157-166

Chapter 157 - Assigning A Minister

"Ah?" Robert and Aisha were stupefied why their daughter was suddenly brought up. "Yes… We have one precious daughter." They answered after recollecting their thoughts.

"I see, that's great!" Elizabeth clapped with a light smile and asked, "What does your daughter think of my son?"

Elizabeth had received all the information, the Shadowguards could collect on her son in the past 17 years, including his interactions in recent days. She was aware that the couple's daughter favored her son. However, she wanted to confirm it from the couple's own mouth.

"Our daughter… haih…" Robert sighed, before asking carefully, "I wonder… what your Majesty's intentions are in asking such a question…?"

"Oh… I was wondering if you'll be interested in marrying your daughter to my son." Elizabeth said frankly.

If Leon heard his mother's words, he would have gaped in disbelief. How many wives does his mother want to find for him!?

Robert and his wife widened their eyes in surprise. They didn't think the Queen would be the one to bring up this sort of matter.

"Of course, we would be interested! It's just that…" The couple's eyes suddenly dimmed. "Our daughter favors your son, but where his highness favors our daughter is an entirely different matter. His highness is already engaged to the flower of the Cromwell family and the jewel of the Lancaster family. We also heard his highness has another lover; whose beauty was unrivaled in the kingdom."

Praises for the Saintess had been the hubbub among the commoners. Even they had caught wind of the news, while treating the commoners.

"They are all close to his highness in age, while our daughter is relatively older. Why would his highness fancy our daughter?" Robert continued.

"Is that so? Age shouldn't be a problem." Elizabeth simply smiled at their concerns, before continuing with a chuckle. "You may not know this, but my son is a hot topic among my guards and maids. They all see him as a licentious person, who would lust after any beauty. So… as long as your daughter isn't some ugly duckling, my son wouldn't have a reason to refuse."

If Leon knew what the maids and guards thought of him, he would have puked blood out of anger. Was his image so bad!?

"Is that right…? In that case, I'm not trying to boast but our daughter is quite the beauty herself. She truly takes after her mother." Robert said proudly, before turning downcast. "Unfortunately, it's too late."

Taken aback, Elizabeth asked, "What's too late?"

"Our daughter already left on a journey some time ago. No one knows where she went."

"Why did she leave? I can send men to look for her." Elizabeth suggested. However, Robert shook his head. "No, this is something she wishes to do. That girl always wanted to go see the world. We don't want to continue holding her back."

"I see… fair enough. I shan't concern myself with her matters further then." Elizabeth said, but she secretly noted to speed up the expansion of the Shadowguard's forces and have them keep an eye for Greene family's daughter.

"Is that all you called us over for, your majesty?" Robert asked politely, believing it was for them to return.

"No, I actually called you both over for a different reason. I plan to reestablish the department of agriculture, tasked with the management of the farmland, food resources and tackle the food crisis the Capital is currently facing. As you know, transporting food from other cities isn't exactly a long-term plan. I wonder if you are willing to take up the ministerial post of this department and assist me in solving the food crisis?"

After hearing this, Robert and his wife were greatly startled, with astonishment written all over their faces. The minister of agriculture was a lofty government position with great authority and responsibility. They report directly to the king and wasn't below anyone else, unless a prime minister was assigned. Compared to their current situation, it's like ascending the heavens. Although Robert had some experience managing a fief, they weren't exactly the same. He wasn't sure he was the best candidate for the role.

"I believe with your experience, loyalty and ability, there is no one more suitable for the role than you." Elizabeth said sincerely, after noticing their doubts.

That's right! Their ability wasn't just useful for healing, but also extremely useful in cultivating crops! If food was in abundance, food prices would be low, and no one would ever have to starve again. Having lived in the Lower District in the past 17 years, it wasn't uncommon to see commoners fighting over food or starving to death. He could potentially save more lives as the minister of agriculture than he would as a small-time doctor.

'I will never let the people starve again!'

Robert's eyes burned with determination and passions like he had just found his true calling. He was about to accept, when his wife, Aisha tugged his clothes. Seeing her worried expression, he immediately knew what she was concerned about.

The biggest factor that caused the stagnation and deterioration of the kingdom was that there were no ministers. They had all be slaughtered by the Queen for joining the rebellion camp, which in itself, didn't make any sense as only the discontented nobles would join the Duke's rebellion.

His wife was afraid that he would be implicated if the Queen decides to clean house again. Robert could guess that much. They had been husband and wife for two decades and weathered many winds and rains together. One could not ask for a better partner than one who can understand them most.

Robert placed his hand over his wife's hand and gave her a reassuring smile, before facing the Queen. "Your majesty, this subject is willing to share your burden and do my best to live up to your expectations."

Elizabeth flashed a brilliant smile and said, "I have no doubt that you will do well in your new position." She fished out an exquisitely designed golden badge and handed it over to Robert. It was his unique identification as the new minister of agriculture.

"As the new minister of agriculture, it will not do if you do not have any subordinates. You may take 4 men from the palace guards as your subordinates." Elizabeth made a gesture and her personal maid, Lily stepped forward and handed over a stack of paper. "These papers contain all the information needed to help you quickly familiarize yourself with your new position. Also, as your old home has been destroyed in the recent crisis. I send someone to accompany you in picking your new residence in the Upper District later."

"It seems your Majesty has already prepared everything. I will follow your arrangements." Robert gladly accepted everything. They couldn't continue staying in the Guest Courtyard forever.

After the Greene couple left, Lily, who had not spoken a word, finally spoke something.

"Your Majesty, the underground mining has been progressing quite well. A lot of rare and common metal ores have been procured, in addition to some unknown crystals. Maybe it's time for you to advance your cultivation, your Majesty. You have been holding back and remained on the same level for so long." Lily suggested.

"Mm. Perhaps, it's time." Elizabeth nodded. Her cultivation had stagnated at the 7-star level because of the lack of metal as cultivation resources.

All the metal deposits in the western mines had long been depleted to build the wall and laid the foundation of their human race. Although, there was a fair bit in the treasury, they were all among the rarer types of metal and she couldn't selfishly use it all for herself. She had to leave some for her husband, who was still at 9th step Awakener Realm.

However, now that they no longer lack metal, it truly was a good time to advance her cultivation. This was a cruel world ruled by strength. She should try to push all the way to the peak 9-star level.

"Have someone go collect the resources and deliver it to my cultivation room. An adequate amount is fine. Don't let it delay the construction projects."

"Yes, your Majesty." Lily bowed in compliance and went to carry out the task.

Elizabeth headed to her cultivation room first and did some simple meditation while she waited. Suddenly, a random thought occurred to her. She had always been behind her husband in cultivation.

What sort of feeling would her husband have once he wakes up and find out his wife had left him far behind in cultivation and achieved Transcendence?

Chapter 158 - Strange Crystal

Underground Mines,

"Old Book, it looks like you are proficient in mining now, eh? Not straining yourself anymore." Old Cook commented, as the clinks and clanks of pickaxes hitting hard earthen minerals could be heard resounding throughout the Underground.

"You are not bad yourself either, Old Cook." Old Book said smugly.

It's only been a few days of mining, but they had all cultivated a masculine spirit that could only be found from doing strenuous labor. It was startling and earthshaking, how much these ordinary folks undergone in such a short period.

Such changes were attributed to their simple cultivation. Although none of them had achieved the first layer of Body Tempering Realm, they could already be considered cultivators.

"Anyhow, why are we also mining these strange crystals? I thought we only need metallic ores."

"I don't know either. Just follow the superior's order. They said to mine everything, so that's what we should do. We don't need to worry about anything else as long as we are getting paid well. I think someone would come to collect and sort out these resources later."

Ever since their group had started the mining, no one had yet to come and collect the resources they gathered. All the natural resources mined in the underground in the last 3 days were all piled like a mountain in one corner, at the end of an incomplete railway that would eventually lead outside.

"That's true. The Queen treats us well." Old Book placed his pickaxe down and wiped his sweat, before he began flexing his muscles in front of a noticeably large crystal with reflection. "Check out these babies. Where else can we get paid well, eat well, sleep well and train well?"

Old Cook paused his work with sweat oozing form his own body, before taking a glance at Old Book. He immediately laughed, "What do you want me to check out with that scrawny body and flimsy arms of yours? You should be checking out mine."

Old Cook proceeded to making his own masculine poise. The difference between the two of them was like day and night.

Old Book had never involved himself in any strenuous work prior to becoming a miner employed by the royal family. He was tall but skinny to a point where it wouldn't be excessive to say that he was skin and bones. Under his fatless body, whatever muscles he had was easily seen and traced.

For someone like Old Book, it wouldn't be strange if his body was wrecking with pain within first day or two on the job from the strenuous work. As they say; no pain, no gain.

However, while he still feels some muscle aches, it wasn't enough to affect his work. This is attribute to their cultivation and diet. Compared to the jobless commoners that eaten plain gruel, the miners have some beast meat in theirs, which was greatly nourishing for the body; relieving fatigue and promoting muscle growth.

On the other hand, Old Cook was quite bulky with a pot belly, but his arms were well trained and powerful in comparison with average commoners.

At this moment, a group of palace guards arrived under the lead of a captain to collect the resources. This was not their job, but since they were lacking able men with strong physical strength to carry the load, they were delegated for the task.

Once the railway is complete, the royal family would no longer require these strong Awakeners to work like common laborers.

"May I speak with the person in charge here?" The captain said.

Old Book and Old Cook looked at each other. Who was in charge here? It certainly wasn't them. They had a superior overlooking the place.

