Inside a spacious and luxurious castle was a room decorated with great splendor.
Outside this room were a large group of people in various housekeeping attire pacing around in circles with nervous looks on their faces.
"Is the Lady of the house gonna be alright?" One of the younger-looking women in a maid-type outfit asked a question with obvious worry apparent on her average-looking facial features.
"She will make it through; just believe in the power of the Royal Bloodline, and all will be fine," responded an elegantly dressed older man with black slicked-back hair.
"AHHHHHHhhhh" A loud feminine scream was heard again for what felt like the hundredth time for the housekeepers waiting outside the door to the absurdly lavish-looking room.
"AHGHGhhhh...." And then the screams started to die out until no more sound was heard outside the large room.
After a while, the maids that were inside the room opened the door for the housekeepers stationed outside before allowing them entry into the room, and that is when everyone heard the gruff-sounding voice of a large man with long dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and a big belly. A man whom everyone in the kingdom of SunBurn called their King, King Adam Sunburn.
"So, it's a boy! Good job, Amanda! At least you did better than that whore of mine who couldn't even produce a single male heir, Execution was a mercy for her." That fat king said with satisfaction and a bit of annoyance at the last part.
"Just make sure to be quieter next time you give birth. All that screaming you did was annoying." The King huffed, filled with displeasure at all the screaming that had transpired.
The King's words had put a small frown on the woman the king called Amanda's face for just a moment, but she hid it as fast as it came and put the biggest smile she could muster on her already exhausted face.
Amanda, the queen of SunBurn, has long brown hair and clear blue eyes with a shapely body; she looks not a day over 25 but is, in reality, far older than she appears.
"Of course, my King, it is my honor that our child pleases you." The Queen responded with a hoarse voice and a fake smile.
"At least you realize that much," The fat King responded in a haughty tone as if he thought it was a privilege to give birth to his child.
The Queen's thoughts were not too pretty at this moment, but she soon ignored them when she saw who, or rather what was coming through the door at this moment.
"Ah, the Spiritual Root Test ball has arrived. Hurry and put it up to the boy this instant!" The Fat King commanded the steward who was carrying the ball in a tone that allowed no refusal.
The man almost pissed himself at just the mere thought of getting on the Fat King's bad side.
The fat King was not the least bit scary, but he was, in the end, the king of a kingdom, and that was all he needed to command anybody to do whatever he so wished in this kingdom of his. The steward carrying the ball then hurried as fast as he could to the Swaddled baby the Queen had in her arms.
'Testing Spiritual Roots' Words started to appear on the ball the steward was holding up to the baby.
The King and Queen had expectant looks on their faces as they stared intently at the ball, but the next words would leave them utterly dumbfounded.
'Spiritual Roots - none'
'Cultivation Talent - none'
'Future combat potential - none'
'Overall evaluation - Useless'
At this point, the King and Queen and even the other housekeepers in the room had completely stunned looks on their faces.
None of them knew how this could be possible; that baby was the son of the king, a descendant of royalty…
How could it be possible for him to not have any talent for cultivation? How was it possible for a son of the king to be deemed useless?!?.
None of them made a sound nor moved a step, that was until the king finally came out of his stupor and shouted with killing intent to the steward carrying the ball in a way of urgency.
"This can't be right!! No son of mine can be trash!! Test the boy again! test him right this instant!!"
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The Queen’s eyes flickered for a split moment as if she knew something when The King brought up the topic of the Baby not being his, but she decided not to say anything.
Meanwhile, The King was spitting all over the place with every word he yelled; he was so angry right now that his last words came out in a flurry. He refused to believe that any descendant of his was incapable of cultivating; he wouldn't accept it.
The Steward moved the ball so fast from fear towards the baby in the Queen's arms that it was almost as if he teleported.
He moved on pure instinct, his instinct was telling him that if he didn't move, the King would kill him. There was no doubt in the steward's mind about that fact.
"YES YOUR MAJESTY!!!" The Steward responded in post haste as he already put the ball up to the baby again.
Words started appearing on the ball again as the king was practically giving it a death stare, but the ball didn't care one bit.
