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9.04% Prime Originator / Chapter 99: The Seniority is Messed Up!

Chapter 99: The Seniority is Messed Up!

The rising flame pillar of dazzling colors had been short-lived, and its brilliance had faded into the darkness of the night sky. But even after it was gone, it had succeeded in leaving behind its mark on the world as its image had successfully been etched into the minds of all who witness its splendor. The cauldron lid that threatened to break through the vault of heavens disappeared beyond sight. It was unknown whether it would ever come back.

The firework was gone but the onlookers continued to stay rooted in awe. The number of onlookers were not limited to the people within the palace grounds. From the Upper District to the Lower District, its viewers covered the entire capital. Being situated in the center of the capital, it was difficult for anyone out and about on its streets to miss such a stunning phenomenon in the central sky.

From a corner of the capital, there were shadowy figures lurking in the dark that did not take a pleasant surprise to the event. Instead, the sight instilled uneasiness and concerns in the figures. They couldn't comprehend what the flame pillar signifies. 

"What was that beacon of light? Is that some sort of signal?"

"It came from the royal palace. It doesn't seem like good news for us."

"Focus on the task. We must complete the objective by dawn."

Another figure who seemed to be the leader of the group said sternly with a frown, when he noticed their distraction from the task at hand.

"Understood."

...

Back at the source of the capital's attention, some figures started arriving at the courtyard not long after the flame pillar had died out. 

"Are you hurt, son?" Elizabeth checked Leon for injuries, despite knowing there was none.

"I'm alright, mother." Leon said helplessly but felt warm inside. Their talk was cut short by the entrance of another figure.

"Who created the towering flame pillar just now?"

An aged voice rang out through the courtyard as an old man entered. The old man clearly advanced in his years, but he held a noble bearing overflowing with vitality that was quite contrasting to those of his age.

"Crazy Don."

Elizabeth and the guards all greeted the old man with respect. Their respect did not come from his seniority nor his status as an alchemist, but genuine respect for someone stronger than themselves.

"Mmm." Crazy Don nodded. He wasn't offended by what he was called. This was what he told them to call him.

"Son, this is the alchemist I mentioned to you before." Elizabeth quickly did the introduction for the two.

"Senior Crazy Don."

Leon paid his respects to the elderly alchemist. He could feel a lofty pressure bearing down on him under the elder's gaze. This was a natural suppression from their difference in cultivation. He could feel it, but it didn't bother him.

"You were the one that made the flame pillar?"

"Yes."

Having received Leon's answer, the elder lapsed into silence. The elder wore a natural expression, but his thoughts were unreadable, and the situation felt tense due to the silence.

Elizabeth thought her son may have offended the elder somehow and was ready to speak up for her son. The elder's strength was at 9-stars, a step short from reaching transcendence. She wouldn't be able to protect her son if the elder wish to harm him. However, the following event made everyone gape in shock.

"Master, please accept this one as a disciple and teach art of explosion!"

Crazy Don dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Leon fervently. His actions and words bemused everyone, so much so that no one was able to react until he finished his kowtow.

"Senior, what are you doing? How can you ask someone young like my son become your master? Quickly get up!"

Elizabeth was the first to recover from her shock.

"Haih… I won't get up until I am accepted. Age is trivial. He, who is proficient is the master. I am complete convinced of my loss."

Everyone heard Crazy Don and they all thought the same thing; The elder has gone mad! Genuinely mad!

It was common knowledge that Crazy Don would explode his cauldron every day at least once during pill concoction. Never had it occurred to them that it wasn't a failed pill concoction, but an intended result induced by the eccentric elder.

Leon's first pill cauldron explosion was like a declaration of challenge to Crazy Don's secret passion and pursuit in the art of explosion. The elder's fighting spirit was ignited and sought to create a bigger explosion to contest with Leon.

When Leon attempted his second pill concoction, the earthshaking explosion was like a clap of thunder to the elder's heart and dispelled all notion of competing with Leon. Of course, Leon did not know any of this.

"Senior, please get up. We can talk about this after."

