Monster Girl Development Master

Page 12

As expected, after the Shadow Raven bloodline was absorbed, the previously conflicting Holy Eagle bloodline was released... I never thought there was such a use; it's worth remembering.

Count Cross thought this to himself, but on the surface he remained calm and even rebuked him with a hint of displeasure: "Johnson, as a nobleman, you cannot believe in any goddess like a fool. The church can be used, but not trusted, otherwise it will shake your power."

Although these words were meant to cover up something, they were also Earl Cross's true feelings, and they sounded quite like a wise and instructive message, if he hadn't been preparing to leave right after speaking.

But there's no other way. After all, if they don't leave now, it will seem a bit too deliberate. Now it can be said that after hitting Zhuang Sen with a stick, they're giving him a carrot.

But he didn't give up on testing the waters; he just wanted to try a different approach.

……

After Count Cross left, Johnson lowered his guard and turned to Lady Leah: "Mother..."

A fragrant breeze enveloped him. Zhuang Sen stared blankly at Liya, who had thrown herself into his arms, feeling the dampness against his chest. After a moment's hesitation, he hugged her tightly.

At the entrance, Nia, standing next to Lydia, watched this scene with curiosity.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The New Plan (3243 words)

In the suddenly quiet living room, the elegantly dressed noblewoman nestled into the arms of the handsome young man. Her smooth, jade-like arms wrapped around his strong waist, creating wrinkles in her fine knight's uniform. The noblewoman sobbed softly, as if lamenting something, making the whole scene appear as if she were complaining about her lover's estrangement—a scene that seemed quite ambiguous.

Fortunately, besides the two main characters, the only people present were the loyal female knight Lydia and Nia, who knew that this was just a mother's lament.

Lady Leah, who was holding Johnson, was a little embarrassed. She didn't know why she had suddenly done something so outrageous. After all, she had never done anything like this, even when facing her own son, the real Johnson Leon. Just as Count Cross said, she had always kept her son under control.

It's all Klose's fault! It's all his fault!

If he weren't so heartless and shameless, why would she lose control of her emotions because of Zhuang Sen's intervention? And if she hadn't lost control of her emotions, why would she have become agitated by Zhuang Sen's "sudden maturity" and acted in such an undignified manner?

This is simply a mother's natural and reasonable action after witnessing her son's growth and accepting his protection; there is nothing wrong with it.

—That's what Zhuang Sen thought too.

There was no way around it; due to the influence of the bloodline of the Unranked Angel, Zhuang Sen was now practically "rejuvenated," looking exactly like the original owner of the body. He had noticed a change in Lady Lia's attitude these past few days, with her spacing out more frequently, but this time was just that—a minor incident.

He sighed inwardly once again, "A mother's love is truly great, what a pity..."

After some time, Lydia led Nia to her seat and served her tea and refreshments. Lady Lydia's sobs gradually subsided, and she released Zhuang Sen with some regret: "I'm sorry, dear."

She spoke with a calm expression, pushing Zhuang Sen in front of the square table. The blush on her face seemed to be simply due to crying, with no other thoughts in mind.

Zhuang Sen breathed a sigh of relief. He had never comforted his mother before, and now he was finally relieved. He picked up his black tea and took a sip: "Phew, Mother, is this all you're going to serve Count Cross?"

Lady Lia, now back to normal, gave a soft snort: "It's good enough that he's served tea; he's a man you can't rely on."

As she spoke, she looked at Nia, who was holding a teacup and seemed at a loss, and then gave Zhuang Sen a cold look as he began to devour the white bread: "Zhuang Sen, aren't you going to introduce your guest to me? I don't recall ever teaching you such manners."

Having skipped lunch, Zhuang Sen swallowed his bread and gave Nia a smile: "No, Mother, this is not my guest, but my wife."

"what?"

Lady Lia used all the etiquette she had learned in her life to suppress the urge to spit out the tea, but she still couldn't suppress the look of astonishment in her eyes as she stared at little Nia.

Miss Nia's expression was equally astonished; her mouth gaped open in surprise, forming an "O" shape as she stared blankly at Zhuang Sen. Don't misunderstand, this doesn't mean Miss Nia suddenly changed her mind or anything; it's just that Zhuang Sen's behavior was far too sudden. Theoretically speaking, a formal marriage for a nobleman, especially for an underage nobleman, is a rather complicated process.

First, the guardians of both parties must confirm the marriage agreement and find a respected person of equal status to act as a witness. Then, the marriage agreement must be made public to all the nobles. The usual practice is to hold an engagement banquet, where the couple will decide what they will contribute to the marriage, namely the bride price and dowry. At the same time, a series of various influences will also arise, and these will be negotiated and exchanged at the banquet. It can be said that the least important thing at the engagement banquet is the thoughts of the parties involved and the date of the wedding.

