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Chapter 119 - Queen Arachnia

Lower West District.

Amidst the rubble of broken buildings and scattered carcasses, a pungent smell of sourly acid permeated the air like noxious fumes, making people feel extremely repugnant and nauseous.

After the sealing of the rifts, the three districts, excluding the east side, had moved onto the offensive to sweep the remaining crawlers. City guards, palace guards and nobles alike, paraded the streets in search of stragglers that were still alive, while the rest had went to assist the east.

During this night, the east side had received the least help and had suffered disastrous losses. Apart from the palace guards that were completely free from harm, there were many deaths among the city guards and nobles.

At the same time, the group parading the west all wore a wet clothe over their faces to stifle the smell to a bearable level.

If not for a person with weaker constitution collapsing earlier, the group may have discovered too late that the smell produced by the arachnid's carcasses were toxic.

"This smell is so bad. I highly doubt there would be any survivors." A middle-aged noble said with disgust as he pinched his nose through the cloth.

He was used to the luxurious clean life of the Upper District. He had never been so unclean in his whole life. His entire body was covered in blue blood from top to bottom. At the same time, he strongly doubted anyone could survive hiding in the lower district after it was swarmed by the creepy crawlers.

"There's still some people over in this building!" A city guard hollered not long after the noble made his comment.

The crowd looked at the middle-aged noble with both contempt and amusement, while the middle-aged noble felt like he had lost face and glared at the loudmouth city guard. His face burned with anger and embarrassment.

It was beyond his expectations that his words would be corrected immediately. If he knew this was going to happen, he wouldn't have made the comment just now. No one wanted to slap their own faces unless their heads had been kicked by a donkey.

Inside the building, there was a basement floor, where the family of five; a father, mother and three children of two boys and one girl had hid during the chaos.

The family of five were weak and spastic with yellow and green complexion when they were found. Although they were safe from becoming meals for the crawlers during the chaos, they were poisoned by the noxious fumes that seeped into the basement.

"Don't worry! You will all be okay. We will get you to safety, where the Saintess will heal you back to perfect health." Owen assured.

By now, even the people on the frontlines had heard about the Saintesses and the miracle wood ability of the Greene family.

Seriously injured guards and nobles from the frontline were also sent to them with great urgency. The venomous bites of Deadeye Spiders leave paralyzing effects and disables them from continuing to fight.

When the family of five heard the cityguard captain's assurance, the father moves his lips weakly, but was unable to form any coherent words. He could only feel grateful in his heart and flash the captain an emotional look.

The cityguard captain, Owen was able to read the father's feelings and a peculiar uplifting feeling of gratification swelled up inside him. He nodded and ordered his men to take them to them away to be treated, before wearing a heavy expression filled with guilt. He didn't deserve such gratitude.

He had been living his life in vain! The cityguards had a duty to uphold law and protect the commoners, but they haven't been doing that all these years. It was only until now that he had discovered the sense of self-satisfaction and happiness in being able to help others.

Owen silently swore to turn over a new leaf and be a proper guard if the prince does not execute him for his past crimes after this ordeal was over. He would not touch alcohol and women through improper channels again. He would become someone the people could look up to, someone who could walk down the streets proudly with his head held high.

"There could be more people in other basements! Search them!" Owen ordered. The cityguards quickly got to work when the captain gave his orders.

It was around this time that they began to feel the ground rumbling.

"Silence!"

Isaac raised his hand gesture and commanded. He brows creased as he bent down to feel the earth. He could feel the earth shaking. An unprecedented feeling of apprehension and foreboding swelled inside him.

What is happening underground? Why does it feel like something terrible is about to happen?

...

Lower East District,

The level of destruction here was far greater than any other districts. Practically every building and homes had been razed to the ground. The chances of finding survivors in the basements of the Lower East District was low and chances of saving them, even lower.

The people fighting on the eastern side fought hard and pushed back the crawlers.

The Duke and general marquis worked hand in hand to reduce the pressure on everyone else, while the Shadows Guard sealed the final rift.

Their bodies were soaked in sweats and great exhaustion could be seen on their faces. They were nearing their physical and mental limits.

However, until the final closing of the rift and the complete eradication of the crawlers from the surface, they would not rest.

Old man Kasif was completely drained and left the work to the rest of his men. Even if success was in sight, he wore a grim expression on his tired age-torn face.

The rumbling ground had been going on for some time and no one knew what it is, nor did anyone wanted to know what it is. Whatever it is, it couldn't be good.

The rumbling continues to grow stronger and the earth began to shake... no, tremble? The earth was trembling!

Boom!

The rift that was about to be fully sealed with everyone's hard effort, exploded once more.

An inexplicably large shadow shot out from the reopened rift and made its way to the surface! The ground shook one last time due to its landing.

"Oh my god... what is that thing?"

Everyone paled at the giant creature that was hundreds to a thousand times larger than the average crawlers.

Its lower body shared a similar appearance to the Deadeye Spiders, but it had an upper body of a woman. It was the mother of all crawlers, Queen Arachnia. It was an ancient creature at the Transcendent level, one that could instill fear into the hearts of men simply by glancing at them.

"SCREEEE!"

It issued a powerful and deafening screech that echoed throughout the land and shook the people to their core. Behind it, another swarm of crawlers began spewing out of the rift and made the people feel despair.

"Humans! You have gone too far! How dare you kill this Queen's children!" Queen Arachnia scream.

"Run! It's a demon queen!"

"Retreat!"

Everyone in the eastern side began to panic and fall back due to the dominating presence of the arachnid mother.

At the same time, in the royal palace, Elizabeth stood up in shock, before she swiftly recovering with a serious and cold look.

"Your children are too rampant and are abominable existences! They all deserve to be killed on sight!

In the face of a Transcendent-level monster, Elizabeth did not back down. She projected her own powerful voice over. It rang with a metallic tone.

Leon, who was rushing back to the Capital at his quickest speed, was surprised by his mother's skill. It was similar to his [Lion's Roar] through the usage of energy to amplify his voice.

"That audacity!"

Queen Arachnia's anger rose another level. She couldn't accept the disrespect. She was used to commanding millions with zero disobedience.

"Go, my children! The surface dwelling will be your new home!" Queen Arachnia decreed.

Unlike her children, she was not blind. The surface was much more beautiful than the darkness of the underground world, thus her greed for the land was ignited.

The crawlers received their Queen mother's order like it was the edict of heaven and their numbers spawned from the rift with greater ferocity.

The general marquis and the Duke were forced to retreat helplessly. They didn't have the strength to keep fighting and required rest.

Elizabeth sighed at the sight of her retreating subjects. Crazy Don was still in seclusion and the people were too exhausted to do anything. Only she could put up a fight against the Transcendent monster, whilst not being at the Transcendent level herself.

She took a final look in the direction of the king's bedchamber with tenderness like she was looking at the king directly, through the palace walls.

"Guard the king well. If anything untoward happens to the king, all your heads will roll." Elizabeth said heartlessly.

"Yes, your majesty!"

Lily and the other maids complied without any change in expression.

Lily had long returned to the queen's side as per her word, when the north side was quickly settled.

Elizabeth looked back at spider queen coldly for forcing her hand. She began to float in the air.

"Rise!"

She made a lifting gesture and a building in the palace; a metal tower began to rise from the ground. A throne was formed at the top of the tower and Elizabeth seated herself on it.

The metal tower soon flew towards the spider queen. It didn't stopped until it was within two hundred yards of the spider queen and at an altitude where she could look down on it.

Numerous windows opened from the tower as hundreds of swords flew out and formed a sword formation around Elizabeth.

Queen Arachnia watch everything unfold both growing interest and anger. Interest that a puny human dare to challenge her! Anger because it dared to look down on her!

Chapter 120 - Elizabeth's Strength

"I commend your great courage for challenging this Queen, but your deliberate actions are extremely foolish and have succeeded in infuriating this Queen!" Queen Arachnia said with gnashing teeth.

As an extremely cannibalistic race, her rise to the top were built upon the million upon million corpses of her own kind.

It did not feel good to be looked down upon by a lower lifeform. It was equivalent to denying her achievements. The spider queen's expression grew uglier by the second.

"Whether it's courage or foolishness, you'll see after fighting this Queen." Elizabeth said coolly as she looked down on the spider queen.

"Hmph!"

The queen of the two races exchanges few words and battled immediately. The queen spider made the first move. She wanted to swat the puny existence out of the sky.

She was a Transcendental being! Only she was allowed to look down on others and not the other way around!

Her large pale white arm closed the distance in a heartbeat and her contrasting steely black fingers that were like a miniature version of her pointy black legs, swiped downwards on the metal tower that was not much smaller than her than own body.

Elizabeth on her moving tower, dodged the attack with ease. Even if the tower did not move and withstood the attack, it would not suffer much damage.

Everything the Queen manipulated in battle would not be made of common metal. By defensive capability alone, it is enough to enter the ranks of spirit artifacts.

"Hmph! Slippery little human!"

Queen Arachnia made another swipe with her black claws, but again, it was dodged with ease.

"You're too slow. Is your large frame and great strength all you have as a transcendent being?" Elizabeth said with contempt.

Her swords moved in irregular and hard-to-guess patterns and strike at the spider queen from difficult angles. Her sword strike succeeded, but it only left white marks on the surface of the spider queen's body.

Queen Arachnia who was on the verge of exploding with greater fury suddenly calmed down.

"I see… How devious you humans are. You purposely anger this Queen to make me lose my rationale. My attacks have been predictable." Arachnia stated calmly, but a hint of coldness suffused the air. She had been made a joke of.

She was a Transcendental being. Even if the unlocked intelligence of her race was not on par with humans, how can she be led by the nose forever? She was able to see through the human queen's plot after a few exchanges.

If she was so easily defeated with just schemes, she would have long become the sustenance of another rival arachnid that feed on each other to grow.

"However, even if this Queen does nothing, you won't be able to harm this Queen." The spider queen added.

