Damien asked, "Are you sure she knows about its location?"
"I will find out by the afternoon and tell you," Mina said with a smile.
"Now that's my cute Mina. You are indeed the best royal sister I have," Damien chuckled as he pulled her cheeks.
Mina panicked when Tristen's hands reached out for her. But seeing that he was only doing a harmless action, she felt relieved.
Besides, his words sounded like a genuine compliment, making her smile.
She looked at him and, for a moment and felt that he seemed like a different person. But then she shook her head inwardly, thinking that Tristen had finally decided to reform since all the pressure was on him now.
So, unless he wanted to lose the race for the title of the crown prince, he would have to step up.
Even though she didn't like Tristen, seeing him plead before her made her heart go a bit soft, and she decided to help him out in the hopes that he would change for the better.
At least that way, she would be able to save countless others from his lecherous claws.
And taking an interest in something profound as the art of formations itself was a big step for him in her eyes.
Damien soon left the imperial library and fell into a thoughtful mood. He felt that even if he gets the location, it would be in a very secure place. And if it was not in the imperial treasury, then the place where the needles would be might be even more secure.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})However, he wondered if there was even a place more secure than the imperial treasury. After all, even before one can reach the doors of the treasury, there were countless killing arrays that could shred a practitioner into pieces unless they had the right token to neutralize the arrays.
He felt that first, he should improve his image as a prince and gain some favor. However, he was not in his original body but the body of Tristen.
Thus, he didn't have his Origin Seed which meant that he wouldn't be able to use his Anti-God skills, which were dependent on his Origin Seed.
Tristen also didn't have a Lightning seed, because of which his Elysian Lightning of Retribution arts would also be useless.
He has a Wind seed and can use it for basic attacks. However, he would have to comprehend Tristen's Wind Elemental Arts if he wanted to use it for himself since his soul hadn't comprehended them yet.
But even in the off chance he was able to comprehend them fully within a short time, his combat prowess would still be considered "weak" when compared to other geniuses of his same level.
He would be considered obsolete with his present cultivation, and compared to the likes of Arthur; he would be way below.
This was the reason why the emperor was becoming frustrated with him. How can he make someone who can't even rival the geniuses of other empires a crown prince?
Damien could even say that the emperor was starting to subtly favor the crown prince by even letting him wed the daughter of the strongest supreme elder.
"I guess now's the time I should use my alchemy prowess…" Damien mumbled to himself as he felt that this was the only way that could make other's opinions about him turn around.
Even if he knows most don't consider an alchemy expert to be equal to someone with strong cultivation, he was confident that he could make them doubt that fact once they see his expertise.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})And with this idea, a sinister smile crossed across his face, thinking how he can use this idea to pay back the Gale Empire for what they did to the Rong Empire.
He ordered his servants to buy him the best cauldron and certain herbs as fast as possible.
Sensing the urgency in his tone, more than five servants went in five directions to procure the items he had listed out.
Within just half an hour, they made it back and handed it all over to Tristen.
However, they were utterly puzzled, wondering why the second prince was suddenly asking for things related to alchemy when they had never ever seen him even study alchemy. Nor did he seem like the kind of person to study such things.
They all knew his infamous reputation for sleeping with women left and right. Of course, most of the men with powerful status did this. But Tristen was too blatant about it without caring to be more discreet.
Damien ignored their subtle confused and surprised expression and quickly went back to his room.
He arranged the cauldron and all the necessary herbs neatly before him and started to focus on Tristen's soul plane to manifest an etheric fire.
Hours passed, and it was afternoon when Damien heard a knock on the door.
Damien got up from his meditation pose, cleared the medical smell permeating through his room with a wave of his hand, and said, "Come in."
He had also stashed away his cauldron and herbs in his spatial ring.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})The doors opened, and he wasn't surprised when he saw that it was Rhea.
However, her disappointed expression was obvious enough for Damien to know what happened.
However, he still asked in an expectant tone, "How did it go?"
Rhea looked at Tristen with an angry expression, "How do you think it did go? I even had to hear a mouthful from him just because I tried to ask for a Saint Grade artifact for someone as useless as you. He said never to mention such outrageous requests again unless you want your legs broken."
'Phew...Tristen...you really have a good dad…' Damien commented inwardly.
She continued in a lamenting tone, "Now I feel like I lost more of my prestige in his eyes. Now that vixen will surely take this opportunity to please him and put powder in his eyes."
She looked at Tristen with a frustrated expression, "Just forget about these stupid formations and all. At least, why can't you improve your cultivation by a single level for these past few months? That's what matters in the end. Learning other things are all secondary and could only take you so far."
"Mother, do you want to feel younger?" Damien suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Rhea was confused with Tristen's sudden question, which had totally no context with what she was talking before
However, for women like her, age was always a sore spot. She frowned and said in a stern tone, "Are you saying I am old?"
Damien rolled his eyes and said, "No. Did you even listen to what I said? I asked whether you want to feel younger?"
Rhea's brows relaxed, and after thinking about her youthful days, she said, "Of course, who doesn't want to? But why are you asking me all this? I was talking about something serious, and you are trying to change the subject by poking at my age?"
Damien smiled and didn't say anything back. He simply went closer to her and opened his palm before her.
Rhea's gaze narrowed upon his palm and saw a light pink pill with a fragrant smell.
She had never seen such a pill and asked curiously, "What's this?"
Damien put up a proud smile and said, "This pill will make you feel as if you are in your twenties. And not only that, it would make you even more beautiful."
Rhea stared at him for a few moments and then broke down into a soft laugh, "Haha, Tristen, Tristen...have you become so bored that you have time to come up with such jokes?"
Her brows furrowed as her tone became serious, "If only you had used this time to cultivate...would it kill you to do that?"
"Mother, first calm down. Haaa...I think it's time I told you the truth," Damien said with a sigh.
Rhea raised her brows, "What truth?"
Damien looked at the pill and said, "This pill is not a joke. For the past few months, I have been learning alchemy. And I found that it seemed more interesting than simple cultivation. I felt like I could do wonders and achieve miracles by pursuing this path."
"What?! Alchemy?" Rhea had a stupefied expression and continued, "What nonsense are you spouting? Just today morning, you told me that you saw alchemy as a boring subject. Then what's with this now? Is it because you felt that learning the art of formations was hopeless?"
Damien put up an exasperated expression, "No, no. You completely got it wrong. In fact, my expertise in alchemy had reached the level of senior experts that I even shocked myself. That was why I wanted to learn the art of formations too and become a super expert in these two fields."
He then continued as he again showed the pink pill to her, "Now, why don't you try swallowing this if you don't believe me. I will do anything you say if this pill ends up as a joke."
