Ryker, feeling a little guilty in one part, but mostly worried.

She didn’t want to say these words because she knew Ryker well. His woman saying such things was like her admitting that he wasn’t as strong as anyone else. Despite their antics, it was very rare for Jaana and Ryker to get into a real fight. It could be said that this sort of topic was one of the few hot-button issues.

Ryker dealt with enough scrutiny from the outside world, enough doubt. He didn’t need to also face this same sort of doubt from those he loved the most. Although he had never said it aloud, Jaana knew that every time his parents tried to convince him to give up on the Silver Mirror, it was yet another slap to his face.

No one seemed to believe in him, but he just continued to trudge onward, facing attacks from the outside world and his own world at the same time.

How could it not be frustrating?

However, that was just what people who loved you had to do sometimes. Even if they knew it would make you uncomfortable and angry, for your own sake, they had to speak such words, hoping that one day you would wake up to the truth on your own.

This time, though, was different. Because Ryker didn’t react with the frown that she expected. Instead, she got another kiss.

Jaana barely managed to wiggle her way out several minutes later, panting for breath and feeling as though she had been entirely soaked in sweat. Her heartbeat to the pace of a butterfly’s wings in her chest, and the room felt overly hot all of a sudden.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Ryker said with a smile. “As for the Contracts, you also don’t need to worry about that.”

In their Iteration, it was normal for Mythical Masters to fill in all their Circles by the time they reached the Ascension Realm. It was, in fact, kind of taboo not to do so.

As difficult as it was to cultivate through the Ascension Realm, bringing several beasts along with you was even more so. Some Mythical Masters had upwards of nine Contracts all at once. Providing for so many beasts was bound to be its own form of cruel and unusual punishment.

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As such, starting as early as possible was best. Not only that, but it was also a matter of familiarity and safety.

Most Spirit Contracts were performed with newborns. It took years to grow them as not everyone was a monstrous creature like Phoenix was. Having a Contract that was useless in battle was like wasting away your own potential.

That was another reason why everyone was so eager to deal with Ryker now. He had only been gone for a few months, and it was impossible that he had already filled in all his Contracts. And even if he did, they would assume that most of them were immature and even those that were mature had yet to step into the Ascension Realm.

Of course, this for one, was at least something that they were correct about.

Ryker just didn’t care.

Regardless, the fact that Jaana had all her Contracts filled up wasn’t a surprise. She usually only brought out that annoying Seaking, but that was because she was trying to keep Ryker in the dark about her own power as much as possible. After all, she knew that it was a sore spot.

This was actually the first time that she had outright admitted to having a full slate of beasts to Ryker, even though she knew he could have deduced it on his own ages ago.

“Huh?” Jaana was confused. What did that mean?

Ryker chuckled.

He had been doing a lot of studying. The knowledge in the prison was beyond the imaginations of most, and the things that he could glean from them were enough to build an entire Alliance or Clan of his own. It was just that he didn’t have the time to waste on such things, so he was entirely focused on helping himself, and when he had the opportunity… he would, of course, lend a helping hand to the people around him.

Of the things that he had learned, the talent-stealing abilities of the Divine Daggers were probably the most shocking, but he was also aware that it was impossible to use.

The flaws of the daggers couldn’t be ignored, and if he tried to use them, it would only lead to Jaana’s misery. He would never do anything to harm his own fiancée like this.

“How many empty Circles do you have?” Ryker asked.

“Seven,” Jaana said, still feeling confused.

Ryker wasn’t surprised by this at all.

Although many had powerful Talent, they often ended up with extra Circles left over. This was because it was known as a taboo to have more than nine Contracts at once.

If Ryker was correct, the fact Jaana had seven Circles left from her original 63 should be because she had two 7th Circle Talents and seven 6th Circles Talents.

As much as one might want to have a full slate of 7th Circle Talents, it could be said that this was already the very best outcome for Jaana. After all, just the fact that she could have so many highly talented beasts was a testament to how much her Clan had invested in her. At the same time, it also explained other things.

Even if she was willing to break the taboo, she could tell how powerful this egg was and knew that her 7 remaining Circles weren’t enough to take it in.