That being said, she would not purposely allow herself to be harassed by a puny human without retaliating.

The two queens quickly exchange dozens to hundreds of attacks. Although the spider queen's attack became calmer and trickier, the result remained the same.

For every attack Elizabeth dodge, she would strike back with her flying swords and leave hundreds of more white marks on the spider queens' body.

It was as Elizabeth had said. Due to the large build of the spider queen, her offensive and defensive power was great, but her speed was sacrificed as a result. But this did not mean that the attacks of the spider queen were slow by any means. It was only slower than Elizabeth's speed.

For any other awakeners below 7 stars, it would be impossible. To the common people's perception, the spider queen was both fast and gigantic. It was horrifying.

Any unlucky fool to be hit by the spider queen would have their body either exploded into bloody mist on impact or be flatten into a meat paste that was flatter than the doormat.

While the queens were battling, the earth shook with every step of the spider queen and their clashes resounded throughout the four directions.

The Lower East District that had long been devastated into complete ruins without a single intact building, suffered a wholly new level of destruction as the broken woods and rubbles were grinded down into fine dust.

At the same time, the people fighting in the lower district had retreated behind the upper walls once more, but even then, they do not feel safe from battle. They did have a chance to spectate the battle during the retreat, but now that they have time, they could only look on with a mixture awe and fear.

"This can no longer be said to be a battle between humans..." A nobleman commented thoughtlessly.

"Nonsense! Look at that thing! What part of that is human to begin with!?" An old man rebuked.

"The upper body..." The person gulped.

"..."

The crowd was silenced.

Despite the spider queen having a naked upper body of a human woman that seemed to have been sculpted from the finest of jades with silky smooth and pale white skin, no one could appreciate the beauty of the spider queen even if she had the face of a seductress.

In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to call the spider queen a demon succubus from the arachnid's point of view. Any male arachnids able to copulate with the spider queen would have their essence sucked dry and die within a few hours. It was uncertain whether this was a lucky or unlucky thing for their kind.

When the Duke retreated behind the wall, he wore a depressed look with great heartache. His airship suffered great damage and fell out of the sky when the spider queen broke out onto the surface. He only hoped that the levitation stone was still intact.

However, his final hopes were soon dashed, the moment the battle between queens moved towards the airship location. It was first stepped on, sliced then flattened beyond recognition.

"Ahh..."

It was like the Duke just lost his soul. Whatever damages his prized airship suffered, felt like the same was happening on his own heart, tearing it apart.

"What's the matter with you?" The general marquis said.

He naturally noticed the Duke's expression as they been through a tough battle and became close as brothers. Old man Kasif wore a guilty expression and took the chance to slip away silently, while the attention wasn't on him.

In any case, his strength was completely exhausted and won't be able to contribute further with his old bones. He couldn't defend the wall against the new swarming crawlers in the distance.

Even while they were being stomped to death by their own queen mother, the crawlers didn't seem to be reducing in numbers in the slightest. God knows how many more crawlers were still left in the rift.

The guards and nobles all wore helpless expression in the face of this renewed army. They didn't have the strength to keep going.

However, when they caught news of the reinforcements making their way over from the other three districts, it was like music to their ears, extremely comforting and lifted their souls to the high heaven.

They gritted their teeth with determination burning in their eyes. They just need to persevere for just a little while longer… just a while longer…

…

Leon made his way back to where the Greene family was located at this time. He had sealed his own acupoints and applied some Golden Ointment to stop the bleeding in his mangled mess of an arm. He still required the miraculous wood ability to heal it back to perfect condition.

Lina was shocked at the state of his arm, but under his calm smile and reassurance, she was able to quickly calm down and treated him. He smiled sheepishly at thought of him, a doctor requiring the treatment of others again.

When his personal guards arrived and saw his arm with red eyes, they lost their minds and wanted to scream 'It's over!'

However, Lina's healing worked fast, and the recovery of his arm could be seen at a visibly rate. They sighed in relief at the sight. It looks like they still get to keep their heads.

This job was not easy… not easy… not f*cking easy! Important things had to be stressed thrice! Protecting the prince was too stressful.

It was around this time that the sky began to display an extraordinary phenomenon that had not been seen in many years.

The energy of heaven and earth gathered towards the royal palace. The energy was so concentrated, the onlookers could a strip of red line descending from the heavens. Everyone saw and knew exactly what was happening. Someone was transcending.

The breakthrough to the transcendent level was not a lengthy process. The phenomenon could only be witnessed for a few moments before it disappeared like an inch of radiance. If one saw it, it would be a sight to remember. If they didn't, bad luck. Wait for next time.

At the royal palace, the doors of the pill room were swung open as Crazy Don waltz out, while guffawing.

"Hahahaha! This Don is now a Transcendent!"

If the few palace maids stationed to watch over him, didn't hear his exclamation, they would have wondered who the f*ck he was.

His appearance had undergone a startling change as his wrinkles disappeared and his grey white hair had reverted to black. He looked like he had returned to the prime of his life.

"Hmm? What is going on out here?" Crazy Don asked.

Due to the sound insulation of the pill room to prevent distraction during pill refining, Don had been clueless to the events of the Capital. However, once he was out, he immediately learnt of the situation.

"How can this Don be missing out on such fun?"

His eyes suddenly beamed with excitement and impatience like a kid that couldn't wait to play with his new toy.

Chapter 121 - Glory Of The Sun

Elizabeth exchanged hundreds of bouts with the spider queen without being hit once. The pressure on her was not light. The other party was after all still a Transcendent level being.

She neither wanted to be hit nor could she afford to be hit. If the attack landed on the tower, there wasn't much of a problem. But if it landed on her body directly, she would just be like anyone else and be reduced to a bloody paste.

The Lower East District had become completely flat without a single building or piece of building left standing, while the ground was riddled with small craters and more corpses.

Before the crawlers reached the wall, a fifth of them had already been killed off after being caught in their queen's battle.

Queen Arachnia did not frown nor felt a single shred of guilt for their deaths. Her race was one without compassion. The moment she was born, her brothers and sisters were both her rivals and her source of sustenance. Looking at the crawlers below her was akin to looking at food. There were no sentiments and only cold indifference.

She was forced to the surface to take revenge on the humans for wiping out half her source of sustenance, but the beauty of the surface allured her from her original purpose for surfacing.

"Hmm... Damn human, your puny attacks are starting to hurt this Queen!" Queen Arachnia frowned.

Her body was riddled with white marks. If one had not seen the original color of the spider queen, they would have thought she had always been fully white. Some areas of the white marks were comparably deeper than others, like it had been chiseled away by Elizabeth's repeated attack in the same spot.

No matter how strong her defense was, as long as it can be damaged, it will eventually break once the damage accumulated enough.

"This Queen can tell that you can't keep this on for much longer. There is a fundamental difference in strength between our races."

Even though the spider queen's defense could be broken in a few more attacks, she unconcerned about it and remained calm and collected like it was just a trifling issue.

Her transcendent-level strength came purely from her Transcendent fleshly body. It was different to a human Transcendent that was more balanced between energy, body and soul. As long as her fleshly body wasn't destroyed, her strength was inexhaustible. She would never tire.

Elizabeth had yet to reach the Transcendent level, as such, she was sweating profusely from the excessive usage of her ability.

Elizabeth already knew she would not be able to kill the spider queen. She only had a single purpose throughout the entire fight, and it was to stall for time. It was impossible to defeat a Transcendent without possessing the strength of one.

"Hmm? What is that red light?" Queen Arachnia frowned at the sudden appearance in the sky.

Due the difference in their path to Transcendency, the spider queen did not recognize the strange phenomenon in the sky when it happened.

However, when Elizabeth saw it, she sighed with relief. She naturally recognizes what the phenomenon entailed. Crazy Don had successfully transcended.

"That is the light of someone stepping into the ranks of Transcendents. This Queen will not play with you any longer. Someone else will come to play."

The spider queen's frown deepened at her words. She couldn't land a single attack. How can she allow this human to leave without getting even!?

"Do you think this Queen will just let you leave?!"

When she wanted to stop the human from leaving, a palm-size cauldron came flying over to greet her face, immediately earning her displeasure. Her face was the only part of her body that remained untouched.

She was forced to stop her attack on the human queen to swat flying cauldron away. It immediately exploded on impact when she tried to do so. Her upper body was soon engulf in flames that was exceeded her body's resistance to flames and inflicted her with pain she had not felt in a long time.

"Ahhhhh! How dare you humans harmed this Queen's beautiful face!" The spider queen roared with indignation and fury.

It was apparent that even though she wasn't human, as long as she was a woman, she would similarly pay a whole load of importance to her beauty.

The spider queen flailed her body crazily in her attempt to put out the flame that stuck to her like a sore thumb.

A raucous laughter soon made its way into her ears and aroused her heavy killing intent.

'You think this is funny!?'

"Hahahaha! Let this Don join in on the fun!"

Crazy Don glided over from the royal palace in an exuberant mood. He had already shed his old self and returned with youthful vigor. Even Elizabeth was surprised and failed to recognize him, if not for his words.

"Crazy Don, where is your sword? How can you fight unarmed?" Elizabeth immediately asked with creased brows.

"Hahaha… you're also here. I've already transcended. I don't need a weapon. I have these babies."

Crazy Don gestured for Elizabeth to look at the items strapped to his body, which was a bunch of palm-size cauldron.

Elizabeth's face twitched. Of course, she was here! Who else could stop the spider queen's rampage if not her!? Of course, she knows he transcended. It was plain obvious from the signs in the sky. He didn't need to tell her that, but how could some cauldrons possibly be enough to contend another Transcendent!?

In the end, Elizabeth shook her head with a helpless expression and said,

"Don't die."

She believed Crazy Don's obsession with explosion was a mental illness rather than a side hobby he picked up when her couldn't transcend, but now she is beginning to think it is the later.

If Leon was present to look at the contents of the palm-size pill cauldrons strapped to Crazy Don's body, he would gape in shock.

