Chapter 201: Precaution

Party.

That was what this was supposed to be but…

Not a word was exchanged since the food had been served.

Maybe… Arthur was too overwhelmed with happiness that he couldn’t muster any words to fill the awkward silence—or that was what I wanted to say, but—

Looking at the guy gobbling down huge chunks of food, I had to retract my statement.

Arthur was indeed happy, but maybe his happiness was on a level that was difficult to measure.

Turning to look at my right, Julien was the same, as he stuffed his mouth with roasted meat.

Sensing my gaze, Julien turned to look at me, but before he could make eye contact, I looked down, focusing on my end of the food.

I was the only one who was eating like a civilised person… Maybe she was too.

Raising my head slightly, I took a glance at Sophie, who was using a knife to carefully cut the meat into small pieces.

Noticing my gaze, Sophie returned it… with a stiff face.

Not caring for her reaction, I ate another piece of the roasted meat, which was seasoned perfectly to my taste.

With every bite, I thought about all the things that I had to complete before returning to the academy.

The list was longer than expected, though I wasn’t worried in the least.

Not every operation required my presence, as I just had to give Julien the necessary instructions, and then the soldiers under his command would complete the task as ordered.

“Hm? Why are you eating so little? Here.”

Arthur, seeing the limited portion on Sophie’s plate, added more meat to it.

“Uh… T-Thanks.”

Sophie, on her part, couldn’t really refuse such an act, though I could see that the newly added food had become overwhelming for her to eat.

Though Arthur didn’t seem to notice her reaction, as he continued his dinner.

Was this what they called a father-daughter duo?

I found such theatrics amusing, still chose not to react, as that would have been disrespectful given whose house I was eating at.

Now that Sophie had been cured, the only thing left was to start working on Arthur’s damaged mana core, though that would require quite a bit of time, as repairing a damaged core was a complex task, even with mana stones at our disposal.

Sigh.

There was a lot left to do.

***

“This should be enough for now.”

I uttered the words while looking at the mana stone in my hand.

Arthur sat cross-legged before me, his gaze as firm as his resolve.

After the dinner ended, Arthur had asked us to stay at his house for the night, but I politely refused the request, upsetting Julien in the process, as the guy was a little too excited to enjoy the stay.

And now… on my instruction, Arthur had arrived at the base early in the morning.

As the teleportation passage was now connected to Azuna, I was planning to spend some days there, practicing my combat skills in the wild while also increasing my tiers at the same time.

That was why I had to show Arthur the method to heal his damaged core, as I wanted him to be in his top condition before I returned from my trip.

“Here.”

Arthur caught the mana stone as I threw it in his direction.

The method to cure Arthur was easy yet time-consuming at the same time.

As a mana stone was able to react easily with mana and even absorb it from the mana core, the same could be said for the opposite, as an individual’s mana core was perfectly capable of absorbing the essence from the mana stone.

Now, calling it essence could be tricky, as it wasn’t the same essence that was present in a living being’s mana core.

But it was similar… as the essence was the main driving force behind the numerous qualities that a mana stone could display.

So, by allowing Arthur’s mana core to absorb the essence from the mana stone, we would easily be able to repair it to its original state, before it had been damaged.

The only issue was—

“Creating potions with the mana stones would be time-consuming, and even after consuming them, it would take a long time for you to repair your core, so—”

“I am ready.”

Arthur replied in a firm voice.

Taking a knife in his hand, Arthur aimed it at his belly before making a horizontal cut across the entirety of his abdomen.

Blood began to flow from the wound, though Arthur made no effort to heal it.

I observed as Arthur carefully brought the mana stone near the wound, before—

Inserting it into the cut.

Not even a single groan escaped from Arthur’s lips, as he pushed the mana stone deeper into his body.

“That should be enough.”

I commented, as I sensed the location of the mana stone was now closer to Arthur’s mana core.

“You may begin.”

On my instructions, Arthur nodded his head before channelling mana through his core and making it react to the mana stone.

As Arthur’s core was damaged, it needed something to heal itself.

Though Arthur was an Immortal with one of the greatest levels of mana control in the world, healing his core required more than that.

Mana control didn’t matter if there were no raw materials available at the mana core’s disposal to repair itself.

Right now… the availability of mana stones made the perfect material for the core to repair its damage, as I could sense the mana core attracting the mana essence from within the stone.

The process was slow, yet the most efficient given all the other options available at our disposal.

Seconds soon turned into minutes, as the entirety of the mana stone lost its glow, turning into a stone like any other that could be found on the ground.

The moment the absorption was complete, Arthur raised his head to look at me.

His eyes had no excitement that should have been expected from someone who had found a way to advance into the higher ranks—something that he had long lost hope for.

All that I could see was determination…

As for what that meant… only time would tell.

I knew how Arthur’s principles worked.

No matter what level his power reached in the future, his principles would stay the same.

After swearing his allegiance to me, Arthur wouldn’t betray me—or at least that was the assumption that I had made based on my knowledge from the game.

The character named Arthur Dimitri, even at death’s door, had never broken any of his promises or morals on which he had always operated.

And that remained the same when he had completely turned against the world.

So I just hoped that this version of him would stay the same, but—

I knew how the world worked.

Power was something that could blind anyone.

After advancing in his rank, Arthur may turn against me… there was still a possibility of something like that happening, but—

At the moment, there was nothing that I could do about it.

Right now, I needed Arthur more than he needed me.

The only solution to my problem was becoming strong enough to be able to survive and win against any variables that might erupt in the future.

“The availability of essence in mana stones differs for each stone. It doesn’t depend on the size of the stone, so make sure to properly analyse its effectiveness before repeating the process.”

Arthur nodded his head in acknowledgement, without speaking a single word.

Though I knew that from the inside, he must have been happy about the outcome… even I was beginning to find his behaviour a little weird, but chose to ignore it for the moment.

Arthur would have to repeat the same thing for at least a week to completely heal his damaged core.

The pain would be greater every time the process was repeated, but knowing Arthur, I wasn’t too worried about it.

Sigh.

Everything was going well… maybe too well.

I just hoped that I wouldn’t lose my bet on Arthur.

If the guy decided to rebel against me, then—

Haa…

I had to get stronger.

Though the worries clouded my mind for a moment, it was soon cleared as my logic took over.

From the beginning, I always knew the risks involved in every step that I had taken, every plan that I had formulated and executed with perfection.

Still, knowing the risk and feeling it up close were entirely different things.

Arthur’s talent was enough for him to become a Sovereign, coupled with his immense hard work, I knew that there was nothing that could stop Arthur once his core was repaired.

He would soon advance…

I didn’t know whether that was something to celebrate or mourn.

Hm?

Why was I being so negative?

Maybe… it was just a side effect of everything going according to my wishes.

Haa…

Success too could be bitter at times.

Still… now that I had made my choices, there was no turning back.

“You may increase your tiers if you wish to, but don’t go above Gold 2.”

Hm?

My thoughts were interrupted as I looked at Arthur, who had now stood up from his place, with no traces of blood left on his body.

A cleaning spell?

Maybe.

“Sure.”

There was no need for Arthur to inform me, as I knew the consequences of increasing my power too quickly.

It was like filling a glass within a second, rather than allowing water to slowly fill up its volume.

Any increase in a short amount of time could result in a situation of mana overload—which could be disastrous for my cultivation, as my methods of increasing power were the most unique in the world.

Though mana overload wouldn’t result in my death or crippled cultivation, still… it was better to be safe than sorry.

As they say—

Precaution is better than cure.

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