Buttopia
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Chapter 216: Third in the Line
🕑 Added 2025-08-02 20:06:55 +0000 UTCAlex
“She’s going to be okay. We were able to completely deliver the baby without complications. And thanks to that wonderful little pumakey Dave has there, it’s likely that her core won’t even be as weak as I was initially worried it would be.” Alex heard the words of the doctor through a half-awake state. She scrunched her face slightly, trying to make better sense of them.
Had she said something about a core? Was that the strange energy she felt inside herself? She forced herself to think through the haze. This just meant she was like Dad and John. She could deal with that. Wait, what about her son?
“What does it mean that the baby already has a core?” This voice belonged to her mom.
Her mother’s voice relaxed some of her stress. Even if they had fought a lot these last few years, she knew her mother cared deeply. She also knew that she would cut through any amount of nonsense to figure out what was going on. Wait, had she said something about the baby already having a core?
That clinched in her mind. She couldn’t just lie here and be talked about. It didn’t matter what she had just been through. There was someone else who needed her now. And she had to be strong to protect him.
She forced herself to ignore the weird swimming feeling in her head. The pain in her chest, alongside the warm energy, that too she pushed down. Finally, after all of this felt within her control, she forced her eyes open.
“Did someone say my son had a core?” she said, coughing out some of the words, but she managed to get them out nonetheless.
“You’re awake already, eh? Quite the fighter, you two raised here. Good, you’re going to need that if you’re going to be raising a core baby on a planet like this,” the doctor replied.
The doctor’s voice had become gentle since Alex had last heard it. How long had she been out while they worked on her? Actually, what was that weight on her stomach?
She forced herself to sit up slightly, feeling jolts of pain as she did, and looked around the room. John and Maud were sitting in two chairs at the foot of her bed. Next to her was her dad, and standing over her currently was the doctor and her mom. In a small crib-like bed on the other side of her was her son, sleeping soundly with a smile on his face.
She lifted one of her arms and reached it over her stomach, petting the final resident of her small room. Chip was purring as he slept on her, and each purr seemed to feed a growing energy inside herself. She wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, but she could guess. For now, though, she was happy for the little guy’s help.
“What happened?” Alex asked, this time with more force in her voice.
“Your son was born, perfectly healthy, at seven pounds. But if you are asking about his core, well, that won’t impact his health. It did almost kill you, but we’ve managed to cobble together a core for you, and thanks to the pumakey, here it isn’t nearly as bad as it could have been,” the doctor replied, looking down at something in her hand and back up to Alex as she spoke.
“I need you to explain what all that means. My head feels like I’m swimming through molasses, so please go slow,” Alex replied, putting an emphasis on the word slow.
“Your son was born with a core. The problem was that the core was draining you dry the moment it formed. You didn’t have your own soul-core reaction going in order to fuel it, so instead the connection was taking every bit of soul energy you had. We managed to force your body to create a core using mana shards, mana-infused food, and your father’s own large well of core and soul mana to jumpstart yours. We won’t know what that fully means for your strength until you register with the System, but I believe that the worst possibilities have been prevented thanks to Maud’s quick thinking in finding Chip,” the doctor answered.
“And my son, what does having a core already mean for him?” Alex asked as her mom gently squeezed her shoulder.
“So it’s rare, but not remotely unheard of. Well, perhaps it’s better to say it’s only rare when you aren’t attempting it. This does mean your child will be a lot more powerful than an average kid. His mind will probably grow faster than that of someone his age, but he will still be a child. He will need to learn and be raised like any other kid. It’s just going to be harder, luckily it looks like you have a village ready to help,” the doctor smiled as she said these last words.
“Well, he was always bound to be ahead of most kids. He comes from a very smart family. So, before I pass out for more sleep, I guess I’d better give him a name. Since John is already carrying on your side of the family, Dad, I think I’m going to go with William after Mom’s side,” Alex said, spotting a tear in her Mom’s eye.