Only after all these steps are completed can the two parties officially begin dating. At this time, they can only address each other as fiancé/fiancé until they are officially married, at which point they can truly be called husband/wife.

Therefore, it is understandable how shocked Lady Lia and Miss Nia, as long-established nobles, must have been when they heard Johnson say this.

In fact, Lydia, the female knight who was not noticed by many, also looked surprised at this moment.

“Zhuang Sen, you’d better not have done anything inappropriate to this young lady—” Lady Liya paused, realizing that the person in front of her wasn’t her own son. Fortunately, no one noticed. Although Zhuang Sen was puzzled, he wasn’t one to engage in riddles and simply recounted his unexpected experiences and gains that day.

"...So, at most I just touched her face, that's about it."

Well, even Zhuang Sen felt like he was being a bit inhuman.

Lady Leah was quite helpless. She remembered that Johnson's goal these past few days had been to gather information on the rest of Leon, right? But she didn't have any intention of reprimanding Johnson. Looking at the young and innocent Nia, she felt somewhat relieved: indeed, young people still like young people. That nun seemed to understand this as well...

Zhuang Sen looked speechlessly at the two women, one big and one small, who had suddenly become harmonious, and gently tapped the table: "Alright, let's get down to business. Mother, I have a new plan."

Lady Leah became serious: "What plan?"

"It's a very simple plan. I intend to secretly take control of the War Church and the Healing Church, and then let them use the pretext of dealing with Zhuang Sen and the Vengeance Church to wipe them out all at once again."

It sounds simple. There are only four churches in the entire religious sphere of Leon. Apart from the one mentioned above, there is only the Goddess of Gold who specializes in commerce. If we can really get the Church of War and the Church of Healing to defect, then we can indeed have another massacre in Leon.

"But what are you going to do? Aren't these two churches joining forces against your ally, the Church of Vengeance?" Lady Leah asked, raising the question from the others present, but then looked at Nia, "Or perhaps..."

Nia blinked, looking thoughtfully at Zhuang Sen. No one in the noble circles of Leon Territory was unaware of the inheritance struggle within the Earl's family, especially after Zhuang Sen nearly wiped out his siblings. Naturally, Nia wasn't surprised by Zhuang Sen's plan, and had even begun considering how to help him.

But no matter how she thought about it, all she knew was blacksmithing. She couldn't possibly wait until she awakened for the third time, could she? That would take forever.

Zhuang Sen explained, "This is where Nia's help comes in. She is the only blacksmith master with a level three bloodline in the entire Leon Territory. With her, we can monopolize the entire Leon Territory's arms market. At that time, unless the War Church wants to go bankrupt, it will have to kneel down and lick my toes—of course, before that, they will have to make a reasonable struggle."

Nia looked bewildered: "Me? Me?"

"Yes, you, don't worry, I'll help you, darling."

Zhuang Sen got into character very quickly and treated his wife very well. Seeing Zhuang Sen's affectionate smile, Nia, who had been quite outgoing in the carriage, shyly shrank back and stole a glance at Lady Lia.

Lady Leah remained calm. She believed that Johnson wouldn't exaggerate, and his words made sense, except...

"The Healing Church, they have nothing to do with military equipment."

“They were just extras anyway, I plan to try this out.” Zhuang Sen took out the Divine Seed, which was the initial development reward for the bloodline of the Unranked Angel, and could be used to grow plants with divine attributes.

Lady Lia looked at the white seed in Zhuang Sen's hand, her eyes lighting up slightly: "Is this a seed with the bloodline of a demonic plant?"

Zhuang Sen nodded: "Yes, and it's of the holy attribute, so there's a high probability that it can be used to make healing and purifying potions. If we can cultivate this on a large scale, the Healing Church will have no choice. So I have to go see the Flor family tomorrow; they must have had enough of the Healing Church's monopoly."

Lady Lia was relieved: "Very good, just tell me what you need."

Zhuang Sen didn't mince words: "I need enough forging materials and space, as well as channels for selling weapons..."

As he spoke, he looked at Nia, whose lips were slightly pouting: "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Miss Nia immediately went into shy mode, but under Zhuang Sen's burning gaze, she had nowhere to escape and could only mutter in a very low voice, "Does the Flor family also have people like Nia...?"

Zhuang Sen felt like he had suffered a thousand points of mental damage.

This is the first time in both his past and present lives that someone has ever been jealous of him.

