下載應用程式
59.09% High L☼rd Calamity [Dropped] / Chapter 12: Recovery (2)

章節 12: Recovery (2)

After a long while of deliberation, Leto came up with a simple method of ridding himself of the worms.

For the following days, those who saw him thought he was acting eccentrically.

His weird behavior was shown in his actions. He got up early, barely past midnight and went to the hilltop in front of the palace. There, he always did some weird exercises, which was so slow and harmonious, it lacked any form of strength.

To those, who've seen him, they felt it was strange. They didn't even take his 'exercise' seriously, as they thought it was just a waste of time, as they've never seen such sloppy exercise. Some servants and even his family secretly thought he was crazy.

''Big brother, what are you doing?'' A younger sibling of his asked on day 5 of his unusual practice.

Leto didn't even seem to hear him as he continued his thing.

The young boy blinked curiously, observing his movements as he didn't get an answer. He called several more times, but Leto seemed to be too absorbed in his practice.

The boy was disappointed and naughtily tried to disturb him in various ways, which still didn't work. He wanted to shake him, but knowing he was the future heir, he hesitated, afraid to offend him. He and his mother would have to depend on him in the future, after all.

Leto straightened his body and exhaled, finishing the exercise. As daybreak just arrived, the sun didn't give much warmth, so it was kind of cold.

''So, what have you been going on about for a while now? Is there anything?'' Leto asked with a frown.

''Oh, you noticed me?'' The boy yelped in surprise.

''Of course, but I couldn't abandon my practice, sorry about that.'' Leto rubbed the back of his still bald head, while secretly trying to remember the name of his sibling. He had many siblings, all younger him, as he was the eldest son from Gile's first wife, Maria, his mother who passed away giving birth to him.

''Uh, umm, sorry for disturbing you.'' The boy bowed, feeling he had done something wrong.

''It's fine. So, is there anything?''

''Oh, uh, I was just curious...and, and...''

''What is it?'' Leto realized he had something to say.

''Rudolph threw a tantrum yesterday. Father's out. Third mother and others didn't step in.''

''Him..? What's the situation?'' Leto inquired while trying to recall who Rudolph was.

''He, he said...Leto's not worthy to be the heir. He said a lot of bad things too. He's challenging you right now as we speak.'' He explained nervously.

Leto winced as he remembered Rudolph's profile.

Rudolph was Stella's younger brother with less than 1 years age gap. He was 13 years old.

Former Leto didn't have much contact with him, just bits of memory of their coincidental meetings, which ended with neither side speaking with each other. Rudolph had an air of hostility to him, but he didn't show it much, so former Leto considered it his character, so he didn't mind him much.

''Alright, let's go.''

Nodding, the boy led the way.

As they stepped into the courtyard, Leto noticed a small crowd, which consisted of his step-mothers, younger siblings and other older relatives. Rudolph was standing in the middle and shouting something. He seemed to be talking about him too.

''Is nobody concerned about the fate of our family? He has no capability to manage the family. He's weak! He can't protect us. He's a lunatic! He can't lead us. He...''

''Rudolph, you..!'' Stella was so angry, but she didn't know how to scold him. She knew how hard his younger brother worked. She knew about his ambitions, but she thought it was a good thing, that he would become more reliable.

She didn't expect him to show his fangs so early and so spitefully too. Looking at her younger brother's fierce and determined expression, she suddenly couldn't recognize him anymore.

''Listen, brother, what you're doing is wro...'' Before she could finish speaking her mind, Rudolph interrupted him.

''No, you listen to me! Outside seniority, he has nothing, neither power, brains nor the drive. He's unfit for this role. I, on the other hand, am well learned, and my world vision is wide. I'm destined to not be mediocre and die in this piece of limited land. I have reached the 2nd level of body tempering at such a young age. I can lead you all to the wider sky. Can he do that?''