"They weren't sure how to answer as the question was directed at them. However, they weren't put on the spot for long, before their superior arrived. "I am in charge here. What can I do for you, Hudson?" The Overseer inquired.

The person answered was a captain of another squad of palace guards, delegated to keeping the stability of the mines and prevent the miners from both the royal family and noble families from smuggling the goods.

"I am under her majesty's order to deliver a batch of the gathered resources to the palace for her majesty's cultivation." Hudson stated frankly.

"En, I see. These minerals were all scheduled to be delivered to the Lancaster's workshop for processing once the mine railway. However, since it is her majesty's orders, you may take away as much as her majesty's require." The Overseer nodded cooperatively. Who would dare to defy the Queen's orders? The Overseer glanced at the pile of minerals and crystals, before adding, "I don't suppose her majesty requires these strange crystals as well?"

"Strange crystals?" Hudson followed his line of sigh on a crystal and was bewildered. "Aren't these just regular crystals used for crafting trinkets? Why would her Majesty need non-metallic item for her cultivation?"

There were red, blue and grey crystals. They shared similar appearances to common rubies and sapphires. Hudson couldn't see why the Overseer called them strange. It couldn't appear anymore ordinary than ordinary.

"Hmm… you'll know once you touch one of them. En, try the grey crystal."

With a peculiar sense of doubt, Hudson did as he was asked and touched the grey crystal among the pile of ores and crystals. The moment his hand came in contact with the grey crystal, he retracted his hand in shock and glances at his own bleeding fingers.

"Such sharpness!" Hudson exclaimed. It was just a brief moment of contact, but the crystal sliced through his skin without a shred of resistance. However, that same sharpness didn't slice through any of the other objects it was sitting on. "That is indeed strange. If it can slice through all objects with such ease, it could be used to craft some divine weapons."

Listening to Hudson's exclamation, the Overseer simply shook his head. "You are thinking in the wrong direction. These grey crystals are incredibly sharp, but also very brittle. It will shatter on the surface of any hard object with a force greater than 500 jin. It would just be reduced to ordinary crystals if that was to happen. If you haven't noticed, the crystal itself isn't anything special. What is special is the pure metal essence inside."

Being reminded, Hudson thought back carefully and was immediately startled. "That really did seem to be the case!" The grey crystal couldn't be weaponized, but it was perfectly designed to be used for cultivation. Soon, his eyes lit up marvelously. "Her Majesty will be very pleased with this discovery!"

The Overseer's heart jumped when he saw the glimmer in Hudson's eyes, but he was immediately relieved following the second part of his response. "Yeah, good luck delivering it to her Majesty." The Overseer shrugged.

"En, Thanks." Hudson nodded with a heavy expression. If he accidentally drops the grey crystal on his foot, he will have to say goodbye to it. He glanced at his men quietly, before ordering, "All of you, focus on carrying the grey crystals!"

"Captain, we aren't going to bring the ores?"

"No, a single grey crystal carried much more essence than 200 pounds worth of iron ores! Be careful not to drop the grey crystal on yourselves!"

"Yes, Captain!" The palace guards answered with serious expressions. They had seen what the grey crystal could do.

Strangely, they felt a sense of pressure, while handling the grey crystals. No one wanted to accidentally lose a limb from careless mishandling. They would rather fight crawlers.

They used other ores to move the grey crystals. As long as they don't apply too much pressure, the grey crystal wouldn't slice through the ores was what they thought.

Unfortunately, a mishap still happened under the nervousness of one palace guard. The grey crystal slipped out of the binding of the surrounding ores he was holding and dropped on his foot. The palace guard's expression was fascinating as he watched it dropped in slow motion with horror.

"Ahhh!!! My foot! It landed on my foot!" The palace guard cried in shock, despite wearing full plated armor.

His cry shocked the others and caused them to throw away their own load to check, but they soon glared at him with peculiar expressions.

Hudson smacked him on the head and hollered, "What are you playing at!? Your foot is perfectly fine!"

"Ah!?" Surprised, the palace guard glanced down. The solleret was still in pristine condition and the feeling of pain was absent. "That's strange… I was sure I saw it dropped on my foot…"

Hearing his doubt, Hudson frowned in thought and crouched down to touch the grey crystal with his bare hands again. Strangely enough, it didn't hurt him. It wasn't the same grey crystal he touched before, but he could still feel the same dense essence inside of it.

"What's the meaning of this? Why isn't this one sharp like the other one?"

The Overseer shrugged and said, "That's why I said they were strange crystals."

Seeing the nonchalant response, Hudson shrugged back. "Well whatever." He chose not to pursue the details. "Take them away!" He ordered his men to continue the work.

The overseer's expression seemed more relaxed as he watched them carrying the crystals and leaving. However, it froze when Hudson paused his steps and turned back. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" The Overseer forced a smile.

"Oh yes, one sec. I almost forgot something." Hudson said and made his way over to the resource pile and picked up a red crystal-like ruby. "Sure enough, there's fire essence in this one… and there's water essence in this one."

After a brief look, he did not find any crystals with earth or wood essences and rested his eyes on the Overseer, Dylan with a questioning gaze. They were peers of equal cultivation, but after a few days, he could no longer see through the other party's cultivation.

"You aren't keeping any crystals with earth essences to yourself, are you?"

Chapter 159 - A New Threat

"Haiz… I knew you would ask about that eventually." Overseer Dylan let out a sigh, before continuing. "As you should know exactly what earth crystal means to Awakeners, a majority of which are earth-users, you should also know how great of a temptation it is to my own men. I had to store it somewhere safe, away from my own men."

"And use it for yourself, right?" Hudson mocked, before stating sternly, "I have to remind you that all these resources belong to the royal family. As a captain of the palace guards, not only did you not report such amazing discovery immediately to the Queen, you are also keeping the resources to yourself. Stealing the royal family's resources is equivalent to treason. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Dylan was caught off guard by Hudson's cynical remark and was dumbfounded for a moment, before he erupted in anger. "Captain Hudson! Exactly what do you mean by those words!? One can eat whatever they want, but they cannot say whatever they want! Don't you know a tongue may weigh little, but it can crush a man!? My loyalty to the crown is unquestionable!"

"Is it? So why haven't you reported such a world-breaking discovery to her Majesty?" Hudson repeated derisively. "Is it something you can't explain? Like your cultivation for example?"

Dylan's heart rose and fell in anger at the accusation, on the verge of exploding. The pressure of a two-star Awakener pulsated from his body in sync with his emotions. In the end, it deflated like a balloon, before he asked with a self-depreciating smile, "You think I used the earth crystals to increase my cultivation?"

"Isn't that the case?" Hudson responded with narrowed eyes.

As captains of the palace guards, they were both one-star Awakeners, just a level stronger than the average palace guards. Although loyalty was of tantamount importance, it was not the deciding factor in becoming a captain of the palace guards. Strength had always been the deciding factor, whether in determining one's status or surviving the world at large.

Anyone able to advance beyond the 9th step Awakener Realm had the right to challenge the captain for the new position. As Hudson had suspected, Dylan had ascended a level and was now stronger than him.

'Perhaps he wanted to secure his position.' He thought. With the present clues and evidence pointing in such a direction, one cannot blame him for thinking like that.

"Haven't you realized that the underground is the domain of earth-users? Previously, this place was overrun with crawlers, we could only come down to train in killing crawlers, but never really had the chance to cultivate. You might not sense how great this place is right now with so many elements present, but once you start cultivating, you will know right away. I did not use any earth crystal to advance my cultivation." Dylan justified himself.

Hudson felt doubtful after hearing these words. Was he trying to make me lower my guard by closing my eyes in meditation so he can kill to silence me since I found out? He's eyes narrowed on Dylan's honest expression and felt greater doubts.

"Heed my orders, If the Overseer makes any sudden moments, you may attack with the intention to kill!" Hudson retreated a few distance and ordered his men.

Dylan's expression became ugly listening to his words. This person was too weary of him, taking his good intention for malice. He started to think whether he should just slap the person for disrespecting him, now that he was stronger and entitled to greater respect. In the end, he shrugged his shoulders silently in response.

Under the protection of his own troops, Hudson finally seated himself on the floor in a meditative position with his eyes closed and began to cultivate.

The underground world seemed to have suddenly came alive as boundless amounts of earth energy began rushing to his location from all direction. Hudson was shocked and immediately ended his short cultivation, but an incredulous feeling continued to linger inside him.

It was like being embraced and protected by Mother Earth. He had the feeling that so long as he could fully connect with the earth, he would be invincible. He looked at Dylan with an apologetic expression and said, "You were speaking the truth."

"No shit."

"Ahem… anyway… You still haven't explained why you haven't reported such amazing discovery to her Majesty."

"About this… actually I'm a bit embarrassed to say. I wasn't the first person to discover the special traits of the crystals. My subordinates did, and as you can see, my squad is lacking in numbers."

"What you are saying is…"

"Yeah… I executed some of them. They kept it to themselves after discovering its purpose and began challenging me after making their breakthroughs, one after another. It was my negligence for not discovering the cause of their breakthroughs sooner." Dylan awkwardly explained.

He only had 40 guards left of his original 50. As captains, he had the right to kill first and report later. However, he was too ashamed to report to the Queen for his inadequate ability in managing his subordinates.

Since he could make a breakthrough to two-stars, it wasn't strange for him to think that his subordinates could reach one-star after cultivating a bit. However, that wasn't the case. They discovered the earth crystals and lost themselves to greed. The earth crystals didn't just increase their cultivation, but also their understanding of the earth laws. It was a miraculous treasure for cultivation.