The herbs had all be refined into essence and separated inside. It just missing the final pill-forming step… except… the herbal essence inside were of conflicting properties.

These herbal essences can't possibly be used to form a pill. Even the Alchemy God would not dare claim he could form a pill with these herbal properties.

Their sole purpose was to purposely induce pill cauldron explosions!

"Hahaha! It's not easy to kill this Don." Crazy Don guffawed.

Elizabeth frowned, thinking he was taking this too lightly, but she said nothing.

"ARGHHH!! HUMANS!!! I'LL KILL YOU!"

The spider queen lashed out at Crazy Don with her claws. Don did not receive her attack and chose to dodge it. Even he would be squashed into a bloody paste, if he chose to receive it. Human Transcendents specialize in elemental abilities and not the body.

Crazy Don grabbed one of his pill cauldron and great amount of flame essence from the surroundings were quickly infused into it as it began to glow scorching red.

The pill cauldron was toss at the spider queen again without her being able to dodge, due to her huge frame.

"AHHHH!"

She lit up like torch, but Crazy Don wasn't satisfied. The flame pillar that night was much more beautiful…

He was immediately disheartened. His explosion wasn't beautiful… but maybe he could make it much grander… and more majestic…

His eyes lit up as he began infusing the rest of his pill cauldrons before tossing them out like candies. Each one exploding with a booming noise, one after the other on the spider queen's body until she was completely engulfed in the flames.

"How can it be like this!? This is impossible! I refused to be defeated by mere flames! To be defeated by mere humans! Arghhh!!"

The shrill cries of the spider queen could be heard from inside flames. She was aggrieved and outraged! It was completely unacceptable! How can she be defeated by mere flames!? But scorching pain wracked through her entire body and made her shriveled up like an old prune.

To add salt to her wounds, she was like the new sun in the night, attracting all her children to come and eat her. The children did not attack the walls but charged at her like moths darting into the flame.

As the spider queen herself was suffering from unbearable torment due to the flames, how could her children, who were weaker than first step awakeners hoped to survive it!? Naturally they didn't. As they reached the periphery of the flames, they were already reduced to ashes.

As Crazy Don floated in the air watching the scene of the blazing spider queen, he felt especially proud of his work. Who cares if it's not beautiful? He just displayed the glory of the sun! He felt like he had found his true path in the art of explosions. To keep it simple but make it bigger! Brighter!

All the onlookers, whether they were behind the walls or in the sky like Leon and the hidden Lilith, they all gulped at the sight with various thoughts. The spider queen was not fearsome. This person was!

How were those palm-size pill cauldrons? They were fricking handheld grenades with the power of a miniature sun!

This person was a madman! Ingenious and prodigal! Who else uses herbs and pill cauldrons to make explosives? Probably only him.

The crowd watched as the brainless crawlers all suicide into the flames. Their numbers drastically plummeted with every passing seconds.

Eventually, the flame died out and the crawlers were all reduced to ashes. Only the spider queen laid shriveled up at the center; silent, blackened and extremely wretched looking.

Crazy Don sighed when he confirmed zero movements from the spider queen. The power of a Transcendent was heaven and earth compared an awakener. He even had the illusion that he could draw power from the heaven and earth limitlessly.

He turned around with the intention to return to the palace, but a sudden cracking sound came from behind him. He turned back and stared at the blackened body of the spider queen.

The cracks began to form before it spread to the rest of her body. Eventually, the giant body of the spider queen could no longer support itself and began to collapse to the ground, leaving nothing but a mountain of charcoal.

Leon was filled with self-doubt seeing this scene. Although he didn't know much about Transcendents, he was sure it shouldn't be that easy to kill a fire-eating spider with fire.

But seeing no further movements from the mountain of charcoal, he could only leave it at that.

Everyone believed the spider queen was dead.

Chapter 122 - Nirvana In Fire

The events of the Capital were something no one would have ever wished for. Homes were destroyed and lives were lost. Some lost their sons and daughters. Some lost their fathers and mothers. Regardless of the losses, it wasn't limited to just commoners but the nobles, whom fought valiantly on the upper walls were also included.

The damages and wanton destruction ensured, that the development of the Capital had suffered a serious setback, but perhaps, only after the Capital experienced such a trial by fire, would they finally be able to move forward like a phoenix reborning from the ashes.

A fire had been lit in the hearts of the commoners. The powerlessness they felt as they watched their loved ones died, they never want to experience it again. After tonight's event, the people welcomed the first ray of dawn along with a strong thirst and conviction for power.

Outside of the royal palace gates, commoners, nobles and aristocrats alike, have gathered for one purpose; they demanded answers.

Why they have not been made aware of such abominable existences living right under them. Why did the royal family kept such important information secret?

Depending on the royal family's answer, they could lose the faith of the people and cause mass emigration from the Capital.

Of course, only the nobles and aristocrats had the wealth and means to leave and have no problem living elsewhere. The commoners have been left with nothing and weren't capable of such feats.

After the crawlers had been dealt with, the queen requested Crazy Don to make a clean sweep through all the Lower Districts with his flames to remove all the corpses and noxious fumes.

The Lower District was an uninhabitable zone and the people would not be able to rebuild their homes so long as these two problems weren't removed.

The Lower East District, or rather… what was left of it, was the only district without such problems after Crazy Don's great display of fireworks.

At this moment, several brazen and unscrupulous commoners had rushed into the Lower Districts, while the rest were gathering outside the royal palace.

In their eyes, whatever was left in the Lower District had become free loot and they wanted to salvage whatever they could find. Unfortunately, after Crazy Don made his rounds, everything had already been reduced to ashes.

They turned their eyes towards the mountain of charcoal that was still emitting incredible high heat.

Surely the body of a high-level monster would have some precious materials they could collect and sell to merchants. However, these commoners had no way of getting closer without burning themselves.

Suddenly, there were moments within the mountain of charcoal and it further crumpled down like it had lost all solidity and kicked up a wave of billowing dust. The scavengers all retreated in there.

When the dust settled, they were surprised that at the center, stood a beautiful young woman with lustrous fair skin and silk smooth black hair with few strips of crimson red. Her naked body seemed to have been sculpted by the heavens and accentuated her celestial beauty, without a speck of obscenity.

"Beautiful fairy, where are your clothes? Did they… hehehe… get burnt away? How about we have some fun?" A scavenger said lasciviously.

The young woman's city-toppling beauty had aroused his lust and made him unable to think straight. He didn't care whether his words were able to move the woman. A person who could walk around naked, couldn't possibly be chaste and pure.

Neither he nor the other scavengers would have thought that the person in front of them was the terrifying spider queen. Other than sharing similar facial features, they were worlds apart.

The one in front of them looked no different than a human, while the spider queen had been enormous.

When the spider queen heard the human's vulgar words, she brows creased but didn't take immediately take action to silence his insolence. Instead, she checked out her own body and curves.

It seems she had achieved nirvana through fire and evolved. Her strength did not advanced, but in this form, her combat prowess seemed to have been optimized. Speed was no longer her weakness.

"Hehehe… thank you for the treat." The scavenger took the spider queen's silence and show of curves as acquiescing and inviting.

The spider queen immediately felt her personal space being invaded, when the human got too close. She flashed him a look with her crimson eyes and the person instantly froze on the spot. It was as if his soul was taken away with one glance and instilled great terror into his being. He started to break into cold sweat.

"Insolent human. You think you are worthy of this Queen?" Queen Arachnia said repulsively. How can an insignificant human be worthy enough to touch her new sublime body? It would only sully her body and make her feel like she had just stepped in dog shit.

"M-Mercy-"

The spider queen wrung his neck and separated the head from his body, before he could finish pleading for his life. The spider queen proceeded to drink the blood dripping from his head, but she immediately frowned at the taste and toss the head away.

"M-Monster! Run!"

The other scavengers ran for their life, the moment their saw the spider queen attempt to drink human blood. That was no fairy! That was a demoness!

But how could these ordinary commoners be able escape from a Transcendent? It was as easy as lifting a hand for the spider queen to kill them all. She did not move from her spot. Instead, spider threads shot out from her fingers and diced them into pieces.

At this time, Lilith was the only person left, who knew the spider queen survived and even undergone a transformation. She looks less threatening, but she was definitely more menacing.

"Ew… that thing is still alive. Those humans are so doomed."

Lilith felt a bit grossed out that such a grotesque monster would turn into such a voluptuous woman.

"Hmm… I have seen enough… I should return home to report back to his majesty."

Lilith decided. She had already lost her cover of the night and could easy be seen in the sky if anyone bothered to look up. It was no longer safe for her to stay.

She only felt great pity that she can't warn the humans. She would only be attacked by them if she tried. She knew about the hostility between their races.

However, coming from a multi-beast tribe, she wasn't narrow-minded as to hate all humans. In fact, she felt closer intimacy with the humans that shared her appearance compared to the other beast races. Her hatred was solely trained on the human garrisons that shot down her clansmen at the Great Wall.

When Lilith wanted to leave, she was shocked to find out that the spider queen had been eyeing her with cold interest.

"Oh no! I've been discovered!" Lilith exclaimed.

She tried to flee, but an extremely fast spider thread lashed out at her. She narrowly manages to avoid being split in half by the spider thread, but it had clipped off one of her wings.

"Ahhhh!"

The pain made her wail in pain as she started to plummet from the sky. There was no way to support her flight with only one wing. She could only try to reduce her falling speed and flee as far as she could before she hit the ground. At the very least, it would increase her chances of survival.

Queen Arachnia just watch as the little peeping bird drop out of the sky into another district. She did not pursue to make sure it is dead.

Why would she need to expend so much effort to ensure the death of an ant? She wasn't that bored. Whether the little bird lives or dies, that is its fortune.

It was a different story for the humans that were ogling at her body covetously with lascivious eyes. They had to die for their insolence.

But she had to admit they still had eyes for beauty, but then she frowned again. Although she felt there was nothing wrong with showcasing her natural beauty to the world, she didn't want to attract flies.

