Lord Weld was weary from the long day. When he walked in on the chaos of his courtyard, he felt his head hurt and had the urge to walk away.
"Grandfather." Cayden greeted.
"What happened?" Lord Weld suppressed his frustrations and asked.
The servants had gone beyond the point the monkey crazy stage and moved onto the self-mutilating stage as they scratched themselves like rabid dogs. It was as if they were being roasted from the inside.
A servant on the verge of collapse, issued a painful roar as flames shot out from his 7 orifices, before dropping dead.
"Not good. He is already toasted." Lord Weld commented with a flash of disappointment. He had high hopes in cultivating an army of super soldiers, but that hope was crushed before the first step could even be made.
"This must a trap prepared by the Duke..."
At the same time, somewhere in the outer palace, Duke Ignis suddenly received a sudden jolt to his mind and said, "Sigh... sometimes I fear my own creation" as he looked up towards the sky.
Without any surprises, the rest of the servants will also be dead sooner or later, if nothing was to be done. Since they were useless alive and better off dead, Lord Weld had other plans for their body.
"Go inside, I will deal this."
Lord Weld sent his grandson and the listless Alf into mansion, before redirecting his focus.
Some time later, Lord Weld was found underneath the Weld's mansion in his secret chamber with mountains of bones filling half the area, while a horrendous and nauseous stench permeated the air.
The pack of servants were brought into the underground chamber and dismembered. Screams and wails echoed throughout the chamber, but it fell on deaf's ear.
Lord Weld wore a sinister look as he drained every ounce of their blood into an empty blood pond, before he, himself entered the blood pond with a disgusted look.
No matter how many times the process has been repeated, bathing in the blood of others was filthy. However, it was a necessary step to extend his life through his secret technique; the [Undying Blood Technique]. The blood essence containing the residual life force of the servants were gathered, before coagulating into a blood pill.
Lord Weld swallowed the blood pill and absorbed all the life force to prolong his life by an addition year.
A moment later, Lord Weld exited the blood pond with disappointment. The name was grand, but the effect was not worth mentioning. The effect diminishes with each session.
…
Inner Palace, King's bedchamber.
The king of Crawford Kingdom continues to lay in vegetative state as he was hooked up to a set of advanced medical equipment far beyond what the people of Crawford Kingdom could produce or even remotely understand. All the advanced medical equipment what salvaged from an ancient ruin below the palace.
There were many ancient texts alongside it, but since it was in an ancient language, none could understand its meaning or the usage of the medical equipments. Only through countless attempts of trial and error, were they able to fine its general usage.
The medical equipment measured the king's heartbeat and brain activity, while also providing nutrients to sustain the body.
Thanks to the existence of such technology, the king was able to survive all these years while in comatose.
Leon stood outside the bedchamber with a pale but calm face. On his body was a fresh set of silken white-gold royal clothing with coiling dragon markings wrapping the Royal Crawford emblem. It was the most expensive set of clothing he had ever worn in his 17 years on Gaia.
Originally, he should be recuperating, but he felt like the matter of king should not be delayed, thus he requested to see the king right after he finished washing up and changed into his new set of clothes. If he could help awaken the king, he should. The kingdom need their ruler.
It was clear that his mother was not one with the heart to rule, but it was even more so for him, who have set his mind to pursuing the peak of cultivation to avenge his late father.
He might not show it, but the desire for revenge is constantly raging fiercely deep inside his inner self. It was only brought under control after his dual personality achieved harmony and gave his mental state equilibrium between calmness and rage.
But it was not foolproof. Like any human, outside factors can affect his emotions and when he becomes anger, the scale is tipped as rage is leaked causing him to become even angrier than he should be like adding oil to fire.
Leon breathed out some turbid air and adjusted his mentality. The person behind the door was his father of this world.
"Are you ready to see your father?" Elizabeth asked, noticing his hesitation at the door.
"Yes, mother." Leon answered calmly. His emotions shouldn't be affected anymore than his meeting with his mother... is what he thought.
The moment he opened the door and laid eyes on the king, his heart fiercely shook. The king shared the exact splitting image as his father from the Divine Realm!
"Father!" Leon blurted out and rush over to his bedside. "Father, it's me, your child is still alive!"
Tears inadvertently started flowing on their own as he tried to shake the king's body awake. Elizabeth was surprised by her son's intense reaction.
"Your father will not be able to hear you." Elizabeth said with sadness in her eyes. She had been by her husband's side each day for 17 years, watching his sleeping face with hopes that one day, he would suddenly wake up.
"You're right, mother."
Leon wiped his tears and stood up as he studied the king's facial features. He had lost himself just now. He had forgotten that his father, the Divine Medicine King's soul had dissipated into [True Death] and was gone for good... but how can there be two exact people!?
That is not possible! It was impossible for two different people to share the exact same look unless they were blood related twins or used special disguising technique to alter their look.
Thinking along such reasons, Leon's hands move into action right away as he pulled and stretch the king's sleeping face.
"If your father could be woken up like that, he would have woken up long ago..."
Elizabeth misunderstood his actions for pulling the king's face, but it saved him from an explanations.
"Err.. Your child was just checking..."
There was no disguise mask. The king's face could not be anymore real... but that brings him to another question; in what universe could there be two people with the same natural look? Or better yet, where was he?
Leon really wanted to breaking through the world's atmosphere and start searching the stars to know where he was, but without reaching the Divine state, it was a pipe dream. He has yet to be able to fly, let alone survive the void in outer space. He can only suck it up and double his efforts in divine cultivation.
Leon put his thoughts aside and reached for the king's wrist to feel his pulse. The fancy medical equipment was ignored as he did not understand it was.
"My child... what are you doing?" Elizabeth was puzzled by her son's strange action. It's not that she had never seen such set of action on another person before, but her son is only 17 years. How skilled could his medical expertise be?
"I'm feeling father's pulse."
Hearing son's words confirmed her suspicion, but she adapted a wait and see as she wanted see how good her child's medical expertise was. She already learnt about Leon's strength and feats from Amelia. She found it hard to believe that he was also proficient in medicine.
While it wasn't an amazing feat for royalty to reach the 5th step at such young age, it was incredible outside the palace.
Especially for Leon, who reached such level without backing and resources in such a lawless place like the Lower District. Indeed, lions were the king of the jungle even if it was a cub. Her child was destined to rise above the commoners without the help of others. She wondered if it was a blessing to have named him Leon.
A moment later, Leon retracted his senses with a frown.
"Can your father be treated?"
"I haven't thought of a way to awaken father just yet."
His father's body was in perfect condition, but his soul was damaged. A pill that could heal the soul is required.
"Oh? There's hope?" Elizabeth was surprised that the answer wasn't a definite no.
"Yes. I have to go back and think about it."
Leon answered.
He hadn't recovered his memories for long but he already encountered two illness he couldn't treated with his own skills. He felt useless as an ancient doctor hailing from the Divine Realm.
But with the Book of Life in hand, any illness that can be treated with medicine is no illness at all.. It was time for him to study the medical knowledge stored in the Book of Life.