Ebony had Mana Digestion activated he didn't want to have indigestion. While the chefs hired were extremely skilled, the food catered was equivalent to what the other second generation were eating.

Every capable chef could tell what their consumer needed or was not able to eat, or so Ning Xin once claimed. So the guests from Frost Elves to Elcrian Nobles and the common folk had dishes more suitable for their stomachs and mouths.

While he had no trouble using sound magic and vibrations to help chew, his stomach acid wasn't quite strong enough if he wanted to keep up with them.

'Ting' 'Consumed Metilope Psyche. Mental recovery speed increased by 12500% for 84 hours. Natural soul mending speed and intensity increased by 8500% for 8 hours.'

Without a twitch in his expression, he continued to eat. Watching some of his resistance grow in level while he ate.

"So what do you like about our boy? We know you two naughty ones aren't just looking for each other's strength." Shi Tao represented the ladies and made small talk.

He was definitely interested in hearing what she had to say.

"He's my seasoning." With black hair, veil pulled back, and her face exposed to the world, the gorgeous woman stood out as her face was not copy-pasted amongst the Ning ladies.

Then again, there were more men in the Ning Clan, and their appearances weren't as replicative as they were with the Shi.

Even the Shi were visibly confused by her answer, but he already knew what she meant, for he felt the same. He had to take a bite, taste close to nothing, look up at her enjoying her food, and his taste buds would explode back with flavour. She was indeed flavoring, and it made him feel rather good to hear that she had a similar feeling.

"I choose him because food tastes better with him, so he is my seasoning." She un-embarrassingly explained to the Shis and Nings with their partners. The married folks seem to get it, but not so much for the unmarried.

"Are you saying my pudding will taste even better if I find someone I fancy!?" Shi Ling exclaimed, with her table full of pudding. There was blood pudding, milk pudding, custard pudding and many more. She was having the time of her life right now.

The lady on her side pinched the mask on Shi Ling, causing Ebony to watch in awe. The hard mask…turned into a jelly-like substance, and the mask was being pinched just like skin would. This was another one of the Shi that managed to get back to Elcra, Shi Ling's mother.

It caused the mask to turn red and Shi Ling to cry out in pain even though it was her mask that was being pinched.

And Ebony couldn't feel any mana being used. She was probably an Aspect user and not a mage, as with her daughter.

Meanwhile, Veronica and her parents poured him drinks while he poured them some. He could tell they were purposefully allowing themselves to get drunk, a skill he might have to pick up.

They felt challenged when he wasn't affected by their alcohol, but they expected it since he was part of a Clan known for their body and resistance and brought out more alcohol, each stronger than the last. They didn't fool around when it came to alcohol.

His fourth drink made him hallucinate as his mindspace began to be invaded by weird mutterings.

The fifth made the colourless and transparent outer layers of his mindspace bend and curve, but his Core Skill unraveled everything as fast as it came.

The seventh made his stomach churn as if he had been kicked hard. This was more interesting to him than his mindspace twisting around, which the Nings and Mr Guru had already attempted and succeeded. He'd eaten and drunk poisons with his stomach staying quieter.

Their ninth drink got his poison resistance to level up.

The tenth got it to evolve from the first tier to the third in one sip.

By the eleventh…there was no eleventh. The Nings didn't bring anything stronger and Ning Xin's direct family members weren't huge alcoholics. The rest of them were already generous to have brought out alcohol older than a few thousand years old. There really was a big difference with aged wine less than a thousand years old.

He wondered what had happened once a thousand years had passed that caused the magical alcohol to transform like so.

In any case, he was able to feel tipsy for two seconds before his body and mind 'immune system' kicked in. It was not a bad feeling.

Although both the Shi and the Ning weren't very good at festivities, there were many other people around to liven things up.

Connections were made, and Navin was doing well for himself as he received praise from many of the Xengs.

To them, Navin was an unfamiliar descendent of a long-lived Noble family that surpassed all predecessors and did the impossible of unifying the Empire in a single generation that was still in the midst of immense growth.