Many strands of spider threads shot out from her fingers, before being skillfully weaved into a beautiful white dress for herself.

"Since I have a new body akin to a human, from this day forth, I shall be known as Arana." Arana proclaimed to herself without any audiences.

Evolution was much harder than cultivation. Although, the humans tried to kill her, she only felt thankful for being able to evolve.

As for the death of her children, she didn't feel anything. They were only food to her, but since her taste had changed, she wagered that her children would no longer taste good.

"I will take my time to explore this beautiful surface." Arana licked her lips veraciously and glanced at the rising sun. There's bound to better things to eat in this colorful world.

The Crawford Kingdom had unknowingly left behind a disaster, but also been spared from it. The spider queen had decided not to pursue their race for their transgression.

It wasn't because the spider queen had become human and had a human heart. It was simply because the humans did not taste good.

If the people knew this, they wouldn't know how they would feel about it.

As long as the humans don't offend her, she will leave them be. But if they are unrepentant, she wouldn't mind wiping them all out. She only needed three things in life to be happy; eat, sleep and play.

The spider queen quietly slipped away as the people continue to gather outside the Royal Palace…

Chapter 123 - Aftermath

Inside the Great Hall, Elizabeth sat on her seat. The people present were Leon, the general marquis, the Duke and his wife.

Leon was the only person that wasn't directing a questioning gaze at his mother. Seeing his mother's silence, he decided to speak.

"Mother, the secret is already out in the open. It's time we them an answer." Leon said.

"And what kind of answer do you want mother to give them?" Elizabeth said slowly.

"The truth and a direction. We should teach them how to cultivate so they can fend for themselves."

Leon recalled the strength of the demonic cultivator and continued, "The kingdom had long grown complacent and its growth had become stagnant all these years. The Crawford Kingdom is not the same as it was in its heyday. Our kingdom has become weak."

A frown appeared on Elizabeth's face as she contemplated her son's words. His words suggest breaking the rules the Crawford ancestors had set. Rules are dead, but the people are alive.

"Hold on a second. What you are saying is the Royal family knew about those things below all this time?" The Duke interjected, before asking, "And what did you mean the kingdom has become weak?"

"The Crawford Kingdom has always been the guardian that safeguard humanity. How can we be weak?" The general marquis added with a displeased tone.

Obviously, Leon's words did not sit well with him. He had just entered the star rank in cultivation and considered himself one of the powerhouses of the Crawford Kingdom. To say the kingdom was weak was equivalent to saying he was weak.

Leon looked at the general marquis calmly and asked, "When was the last time you visited the other kingdoms, or anyone for that matter?"

"..."

The group was silenced when this question was raised. None of them had ever visited the neighboring kingdoms.

What is there to see in the other kingdom when the resource of the Human Domain was concentrated in their kingdom? Or at least that should have been the case…

"The Four Great Family were just pawns. When I was eradicating the rebels, I fought and drove away their mastermind, sir Zagan." Leon said before continuing,

"If I recall correctly, the Valaran Kingdom had a count-level noble by the name of Zagan. Just a count-level noble, but his strength was at the five stars of the Awakener Realm. If count-level nobles are already this strong, what does that say for the higher-ranking nobles?"

"Now you are just talking nonsense, kid. I don't believe you have the strength to drive away a five-star Awakener Realm expert." Hendrick refuted rudely. His words carried the spirit of a battle-hardened soldier.

Not long after he said these words though, did he suddenly finds himself drenched in cold sweat under the Queen's cold gaze.

"Apologies, your highness. I have misspoken. However, I still stand by my opinion." Hendrick apologizes courtly, but he was firm in his stance. He was unconvinced of Leon's feat. How old was he?

"Naturally, I have yet to reach the five-star Awakener Realm. I relied on tricks and a sneak attack to deal a fatal blow. It's a pity that he did not die even after having his heart destroyed." Leon explained with some regrets.

"That's obviously impossible. No one can survive having their hearts destroyed." Hendrick said confidently. Leon's words only served to strengthen his opinion further.

His good impression of the prince was dropping. He was an honorable soldier and means of tricks and sneak attacks were dishonorable by his standards, not to mention he felt like the prince was bragging.

"Normally, yes, but it is different for demonic cultivators that cultivate the blood arts. Blood arts allow the demonic cultivator to have extraordinarily vitality due to the blood vitality they absorb from other humans." Leon said, seemingly uncaring of the general marquis's impression of him.

"If that's true, it's good that Count Zagan survived. It would have been an international dispute if he died. While we don't know how powerful the other kingdoms have grown, it's not wise to erupt in open hostility with them until we fully understand their strengths." Elizabeth said calmly after being surprised. Unlike the general marquis, she believes in the words of her son, albeit with doubt.

The other three showed mild puzzlement. Evidently, the term 'demonic cultivator' and 'blood arts' were unfamiliar to them.

Leon knew that his mother had always been doubtful of the origin of his abilities and knowledge, but she had never once, asked him. If he wanted to reform the kingdom and spread the knowledge of cultivation to strengthen the people, he would have to at least answer his mother's doubts.

"I wish to speak with my mother alone." Leon said courtly.

Elizabeth saw through her son's intention and nodded.

"Leave us." She waved her hand.

The three people were forced to leave with their doubts unanswered. It was apparent that the prince's secret was only meant for her majesty's ears only. They left the Great Hall sullenly.

Elizabeth shot a lazy glance above and said coolly, "That includes all of you."

There were some movements among the shadows above, before it became still again, and silence filled the Great Hall.

"Mother, I know you always wanted to ask about the origins of my knowledge and abilities. It might sound unbelievable, but I learnt them in my dreams." Leon said.

He began to explain how he lived through the life of another person in his dreams and inherited the knowledge and techniques from there.

He did not explain the whole truth to his mother. At most, it can be considered half-truth, a white lie.

Until this day, he had yet to comprehend the truth of his reincarnation. Because he possesses the memories of both lives, he wasn't sure whether his soul reincarnated into the body of Leon after the original host died or he was reborn in the fetus with his memories sealed, only to awaken after the near-death experience.

It had been mere speculation on his part to make sense of his situation, however if it was the former... He dared not let his mother know the full truth. He feared losing his mother's love.

The two process may sound the same, but the difference was worlds apart. One meant he was the son of Elizabeth, while the other implied he was a foreigner that took over her son's body.

Elizabeth was more accepting of Leon's reason than he expected after his explanation. Elizabeth only knew that he was her flesh and blood. That reason was enough. The blood does not lie. His hidden worries were immediately swept away after her motherly hug.

Shortly after, Elizabeth called the others back to continue their discussion. Matters relating to other kingdoms can only be shoved back to a later date.

Currently, the problem outside the palace required immediate attention. The commoners demanded answers, but issues regarding homes and food also had to be settled.

The farmlands outside had been ravaged by the crawlers and now the Capital was suffering from an unprecedented food crisis. If the problem isn't swiftly dealt with, many will die of hunger.

Elizabeth was a virtuous wife who was devoted to a fault. She had never managed the kingdom's affair because although she was the queen, she was not of the Crawford royal bloodline. The decision maker of the kingdom affairs had always been the king.

She felt that she would be usurping the King's authority if she took matters into her own hands. This was the reason why Elizabeth only defended her husband's throne and took no other action.

However, to the people, her passiveness was taken as inactivity and abandonment. Leon felt his mother was really silly on this point.

Whether she was of royal bloodline or not, she was still royalty when she married into the Crawford royal family. The queen holds the second most authority after king.

Only scheming officials and ministers with ulterior motives would jump out to object her authority in such a situation, but who would dare to do such a foolish thing? That is simply asking for death.

"Mother, you can't remain silent on this matter forever. The kingdom needs you to manage it right now. Wouldn't father blame you when he wakes up if he sees the kingdom in shambles?"

Elizabeth was moved into action under his urge and persuasion. However, she was no longer the kind queen she once was. Thus, her reaction was bound to be different.

"Hahhh? Would he dare blame me after I've been defending his throne while he lies comfortably in bed?! Hmph! But you are right son, we can't let him see the Capital in such a state. Heck, if the herb arrives, don't treat your father! He has been sleeping for 17 years. It doesn't matter if he sleeps a bit longer. We must make the Capital look nice before he can wake up." Elizabeth said with a strong tone.

"Uh… right."

Leon wondered how long it would take for the reconstruction of the Lower District and farmlands. Weeks? Months? Not too long. But for the crops to be grown and ready for harvest, at least half a year. However, the Greene's miraculous wood ability could be used to speed up the process.

Elizabeth soon delegated separate tasks for the Lancaster duo and the general marquis to carry out. They were required to collect enough supplies from the western frontier and surrounding cities to support the Capital's population for the next few months.

It would ease the burden on the Capital's food reserves considerably. But the cost would also deplete a fair amount of the royal family's wealth.

Fortunate, Leon was now loaded after taking all the Four Great Family's wealth. He had already sent the gang members out to the hilltop woods to retrieve the goods. There were no scruples in spending this wealth for the commoners, as the wealth originally belong to them.

Rather than the commoners being exploited of their wealth, it was like they had been saving up for years with the Four Great Family as the banker. Leon chuckled when he thought like this. But when he remembered that they also suffered miserably and many lives were lost due to the Four Great Family machination, he immediately stopped.

After finishing the arrangements to settle the commons, Elizabeth headed out to face her people.

Chapter 124 - Reconstruction Plan

"Look! The Queen is here! The Queen is finally here to see us!"

The commoners exclaimed the moment they spotted their Queen appearing atop the palace walls and peering down at her subjects.

At this moment, outside the palace gates, both commoners and nobles have filled the streets. The only gap that could be seen, formed a line that separated between the two.

When the Queen appeared, the commoners wanted to move closer to catch a better glimpse of her appearance.

"Don't touch me, commoner!" An Earl backhanded the commoner that accidentally stained his clothes with their dirty hands.