If Lady Leah and Lydia hadn't been there, Johnson would have loved to hug Nia and give her a good rub, saying, "You're so cute!"

But all he could say for now was, "That's not true. People as cute as Nia are very rare!"

Lady Lia watched this scene with mixed feelings, especially when she noticed that Zhuang Sen wanted to get up several times but stopped because of his hesitation. Her gaze towards Nia also became complicated.

At this point, a good mother should leave to give her children enough space. Lady Leah understood this, of course, but she still didn't get up, just silently watching the two of them, as if in a daze.

Zhuang Sen naturally noticed the gaze, but he still attributed it to Lady Liya's longing for her son. After all, it's said that parents want to see their children get married, and it's normal for her to be reminded of her son's feelings now that he has a wife.

Nia, however, was different. She was already a bit reserved because of "meeting the parents," and was no longer as cheerful and "scheming" as before. Now, under the gaze, her face turned red, and she blurted out in a panic, "I, I'm not as pretty as Sister Dantalian. When we were in the carriage, you looked at Sister Dantalian more."

Zhuang Sen said without batting an eye, "Dantrian and you have different styles. You are definitely cuter. Do you want me to prove it to you today?"

The naive Miss Nia was no match for the evil Zhuang Sen. She was subdued with just one sentence and quickly stood up, saying, "I... I need to rest!"

Zhuang Sen also stood up: "Perfect, let me take you to your room."

"Ugh—" The little one seemed to be thinking about something, her face turning bright red, but she didn't utter a word of refusal. Finally, Lady Lydia couldn't stand it anymore and stepped forward: "Lydia, take Miss Nia to rest. Johnson, where has your manners gone?"

Zhuang Sen reluctantly raised his hands in surrender: "Alright, then I'll go practice my bloodline abilities first. Thank you, Lydia."

The female knight bowed respectfully and left with Nia.

Zhuang Sen followed him out and walked in the opposite direction. Lady Liya watched this scene, her eyes flickering as she looked back at Zhuang Sen.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Bloodline Switching (3052 words)

As Zhuang Sen walked through the Radiant Manor, which was shrouded in the night, the cool moonlight bathed him, gradually calming his mind and allowing him to temporarily shift his focus away from Nia and Dantalian.

Now is not the time. Don't be fooled by Nia's calm demeanor; she just revealed that she wasn't prepared. Since it's already in his hands, Zhuang Sen isn't in a hurry to cook it, especially with so many enemies around. Let's prioritize the important matters.

He was going to the ritual room to try out his newly acquired tall and short bloodline and personally test the effects of the bloodline switch. Just reading the system's introduction made it seem a bit too abstract.

……

In the reception room, Lady Leah sat with her smooth, jade-like hands casually resting on her ample breasts. The feeling of embracing Zhuang Sen earlier flashed through her mind once more. It wasn't a hard, fiery pressure, but rather a supple gentleness, like that of a truly frail young man, leaving Lady Leah with a melancholy feeling.

Although she herself didn't know what she was feeling melancholy about, even though everything had been explained very clearly. She helped Zhuang Sen become Earl Leon, and Zhuang Sen helped her take revenge. For this, Zhuang Sen even told her about his special ability that would definitely attract countless people's covetousness—helping others awaken their bloodlines, and he himself could also obtain a bloodline!

It's only because she's a vengeful ghost who has nothing left to care about that she wouldn't care about such a magical power.

Lady Liya sighed, her full red lips slightly pursed, gazing at the bright moonlight outside the door. She thought, "Zhuang Sen helped little Nia awaken her bloodline today, so he must have gained a new bloodline too, right? But one person can't awaken two bloodlines. This has been proven long ago. No matter how many bloodlines might exist in the body before awakening, once one is awakened, the others will be suppressed to less than 1%, at most they can be inherited by offspring."

Even Zhuang Sen couldn't possibly defy such a proven truth, right? Wouldn't he be in great danger right now?

Lady Lia stood up, as if she had found an important excuse, and strode out of the room toward the ceremonial chamber.

……

During the ceremony, Zhuang Sen used the bloodline of the tall and short people on himself.

[Target identified, qualification testing underway...]

[Compatibility 100%, Bloodline addition in progress...]

[Bloodline detected: Unranked Angel]

[Blood is being extracted...]

[Bloodline Extraction Successful: Unranked Angel (5%)]

Zhuang Sen looked at the little angel icon that had returned to the system panel, along with the 5% development progress mark below it, and felt a pang of regret. But this was a necessary price to pay; it was good enough that it didn't completely overwrite the bloodline. Although if it had been an overwrite, Zhuang Sen wouldn't have tested it like this at all.