It would have only been a matter of time, before a Transcendent Earth-user arises from the palace guards, if they were left to cultivate with earth crystal without restraint. Who wouldn't be tempted by the prospect of becoming a Transcendent?

It was an existence even the royal family must show respect to. Anyone with the slightest ambition would never be settled with serving under another person forever, not when such an opportunity presented itself to them.

But as Hudson stated previously, the resources belong to the royal family. It was treason for the palace guards to secretly use these resources without the Queen's approval and was punishable by death. Thus, he decisively killed them for their undisciplined and dishonorable actions.

"I see, but no matter what, you should've immediately report to her Majesty as your duty compels you." Hudson stated unsympathetically.

"The resources were scheduled to be collected and sent to the Lancasters for processing in a few more days. I was planning to send the crystals to her Majesty and make my report at that time." Dylan replied wryly.

He did not mention that when he was cultivating for a long period, it had collapsed one of the underground pillars, weakening the foundation holding up the Capital. It scared the shit out of him.

He was not afraid of being crushed to death, but he would have been a sinner if he sank the Capital.

…

Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the underground, a group of black figures could be seen stationed by an artificially constructed earthen wall with pitched tents and torches brightening up the place. It was the location of the entrance to the second floor that they had sealed.

"Leader, the Underground 1st floor map has been completed." A Shadowguard presented the maps to Kasif respectfully.

"Not bad. To complete such a task in under a week is quite fast." Kasif praised. If this was the past, he would have simply nodded in acknowledgement of his subordinate's efforts before giving out the next task. Perhaps he had changed a bit.

Kasif accepted the maps after closing an ancient book on insects before the Cataclysm and specifically opened on a page about ants.

Looking at the map, Kasif sighed in amazement. The 1st Underground Floor had far too many tunnels and caves interlinked. It was impossible to count and record everything down to the minute detail on paper. The map he was reading was very simple, but it outlined all the main connected areas of the first floor. That in itself was an impressive feat considering the sheer size of the first floor.

Before it was sealed, they had entered briefly to investigate and found that the entrance to the second floor was a very large spiral path. They didn't encounter any creatures, before the leader, Kasif ordered them to retreat and seal the place. The underground world was like a large dungeon.

Boom!

Suddenly the earthen wall was struck by a strong force from the opposite side, causing cracks to appear on it and shook the hearts of all Shadowguards present.

"Fortify the wall!" Kasif roared. His order quickly jolted the shadowguards into action immediately. Everyone immediately used their abilities to strengthen the wall. They all displayed the strength of one-star, while Kasif's strength was at six-stars.

They do not know what lied on the other side, but what they did know was, it was much more terrifying than the crawlers, physically speaking. Like the time Kasif tried to use his [Earth Pulse] to investigate the rift previously, it couldn't get a read due to a lot of vibrational interference. He could only infer from experience that there were many creatures on the other side of the earthen wall and that they had many legs.

A shadowguard broke into cold sweat and fell on his rear in relief when the earthen wall was not attacked for a second time.

"Haih.... This isn't good for the heart."

Chapter 160 - There Really Was A Treasure

Over the past couple of days, Leon's routine had only been consisting of three things; hunt ghouls, refine longevity blood and search for herbs.

At this moment, Leon was inside his Worldspace refining a batch of Soul Enhancing Pills. He finally managed to find the prerequisite spirit herb after six days of searching. Although it was only one stalk, it was better than nothing. As for the other spirit herb required to refine the Soul Mending Pill to awaken his father, there was still no luck.

While not intruding beyond the 500-yard deeper region mark, he had otherwise scoured the rest of the area within a 10-mile radius of the forest during this time. He wagered he would only have a chance of finding the 7-Petal Frigid Agapanthus in the deeper regions of the forest.

However, even after making his breakthrough to Energy Condensation Realm, it did not give him any sense of security in treading beyond the 500-yard mark. He did not fear being attacked by vengeful spirits as they were just mindless bodies of energy. But what is to be feared was sentient vengeful spirits that knew how to cultivate. Ghost cultivation was unfamiliar to him, but not unheard of.

Chasing the profundities of the soul, ghost cultivation was one such topic that would be commonly mentioned by the higher-level divine practitioners back in the Divine Realm.

Suddenly, Leon's eyes snapped opened as the pill cauldron lid was removed and nine sparkling azure pills flew out and rested on his palm. The warm texture could still be felt from the freshly refined Soul Enhancing Pills.

Leon brought the pills closer for a whiff and was only able to smell a very subtle medicinal fragrance from the pills, but this did not cause him disappointment. On the contrary, his eyes lit up with satisfaction.

"Supreme-rank pills!" Leon exclaimed with amazement. A deep sense of accomplishment welled up inside him, before he sighed with melancholy. "Haih… Even back in the Divine Realm, the amount of times I was able to concoct supreme-rank pills could only be counted with one's hand."

As he said this, he glanced over at the 2000 plus bottles of longevity blood some distance away. These longevity blood could only be considered as tier-1 spirit elixirs, but after refining so many, his alchemy had improved.

This was not an improvement in his alchemy level, but an improvement in his pill refining. In addition to the spirit tier of a pill, there is also the quality of a pill. The quality of a pill is determined by how much medicinal essence the alchemist was able to coagulate into a pill without any waste. In other words, the pill's medicinal efficacy.

A pill with at least 30% medicinal efficacy was qualified to be called a low-rank pill, 50% for mid-rank pills, 70% for high-rank pills and 80% for peak-rank pills. Only pills with more than 90% medicinal efficacy were called supreme-rank pills.

The reason why the less medicinal fragrance one can smell from a pill, the better, is because the medicinal fragrance comes from the medicinal dregs after the medicinal essence was burnt black and wasted. Thus, the weaker the medicinal fragrance, the higher the pill quality.

But why should the quality of pill matter, if the purpose of the pill is ensured? Can't people just make up the deficiency in quality with quantity by increasing the pill intake? Or simply ingest higher tier pills?

The answer was no, because pill toxins exist. Not only does taking low quality pill affect one's health, it builds up immunity with every intake. As such, any pills with less than 30% medicinal efficacy was considered a failure and didn't have a rank.

However, if there was one, it would be called the trash-rank. No one would dare ingest one unless, they were desperate as the saying goes; desperate times calls for desperate measures.

Furthermore, a supreme-rank tier-1 pill was as effective as a low-rank tier-2 pill, with the difference being the amount of pill toxin contained within them.

Only the legendary flawless-rank pill with 100% medicinal efficacy was free of pill toxin but refining a flawless-rank was as difficult as ascending the heavens, but only in Gaia and other similar lower realms. The number of divine practitioners capable of ascending the heavens in the Divine Realm was a common as cabbages.

Back in the Divine Realm, only a handful of people were capable of refining flawless-rank pills. His father, the Divine Medicine King was one of them.

"Let me test the effect of this supreme-rank."

Leon quickly ingested the Supreme-Rank Spirit Tier-1 Soul Enhancing Pill. The results were almost immediate as the medicinal efficacy rushed through his body and cleansed his mind, uplifting his spirit and enhanced his ability to sense things with greater clarity. His soul was strengthened.

"Truly worthy of a supreme-rank Soul Enhancing Pill. I'm capable of extending my divine sense to a 5-meter radius without quickly exhausting myself." Leon licked his lips in comfort and eyed the rest of the pills in his hand like a ravenous wolf. "My Five-Element Body should be able to ingest a few more pills without worries of overdosing."

With that said, Leon ingested another three pills and absorbed it medicinal efficacy. His soul strength grew, and his divine sense reached greater distance. After all the medicinal efficacy was absorbed, his divine sense was able to reach a 10-meter radius.

It wasn't much, but it was good progress. His only regret was not having a soul cultivation technique to maximize the effect the pill brought him.

"Hmm… it has almost been a week since I left the Capital. Although, I haven't found the 7-Petal Frigid Agapanthus, it's time I head back. My trip had been quite fruitful." Leon thought. A man should stay true to his word. He promised he would only be gone for a week; thus, he would not return later than a week.

Exiting the Worldspace, he appeared in shrubbery spot on the outskirts of Blackwillow Town. He had been constantly tailed by people from the two merchant associations, but they were never able to keep up with him. It was far too easy for him to lose them with his swift movements.

At the same time, the moment he stepped out, he was startled by the sudden raucous laughter of an elderly man echoing from some distance away.

Turning his sight towards the source, he almost keeled over.

"W-What the hell? That is some serious dedication!" Leon exclaimed.

The small hill that once existed, was no longer there. Instead, there was a large crater-like hole in its place. It was as if the hill had become inverted. The Illusory Butterfly Sect people had been digging for treasure all this time!

Their beautiful white robes had been stained by the dirt and had become tattered brown, making them look like beggars. It was hard to comprehend what drives these people to be so committed to the task.

The raucous laughter had come from Old Poison. With red eyes and disheveled hair but jubilant mood, Old Poison held up a precious round plate with strange engravings carefully like it was his most prized possession for a thorough inspection.

After reaching Energy Condensation Realm, Leon was able to use spirit arts. Thus, He enhanced his vision by activating [Spirit Eyes], allowing him to see the finer details of the engraving on the small round plate from a few miles away.

"A formation plate? Holy shit, they really did find a treasure. Is this what they call rewarding the diligent? However…" Leon's eyes became round as saucers, but soon shook his head and smiled. "It's just a broken formation plate. How tragic."

These people from the Illusory Butterfly Sect were bound to be devastated once they find out. Their expressions at that time would be something to behold. Unfortunately, he wasn't too interested in sticking around to find out. Leon silently headed back to the Capital.