The slap was powerful, and the commoner immediately spat blood with broken teeth sent flying. The Earl was immediately displeased for dirtying his own hands. He took out a white cloth to clean it before looking at the commoner coldly.

"Mercy, my lord! I was pushed!" The commoner cried.

Similar situation happened along the dividing line when the commoners behind pushed them forward into the nobles.

The crowd became rowdy with the sudden rise of disputes. None of the nobles thought they were heavy handed for punishing the commoners.

They even prepared to lash out more vicious blows to make the commoners understand their place.

However, when the Earl raised his foot to kick, he realized the surrounding had become silent.

Elizabeth with one hand raised, was all that was required of her to command silence from the crowd.

The nobles placed aside their displeasure to hear what the Queen had to say, while the commoners could only swallow their grievance silently with clenched fist. If they had strength, they would teach these haughty nobles what it means to be human.

The commoners were like helpless lambs without direction and purpose when they lost everything. They were satisfied if they have a place to sleep and food to eat with their remaining family.

Humans were curious creature, whom like to make sense of the unknown. The commoners naturally also would like to learn the matters of the crawlers and the underground, but their inquisitiveness wasn't as strong as the nobles.

They hoped that the reclusive Queen would step out of palace to relieve the worries and here, she was, standing before them.

All eyes trained on Elizabeth as she made a sweeping glance through the citizens and saw through their myriad of emotions; anticipation, confusion, doubts, fear, anxiety, grievance and sadness.

"Citizens of Crawford, you have suffered. My condolences to you and your families. The calamity that struck our kingdom was not one that this Queen had hoped for. The royal family will see to it that you will have a place to sleep and food to eat until your homes are rebuilt. The palace guards will lead you to where the camp will be set."

Elizabeth spoke with a clear but powerful enough voice that reached all the people's ears.

"Now you might be wondering what the creatures that have attacked our Capital are. These are insects called spiders. Like the animals from before the Cataclysm, they have mutated and evolved into terrifying monsters compared to their ancestry."

"The Human Domain was never a completely safe haven for humans with all these insects roaming under us. It never was and never will be… unless! These creatures are completely eradicated!"

"The royal family had always been secretly fighting these creatures to keep the lands safel. However! Due to the vicious plot of the Four Great Family, they have unleashed these fiends upon our lands. They are sinners of humanity and have paid the ultimate price for their crimes."

"While there were losses, there are also gains. We have finally emerged victorious against these vile creatures and completely eradicated them! Let us strive forward to become stronger, such that a tragedy like this will never repeat itself again. Towards that end, the royal family will be teach everyone how to become strong!"

The crowd felt their blood boiled and cheered. They were especially excited with lit eyes at the opportunity to cultivate. Under the Queen's eloquence, their spirits were ignited with the hopes of striving for a better future, albeit with many details left out.

In a few words, Elizabeth had completely shoved the blame on the Four Great Family and did not mention the other kingdom's role in their calamity. Their kingdom wasn't ready to be openly hostile with the other kingdoms without fully grasping the situation.

The crawlers were also eradicated, but only from the first underground floor. The underground world runs deeper than they think, and they were stronger and more terrifying creatures lurking deeper in the darkness. This was certainly true, otherwise the Hero King and Old king would not have gone missing after venturing deep inside with their Transcendent Realm cultivation.

However, the commoners did not need to know this yet. they were simple people and easily influenced by Queen's words without further thoughts. Only the nobles were skeptical.

From the Queen's words, the benefits only targeted the commoners. There weren't many benefits for the nobles apart from the free cultivation technique the Queen had promised. But for a cultivation technique to be widespread, it can't be a high level one.

In fact, the nobles have guessed correctly. After Leon consulted with his mother, what they would spread is not a cultivation technique for awakeners but divine practitioners. It was a basic Tempered Body-level breathing technique that didn't take long for Leon to write down on paper.

With the scarcity of spirit energy, the commoners would not be able to achieve a high level. However, it would be no problem to reach the first layer after a week's worth of cultivating, and the third layer after three months.

To progress further or faster, they would have to rely on spirit-rich resources. This was Leon's and the Queen's intention. The introduction of cultivation had to be a gradual process. If everyone was able to gain strength quickly, greed and ambition would corrupt their minds and chaos would be ensured.

Thus, it was not possible to teach fifty thousand people awakening cultivation due to its nature. If there was an influx of fifty thousand awakeners that cultivated like hungry wolves without restraint, it would turn the Capital and the surroundings into a wasteland.

When elements lose all its essence, stones would become sand, metal would become metal dust, water would dry, fire would not burn, and trees would die.

But since most would awaken the earth element, it would become a bigger problem than a wasteland. If the foundations of the Capital grow soft, the Capital would sink into the underground world.

After the Queen finished her speech, the nobles and Upper District resumed their normal businesses, and the commoners followed the guards to a grassy plain on the outskirts of the Capital to pitch up tents and campfires.

When the commoners were finally able to relax after the long night and day, the felt extremely famished. The commoners were fed with beast meat stew for their meal as it was simplest meal to cook in large amounts.

Moving onto the reconstruction plan, Leon shared his own ideas with his mother. The outer walls were gone and apart from the exposed rift in the east side, the sealed rift in the other three directions were like covering up a deep ditch with a thin wooden plank.

Leon proposed to remove them and reopen the rifts and transform them into entrances to the underground, while metal bridges will be built over the rift to connect the Capital and the outside. The first floor was rich in minerals. He wanted to establish a giant mine and settlement, maybe even turning it into an underground district in the future.

In any case, the commoners were jobless, and the mines would provide a lot of work opportunities for the commoners. In addition to hiring miners, they would hire construction workers and other related labor force to rebuild Lower District.

The hired workers would be moved to a separate camp and be provided with better treatment of three meals a day. It was much better than the minimum one meal a day that would be provided in the temporary camp.

But to some commoners, one meal a day was already really good as they were used to going on some days without food because they couldn't earn enough to put the bread on the table. Nevertheless, most commoners were eager to sign up when the recruitment notice came about.

These people were also given the opportunity to be the first batch of commoners to learn cultivation. A stronger body would provide for higher work efficiency and faster progress.

The Queen was happy to see these changes and implement them. It had nothing to do with favoring the idea simply because it came from her son. She genuinely thought they were great ideas after she decided to move forward with the kingdom and forgo the Crawford teachings.

However, good plans don't mean anything without good execution and management. For the construction plan, Leon recommended the Cromwell family to take charge of the matter. Elizabeth naturally agreed as construction was the Cromwell's area of expertise.

Seeing that everything was heading in the right direction, Leon thought it was finally time to fetch his lovers and bring them to meet his mother.. He was starting to miss Lynne after not seeing her for so long and he couldn't allow Aria and her family to stay within the temporary camp.

Chapter 125 - Great Changes

Year 524 HR, first day of the third month, the Crawford Kingdom welcomed its busiest period in four centuries.

Many changes and activities were being carried out in the Capital, while supplies and raw building materials were being purchased from the surrounding cities and transported back to the Capital via steam powered trucks and vehicles.

The iron tower workshop of the Lancaster family was especially the busiest of all places. After the Lancaster family recovered the core components from the airship wreckage, the blacksmith was working overtime to produce a new body for the airship.

In addition to the production of the airship, they were required to produce mining tools and a variety of miscellaneous metal components for bridges and buildings, en masse and in large scale. There wasn't a single idle person in the workshop.

Furthermore, if the mining workforce manage to discover more levitation stones in the first underground floor, the production of additional airships would take priority and their workload would only increase as a result. The chances of it happening was quite high as the underground world was like a limitless treasure trove waiting to be explored.

The fifty senior blacksmiths, one hundred junior blacksmiths and apprentices weren't nearly enough to handle the workload. With the sky-high demand of items to be produced, it would take them dozens of years to complete.

In order to increase the work efficiency, the Duke seriously considered expansion of his workshop and workforce. As such, the Lancaster family began accepting commoners indiscriminately for apprenticeship and full-fledge blacksmith training.

However, blacksmithing wasn't a profession that could be easily mastered in a single night; thus, no immediate benefits could be seen from the large recruitment process and could only be seen with time.

The number of entry-level blacksmiths was expected to reach a thousand in one year and further expand to three thousand in the following year. The Lancaster family weren't going to hold back in sharing their blacksmithing knowledge.

It was due to the conservative nature of humans that hold them back from advancing forward. Since the Queen was willing to share cultivation techniques, the Lancaster family wasn't going shy away and share their blacksmithing knowledge.

The Queen had approved for the further expansion and opening of new workshops in the Upper North District, with the intention of transforming the Upper North District into a Heavy Industry District.

The nature of this great undertaking ensured that an astronomical amount of metal was required, but this was no problem with the newly accessible underground floor that contained rare resources and rich mineral deposits. It was also much easier to collect than the nearly depleted mines near the western mountains.

As such, the Queen had lifted the restriction on metal and the sky-high value of metal on the market was expected plummeted drastically in the foreseeable future.

Some nobles thought there was going to be a great business opportunity and began stocking up their wealth in preparation of a frenzy purchase when the low-price metal lands on the market.

However, these nobles were bound to weep at the loss, when they exchange all their wealth for metal and wait for an inflation that will never come. The value of metal would only continue to drop and not increase.

The kingdom was finally putting their steam powered technology to full use and bringing forth an age of industrial revolution.

After the Queen finished her arrangements for the Capital, she began to consider the expansion of the Shadow Guards across the kingdom and neighbouring kingdoms to establish an intelligence network.

The Crawford Kingdom had fallen behind the times and their understanding of their surroundings and neighboring kingdoms were too limited or rather nonexistent. It was uncertain whether the retainers of the royal family placed in charged of the surrounding cities were even still loyal to the crown. They had been out of contact for too long.

Fortunately, many people and merchants frequent between cities and kingdoms, thus it wouldn't be too hard to draw up a general overview of the situation after sending out the Shadow Guards to gather the related information.

