Eugene's appreciation for Leon's talent continue to grow the longer they fought. His eyes shone with a strange light that creep Leon out.
As for the previous disrespect, Eugene had already tossed it out the window. Leon was at a higher level than him and deserved to be respected.
He may be able to suppress Leon now, but once Leon learn some martial arts from the military, things would turn out differently. Leon was a rough diamond waiting to be cut and polished.
"This little brother, how about we put our conflict behind us and start over? I apologize for my earlier remarks, okay? No discord, no concord, right?" Eugene did not want to fight anymore as there was no point to it. He tried to address Leon in an intimate term to ease the tension and bring them closer, but it went into deaf ears.
None of Leon's blow had connected and it had left him with a lot of pent-up frustration and anger. How could they end the fight there? He wasn't someone easy to bully.
"Fuck you!" Leon cussed and threw out a swift punch with all his might.
Due to Eugene lowering his guard, Leon's fist broke past his guard and when straight for his face. The fist was unavoidable and too late to block.
The fist landed squarely on his face as Eugene's head followed through the motion of the fist and launch himself flying back to abate some of the damage received.
Leon was finally able to calm himself down after releasing all his pent-up feelings in the single punch. He was usually level-headed, but his anger was explosive and uncontrollable once he snaps.
"Have you calmed down yet?" Eugene got up on his feet and asked while rubbing his new black eye. Had he not reacted in a timely manner, Leon's fist would have left him with some serious head injuries or even killed. But he was not angry. He had his fair share of life and death experience and what happened wasn't enough to affect his mentality.
"Sorry." Leon apologized and made his way over to Lynne. He did not want to say anything further to Eugene. He did not like him. He had lost control of his emotions and exposed his true strength, which went against his interest.
The reason he hides his strength is for people to underestimate him. If he offends powerful noble families, they may be too lazy to send powerhouses after him. But if he is strong then they would only send stronger people. Fortunately, he had decided to keep his identity hidden as the boss of Golden Lion gang while offending the Grey family.
Eugene smiled wryly at Leon's unfriendly attitude, but he did not mind. The kingdom needed talented awakeners like Leon. Perhaps he had the highest hopes to breakthrough to transcendence.
"Huh? Is the fight over? Just like that?"
"The fight was too short. How anticlimactic."
"Anticlimactic? Has your head been kicked by a donkey? Did you not see him send the instructor flying with a punch?"
The students started discussing among themselves. They had to reassess Leon's strength. His strength was not weak to send the instructor flying. It did not look like the instructor was holding back either.
No one would willing let someone punch them in the face unless they were crazy or a masochist.
"How much have you been hiding?" Rachel asked curiously. Leon seem to have become a stranger to her. She did not know him well.
Leon responded with a smile. What could he say? That he went from unawaken to 5th step equivalent in a less than a week? People would try to dissect him for his secrets. Although Rachel might not spread the news, he knew better that a secret only remains a secret when no one knows.
"Let's continue your treatment, Lynne."
Lynne's pale face blushed as she lowered her head. "I-I don't need it."
"Don't worry, I won't use the massage." Leon assured knowing what she was thinking.
It was fine if he didn't mention it, but since he mentioned it, her face grew a shade redder. A blush was also seen on Rachel's face. The massage treatment was just too erotic!
"It's best you find a private room for that, Boss. It's pure torture for us single men to listen in on." Fatty Ben suggested.
"Hahaha..." Leon laughed awkwardly. He was too focused on the treatment and had neglected the time and place for it. But Lynne's body was too weak, akin to an ember that was about to fade out. He was afraid it would blow out at any time.
As Leon continue to channel fire energy into Lynne's body, he was wracking his head for a viable solution. The water seed was fully frozen. It was better to call it an ice seed.
Ice seed? Ice was also part of the water laws but exists on a higher level of application. It seemed that the pill overdose didn't just upgrade her strength, but also the grade of her water seed.
Leon scrunched his eyebrows together. Such forceful methods always came with a great price. Lynne's body wasn't strong enough to handle the overbearing properties of her new ice seed and it was practically killing her.
Her lifespan was also shortened. Leon had already notice the few strands on grey hair on her head.
He remembered that all the women from the Ice Phoenix Divine Palace back in the Divine Realm all practiced ice attribute techniques. They were all peerless beauties with incredible strength. Unfortunately, their ice-attribute cultivation technique was flawed, and their lifespans were shorten as a result as well.
A Divine state practitioner enjoys an average lifespan of 10000 years. But for the ladies of the Ice Phoenix Divine Palace, their lifespan only amounts to 3000 years unless they were able to breakthrough to higher states.
Leon knew their divine practice technique, while helping them extend their lifespans. There were two ways of doing so. One was to revise their technique and the other was to remold their bodies to be suitable to the technique.
The technique [Ice Phoenix Divine Canon] required the blood of a pure-blood ice phoenix to remold their body. Unfortunately, the ice phoenix race was long extinct since primordial times. Leon could give Lynne the revised technique and allow her to embark on the divine path, but it would involve sharing his secrets. He would have to think about his choice carefully.
"Alright, gather around. I have some announcements to make." The black-eye Eugene stated. "I have decided that today's training is cancelled."
Hearing the instructor's words, the students rejoiced. But before they could celebrate, his next words killed their excitement.
"However, in a month's time, you will all be moved to the training camp."
"WTF?" Their initial 2 months had been cut down to one month. The crowd broke into an uproar.
"Why!?"
Eugene did not explained himself and left to tend to his sore eye. He didn't need a reason and did whatever he wanted.
"Isn't the training camp where the commoners were enlisted to train?"
"Damn!"
They don't know what it's like at the training camp, but they assumed they would be treated like everyone else there and start at the bottom with the commoners, albeit later. They were used to their luxurious life and didn't get out of their comfort zone.
"How are you feeling now?"
"Hmm... much better." Lynne was able to move normally after Leon dispelled most of the cold energy. But it was only temporary before cold energy fill her up again.
"That's good. We have to talk privately." Leon said.
Seeing that Leon had something serious to talk about, Lynne nodded and followed him. Fatty Ben did not tag along, since it was private.
"Young miss." Rachel's servants caught up to them seeing that she was planning to leave with Leon and Lynne.
"What is it? Are you trying to stop me? Don't you know my mother wants me to bring Leon back to see her?" Rachel questioned her servants.
They were startled and no longer block her way. They only remembered to keep other males away and forgotten it.
"Huh? Your mother wants to see?" Leon was taken aback. What did the Duke's wife want to see him for?
"Uh…yeah... are you free to accompany me home to meet my mother today?" Rachel asked shyly.
"I should be free after I settle Lynne's matter."
"That's great."
"What does your mother want to see my fiancé for?" Lynne interrogated.
"F-F-Fiancé??"
"Ah..." Lynne noticed her slip of tongue, but since the cat is out of the bag, it no longer mattered. "That's right."
"I-Is that true?" Rachel asked Leon.
He did not know how to answer her. It wasn't a real engagement, but he could hurt either party depending on his answer.
He was becoming more conscious of their affections. He thought back to his current relationship with Aria and felt a headache at how popular he was. He realized there was an ambiguous feeling from Lina as well.
He wasn't sure why he accepted Aria so easily. Perhaps her name held a significant impact on him.. How is she doing now in the Divine Realm? He wondered.