'Testing Spiritual Roots'
'Spiritual Roots - none'
'Cultivation Talent - none'
'Future combat potential - none'
'Overall evaluation - Can't get any more Useless'
The King was practically erupting in fury at this point, his fat rolls going up and down with every stomp he took.
The floor was practically screaming for help as it started to crack in a spiderweb way underneath the king's power, even though the entire castle was enchanted to withstand full power attacks from Soul Transformation stage cultivators; it was barely holding up against the fury of the fat king.
"This can't be!!! I refuse to accept it!!! I refuse to accept that I gave birth to trash!!!! I refuse to believe that I gave birth to something so useless!!!!" Fury filled the fat king’s heart as he started yelling again…
The Queen practically confirmed her theory when the spiritual ball tester was used again, but once more she decided to keep quiet and pretend to be stunned as well.
The fat King was absolutely furious as he started to scream and spit out like a madman, a madman who refused to accept reality. The Queen, who was still ‘stunned’ from the first time the ball was tested, awoke from her ‘stupor’ only to hear the same result again.... well, she practically lost it as well and started mumbling in an incomprehensible way.
"Ho-How can this be?!? How could something like THAT come out of ME of all people?!? I cannot accept this!" The Queen asked herself while an incomprehensible feeling welled up within her.
The housekeepers, maids, and stewards were still lost in their own little worlds with no clue on how to handle this situation.
They had never seen or even heard of a case where a descendant of royalty was born without the talent to cultivate…
Hell, even every descendant of common nobility they heard of had at least the lowest-ranking spiritual root, and yet.... a prince of one of the highest social standings in the SunBurn Kingdom was born as useless as they come.
It was unbelievable for those witnessing this scene, to say the least. That was when both the King and Queen of SunBurn came to a common consensus without even speaking to each other and shouted as if in sync.
"Get rid of that trash!! Now!!" The King and Queen yelled in unison.
"I don't care what you have to do!!! I just want that trash out of my sight this instant!!!! Dump it in the woods as wolf food for all I care!!" The Fat King screamed in anger, so much so that a vein was bulging on his forehead.
The stewards were still trying to process what their King and Queen just commanded them to do with a stupid look on their faces…
Until they finally snapped out of it and hurried over to the Queen with a basket and blanket in hand.
The king finally gained clarity back in his eyes as he found a solution to his new problem; he then spoke his next words in a tone as threatening as possible.
"Tell everyone that thing that died while being birthed, and I assume that everyone here knows what will happen to you if anything that occurred here today is leaked to the common populace?" The King's words sent a cold chill down all the housekeepers' spines, as they fully understood what would happen to them if they told anyone the truth about the prince, and it wouldn't just end with a simple death.
No, no, no, they and their families would be tortured for days on end until they finally succumbed to their injuries and died very slow and painful deaths. They shuddered at just the thought of it.
The stewards who were now carrying the baby in the basket and heading to the door, as we speak, understood what they had to do.
They were gonna kill an innocent baby, albeit indirectly. The baby was still gonna die all the same because of them, but they had no choice in the matter; it was either them and their family's heads or the life of a baby that wasn't even related to them. The choice was obvious for the stewards.
The King and Queen began to sigh in relief when they saw the stewards leave with the baby towards the forest.
They were relieved that their problem was about to disappear, but that was when they realized something peculiar about the baby boy they just sentenced to death.
The baby never once cried, not when being birthed and not while its fate was being decided; it didn't even cry with all the yelling its parents were doing.
They began to think that the baby was smarter than any baby they had so far, but soon dismissed their thoughts when they remembered what the ball said about his non-existent cultivation talents.
"A smart boy with no cultivation talent is a useless boy all the same." The Fat King spoke out loud with a pissed-off look on his face due to the seed he wasted on making that wastrel.
Meanwhile, in the Great Wildlands Forest thousands of miles away from the SunBurn kingdom.
Ten minutes after the baby prince's fate was decided, there lay that same baby prince with bright blue eyes and black hair staring face to face with a 10-meter-large white wolf.
For but a moment, if anyone was listening closely enough, they would hear a voice that didn't quite match a baby's voice coming from the direction of the baby prince that sounded something like-
'Well, shit…’