Murmurings arose from the people. Evidently, they were swayed. They weren't angry at him indirectly calling them shortsighted, as the temptation of a better future made them hesitate. His last rhetorical question made them deepen the doubt about Leto's competence, which always existed.

Even Stella couldn't find words to refute him, as deep in her heart, she never thought Leto had the ability to be the heir of their family.

''Wow, someone's blowing his trumpet too much. Aren't you afraid you'll bite your tongue, huh, younger bro?'' A lazy voice caught everyone's attention.

''Leto!'' Someone exclaimed.

''Good, you're there.'' Rudolph showed a vicious, satisfied smile. Despite his young age, he was quite robust and not so innocent looking.

''Is that how you speak to your seniors? Didn't elders teach you, speaking behind someone's back is rude?'' Leto stepped into the courtyard with a slight smile on his face. His hands were clasped behind his back.

''You! You aren't qualified to lecture me, weakling.'' Rudolph called out angrily.

Leto suddenly felt funny, realizing how much forethought and effort Rudolph must have put to make this leap. If it was former Leto, Rudolph would have succeeded in pulling him down, but this would no longer be the case. He, Calamity wouldn't allow it, as he was now Leto, and Leto was him.

He didn't care about becoming a family head or whatnot, but he refused to be beaten by his younger sibling, which would shame him for life. For a man such as him, dignity was extremely important.

''Seniors, it seems my younger brother is causing mischief. Don't condemn me if I teach him a lesson and rough him up a bit.'' Leto slightly bowed to his seniors humbly. In return, they looked at him weirdly.

'Teach him a lesson? Is this kid dreaming? Sigh, seems he really has a few screw looses. Indeed, such a young man mustn't inherit the family head's seat, else we'll be seriously doomed!' The elderly relative of his grumbled in his heart but didn't voice out his opinion.

''Go ahead, child. Just don't hurt each other.'' The second mother smiled mildly.

''You too, mother?!'' Stella looked at her own mother's kind natured smile with disbelief.

She realized, her own mother wasn't against this. She might have even instigated Rudolph and schemed against Leto! Stella felt so cheated as she only realized it now.

''Haha, teach me a lesson? Not qualified. You forced my hand.'' Rudolph laughed and charged at him with a raised fist.

Leto maintained his smile and just stood there.

Seeing him standing motionless, people sighed and shook their heads in disappointment.

Leto had never trained and he was 15 years old, while Rudolph was at the 2nd level of body tempering at 13 years of age already!

The difference was too obvious. Yet, Leto just stood there, waiting for Rudolph to beat him up after bragging about thrashing him. What could be more ridiculous than this? People seriously doubted his intellect.

Rudolph sneered, seeing Leto not react to such an obvious attack. He looked down on him even more.

Meanwhile, Leto suddenly lifted his hand, his open palm about to meet the full force of Rudolph's punch.

''Don't hurt him!'' Stella shrieked. Some younger siblings of his stared at the two timidly with an anxious heart.

The adults didn't stop them, however. Two tigers couldn't live in the same mountain. The leader's position had to be decided!

The fist struck with an impact, but the expected sound of Leto's bones snapping didn't ring.

''H...huh?'' Rudolph's fist was stopped by Leto's palm.

'But how is this possible?' The elder rubbed his eyes, not believing what he was seeing.

'Huh? Are my eyes deceiving me?'

'What's happening? Why wasn't he beaten?'

Everyone stared at the duo with incredulous expressions. Rudolph froze as he stared at him dumbly with mouth agape.

Suddenly, Leto closed his palm, clutched his fist and threw Rudolph over his shoulder, who fell down on his back with a thud and spat some blood.

''My child!'' The second mother shrieked, seeing her son beaten down. She intended to run to him to see his condition, but Rudolph stood up on his own while wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

An elder stopped the frantic second mother, who glared at Leto venomously, her thoughts unknown.

''H, how?! How is this possible?!'' Rudolph growled with crazy expression.

