Epic of Caterpillar

241 Forsaken Labyrinth Conquest 34/69; Ryo's Potential

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Leaving Amiphossia meditating while nourishing her body and soul with her three elemental Aura, I walked through the palace looking for Ryo. Not long after I found him with his mother Zehe, Brontes, Vudia, Lilith, and Charlotte. It was the classic "workshop team", although they weren't in our workshop now a designed room was, they put all of the tables and items they use to work, temporarily creating an improvised workshop.

Vudia jumped over me while flying, she seems to have been learning how to fly with her wings little by little and could now fly some meters over the ground without the necessity to use her floating gold golems to carry her around. I hugged my daughter and kissed her on her forehead. Not many hours had passed since breakfast but she was needy for my attention and affection as always.

I've been wondering why she doesn't act to this extent with Brontes… Perhaps because she spends more time with her, so she is used to Brontes and doesn't miss her as much? Or she just has preferences like most children and I'm actually her favorite parent… Well, I don't like this, but I can't do much.

After patting my adorable daughter, she finally let go of me as I greeted everyone and then went to Zehe and Ryo's position. Ryo was a little bit surprised over my sudden interest for him, Zehe not so much, as I had already shared my plans to train with my children and understand their powers, and because she was such an intelligent woman, she already guessed correctly my intentions.

"Sorry Zehe, I've come to steal Ryo from you for the rest of the day~"

"Oh? Very well then, Honey. Take good care of my baby"

After hearing the word "baby", Ryo's brown face blushed in embarrassment as his eyes were both angry and flustered.

"M-Mother, don't call me a baby! I am an adult you know…?! Ugh…"

"Sure, sure~ But for your mother, you will be always my baby~" (Zehe)

"S-Stop calling me baby! Sigh… Anyways, why do you want me now, mom? I don't want your kisses neither your affection! T-That's not manly…"

"Hm? You can't really escape from me, Ryo~ However, today I came for you for another thing~! Come, come~"

I released my threads as I gently grabbed Ryo against his will, carrying him outside of the improvised workshop. Zehe laughed over the small scene while Brontes and the rest only had small smiles, pitying Ryo. Vudia flew after me as she wanted to join in as well.

"Mama! Vudia wants to train too! What are we going to train?"

"Ah… Vudia, this is special training that only your big brother can learn! You must focus on your own studies with your mommy Brontes~!"

"B-But Vudia wants to go!"

"M-Mama! I want to go!"

"You already heard your mother Kireina, you need to concentrate on your own studies, you are a princess, Vudia, you need to grow into someone that people will look to in admiration. Someone that they can rely on, and that's why you must concentrate on your craftmanship studies… You will one day lead people and I want you to be prepared with everything you have, for now, concentrating in craftmanship will slowly awaken your hidden potential, in the future, you may even be able to craft massive houses or entire cities! Who knows, you must be diligent"

Brontes reprimanded Vudia for some minutes, which give us time to escape. After we managed to get outside of the workshop, I could hear Vudia saying "I'm sorry, mommy" with a seemingly sad voice, it was very heartbreaking! But I had to endure, it's for the best so she doesn't grow too spoiled…

When we reached a nice empty room that was finely decorated with gold furniture and a lot of cushions on the floor of various colors, I freed Ryo and talked with him about what we were going to do.

"Uh? My power? What about it?"

"I've been training with your sisters before, finding their inner potentials and teaching them how to use them while also teaching them how to nourish their bodies through special cultivation techniques of lost ages"

"Oh! So that's what you've been doing, mother… I see.?But you don't have to worry about me! I already am pretty strong, aren't I? I just need to level up and evolve again, nothing will stand on my way, haha!"

Over my insolent child response, I released a powerful presence with my Aura, shutting up his laugh and making him completely stiff.

"Geh… When you get angry you are a real monster, aren't you, mother…?"

"Sigh… Such insolent child, but I still dearly love you, Ryo~ Your strength is only the surface of what your species and the blessings give you. You're barely touching the tip of the iceberg and already calling yourself the strongest? What a joke~!"

"E-Eh?! W-What did you just say?!"

"What? Do you want to spar with your mother and see how weak you are?"

Ryo suddenly stood up while bulging his brown muscles.

"Sure! I'm gonna show you!"

"Such a strong spirit! I like it, alright, braze yourself, this will end quick~!"

"Haha! I bet!"

Ryo suddenly enhanced his physique with his powerful black red Aura, his muscles bulged intensively as they gained a bright red tone. His four arms moved in succession, creation after-images. It was a rather mystical view. This move was called [Ashura's Eight Phantom Arms], a Skill that my son obtained after leveling a few times, naturally. It enhances the Ashura's strength by adding four more phantom hands to attack.

Ryo wanted to go serious as he also released his four elemental gauntlets. I didn't do anything at all. I even handicap myself, making my Aura retreat entirely, dissipating into an ethereal form. It was only my "fairy" physique against Ryo's full power, everything he had.

"Hmph! If you are inflicting such a big handicap in yourself, don't blame me if you get a little bit hurt, mother! I am getting pumped up already! If you aren't using your crazy skills or magic, you will just get turned into minced meat!"

"Fufufu, your determination really fills my heart, my son. Enough talk, come at me!"

