Chapter 337: You naughty boy...
"H-how... how is this possible?" Amelia asked, taking a step forward and resting her palm on the wall of the Steel Vein military complex.
She wasn’t specialized in arrays, but her knowledge of the subject was on par with many of the most renowned masters of the Kingdom of Burning Ice.
Gently spreading her mana across the stone surface, she let the energy flow through the engraved arrays.
As she sensed the complexity of those intertwined lines, a heavy sigh escaped her lips.
The Blue Tower was led by an archmage at the peak of the sixth stage, also one of the most renowned array masters in the entire world.
In a competition held in the wealthy Central Empires, he had placed among the top three. Even the imperial families of those empires had to wait their turn to receive his services.
The fact that he wasn’t even a mage specialized in arrays only made the sheer magnitude of his talent all the more evident.
Amelia, as one of the greatest talents of the Blue Tower’s new generation, had already had countless opportunities to study the arrays he created.
Compared to what she was feeling at that very moment, the Blue Tower master’s arrays were nothing more than a child’s scribbles.
The difference in quality was so absurd that, in comparison, even the most intricate creations of the Blue Tower seemed like crude works by mere apprentices.
And those were just the external arrays, responsible for the wall’s detection system.
Just imagining the level of the arrays surrounding the training areas and the barracks’ control center made a trickle of saliva form at the corner of her mouth.
Ethan approached his mother with calm steps.
As for her knowing about that ability, he didn’t care much.
The love Amelia felt for him bordered on fanaticism, and she would hardly try to cause trouble for her son out of mere greed.
Besides, since he already intended to keep her there as his wife—truly his wife—it was only natural that she should know those secrets.
"That’s the ability I used to build all of this. It comes from the Gaia System," Ethan explained casually.
Of course, Amelia knew what the Gaia System was. She had received those strange screens on the day of the integration, just like all the Awakened in the world.
At first, the phenomenon caused a great deal of confusion and chaos, but the Church, as always, came forward with a convenient explanation.
Still, Amelia knew there was more to it than that. She had already discussed the matter with Ysara, but this "something more" was kept under lock and key by the Awakened above the sixth stage.
Even the King of the Blazing Ice Kingdom himself seemed completely oblivious to the true nature of that system.
Having received abilities from the system herself, Amelia didn’t doubt Ethan’s words for a second.
Instead, a huge smile spread across her face as she pulled her son into a tight hug.
"Ah... my little Ethan really is the best!" she exclaimed, planting a gentle kiss on his cheek.
The rest of the barracks didn’t seem to pique her interest. Amelia simply clutched Ethan’s hand firmly.
"Come on, I want to see that magical tower up close right now!"
The young lord didn’t hesitate to follow her, motioning to Doran with a wave of his hand to take care of the rest.
As expected, Amelia’s greatest interest lay in the Golden Tower, especially since she was a mage.
"Hmm... I wonder if you’ll end up getting stuck in the library too, just like Alice and Veronica did, hahaha," Ethan chuckled softly.
"Library... what kind of books could be there that—" Amelia fell silent suddenly.
A sudden thought crossed her mind, and her eyes slowly widened.
"Ethan... how old are these structures?" she asked, her voice now carrying a faint tremor.
"The Golden Tower dates back to the Mythic Era, just like my palace. The Divine Forge—that one dates back to the start of the Ancestral Era."
"And the libraries?"
"The ones in the palace are quite incomplete, with only 10% of the original books remaining. But the one in the Golden Tower is completely intact. There are probably even seventh-stage spells in there," Ethan remarked casually.
The same was true for aura techniques.
He was still focused on mastering the Golden Dragon Emperor’s swordsmanship, and because of that, he hadn’t had much time for other techniques, even though Alice had already set some aside for them.
The moment she heard those words, Amelia stopped dead in her tracks.
By then, they had already entered the noble district. Since the only other resident besides Ethan was Doran, the place was completely empty.
"Ethan... my dear..."
She took a step toward her son, wrapping him in a tight embrace.
Her enormous breasts pressed flat against Ethan’s chest, molding to the young man’s body, the plump, soft flesh enveloping him in a suffocating heat.
"Has Mommy ever told you how much she loves you?"
"Yes... I already know that," Ethan replied, the hand resting on Amelia’s waist slowly sliding downward, finding its way to the generous curve of her buttocks.
Greedy fingers dug into her full ass cheeks, the thin fabric of the dress doing little to separate his palm from the warm skin beneath.
The plump flesh spilled between his fingers, molding to the shape of his hand as if it had been made to fit there perfectly.
A stifled sigh escaped Amelia’s lips at her son’s possessive touch.
"N-not like that!"
Ethan didn’t let her finish her sentence, leaning over her and sealing his lips in a kiss that could only be shared between a man and a woman.
"Ah..." Amelia gasped when their lips finally parted, her delicate fingers clutching Ethan’s back hard enough to leave marks.
"You naughty boy... you don’t respect your own mother!"
She pinched him lightly, her face flushed and her voice trembling, though the sparkle in her eyes was far from reproachful.
Turning her back on him, she resumed her walk toward the Golden Tower. With every step, her wide hips swayed in a slow rhythm, each buttock bouncing alternately beneath the fabric of her dress in a sinful invitation.
"Well... it’s not my fault you’re so addictive!" Ethan followed her, the corners of his lips curving higher and higher.
The gods had truly blessed him.