''Sheeh and you guys still call me crazy. Ridiculous.'' Leto shrugged, disdained to even explain.

''Impossible, I've never seen you train!'' Someone exclaimed.

''What? Weren't you guys discussing how this crazy me was practicing on top of the hill every morning? If it's not a practice, then what is?'' Leto felt amused, looking at the dumbfounded crowd.

''Sigh, alright, let me explain. Some people are strong, no? But everyone gets old. They get weaker and weaker before their life extinguishes completely. Still, some people who used to be strong in their youth might even have trouble walking in advanced ages, but they still retain some or sometimes even most part of their power. Why is that?''

The people sank in their thoughts, but couldn't find the answer. They looked at each other, only to notice more puzzlement in them. In the end, they stared at Leto, expecting the answer.

''Indeed. My grandpa was so feeble before he passed away, but once, he got angry and struck my chest. It took me a whole month to heal. It still puzzles me.'' Middle-aged uncle nodded and stared at Leto expectantly.

''The reason is simple.'' Leto rubbed his nose. ''When body ages, physical strength deteriorates, but internal energy remains.''

''Internal energy?'' That middle-aged man's eyes lit up.

''That's right. People unknowingly gather a little amount of it the more they train, but it's hard to detect, as it doesn't have clear form, so the most don't know how to use it or whether they have it or not. No, in the first place, they are not aware of its existence.''

''You...then, what you used right now...'' The fifth mother almost shrieked in surprise, as she trembled.

''That's right. I know how to train internal energy. Don't ask me how. The ancient book I learned it from has long since turned into dust, as it was so old.'' Leto nodded and made up excuses before they could even ask.

Now, everyone looked at him with a new light. They weren't so biased against him anymore. Was this the useless young master they were speaking about?

''I refuse! You cheated! Bastard. Fight me fair and square!'' Rudolph roared fiercely, staring at him hard with his bloodshot eyes, seemingly wanting to devour him alive.

Leto chuckled as he mockingly stared at disheveled Rudolph. ''Fair and square? Tell this to the enemy who will strike when you least expect. Tell this to the enemy who captures someone you hold dear as a hostage. Tell this to the enemy who ambushes when you're injured.''

Leto's expression strangely twisted as suffocating bloodlust around him made the air heavy. He slowly walked towards Rudolph with hands behind his back, while speaking.

For the first time, Rudolph felt terrified. His legs grew weak as he was absorbed in Leto's abyss-like eyes.

The crowd felt like they lost the ability to speak. Some wanted to say something, but they felt like choking. They looked at the bald young man with eyes full of dread.

''You are worth nothing. Your ambition without strength is just laughable. You grew sheltered. You know nothing of human's treachery. You know nothing of beast's viciousness. You don't know the value of your and others' life.'' His every step suffocated Rudolph, who took a step back in fear, and again, and again before he stumbled.

''Ah~'' He shouted, appearing to have lost his mind.

''You are pathetic, brother. Your ambition is your greatest asset, as, as you said, you were destined to be extraordinary the moment you realized, there's no limit to the sky, but...''

The fierce aura around him suddenly vanished as he held out his hand to help him up.

''Just because you know, doesn't mean you can, doesn't mean you're invincible. This arrogance will one day be the cause of your and our downfall, even if you replace me. Now, tell me, if you couldn't even beat this useless brother of yours...just what can you achieve?'' Rudolph froze as his eyes contracted.

A few moments later, he stopped trembling. Closing his eyes, he grabbed Leto's hand and stood up with his help.

''I get it. I couldn't have seen my shortcomings without you, brother. I'll leave everyone to you. Don't let anything happen to them until I come back, or I'll kill you!'' He passed by him with a serene expression.

''Of course.'' Leto laughed contentedly.

The conflict concluded in this strange manner.

Leto continued practicing in the following days, but there was a small change. Now, the younger generation, mostly his siblings were training alongside him.

There were some, who picked up after him easily and some, who didn't understand, but everyone put in the effort, inspired by him from the other day.

