However, as he wanted to get up, his ears trembled.

*Knock Knock*

“Kaoran, are you there?” There was a voice above calling out to Illyan.

At that time, Illyan visibly shuddered.

‘Vael?’ Trying to guess why the old man was coming to his house, Illyan quickly jumped down, threw away his blood-soaked robe, and took out the barbs from his acupoints. He washed up as quickly as possible before putting on the physician's robe he usually used during his time consulting patients, cleaned up any blood, and ran upstairs.

‘Damn geezer, giving me a fright.’

After he hurriedly came to the doors, he took a deep breath before he finally opened them.

“Good morning, Mr. Vael. What brings you here?” The doors creaked as he looked outside.

This was the first time Vael had come here. It was no wonder since it was quite far from the institute, and old men like Vael could not walk such long distances that often.

However, now, the man came with rough clothing, a straw hat on his head, a shovel on his shoulder, and a bag full of things with a grin on his wrinkled face.

“Oh oh, finally you answered. This old thing thought I would die of old age here.” Vael laughed.

Illyan’s face twitched, but he let the old man in.

“So…” Illyan wanted to start a conversation and make tea for the man, but he just waved his hand.

“We don’t have time! Let’s go to your garden. And also, have you already finished the botanic books that I recommended?” Vael asked.

“Yes?” Illyan slowly came to understand what the old man came for.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s dig some holes for new babies.”

Seeing Vael so enthusiastic was very strange to Illyan as he showed him the way to the courtyard behind his house. After all, the man had helped him out several times, so he couldn’t just throw him out.

“Quite beautiful. It would be perfect to have afternoon tea here.” Vael nodded with a satisfied smile as he looked around.

Illyan just rolled his eyes.

“So you are here to help me with botanics?” Illyan asked with curiosity. He had never seen this man so forceful before.

“But of course, I can see that while you are quite knowledgeable about all kinds of herbs, it is more focused on their effects in medicine rather than knowing them properly.” Vael crouched down to one of the herbs, whose leaves had a yellow shade, and rubbed them with a disapproving gaze.

Illyan tilted his head. The color of the leaves was right, so why was he like this?

“The Olomaver Bushes’ leaves turn slightly yellow once it is time for them to bear their berries, but yours is just a few months old. That means that it is probably infested by some pests.”

He reached into his robe, sprinkled something on the plant before sighing, and turned back to Illyan.

“But I am glad that you are interested in this branch of study. Plants are such wonderful and unique things covering our lands…”

The old man started babbling about plants without caring what Illyan thought.

This annoyed Illyan a little, but the knowledge behind Vael’s words was precious, so he listened without interrupting the old man.

Now that he thought about it, Illyan remembered that Ollie, when he wanted to sell his herbology books, had told him that a physician named Vael actually confiscated the books before the transaction.

Illyan finally knew why.

He was really enthusiastic about vegetation.

“Actually, I didn’t come just to annoy you today. I remember when we talked to each other recently that you needed some other herbs that you couldn’t get anywhere.”

Vael said as he took out some bottles from his bag, where carefully stored seeds were.

“Oh?” Illyan opened his eyes wide. He didn’t expect that Vael would bring him other things after giving him so much already. It almost felt suspicious.

Vael immediately gave them to Illyan, who saw the labels on the bottles. He immediately recognized that some of them were even the ones he needed for the bath training.

There were some missing, but still, it was great.

“Why are you giving this to me?” Illyan asked doubtfully.

“Why? Didn’t I tell you last time? I am growing old. I can’t take the things I have into the grave, and the only one I want to give them to is a wild brat doing crazy things.” Vael showed a frustrated expression as he spoke.

“I have a small garden close to the institute, but most of the seeds would never have a chance to be planted there, so it is just better to give them to different people. Of course, the only one who would gladly accept these would be that smelly Perus, but there is no way I would give him anything. He would just try to make more money out of it, leaving the poor miserable.”

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Vael just shook his head. Then, suddenly, he pointed at the Bolokov Flower Illyan had planted the other day.

“We need to replant this. It can't be at that place, as the sun would shine there for at least four hours a day. However, this delicate flower grows best if it gets sunlight only three hours a day. That means…” Vael looked up at the sun with his hand shielding his eyes before choosing the new spot.

“This place would be perfect. One palm deep is enough.” Vael said as he pointed at the ground near one of the trees and put the shovel that was next to him into Illyan's arms.

Illyan didn’t like to be pushed around like this, but he actually liked the bluntness of the old man. It reminded him of the good side of his childhood.

Without saying anything, he simply started digging. He frowned a little since the shoveling reminded him of that fateful day, but he shook the thought off. It didn’t take long for him to create the hole as he was strong.

“Be careful of the roots of the tree, Kaoran. We don’t want to kill another plant for the sake of others.” Vael chimed in as he was tending the other herbs.

Fortunately, no roots were at the place where he dug a hole, so he was quickly done.

“Young ones are really full of energy. It was a matter of seconds.” Vael said with wonder as Illyan quickly dug up the flower before replanting it with Vael’s instructions.

……..

Several days passed in this manner.

At first, Illyan thought it would be just a one-time event but was surprised when Vael told him he could rent the carriage for cheap to visit often.

