Chapter 259: Caught Peeking at Their Master

Rustle, rustle...

Then a low rustle, along with a few whispers, came from outside.

"But... I wanna hug Master too..." Aurora said in a childlike, pleading voice.

Still, Vaelira held her tightly.

"Ahh... Master looks so handsome now..." Elena murmured from behind the door, her voice tinged with surprise and longing.

"Yeah, Lord has really grown taller... and handsome, too." Margaret leaned against the door, peeking inside with a surprised smile.

Outside, all four had gathered the moment Aurielle came inside.

So they heard everything from the start.

Inside, Luke and Aurielle were still in a hugged position. But they could clearly hear the outside chatter.

"You brought them?" He asked, without breaking the hug.

"Your’s summons, so you know how clingy they are." Aurielle rebuked, clearly shifting blame to Luke.

"..."

This brought a short silence among them, which broke the next moment by the sound of the gate opening.

The four women continued leaning against the door, completely absorbed in watching Luke.

Unfortunately, the door wasn’t nearly as interested in cooperating.

Click.

The latch suddenly gave way.

"Eh?"

The door swung open.

"W-Wait!"

THUD!

The three of them—Elena, Aurora, and Margaret—lost their balance and fell straight into the room, landing on top of one another.

"Ouch!"

"Get off me!"

"I can’t! You’re on top of me!"

Meanwhile, Vaelira was still standing outside.

She quietly looked at the pile of three women on the floor.

"...We were never here."

Sadly, Luke was not blind.

"Really?" He asked playfully, before turning toward them.

"Master, it was all Elena’s fault." Seeing Luke’s gaze, Aurora sold Elena instantly.

Upon this, Elena gave her a betrayed glare, but still lowered her gaze.

"Master..." She whispered slowly, clearly afraid of him getting angry.

However, he just sighed and broke his hug.

"You guys." He moved close to them, before helping each of them get up.

Soon, all four women stood in a horizontal line, with lowered faces.

Aurielle came from behind with a smile on her face.

Due to having, spent a long time together, now she didn’t feel jealous toward them.

That was why she was calm, and even knowing that they were outside, she let it be.

"Master, we missed you." Aurora said, before raising her face slightly.

There, Luke was calmly looking at them. His face didn’t seem angry.

"Me too." He said smilingly, before rubbing Aurora’s head gently.

Seeing this, they became relaxed and smiles returned upon their faces.

Elena also came forward, clearly asking for a pat.

Luke obliged and gave her a gentle rubbing as well.

A few moments later, he removed his hand from their heads.

Which clearly made both of their faces fall, though they didn’t say anything.

"Let’s go inside the Time Chamber." He said, and everyone nodded.

---

After spending some time with all of them, Luke came to the Office building.

"That was tiring." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, clearly tired.

Since none of the women wanted to separate from him, he ended up spending the whole day together.

"With the Time Chamber, Theia could recover fast."

Luke murmured the words softly, almost to himself, before his gaze drifted toward the Mana Well.

There, bathed in the gentle azure glow of the well’s perpetual light, Theia sat cross-legged upon the smooth stone platform. Her long purple hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall of amethyst silk, catching the soft luminescence.

Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and rhythmic—lost in deep meditation.

The Mana Well pulsed gently behind her, its liquid light swirling in continuos spirals of blue and silver. Tiny motes of pure energy drifted upward like fireflies, some brushing against her skin before dissolving into nothing. The air around her shimmered with a faint, ethereal warmth, as if the very essence of the world was embracing her.

Though her mana pathways remained damaged—each passing moment within the Time Chamber brought her closer to wholeness.

Luke watched her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. In the quiet of the chamber, with only the soft hum of the Mana Well and the gentle rhythm of her breathing, there was a strange peace.

Then he shifted his attention back to the summary report. Clearly it was not time for being romantic.

The report which contained the info of everyone’s progress and some major work.

"Let’s see." With that he opened and read about the higher rank powerhouses of Blackstone.

"Aurora and Vaelira both have reached mid-golden knight." He raised his eyebrow in surprise.

Aurora reaching mid-stage seemed understandable, after all she was already an early Gold Knight.

"But Vaelira?"

Then he remembered she was the holder of an S rank Origin skill, so her progress naturally would be faster.

"No wonder she crossed half-golden and reached mid-golden in 600 days."

After that, he checked if anyone else had reached Golden Knight. Though he wasn’t very optimistic about this.

Surprisingly, the result said something else.

"Peter Bassus and Aurielle also reached early golden knight."

"Damn, they are really something." He said with an excited voice.

Because this meant! his territory now held five genuine Golden Knights.

"Only Viscount forces could have this." He commented, but then he shook his head.

"My higher forces are even stronger than a Viscount..."

"Since I have Theia, a B rank being." He nodded after analyzing the information.

But he knew he was nowhere close to Count forces.

After all, for being a Count of the Human region, the leader or the noble should have at least one peak B rank being.

"That was why Counts were only a few in the entire human kingdom, while Marquis and Dukes were even lower." He uttered softly, before changing the page, which contained the list of lower rank units.

"10 Silver Knights, belonging to the earlier Blackstone Legion, and Osric also made some progress." He checked the number and found

that each of them had now reached the 6th stage of Silver Knight, while their earlier stage was 3rd.

"They are making progress, that’s already a big thing." He commented, because they didn’t have any Origin skill, and even that much progress was made thanks to the high Aether of the Mana Well, which was helping somewhat even at their level.

But the main thing was the Ascension series.

There was also another data added, "100 E-Rank Aether Crystal Mines had produced 100,000 Perfect E-Rank Aether Crystals, each 50 per month, so in 600 days that much produced."

Reading this, a big grin appeared upon his lips. Because those resources could help his territory tremendously.