However, the expansion of the Shadow Guards was currently just an idea without a clear framework. It would require further thoughts and refinement before the intelligence network could be establish and operate smoothly.

The Queen realized there were many problems; big and small within the kingdom. There many things that needed that a ruler needed to do, but she had shelved everything aside until now. She may have been a good wife, but she was not a good queen. Luckily, it was not too late to change that as the kingdom had not been brought to a point of no return.

Seeing how busy his mother was, Leon had to push back the meeting to a later date, however, Aria and her family shouldn't be staying in the temporary camp. He plans to fetch them and settle them in the guest courtyard of the Outer Palace, where the others had stayed.

Currently, the Lancaster family of three were all out, while only the Greene family were staying at the guest courtyard. Leon knitted his brows, when he realized his Mia and his adopted parents were missing.

Where did they go? Did they went out for a stroll after being cooped up in the guest courtyard for too long?

Leon did not think into the matter too deeply. Nothing could happen to them in the safety of the palace and his mother had not expressed any hostilities against them. He left the palace grounds and stopped by at the gang's headquarters in the Lower West District first.

Leon smiled wryly at the sight. It seemed that nothing was spared from Crazy Don's flames when he went to clean up all the spider carcasses and noxious fumes in the Lower Districts. Everything was reduced to ashes.

"Boss."

Doug and the gang members greeted when Leon arrived on site. The wealth of the Four Great Family was placed to one side, while the gang members were clearing out the ashes and dusts from the area. Leon didn't stay for long. After handing over a blueprint he drew up to Doug, he left.

"What did the Boss hand us, Doug?"

The core members circled around Doug and asked with curiosity. After opening up the blueprint, an exquisite building design was laid before them.

"This… is incredible! Such fine details and design! It seems the boss wish our new headquarters to be built in accordance to this blueprint." Doug concluded, while holding the blueprint in his hands.

"I didn't realize the boss had such talents for architecture." A member mumbled.

"Nonsense. The boss is almighty and all-knowing." A fervent core member said with worshipping eyes.

The blueprint was based on one of the buildings Leon had committed to memory from his past life in the Divine Realm, albeit with some slight modifications to suit the operation of the gang as he had envisioned.

Not only was it going to be the new headquarters for the Golden Lion Gang, it was also the main building of business operations. He was intending to complete the transition the Golden Lion Gang from an underworld gang to a legitimate guild, the Golden Lion Guild in one move.

Its operations would be like that of an adventurer's guild. Clients could post tasks on the mission board, and the guild members would have the choice of accepting the tasks to their liking and capability.

New members could register at the reception and undergo a test before becoming one of them. the guild would not just accept any body. They had to at least ensure there was no problem with their characters.

Leon could no longer wait for the Merchant Association to complete the task his mother had sent them. It had been many weeks and there had not been a single news of progress into the finding of the herb to cure his father. Rather than paying others to do the task, why not pay his own people? Surely it was the better choice of the two.

If someone from the Divine Realm had seen Leon's blueprint, they would had spat out the tea in their mouth because of the glaring similarity to that of a brothel.

…

Inside of the Solaris family, Marquis Wyatt stood at the bedside of his son with a dark expression. His son was asleep on the bed, while wrapped in heavy bandages. A servant was seen shaking nervously behind Marquis Wyatt. He was the one in charge of looking after the house, while the others had gone out to defend during the crawler attack.

"Didn't I tell him to stay home during the chaos? How did he end up in this state?" Marquis Wyatt said calmly, but anyone could tell that he was burning with rage inside.

"T-The y-young master was beaten u-up outside. This lowly servant d-does n-not know the d-details, but young master Carson s-should know." The servant stuttered nervously, while sweating profusely. He would wipe his dripping sweat every time he stutters.

"Carson? That kid from the Laguna family?" Marquis Wyatt frowned, before ordering, "Send someone to fetch that kid for me!"

"Y-Yes, my lord!" The servant complied, with a sigh of relief. It seems the lord wasn't going to pursue his responsibility.

Marquis Wyatt was not an unreasonable man. He knew that if his son wanted to leave the house, the servant would not be able to stop him.

Sometime later, a servant brought Carson of the Laguna family over. Carson was similarly wrapped in bandages, but his injuries was not severely enough to leave him bedridden.

"I heard you were looking for me, Marquis Wyatt?" Carson asked respectably, with some uneasiness.

The Solaris family head isn't going to blame him for his son's injuries, is he? He knew that if he never brought up the topic, Sean would've never gone to look for the Saintess. Thus, he could be considered the cause of Sean's injuries.

"I will ask you one question and you will me truthfully. Who hurt my son?" Marquis Wyatt questioned. He locked gaze with Carson and his pressure bore down on the later.

His son was a 3rd step Awakener. He couldn't be beaten so badly unless the other party was also an Awakener, but of a higher level and typically, Awakeners were mainly nobles or their servants.

When Carson heard the Marquis's question, despite the pressure bearing down on him, he only felt relieved instead of stressed.

"It was the Saintess that attacked us."

Chapter 126 - Marquis Wyatt Is Here!

"What the hell is a Saintess?" Marquis Wyatt asked with derision, before adding, "Why haven't I heard about this person with such grand title?"

"Erm…"

Realizing the Marquis would not have heard about such news from the commoners, Carson felt a bit abashed.

"It's what the commoners call this young lady savior among them."

"So, you are telling me, my son was thrashed by a commoner?" Marquis Wyatt asked dubiously. He felt he had heard wrong.

"Yes." Carson answered truthfully.

Getting confirmation from Earl Julian's kid, Marquis Wyatt's complexion darkened immediately. His anger grew by the minute.

If it was another noble that thrashed his son, at most, he would seek recompense and justice from that noble family. If the noble family was weaker than his Solaris family, he would naturally apply pressure and bully them to maximize the benefits. Such was the way of the strong.

But the one who thrashed his son wasn't a noble, but a commoner? Since when did commoners have such courage and ability!? Not right! It can't be that simple. A commoner wouldn't beat a noble up for nothing even if they had the ability. Marquis Wyatt crease his brows in puzzlement.

Carson was a bit smug when, he felt he had successfully directed the Marquis's ire at the Saintess. He was originally person with a small heart to begin with. He would take revenge for the slightest grievance, let alone being disgraced by a commoner.

He was originally enraptured by the celestial-like voice of the Saintess and had hopes to take her home as a concubine, but that thought was viciously torn apart by her strength that was comparable to marquis-level nobles.

Since the Saintess was a thorny rose that could not touch, it was better off destroyed. Since he couldn't have it, others can't dream of having it either. Thus, he left out many details pertaining to the matter in hopes of killing with a borrowed knife.

Although the Saintess and Marquis Wyatt were equivalent in strength, their combat prowess couldn't possibly be equal, right? How can the foundations of a young commoner girl be compared in the same breath as that of a veteran-aged noble?

However, he suddenly felt something amiss, when he noticed Marquis Wyatt had locked his gaze on him with great focus and pressure once more.

"I-Is there anything else, Marquis Wyatt?" Carson asked carefully.

"Brat, you haven't told me everything. What are you hiding? Out with it! Lest you want to leave without your legs." Marquis Wyatt threatened with squinted eyes.

How can he be led around by a kid still wet behind the ears? Was a marquis so easy to fool?

Marquis Wyatt felt angry at the brat. So young, yet already scheming with a wicked heart. He unleashed his dignified noble aura and bore his pressure down on the kid with greater intensity.

'Don't blame me for bullying the young!'

How can the inexperienced Carson be in the right mind to differentiate between an empty threat and a real threat? He immediately caved in under the pressure and spilled everything. If Marquis Wyatt went a step further and leaked his killing intent, he would even wet his pants in fear.

"Because the Saintess possess a celestial-like voice, Sean was curious whether the Saintess also possess a matching beauty. In his attempt to remove the Saintess cover without her consent, he offended the Saintess and suffered her wrath." Carson quickly explained.

Even under the pressure, he did not mention his role in beating up the commoners first. Nope, definitely not happening! Even if he was beaten to death, he would not mention it! That was akin to asking for death!

How can he explain that the marquis's son bore the brunt of the commoner's anger for his own overbearing actions?

"So, it was a pair of toads lusting after the beauty of a swan? What a disgrace!" Marquis thundered. He did not doubt the brat's words. It was something kids their age would do! But it was humiliating for his own kid to get thrashed after chasing beauties. The face of the Solaris family was lost in such a shameful way! The more he looked at his bedridden son, the angrier he got!

If Sean could hear his father's words, he would tear up. How could he call his own son a toad? Wouldn't that make him the papa toad?

More often than not, behind every powerful and doting father was a dog-like son. This was indeed a tragedy for every noble household that hoped to have a successful and capable heir. It was not concordant with the proverb; A tiger father would not beget a dog son.

After huffing and puffing in anger for a moment, he cooled down with a sigh. In the end, the one bedridden was still his son and the other party was a commoner, yet so vicious. This grievance must be redressed.

"How strong was that lass?" Marquis Wyatt asked with a flat tone, like he had numbed a part of himself.

After all, the fault of the son's behavior did not entirely lie with the son, but the father is also to blame for bad parenting. He did not discipline and educate his son enough but spoiled him a lot.

"The Saintess should be at the 7th step…" Carson answered in a low, almost whispering voice.

"Hoh… I'm afraid I would have suffered a loss if I didn't learn of this hmm?" Marquis Wyatt said, before continuing in a strong tone, "Is the Laguna family plotting against my Solaris family!?"

Carson jumped in shock when he heard this!

"No! Of course not! I wouldn't dare! I just didn't expect that Saintess to be so strong!" Carson denied strongly, before adding, "She seems to wield multiple bizarre elements. Cold like ice and electrifying like lightning…"

"Hmph! I didn't think an earl-level household would have that kind of courage either." Marquis nodded before tracing the edges of his chin in thought, "A dual ice-lightning element huh?"