Leon assisted his mother in trying to get the elder to stand but he was vehement in kneeling until the elder was accepted as a disciple. Seeing the figure that was stable like a mountain and wouldn't budge, Leon conceded his demands and accepted the elder as a disciple.

"Fine. Senior, I will teach you, alright? Please get up now."

"Absolutely not!" Elizabeth protested strongly.

Crazy Don was like another father-figure to her husband after the old king disappeared. If he becomes a disciple to her son, he would become two generations younger than her husband! Wouldn't that mess up the seniority between them!?

"Hahaha, it's too late! The kid- no, my master has accepted!" Crazy Don jumped up jovially.

"Senior, the seniority will be messed up!"

"If I don't care about it, why should you care about it?"

For the art of explosion, he was willing to do anything~!

Oh, the majesty and beauty of that explosion… He had to learn how to create one as grand as that! Explosion is art, explosion is love. Crazy Don flashed a fevered look at Leon.

Elizabeth felt headache brewing… hmm?

"Wait a moment… senior wanted to learn the art of explosion from my son? Don't tell me all those explosions every day was…"

"Oh… those were intentional for my appreciation of the art. Ah, but compared to master's explosion, they were nothing but trash."

Crazy Don said plainly without any shred of guilt for wasting royal resources all this time. He didn't forget to bootlick Leon to earn himself some good points in hopes that he could start learning sooner.

Elizabeth's whole body shook with agitation. So shameless and thick-skinned! Was this a trait people gain as they grow older!? The royal family was well off but still… such extravagant waste!

She tried repressed her agitation. The royal family relied on Crazy Don and his Essence Strengthening Pills to cultivate. If the Essence Strengthening Pills are delivered regularly, the royal family can still afford this much waste.

However, Leon used spirit herbs for his pill concoction… so if the Crazy Don start asking for spirit herbs every day for his so-called explosion art then he might as well just go rob their treasury. Spirit herbs were rare. Even if the royal family was wealthy, they don't have that many spirit herbs.

"Mother will leave this matter for you to handle. Mother suddenly feel tired and need to go back and rest." Elizabeth said with a hint of fatigue.

Yes, Mother. Rest well." Leon sent his mother off.

She washed her hand of the matter and left the courtyard.

"When can I start learning how to make such a big explosion, master?" Crazy Don rubbed his hands and asked expectantly.

Leon did not answer him and just looked at him with a peculiar smile now that his mother was gone.

"Say… Crazy Don, I can't teach you how to make explosions, but I can still teach you alchemy instead." Leon said with a sly smile.

Without his pseudo-Grandmist energy, no one would be able to recreate his explosion… and the [Hegemony of Primal Chaos] wasn't something he was willing to teach others.

 "You can't teach me how to recreate that explosion?" Crazy Don froze. "What do I need you for then? Do you think I need you to teach me alchemy, kiddo?"

 "Haih… Crazy Don, don't you think your attitude is changing a tad too quick? It's faster than flipping a book. Is this how you talk to your master?"

"I don't have a master like you. Good day, kiddo." Crazy Don tried to escape. Since the kid can't teach, why should he stay and continue playing this master-disciple game?

"Haha… You can deny it all you want, but you have already kowtowed and accepted me as your master. That makes me your master, whether you like it or not. Like the saying goes, a teacher for a day is like a father for a lifetime."

 Crazy Don paused his steps.

"What do you want exactly, kiddo? You can't teach me anything so, what trick are you trying to pull?"

"How do you know I can't teach you anything?"

Leon's lips curved into a grin. He succeeded in keeping the elder from leaving. He didn't doubt that once he starts teaching alchemy, the elder would be genuine convinced.

Wasn't this like gaining a super bodyguard? This unexpected pie had dropped out of the sky.

Leon wanted to laugh out loud.

Never in the history of alchemy, had this ever happened before. The elder didn't want to learn how to succeed in pill refining but how to fail them to create big and beautiful explosions! 


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Pointbreak Pointbreak

Author-san here; Sorry for not releasing any chapters yesterday. I will try to make up for the missed chapter.

