The sun sailed across the sky crossing its peak as Sam immersed himself in his study of alchemical theory as he normally did in the afternoons. Now that he was in the mana condensation stage, he could perform some of the exercises he read about in the text books. For the most part, the exercises were easy.

The first exercise he tried involved pulling a wisp of fire mana from the air and stretching it into a fine thread. Apparently, doing it would refine his mana manipulation. He had a hard time believing that, though. The exercise seemed so woefully easy he couldn’t picture anyone getting any kind of workout from it.

In that vein, Sam thought of a way to up the ante. In addition to the mana thread he already had in hand, he pulled one more moat of red from the air before stretching it into a thread and weaving it around the first. Then he added another. And then another. At four combined threads, the makeshift knot, no, strand, began to feel heavy.

Sam’s eyes lit up.

At the addition of a fifth thread, a prickling pain stabbed at Sam’s frontal lobe causing his control to waver. The strand shook and vibrated, nearly unravelling but Sam’s eyes continued to glitter.

The more threads you try to join together, the harder it gets. So this is the goal of the exercise. Sam thought, a look of realization on his face.

The space between Sam’s hands, where the strand of fire mana levitated, slowly began to heat up as the boy poured all his internal energy into trying to stabilize the volatile strand.

With sweat beading his forehead, the boy was finally able to add a fifth strand. The faint stabbing in his soul chamber persisted but Sam was getting used to it by now. Thus, he decided to add a sixth thread to his strand.

“Ngh!” Sam groaned as his head throbbed. The fire wisp wriggled and morphed as Sam refined it into a thin thread.

The throbbing intensified when he tried to bring the thread close to the strand. The repulsion that was only mildly annoying on the fifth thread was like trying to swim upward a waterfall when he tried to add the sixth.

His eyes reddened and blood trickled out of his nose as the heat between his hands caused the air to distort. The strand and thread of mana vibrated and shook uncontrollably before –

Bang!

The air combusted and a small explosion shoved the boy onto his back, palms stinging with a light scalding.

“Motherfu-” Sam was about to curse but cut himself off abruptly, a chilling sensation prickling at the nape of his neck. Looking around conspiratorially, his heart clenched when he saw his mother enter the study room with Will following close behind, a glare boring into his soul and causing his breathing to hitch.

Sam sighed helplessly. He knew he would definitely not be getting dessert tonight.

Unresigned, he unleashed his displeasure on the oblivious prince. It was this wicked person that had gotten the word stuck in his head!

“Prince of the weaklings,” Sam called out. “You done with your cleansing?”

Will glared briefly before shaking his head. He had completely given up on getting any respect from the brat. Deciding to focus on the latter half of the sentence, a smug smile spread onto his face. “Hehe!” Will chuckled. “Yeah. That bath was heavenly! It was just as effective as an Earth rank purification spring. I managed to open two whole meridians with Lady Barak’s help!”

Will was beaming. It had taken him three years to open his twelve meridians. His fastest speed being opening two meridians in a single month and that had only been in the early stages. Later on, it wasn’t uncommon for him to take three months to open a single meridian! To now open three at once, all of which were the extraordinary meridians… Will was awestruck.

Lena had taken a year to open each of her two extraordinary meridians before she stalled for the next two years without opening the last one. The difficulty was self-evident.

“You’re lucky you’re my husband’s disciple.” Neva transmitted her voice to the boy. “But that Lena girl… hmph! Her purification is going to waste so many of my precious herbs. Even if she becomes my apprentice, she’ll still have to pay me back for the herbs I prepared for her cleansing.”

Will scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile before bowing in thanks for what must have been the fifth time.

Sam also paused in his study to pay attention to his mother who was in the process of seating herself behind the desk.

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With a mixture of sign language and voice transmission, she addressed the two boys. “Tomorrow, I will go with you to Silvestria. Their Elder council has summoned me.”

Sam couldn’t help but furrow his brow. He didn’t like the way his mother had phrased that. It was like she was being forced to go there. Just like that, before he had even laid eyes on a single elf, his opinion of them had gone down a peg.

Neva noticed Sam’s discomfort and smiled amiably. “It's not a big deal,” she said gently. “It's just boring adult business. Nothing to worry about.”

Taking on a more serious expression, she continued, “I expect they will have expectations of me. While I conduct that business, I will leave you under mage Rose’s care. Under the prince’s party, I believe we will remain there for at least three years.” Neva explained. “Little Sam, take note of their teachings of the arcane. While the magical lineage of the Woodland elves is not the best in this realm, they do have exceptional foundational knowledge.”

