Ascension of the elder

Chapter 91: Kyle is the godfather

"Kids are parasites!"

Everyone heard Kyle's exclamation and was now looking at him with a concerned look on their faces. Why did he shout something like that out while looking so excited, Landon truly worried about his son sometimes it was as though some outside force was wreaking havoc with his mind and controlling his actions.

Kyle was ignoring everyone who was questioning his sanity and their life choices that ended with them following him. He was busy thinking his way through this; mana was a positive force within the human body but it as in two forms. The first form was controlled through the spirit realm and was released through the use of a medium in this case it was the nodes. The second form was mana that was left to roam freely within the body.

It was the second form which was the problem, the first form was actually nourishing the foetus but the second form was seeing the foetus draining resources such as nutrients and blood, was reacting as if it was an infection or in Kyle's view a parasite and so tried to eradicate it.

The mana response was more aggressive at higher levels as more mana was present in both forms but the more mana in the first form wasn't sent to the foetus until the second form completely overtook it and destroyed the foetus before it was strong enough to resist.

Now Kyle had a hypothesis the question now was how could this be sorted out? They couldn't use pills or potions as the effect on the foetus may be unexpected. Kyle didn't want to risk the little lives that were already forming and he was sure as hell not going to risk a sibling or his mothers well being on something with an unknown quantity.

Seals may be an option but what about after the child was born. Kyle could break a seal easily but not many could, it may be something to think about later but without some experimenting Kyle wasn't sure what he could do.

This left only one option, that being the good old fallback arrays. This needed to be something relatively simple and innocuous so people outside the family wouldn't pick up on it. Plus this could work as a means of securing the loyalty of those who join. He wouldn't use this as an enticement or means of blackmail, instead this would be like a signing bonus 'join our team and get a kid'.

Kyle was getting ahead of himself as he first had to work out how to do this. What array could be used 'illusion' nope not good enough 'concealment' nah how would you conceal it from energy 'shield' possibly but no it's good for physical attacks not mana 'light' are you stupid? Kyle was running through the arrays he knew when he suddenly realised what he could use. 'Barrier' one of the first arrays he learnt, it blocked attacks of mana and if he tweaked it right it could use the attacking mana to power itself after it was activated.

Now how to apply this, mana wouldn't prevent the flow of blood or nutrients to the foetus as it doesn't block anything physical so how is the best way to apply this. Well the 'barrier' doesn't need a fixed form as long as it has enough mana and has some definitions within the control ring so the answer is form the barrier within the wall of the womb while allowing the mana to still flow along the umbilical cord.

Kyle reached down and grabbed some paper and begun to furiously write as he was thinking on his feet. This didn't need to be a complex array as it would only need a 'barrier' glyph with a defined control ring.

As he was writing everyone was watching as before his outburst he had checked Lauren and had a worried look on his face then he shouted then had a thoughtful look and was now scribbling at an incredible pace. Suddenly he called out.

"You blacksmith guy go grab some of those leather bracers from the stores, Ash grab my engraving tools from my room, Liam I need rounded stones of about 2 inches in diameter you should be able to find some in the pool in the garden." Kyle looked up at them before he shouted out with an angry look on his face.

"Why are you still here move!"

All three jolted when he said this and rushed out leaving their bemused partners and members of the house. Kyle carried on scribbling and crossing out various symbols for the control ring he was creating. The three who were now running to do as Kyle instructed didn't question his orders as regardless of how laid back he was normally, Kyle was the true master of the house in more than just name and he had earned their respect as such.

"Kyle is everything okay you seem more intense than usual?" Landon was growing concerned with his son's rapid switching.

Most people weren't around when Kyle was working usually in fact it was just mostly the girls with Bruno occasionally making an appearance who knew how chaotically Kyle worked. He jumped from one project to another, making ground breaking advancements before dismissing them as useless or inadequate before doing something else.

"Oh sorry dad I just need to deal with this quickly for mum, if I'm right this will sort out the fertility problem. I'm still wondering why beasts don't have this issue though. Well I'll look into it later; it will make for an interesting side project I suppose."

Landon was looking at Kyle with his mouth open before looking at the equally shocked people in the room. The issue with the fertility of the cultivators had plagued the world for as long as they knew and in less than three hours Kyle said he had a possible answer. Maybe it would be best for their fragile minds if they just bowed to the inevitable as Kyle's plot armour was far too strong.

