Chapter 635: Proving - 635
His tone did not give Skymender any room to refuse.
"Are you sure? Sometimes, it is better not to see."
This just strengthened Baron Sky's resolve. "If I'm going to let you continue this, I need transparency."
Skymender sighed.
He did not hesitate. He began to pull off his glove, gritting his teeth as he did so.
His fathers face slowly turned from anger and worry to horror as he saw Skymender's hand.
He was stunned, unable to speak.
Skymender looked at him while panting.
"Are you happy?"
His father stared at his hand for a while longer before looking at him in the eyes.
"Skymender. This cannot go on."
"We've already been over this." Skymender said.
His father shook his head. "I'm not ordering you or forcing you to stop. I've come as a father, not Baron Sky. This is harmful, and you could die. Accidents like this could easily kill you. Look at your hand. Notice your breathing. What has this path brought you besides pain?"
Skymender listened to his father before speaking. "You want to see what this has brought me. Then come along. I'll show you clearly and let you decide if my efforts have been wasted or not."
He led his father out of the house. He naturally would not tell him that only one of his injuries had been caused by an accident. This one had been on purpose.
It had exceeded even his expectations, but it would heal nonetheless.
His father and him quickly arrived at a quiet location. In front of Skymender was a tree. He felt bad using it as a testing target, but it wasn't special or anything.
He took out a vial and threw it at the tree. His father watched on silently.
The vial broke, and the tree began to corrode. In mere moments, it began to creak, and slowly collapsed on itself.
Skymender turned around and looked at his father, who was staring at the fallen tree in silence.
"Indeed. It is powerful, an incredible invention."
He paused for a moment.
"But what use exactly does it have? What are you planning to do that would require that?"
Skymender spoke. "Beyond self protection, I don't know. What I do know is that if anyone has intentions to harm me or my family, they won't be able to as long as I have these."
Skymender handed his father one.
"What do you think?"
Baron Sky sighed, and he seemed to age a bit.
"I cannot stop you regardless. Just be safe."
He pocketed the vial. Even he knew of its value. He would not sell it or research it. Perhaps, as Skymender had said, it would save someone's life one day.
However, it may also take another.
Skymender wasn't sure how his father was feeling, but it seemed he was a bit disappointed in Skymender's decision to continue researching poison.
Skymender knew far more about the dangers and risks than his father did, but he had no plans to stop regardless. With great danger comes great opportunity.
Skymender put the glove back on his hand and walked to his room.
He spent the next few days going to school, but not staying after. His hand was so messed up that even if he tried to research, it would be impossible. He needed steady hands, or at least hands in general. Just one would not work.
He continued to not stay after school until the 10 cauldrons finally came in.
At that point, the pain had lessened a lot. He wasn't sure if he had gained resistance to the poison, but he had definitely gained some resistance to pain.
He planned to test out the corrosive poison again, but he wanted to get some research in before he did so.
Skymender began to once again perform basic research. He did not intend to create any poisons, but instead gain a greater understanding of different materials and how they interact with each other.
He did this for a while, spanning a month of time.
Finally, he found himself back in the room with a vial of corrosive poison in his hand. Looking at his empty hand, it had somewhat healed.
It was very clearly messed up. In its entirety, it was scarred and deformed. It was as if it was the hand of a 200 year old mummy.
In addition to that were the veins of dark green, which neared blackness, that had remained present. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any negative effects from them.
He had already experienced the pain once, over a long period of time, and he was no longer scared of it. It would still hurt, and he was dreading it, but it was going to happen. He needed to see the changes the last round had brought.
Now that it had fully healed, if his guess was right, he should have some immunity to the corrosive poison.
He looked at his hand, which had stopped hurting, and threw the vial at the wall. He stepped forward and pushed his hand forward.
He instantly felt the same pain. It hadn't lessened in the slightest. He forcefully kept his hand there until the corrosion stopped by itself.
He panted as he nearly fell, but he didn't scream out this time. After all, he had been experiencing similar pain for more than a month.
Although the pain itself hadn't lessened, Skymender looked down at his hand.
Through his pain, he saw a pleasant surprise. His skin was not corroded as much as it had been the last time. It was barely noticeable, but it was still proof that he hadn't been suffering for nothing.
Skymender stayed in the room, waiting for the initial pain to die down, before slipping on the glove and leaving.
Melly saw his pale face and bloodshot eyes, a sight she had not seen in a while, and instantly felt worried.
But seeing as Skymender did not say anything, she did not either.
Skymender returned home, and his father, noticing his current state, sighed.