Will didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the woman’s shameless boasts. While he had no doubt that she was an Arch Mage judging from her alchemical skills alone, who would dare belittle the magical lineage of elves?

Three books levitated over from the shelf before settling down in a neat stack on the table. “These are all the notes you will ever need regarding your body cultivation until the peak of blood transformation. I have picked the most suitable methods for you and compiled them in these books. While I wouldn’t call their body forging lineage trash, It is still somewhat lacking. You can still peruse their teachings if only to broaden your knowledge. Just remember that you’re not elven. There will naturally be differences between your body and theirs which will lead to differences in body cultivation methods.”

Neva then addressed Will. “Though my husband has made his own preparations for you, these books can also be of some assistance to you. Since you are his disciple, my knowledge is open to you as well.”

Will bowed once more. “My thanks Lady Barak!”

***

The afternoon gave way to dusk which gave way to night.

Below a moonless night sky, Neva and Aziel, with the heavens as their stools, sat down on the empty air, their humble home lit up just a small twenty meters below them. If one were to stand outside and look up into the sky, however, even an almighty arch mage would be hard pressed to see them let alone catch a hint of their presence.

“Do not go to the Imperium,” Neva pleaded, concern evident in her tone.

Aziel smiled softly. “It is fine, you forget that I used to be a wandering swordsman with no backing. I know how to keep my head down. That celestial herb should help restore a bit of your strength, yes?”

Neva bit her lower lip in frustration before sighing helplessly. “It will take you years.”

Aziel’s smile widened. It was a bright carefree smile. “What is a few years to someone like me?”

Neva didn’t share in his enthusiasm. “Our boy will grow up.”

Aziel looked up to the sky, his gaze piercing through the firmament. In a tone rife with melancholy, he affirmed. “Yes. He will grow into a fine man. Because you will be here to guide him. Better he misses a few short years without his father than a lifetime without his mother.”

Neva could only shake her head in defeat. She knew how adamant her husband could be once he made his mind up. “How about the boy, Will?” She asked instead.

Aziel hummed, “Hmm, it is fine. A suitable inheritance will suffice for the mortal realms. By the time he is ready to breakthrough to the spirit realm, I will have returned. As for the resources… a man should rely on themselves. Plus, it is not like he is without backing.”

Neva agreed. “Don’t worry, those two children will make excellent companions for our son on his journey.”

The couple lapsed into silence and just observed the plain night sky, each to their own thoughts.

Today would be the last day of their seclusion. Aziel knew his wife had profound plans for the future. He naturally had many questions. Many things he didn’t understand. But he trusted her. If a celestial herb is what was needed to heal even a sliver of her soul’s injuries and recover a bit of her strength, then a celestial herb she would have.

“Be careful while I am gone,” Aziel spoke once more. “I know how temperamental you can be. Your strength is only at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm currently. While you can fend for yourself on Ashara, there are quite a few fellows beyond you in the outer continents.” He cautioned.

Neva nodded before she laughed self deprecatingly. “If those friends of ours in the Imperium saw me now… I wonder what their reaction would be.”

***

The night passed and tomorrow came as promised.

In the morning after breakfast had been eaten, Neva took the lead with Rose half a step behind as they led the three young ones outside the protection of the cottage formation.

Sam hugged his father goodbye while Will performed a bow of farewell after receiving his inheritance.

The young prince was still quite shaken by the manner in which he received his teachings. His master had merely placed a finger on his forehead before a stream of all kinds of breathing and circulation techniques, and sword and spear arts poured into his brain.

As far as he knew, even his father had never done something like this. This had caused his veneration for his master to only grow.

The party travelled on foot through the wilderness. A few times magic beasts would attack the party only to be dealt with by Lena and Sam.

Lena had mastered a few basic attack spells that she used in tandem with the sabre arts she trained in while still in the body tempering stage while Sam relied on his trustee sword.

As for the young prince… he was too weak. He carried the supplies in a backpack and mostly stuck close to the two adults, a fate he was all too happy to express his discontent about when he grumbled alongside them. Will’s mood only improved when he went with Sam to hunt game for their lunch.

The pair moved at a leisurely pace, the adults making sure the youngsters got the experience they needed. As for Rose, she flared her aura whenever she felt a threat that the children couldn’t handle draw close. The method was effective but imperfect.

On the second day of their journey, a pack of dire wolves ignored her aura check and besieged them, the alpha attacking Rose straight away.

The mage beheaded it with a single wind blade.

The rest of the pack became even more aggressive at the sight of that but quickly dispersed when Rose killed ten of their number immediately after with one area-of-attack spell.

It wasn’t until the afternoon of the third day that Sam noticed the forest start to change.