Kyle was once again concentrating on his work, Ash was the first to return as he only had to go a one door over but it took him a couple of minutes to find Kyle's engraving kit. Kyle could use 'shaping' to give an overall shape to things and he could also project arrays within an object. Kyle had been doing engraving for a while however as he found that by engraving the array with the correct control ring it would be able to draw mana from the air like he had seen with some of the arrays around the bastions.

Kyle couldn't see any engravings on these self sustaining arrays but he could detect subtle differences on the texture of the walls where they were present. Kyle found after studying these areas with his soul sense that the projected arrays had engraved themselves on a molecular level without it being visible.

The blacksmith guy was the next to arrive with an armful of soft leather bracers. There wasn't much else to say about these as they were just used as wrist supports while training or when people were using bows. The only thing that could be said was they had a lot of them in many different sizes.

Liam was the last to arrive with a handful of flat pebbles. He deposited them on Kyle's desk next to the rest of the thing already present. Kyle continued planning while the others quietly told the three returnees what he was trying to do leaving them amazed and looking at Kyle with hope, not just for themselves but for everyone.

Kyle finished with his plan and without even looking up grabbed the first pebble of the stack and his etching tool and began to use his mana through the tool and started engraving his new array into it. Kyle's tool was made with iron, adamantine and mithril so it would be able to easily etch various materials without blunting and could use the mana imbued into it to form an almost impossibly sharp edge.

Kyle was focusing on his work and was gradually making progress on the small array on the face of the stone. This was highly detailed work and Kyle was immensely focused on it, this was for Maria's happiness after all. Even if Kyle wasn't her true son he knew how much she cared for him so this was the least he could do for her.

It took almost half an hour before Kyle had finished his etching. While most would be shocked at this speed Kyle was instead frustrated it had taken this long, but with working on such a small surface it was to be expected. The others seeing Kyle had finally sat back leaned forward to inspect what he had done.

Even if Kyle was unhappy, the quality of his work was there for all to see. The array didn't look useful instead it appeared as nothing more than ornamentation, which was good as hopefully no one would realise its true purpose. Kyle picked up one of the bracers and began to make some alterations to it. By cutting a small section of leather away around the strapping Kyle was able to insert the stone safely within.

"Okay I need a volunteer, not either of the ladies who are with child however. I need to check the function of this array and don't want to risk anything dangerous happening to the children."

Everyone looked amongst themselves before Nettie stepped up.

"I'm okay if you want to use me for this; I'm already old so if I can help that's fine."

"Nettie you don't have to worry I just need to make sure that there is no interruption of mana where there shouldn't be."

With that Kyle placed the bracer over Nettie's wrist and directed a small burst of mana to the array to start it up. You may wonder why Kyle needed to start up the array if it was able to draw mana from the atmosphere but this was simply like having to jumpstart it allowing the array to begin functioning as it should.

Kyle inspected Nettie once he started the array and could find no problems with the barrier that was produced and could even see the 'barrier' was already absorbing the mana which would usually flow through that area of her body correctly powering itself without relying on the mana drawn from the atmosphere.

Seeing it was functioning properly Kyle checked Nettie was okay.

"Are you okay? Any discomfort or anything unusual?"

"No I feel fine, I think I can feel a little tingle in my belly but it's starting to go away now."

Kyle inspected once again and could see nothing different so he believed this was just her sense of the 'barrier' activating. So he took back the bracer and was ready to try it out on someone who really needed it.

"Okay Lauren it's your turn now. We'll do this slowly just so we can make sure nothing unexpected happens okay?"

"Yes Kyle we trust you."

With that Kyle placed the bracer over her wrist and began slowly placing mana into the array. There was no difference between powering it this way as opposed to how he powered it when Nettie was wearing it barring the speed of the 'barrier' forming.

Kyle was inspecting as he was charging the array and saw the barrier slowly taking shape protecting the foetus and slowly blocking more and more of the hostile mana. Once the array was at 50% Kyle stopped charging it and let the array complete the rest.

The 'barrier' eventually reached full power and there were no adverse effects meaning it was a success. The foetus was still receiving mana through the umbilical and was now getting everything it needed without any problems.

Kyle finally sat back and could relax. He gradually had a bright smile appear on his face as he thought of the face Maria would make when she found out what he had done. Ash and Lauren were now on cloud nine as were the rest of the couples when they realised this meant they would be able to have a family. Lauren turned to Kyle with a determined look on her face as she had a request for him.

"Kyle when our baby is born we would like to ask you to be the godfather."