Ishtaq was a really, really bad guy. He was grumpy, greedy, and snobbish, just like a brat.
At least, that was what Damien thought after staying with him for a few weeks.
The way Ishtaq treated him during that time made him think like that.
He had him cook for him, clean the house for him, wash his cloth for him, and even earn money from him.
He was born into a wealthy family. When had he ever had to do such things?
However, for the sake of getting stronger and acquiring the sky-rank physique, he endured it.
He even stole the money that Vivia had given to Damien, only to gamble it all away in one night.
Damien almost thought that he and his family had been conned by this shameless man, but when he felt his constitution changing and his strength rapidly increasing due to his training, he couldn't help but believe him.
Ishtaq was making him do housework as it was a good way for a young boy like him to establish a foundation for learning the secret draconian arts of the Baldwin Clan.
After Damien established it, Ishtaq earnestly taught him the Ancient Dragon Magic and also enlightened him about the Fire Force and the Draconian Claw Force. At the same time, he had him take a medicinal bath every night. The materials used to give the bath water mystical properties were impossible to find in the wilderness. They could only be acquired from forbidden grounds. Normal humans will die refining it if they haven't awakened and unlocked a chain of restriction. But Damien was a hybrid.
Using the Limit Breaker Technique, he broke his first limitation when he was just ten years old, allowing him to take the constitution-changing medicinal bath.
At first, he found it torturous, but after months of consistently soaking in it for three hours every day, he became used to it.
This led to Ishtaq drastically increasing the amount of time Damien was meant to experience it in a day.
To hasten the process of changing Damien's constitution, Ishtaq fed him the marrow-cleaning superior-grade elixir that can only be created by a king of alchemy, and the empire had only three such beings.
He also made him consume precious elixirs and herbs that even Realm Lords would salivate over, such as the honey of ancient bees that was known for strengthing the bones and making the joints so indestructible and flexible that they couldn't be dislocated by normal means or the thousand years old body-remodeling divine herb, which could only be found in the empire's forbidden and had the special property of forcefully alleviating one's physique by a few levels without leaving permanent injuries.
It was extremely painful for a young boy to consume all such things as the medicinal energy contained inside them was so much that a normal person's body would burst after taking them. However, he gobbled them down so that he won't end up as a disappointment and so that when the time came, he would be able to process his divine power without a hitch.
It caused him excruciating pain that was as worse as a thousand fire ants biting the body, but he endured it with gritted teeth.
And... it was well worth it.
After all, he gained a sky-rank physique in return.
It was called the Golden Lotus Physique.
The best thing about it was that it could process divine power, although a limited amount of it.
When he received this physique, Ishtaq took him to the Imperial palace, where the Imperial Preceptor taught him the method of connecting with the stars that contained the blessing of the Water and Dragon Gods and drew divinity out of it.
He made friends with the princes and princesses during his time there. He always thought that they were the noblest of existence, but after spending time with them and catching them, picking their noses, picking up coins from the floor, sneaking out of the palace, and making trouble outside, the bubble of ignorance trapping him popped, and the way he looked at them changed.
After he learned the star-consuming technique from the imperial preceptor, he was later taken to the capital of Northern Dutchy by Ishtaq.
In that place, he learned the Sword and Ice Force from the Northern Heavenly Duke.
It took him a few years to master the Sword Force and gain insight into Ice Force.
Once Ishtaq found out that Damien could use Sword Force, he took him to the Water Celestial, who taught him the secret arts of the Water Deity Race and also revealed the glorious history of the Baldwin and the Water Clan.
After all that, he participated in the Awakening Ceremony at the age of 16, where he dominated his peers and suppressed the scions and hopes of countless noble families all by himself to become a legend revered by many.
That year, a monster was born, and every powerhouse wanted to tame him, but they were met with disappointment as not only did they fail to get him, but they offended him.
They first used the enticement method to bring him to their side.
When that failed, they tried to force it, threatening him to serve them if he valued his family.
Even though Damien was certain that they wouldn't be able to do shit against him or his parents, he was worried that they would go after his younger siblings or cousins and hold them hostage to threaten him.
These people had taken advantage of the war and cultivated many death guards in secrets. The emperor abolished and abhorred this practice, but he didn't know who was doing what behind his back.
These death guards were people who followed their master's orders to the end.
Worst of all, when they were caught, they would kill themselves with poison or something similar so as to take their master's secrets to their graves.
Basically, these people were so throughly brainwashed that they lived and breathed for the sake of their masters.
Anyway, they were a danger to his family, and he had had enough of people dying or getting hurt because of him.