I'm always looking forward to reading what you awesome people write in the comments (。◕‿◕。)

but some toxic ones from the early chapters been getting to me.. so I couldn't find the mood to write o(╥﹏╥)

Constructive criticisms are still okay

Chapter 100: Pranking Grandpa Don

"How do I know you can't teach me anything?" Crazy Don repeated the question with a derisive look.

"When I started learning alchemy, you were not even born yet, kiddo. What kind of alchemic knowledge do you know that I haven't learnt before?" Crazy Don scoffed.

Leon was not offended by the scoffing.

"The world is so vast, and the profundity of alchemy is a never-ending path of learning that could never be fully comprehended simply after reading ten thousand books nor treading ten thousand miles. Do you dare claim to know everything there is to know about alchemy?"

Leon spewed some profound words and threw a question back at the elderly while giving him a cursory glance.

"Hah, I naturally wouldn't dare, but what I know is certainly more than what you know, kiddo."

Crazy Don spoke with certainty.

Leon shook his head at the elder's blind confidence. He was a rank 5 Alchemist Sovereign in his past life and was certainly not an average joe. Rank 5 Alchemist Sovereigns were capable of refining tier 5 spirit pills for Void Realm practitioners and were just one rank below the divine rank.

It wasn't farfetched to say that his alchemy skills stood at the peak of the mortal realm. As such, the elder's blind confidence was no difference to arrogance. One should never judge a book by its cover.

"Hoh… then let's put gran- senior's claim to the test. Since you know more than me, you must certainly know about the Purity Renewal Pill, no?" 

Leon targeted the elder with a tricky question. If Crazy Don knew what the Purity Renewal Pill was, he would know how much it meant to him. 

When ingesting pills, there was always a limit to the effectiveness of a pill before the body develop complete immune to it. The Purity Renewal Pill can reset the body's immunity to pills and remove the residual pill toxins that could not be removed with the Toxin Cleansing Pill.

Leon had only given the elder a cursory glance, but he already knew that the elder had hit a bottleneck in his cultivation for years. He was able to infer the problem after diagnosing the elder through look and smell.

He had been on the mark. Crazy Don had been ingesting the Essence Strengthening Pills for most of his life to improve his cultivation. However, the pill gradually lost its effectiveness as he approached 9-stars in his cultivation, before ultimately becoming completely ineffective after reaching 9-stars.

As such, he had be stumped at the gate of transcendence for years without much hope of taking the last step. How frustrating it must be for a person to reach the fabled doors of transcendence but unable to open it.

"Purity Renewal Pill? What kind of pill is that? Don't think you can pull the wool over this old man's eyes by making up some pill name he never heard before." 

"..."

As expected, Crazy Don did not know what the pill was. Otherwise, he would have long achieved transcendence. His body was completely healthy and had no problem reaching transcendence if not for the pill immunity. 

Leon mouth curved into a grin at Crazy Don's reply.

"You don't even know what a Purity Renewal Pill is and yet you claim you know more than me? Listen up, the Purity Renewal Pill is-"

Leon suddenly paused his words. Crazy Don wore a lackadaisical expression and started yawning the moment he started explaining the pill's usage. It was uncertain whether the elder was listening to Leon's words. His face couldn't help but twitched. 

"Are you listening to me, Old fart?"

"Yeah, yeah… I'm listening."

Crazy Don answered perfunctorily without a care for Leon's rudeness. He had no idea why he didn't mind staying behind to listen to this kid, who was still wet behind the ears, trying to preach about alchemy to him. Maybe he was bored and was looking for some way to kill time.

Leon noticed the perfunctory tone in the Old fart's words and lack of attention. His following words carried a hint of impatience.

"How can the master teach, if the student is unwilling learn? Is that the attitude of a listener?"

"Haih…alright, I'm listening… intently."

Crazy Don placed extra emphasis on the word 'intently'. He wagered the kiddo would give him an earful as his 'Master' if he didn't play his part as the 'student'. He still wanted to listen to what the kid says so he can quickly rebut him. Nonetheless, his attitude was still  superficial.

Leon didn't care if the Old fart's attitude was genuine or not as long as he was listening.

"The Purity Renewal Pill has the effect of reset the body's immunity to pill efficacy."

His words were brief, but his goal was achieved as the message was been delivered.