Ryo only smiled maliciously as he charged at me with all his strength, his wild black red aura moved everywhere, expanding wildly like a voracious monster. His eight fist, four wielding the gauntlets and other four being phantom arms shined in bright white light, he was casting several techniques at the same time as well, he was really going all out! What a splendid fighting spirit, a true battle junkie.

Baam!

A thunderous sound filled the large room as hundreds of fists after-images rained over my body. My senses naturally kicked in passively, I moved my hands at a ridiculous speed as I stopped each fist from hitting me. When a new one came for my stomach, I twisted my body and evaded it. I was just testing Ryo's attack prowess as I took or evaded most of his attacks. A fairy evading or intercepting the massive punches of an Ashura with her delicate hands, it was surely a story that normal folks would never believe.

Ryo quickly noticed that none of his hits were doing anything to me, I only gave my son a mischievous smile, almost like a smug, testing his patience.

"Tch! Don't look me like that!" Oooorraaa!"

Ryo suddenly released all of his power into his body, his physique turned fiery red and his small horns grew like demonic ones. His skin turned black red and his fist was covered in red scales and had long black claws. His eyes turned red and his silver hair grew wildly. He had activated his transformation skill [Divine Four-Armed War Oni Transformation]. I have never seen it before as he didn't use it often, this was because it put a big burden on his entire body, even if he was half Vampire.

His strength multiplied eight times! Even then, his blazing punches that resembled meteors were completely nullified by my body or evaded. As if my body couldn't even receive any damage at all, everything was just nullified. My skin was barely scratched and healed instantly. One minute passed and Ryo was getting tired already, the transformation was too much of a burden on his body.

"W-What?! H-How can I not do any damage? What is your skin made of?!"

"More than one hundred Skills combined, I guess it grew pretty tough"

"E-Expected from a monster like my mother… But I am not giving up!"

"Well, little prince, it is time for you to take a nap~!"

"Eh?"

I then formed a fist with my hand and at an incredible speed that Ryo wasn't even able to fathom even with his transformation, I hit him on the stomach.

Baam!

"Gaaaahh!!!"

A single punch was enough to make his transformation dissipate, his aura disappears and his muscles relax. Ryo's eyes rolled as he fell unconscious. I made the blow non-lethal but it still held a lot of force, which I expanded through his entire body and nerves. My boy fell over me as I sat down over a cushion, with Ryo's sleepy head over my lap. I gently caressed his silver hair with my right hand while using my left hand to caress his soft brown cheeks I healed him of any injuries, although they were very minimal.

"What a troublesome child you are… Hopefully, this makes you realize your mistakes"

Half an hour later Ryo suddenly woke up all pumped up, the first thing he saw was my face, with a gentle smile as my scarlet eyes shined in dim light.

"Gah! W-What happened?"

"Well, you got carried away, and you lost"

"Eeh?! Even when you handicap yourself?"

Ryo seemed to not be able to believe my words, but the memories of the fight came to his mind, as he quickly realized that it wasn't even a fight in the first place, he fought bravely but none of his attacks really did anything to me, and I finished him off with a very gentle punch on his stomach.

Ryo may have released a lot of energy on the fight, and even transformed, but it was all for nothing. This somehow made my muscle head son think a little bit about things as his mind was clearer.

"You're really a monster…" He said while looking over the wide room ceiling, which had small cracks all over due to the powerful shockwaves that his punches released.

"Hm~! Now, now… Will you accept mommy's teachings, Ryo~?"

Ryo sighed as he covered his face with two of his hands and then looked at me with an embarrassed look. However, even when he was embarrassed, he was extremely handsome, so this only made him look cuter instead of ridiculous like he most probably thought.

"Sigh… I guess I don't have any other option, perhaps I wasn't as strong as I thought… Evolution will be most likely not enough, and I may end up losing to my siblings…"

"So?"

"Haah… Alright, mother, I want to learn how to use this power more skillfully, like Valentia or aunt Brontes and Nesiphae…"

"You will certainly be able to~! First of all, in the previous fight, I detected how you used your unique Aura in a very incorrect way, your Aura expanded wildly, and even when you thought that it was giving you more strength, in reality, it was barely boosting your capabilities, as most of its energy was being released outside of your body"

"Eeh?! So even then… I always thought that I was using it right, it was enhancing my body, right?"

"Yeah, it was… But very mediocrely… The full potential of an Aura is even greater than just a minimal boost on your strength… And even more, by considering my Lineage given to you, your species and blessings, your strength should be way bigger than what you showcased, Ryo…"

"Haah… I guess that's fair…"

"You may have been training your body with exercises and leveling up, but that's just a raw increase in strength. Now you need to refine that strength gained by understanding your power, and slowly releasing your inner potential"

"Sigh… So, there is a long way to go. Since when did you become so good at instructing others powers, mother???

"Hm, since some months ago, even a monster like me had to understand its power and potential, and slowly refine it as well. I am not really a master in these fields, but what I've learned has helped me a lot, and I just want to help you as well"

"W-Well… I guess…"

"I have a lot of skills that can easily decipher other's potential, or even generate the best road for someone to take to increase their power based on their talents and blessings… I want to put those in good use, or the beings I ate would feel ashamed, fufufu"

"So that's how it is, it's all about what you ate! Anyways, when can I get off your lap?!"

"Oh, not yet… Mommy wants to feel Ryo's warm head on her lap for a little bit more. Please~?"

"Gaah…! Let me go…!"

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