So he showed them who was the real danger.
They offended him, not knowing that he was the legacy student of the Master of the Wandering Knights. Using his authority, he summoned the wandering knights and targeted them, mercilessly teaching them a lesson.
The shady organizations of the capital that went after him with ill intentions disappeared from the face of the earth. They were known for kidnapping children and engaging in human trafficking, but maybe because they had bribed the officials, so no actions were taken against them. Thus, when they disappeared, the public didn't kick up a fuss. Instead, they felt glad.
A few noble houses had their crimes, and secret headquarters exposed and were razed to the ground overnight.
This led to a heated debate in the court.
"I had some unpleasant thing in the morning. Is it true?" The sharp gaze of the handsome man sitting on the throne swept past his officials and stopped on the official that was the closest to him. It was his father-in-law.
Under his gaze, his body trembled unconsciously.
Was his son-in-law always so overbearing towards him? Yes, he was!
The prime minister knew that the Emperor didn't respect him.
He was a vain man who had done a lot of messed up things to become the prime minister, and the only reason he was still the prime minister of the empire was that he was the emperor's father-in-law.
If not for the fact that his daughter was the emperor's empress and the emperor sincerely cherished her and wasn't willing to see her in pain, he would have long lost his neck.
It wasn't just him who was trembling like a rabbit in front of a snake.
Everyone in the court also felt pressured, although the emperor's gaze wasn't on them.
"Is no one going to answer us?"
The emperor was a soft-spoken man. Rumors have it that his voice was as hypnotizing as a siren's cry. But everyone in the court knew that the rumors were true. His voice was as good as his looks. Due to all these perks, he had countless admirers, and many young maidens were crazy for him. But right now, no one was in the mood to admire it.
The old foxes in the court could feel an intense emotion of infinite depth hidden in his voice.
They could tell that the emperor was angry.
Answering him and telling him the truth would just make it erupt.
Not answering him would be like offending him.
And lying to him would get them beheaded.
They gulped.
Pin-drop silence followed.
"Yes, your majesty."
A newly recruited court official answered the emperor. He wasn't scheming enough to read the atmosphere.
'This fucker!'
Countless pairs of eyes landed on him. They were intense, and he felt them.
'What did I do?!"
He looked around and wondered why everyone, including his father, was looking at him like they wanted to kill him.
The emperor thought that he really needed young blood like him in the court.
"What were you doing when this happened?!" he scolded the officials in a raised voice.
Thud!
Seeing the frown on his face, the official in the court dropped to their knees. Only the new recruit was left standing. He was confused, but when his eyes met the emperor, he swiftly the footsteps of his seniors and kneeled. 'Ah! I really hate kneeling. The rules of this world are too backwatered.'
"Please appease your anger, your majesty." The officials shouted in unison.
"Who was it? Who dare kill others under our nose?!" The Sun asked them.
While kneeling and trembling, the prime minister gave him a reply, "I don't know who it is. But it's impossible for one man to do it. They must be a very large and powerful group. And I am certain that it is linked to the Rising Sky Dragon in one way or another."
The Empress warned him not to visit the court today as the Emperor was displeased and might punish him along with the other officials.
He was a coward, and it was quite common for him to become sick and use his illness as an excuse to skip the court day when the Emperor was angry.
But this time, he broke the common pattern.
He came here with a plan.
He wanted to pin the blame on Damien so that he would be punished and imprisoned.
The emperor had granted him the right to oversee it. So in that place, he was above all and below none. He was certain that it would be child's play to deal with Damien once he was there.
Why was he targeting him?
Well, it's because the people who were eradicated overnight worked for him!
"So it's him."
The emperor's eyes narrowed in pleasure.
His long eyelashes cast a shadow on his lower eyelids, and the light from the chandelier illuminated his delicate features, making him look fatally attractive.
A few officials peeked at him and blushed, and lowered their heads.
A devastatingly beautiful woman could cause the downfall of the kingdom, but the emperor was so elegant and so devilishly charming and handsome that he could make a kingdom-toppling beauty sacrifice herself for him with a few words.
The prime minister tried to gauge him.
No one was able to read the emperor's emotions, though.
'Maybe he is still angry.'
They weren't able to read his thoughts.
"What are you still doing here?" The emperor looked at them in dissatisfaction. "Get up and bring him to us!"
Following his command, the court officials stood up and bowed to him, "As you command your majesty."
And so Damien was brought to the court.
Actually, when he heard that the Emperor was demanding to see him, he barged into the imperial count.