Leto couldn't be happier. He loved the feeling of caring about others, especially family, the family that he lacked in his previous life.

Now, he wasn't like a drifting leaf without a purpose anymore. He had the place he could call home, and before he realized, he treasured it a lot.

Rudolph left home to seek what he lacked the most, experience, so that one day, he would beat Leto and take his position to lead the family.

And so, in this manner, the days passed peacefully.


章節 13: Recovery (3)

Leto's recent display of power doubtlessly coated his persona with a layer of mystery.

After his miraculous revival from the deathbed, there were already rumors going around about him, like how his survival was attributed to divine hands, how his personality grew and so on, but rumors were merely rumors in the end, not credible.

His 'growth' heard from the rumors was not enough to convince the family. Technically, Leto didn't need their approval, as only family head, Gile's words mattered. If Gile throned him his heir, then so he was. Of course, some people were discontent about it, as they had better candidates.

Rudolph was definitely the brightest candidate for heir's position. As he was defeated convincingly, at least 80% of opposition in the family was swept away.

Most of all, Leto's knowledge about internal energy, his calm demeanor displayed, and unfathomable killing intent revealed, puzzled and silenced everyone.

If his display of mystery and power made the family wary of him, his closeness with his siblings and sharing the secret of training internal energy with them, the younger generation of the family convinced the most people, so he received a lot of approval.

In truth, even some family's older generation was interested in internal energy, but they weren't thick skinned enough to ask junior for guidance.

A few days later, Leto announced, he would be shutting himself off in his private garden for the closed-door training. Nobody was to disturb him.

The gardeners were fired, while his place was guarded by loyal subordinates, so Leto didn't have to worry about anyone bothering him. As his position was already more or less acknowledged in the family, his words carried significantly more power.

Days passed. Currently, his garden couldn't be recognized anymore, as it had undergone an astonishing transformation.

Sitting at the stone table, Leto was enjoying his meal, slowly biting into the pink tender flesh of the fish he had caught and mutated in the lake of his garden with vitality essence.

Every bite diffused with a warm stream of energy, spreading around in his body and slightly enhancing his body and spirit.

Inhaling a breath of fresh air and surveying his beautiful garden, Leto felt satisfied. He spent quite a bit of vitality essence to transform the lifeforms of his garden to the next level, but this bit of expenditure wasn't enough to bestow spirituality upon them.

Still, this overall enhancement brought to this small piece of land and its nature turned the heaven and earth energy in this area richer.

The purer energy generated in the garden couldn't be completely contained. The territory encompassing the garden would also receive slight benefits. Crops would grow healthier. The environment would become slightly more refreshing and so on...

Evidently, cultivating in his garden would increase one's cultivation speed by 30-40% compared to the outside world.

Unfortunately, this didn't have an effect on body tempering realm warriors, who hadn't even established the foundation and strengthened their vessel to the level where they could take in heaven and earth energy and refine their bodies with it.

Leto planned to gift this place to his father, who was already at Qi gathering realm. It would be a great help to him.

Meanwhile, this place wasn't useless to him even though he hadn't reached the Qi gathering realm yet.

In this environment, his spirit was recovering at a stable rate. Also, the consumable meat, fruits or lake water from here were all great supplements to his sickly body.

Once again checking his Strength, Leto revealed a thoughtful expression.

''52...it should be enough. I guess it's time for a complete purge!'' His eyes shone determinedly as he undressed and entered the small lake.

It was time to completely remove the decaying worms from his body! The small amount of internal energy he had cultivated and the body condition he had reached were all essential for his plan.

Closing his eyes and eliminating unnecessary thoughts, the image of his soul appeared in his consciousness.

Generally, people couldn't access to their souls and check their spirit until a certain realm, but his soul-bound treasure permitted it.

This was why he wasn't afraid of sharing some crystal berries with his family at an earlier time. They would only feel it's really good, but wouldn't know its true value.