"Unheard of, but not impossible. Another two new elements have appeared in humans." Marquis Wyatt eye's shined at this thought.

The theory of five elements was long broken when the Graham family appeared with their wind element. Now another two new elements have appeared. This further strengthen his belief that the five elements of nature weren't everything, but it didn't mean it was flawed either.

The wise sages of old had inputted much thought into everything to form the theory of the five elements with profound truths behind it. The five elements indeed formed a perfect cycle and had wide range application, but it didn't mean there were only five elements.

This was a misperception people imposed upon themselves when they hear 'the five elements.' Just by visual perception alone, one could definitely see more than five elements. There were also light and darkness. The illusory space and time were also elements.

So, in truth there was there was many elements, but humans could only come in contact easier with the laws of the five elements. The higher-level elemental laws were harder to perceive, but they do exist.

"For this lass to have two elements of higher order, she must have something special about her body." Marquis Wyatt eye's glowed with excitement. He had to meet this person.

He was an associate professor at the Crawford University and the study of the elements was his focus in his spare time. After all, he was still the head of a family and needed to manage it.

However, he had been studying the general marquis' wind ability for years and felt he was on the verge of a breakthrough. He was just missing a final step; an inspiration or enlightenment perhaps.

The wind ability had left a profound impression on his and the general marquis-duke synchronized attack during the previous night further strengthened his conviction to awaken the wind ability. The wind ability would complement his fire ability.

Carson suddenly felt something was wrong with the marquis. Where was the rage? The anger? It seemed to have been replaced with excitement instead?

"Ehm… alright kiddo, where is the Saintess right now?" Marquis Wyatt asked, while trying to keep his excitement in check.

"Should be in the commoner's camp… I think?" Carson said hesitantly.

Marquis Wyatt left without a further word.

Carson looked at the servant at the side with confusion and asked, "What's going on? Can I leave now?"

The servant looked at him, equally confused and unsure of how to answer the young noble.

'I don't know, dude. You're asking the wrong person. I'm just a servant.' The servant wanted to say, but in the end, he just shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

…

The commoner's camp was set up on the outskirt, west of the Capital along a highway that leads all the way to the western frontier. The location was chosen after careful deliberation due to the easy transport of supplies with heavy trucks along the main road.

Right now, there weren't nearly enough tents to accommodate all the commoners, but many campfires were set up to counteract the chilly morning breeze. Supplies were still on their way and it would take some time before the settlement was complete.

Along the main road, closer to the Capital, the miner's camp was already set up with a capacity to hold two thousand miners. The layout was neat and orderly, with higher quality tent and food. Indeed, the preferential treatment of the miner's camp was much better than the commoner's camp.

This was the natural order of life. The diligent will be rewarded.

At this moment, in the commoner's camp, Aria and her parents had a tent to themselves under zealous urging of the commoners. Although they repeated refused the good intention, the commoners were determined. As such, they had no choice but to accept the graciousness of the commoners.

"Where did your lover go? Isn't he supposed to be the prince? How can he let us stay in this temporary camp?" Aria's mother, Karen asked curiously. She had no other intention when she was asking this.

"Leon… should be busy. He would definitely come for us when he is free." Aria answered

"We'll see." Her father, Craig said shortly.

For some reason he was unconvinced that his daughter's sweetheart could be the prince. The prince was royalty. Why would he favor his daughter? Not that he was looking down on his daughter, in fact, his believed his daughter had every qualification to be favored by royalty. It's just that they were commoners and there were complications when it comes to royalty-commoner union.

Nobles and royalties cared a lot of their faces, so they normally wouldn't consider commoners as a love-companion.

The family of three continued having small talks, when suddenly a powerful voice was heard from outside their tents, causing them to have a change of expression.

"Marquis Wyatt is here! Where is the Saintess?"

Chapter 127 - Just Kill

When the commoners heard Marquis Wyatt of the Solaris family announcing his own arrival, they paled.

"Oh no! The Marquis Wyatt must be looking for the Saintess to take revenge for his son! I have to warn the Saintess!" A mother exclaimed.

This was the same mother, who had her child and husband beaten by the young noble. She was indebted to the Saintess and wished to repay her in every way she could.

Since she could think of warning the Saintess, others could too. They all rushed to the Aria's tent to warn her.

"Saintess! You must hide! Marquis Wyatt is here!" The commoners exclaimed loudly.

Karen couldn't help but felt worried for her daughter, when she saw how the people reacted.

She felt warm for their concern, but this wasn't how they should be showing it.

They heard Marquis Wyatt announcing his arrival, loud and clear. They didn't need to repeat it so loudly. It wasn't helping at all!

These people were trying to help, but in fact, if Marquis Wyatt really came with ill intentions, their actions would be no different to pushing their Saintess into the fire pit.

Marquis Wyatt naturally saw the crowd's reaction and followed them with a chuckle.

These people were so simple minded, it's cute. However, for the Saintess to garner such fervent support, the person couldn't be simple. Marquis Wyatt was filled with greater anticipation.

This was someone who might be able to help him breakthrough the last hurdle to achieve his wind ability.

"Oh no! Marquis Wyatt followed us!"

The crowd was instantly filled with regret when they realized they were tailed by the marquis. They looked at him vigilantly.

"Be at ease, I did not come to look for trouble." Marquis Wyatt said coolly with a gesture to lower the crowd's weariness.

At this moment, Aria came out to face the marquis. Her facial expression was unreadable.

"You're not here for revenge?" Aria asked calmly. There was a cold undertone that was a result of her natural habits in dealing with strangers that made her seem aloof and untouchable.

The marquis stood upright with a respectful and genial expression. He needed to ask for a favor from the other party and shouldn't behave unpleasantly.

"No, of course not. There would have been no trouble, had he not went to look for it. My son's beating was well deserved and justified." Marquis said courtly.

His behavior contradicted his original intention. That was before he found out the other party possessed dual elements of higher order. If it was any other commoner that thrashed his son, he would have made them pay a painful price.

Aria kept silent and stared at the marquis quietly without a word. She didn't like to speak so much to nobles, but from her silent language, she was basically telling him 'if you are not here for revenge then what are you here for?'

Marquis Wyatt understood the underlying message and continued with a smile, "I wonder if you can tell me how you acquired your dual elements? The Solaris family will owe you a great favor. If you have any request, the Solaris family will do our best to fulfill it."

Aria was immediately at a loss for words. Her lightning element was gained upon awakening, but her ice element magically appeared later out of the blue. It was like the element had manifested itself in her from the goddess in her dreams. Even if she explained it, the other party may not believe it.

However, her brows further creased at the second part of the Marquis Wyatt's words. She wasn't stupid and obviously knew that her dual element was quite unique. This person wanted to learn her secret in exchange for an empty promise? It was no different to giving away her secret for free.

What was the worth of a noble's favor anyway? They only know how to exploit commoners and couldn't be trusted.

Perhaps the marquis was only behaving respectably to her because he wanted something from her. Her cool expression grew noticeably colder and retained her silence. This was a wolf posing as a gentleman.

Marquis Wyatt's smile froze when he felt the coldness. As a noble, he was courteous enough and asked nicely enough, yet the other party was not unwilling to divulge the secret? Madness flashed in his eyes. He had to learn her secret at all cost! He already comprehended the wind laws. He was just missing that last unknown piece of the puzzle to form his wind seed!

"It's a great honor for a commoner to be owed a favor by the Solaris family. Don't refuse a toast, only to drink a forfeit, young lady." Marquis Wyatt spoke impatiently with a deep tone. His smile had disappeared. It was already rare for a noble of his stature to treat a commoner so courteously. This person just doesn't know how much of an honor it is.

"…" Aria continued her silence as she studied what the marquis would do.

"Since you don't know how to appreciate what's good for you. Don't blame me for what I'm about to do!" Marquis Wyatt said with a nasty expression. He had dropped all pretense and courtesy.

"What do you want to do?"

A cold voice suddenly interrupted from behind him. Marquis Wyatt was forced to turn around and look. A young man of similar age to the Saintess appeared before him in black attire, without any noteworthy crest or insignia to denote his status.

Marquis Wyatt did not place the newcomer in his eyes. Just commoner brat trying to be a hero, he concluded. However, a smile appeared on Aria' face when she saw who arrived.

"Piss off, commoner." Marquis Wyatt said disdainfully before refocusing his sight on the Saintess.

Leon eyes narrowed as he immediately sentenced this person to death. The discrimination against commoners appeared to be a distinctive trait of most nobles, but it wasn't enough to warrant them death. The noble deserved death because of who he wanted to harm Aria.

Marquis Wyatt suddenly felt a burst of wind rushing behind him. He turns back in shock when he realized he had severely underestimated the young man.

His reaction was quick, but Leon was quicker. Before he knew it, he was being lifted off his feet as Leon gripped him by the throats and raised him high.

Marquis Wyatt first thoughts wasn't how the brat was able to do, but how he had the courage to do it. He felt humiliated.

"How dare you!" Marquis Wyatt howled.

He grabbed onto the wrist in front of him and wanted to twist it into a mangled mess to release himself. His face grew red with popping veins before he realizing he was incapable of doing so. His strength was inferior to the brat, but how was that possible? He looked back at the 'brat' with eyes widened in horror and disbelief.

"I-Impossible!"

It wasn't until Leon started leaking his killing intent did Marquis Wyatt start fearing for his life.

"W-Wait! You can't kill me! I'm a marquis!"

"What's so good about being a marquis? You're only holding an empty title with meagre power and no land. Five hundred years ago, a 7th step Marquis might have been someone of notable status, but now, it doesn't amount to shit. Only good for bullying the weak." Leon said disdainfully.

Marquis Wyatt flushed with shame. He wanted to refute, but it was true that he was weaker than young man in front of him. It was usually the nobles that looked down on commoners, when was it the commoner's turn to look down on nobles?

It was at this time, Howard and the other palace guards, whom were lagging behind Leon, finally caught up. It wasn't Leon's problem if they could keep up with him. He didn't need to waste time moving at their pace.