"Reset the body's immunity to the pill's efficacy? Hmph! That's some bold claims, kiddo. All words are empty talk. Present some hard evidence if you want to convince this Old man!"

Crazy Don was disbelieving of the boy's words and appeared somewhat unmoved, but Leon has captured his genuine attention and interest. He held some faint hope that what the kiddo said was true.

With his eyes of discernment, there was no way the Old fart's emotions could be hidden from Leon.

"Evidence? I can refine the pill, but why should I? What would I get out of it?" He suddenly said as he crossed his arms behind his back. His mouth curved upwards into a mischievous smile.

The tables have turned. He didn't need to try and convince the Old fart any longer. Crazy Don would be the one trying to get him to validate his words, otherwise the Old fart would be restless like an itch needed scratching.

"I will accept you as my master." Crazy Don said with gritted teeth. Was this brat playing games with him?

"Well, do you swear on your words?" Leon asked as he tried not to laugh.

"I swear."

Crazy Don answered hurriedly.

The Old fart's word was unreliable, and with his high cultivation, Leon wouldn't be able to do anything since he knew the Old man would go back on his words.

At the end of the day, this person was still his biological grandpa's closest brother, making them family. According to custom, he should also be addressing him as grandpa, but Crazy Don doesn't seem to realize this fact. Or rather, Crazy Don has yet to realize his identity since he was willing to kowtow and hail him as master. As such, he thought it was fun to prank the old man.

"Watch closely."

Leon prepared to refine the Purity Renewal Pill for the Old fart. The herbs had been taking out at some unknown moment. All the spirit herbs were present, and none was missing. If Leon wasn't assured that he had all the spirit herbs, he would not have chosen the Purity Renewal Pill. It wasn't the only pill in his arsenal that produced the same effect, but it was the most readily available one for refinement.

With the pill cauldron still hot, Leon was able to skip one the three steps of pill concoction and quickly got to work.

Some time later, a fresh batch of nine Purity Renewal Pills were produced, albeit a bit lower in quality due to the missing cauldron lid. Leon inadvertently glanced up to see if it was ever coming back, but it didn't seem like it would be the case. With its shape, it was very unlikely to return to its exact spot.

"This is the Purity Renewal Pill."

Leon stowed the pills in a glass bottle and waved it in front of Crazy Don.

Swoosh*

The bottle was snatched out of his hands as he expected. Crazy Don unsealed the bottle and took a whiff. His eyes quickly lit up like the stars in the night skies and quickly popped one into his mouth. It didn't take long for the effects to show itself as Crazy Don started excreting impurities from his body.

"What kind of pill is this, boy? Why does it stink so bad?" 

Crazy Don knew the pill was extraordinary the moment he sniffed it. He was told it resets pill efficacy immunity, but nothing about expelling impurities. He was itching to take a bath.

"That's the pill toxins being expelled, Grandpa Don." Leon said respectfully.

He decided playtime was over. He didn't actually dare to accept grandpa Don as his disciple. His father would skin him if he knew after he wakes up from coma. 

"Huh... What grandpa Don… wait… who are you exactly, boy…?" Crazy Don was taken aback by the sudden change.

It took a moment before he suddenly recalled Elizabeth calling the boy her son. He missed it earlier due to his craze for explosion. His expression quickly turned in between laughter and tears as the realization dawned on him.

"T-T-This…"

"Paying respects to grandpa Don, I am Leon Crawford."

Leon introduced himself before bolting out from the courtyard.

"This brat, how dare you play this old man!?" Crazy Don roared in embarrassment, but he didn't chase. He shook his head over his own rashness and stupidity.

However, it was pleasant news that the missing brat had returned. He recognized the kid's well intention veiled beneath his playfulness as he gazed at the bottle of pill in his hand. He could feel the gate of transcendence loosening under the pill's efficacy.

Such a great gift upon their first meeting. His impression of Leon was good… or so he thought.

"Grandpa Don kowtowed me~!"

Leon's distant mischievous words made him stagger and almost spit blood in anger. Was the going to continue bringing that up!? Why did he do such a stupid thing? But what has been done cannot be undone. It was going to keep haunting him.


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