"Unexpectedly, formation plates exist within such a primitive world." Leon rubbed his chin in thought. Formation plates were used to activate formations, and its uses was dependent on the runes inscribed on the formation plate. From what he could see, it was a spirit gathering formation, but unless there were a formation master to fix it, it would just be a useless plate.

According to his knowledge, the world did not know about formations and arrays, or at least, not within the scope of the Capital.

"It seems to belong to a bygone era… Perhaps, cultivation was mainstreamed in a distant past, but it regressed due to some unprecedented disaster." Leon speculated. "The world-changing Cataclysm may not have been the first of its kind in the long history of Gaia. Perhaps, a Cataclysm occurred before, during that era and ended it."

Whatever the case was, it wasn't something the current him should be concerned with for now.

…

Meanwhile, at an inn in Blackwillow Town, Old Claw with a dark and deathly complexion, was seated in a meditative position. It was the room of his disciple stationed in the town. He did not escape, but quietly found an opportunity to slipped back into Blackwillow Town to find out where his other disciples were.

Unfortunately, he did not find anyone, and when he went to look for mutated ghouls to harvest blood vitality to replenish himself, he did not find any. Because of those two reasons, he was almost angered to death.

He could only temporarily settle for the weak blood of humans. Now, he was biding his time in wait for the arrival of reinforcements and routine inspection team.

…

After leaving the vicinity of Blackwillow Town and Rainwallow City, Leon quickly picked up speed and returned shortly to the Capital. Upon arrival, he was rooted in shock at the staggering transformation, the Capital had undergone in this short time frame he was away.

"Is this still the Capital of Crawford Kingdom? Why do I feel like I've been left behind by the times?"

Chapter 161 - I Want To Build A Railway

Leon simply couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was as if he did not leave for a week, but several weeks. There were some high rising buildings, although it was just the building frames, it provided a glimpse into the building's general look.

The entire Capital was bustling with activities, with little idlers left in the Commoner's Camp. Men did heavy labor, while woman and children tended new crops in the farmland.

What surprised Leon was four out of every five person he saw had successfully achieved the 1st layer of Body Tempering Realm. He had estimated that the average person could achieve this level within a week under the scarceness of spirit energy in the heaven and earth, but that was under the assumption that they were also hardworking and there was also the difference between the talented and untalented in cultivation.

Seeing so many people successfully becoming cultivators, it really showed their determination to become strong.

Looking at the sky, three airships could be seen hovering just above the Capital, one of which looked familiar and the other was brand new. Leon highly doubted that one week was enough time to repair one airship and produce two new ones from scratch.

"The parts must have been prepared in advance and only the core component of the airship, the levitation stones had been missing. Once the missing component was found, they only need to piece the parts together. It seems more levitation stones have been found from the Ancient Ruins." Leon concluded from his simple observation and inference.

Speaking of levitation stones, he had only seen them in books and not in reality. However, according to his knowledge, every levitation stone mounted on an airship were the size of boulders, made of special alloys and filled with incomprehensible engravings, which he later confirmed to be runic inscriptions after awakening his past life memories.

Levitation stone was such a primitive name. It didn't do the sophisticated high-tech antigravity artifact from the ancient civilization any justice. But then again, the name came into being hundreds of years ago when the human civilization wasn't as developed.

"It would be great if the kingdom could find a few more levitation stones, or it would be even better if we can replicate the technology. The cities and towns are too disjointed due to distance. Its difficult to keep a hold of the situation on the entirety of the kingdom. If airships were widespread, it would make these cities and towns feel much closer."

Of course, the problem could also be solved with the widespread of steampowered vehicles, but there was a large disparity in capacity and versatility. Steampowered vehicles could only travel on fixed roads, while airships could fly across all terrains within the Human Domain.

"Your Highness."

He was greeted by a pair of palace guards, guarding the entrance leading down to the mines. It was located not far from a newly constructed metal bridge, that leads into the Capital.

"En." Leon acknowledged their greeting. He thought it was a bit strange for palace guards to guard the mine entrance since it was a task that could be left for the city guards, but he did not pay it too much attention.

While crossing the bridge, he curiously peered down at the underground mines. The numerous clinks and clanks of mining could be heard reverberation out to his location.

He watched the miners collect the ores and dump them in the mine carts and sent them away after they are filled. Watching the loaded mine carts rolling along the fixed tracks, Leon was suddenly enlightened.

"What if we build a large railway that span through across the entire kingdom and mount a long steampowered vehicle that could travel on it, transporting both goods and people?"

Airships was obviously still the better choice, but this idea of his didn't seem half bad as a substitute for it. Who knew how long it would take for people to comprehend the secrets of the levitation stone and reproduce it, let alone produce more airships? As long as they couldn't get more levitation stones, it was impossible to think about spreading airships across the kingdom.

However, his idea was still within the realm of possibility. As long as the requirements were met, he could be carried out immediately. Leon began to ponder on the feasibility of his idea.

"It will cost an astronomical amount of money and resources; mainly metal. If it was before, it would have been impossible, unless I plan to scrap the palace and Great Wall for metal. Fortunately, these issues are no longer a problem at present. The kingdom had just gained access to a treasure mountain of immeasurable minerals. Also, I have the means to make a lot of money to carry out the task in a short time."

When he said this, Leon couldn't help but grin when he thought back to the over 2000 bottles of longevity blood in his Worldspace. Once his idea is realized, it would also trigger an industrial revolution, leading to the rapid development of the kingdom. This was something that should have happened long ago with the first introduction of steam powered technology, but it was suppressed by a series of restrictions and limitations.

Suddenly, Leon creased his brows as he watches all the palace guards walking about in the underground mine below. Do these palace guards have nothing better to do than to idle away like this?

"No… the palace guards are patrolling. Why is there so many palace guards patrolling the mines? There's 1…2…3…43…60…80… 100 palace guards. There's a total of 100 palace guards assigned to the mines. Why did my send so many palace guards to the mine? Is there a problem with the mines?" Leon wondered in puzzlement. That was half of the entire palace guards.

"You, come over here. Why is happening in the mines? Why is there so many palace guards assigned here?" Leon pointed and called over one of the palace guards, guarding the mine entrance.

"Answering your Highness, it is due to the discovery of the special crystals, which contain large amounts of elemental essence and comprehension that allow Awakeners to break through their cultivation levels quickly." The palace guard answered respectably.

"What?"

Leon thought he heard some nonsensical talk. He could understand and accept the elemental essence part as there were spirit stones in the Divine Realm, which were crystals filled with spirit energy. They were so common they were even used as currency by the cultivators. However, what is this talk comprehension? What was that about?

"Yes, it is hard to believe, but the crystals really do contain comprehension of the elements, your Highness. All Awakeners have already begun to view these crystals had heavenly resources for cultivation. The Queen had placed down a strict order to ensure the stability of the mine. Anyone caught stealing these crystals are to be executed immediately." The palace guard patiently explained.

Leon still felt incredulous with such an explanation. How can there such an unfathomable thing? What would be the use of cultivating? Just grab some crystals, absorb them and they can become powerhouses?

"It shouldn't be a problem, for you bring me one of these crystals to see, right?"

"This… I'm afraid I don't have such clearance. Only the Captains are permitted to touch the crystals. We are just following orders, your Highness. You will have to personally head down into the mines and talk to the Captain for it."

Leon nodded in understanding. "Fair enough. No need to accompany me. I will head down myself."

Leon jumped off the bridge and plunged straight down into the mines. Sparks of fire occasionally burst out from beneath his feet and drastically reduce his dropping speed, allowing him to land safely.

"Are you the captain in charge here?"

"Yes, your Highness." Dylan answered faithfully. Several days ago, after being urged to report to the Queen, he no longer hesitated and steeled his resolve. He did not skip details and twist facts and report the truth of the discovery and the following events in its entirety.

Not only was he not punished, he was even rewarded with one of the earth crystals, allowing his cultivation to swiftly rise another 3 levels and reached the five-star level before the earth essence in the crystal was depleted.

There was no doubt that if the information was not controlled, it would spread like wildfire and attract all sort of problems to the Capital from outside. Thus, the heavy security surrounding the mine and its occupants.

After asking repeating the same question to the captain in charge, Leon was given a grey crystal to use without any objection. Looking at the diamond-shaped grey crystal, he could sense the dense metal essence inside, but it stopped at that. He could not see anything else special or related to the so-called comprehension of the elements

Thus, he decided to absorb the essence to experience it. The metal essence coursed through his body and fused into his metalseed, quickly filling it up and his metal ability rose at a startling rate. In a short time span, he achieved the 3rd step in his metal ability before he stopped.

"Incredible!" Leon exclaimed in amazement. He did not experience the so-called comprehension due to his low level in his metal abilities, but just by the dense essence contained within alone, it was worthy to be called a heavenly cultivation resource. He had barely absorbed a fraction of the essence contained in the grey crystal, yet he already broke through two levels. Who knew what heights he would reach after absorbing all of it.

Leon held the grey crystal up and inspected it great focus.

"Exactly what is the origins of these crystals?"

Chapter 162 - Another Transcendent

Leon swept the grey crystal with his divine sense but couldn't find anything special apart from the cluster of essence swimming inside it. Leon soon shook his head. Comprehension of the elemental laws wasn't something tangible, so how could it be seen?

"There won't be any problems if I take this crystal with me, right?" Leon asked.

"Yes, there will be no problem, your Highness. In fact, there will be problems if you don't take it instead." Captain Dylan said.