“That’s enough,” Ryker said with a smile. “Bring that annoying stuffed animal out, I’ve got a good deal for it.”

Jaana raised an eyebrow but still complied in the end. She had to hurriedly stop it from sending another water bullet at Ryker, though.

Ryker stood up and placed Jaana on her bed. Then, he began to take out all sorts of materials… or so it seemed. In the end, these so-called “materials” were just the remains of beasts.

He had been studying the Divine Daggers for a while, and what he realized about them was that while they were very poorly suited to humans, their impact on beasts was actually much closer to perfection than not.

But that much made sense. After all, they were designed to extract talent from beasts to begin with. When they worked on humans, it was much cruder.

However, closer wasn’t good enough. It made Ryker wonder just what it was missing. It was only after he communed with the Daos that he understood

. It was all so obvious.

It was lacking in spirituality, a oneness with the Heavens, a communication channel between itself and the Daos.

This should have been obvious to him from the beginning, but even that answer was just the first step.

Sure, it needed more spirituality, but from where? And to what ends?

After all, this world didn’t have the Daos at all, and even if he could call them down, what good would it do if he didn’t know the exact kind that they needed?

Thankfully, his trip to that other world hidden at the bottom of the ocean gave him all the answers he needed.

Back then, he had been a first-hand witness to exactly how the Cyprus Seakings raised their young, using the Daos to nurture their souls and spirits.

Spirit Beasts had always been more in tune with the world than Humans were. It was why they were all so much more powerful, and it was why humans had to Contract them and not the other way around.

The fact that they had learned how to use a natural phenomenon like that underwater hurricane to nurture their young didn’t surprise Ryker at all, and now this had become the final piece of the puzzle that Ryker needed.

Soon, an array of bones had been formed. They looked almost lazily strewn across the ground, and yet the moment the last one was set, the Seaking that had been looking over disdainfully before felt its heart skip a beat.

“Get in there, pipsqueak.”

Before the Blue Cloud Seaking could react, Ryker kicked it in. Almost instantly it was assaulted by a harsh pressure that it had to fight back against.

“If you want the chance to absorb this thing,” Ryker spoke, holding up the egg, “then you’ve got to last at least a few weeks… if you’re man enough, that is.”

The Blue Cloud Seaking was instantly provoked by these words, and it began to struggle with all its might.

Ryker grinned. “Alright, ignore it.”

He looked over to find that Jaana was still staring at the formation of bones, wide-eyed.

“Those…”

“Eh… I just went on a little killing spree in Blue Cloud Seaking territory, no need to worry about it too much.”

Jaana’s lip twitched.

If it was so easy to rampage in the territory of a 7th Circle Spirit Beast, then let alone just having two 7th Circle Talents, she would have nine.

Ryker smiled but didn’t explain.

Because of his Water Dao, he could pretty much move unhindered through the oceans of this world because none of them could even sense him. He targeted those that he could beat, and ignored the ones he couldn’t.

After leaving that timid turtle woman and her world, he had gone on a small killing spree to gather up these bones.

It could be said that the Blue Cloud Seaking was now surrounded by the bones of its Race. But obviously, it didn’t care about this. All it saw was an opportunity to get stronger.

As for Ryker’s own Cyprus Seaking…

Ryker took Jaana’s hand and walked into her bathroom. Well, it was more accurate to call it a bathhouse. As the most talented member of her generation, and the beloved granddaughter of the Rivarius Clan’s Patriarch, it could be said that Jaana’s treatment here was even better than Ryker’s own back in the Valorian Clan.

The bathhouse had a hot tub-small pool combination, a sauna, and a waterfall shower without curtains or glass.

Jaana’s heart was racing, wondering what Ryker could possibly want to do in here, when there was a sudden change.

The first thing that hit her was the wave of blood. The stench was overwhelming.

Soon, she snapped out of her daze to see that Ryker had brought out an enormous bucket filled with flesh and blood.

These were all the remains that were left after he deboned their bodies.

He didn’t have time to wait for the Cyprus Seaking to slowly mature on its own, so he would just have to do it himself.

“Watch closely. Your husband is about to soar,” Ryker said with a grin, taking out a second egg and plopping it inside.