Armad was on his way to the kitchen, having decided to go and see for himself since it all had to do with food.

The door to the kitchen was opened, and on seeing him, all the kitchen staff curtsied to him in greetings.

"Whose turn is it to cook today?" he asked. The kitchen became quieter as they all cowered before him, thinking that something had gone wrong with the food they made.

But then, can anything possibly go wrong with it since it was the type of food they usually cook?

After some time, a man raised his hand. "It is me, your highness," he confessed. Armad looked at him appraisingly for a while. He couldn't be more than forty, but he looked calm and composed to the point of confessing when everyone was cowering.

Thereafter, Armad excused the others and detained the man. He ordered him to lock the door when they were all gone.

Only the two of them now remained in the kitchen. The sunlight streamed through the open window and lightened up the room. Everything was quiet before Armad spoke again.

"Show me the food," he said. The man hesitated. Had someone said something against the food they cooked? The news about the prince being shot was known by all, and he feared that someone had secretly poisoned the food, which could implicate him. If it was so, then there was nothing he said or did that would exonerate him.

Unable to speak, he pointed rather weakly at the pot.

Without much delay, Armad walked towards the pot and opened the lid. He picked it up and tilted his head backward, tipping the contents of the pot towards his mouth.

The cook looked on with his mouth hanging open, and he almost lost his balance and fell from surprise. By rule, lowly servants weren't allowed to behold how the nobles ate.

As for the King and prince, the servants were required to turn their backs to avoid seeing how they ate. Anyone who witnessed the King eating had certainly called for trouble.

Was this a dream? The cook wondered if he would soon wake up from seeing the son of Arion lifting a pot by his Royal self. A pot with soot all over it, for that matter. And to think that he poured all the contents of it inside his mouth without waiting for a plate. Barbaric!

But Armad was oblivious to his musings as the soup kept dwindling until there was nothing left in it. It was a large pot that could at least feed forty people.

Now, the cook's thoughts switched from wondering about how the prince lifted the pot to the amazement of where the soup could have gone.

Stolen novel; please report.

A single person couldn't possibly have eaten all that soup, however hungry he might be. But he reined in his surprise since he figured that it had something to do with cultivation.

His fear overruled his surprise as he began to wonder if the prince had any intention of ever letting him go alive.

Most of those who witnessed such things were never spared. They normally didn't see the light of day for fear that they might soil the name of a noble by revealing what they saw.

When Armad finished eating, he glanced down at his stomach and wondered where all the food had gone.

However, at that moment, he received an alert from the System. A glowing box appeared with the message:

[The System has received new substances from the food you ate just now. You have also formed more than ten substances from it. Going by your spiritual sense and the level of your cultivation, you can make use of five substances. Do you want to use them and create pills?]

Armad answered affirmatively. The System immediately went to work, and shortly afterward, the pills were ready.

Armad knew it wouldn't be wise to reveal his secret. In an attempt to divert attention, he pivoted towards the cook and asked, "What is your name?"

The cook stammered, "Mu-Musa."

Armad studied him; he had never seen him before, even though he and his colleagues were his servants. It was the first time he had set foot in the kitchen. What could bring a king to the kitchen?

"Musa," he said eventually. "I want you to make sure not to reveal anything you saw here just now. Let it be a secret that you will take to the grave. Doing that would be your ticket to staying safe."

He paused. "You can go on safely with your life, perhaps even earning a promotion. But you will have only yourself to blame if you divulge this to anyone."

On hearing that his life would be spared, the cook fell to his knees, overwhelmed with gratitude and shedding some tears.

Without another word, Armad left the kitchen. He had no intention of harming the man, but a warning was necessary in such crucial cases. It was a measure to prevent suspicion. If news of this were to leak out, Armad was sure that people would ask questions when they saw his cultivation skyrocketing insanely. If that happened, someone might connect the dots.

Armad wasn't about to let that occur, as a cultivator's secret was always the most valuable thing that ought to be protected. Making a slip of such secrets would deprive him of the advantage of surprise against his enemies.

He returned to his chambers and sat down on the bed. After placing the cultivation booster pills before him, he picked them up again and swallowed.

His cultivation rose again.

[You have gained an additional ten years to your cultivation. Your level of cultivation has now increased to late core formation.]

The System informed him.

Armad felt his body heating up as he sensed immensely greater cultivation running through his body.

When Armad left his own body, he had fifty-five years of cultivation, equivalent to the middle stage of ki condensation. But now, he had walked back in time and reincarnated in the body of Prince Armad, a son to High King Arion.

The prince was already in the core formation stage, which had three steps: early, middle, and late. The prince was in the middle stage when Armad arrived, but now he had attained the late core after taking the pills for a day. His cultivation had increased within a very short period.

He searched and found the rejuvenation pills in his bag. Swallowing one, the strength he felt almost instantly doubled. All his fatigue was gone. He felt that he could combat with someone with higher cultivation than himself.

When he felt the urge to go somewhere, he left the room. He was undecided at first but eventually resolved to return to the kitchen, thinking there must be something to munch on over there.