When Marquis Wyatt saw the palace guards, he was ecstatic.

"Ughk- Save me! This commoner is trying to murder me!" Marquis Wyatt exclaimed, under Leon's tightening grip.

Howard and the palace guards only spared him a brief glance, before proceeding to ignore him and face the 'commoner' with a salute of utmost respect.

"Your highness. Whatever crimes the marquis had committed, he can't be killed until he is tried and judged before the law." Howard said helplessly. Following the prince had turning into a daily exercise routine.

"I have committed no crime!" Marquis Wyatt quickly said, before his brain registered the term 'your highness'. He immediately paled after.

Your highness!? This person was the prince!? I-It's over… he called the prince a commoner and tried to make a move on the prince's woman.

"If I want to kill him, no one can stop me." Leon said overbearingly.

There wasn't so much nonsense in the Divine Realm. When there's a disagreement, just kill. Did his mother care about such things when she wanted to kill someone? No!

The palace guards rubbed their helmets with wry smiles. They advised the prince out of good will to avoid complications, but they wouldn't stop him. Why would they offend the prince for a marquis?

Marquis Wyatt realized that the palace guard's presence couldn't help his situation at all! He felt angry at the prince's disregard for the law!

"You can't do this! The ancestors of the Solaris family have contributed much for the founding of the kingdom!" Marquis Wyatt roared.

Leon looked at him nonchalantly like he was looking at a dead man and said, "So what? Your ancestor's contribution isn't an excuse for the descendants to act atrociously."

CRACK!

Leon snapped his neck and ended his life without further words. He didn't give a shit what Marquis Wyatt thought in his final moments.

He wasn't done after the marquis died. He seeped his divine sense into the ownerless body and ripped out the dissipating fire seed and devoured it. After the time it takes a joss stick to burn, Leon finished refining all the essence from the fire seed and elevated his fire abilities to the 6th step.

The palace guards looked at him like he was monster, but he didn't care and only looked at Aria and asked softly with a light smile, "Am I scary?"

Aria shook her head and dove into his arms.

"Come, call your parents out. I'll take you all to the palace." Leon said warmly.

Aria nodded obediently.. After her parents, Karen and Craig came out, Leon took them all to the Outer Palce and settled them in the guest courtyard.

Chapter 128 - Secret Auction

Inside the private courtyard, Leon continue to circulate his energy and stabilize his 6th step Awakener Realm. After stabilizing his Awakening cultivation, he switched practice to Divine cultivation and elevated his strength to the peak 8th layer of Body Tempering Realm after a short two hours of practice.

Opening his eyes, Leon sighed. Without bottlenecks brought by his stronger body, it was much easier to progress in his cultivation. Once he reaches the peak 9th layer, that is when he will start to pick up on his cultivation speed.

The Body Tempering Realm was just the conditioning period to prep the body for the real energy cultivation. Although he was now cultivating with different energy, he had once reached the Divine Origin Realm.

Bottlenecks of the energy cultivation system was no bottleneck for him with his profound level of control. Only the bottlenecks of the body were hard to overcome due to the lack spirit herbs and high demand for body-forging spirit pills.

"Your highness, since you have killed Marquis Wyatt, the Solaris family will not forget this feud." Howard reminded after seeing the prince finish his cultivation session.

Leon nodded at the palace guard's words and said, "Even if there's a feud, they won't be able to do anything to me. But of course, it is better to remove the roots than to let it fester."

"Send a shadow guard over to me." He ordered.

Not long after he finished his words however, did a young shadow guard dropped down from above and answered his call.

"You called, your highness?"

Leon nodded and said, "You came at the right time. I want the record information on the Solaris family. The more detail, the better."

Leon wagered there was still another three hiding above on the roof.

"Err…" The young shadow guard appeared hesitant.

"What's wrong? You can't take my orders?" Leon asked with knitted brows.

"Answering his highness, the shadow guards only take orders from the King." The young shadow guard said humbly with a fist-hand salute. He felt several shaking heads when he said this.

"Huh? Then why the fuck did you appear in front of my face?" Leon was displeased and gave the young shadow guard an incredulous look.

'I asked for a shadow guard and you appeared right away without my personal guard having to call any shadow guard over. It's clear you can listen to my orders, but you say you only listen to the orders of my father? Are you purposely trying to pick a fight with me!?' Leon thought and glared at the young shadow guard.

The young shadow guard froze at his words and didn't know how to answer the question.

"My father has been in coma for 17 years. Who have you been taking orders from, if not from my mother? Should I go ask her?" Leon continued with a stern tone.

The young shadow guard sweated nervously and looked left and right for help. A sigh came from above as another shadow guard appeared in front of Leon.

"Please forgive him, your highness. He just completed his training and still new to the work. I will fetch the related information for you immediately." The senior shadow guard pleaded on behalf of the young shadow guard.

"Mm, go on." Leon nodded and waved them off.

The senior shadow guard heaved a sigh of relief, seeing that the prince was unwilling to pursue the matter.

He brought the young shadow guard and reprimanded him, "Are you stupid? How long has his majesty been in coma? How do you think the shadow guards have been listening to her majesty's orders? Don't you also know her majesty dotes on the prince greatly? His words are as good as her majesty's!"

"Thank you for saving me there, senior. Err… I wasn't thinking straight... hahaha…" The young shadow guard said, before laughing it off awkwardly.

"Don't mind it. Next time, you better put your mind in the right spot." The senior shadow guard advised.

"Yes, yes, I will try."

"Don't try. Do it!"

The senior shadow guard smacked his junior on the back of the head.

The young shadow guard rubbed his head and swallowed the small grievance silently. How can his mind not wonder off when all they do is camp the roof all day? It was boring as hell!

Some time later, the senior shadow guard returned to the courtyard.

"Here is all the recorded information on the Solaris family and their activities in the past years, your highness." The senior shadow guard presented the documents subserviently with both hands.

"Thank you. You can return to your post." Leon said, before training his gaze on the document, no longer paying attention to anything else. His divine sense seeped out and swept through the document. All the information enters his mind without needing to open the documents.

Leon browsed the information in his mind with cold amusement, while Howard and the palace guards were taken aback by the prince's actions. From their perspective, the prince did not open the documents to read, but instead glared at it and pulled various expressions.

Was the prince possessed by an evil spirit? Or has he gone insane? Or maybe both?

"I heard some old parchments are usually haunted with evil spirits." Jack commented jokingly as he studied the prince's expressions.

However, Howard was immediately shocked by the comment. If one had to say what Howard's biggest flaw was, it was that he was a very superstitious person. When he heard the comment, he took it as the truth and acted immediately. Save the prince!

"Begone, evil spirit!" He roared and slapped the documents flying out of the prince's hands, startling Leon awake.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Leon glared at him angrily.

Pft… Jack, Cain and Jeffry, all broke into laughter.

Howard was immediately stunned by everyone's reaction.

"Howard thought you were possessed by an evil spirit, your highness!" Jack exposed him.

Leon glared at Howard once more and said, "Are you crazy!? Do I look possessed to you!?"

Howard wanted to say 'I'm not crazy! you are crazy!' but he was too ashamed to say anything since he now knew he had been tricked by Jack.

"Go away. Don't disturb my reading." Leon shooed.

Howard awkwardly kept his distance and glared at Jack, while Jack pretended not to see it.

Some time later, Leon finished perusing the information with a cold expression. The Solaris family wasn't clean as they appeared to be on the surface.

They had engaged in all sorts of illegal activities. The only difference between them and the Four Great Family was that the Solaris family wasn't as brazen and was better act concealing traces of their crimes. Leon wagered that the Solaris family wasn't the only noble family like this.

Greed was an irresistible temptation. No doubt, that when the Four Great Family began their evil business, the other nobles also played their parts. Except they were very timid and didn't dare touch any of the heavy crimes that involves the cost of human lives.

However, the crimes piled up over the years was still enough to warrant their deaths. At least, Leon now had no scruples in wiping out the Solaris, but he wasn't in any rush.

There was a particular intel that caught his interest. It was also the latest one. The Solaris family was hosting the next secret auction tonight in their underground home. There would be lots of good items as well as illegal items not found on the open market.

If they bust this secret auction, they could confiscate everything and capture all the guilty participants. This was killing two birds with one stone. To buffer up their depleting treasury and catch all the bad nobles in one fell swoop.

He immediately paid his mother a visit to inform her of his discovery and plan. Upon finding his mother wearing a worried looked in the king's study room filled with reports, letters and documents, he immediately asked with concern, "What's wrong, mother? How can this child share your burden?"

"Ah… my son, you're here. It's like this… our royal expenses are currently immense due to the projects around the Capital and the commoner's relief supply. At this rate, the treasury will be emptied out in a few months. Mother is stumped with the lack of funds." Elizabeth smiled warmly with relief her son's offer and concern, before consulting him.

Her child was intelligent and might be able to help her.

"Ah… so it's this matter. This won't be a problem, mother. We can…" Leon wore a sly smile and began whispering to his mother about his plan on the Solaris family's auction he discovered.

His answer could be summarized into 7 short words; No money? No problem! Rob the nobles!

"Damn!" Elizabeth slapped her knee in exclamation and praised, "My good son! Very Devious! Great finding! Excellent planning!"

Elizabeth's mood was excellent. She pulled her son in for a big hug and pecked him on the cheeks furiously, making him feel embarrassed.

Leon peeled himself away, before continuing, "We now have a lot of underground land. After we remove the bad nobles, we can lease a specific amount of lands to the good nobles or completely open up the underground to public and take a certain amount of tax from the harvest."

Elizabeth's eyes shined with money signs when she heard this.

"That's also a brilliant idea! But it needs finetuning... Come, let's continue to discuss... kekeke."

The mother-son duo continued their money-making discussion in the king's study room with mischievous looks and evil laughter.

None of the nobles knew that at this moment, their wealth was being eyed by royalties like ravenous wolves.