10/7/1 RC

Some crazy months I went through.

I thought life will settle down nicely for the next few years.

I was wrong...

I severely underestimated my position, my status, my role in this power struggle.

The past almost six months I was stuck in a situation worse than the night I was attacked.

It was that crazy old bat...

Life was very peaceful and my training progressing at a very fast pace that she decided to praise me to high heavens and it piqued someone's interest.

The rest is history.

I was promptly admitted into Empress Dowager's palace and arranged to meet her.

I swear I will never forget that smug smile this old bat cracked when she nagged about all the stuffs I need to do when I met Empress Mother.

Short of the imposing first time greeting, I think Nan was a jolly and cheerful granny...

The only problem was that she looked way too young to be a granny!?

Rather than looking like a grandmother, she appeared more like Mother's sister.

What happened to old-kindly looking grandmother??

Mother came along to introduce me to Nan.

Nan was very lenient and carefree when she received my greetings so I don't understand what this old bat was fussing about so much, it was merely a bow and greet...

I wasn't sure what to do about this sudden change but I thought it was a chance to add more golden thigh to hug?!

I think I acted my part really well, I was literally the model of clever, obedient and cutely mischievous grandson.

I acted way way way too well, she decided that she wanted to keep me around.

Mother was very happy but I could see some of the ladies there turn black...

She decided that I was very interesting so she decided to tout me wherever she pleased.

The garden, the pavilions by the lake, music hall, she even had a freaking zoo!

A zoo filled with exotic animals to boot, animals that probably doesn't exist on earth too!

Rabbit with wings? Sounds cute... Until you watch it smash a hole on the ground.

The plethora of other animals are also as much cute as they were deadly.

Most of those cute animals are carnivores!

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

It all started with a drawing.

Nan was pondering to write about a poem in the garden while I was bored!

So I took one of the small broken piece of coal and treated it like a crayon, I drew Nan with that blooming cherry tree behind her.

I was honestly surprised with myself, I think I overdid myself with a my charcoal arts.

Praise the twenty first century 15 years worth of education!

Hilarity? More like Hell ensues after that.

A spin around hug, a few kisses and then I flew all the way up there and almost reach the roof.

The mini crisis aside, I figured that an innocent novel gifts of a portrait drawing would unpretentiously brush up some favors.

I drew her twice a day, once after breakfast and another during tea time for a week.

Nan aside, I figured that the maids around her are also her confidants and gave them a portrait each later.

Aside from that, I felt that I was rediscovering more about my physical body here.

I think my bodily constitution was improving much too fast for it to be an ordinary human body.

Physical strength, reflex and coordination of a little toddler that could rival a 15 year old.

More to be praised of brain and mental development, empath skills I thought I couldn't do without extended practice and physical growth, I could now do without worrying about the mental drain.

If the first step in empath training is to accustomed the mind and brain to turn it on and off.

The second step would be to control its range.

Third step requires finesse and control over which object to connect.

My accomplishments in my past life requires mental and physical growth, I was literally flying my way through because of how fast my physical body adapted and improved in accordance to my talent training.

I had breakthrough the bottlenecks like playing bowling.

Maybe this body is more special than I thought?

Or maybe even ordinary humans of this world have this potential?!

I was given a few teachers, but with my privilege as the favored grandchild of the Empress Dowager as of now, I simply picked things that I felt I needed for now.

History, Art of War and Chess.

I found out where I was through history, how people fought their war and chess is but the closest thing I could find as a game in the palace.

There were hundreds of years worth of accumulated history to peruse.

Although some of the words were obscure, reading them definitely help me study this ancient Chinese words.

Strength is revered the most in this world, many of the historical mentions seem to emphasize this plenty.

The formation of such moral values drives the society, businesses and citizens to cater to this special group of people that seek strength as its lifelong goal.

Thus far I have yet to see an eunuch, maybe this life creed that the majority adopted made it impossible?

A few anecdotes in the books mentioned of suicide cases where men lost their virility or injured and ergh... STD?!

There was even a captain of the army where his enemies call him "dick-lord"...

Anyway that's probably why most of the guards in the harem were also women.

Which man want to be castrated in this world? Maybe some?!

But which King dare to have men in their harem! Why take eunuchs when the women could be as strong??

So many women and only one king, someone is bound to cross the line.

The Empress Dowager's palace itself sounds safe, but even I perceived it wrongly.

The place itself is a battlefield of intrigue attended by bored members of the harem.

It was like the Colosseum of the Harem.

Days did not go by without some crazy girl who looked forward to elevating her status through Nan.

There were many occasions where someone tried to frame another in a passing conversation, conversations and fake sympathy of another that lost their baby, or poisoned to death.

Those crazy woman seem to revel in such occasions...

Some deaths were really due to boredom of some other people.

I was terrified because I could clearly feel their malice on me.

I personally think this place is like the ancient china version of Game of Thrones but with poisons, gossips and tasteless competitions that ended up with executions, exiles or hell on harem.

It was really difficult to move up the hierarchy in the harem so excellent children was one of the surefire way to elevate their status.

My existence at Nan's palace was like painting a target practice on my back.

I became embroiled in this storm of power struggle because of my favored status.

Many tried to praise my excellence by comparing me with other children in guise of showcasing their own kids.

So some of their stupid kids came and tried to kick me off the high horse by showing off their drawings.

Did I just stand there and let them slap me?

Of course not...

So I gave Nan a colored hyper realistic painting with flower pigments MiMi helped made.

Try to beat that ye smelly kids.

When drawing failed, they went on other stuffs like etiquette and chess..

Chess oh chess, or maybe I should call it go chess?

Are those crazy women insane?

This summoner ranker had been playing chess of all kinds on the battlefield.

I pity the young children.

They pitted the poor five or six year old kids against me.

It was like taking candies from babies and more.

Then they felt like young teens could handle me... Really?

All I have to do is sense where they felt happiest or filled with anticipation when they placed the stones to figure out what they want to do.

I think I not only made them cry rivers at home, but also crush their mind at some point because some were so bad at playing chess stones.

I've seen my fair share of kids and teens with stoned pale face after the results.

I had no choice but to be a little monster in Nan's palace that nobody could beat at whatever I'm learning on.

Where others improved step by step, I had to fly or at least looked like I was miles beyond any "genius" prince they have ever seen.

Distinguish myself from the rest of the children, suppress the strong and draw the hopefuls to my side.

The more brilliant I was, the more favor I could draw from Nan and her confidants here, the more pride and resources Mother could be draw within the harem grounds.

Besides that Nan seem to be happier the more excellence I showed.

The weak has no rights and no resources, while the strong got more and more in the harem.

Thankfully, the Empress doesn't have a son herself...

Otherwise I think I might have been poisoned to death for staying here for so long.

So far nobody has pitted me against something I have no idea about but one day some crazy woman and kid might have a crazy little trap to spring on me but I shall be prepared for it.

It was a tiring six months filled with tension...

Everyday I had to be vigilant of my surrounding, meticulous of my conduct, calculated in my expression.

I was tired and frustrated but thankful for this opportunity.

In a power struggle between royalty, to be mediocre is to be buried six feet under and forgotten.

I had no choice but to show potential so great that it suppress other hopeful genius.