I Can Assimilate Everything-Chapter 359: A Month IV

The peak of the Primal Neon Tower glistened with hushed anticipation.

Where the rivers of energy had once converged in maddening torrents, where auroras of purple and gold had painted the skies for the past fortnight, there now bloomed a single, still moment.

And in that stillness, a bundle of purple gold brilliance erupted upward.

It rose like a newly emerging sun, its silver heart pulsing with rhythm and clarity, its glow soft and vibrant all at once. It shot through the skies above the Adrastia Continent, piercing the radiant Sea of Thalassara, sailing beyond its endless waves, reaching even the highest skies of this plane.

At the moment of its apex...

BOOM!

The brilliance exploded like a silent star.

And with it came a voice.

"I! Have! Arrived!"

HUUM!

Three words. Spoken with mischievous triumph and the bubbly tone of a child. Yet, they resounded across the entire Adrastia Continent. Across the Sea of Thalassara. Across every floating pool, every drifting tree, every spire and peak!

They were received in stunned silence.

None more stunned than the two figures floating just beneath the eruption of light.

Achilles and Rose.

Their eyes tracked the descending light as it condensed into the tiny form of a baby girl, her pudgy fist raised high into the skies as if announcing her glorious claim over the very stars.

Wrapped in a soft purple gold cloth, the child floated with cheeks full and round, her skin shimmering with starlight.

She gazed upward first, then turned those enormous silver green eyes down to the faces of her stunned parents.

Rose, clad in a flowing white robe, glowed with a convergence of energy. She hadn’t even noticed the breaking of the shackles of her Neuronova Stage Astral Core Ascension. But a star had bloomed within her- a real star due to the process and emergence of this child. The start of Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendence!

But...

None of it mattered now.

Her daughter was looking at her.

And the next instant...

"Mother!"

The baby leapt down into her arms, her small body light as wind and filled with warmth. Rose barely caught her, cradling her close. Her hands trembled as she felt the child’s weight, as her heart pounded against the reality of this impossible miracle.

She gazed at her daughter. At the chubby cheeks. The mischievous smile. The large, intelligent eyes. And floating faintly above her small head...a silver crown. An illusory crown, glittering with moonlight.

And behind it, orbiting slowly- a star. A silver moon!

She whispered softly as she could not believe any of this!

The baby giggled and tilted her head. "I hope I’m not giving you too much of a shock, Mother. If you want anyone to blame, it’s Father."

Rose blinked.

She blinked again.

She opened her mouth, but no words came.

"Oh! Father!"

The baby clapped her hands together as if she had forgotten someone important, a little shimmer of silver energy coating her form as she vanished from Rose’s embrace and reappeared in front of Achilles, launching herself into his arms like a missile of joy.

"Father, I told you not to worry, didn’t I? You’re not mad I hugged mother first, right? She did carry me for like...half a month."

Achilles stood, unmoving for a heartbeat.

Then two.

Then he slowly wrapped his arms around the glowing child in his arms, his mind finally catching up to what his soul had already accepted.

"Yes," he said quietly. "Fifteen days."

It had taken just that.

Not weeks. Not months.

Fifteen days from conception to this moment!

Terrifying!

Rose floated to his side, her gaze soft as she looked at the both of them, and spoke with a teasing smile.

"Little monster, why are you so full of energy? Be like a normal baby for a second."

The baby looked at her mother solemnly, then tucked her tiny arms and legs into the purple gold blanket, blinking slowly, her cheeks puffed out with concentration as if that alone would make her seem more baby-like.

Achilles looked down and chuckled softly. "You shall be...Arya. Arya Adrastia Maxwell."

HUUM!

A wave of light, silver and green, burst from Arya’s small frame as her eyes widened in joy. She threw her arms into the air.

"Yes! I like it! As it should be! Mother, is this long enough to act like a baby? There’s so much to do..."

Rose took her back into her arms with a loving snatch, burying her face into Arya’s as she muttered, "What could you possibly have to do?"

Arya huffed indignantly as her small hands pushed gently against Rose’s cheek. She teleported again, reappearing atop Achilles’ head, her cheeks red from puffed frustration.

"Mother! I am trying to be serious here. There is something I must talk to you about!"

Rose’s voice grew stern. "Little monster, come back here."

Arya looked into her father’s eyes, upside down, seeking sanctuary.

He merely smiled.

With a defeated sigh, she floated back into her mother’s arms, cheeks smooshed between kisses and cuddles.

"I don’t care what serious thing there is," Rose whispered into her daughter’s ear, voice husky with emotion. "I just gave birth to a baby girl. And no matter how alien you and your father want to be, I will hold you just for a little while..."

Arya, cheeks covered in kisses, turned again to her father.

"Father! Stop her for a second! I really need to talk to you both!"

Achilles said nothing.

He merely stood there, watching, breathing.

Feeling.

Letting the moment carve itself into memory.

Because today, he was a father.

Him. Achilles Adrastia Maxwell.

Not a King. Not an Emperor.

A father.

And as he stood there with his Queen and daughter wrapped in light, he felt it.

A hum!

|The Adrastia Emperor King lineage has gained a new addition with your first Progeny.|

|Under Basic Adrastia Bloodline Refinement, a unique achievement has bloomed as the Progress towards Emperor’s Genome Alignment has increased to 91%.|

His body remained outwardly calm.

But within...it was trembling.

From less than 5% to 91%.

That type of leap was impossible. Unfathomable.

Yet here it was.

All because of her.

His daughter.

Arya Adrastia Maxwell!