The blurred image of his soul became clearer. He focused on the engravings in his strange soul, which displayed his personal information.

[ Leto Lockhart

Cultivation: None

Bloodline: None

Skills: None

Vitality Essence: 607

Attributes:

Strength: 52;

Spirit: 102;

Internal: 16;

Qi: 0 ]

''Sigh, if I had some Qi, it would be so much easier. No problem, internal energy will make do. I have more than enough vitality essence too. As long as I don't pass out and see it to the end, I'll be fine.''

Internal energy was hard to control, but nevertheless, it could be 'shaped' and 'guided.'

With his unique soul, he was capable of using weak soul sense, hence all the worms were long since located. He also remembered each and everyone's position from the time he sealed them right after descending.

There were 37 worms in total. There could be no mistakes. If even 1 was left, it would quickly reproduce.

There was no problem with energy, only perseverance. If he failed to hold on, the consequences would be dire. The method of the purge was breaking the seal one by one and focusing all the internal energy on the worm to eliminate it.

For such precise control, high enough spirit was required. Fortunately, his spirit surpassed 100 points, which was slightly better than normal human's.

As to how to 'shape' the formless the internal energy, he had his method.

The red lights converged into a crystalized drop of blood, which shimmered with a garnet hue and vibrated slightly with a certain sequence, like a beating heart.

Leto gulped down the drop of blood. His mind cut off the connection with the outside world, as he reached the condition of full concentration.

Right above his Dantian, there was a faint dull white energy floating. It was the internal energy!

The internal energy was undying. Even if one's body was destroyed beyond fixation, as long as one had and was capable of using internal energy and had enough willpower, they could still move.

The amount of internal energy one was able to cultivate was limited, unlike strength, qi or spirit, but this didn't downplay its role in any way.

With his weak soul sense, Leto detected another type of energy, which originated from the drop of blood he had consumed. It diffused around his body's blood vessels, muscles and flesh like tree roots.

He guided the etherial internal energy and coated it with the blood energy, which made it much more violent and destructive. It was hence, successfully shaped and could be guided with more precision.

One by one, he removed the seal from the decaying worms and ambushed it swiftly with now violent internal energy.

He sweated profusely, while his body constantly trembled. The lake water around him was sizzling and evaporating into a mist.

Three minutes later, he opened his exhausted eyes, which had a hint of happiness in them.

''I succeeded!''

It wasn't as painful as he expected, but it was challenging nonetheless.

He checked his reddened skin, which also had a black sticky layer stuck on it. After washing away the filth, he came out from the lake and dressed up.

His weighted down heart was finally free, which brought a natural smile to surface on his face.

After 3 more days of spending in a healthy environment, he completely recovered!

His strength reached 61 points, which might already be better than original.

''I can finally start cultivating!'' Leto thought excitedly and looked at the door. It was time to exit his closed-door cultivation.

''Young master.'' The guard slightly bowed, seeing him come out.

Leto nodded at him.

''Young master, the Lord wishes to see you.''

''Okay.'' He replied to another guard happily. He also wanted to see his father.

He proceeded to Gile's room, while completely oblivious about the chain of events, that occurred in his absence.


Load failed, please RETRY

每周推薦票狀態

批量訂閱

目錄

顯示選項

背景

EoMt的

大小

章評

寫檢討 閱讀狀態: C12
無法發佈。請再試一次
  • 寫作品質
  • 更新的穩定性
  • 故事發展
  • 人物形象設計
  • 世界背景

總分 0.0

評論發佈成功! 閱讀更多評論
用推薦票投票
Rank 200+ 推薦票榜
Stone 0 推薦票
舉報不當內容
錯誤提示

舉報暴力內容

段落註釋

登錄

tip 段落評論

段落註釋功能現已上線!將滑鼠移到任何段落上,然後按下圖示以添加您的評論。

此外,您可以隨時在「設置」 中將其關閉/ 打開。

明白了