The grey crystal had already been used, and anyone would be able to discern that some of its essence had been absorbed. If the prince takes it, no one will say anything since he is royalty. However, if the crystal stay, someone was bound to be accused for secretly absorbing the crystal's essence regardless of the explanation.

"I see, thanks."

Leon stowed away the grey crystal, flew out of the underground mines and began heading towards the palace. He had things to consult his mother. Also, she was more knowledgeable and may have an idea towards the crystal's origins. There was already a faint guess in his heart, but it was too shocking to believe.

However, after taking a few steps in the palace direction, Leon stopped with a change in expression and looked up at the sky. The weather was drastically changing as the clouds were being gathered towards the central airspace above the palace in a whirling motion like a hurricane taking form.

"Is this another Transcendent Phenomenon?" Leon mused. "It doesn't share the same appearance as Grandpa Don's breakthrough to the Transcendent Realm, but such changes in the heaven and earth can only be phenomenon created from breaking through to the Transcendent Realm. I haven't heard of any other cause for a phenomenon outside of it."

Besides the artificial phenomenon he created from wantonly devouring large amounts of energy of heaven and earth into his Worldspace, there really hadn't been any other irregular cases or news. Furthermore, a more experienced person could differentiate the two.

There was a difference between the gathering of the world's energy and the energy that seemingly came from the heavens. The skies began to glow with a silver light and an immense amount of metal essence could be sensed within it.

"Mother must be the person breaking through to Transcendent Realm."

Leon came to a surprising conclusion. Other than his mother, who was at the level of seven-stars, there couldn't possibly be any other Awakener of the metal attribute breaking through to Transcendence within the palace grounds.

Few minutes later, after the beam of silver light struck down and disappeared silently as the sky began to regain its usually color and shape of the clouds, the Transcendent Phenomenon ended.

As usual, the phenomenon did not last very long, but it never ceases to amaze him. Divine practitioners did not get to enjoy such welcoming baptism and blessings of the world when they ascend a higher realm. Instead, the higher the realm, the great the danger they face as they had to endure the wrath of the heavens.

"Haih… both paths seem to lead to the everlasting, but the difference between them is like the difference between life and death. One was favored by the heavens, while the other goes against it." Leon sighed. Why was there such a disparity between them? What set them apart?

After a moment of pondering, Leon thought, "Is this the so-called balance of the world? The Divine Realm was rich with spirit energy and allowed life to thrive. In return, the heavens of the Divine Realm forbid divine practitioners from becoming stronger. As such, tribulations called the Divine Damnation exists at the latter stages of cultivation to stop them."

"While in this world, the conditions are appalling. The spirit energy is scarce, the lands was perilous, and every other race threatened the annihilation of humanity. In return, if one can gain the acknowledgement of the heavens, they can gain access to untold power and their lifespan could also be lengthened. The greater the acknowledgement, the greater the benefits received."

"But the world is fair, that is why Awakeners had to cultivate to receive the acknowledgement of the heavens, when they reach the prerequisite threshold. However, if one was favored by the heavens and receive the full acknowledgement straight from the start, was it possible for an ordinary person to immediately ascend to the peak of power, becoming almighty and everlasting?"

"The lifespan of a normal human was only a mere 100 years, while the vast universe was seemingly eternal. If one can become with it, they would share life with it and achieve the everlasting, right? Even if they don't, they should still be able to live as long as the sun and moon, right?"

The lifespan of a Divine King Realm practitioner was said to reach 100,000 years, but such lifespan was nothing compared to the billions of years, the sun and moon had.

"Divine practitioners chase the everlasting by recreating their own universe, while Awakeners conforms with the existing one to achieve it. But I have begun to walk both paths. Where would the end road lead me?"

After a moment of pondering, Leon shook his head. He didn't expect the phenomenon to provoke him to ponder so deeply about the big unknowns of the world. If it the past, he would not have spared so much thought. But after being betrayed in his past life, it compelled him to understand the unknown.

If he didn't understand the unknown, then he wasn't in control of his own life. If he had understood the hearts of those around him, his father wouldn't have been betrayed and they would have suffered such an ending.

The unknowns were unstable factors that could potentially harm his life. Only by understanding the unknown would he know how to face it and be in control of his own life.

"Congratulations on your breakthrough to the Transcendent Realm, mother."

Bypassing all guards, Leon arrived at his mother's cultivation room and congratulated. When Elizabeth saw her son return, her mood became jubilant. To her, the breakthrough to Transcendent Realm paled in comparison to her son's safe return.

"My dear son, you're home! Come, let mother have a look at you."

Elizabeth inspected him to make sure he was perfectly fine for her own peace of heart, before dragging him to her nearby courtyard where they could sit down and have a mother-son talk.

"Quickly tell mother, how was your trip to Extreme Misty Forest?" Elizabeth asked.

Hearing her question, Leon shook his head. "Never mind that for now. It seems the Capital had made some great discoveries and undergone some startling transformation?"

"Right, these crystals have completely flipped the cultivation world upside down. I'm afraid once the news spread to the surrounding kingdoms, all the Awakeners in the Human Domain will flock to the Capital." Elizabeth nodded with a heavy expression, not minding the change of topic. "Mother had taken preemptive measures to lockdown the new and kept within the boundary of the Capital, but if there are any spies within the Capital, it would be meaningless."

Rubbing his chin, Leon mysteriously said, "This could be both a bad and a good thing."

"What do you mean, son?" Elizabeth was bewildered. How could it also be a good thing? Such an influx of Awakeners would affect stability of their kingdom and cause chaos. Was getting robbed a good thing?

"Indeed, it would be bad if they are completely unscrupulous and try to rob our resources, but mother is now a powerful Transcendent. You can kill as many as they come. The crucial point is that our kingdom is currently lacking capable hands. Undoubtably, they would come for the crystals once the news spread and they would resort to force to obtain it, if they can get it through normal methods. But if we can recruit them with the crystals as bait, they would be of great help to the development of our kingdom."

"My son, that is a dangerous thought. That is akin to letting fierce tigers into the house. Don't you fear being bitten by them and forced to set the house on fire in order to get rid of them?"

"That is correct, mother." Leon smiled. "But if they come, there is no stopping them from coming. So, we might as well let them in."

Elizabeth crease her brows in puzzlement, "Then your intentions are…?"

"We just have to train these fierce tigers and turn them into tamed kittens." Leon answered confidently.

If the noble cats of the beast race heard Leon's belittling words and inferior comparison to tigers, they would have been enraged and rallied together to wage a war to prove their superiority.

In the Capital, metal was no longer scarce. They were being mined, processed, refined and used for construction throughout the Capital as they spoke. With the spread of so much metal and a Transcendent metal-user at the hem, his mother would have absolute control over the Capital. There was no need to fear things going wrong. This was the reason for Leon's confidence.

Elizabeth was not slow-witted. Seeing her son's expression, she immediately understood his reason and remembered she was now a Transcendent. She had been preoccupied with her son; she had even forgotten about her recent breakthrough.

"This… This could work." Elizabeth mimicked Leon's gesture of rubbing her own chin in deep thoughts.. "Even if they were fierce tigers outside, they have to behave themselves here."

Chapter 163 - Crystal Origin

Recruiting foreign Awakeners was a soft approach, but Leon did not make the suggestion because he was afraid of erupting into direct confrontation with these foreign Awakeners that would inevitably come to their Capital. The suggestion was made in consideration of humanity's dwindling population.

If they could benefit from reducing the killing of their own kind to a bare minimum, it would be for the best. But if the foreign Awakeners don't know what's good for them, Leon did not mind washing the Capital in the blood of his enemies alongside his mother. The Crawford royal families weren't pushovers.

"Speaking of the crystals, I wonder if you have any idea about the its origins or how it came into being, mother?" Leon suddenly asked.

Leon thought his mother might have a clue since the royal family record and hold many secrets since the founding of the kingdom. However, even if Elizabeth learnt all the Crawford royal family's secrets, it would only concern the 500-year history of their kingdom. The crystals were buried not far from the ancient ruins beneath their palace, thus it mostly like belonged to the ancient civilization that existed for a longer time and ended god knew how long ago.

Elizabeth shook her head at Leon's question. She fished out a diamond-shaped grey crystal and glanced at it thoughtfully. "These crystals are too unfathomable. Mother can't guess its origins. It's mostly likely another product of the ancient civilization, but that's not important. What's important is that it can be use by us and benefit our cultivation greatly."

His mother's answer caused Leon to smile wryly. If they could learn its origins, they might be able to find some clues in its manufacturing process. But that was under the assumption that the crystals were man-made and not naturally formed by the heaven and earth.

It was foolish to believe that such heavenly resources were inexhaustible if his mother's guess was true. There must be a fixed amount to be found in the underground world and once it is exhausted, there would be no more, not unless they found the manufacturing method of the crystals.

Leon wasn't shortsighted and began looking from a long-term perspective immediately. However, that was under the assumption that the crystals were artificial made according to his mother's guess. His own speculation regarding the crystal's origins was quite different.

"Don't you think the crystals share some resemblance to an Awakener's elemental seed, mother?"

"Hmm?" Leon's question piqued her interest. "Yes, mother thought about this before, but it was just a passing thought. My son, you don't think these crystals are the elemental seed of an Awakener, right? After all, once an Awakener dies or the elemental seed's connection is severed, it will dissipate and return to the heaven and earth."

Leon was aware of this fact. He was probably the most experienced in this topic because no one else had been able to devour the elemental seeds of other Awakeners other than him. His divine sense had given him a natural advantage, no one else in the mortal world could replicate.

