"Ughh" Lucius slowly pushed his body up. Disoriented, he scanned the decrepit room.

"Where am I?" He took a look at his hands and he didn't have the calluses he forged over his decades of handling Mephistos. His eyes fell upon a beautiful figure unconscious on the bed he was laying on. Before he could reach his hands out to wake and question her, he felt a lightning strike surge through his brain.

"Kugh.. Uga" Alfred pressed his hands against his temples trying to bear the pain. But what he saw astounded him. It was a flashback of Alfred's life. From the moment he was born to his parents cruel death as vengeance against his almighty grandfather. From his adoption to the moment he saved a peasant girl in his young teens. From his escape with said girl to his deserved death.

The memories continued to surge forth like an endless wave until the pain finally passed. His body spasmed the whole time, but the girl had yet to awaken. In cold sweat, he took a deep breath and evaluated his situation. He didn't know how, but it seemed God did him a favor. He furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought before finally accepting his situation. He looked at the woman's graceful features. She wasn't a exceptional beauty, but the kind of warmth she exuded was a warmth not inferior to a mother's embrace.

Lucius was not in love with this girl yet, but her loyalty towards her degenerate husband left a deep impression on him. He caressed the place Alfred slapped her and sadness and regret crumbled his cold exterior. He was angry at Alfred for treating such a woman so unjustly, but he had no where to vent his fury. The only thing he could do was make up for Alfred wrongdoings towards this woman. He grit his teeth, but seeing the woman's face caused his fury to cease as he looked at her with gentle eyes and delicately brushed her golden bangs that hid her light freckles.

"…my…wife…"

If his brother was here, he would know that Lucius had already completely fallen for this woman at this partocular moment.

He picked Alexia up, and carefully placed her atop his bed. He sat down beside her and entered a meditative trance.

In his past life, his control of qi was unmatched, but he had average spiritual veins and could only hold so much qi. He could use low and mid tier ignition techniques, but high tier ignition techniques would cost him his lifeforce because his spiritual veins did not allow him to hold much qi. Not to mention the fact that without reaching the Integration Stage, the ignited qi could harm the user without precise control.

"Early Materialization Stage… Wind affinity" As Alfred examined his body, he was disappointed to find that he had only unlocked the most elementary of stages. As he looked at his spritual veins, he heaved a deep sigh.

"His spiritual veins are below average. He'd be lucky to even use an early ignition technique and not perish from his lost of lifeforce..."

But who was Lucius? He was the number one expert in his past life!

"I'll just have to directly nurture my body with qi and reach the Deification Stage as soon as possible." Alfred murmured. This was the secret to reaching the Deification Stage! But with Alfred's talent it would take decades to reach that stage. Other cultivators had their suspicions, but directly nurturing the body with qi was ludicrous. Qi could only be held by spiritual veins. Anything else would explode from the violent energy! To control it to this degree, one with such skill would only appear every million years!

Nurturing his body with qi would increase his senses, strengthen his body, and permanently gain the physical attributes of his affinity. In his past life, he gained fire's explosive strength which allowed him to wield Mephisto. Once reaching the Deification Stage, he would be able to ignore the restrictions of his spiritual veins and return to his former strength by directly manipulating the wind essence of the world!

Alfred slowly opened his eyes and looked to Alexia. She was breathing heavily and her chest rose up and down in varied breaths. Alfred ran outside of their home with hurried steps for some water. He was surprised to see villagers within the town.

'It seems like those who knew they were infected didn't bother to try and get examined...' Alfred thought. The villagers were crying for help from inside their homes. They didn't want to die like this, but within a week the imperial guards would come again to burn down the town if there were any survivors.

"If only I cultivated…" Alfred heard a homeless man murmur.

Then Alfred had a flash of insight. He could forcefully open their spritual veins! As long as the villagers could absorb a small amount of qi and push it out, the impurities in their bodies would be pushed out along with it.

In his previous world, all peak experts needed this ability to awaken ancient divine ranked equipment, but was rarely, if ever, used on humans! If you didn't have the talent to open your own spiritual veins, why waste your time cultivating? Not to mention the fact that a disease like the Ash Death did not exist in Lucius's past world!

Alfred walked up to the old man, and he looked as if he saw a ghost. He had clearly seen Alfred's lifeless body.

As Alfred's hand reached for his forehead, the man slapped it away. Even he knew Alfred's reputation within the town.

"Let me heal you."

"What can a piece of trash like you do?"

"Please, I only wish to help…" Alfred truly wished to help the man for giving him that flash of insight, and lowered his head.

Seeing the serious and sincere expression on Alfred's face, with a gentleness no one has ever shown him, he relented.

"Hmph." the prideful old man bent forward and allowed Alfred to place his palm on his forehead.

The old man suddenly felt a surge of power within his veins like he turned twenty years younger.

"What did you do to me?" He asked excitedly, experiencing strange fluctuations he never felt before within his body.