She had been considering names for a while now. It had turned out that trying to name the heir to an empire wasn’t the easiest thing, but eventually she had settled on the idea of keeping her family’s names alive. With how much the world was changing, it was possible her grandparents would be forgotten. They had missed all of this. And that was how she had decided, William and John would be the living memories of both sides.
Alex took another look at her beautiful sleeping baby boy before letting her own eyelids close again. Most of the energy she had used to force herself awake had faded. It was time for a nice, long sleep.
Dave
“What kind of effects can we expect with Alex’s core being formed like this?” I asked, as Alex fell back asleep.
“Hard to say. She certainly isn’t the first to cobble something together like this and force a core creation. Hell, it’s a pretty common way for the poor in weaker mana flow environments to make their own core, especially if they don’t have System access for a quest to do so. The thing there, though, is they generally get the benefit of using mana shards aligned to the same mana type. We had to use what the Reltleons had available in a pinch. The good news, I think Chip has evened out any potential backlash that will cause, but I’m not an expert here,” Scalestone replied.
While I wasn’t either, I was probably good enough. Plus, we had Karlinovo and Elody. Between the three of us, I figured we’d probably be fine to handle Alex’s core.
“I swear he knew we needed him. I hadn’t actually had the idea to grab him, but as I was getting Alex’s stuff, he just chirped at me until I brought him,” Maud said, standing up and giving the pumakey a few scratches.
“The important thing is both of them are healthy. We can figure out the rest later,” Laura said, as she moved from Alex to the baby.
“Agreed. I’m sure Pryte can find Alex whoever she needs to help teach William. We will need to get her registered with the System as soon as she’s up and able, though. She’s going to need her own levels to keep pace with him,” I said.
This wasn’t at all how I had expected Alex to join John and me, but I wasn’t complaining. I felt safer with the idea of her having a core. I’d need to talk to Glunderlin and find out how much we just drained their own materials by doing this, though. We really needed to stop doing that, no matter how willing they were. It wasn’t fair to monopolize so much of their resources just for my family and friends. Emperor or not, I wasn’t willing to put myself above them.
“I wish I could stay longer, but I need to iron out some of the future trading agreements with Tomta, and he’s going to introduce me to some of the more friendly factions he knows.” Laura’s voice cracked as she said this.
“How long can you stay, Mom?” John asked, just as I was about to.
“Two weeks, and if anything takes a turn for the worse, I’ll find a way to stay longer, I promise,” Laura replied.
“It’ll be alright. Alex knows how important your job is these days. I think she’s just glad you were able to get here so quickly. Doctor, you said that his mind will grow faster, what do you mean by that exactly?” I asked, trying to change the topic.
There was no point in dwelling on Laura’s plans. As much as I wanted to judge her for not being able to be here, that wasn’t fair at all, and just some resentment from the past bubbling up. Earth needed all the friendly factions she could get it, and she was the best person we had for that. I might have been able to bumble my way through it again with someone as Friendly as Tomta, but most people wouldn’t be like that. They’d be planning to take advantage of us as best they could.
“He’s going to grasp concepts faster intellectually, but as his body is going to develop at the usual human rate, that means he will still hit all standard hormone cycles to throw off his emotional regulation. So even if little William is mastering his first mana orb by the age of five, it doesn’t mean he will be able to handle the stress of fighting with it,” she answered.
“I think we can handle that as a family,” I said.
So my grandson was a genius. I could think of a lot worse problems to have. I learned back in my chair and smiled. Our family had grown again, and despite the scare, everything was going to be okay.
Since the removal of Jesters from the Spiral, the Feltborn have wandered aimlessly. Their ancient foe, now banished, had rendered so many of their quests moot. As time passed, many of them just stopped moving. Whatever spark of life had so long ago animated their people had started to leave them all. In a desperate attempt to defy this grim future, the few members of their species still alive banded together in one last quest. They were determined to find their lost origin, and restore their lost brethren’s lives. It has been a millennium since any of them were last seen.
The Lost Races by Qquauqq
