Pyramid of Power [Progressive LitRPG]

Chapter 32: Offspring Acquired

Ryker

Silvar's reaction to my challenge was, for lack of a better word, uncomfortable. He obviously had not mastered his human avatar, and most of his body language was a little off. I think he was attempting a menacing smile of sorts, but it ended up looking more like he was about to have a bowel movement. However, his words were far from comical.

"Indeed, I have waited for longer than you can imagine. From this day forward, you will spend every waking moment training to become the instrument of my revenge. I will take charge of training you in the art of controlling your vital energy and manipulating your mana, while Ruby works your body to the point of breaking. I know you have many questions, and they will be answered in due time. For now, I think your friend has something she wants to show you."

With Silvar's ominous send-off, I felt the tug on my senses again, and everything went black before I was falling down towards the glowing light that I knew was my regular self. Just as abruptly as the last time, I was back in my body, on my knees, looking at Amy stomping her way towards me. She let out a barking laugh and said, "Relax, Red assured me that you were way tougher than you used to be, and me rolling you out of bed wouldn't hurt you much."

I gave the red-skinned girl a dumbfounded look before responding, "In what world can you call tossing me ass over tea kettle 20 feet through the air onto a soft bed of STONE rolling me out of bed?!? And for your information, it did hurt!"

Amy was not fazed by my rant one bit and coolly responded, "I would venture to say that in this world, you can call that rolling someone out of bed. Since Red woke me up, I have been trying to come to terms with just how much stronger I am. I feel like I could lift the dojo from its foundation... turns out I was a bit delusional and nearly busted a blood vessel giving it a go, but you can't blame a girl for trying. In all reality, I don't have a clue what I am capable of. But with you awake... We can find out."

The idea of putting my new stats to the test sounded great, but something she said was bothering me, so I asked, "You said since Red woke you up. Don't you mean Ruby?"

Amy was taking a breath to respond when I heard a faint squealing noise that sounded far off in the distance but was getting closer. Amy must have sensed it as well, and we both looked around trying to find the source. Then I felt Ruby give me a mental nudge, and an orange arrow appeared at the top of my vision pointing directly up. As I leaned my head backward, I saw a tiny red speck in the air, and I could tell it was growing larger by the second. As I focused on it, I could see it was a familiar-looking red-skinned demon with little bony nubs sticking out of her forehead.

The tiny form came plummeting down towards me, and I caught her. The second she landed in my arms, she latched onto me with both of her arms snaking around my neck. She buried her head into my hair, took a deep inhalation, and let out a happy sigh, screaming, "DADDY! I waited for you for so long, daddy! Why did you sleep for so long, daddy? Can you please play with me?!?!"

The torrent of words flowing out of the girl was overwhelming and impossible to process. I felt Ruby's presence in my head come to the forefront, and a semi-transparent miniature Ruby floated in front of me before saying, "Ryker, meet our daughter Red!"

*NOTIFICATION*

OFFSPRING ACQUIRED

NAME:RED

AGE:73 HOURS

DESCRIPTION:THROUGH THE COMBINED EFFORTS OF RUBY AND YOURSELF YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SIRED RED A.I. #42652

My eyes threatened to leave my skull as I gaped at the notification and then at the seemingly invisible Ruby. I unraveled Red from around my neck and held her out at arm's length, really looking at her closely. She looked how I remember Ruby looking when we first met, but there were some subtle differences. That chin, those eyes, and my nose!... I blurted out in my mind, "You gave her my nose?!?! What in the hell, Ruby!!! I don't have a daughter, and I especially don't have one with you."

The floating demoness's features changed and took on a cartoonish appearance as her eyes grew a few sizes bigger, and she stuck out her bottom lip in an attempt at a pout, saying, "Honey, why would you say such hurtful things in front of our baby?! I know you didn't have a child... before you went unconscious, but now you do! Isn't this exciting?!?"

My near-perpetual eye roll when dealing with Ruby was starting to wear thin, and I let out an exhausted mental sigh before thinking, "Ruby, just because you made her look like me does not make her mine. And us humans reproduce with one another in... special ways that I would rather not go into with you. So in summary, Red is not my child, and that is that."

A mischievous smile found its way onto Ruby's lips, and she whispered under her breath, "The way I remember it... it was quite special... you were amazing." She did a little turn mid-air and blew me a kiss while tossing a wink my way.

My blood ran cold, and I couldn't find my breath. Somehow I managed to think clearly enough to ask the big question. "Ruby, I want you to be honest with me... When I was unconscious, did you... or did you not PROBE ME!??!.........I knew it. This is what they warned us about. Alien abduction, and then comes the probing. Now I have a half A.I. child... I'm not ready for fatherhood... or am I? Oh geez... how did you harvest my DNA? NO! I don't want to know."

I stayed like this for a few seconds, just muttering incoherently to myself before Ruby spoke up and answered, "Of course, she is yours. I took the hair sample myself when I replicated her. I ensured Red had characteristics matching both mine and yours, just like human reproduction. and to top it all off, you didn't mind my probing one bit. The probes were super tiny and ran throughout your entire nervous system. I told you this already."

The relief I felt in that moment could not be expressed in words. I plopped down right there on the ground, with Red climbing all over me, and thought to Ruby, "You scared me half to death, Ruby. You have no idea what I was thinking."

Ruby was quick to say, "Uh, yes I do. I can interpret all of your surface thoughts as you have them. I don't know exactly how you think a metal rod halfway up your large intestine would help me make Red, but to each their own, I guess."

The realization that Ruby could read my mind made me stiffen again till the shadow of a red-skinned woman loomed over me, and Amy said, "Ryker, I didn't realize you liked kids so much. Wait a second... does she have your nose?"

Advertisement