"I need you to calm your mind and take deep breaths." Alfred reprimanded. "I want you to imagine your most treasured person placing their arms around you, gently enveloping you in their warmth…"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Ahh" The old man didn't have anyone, but unexpectedly he pictured a younger version of himself, when his possibilities were endless and the misfortunes of life didn't befall him.

"Reciprocate their affection, as much as you can." Alfred said, seeing the minuscule amount of qi he absorbed. 'Now all he needs to do is push the qi out of his body.' Alfred thought.

The old man cried tears looking at his younger self return his gaze with proud eyes. He returned an embrace of even greater strength.

The old man's body jolted and he saw black sweat and steam permeating from his pores. His fever was gone and he looked up to Alfred's figure, outlined by the shining sun behind him, like he was a god descending to aid the town of Renlo.

"May I have a bucket of water from the well?" Alfred pointed to the well, trying to free himself from the man's gawking expression.

"O-Of c-course, young master." The man readily complied and drew some water from the well into the nearest basin he could find.

Alfred paid no heed to the way the man addressed him as he could not wait to see Alexia's lively face once she awoke.

"Thank you." Alfred bowed to the man in gratitude.

"No, Findor does not deserve your words of thanks..."

As Alfred left, the old man looked at Alfred's straight back and clear gaze.

'This… This is a noble...' Remembering the indecent stories he had heard about nobles, he corrected himself.

'This… is true nobility.' And the old man bowed towards Alfred's retreating figure.

*****

Alfred tore a piece of fabric from the clean clothes Alexia washed earlier, drenched it in water, wrung it, and placed it on her forehead delicately. She showed no signs of waking up, which worried Alfred greatly.

The Ash Death slowly spread from her neck. At this rate, she would die within the week if he doesn't prolong her life.

He worriedly sat by her side the whole afternoon. At dusk, he noticed a knocking on the house.

As he turned, he saw the bright smile of the old man as well as a crowd of about thirty men behind him with feverish, skeptical faces.

"What is the meaning of this, Findor?" Alfred asked, his brows slightly furrowed. 'To come as a crowd in the night, could they have evil intentions?'

"No, not at all. After experiencing your grace, I gathered other men who could use your aid. They are willing to pledge their life to you."

"I see…" Alfred scanned the crowd of men. He was not a stranger to power, and would readily accept it. But he was wiser now. More power meant more attention, more problems, and most importantly, more enemies.

Most had an air of desperation. Before he could speak again, one man could not hold it in any longer.

"Please, help me! My only child is on the verge of death! Findor was infected and would die before us all, but he stands here healthier than I've ever seen him. Please, I don't know what you did, but please save my son! I beg of you!" The man pounded his head on the dusty floor. The impact was strong enough to make the cottage shake. Following his example, the thirty men bowed and Findor gave a helpless smile towards Alfred.

"… very well. Gather all the sick in front of my home. Do not disturb me until everyone is here." Alfred informed them, then quickly added, "I do not want your lives..."

They all did not have the option to doubt Alfred's words and quickly bought their family in front of the run down cottage. Alfred's gaze stayed fixed on Alexia's expression, looking for any sign she might awaken.

Within a couple of hours, everyone was gathered and Findor knocked on the wood of the house. As Alfred looked upon the group, his eyes landed on a prostitute he had frequently visited. She returned his gaze with a bitter smile, but his gaze shifted away from her as fast as it landed on her. As he continued to look at the group, he was glad there wasn't anyone too young as they might not understand the early Materialization Stage. He could prolong their life by feeding qi into their bodies, but that would be the extent of his abilities.

"Everyone line up!" Alfred said with a stern face. "I'll awaken your spiritual veins and Findor will teach you how to absorb and push the qi out your body. Once you've accomplished this, the Ash Death will be expunged from your bodies as you guys reach the early Materialization Stage! Any questions?"

Most commoners did not even understand the value of forcefully awakening spiritual veins in this particular world! Ironically, the prostitute understood the scale of what he was saying.

"H-How is that possible?" The prostitute asked with a shaking voice.

"Don't worry about it." Alfred said coldly, expressing his desire to no longer associate himself with this woman. "If there aren't anymore questions, line up!" Alfred said with a light smile.

Everyone lined up and received Alfred's "blessing," but they remained skeptical of his methods after hearing the prostitutes question and his vague response. However,  their doubts were dispelled within the hour.

"D-Dad, I think I did it!" A young boy exclaimed. The black sweat drenched his clothes and he smelled himself. "Eww, gross!"

"Congratulations." Findor replied stroking his beard.

"M-my son... " The man cried tears of joy and looked towards Alfred. As he noticed this, he only replied back with a nod and slight smile as he usually did.

'Is this really the same Alfred?' Everyone's thoughts were in disarray, but the certainty of surviving granted to them by Alfred, made them see him in a new light and elevated his position within the remaining group of people in Renlo.

As the night ended and everyone expressed their gratitude incessantly towards Alfred, everyone in Renlo was cured of their Ash Death, except one.