However, he quickly forgot about the pain in his body, because a "hard, warm current" was growing within him. If awakening the bloodline of the rankless angel was like soaking in a hot spring, with the perfectly warm water gently healing his body, then the awakening process of the bloodline of the tall and short people was like being given cupping therapy.

A hard, warm current, like pebbles, coursed through his body, pressing and pounding against his limbs and bones. He could clearly feel his body becoming incredibly hard, and a tremendous power was constantly being generated, as if he had become one with the earth.

However, the price was a huge drain on his energy. His original height of over 1.7 meters shrank rapidly during this enhancement, and by the time the feeling disappeared, he had become a 1.31-meter-tall little boy.

Looking at his own fair and rosy face in the mirror, with even a touch of baby fat, Zhuang Sen thought that while he might not be exactly the same as Miss Nia, they were at least a match made in heaven. Wait, no, he was 1.31 meters tall, a full 11 centimeters taller than Miss Nia!

No wonder they're tall and short!

and many more.

Zhuang Sen lowered his head solemnly, loosened his now incredibly loose belt, and then let out a sigh of relief. He now admitted that the Tall Dwarf was indeed a giant among dwarves!

Let's try out some new skills.

With the bloodline changed, the various bloodline abilities that originally belonged to the rankless angels have naturally been replaced by the abilities of the tall and short people. It takes time to get used to these, and it's also a good opportunity to learn about Nia's abilities in advance.

The first thing to consider was naturally the various abilities related to forging, but since there were no materials available, Zhuang Sen temporarily ignored them and turned his attention to combat, then reached out and grabbed a handful from the ground.

Believe it or not, this movement is much faster after you get shorter; it takes less than a second.

The moment his hand touched the ground, Zhuang Sen activated his new ability, [Stone Hammer Technique]. His right hand plunged into the floor as if into a warm pool of water. When he pulled his hand back, he held a crude stone hammer. It was extremely crude, the hammerhead was even somewhat deformed, and the handle was off-center, but it could still crack open someone's skull, and it could be made almost infinitely.

Unfortunately, it couldn't last long after leaving Zhuang Sen's hands, and the dwarf's hammer was too small for a person of normal size.

Zhuang Sen put down the hammer, preparing to test other abilities, such as rock skin, but suddenly a sound came from the doorway.

……

Lady Leah pushed open the door to the ceremonial room and looked inside: "Johnson, you..."

She suddenly lost her voice, her emerald green eyes widened to their maximum, fixed intently on Zhuang Sen, and her face, which was slightly pale from grief, flushed with excitement.

"Zhuang Sen, is that you?"

She looked at the man in the room, Zhuang Sen, whose height was disproportionate to hers, her breathing quickened, and she rushed—no, ran—towards him, pulling him directly into her arms. Because of the size difference, Zhuang Sen suffered another brutal chest-killing incident. Although Lady Lia, whose figure was still within the normal range for women, wasn't as imposing as Dantalian, Zhuang Sen wasn't that tall man at this moment.

Therefore, he felt an attack far more oppressive than the one he had experienced with Sister Dantalian, especially with his shrunken face subjected to even greater pressure. The soft, white flesh, even more tender than Sister Dantalian's, seemed to be crushing him completely, relentlessly pressing against his face. Even the heavy clothing couldn't alleviate Zhuang Sen's sensations, especially those two hard and excited nipples.

"Wait, Mother..."

Johnson tried to stop Lady Leah, but he chose the wrong way. Upon hearing the word "mother," Lady Leah's body trembled at first, then her embrace tightened, as if she wanted to completely meld Johnson into her body. Her soft, snowy breasts no longer just pressed against him, but began to take the opportunity to invade Johnson's mouth.

The heavy, expensive dress was even damaged during this intense contact, especially the already heavy chest area. The highly resilient silk was gradually torn apart by the friction, and milky color gradually showed through the black silk fabric. The strong milky aroma with a hint of salt was completely poured into Zhuang Sen's mouth.

"???"

Zhuang Sen tried to struggle. With the strength of a level four bloodline awakened at the first awakening, shaking off Lady Liya, an ordinary, pampered noblewoman, would be no problem at all. But to avoid causing her any harm? He'd better keep holding back.

Yes, that's the reason, there's no other reason!

“Oh, Johnson, my dear, I knew you would come back.”

Lady Lia held Zhuang Sen tightly, her emerald green eyes now a deep green lake. She murmured, gently nuzzling Zhuang Sen's hair with her chin, inhaling the faint scent of earth, and recalling a scene from her memory.