Their conversation had nothing to do with the unification or the Empire's overall growth, only about the Barrier around Tidal that impressed them. It was a mighty construct that took decades to build and cast. Ebony would barely be able to cast an ice shield of such scale by himself in the same duration.

Overhearing bits and pieces of the conversation, it seemed like the curse spells ingrained into his barriers were so potent that some of the second generation may not be able to deflect the curses away in an instant.

They could destroy the barrier even if it was powered by the entire Capital City and all their mage tower's power sources but they wouldn't be completely unharmed either.

That was an extremely impressive feat. He was certain he couldn't do the same even if he had a few more decades to grow Dusk. He'd landed a few hits on some of the younger generations, but did he do any real damage to them?

After attacking an immobile Shi Qiang, no wall felt as unbreakable.

Festivities had to end at some point or the other.

And fortunately, the Shi planned for the event to end early in contrast to the traditional Xeng weddings. They did not have extended social batteries.

Although every Xeng could probably fly or achieve movement that would appear no different to teleportation to the rest of the attendees, every single one of them walked out the gate while greeting their farewells to the Shi clan ladies who helped him.

His grandnieces and great grand nieces, Shi Ke, Yi and Yu and their husbands 'politely' accepted the drunk teases from their Xeng relatives. Their stone cold masks were warming their greetings back for they would've chilled their guests with their exterior deadpan faces saying words that don't sound sincere. These guests were lucky.

The guests greeted by the fifth and sixth generation Ning faced true coldness, ones that came from their truest feelings of indifference. Meditation did interesting things to the mind at high tiers. And with the Nings' change in mental states, they weren't always stable or sound.

Ning Xun for example, his rageful or violent personality was not necessarily what he was like. It was very similar to how Ebony tried people watching and learning from people's daily conversations to know what to say or what to show curiosity about, even if he wasn't truly curious.

In terms of personalities, he was very similar to the Nings while his wife was similar to the Shi. Ebony found that rather interesting and wondered if the fact that they were Will and Intent users respectively had anything to do with their personalities. There were many overlaps in characteristics but no real proof.

As the groom and bride, they also had to be at the gate to receive the final well-wishes. His now wife pulled him back by the wrist when he was about to speak up.

"I'll do it, I know you feel it's too much of a bother." She whispered, hoping he caught her act of wanting him to silence her words. Although he caught it and reacted with his mana, he didn't think he was successful in keeping her words private with the current attendees.

"…Thank you but no, we'll do it together." He felt ticklish inside being exposed so easily.

As much as he would have liked to stand aside and listen, there was no chance he was about to let her mesmerise anyone tipsy with her gorgeous smile and charming eyes. Not with her shy blush or the tipsy burning of magical alcohol in her system.

It wasn't much but he prepared return gifts for every guest. It was not easy to find something suitable but this was the one area he didn't let the Shi Clan help him with.

The guests' presents were sincere, so he must pay back in kind. If they expected too much from a Grandmaster like him, then they would have to be disappointed.

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Each and every one of them received a dark green turtle shell shield about 70 cm in height and 50 in width. It was not conjured of ice but of metal construction.

Ebony made the construct himself without any of Kong Jing's help, so it wasn't the best item around. To the Xengs, they could be a souvenir to remember the event. To Mark, Sophia and the Thoya's the shield would serve to protect them from both physical and magic force hundreds of times greater than what he and his wife could currently exert and produce on the go.

He wasn't wealthy enough to get any more of the rare metal so the size of the shield left much to be desired but runic formulas deep within mitigated the issue. It was as much of a mana shield as it was a physical one.

He gave it fully charged, using universal standard for the Xengs and Elcrian standard for the Imperials and Frost Elves. If it wasn't for these, he would have a lot more Turtle Forts with the power sources each of them contained.

They were special, not made of Puprles but Reds. With Kong Jing's upgrade, she made her compressor able to purify mana to greater degrees up to Reds or mana ores at Ancient-Quality. It was highly inefficient because his mana was barely as pure as a King mage.