However, he was unable to stop the dissipation process once the extraction of the elemental seed commenced. He was only able to reduce the loss to a bare minimum by becoming adept in absorbing the elemental seed.

The action of reaping the cultivation of others was considered evil, but he had never devoured the cultivation of an innocent person. All those he did, deserved death. He was neither good nor evil. A good person wouldn't be able to live long, but neither would an evil person have a good ending. His sense of justice was to return kindness with kindness and fight evil with evil.

"Yes, that is certainly the case for the elemental seed of a cultivator in the elementary Awakener Realm, but what about the Transcendent Realm, or realms beyond that?"

Elizabeth was startled once these words were spoken. Although she had not kept an exact count, the amount of crystals that entered the safety of the Treasury should have already exceeded a hundred, and this was just a week's worth of mining. There should be still be thousands of crystals to be excravated form the mines or maybe even tens of thousands. In any case, the number was not small.

"Going by your speculation, son, that would imply that there had been at least thousands of Transcendent Realm experts in the past." Elizabeth said with a startled expression. The reason being, she was partially convinced. After reaching the Transcendent Realm, she could feel that her Metalseed was much sturdier than in the past. But of course, she wasn't daring enough to sever her connection to her Metalseed and put that to the test.

If her cultivation was lost, it would be very difficult to retrain to the same heights in the same attribute again. Losing one's Awakening cultivation was like losing what little acknowledgement they had from the world. If they couldn't keep it, why would the world continue to acknowledge them? They would lose their qualifications.

"Yes mother, I'm inclined to believe as such." Leon replied. He believed his mother's easy breakthrough to the Transcendent Realm was due to the comprehension of a past Transcendent Realm expert contained in the grey crystal his mother absorbed.

"If our assumption is correct, it would be a shocking discovery. It would imply that Awakeners weren't birthed after the Cataclysm but existed long before it." Leon added. "Also, the location of the crystal mine isn't far away from the Ancient Ruins. Perhaps, the mine had been the location of an ancient battlefield in the past. As for why we hadn't uncovered any corpses so far, I think this is normal. It would be strange if anything is left behind after so many years. That place had been a spider nest previously. Anything that remained would have probably been eaten by them."

"En, that would indeed be a shocking revelation." Elizabeth nodded. What her son said made sense, but she wasn't fully convinced by her son's speculation. "But there is one flaw to your speculation. While the essence contained in these crystals is plenty, it is far from what you can expect in the elemental seed of a Transcendent Realm expert."

When Leon heard this, he smiled. "You have forgotten already, mother. We were just discussing about this. Since the elemental seed of an Awakener Realm dissipates, the elemental seed of a Transcendent Realm would also dissipate, albeit at an incredibly slow rate by the looks of it."

Hearing her son's reminder, Elizabeth smacked her own head in realization. "Ai, dear me. Look how forgetful I am already. I must be getting old."

"You are not getting old at all, mother. In fact, you seem to be getting younger." Leon was not trying to flatter his mother. He really thought so. After reaching the Transcendent Realm, Elizabeth's lifespan had been extending by more than double, making her appearance revert to her prime. Since even Crazy Don could become younger after reaching Transcendence, they shouldn't find this strange.

"Ai, mother doesn't need your flowery words." Elizabeth said, but she still smiled.

"Let's not dawdle on this topic. Looking at your present cultivation, you must have made some great gains. However…" Elizabeth shook her head with a devious smile and said, "It's not enough. My daughters-in-law have made great advancement in their cultivation with the crystal's aid during this time you were away. You should really pick out some crystals from the treasury and focus on your cultivation. You wouldn't want to be weaker than your lovers, right?"

"Am I so petty? It is a good thing if they had become strong. Even if the foreign Awakeners arrives, they would be able to look after themselves. My heart would rest easy even if they stroll the Capital." Leon was simply happy for his women and show zero signs of jealousy. Why would he be? He was destined to reach the Divine State and leave this world in the future. It would be great if his close ones could accompany him. However, now that his mother brought the matter up, he was a little curious. "By the way, what level of cultivation did they reach?"

Elizabeth grinned when she heard this. "Last, I checked; they have both reached the level of five-stars two days ago. Perhaps, they have already reached the level of seven-stars by now. Not only would they be able to take care of themselves, they might even have to take care of you. Wouldn't that damage your pride as a man?"

If the unconscious king heard this, he might keel over in bed and pass away from shock. His wife was already a Transcendent, but he was still a… 9th step Awakener! In the past, 9th step Awakeners was considered very strong in the kingdom, but perhaps when he wakes up, 9th step Awakeners would have already become as common as cabbages.

"As for your fiancée Rachel, I'm not sure. She had been holed up in the Lancaster's workshop, helping out her parents all this while. Take some time to check up on her." Elizabeth continued.

Leon's gawked at the news as his jaws dropped to the ground. He had anticipated that his women would make great progress when he heard they were using the crystals to cultivate, but he still underestimated their Divine Bodies.. Leon scratched his head and smiled wryly, "It seems I really need to put effort into my cultivation in order to catch up."

Chapter 164 - The Lifeless Old Poison

Divine Bodies were the blessing of the heavens. There was no need to compete in cultivation speed with a Divine Body coupled with heavenly resources. There was simply no competition at all. One would only be angered to death if they took it seriously.

Surprising as it was to find two Divine Bodies in this barren world, it was more surprising to find them both in one city. Leon didn't think much about such a desolate world, but the more he learnt about it, the more startled he became. The world was not as simple as it appeared to be and there was more to it than what meets the eye.

"Oh right, let me show you something good, mother." Leon suddenly said with a big grin. He took out a bottle of longevity blood and handed it over his mother.

"Hmm? What is this?" Elizabeth was slightly taken aback by her son's cheeky smile. Receiving the bottle of red liquid, she was clueless about its usage and was bewildered. "Is this blood? How is this something good?"

"It is called the longevity blood, and it is the solution to all our money problems. How can it not be something good?"

"Oh!? Truly??" Elizabeth was astonished by Leon's answer. She sensed the blood vitality in the bottle, but how would that help their money problem? The amount the needed was after all not small. "What does it do exactly?"

"It can replenish the lost vitality of Awakeners from using the defective Awakening Pills. This one replenishes 3 years of their natural lifespan." Leon explained.

As they were already aware, the Awakening Pills draws upon a person's latent potential to forcibly awaken early and harm their vitality. It was like plucking an unripe orange and squeezing it for all its juice.

The effect of the longevity blood was similar to filling up the squeezed orange with new juice. Elizabeth widened her eyes in disbelief as the hand holding the bottle involuntarily shook once she understood its usage.

"Is it possible for something so miraculous to exist…?" Once Elizabeth heard its usage, she immediately understood its value. Leon did not need to explain it. This was something nobles would go crazy over. It was a priceless elixir that can only be sought. Elizabeth treated the bottle in her hand like it was the most precious thing in the world, more precious than the crystals.

'How much can I sell this bottle of longevity blood for? 50,000,000 Craws? 100,000,000 Craws? No… that is nowhere near enough money to fund the full reconstruction project. How much drops of longevity blood are in this bottle? 100 drops? 200 drops? Perhaps, we have to sell it by the drops.' Elizabeth thought. She did not know that Leon still had more than 2000 such bottles in his Worldspace.

If Leon knew his mother's thoughts. He would have broken in sweats. Would a drop of longevity blood still have any effect? They were after all trying to revitalize the kingdom. How can they take their subject's money and not provide them sufficient benefits?

"Not only does it exist, there are even more miraculous elixirs that exist out there. Mother, you should consume this bottle of longevity blood." Leon stated.

"WHAT!" Elizabeth jumped at his suggestion. "This is a priceless treasure! We need to auction it. Mother is now a Transcendent. Mother doesn't need this little bit of lifespan replenishment."

Leon clicked his tongue in realization and understood her concerns. He smiled wryly, "Don't worry, Mother. I still have more than 2000 such bottles."

Most of his time during his one-week trip outside was spent on refining these longevity blood. It goes without saying, that he would have plenty of them.

"Oh!? 2000!?" Elizabeth gaped in shock but did not completely lose her mind. She immediately began doing mental calculations. 2000 bottles multiplied by a minimum of 50,000,000 Craws per bottle was at least… 100,000,000,000 Craws!

But of course, this was an unrealistic calculation. Not every noble family was wealthy enough to afford to pay such a sky-high price. It may even lead to the decline of their family business. The value of the longevity blood would depreciate with each purchase. Thus, this wasn't something that could be sold all at once. They had to use hunger marketing strategies to ensure their maximum profits, but it would span over a period of time.

"You've done very well, my son. Mother can rest easy for a while." Elizabeth sighed. A burden had been lifted off her shoulders. With the amount of funds, they could raise from the longevity blood, she no longer had to worry about insufficient funds for a period of time.

"It's what I should do." Leon smiled lightly. Being part of the royal family, he naturally had to share his mother's burden. He did not want to see his mother exhaust herself from overworking.

Elizabeth nodded with a gratified smiled. It was her blessing to have such a capable son. Soon, she began making arrangements to insert a surprise auction in the upcoming banquet she was planning.

Before leaving, Leon mention his grand idea of using railway tracks to connect every major city and town in the kingdom and create a steam-powered steel carriage that could run on said track with the capability of transporting many goods and resources.

It was a brilliant idea, but their hands were tied with many ongoing projects and the production of steel was limited. However, Elizabeth also realized the importance of this railway project. The completion of the railway project would herald an age of rapid kingdom development. Although the railway project couldn't be initiated immediately, preparations can be made.

