Lucas, who stood behind the mother and son, smiled as he watched. He was most likely the most overjoyed about his son's recovery.
Who could blame him?
He was devastated when he discovered his son couldn't cultivate.
What a cruel fate for his own blood, his only son; he, of all people, should know the fate of not being able to cultivate.
'Why did the heavens do this to him?' he always wondered.
Why had they given his son such a cruel fate, but his faith had never wavered?
He kept trying, never giving up hope that his son could be cured.
Sadly, even after all these years, he was unable to find a cure.
He had lost all hope and had come to terms with the fact that his son would never be a cultivator.
He was left feeling helpless and despairing, but his faith sustained him as he clung to the hope that a miracle would occur one day.
How could he not be happy now that his son is cured?
'How, though?'
'I'm pretty sure I looked for a cure and even went to that place to search for it, but I couldn't find it.'
'My son's illness was out of the ordinary.' Lucas raised an eyebrow and shook his head, pondering,
'What I'm sinking into no longer matters; what matters is that he's cured.'
'Now that he's cured, maybe he can participate in the upcoming events?
I should tell him about that matter too.' he took a deep breath, as he reflected.
"Cough..." He coughed, attracting the attention of both Alina and his son.
"Alex"
"Huh?" Alex looked at his father, perplexed, not understanding what his father wanted to say.
"Yes, father."
"It's wonderful that you're now cured.
Your mother and I won't have to worry about you anymore, and it's better now that you're cured because I needed to talk to you about something important." Lucas muttered and turned to face Alina.
Alina nodded as she noticed her husband looking at her.
"You two can talk while I go get something to drink." Alina then left the room, leaving Lucas and Alex alone.
"Come sit; we need to talk." He motioned for Alex to take a seat on the chair.
After both sat down, they looked into each other's eyes.
Alex noticed his father's expression was solemn, making him uneasy. Silence filled the room as Alex waited for his father to break it.
"I asked your mother to call you here because I wanted to see you and check on your health; seeing that you're fine made me feel a little better." Lucas finally said something.
"But there's something important you should know," he added, his tone becoming solemn, making Alex uneasy.
"But first, Alex, I wanted to ask you a question."
"What exactly is it, Father?"
"You'll be 18 in a couple of months, am I right?"
"Yes," Alex agreed, nodding.
"When you reach the age of 18, you will become an adult, and now that you can cultivate, it will be time for you to be self-sufficient."
Tell me, Alex, what your life goals are.
What do you hope to achieve when you cultivate?"
"I..." Alex began to consider an answer to his father's question.
'What motivates me to cultivate?' He only wanted to cultivate to keep people from mocking him; he didn't have a goal he wanted to achieve.
Noticeably struggling to answer his father's question, Alex began to reflect on why he wanted to cultivate but couldn't get one.
Lucas opened his mouth and spoke when he saw his son struggling to respond. "Look, Alex, you're still young and have a bright future ahead of you; it's okay if you don't have a goal right now, but that doesn't mean you should always be without one."
"You've been stuck in this clan since you were born and have never left; you haven't seen enough of the world to know what you want to do in the future, and now that you can cultivate, I suggest that you experience it."
"Experience it?"
Lucas looked into Alex's eyes. "Yes, Alex, I'm suggesting you go out and explore the world, and I know the best place for that."
"Alex, how do you feel about joining a sect?"
"A sect?" Alex was surprised by his father's words; him joining a sect was the last thing he expected.
A sect is typically founded by a very powerful cultivator (or group of them) with the goal of passing on their techniques to a bunch of willing slaves who are willing to do all the menial, bothersome work that interrupts cultivation for eager young disciples.
Sects irritate him, and now that he remembers his first life, he dislikes them even more. He is certain that if he goes there, there will be a plot when an idiot young master type wants to cause trouble for him, not to mention that he will have to work harder there.
But his father is correct: a sect was the best place to gain experience as well as the best place to grow stronger.
'Sigh,' Alex sighed inwardly, and he asked, "Can I think about it?"
"You can," Lucas agreed.
"For now, forgot about sects; it was not the main thing I called you for," he continued.
"Was there something else, father?"
"Yes, and it is something serious."
Alex wondered, as his father's expression had become so serious. He was worried; he had never seen his father this serious.
"Did something happen?"
When Lucas waved his hand and opened his palm, a piece of paper appeared in his hand. Lucas handed the paper to Alex without hesitation.
Alex took the paper and began to read it.
"What!"
To Be Continued...
...
A/N: Thank you so much for taking the time to read this novel. I know there are some errors, but I will try to improve as I write more, and because I have college, I can't always post daily, so please accept my apologies. I'll do my best to post whenever possible, and thank you for reading.