After ensuring he received all of the Sharpfin Megaladonic Accords, Jonny then made his way back to his wing of the house, leaving Nereus to get acquainted with his new quarters.
But due to the busy day he had earlier, Nereus really just wanted to rest.
Since he had been reborn he hadn't had one good night's sleep as the cot he rested on in his old hut could hardly be considered suitable for use.
He was excited and grateful to utilize the many amenities his new home had to offer, just none more so than his extra comfy looking bed at this moment.
As such he wasted no time in plopping his body down on the soft and luxurious sponge mattress.
Closing his eyes where he lay, Nereus could gradually feel his taut muscles relaxing and the stresses of the day fading away if only for a moment.
Sadly this moment of peace was quite fleeting as a short time later Nereus eyes slowly opened while he moved to a meditative stance on his sponge bed and began to cultivate.
Since his breakthrough to the Wave Ruler stage Nereus definitely noticed an increase in his overall strength and speed as well as the speed at which he could pull in sea essence from his environment.
With that being said it's no surprise that after only a few moments of cultivating, Nereus's meridians and even the water directly around his meditating body became slightly aglow with pure sea essence.
At that moment and with just a thought the Amphitrite Seal mark on his forehead began to glow a ghostly blue before the 4 semi transparent sea wraiths appeared around his form.
They were the reasons he couldn't go to sleep just yet.
Like wisps of inky smoke in the water the 4 fearsome yet slightly feminine skeletal apparitions twisted and coiled around Nereus's form as if they were greeting a lover or long lost friend.
With his eyes closed and a half smirk on his lips Nereus could feel the chill of his sea wraiths gliding all over his body and couldn't help but say,
"Ha ha you all are such pesky children, keeping your poor father way from sleep just for some food. How cruel haha..."
Nereus was only half joking as he knew that it was more so his fault that one of his sea wraiths didn't get to eat earlier.
Since he called one off of Triton it didn't receive its fill while his other three had. And while this wouldn't be an issue to the sea wraith's health or obedience as long as it was fed sometime this week, Nereus knew that it would affect the evolution speed of the sea wraith.
According to the requirements of Amphitrite's Seal, the evolution from sea wraith, to sea hag, to sea nymph ,and finally to siren required the blood, sea essence, and vitality from a total of 10 Mer sacrifices.
And since three of his wraiths had already received one sacrifice they only needed 9 more while the other one still required 10.
It was Nereus's plan for all 4 of his sea wraiths to become full fledged sirens at the same time so he planned on using his own blood, sea essence, and vitality to make up for the missing first sacrifice.
"Alright let's get this over with, I'm getting sleepy" said Nereus with a yawn as he used a sharp finger claw to make a small incision on the side of his neck.
Once the small incision was made and Nereus's blood began to cloud the surrounding waters, almost instantly the sea wraiths began to orbit his form faster and more frenzied.
'If my calculations are correct I should be able to support the expense of one small Mer's worth of required energies as long as I immediately replace what was lost while cultivating. I may be a bit dizzy after this is all over but this should work theoretically...'
With a slight wrinkle of his brow Nereus then recalled three of the four sea wraiths into the still glowing cursed mark, leaving only the one he had called off of Triton earlier.
Wasting no time since he could already feel the incision healing he then ordered the sea wraith to feed from him.
'Urgh!'
Almost instantly the sea wraith responded to the command and latched itself to it's masters neck.
Nereus could feel the small drain on his blood, vitality, and consequently his sea essence but it wasn't as bad as he had expected.
In fact , he could tell that the sea wraith was much more interested in his sea essence and since he was making it so readily available it didn't need to take as much blood which was his main concern.
'Oh this is nothing, I should be able to keep this up for the next 30 mins or so no problem! Better still cultivate during it though'
At that moment Nereus then began to meditate while circulating the energy in his meridians.
In this way, he was able to replenish the Sea Essence as well as supplement the vitality being siphoned from him while also still getting some progress in his cultivation.
As this process continued on for some time, Nereus mind soon began to wander.
He knew he had accomplished quite a bit recently but he still ruminated over what had yet to be accomplished.
'Ugh so many loose ends to tie up' he thought to himself as his eyelids drooped dangerously low, 'I have to go out to the Open Sea sometime this week for my deal with Marina, and I still have to finalize Triton's service to me.'
He then did a quick calculation and figured he'd have to keep up the feeding for another twenty minutes or so and as such readjusted his body getting even more comfortable on the sponge bed.
Following that his line of thought continued,
'I'm sure I'll probably have to mercilessly beat some Mer who are after my token tomorrow, and I still have to make sure that Triton, Johnny, and myself breakthrough to the Reef Master rank (fourth rank) in the next two to three weeks for the Inner Core Selection... ugh, so much to do... so little time... and all while those treacherous twins pray on my downfall...'
Soon enough, his tired body pulled him into a deep sleep but even then, the cyclical Leviathanic flow of the sea essence throughout his meridians continued, as did the sea wraith feeding from him!