However, it was because of how hard it was for him to fork these up that made them worth anything. At least to him.

It may not be better than Oplot's shield made by one of the Dwarven ancestors who left Elcra over a hundred years ago but with sheer volume of mana, the protection it could provide may not necessarily be worse.

The magical defense was based on the simplest of runic spells or a mage's spell in general.

It was the mana shield.

Just like how the simplest offensive arcane spell was a ball or bolt of charged mana to be propelled at a target, the simplest of defensive spells was the mana shield.

More mana intensive than the warrior's version, mana skin, but superior in fending against any type of foreign mana compared to mana skin, which was superior in reducing physical forces. Exceptions and specializations between individuals aside.

The simplicity of the runic formula made it easy to stack and overlap, and the formula wouldn't collapse as easily since every runic symbol self-reinforced each other. It was even better for mana efficiency this way as there is less loss from conversion, and there was no difference in mana purity required for every symbol.

Even so, the maximum mana rate for the shield was around 580 million per minute of a natural Red. Due to the high purity, it was easily equivalent to billions of mana points of his current natural regeneration.

The formula wasn't advanced. The runes weren't Fortified by its shaper. But nothing a little mana couldn't cover up for.

With that, the guests left one by one. With Hector's parent's the most embarrassed and apologetic. The Lord family would take the Frost Elves in as guests so he didn't have to worry about the Thoyas. They would have to worry about their two children since Clovis was very excited.

Convincing Roya and Halvis to get out of their village didn't take much effort from him. The Frost Elves had them come as representatives on their behalf. With Nutash coming along, they might have assumed the non-combatants were in good hands, but they must have underestimated his guest list.

Athena had Mark's help with carrying Commander Wilson away. The old man was only here for a drink and the party.

It quickly got quiet. When the last of the Shi and Ning said their farewells.

Someone must have taken all the tables, chairs and trash generated for him with magic, leaving his yard empty and silent.

While he enjoyed the silence, he didn't let the awkward air last and pulled his wife into their new home by hand.

"Hmm, did someone forget their piglet?"

"That's Miss Wiggles."

"You brought it…and named a piglet?"

"She's my-our food hunter."

"I see. Why Wiggles?"

"Her butt and short tail wiggles when she trots."

Ebony squatted down to give the piglet a head pat. This was one amazing pig. It wasn't turned into pork after meeting his wife.

Miss Wiggles seemed to like to sleep against Dusk's cold trunk.

His wife nonchalantly tossed the veil over her head onto the coat rack after entering.

"This house doesn't smell anything like us."

"Not yet."

"Speaking of smell, you're all sweaty from the bride stealing and the training. Don't stink up the house, I'll make a snack in the meantime and go in after you're done."

"Mmm." He didn't think much about it since neither the bride stealing or the butt whooping from his mother's gift let him off without breaking a sweat.

'She's cute.' He thought at her attempts to act natural while her nervousness was leaking through her aura.

Coming out of the shower freshened up, he saw her digging into a blue melon with a spoon. The melon sat between her crossed legs and was a couple of times larger than a watermelon. Still dressed in her wedding dress, she coughed when she saw him coming out.

Fast enough to catch the juices, she covered her mouth and the bottom of her face. Rushing to stand up, she shoved him half a melon and spoon. "you can have the rest. Uhm-I smell like roasted meat now."

With the house's privacy settings, he didn't know what was going on in any other room that he didn't lay eyes on. This allowed his perception and mind to relax since he was cut off from his usual senses.

In any case, Dusk reacts faster to danger than he does now and has stronger magical defenses. When anything happens, it wouldn't be too late for him to find out.

Staring at the spoon for a moment, he took a bite of the blue melon. A chilly blast hit his tongue and went down his throat. Whatever this unknown fruit was, it was too sweet.

He covered the exposed fruit with a special parchment paper and stored the rest in the runic fridge. The fruit made his breath smell fragrant.