After Leon bid farewell to his mother, Elizabeth drafted the idea on paper and sent it to the Lancaster to come up with a suitable design for the steam-powered steel carriage and another one to the Cromwell to map the route for the railway.

When Leon left, he did not head over to see Aria and Lynne. Instead, he collected some crystals, before heading to the Lancaster's workshop tower to visit the busy Lancasters. Since Aria and Lynne were cultivating, he would not bother them. It was best if they could become strong as possible. Ever since he returned and saw the festive development of the Capital, he had been feeling a sense of foreboding like some great danger was drawing nearer.

Scrunching his brows, Leo thought, "Mother and Grandpa Don are both Transcendents, so there shouldn't be anyone who could threaten our kingdom. Where could this sense of danger be coming from? Was there an existence that could threaten Transcendents outside of the Perilous Lands?"

Come to think of it, no one really knew the different levels in the Transcendent Realm. People only knew the Transcendent Realm was above the Awakened Realm, but it also shouldn't the end. There should be higher realms above the Transcendent Realm.

…

"Sect Elder, congratulations on finding the treasure." The Illusory Butterfly Sect disciples congratulated, attributing all the credits to the sect elder.

"Nonsense. This was the result of everyone's efforts. I will not steal anyone's credit. When we return to the sect, you will all be equally rewarded." Old Poison

"Thank you, Sect Elder."

"Master, are you sure the treasure is the energy gathering formation?" Celia asked. She had to make sure since this was something, they spent a week to dig up. There were many times where she wanted to give up, thinking there was simply no treasure.

At the moment, all the disciples of Illusory Butterfly Sect gathered around Old Poison, dirtied and ragged. Old Poison rubbed off some of the remnant dirt on the formation plate and inspected it carefully.

"En, I'm sure of it. I recognize the engravings. It's the same as our sect's treasure, albeit with some differences." Old Poison said. He thought it was normal for the runic inscriptions on the plate to be slightly different since the sect's energy gather formation was as powerful as what they had witnessed here. "Let's return to the sect immediately."

"Maybe we should wash up first, master?" Cal suggested, before joking, "I'm afraid that if we return like this, no one will recognize us as fellow sect members of the Illusory Butterfly Sect. They might see us as people of the Beggar Sect instead."

"En, you have a point. Let's return to the Rainwallow City and clean us."

Returning to the city, Old Poison did not clean himself immediately, instead he gave the formation plate a thorough clean instead. It needed to be in a presentable condition when he hand it over to the sect leader.

After the formation plate was clean spotless, Old Poison gave it another inspection and suddenly discovered some problems. Previously, he was too ecstatic to notice, but now that he had calmed down, he saw the issue immediately. The shape was a little strange. It was not flat like it should be and was slightly curved around the edges. It did not seem priceless treasure but more like some well decorated bowl and neither was it gathering any energy.

"Maybe it hasn't activated yet…" He told himself and tried channeling his own energy into the plate to activate the runes on the plate.

However, nothing happened. There was no difference between channeling the energy into the plate and channeling the energy into the air. There was nothing holding it in place. The energy simply scattered into thin air.

"Oh no…"

Old Poison paled at once. He realized why the runes were slightly different. The runes weren't whole. Parts of it was missing. The formation plate was damaged and became useless. A useless treasure was no treasure at all. It was trash. The sect didn't have anyone capable of repairing formations.

"Hahaha…. All that effort just to pick up this piece of garbage… Hahaha…. FUCK!!!!!"

Old Poison laughed hysterically and threw the broken formation plate outside in anger. He was a complete fool! How could he be so stupid!? Treasure? What treasure? How laughable.

Not long after, his two disciples burst into his room shortly after being startled by his outburst.

"What's wrong, master? Where's the treasure?"

Old Poison did not respond. He sat on a stool lifelessly like he had lost his soul.

In a nearby alleyway, beggars frequented the place. It was prime spot for receiving money from kind travelers staying in the nearby inn. The broken formation plate coincidentally landed in front of one such beggar.. The Beggar bowed gratefully to the heavens and used the broken formation plate as his new beggar's bowl.

Chapter 165 - Duke's Inferior Complex

When Leon reached the entrance of the busy Lancaster workshop tower, he suddenly became hesitant to enter. According his mother, his fiancée, Rachel had been holed up in this place to help with the workload.

As a descendent of a prestigious blacksmithing family, Leon did not doubt that his fiancée was knowledgeable in blacksmithing. However, he could not imagine Rachel holding a hammer in hand with her thin arms and hammering the hot iron with sweat oozing from her body. All the blacksmiths he had seen and knew about, had all been incredibly well built and bulging with muscles.

Looking at the shape of his own body that have grown tall and toned without any excessive muscles, if one did not look carefully, he would still appear quite thin. If his fiancée had transformed into one of those macho men, his feelings would be complicated to behold.

"Who are you, sir? Is there something you need here?" One of the guards approached and asked courteously, seeing Leon just standing in front of the entrance and unable to sense his cultivation. As for whether Leon was an ordinary person without cultivation, it did not cross the guard's mind. There was a difference between sensing an obscured cultivation and sensing zero cultivation. "We would like to kindly remind you that this place is currently not open for public business."

With the ongoing projects around the Capital, the Lancaster workshop tower had their hands full processing ores and providing construction materials; ranging from big steel frames to small screws and nails.

Evidently, the guard here did not recognize him. This was his first time visiting the workshop tower. The Lancaster's people at the workshop tower may have heard of him, but they had not seen him.

"Ah… Would you be so kind as to inform the Duke that Leon Crawford has come to visit?" Leon replied.

"Huh? Crawford?" The guard stared blankly for a moment, before realization dawned upon him. "Ah! Y-Your highness! I will do it right away!"

Leon was the Duke's son-in-law. The guard wanted to just say he could enter as he please, but he did not have that authority. He was just a guard and had to follow the procedures. At least, that was what he thought. After making his report, he was scolded for not being flexible. The rules were set for the ordinary people. Was the prince an ordinary person? How could he make the prince wait outside?

The guard returned sometime later.

"Sorry for making you wait, your Highness. I hope you aren't offended. Please enter on your own accord, your Highness." The guard said apologetically with a forced smile.

Leon shook his head and said, "Just a small matter. Be at ease."

He wasn't so narrow-minded as to be offended over such a trivial matter. Time was tight. He wasn't so bored as to find trouble with the guard over it either.

Entering the workshop tower, Leon was immediately surprised by the inner workings of the workshop tower. He had anticipated the scene of muscular men hammering the hot iron on anvils, but what he really saw was a bunch of steam-powered machinery operating in place of manpower.

He was reminded that the world's path of development was different to the Divine Realm and the prevalence of machine, eliminates the burden of work required by human hands. However, this did not mean that traditional blacksmithing was no longer required. Otherwise, the Lancasters would not be called a blacksmithing family and the workshop tower would simply be a factory.

There were some things machine cannot replicate; the purification and strengthening of alloys through fiery energy-infused hammering of a fire-user blacksmith. Thus, all weapons, armor and intricate tools still relied on human hands and not machines.

"Haha, my good son-in-law is back! I was worried when I heard you went to Extreme Misty Forest. But seeing that you are back in one piece, I am relieved that my daughter will not become a widow before marriage." The Duke joked heartily, before he said, "What made you decide to visit this father-in-law of yours?"

A proud aura exuded from the duke as he continues hammering a steel ingot in a rhythmic timing, making it thrum with a strange after glow with each hit. It appeared this was how magisteel was created.

Seeing the vigor of the Duke and sensing his cultivation, Leon could see why the Duke was in a good mood. The Duke had broken past the bottleneck of the 9th Step Awakener Realm.

"Congratulations on breaking through the 9th step Awakener Realm, father-in-law." Leon did not answer the Duke's question immediately but congratulated him instead.

"Haiz… It's all thanks to the red crystal your mother, her Majesty sent, but it's only enough for me reach the strength of one star in this past week." Ignis sighed.

"I believe it has to do with your busy schedule in the workshop. If you focus on cultivation, you would surely be able to advance a few more ranks."

Even his mother advanced all the way to the Transcendent Realm. One might think her smooth advancement was due to the Crawford's superior cultivation method, but it was due to the crystal itself.

As he had previously suspected, the crystals were the elemental seeds of Transcendent Realm experts and beyond. Absorbing the crystal was similar to absorbing their remnant cultivation. The water was prepared. They just have to pour it into their own water bottles to make it their own.

This was why Leon advanced easily, devouring fire and ice elemental seeds of other Awakeners, but unable to do the same with earthseeds. If there was no bottle, how can it be filled? One needed the prerequisite foundation before absorbing the crystals.

Therefore, Leon was confident that the Duke should be able to advance a few levels with each crystal. What he didn't know was that Duke Ignis had already completely expended one red crystal to advance his strength to the level of one star.

There was no problem with the red crystal. There was enough essence to advance his cultivation a few times. The problem lies with the Duke. He was unable to absorb all the essence and wasted most of it

"Hahaha… no need to flatter me, boy. I know my own condition. I won't be able to advance again in a short time." Ignis said self-depreciatingly.

"Hm?"

Leon noticed the Duke's strained smile and was dumfounded. Could the Duke only able to advance one level with one crystal? How was that possible? Unless… there was a problem with the Duke's body?

Leon sent out his divine sense and gave the Duke a sweep. Divine sense couldn't be seen by mortal eyes; hence the Duke was unable to see what Leon was doing. However, he sensed the change and felt the peculiar gaze. He suddenly felt he could not hide anything from Leon's gaze. It was an uncomfortable feeling. He felt violated.

