Emperor’s palace, Auckland city.
Inside the throne room, Graham Novius was sitting on a throne present on an elevated platform and was gazing domineeringly at the people sitting in front of him in two columns.
“Your Majesty, everything was working fine. All the barriers and alarms, everything. However, we still do not know how the intruder could enter the palace.” A man stood up from his chair and said to Graham.
Graham didn’t respond and just listened to him.
Another man stood up from his chair and said to Graham, “Your Majesty, this could be due to the use of a unique artifact. However, we also have alarms for the same. If someone is using artifacts, we will come to know about it. So artifacts are out of question and this leaves us with two options; the person used a pill, or the person has a unique ability.”
The people present in the room nodded at such a conclusion. They, too, had the same reasoning after investigating and arrived at a similar conclusion.
Many stood up from their places one by one and gave their thoughts and reports on the recent event that occurred in the Emperor’s palace. Graham listened to all of them calmly and with a focused gaze.
“…thankfully, Your Majesty, nothing was stolen from the treasure room and there were no losses that occurred to us financially.” A man said at the end of his report about the finances of the palace.
Silence ensued in the room as he said that and many shifted their gaze to him.
How can this guy be thankful at such a time for something as trivial as finance? The Emperor’s son was kidnapped, and this guy says this thing so joyfully! Does he have a death wish? Does he not fear what His Majesty would do to him?
Everyone shifted their gaze back to Graham and looked at him, thinking of what his reaction would be to this.
Graham gazed at the crowd and knew why they were staring at him. He calmly turned to the man who delivered the financial report and said, “the losses were too severe; there’s nothing to be thankful about. My son, the heir of the Novious family, was kidnapped. This is no trivial loss.”
The man broke out in a cold sweat as he heard Graham say this to him. It’s only now that he realized his blunder. He immediately kneeled down and kowtowed on his spot.
“Your Majesty, please forgive my insolence. I didn’t mean to offend or make any impudent remarks to His Majesty, the family or the throne.” The man said while kowtowing.
“Get up. Now is not the time to kowtow and apologize. Go to the Elven Continent and search for Liam. Take help from the connections present there.” Graham said calmly.
He then turned to the others and asked them to do the same, but sent them to different continents. Everyone left after they were given their roles to do, leaving Graham alone in the throne room. He rubbed his temples in frustration and said,
“Sigh, why does this boy keep getting into trouble? This matter is so troublesome. It seems there’s no other choice than to talk to the Ancestor about it.”
Graham got up from his throne and left for Ancestor’s city. Getting help from the Ancestor seemed to be the only option for him currently.
….
Lucas’s dorm, Abalax sky island.
Lucas was sitting and making notes at his study table. He put down the pen after finishing it up and relaxed back in his chair.
“The school a.s.signments are done. I can finally relax now. In a few hours, I’ll leave and find a secluded place to make the Affinity Enhancer potion. I also need to find someone who has at least six elemental affinities. Better if there’s someone with seven.
After checking Liam here, he has nine, but what’s the point? If he dies, my research for unique abilities would go to waste. I shouldn’t touch him for this. If I recall correctly, there should be a person joining the academy thirteen years later who had seven elemental affinities and was said to be the strongest of that generation.
Which means that person will be born somewhere around this year. Good, I’ll have to go and be on a lookout. I’ll also have the Shadow River sect to take help from by then.”
….
Next day.
Lith woke up to find his teacher, Arya, sleeping in his embrace. She was sleeping while facing Lith’s chest and he had his arms wrapped around her waist. He smiled, looking at her sleeping so peacefully in his embrace.
He knew it was rare for someone of her rank to sleep, let alone so defenselessly. He had woken up and made a few movements, so she should’ve known about it and woken up herself, but she didn’t, which made Lith realize she must’ve had her cultivation suppressed to his rank and was now nothing but a normal mortal lady sleeping in his arms.
Lith felt happy knowing she followed his advice. He softly caressed her hair as she slept and didn’t move much to bother her.
Arya, feeling Lith’s caresses, hummed while sleeping and had a small smile on her face. Looking at that, Lith wondered what dreams she must be having, if by any chance she was dreaming.
An hour pa.s.sed.
Lith stayed in the same position and looked at his teacher. He didn’t feel bored at all during this time and also understood what his mother and sister would feel when they got up first and looked at him sleeping. It was very entertaining to look at the sleeping face of someone.
Arya woke up a minute later and found Lith looking at her.
“Good morning, teacher. I hope you slept well.” Lith said, staring at her beautiful face.
Arya got up from his embrace and said in her sleepy voice, “mhm… good morning. It was a pleasant sleep.”