Chapter 269 Preparations Complete

Colin and the newly evolved tier 4s arrived in M town, they covered the distance to their home faster than it took them the previous day. During the trip back, they managed to adjust to their bodies' new physical abilities, allowing them to get used to their new speed. Some of them even tried testing out some of their new skills, the three vampires tested out their new [Beast Transformation] skill. Beatrix transformed into a wolf, Henry transformed into a bat and Esme transformed into a white dove. It was quite impressive, but unlike Alice, they didn't seem to get a new affinity.

When they arrived, they could smell the scent of roasted meat.

"Good, it looks like they have finished breakfast." Colin said and everyone increased their speed. Just as Colin suspected, everyone was outside eating breakfast. The food wasn't as lavish as it was during the feast, but they would have to make due for now until Melissa could get the farm up and running.

"Good morning." Colin said as he landed in the courtyard and took a seat. There were plates filled with meat on the table and it was disappearing fast. Colin quickly grabbed a clean plate and some food, before starting to eat. The food tasted good, but nowhere near as good as the food he is used to, but he was too hungry to care. As he was eating, a white cat jumped into his lap and meowed cutely.

'Where did this come from?' Colin wondered as the cat looked at him with it's red eyes.

"Hi Colin." The cat said with a feminine voice and Colin jumped out of his chair and into the air in pure fright causing everyone to start laughing, including Alice, the cat.

"Seriously." Colin said, as he finally realized that the cat was Alice and she sat on the table. She took a piece of meat out of his plate and started chewing on it, causing Colin's eyebrow to twitch at her behaviour.

"So you can turn into a cat with [Beast Transformation] then." Colin said

"Meow." Alice answered as she licked her paws

"So is a cat the only thing you can turn into?" Colin asked as he sat back down and continued eating

"For now. I see your trip was successful." She said, looking at everyone who went with Colin. Henry and his family were still in their beast forms and now that they were inside Colin's domain, the sun wasn't an issue, so they simply layed on the ground.

"Yes, and what about you? Did the werewolves give you any trouble?" Colin asked and looked over at where Paul and his pack were sitting, glaring at them, and causing them to shiver. Alice laughed mischievously at this action before looking over at the werewolves with a wide smile, showing her fangs.

"For a while they did, they were anxious for the first few hours and kept begging me to let them go out and hunt. They only started to listen to me afterwards." She said in a pitiful voice and Colin glared at the werewolves once more, causing Alice to swing her tail happily.

"How many of them learned the [Meditation] trait?" Colin asked, although he could check himself

"All of them." She answered and he nodded his head satisfied.

'I'll have to check with Paul later to see how well the trait works.' Colin thought before getting up. He picked up Alice, causing her to purr in surprise and took up his plate in the other hand, before walking over to where Bartus was sitting.

"Hey Bartus." Colin said as he sat down

"Hello Colin, it seems that your family has grown in strength. I guess it's time for my guild to do the same, we don't want to start slacking off and get taken advantage of by stronger demons." He said as he took another bite of his food.

"About that, I'm gonna need you to hold off on your external trading for a while. I'm gonna need you to focus on creating equipment for my family and I'm planning to create a farm. So we are probably gonna have some fresh fruits and vegetables in a few months. I'm sure you guys can trade those for large amounts." Colin said and Bartus smiled widely

"We haven't been doing any external trades for a while now, so that won't be a problem. I sent a few of my leprechauns to scout the mountain range, and you were right, it's filled with cursed ores, as well as beasts. We are gonna need those werewolves if you want us to mine those ores." Bartus said

"Don't worry, the werewolves are ready. All of them have learned the [Meditation] trait, so they shouldn't act out while in the caves." Colin replied

"That's good to hear, because I'm gonna need all of them." Bartus said, and Colin thought about it for a while before nodding his head. The werewolves were more than half his fighting force, but they were mostly hunting now so it wasn't an issue to allow them into the caves.

"Another thing, can you open my storage ring for me so that I can give it to someone else?" Colin asked

"What makes you think I know how to do something like that?" Bartus asked leisurely

"Because, the house of Greed loves to make a profit. And what is more profitable than removing the storage rings from the corpses of dead demons. You could take the items from the storage rings and sell them, while also selling the storage rings after cleaning them up. Plus, if you guys are the only ones who can open the rings, you guys can charge people to open them. Am I wrong?" Colin asked, his eyes glowing red

"I'll open it, no need to look at me like that." Bartus said and placed his hand over the ring and poured some of his energy into it. The purple runes on the storage ring lit up, before the everything in his storage ring fell to the ground garnering everyone's attention. Colin took up the two maps and the soul crystals before placing them in his [Demonic Inventory]. A small swirling red portal appeared when he activated the skill and he directed the pile of soul crystals and it expanded to take all of them into his inventory. He left the large box filled with the seed packets. He placed his hand into the portal and took out two soul crystals, the one for Shadow Leopard and the other for the Illusory Butterfly.

[I want you to make two items out of these soul crystals. A ring or necklace, something along those lines. They have increase the power of their respective affinities and give an extra ability if possible.] Colin said to Bartus through [Telepathy]

[Oh, is there a reason you are saying this through [Telepathy] and not outloud?] Bartus asked with a cheeky smile and Colin looked at Alice, still in cat form, laying peacefully in his lap, undisturbed by everything, and smiled

[They are gifts for Alice and Lily.] Colin said and Bartus' smile widened.

[I understand. I'll make sure to make a wonderful item for those two.] Bartus said and took the crystals.

'The werewolves are ready, the Bartus guild are prepared and Melissa has evolved with some useful skills. Only Lily is left to wake up from her evolution. All the preparations to advance my family is complete.' Colin thought