Unaware of the Duke's complicated feelings, Leon continued his sweep and understood the reason. The Duke had overexerted himself in cultivation and damaged his meridians. He could also see that this wasn't a condition that happened in the recent week but been ongoing for several weeks.

"What did you just do, boy?" Ignis asked warily, but his eyes widened in surprise with Leon's following words.

"Cultivation overexertion. Meridians damaged and several blood clots formed, blocking the flow and absorption of energy."

It was a minor case due to the Duke's cultivation, but in serious cases, blood clots could lead to death.

"You can tell from just looking?"

Leon shook his head. "That's not important. What's important is I can cure you right here right now."

He did not pry why the Duke exerted himself so hard in cultivation, but it wasn't hard to guess.

The Duke was supposed to be very powerful, second only to the royal members. It must have been quite a blow to the Duke, knowing his cultivation was only comparable to the palace guards and he wasn't powerful as he thought he was.

Duke Ignis felt ashamed, knowing Leon probably guessed why he was in such a state. He coughed awkwardly, "Ahem, please."

Leon nodded and took out his needles and sterilized it with his fire. Afterwards, he shot them in various points on the Duke's body, targeting all the blood clots in his meridians with pinpoint accuracy. Next, Leon wrapped the blood clots with his energy and removed it along with his needles in a swift manner.

The treatment was completed in a matter of seconds. The blood clots were the only real problem. The damaged meridians can heal on its own if the Duke stops using it for a period of time.

From another's perspective, it looked like Leon just randomly jabbed a few spots with his needles before retracting it. Although he could just incinerate the blood clots with his fire ability, the lingering ashes would lead to other illnesses.

"That's it?" Ignis asked with a peculiar expression of doubt.

"That's it." Leon said flatly, before adding, "Just give it a few days for the meridians to heal and you would be good as new. You should rest during this time."

Duke Ignis circulated his energy and felt the smooth flow. A smile appeared on his face as he looked at his son-in-law with gratitude, before it soon changed to a pleading one.

"A few days? Can you prescribe me with some pills to speed it up?" Ignis rubbed his hands and asked. His wife had already reached the level of three stars.

Leon shrugged and gave him a single tier 2 healing pill. In additional, he handed over another 2 bottles with different pills inside as labelled.

"Hmm? What's these other two for? Forgetting Nightmare Pill? Reminiscent Trial Pill?"

Chapter 166 - Runic Inscriptions

"Those two pills can both cure Rachel's illness. Of the two, only one is needed." Leon explained.

"Really!? That's great news!" Ignis happily exclaimed, before his brows scrunched together in confusion. "But why is there two, if only one is needed? What's the issue?"

His daughter's illness had been one of his biggest concern. A person who easily becomes incapacitated at the mere sight of blood was no different to a cripple. It would be very difficult such a person to survive in the harsh world they live in. While this might not have been a problem previously with the protection of the Duke and Duchess, it was clear that their strengths were now inadequate.

"These pills each represent a soft and hard method to curing Rachel. The Forgetting Nightmare Pill wipes away her bad memories and experience, while the Reminiscent Trial Pill send her into and endless cycle of reliving those experience until she overcomes them by her own will. I may be the doctor, but as to which pill to take, the choice is not mine to make…"

Leon continued to explain the usage of the pills and the potential risks involved in ingesting them. Although the risk is low, it wasn't something to be taken lightly. The Forgetting Nightmare Pill could result in Rachel becoming a different person, for better or for worse, the result was unclear, while the Reminiscent Trial Pill could put her to eternal sleep if she's never able to overcome her trauma.

"En, this is indeed a difficult choice to make. I'm afraid I am unable to decide for my daughter. Ultimately, the choice is hers to make. We'll continue our discussion after meeting up with your fiancée and mother-in-law." Ignis stated.

"Alright."

Leon followed the Duke up several floors. On the seventh floor, Amelia and Rachel did not notice them entering. They each held a chisel in hand and inscribed complex lines on a metal sheet with great focus.

Looking around, Leon noticed the entire floor were filled with piles of such engravings lying about. They looked like the runes that one would find on the levitation stones. It appeared to him that the seventh floor was dedicated to researching the levitation stone.

Picking up a piece of engraving, he could not find any fault with it. The runic lines were perfectly carved and connected, forming the complete image of a rune. Although Leon didn't understand runic inscriptions, he could still recognize the runes when he sees one.

However, the runic piece was just lying about on the floor among many others like scraps. Such skillfully inscribed runes were treated like garbage with no value. The discovery filled Leon with an inexplicable feeling of doubt. With such attainments, why haven't they created the levitation stones yet?

Leon and Duke waited patiently for them to finish their work. Half an hour quietly passed, before Amelia and Rachel completed their runic inscriptions. It was another skillfully inscribed runic inscription with unknown effects, but the two showed disappointment expression upon its completion.

"Not good. It's another failure. There's nothing special about it." Rachel tossed the inscribe metal sheet into the pile of other failed products.

"We can only replicate the look and not the effects. It's completely lifeless. What are we missing?" Amelia pondered with a frown.

Realization dawned on Leon as he knew exactly what they were missing. All the inscribed sheets had the form but lacked the essence. He shook his head with a chuckle. Indeed, if runic inscriptions were so simple, the Lancasters would have already become master artificers, capable of producing spirit artifacts instead of just high-grade ordinary weapons.

His light chuckle made the mother and daughter frown. Who had the galls to laugh at them? Turning around, they were immediately surprised.

"Eh? Leon? When did you get here?" Rachel exclaimed. She was not expecting Leon's visit and was caught unprepared.

During the time they had not seen each other, she had time to reflect on her own feelings and realized she and Leon did not share any strong feelings. Leon was her only good friend from the opposite sex. As such, she wasn't repulsed by him, but what she felt for Leon wasn't love. Thus, she became awkward and decided to avoid him.

Previously, she was against her arranged marriage because she did not want to marry some unknown prince. As a young lady, she was naturally curious about love. Although she wanted to fall in love and experience it, it was under the notion that it was unadulterated and natural.

"We just got here." Leon said with a light smile. There was no need to mention the half-an-hour wait and make the other party feel bad.

"Haih… They say when daughters married outside, they only have eyes on their husband and forget all about their own father." Ignis sighed when his daughter did not greet him.

"W-What nonsense are you saying, father!? I'm not married yet." Rachel responded bashfully, before greeting guiltily. "Father, you're also here."

"What brings you to our workshop, Leon?" Amelia asked. She had not seen this son-in-law of hers for a while. She wondered if he brought gifts with his visit today.

"Let me explain." Ignis said. "Leon has brought us the cure for our daughter. However, there are two cure and there's a small risk involved…"

Ignis began explaining the details to his wife and daughter of what he had learnt from Leon regarding the two cures. His memory was very good and did not miss anything.

After listening, all eyes were trained on Rachel. Her life, her choice. They patiently waited for her answer and did not pressure her nor injected their own opinions.

"I… I need some time to think about it." Rachel said. She could not come up with an answer immediately. It was too abrupt, and she wasn't prepared for it.

"Actually… this isn't a matter that needs to be rushed. There's no need to make a choice immediately. Given time, I should be able to come up with a better cure with milder effects and less risk." Leon said. He wasn't lying in order to lighten the mood.

The Forgetting Nightmare Pill and the Reminiscent Trial Pill weren't the only cures. The profundity of alchemy was boundless. There were naturally many methods to curing traumas, but they either required long period of treatment or a high requirement for spirit herbs.

"Let's put this matter aside for now." Ignis waved hand, before asking, "Is the levitation stone research not going well?"

Amelia nodded and said, "Same results as usual."

They had only been able to study the surface of the levitation stones. They were unable to delve deeper and study its interior. They once tried to dismantle a levitation stone for the purpose of studying its inner workings, but the levitation stone exploded into scraps when they attempted to take it apart.

From the scraps, they only knew it was made from a complex combination of alloys. They did not try to dismantle the levitation stones again and could only focus on the runes. There were only so many levitation stones they could work with.

Leon thought it was just a matter of time before they figured out the problem. However, he should give them a push. Runic inscriptions could benefit the development of the kingdom.

"Steam engines cannot function without its water just as people cannot live without blood. Don't you think these engravings need some sort of power to fuel it?"

He thought his words would bring them inspirations, but he was surprised when all he received was the shaking of heads.

"We had that thought before. In fact, we are sure of it, but when we infuse our energy into it, nothing happens. Not even the slightest reaction outside of the norm. It simply glows red from all the fiery energy we feed it."

"This…" Amelia's words caused Leon to lapse into silence briefly, before he asked doubtfully, "Did you infuse your energy into the metal sheet or the runic lines you inscribed?"

When the words were uttered, Amelia and Rachel were froze on the spot as if they had been struck by lightning. At the same time, Ignis directly picked up of the tossed-aside sheet and infused his energy into the runic lines. His actions spark a different reaction. However, it didn't activate the rune inscription effect, but simply exploded with black smoke rising like when a circuit gets toasted from being overloaded.

The black smoke painted the Duke's face black as he directs a questioning gaze at Leon and caused the latter to scratch his head awkwardly.

Why look at him like that? You can't blame me for that. I'm only providing suggestions, not some expert in runic inscriptions.

"Maybe… too much energy was infused into the runic lines, causing it to overload?"

The Duke picked up another piece and infused less energy this time. Unfortunately, the runic lines similarly exploded. The Duke's black forehead was filled with creases.

Leon's lips twitched at the sight.. He wasn't sure what was going on either. Maybe it was still too much?