Rezar's words almost caused Nexus to choked on his imaginary saliva. His intention was not for Rezar to give Nexus grandchildren.
Nexus was simply curious if the nymphs don't care of their partner have kids with other nymphs.
"You will have your own children next time" Nexus can only say that and Rezar nodded his head.
He can't wait to be fertile and make the Guardian Spirit happy by making their tribe's population grow!
"Cough… ehem. Anyway, I am still in the learning phase about your race. I wish to know more about how we can increase our population. Are nymphs able to reproduce with any other nymph or 'nymphs'?"
With how Rezar misunderstood him, Nexus had to choice but to be more direct with his question.
"Yes, unless a nymph already has a life-long partner, we typically reproduce with any nymph who are fertile at the same time than us. Currently, aside from Poline and Erna, there were no other couples in the tribe."
"The six fertile nymphs are all single. As such, they all had kids together. It was a great coincidence that half are men and women"
"It's hard to say when a nymph would be fertile. If one is fertile but there are no other fertile nymphs of the opposite gender, we might miss out and fail to conceive"
Nexus was finally enlightened. So, it's not like the nymph was cuckolded, they aren't even a couple!
Now that Nexus thinks of it, if the nymphs have to wait until they have a partner to reproduce, they might become extinct.
After all, just because two nymphs are a couple doesn't mean that their fertile state will sync. A nymph might be fertile today while their partner is not, missing out in the chance to make babies.
If they are lucky, they might sync in a few months but if unlucky, they might spend decades together without conceiving any babies.
Nature always find a way to survive and nymphs are no different. This culture of them was what enabled the nymphs to continue their lineage.
—-
"Thank you, Iruline for gathering these herbs" Wyden, the nymphs' chief said to the female nymph that brought bags of herbs to him.
Finally, after some effort, excluding the ten water stones sacrificed to Wyden, they still have ten water stones remaining.
With the ten water stones at hand, the tribe then focused on gathering the herbs needed so that they could start processing the water stones.
Iruline smiled in return while she prepared some of the things that they need to create the elixirs.
With the preparation done, Wyden started to process the water stones to create the elixir.
The first step was grinding the ingredients, specially the water stones. He was using a hard rock to slowly grind the water stones while the nearby nymphs watch to learn the process.
This was something he only heard from his deceased father and he hadn't done it before. He only hoped that he wouldn't mess up and the elixirs would be successfully created.
The most arduous task when creating the elixir was grinding the water stones. One cannot be too forceful or they will ruin the precious material and make it unusable.
Wyden underestimated the time and effort needed to grind them and he had no choice but to ask some of his tribesmen to grind the stones with him.
Finally, after hours of constant grinding, they finally grounded all the water stones, placing the fine powder on a large wooden bowl.
With this part taken care off, Wyden then grabbed a ladle to scoop the liquid of the boiled herbs that the other nymphs had already prepared beforehand.
He had to make sure that the amount of herb infused water was just enough to make a paste-like consistency.
He slowly poured the liquid along with some more grinded herbs into the bowl containing the water stones before carefully mixing the mixture.
Fortunately, he didn't messed up. He didn't pour too much water and he managed to create the consistency needed for the elixir.
"Hmm, this should be done now" Wyden said to the nymphs and he didn't even bother letting the elixir cool down.
He grabbed a scoop of the elixir paste snd rubbed it on his whole body. He made sure that his skin would only be coated with only a very thin later as using too much at once comes with severe side effects.
After making sure that he is covered with the elixir paste, Wyden directly sat in a meditative posture. His mind focusing on sensing the free mana particles in the atmosphere, attracting them into his body
As soon as he started cultivating, he immediately sensed the difference between normal cultivation and cultivation aided by the elixir.
In the past, he had to use a lot of mental energy just to sense the mana in his surroundings and attracting the mana particles to his body to be absorbed felt like he was playing a tug of war with a bear.
But now, with the elixir's help, sensing the mana particles was as easy as lifting one's hand. While controlling the mana particles are not yet as easy as breathing, at the very least, from feeling like he was playing a tug of war with a bear, it now only felt like he was playing with a wolf!
There is still some resistance but it was significantly reduced.
Wyden spent more time cultivating while the nymphs are waiting for him to see if the elixir crafting was successful.
He only stopped cultivating when the effects of the elixir was used up and only then did Wyden opened his eyes.
"How was it? Was it a success?" Ygro asked curiously. As one of the only three mid-level Transcendents, Ygro was anxious about the result.
Part of the water stones were obtained by his own effort and the tribe currently desperately needed a high-level Transcendent.
Constantly asking the Guardian Spirit to fill up their assimilated Morningstar's Mushroom [Energy Sac] is a temporary solution, not a permanent one.
They still need to gain enough strength to catch a water stone fish on their own as soon as possible.
"It's a success!" Wyden announced and the nymphs collectively cheered. With the water stone elixir paste, their tribe will soom have a high-level Transcendent.
Not only that but even more Transcendents will appear in the tribe!
"Ten water stones can support the cultivation of ten nymphs for ten days. With my cultivation speed, I only need another month to become a high-level Transcendent!" Wyden continued.
He initially judged that it would take him several years to become a high-level transcendent but just creating the elixir paste cuts down that time to only a month.
Resources really does play an important role in cultivation!
"That is great news! I also can't wait to become a high-level Transcendent. By then, we don't need to use our Morningstar Mushroom anymore to catch the water stone fish!" Lino said gleefully, excitedly taking some elixir paste before he hurried off to his own tent to cultivate.
—-
"It's time! It's time! The nymphs will hatch now!"
Today, the tribe has become lively again. It has been a whole week since Poline laid her eggs. It is finally time for the eggs to hatch and for the nymphs to greet their newborns.
The couple placed their eggs outside of their tents so that all the nymphs can witness the newborns' birth.
Even Nexus was interested, focusing his senses on the three eggs.
As of the moment, the eggs were trembling violently and cracks starts to appear. The baby nymphs are doing their best to breakthrough their shells.
"Go! Go! You can do it!"
"Don't give up!"
"Yes! That's right! Break the shells!"
The simple nymphs cheered on, watching the eggs break little by little. Fortunately, after a few minutes, the first nymph finally managed to breakfree of its shell, greeting the world.
"Eh? A human caterpillar?" Nexus was surprised to see the baby nymph.
It was not a beautiful or handsome nymph with wings that he had expected. The baby was actually green in color and it does not have any wings.
It was even as large as a several months old human just after breaking free of its shell.
"The oldest has been born!" The nymphs exclaimed and soon, the second, and third baby finally came out of their shells.
"Coo?" The baby nymphs made some cute sounds much to Nexus's relief.
At least, these nymphs are not sentient at birth and also needed time to develop their intelligence. If they are intelligent the moment they are born, Nexus would really think that there was something wrong with these nymphs.
"Hmm, even though they are just born and haven't developed intelligent yet to become my worshipper, I already formed a special connection with them!" Nexus was surprised by this but he just credited it to the fact that he is a Guardian Totem.
"Quick! Bring some soft fruits, the babies are starving!" A nymph exclaimed and the nearby nymphs hurriedly went to grab fruits to feed to the babies.