After two long hours, she emerged from the shower. Flushed from heat or her flustered mind, the eyes that she aimed at her feet shot up towards him. "Be nice."

He didn't know who to thank to push away the tradition of the guests waiting outside all night for the wedded couple to finish consummating the marriage because that seemed like a stupid tradition.

"Let's both try to relax a little." He rubbed the towel on her head to dry her hair off.

"You don't feel nervous at all but-" The tall woman's warm breath tickled his skin.

"But what?"

"At least you're excited…" She slowed backed up.

"Well, I'll be learning a lot more about you and me." He should've used the bathroom in their room. Using the common bathroom was a habit he didn't think about.

She let him embrace and carry her by the waist while accepting the peck on her lips that gradually went further than they'd ever did.

❅❅❅

"Now I have to ask." Ebony placed his wife on their bed.

Having locked lips for a while, she didn't turn her eyes away anymore sensing his curiosity. "What is it?"

"It wasn't appropriate to mention earlier, but your…figure changed a lot." Ebony tried to phrase his words without ticking any triggers.

"Did I get that much fatter…" She puffed her cheeks.

He failed spectacularly.

Figuring she was his wife now, nothing he said would be 'inappropriate' now so he got direct, "No, I mean your chest. They were not…this large. They look swollen." It was almost difficult not to ask for the entire day since he first saw her again in her gorgeous dress.

She had always been large framed for a woman and although her chest was large, they've been slightly proportional to her frame. That proportion was broken, but she only looked more alluring to him.

"I have been eating well the past few years." She finally blushed harder and looked away, "And, uh. I store blood energy here…"

"So I didn't feed you well before." Ebony didn't care about her physique of storing energy where she liked.

"You can now." She shut him up with an attack of her own.

❅❅❅

Trimmed nails dug into his skin. Ebony was confused if he was supposed to go further in a moment of clarity when she started to grip in pain. It was fascinating how both of their bodies knew what to do without any experience.

Of course, it wasn't like he didn't know what to do. Having a perception that was too high and his unintended eavesdropping meant he had already perceived such situations. And he'd long received lectures from the ladies of the Shi.

And the thing to do seemed to be to stop thinking and allow his body to take charge. Instinct and the woman's unspoken words had him let the distracting thoughts go.

Instinct proved to be right once more as her pain gradually subsided and her passion took over control.

❅❅❅

Light but steady breaths escaped the newly wed dozed slumber.

Feeling bad for allowing his instinct to take over that he'd ignored her exhaustion, Ebony got up first and carried his wife and placed her into the bathtub in the master bathroom while getting warm water to fill it up.

While the steaming hot water was filling the tub up and he made sure her head was elevated and rested comfortably, he cleaned up their room.

Since he always gave people privacy, he never intentionally peeked for long after noticing what was happening.

Hence, he was not expecting this much mess and fluids. Not just the sheets but the bed itself had to be cleaned. The ceiling seemed like a hassle to clean up without using supernatural strength or magic. One of the rules they had in this house was no magic or superhuman physical feats.

So he started from the ceiling to the floors and walls.

The water in the tub stopped itself after reaching the designated fill percentage while he was cleaning. After he was done and had collected all the laundry, he took a long cleansing shower beside the sleeping Xin. Letting her soak since she liked hot and extended baths from what he knew about her bathing habits.

Taking another look at her naked body and luscious complexion, he figured he should at least clean her up properly.

Having explored her body, it wasn't too hard to lightly scrub her down before he dressed her in a random nightgown she hung up in her closet and let her continue her slumber on a clean bed. Her swollen chest had reduced in size but her abundant assets were still larger than he remembered when they first met as 17-year-old teenagers. He didn't know that such simple physical characteristics that he never cared for in another person could hold such a strong attraction to instinct.

He went down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Wondering what to prepare for a hearty meal, he opened the windows by the kitchen.

'Huh, it's been 11 nights?' Ebony didn't even think about the time.

But what did time matter?

Humming, he got to work.

Preparing a meal for his wife after she was prevented from eating for over a week wasn't going to be an easy task.

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