Chapter 636: Invitation - 636
His father walked away without saying anything. His mother asked a few questions, concerned, but Skymender waved them off and said he was fine.
She had long been suspicious of his actions, but when she went to Baron Sky he had told her not to worry about it, that it was all under control and Skymender would be fine.
She had accepted that, but she couldn't help but worry. Skymender soon made it alone, where he began to manage the constant pain.
Another month passed. Skymender had healed faster this time. Taking it as a sign, he repeated the process. Becoming immune would no doubt take a long time, but Skymender felt as if it would definitely happen. And this wasn't the same as becoming immune to a poison. That was very specific, and most immunities wouldn't make you immune to other poisons.
This was corrosion, and he was becoming immune to it. In other words, whether it was his corrosive poison or another, he would be immune to the corrosion effect.
Of course, this was also not like poison in another way.
He could become fully immune to a certain poison, no matter how strong it was, but it was impossible to become completely immune to corrosion. There could always be something more corrosive out there. He could only become as immune as his corrosive poison would allow.
Even more time passed. Skymender turned 10 years old.
It was hard to remember, but he was only 9 years old this entire time. Suffering to become immune to poison, as well as corrosion, he had battled through pain that no adult could withstand. Yet he was only 9, now 10.
Even Skymender felt that his future was limitless. It was clear to see. What other 9 year old could be his equal?
He did not know of any.
Skymender's life did not change at all even after turning 10. He continued with the same cycle. Eventually, everyone around him got used to his pale face and bloodshot eyes. It was not even mentioned anymore.
As time passed, the school year ended and summertime began again.
Skymender did not plan to go to the Imperial Capital, he had no need to. Plus, it was not good to overdo it.
However, after receiving a letter in the mail, his mind was changed.
Once again, he received a letter from the Imperial Scholar. It had been nearly a year since the last one.
"Hello, Skymender. Your devotion to research is impressive. I am inviting you to the Imperial Scholar camp over the summer. What is that, you ask? I just made it. It is for those with the highest potential to become a scholar. It will begin two weeks after summer starts. I warn you, do not miss this opportunity. You may never get it again."
Skymender was surprised. However, putting the pieces together, he had indeed heard of the Imperial Scholar's old age.
If he had heard correctly, he had turned 70 this year. It was not surprising that this camp had been created. More than producing scholars, he was most likely searching for a future Imperial Scholar.
It would be hard to replace him. Just like the current Emperor and Sword Master Shang were some of the greatest of their roles in the Empire's history, the current Imperial Scholar was one of the greatest Imperial Scholars on record.
There was nobody clearly better than him, just those considered as good as him. It truly was an incredible era for the Faceless Empire.
Skymender truly could not ignore this invitation. Simply being taught by the Imperial Scholar was a rare opportunity, experienced by extremely few.
Melly had already returned to her parents home, so Skymender immediately went to his parents. They were thrilled to hear the news. His mother nearly wept tears of joy. Skymender's future seemed as bright as their two eldest children. They really could not ask for more.
Nobody even considered the possibility of him not accepting. They would not allow it to happen regardless, even if Skymender wished to reject it.
Since there were two weeks until its start, and it took ten days to reach the Imperial Capital, Skymender would depart tomorrow.
Before that, however, he returned to the school lab. Though this year of school was over, Skymender naturally had access to the lab.
He entered and collected his items. This included his ten cauldrons, his notes, and his most important ingredients. He would leave the less important stuff here.
He could always buy more in the Imperial Capital. Most importantly, he looked at a nearly destroyed wall. It had actually already been replaced twice. Luckily, it wasn't structurally important.
It seemed to be on its last legs.
Skymender threw a vial at it and stepped forward with his hand out.
His hand touched the corrosive substance, but he did not react. It corroded his hand, but only by a single layer.
Even patches of the first layer of his skin were not corroded.
The pain was intense, but nothing compared to before. In addition, his pain resistance had increased by leaps and bounds.
In addition to this, he had noticed something accidentally a while ago.
Once, when he had done this, a drop or two of the corrosive substance had splashed onto his other arm.
Although it had hurt and had gone deeper than it would have on his other arm, he was able to clearly tell that it was more resistant than it should have been, especially since that was its first time in contact with the corrosive poison.
Skymender expected that he had a bit of resistance everywhere, though he did not plan to test it. His testing hand was already horribly scarred, never to recover. Even where that drop had hit was a clear mark.
He did not mind scars, but doing so unnecessarily was pointless.
Skymender eventually returned home and fell asleep. The next morning, just as he woke up, he found another letter from the Imperial Scholar.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
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