Celestial Voice

Doctor Gerald ignored the baby's response and explained, "It is a flying city that can reach the stars..."

"Alright. I'm convinced. When are we going there!"

A slight smile crossed Dr. Gerard's face. Moments like this truly confirmed that Eiran was just a child with no true experience but hyper intelligence. A slight emotional sway would make him change his mind in an instant.

The delay in explanation allowed Eiran to think as he stared at the picture. "Why? You promised me a safe family where I would grow. Now you're sending me into danger..."

Eiran himself didn't comprehend the danger, so he asked, "Others may want to have the city, right?"

"For once, be hyper-focused and I will explain everything."

Eiran didn't like this. He felt like he would be scammed, and the doctor was tempting him with stars but he listened.

Eiran didn't know about the world, so he wasn't shocked by most of what he heard until he learned that the floating mass of earth was actually a Kingdom—a very old one found deep, very close to the earth's crust.

The founders unearthed it, discovered its secrets, and brought it to the surface within half a century. From then, they grasped that it was made for a single ruler.

Among themselves, they tested who could rule, but unfortunately none of them could—until they found that only young awakened, Rank 1 and Rank 2, could stand a chance.

They conducted a test and a King was chosen: a boy with terrifying potential and talent who ruled until now. Unfortunately, due to the nature of his talent, he couldn't have a direct successor. This almost sparked a full-blown war between the descendants of the founders.

The conflict was quelled when the whole world set their eyes on the city. Now sponsoring powers and powerful families, royalty and nobles send their best scions to serve as candidates for rulership. And they are on a deadline.

The king's power is waning, and if the city doesn't get a successor by then, the city will be lost—its mystic power gone forever.

There have been three waves of candidates, and this would be the fourth. The first three waves are still pursuing the goal, but the delay in achieving what was desired warrants more candidates, as they have proven incapable of succeeding.

Eiran wasn't here just to be a king, but to learn and develop. His hyper intelligence must not be left to rot but sharpened and honed.

Not only that—while the battle of the candidates might be dangerous, it was safer than the free world where there was no control and security keeping the candidates safe.

"I'm just eighteen months old... how am I supposed to compete with fourteen-year-old men!"

"That's what makes you special. The competition will stretch until the king can't hold it together. It might take three years from now, or even two decades. One of the reasons the waves were reintroduced was that most of the previous candidates are now Rank 3. Some have died in exploration or fighting annihilator beasts..."

The baby rolled back, tired. He had focused too much, and most of the information was just about how the world worked—nations and some confusing Clover Leaf and whatnot.

He drifted into sleep not long after, and the doctor sighed. He walked out of the room, up some stairs, and came to the top of the ship.

It was made of wood—planks arranged and hammered with bolts and nails. But the engine inside made it float and drift through the air at desired speeds.

The air whipped his face. A slight curl was on his lips—not a practiced one, but the genuine smile that came from his heart.

Eiran was hard to be with, but he had a charm that pierced Doctor Gerard's stone heart.

After another deep sigh, his gaze shifted to the building before them.

It stood like a miniature pyramid, with stairs leading up to a chamber above it—a Prince Palace, they called it.

It was exactly fifty-eight years ago that they had brought the city to this place. The doctor one of the founders. He had gotten a single permit to send his candidate. He did send someone, but the man forfeited, saying it was impossible to conquer the city.

With his facility up and running, the Dr was no longer interested in this game. Well, even now he wasn't—it was just that his father had suddenly gotten interested in the brat.

He shook his head. He couldn't grasp what the old man was thinking. He was not a man who would just send a fourteen-year-old into danger, but now he was sending an eighteen-month-old baby.

Dr. Gerard had no qualms with that. Grooming child warriors was something he enjoyed doing, and he had done it many times. Some of his best warriors came from that category. But that old man was someone who had advocated righteousness throughout his life, and now this...

'Maybe he has his reasons. Well, the reasons are compelling, but still, that goes more against what he used to be!' The doctor's musings didn't stop until he felt a slight shift in the baby's condition, and he walked back inside.

Where he had been staring was a humongous silhouette standing kilometers away but appearing as if it was very close.

It was already the next day. The baby's fabric band had developed intricate lines on it, pulsing with slight force.

He was still sleeping when Dr. Gerard observed the band sending small threads weaving around his stumps. In just a few seconds, the baby's limbs were formed.

That jolted Eiran awake. He clenched his new fists and wiggled his new feet with excitement on his face.

He struggled and sat up, staring at them, opening and closing his hands. Then he reached for his feet and felt them. "Haha!" He giggled as he pulled his feet, making himself tumble back.

He quickly grabbed the crib wall and climbed out. On the way he fell down and became silent. He almost cried but held it back, then sprang up on his feet.

He swayed but held himself steady, hands spread to the sides trying to find balance. Then he wobbled and took a single step forward.

Thud.

He fell, he giggled, he went to stand again, a bubble covered him. "Let's go to your chamber."

The pyramid was one hundred feet long with a wide base. They walked up several stairs before reaching the chamber—a large hall at the top, that has a vast door with multiple smaller doors attached.

Wide open and inviting. Thick veils swaying as incense wafted out from inside. They walked toward the thick veil, which spread open wide. Inside was empty except for a stone platform with lush rugs spread on top, where Eiran was placed.

The pyramid hummed, air whistled inside, and Eiran felt his newly formed hands shake.

SSS Rank Potential

Talent: Celestial Blood

Born Traits: Essence Vessels

Brand Skill: Healing

Brand Bind: Forge Form

—Bind Link: Small Palace

"What name does the bandage take?" the doctor asked.

"Forge Form, and it's linked to this building—Small Palace."

"Good. You have passed the first test. I can take my—"

He became silent when energy surged behind him. He turned to see the entrance had become a pale vermilion film. Then from far above in the sky came a streak of red light shooting up from the ground, then coming down exactly where the film was.

The figure landed softly, the vermilion film vanished, and the figure walked forward.

Dr. Gerard didn't stop them as he watched in shock. He knew that face and wondered how it was here with them.

Eiran stared at the person. He frowned before he relaxed as their connection grew strong, and he began to grasp certain things.

A woman—tall, with red hair and eyes, wearing crimson armor. She knelt before the baby. "Master, I have returned!" Her voice sounded like a long pipe connected to a hollow chamber, roaring out. It didn't match her elegant figure at all.

Eiran crawled to the edge of the stone, eyes focused on her as he felt their connection more deeply.

Understanding flowed through him, and his Celestial Blood Essence began pulsing.

Doctor Gerard was given the shock of his life. He stepped back as an aura of force surrounded him immediately when Eiran spoke with his own mouth.

"Come closer. Let me see you!" His voice was celestial to hear—calming, filled with authority, but sounding like the chirping of young birds and the rolling of a river as it falls from a high place. It invoked a myriad of sensations and feelings in the blood of the listener.

The woman lunged forward, her earlier composure shattering. She had no desire but to be close to her master.

Her face came very close to his, eyes lowered, not daring to look at his now celestial crimson eyes that were so focused the world seemed to pause around him.

His newly formed white hands gently rested on her cheek. Emotions passed between their eyes, and he spoke again. The world listened, but the woman broke into tears.