It seemed that one of the drivers once had a very sick son and couldn’t afford the medicine. However, Vael treated him for free. The driver could not give Vael anything of value except his skills in driving. They kept in touch ever since as good friends.

Thanks to that, if Vael really needed to go somewhere, he could just tell him.

In truth, he had many such connections across the town and even in other cities.

However, Illyan didn’t see him as a respectable physician but rather as an honest farmer.

He never noticed, as the physician’s robes were baggy and Vael seemed to be frail, but there were still some remains of well-sculpted muscles behind.

During these few days, they debated in depth over this topic and found great pastimes doing so.

Illyan was shoveling new holes for planting seeds as he sweated under the sun. Ever since he started to drink the Beast Serum, he was sweating much more. He still didn’t find the source of why this was happening, but he was sure that it worked. The Bakur inheritance, albeit barren, was full of useful things. He didn’t believe it wouldn’t work if he concocted it right.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the sun.

It was getting warmer.

At first, he didn’t notice, but recently, the weather was becoming warmer. The snow turned into rain, and the eternal white sky turned into a bright blue sky with the sun above.

“The spring is arriving.” Illyan smiled a little.

“It has already been several decades since the last spring ended. I guess the heavens want you to keep farming, haha.” Vael laughed as he noticed Illyan gazing at the thawing snow on the mountain trees in the distance.

“Heavens?” Illyan asked doubtfully.

“Don’t tell anyone, but I am not really religious. The three gods look shady to me. The church of three is propagated everywhere, but misery stands. Instead, the heavens are fair as they are the world itself.” Vael explained his view on the world, and Illyan nodded thoughtfully.

“I don’t really care about gods either. I just live the way I see fit.” Illyan shrugged. He wouldn’t say that in front of others so that he wouldn’t be called a heretic, but since Vael said his part, he didn’t mind sharing his view too.

“Haha, young cub tigers don't know the fear. Be careful with what you say; your head could be lopped off the neck for saying such blasphemous things.”

Vael warned Illyan out of goodwill since he didn’t want the young man to die early.

The good mood was accompanying them these days as Illyan was learning botanics during the day and was training and visiting Caleb during the night. Vael would probably be horrified that under the disguise of a compassionate physician, a cruel torturer and madman was hiding.

However, Illyan didn’t plan to be hindered by the morals of other people.

He had his own principles and would live the way he wanted.

“By the way, what is this herb? I never saw it. It looks kind of inconspicuous, but my instinct tells me a different story.” Vael contemplated as he found the hidden Firestorm Herb that was keeping all other herbs warm.

“I don’t know the name of the herb.” Illyan immediately lied. He didn’t know if Vael knew the name and just didn’t see the herb through his eyes.

Although there was just a small chance of that happening, if the man got greedy and wanted to steal the herb, Illyan would have to kill him or keep him in the secret room to get all the knowledge of the plants he knew.

That would be annoying. He was already tired of dealing with Caleb, let alone getting a new person.

Illyan’s experiments were coming to an end anyway, so he already planned to get rid of the man.

“What I know, though, is that it kept me warm throughout the winter and saved my life.” Illyan lied, but he couldn’t hide the warmth it gave off.

Actually, Vael probably already noticed that there was a slight change in temperature in Illyan’s garden but didn’t vocalize it yet.

“Oh!” The sudden hit of realization made Vael brighten as he observed the herb.

“Marvelous. I see that you have just a small part of it, so I won’t ask for a sample. However, can I ask you where you found it?” Vael asked as he patted the moss-like herb.

Illyan turned thoughtful. He knew that telling the truth thoughtlessly could cause problems. He had already said he was living in the south before, after all. But he didn’t know any other place in the south…

No, wait. He had been seen by other young villagers in the northern villages a few months back anyway. So saying this would be for the best…

“It is from the Alchemy’s Doom Forest. When I was small, I lived in one of the villages at its edge and found it by accident. It kept me warm, so I took it with me.” Illyan said with a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

He was telling half-truths, so he indeed felt a little nostalgic.

“When the village was starving, my family decided to leave for the south. Now, after many years, I found out the village was already abandoned. I also tried looking for new herbs recently since I finally realized the value of this herb. Unfortunately, I found none.”

“Hmm…” Vael nodded.

“You were indeed lucky. The Alchemy’s Doom Forest is infested by barbarians, so they probably were collecting this kind of herb to keep themselves warm too. If I am not wrong, then this kind of herb is not something mere mortals could find. Looks like the heavens favor you.”

“What do you mean that no mortals could find?” Illyan was confused. Did he mean by that that the normal herbs were Mortal Stage? Was this kind of knowledge that most people with some education had?

“The herbs we are collecting are just normal plants, but some of them are much more magical than any of us can imagine. I heard that southern jungles have the most unique herbs and vegetation in this world where plants could be man-eaters or could even move themselves to replant in different places. There are even some that can treat incurable diseases...”

The passionate yet kind of wistful voice of Vael was interrupted as knocking resounded from the front of Illyan’s house.

‘What now?’ Illyan felt a little annoyed that so many people were always knocking on his door wanting something.

But there was nothing he could do as he left the garden with Vael to see who was behind the doors.