Inside a bathroom vaguely veiled by water vapor, Roel leaned against the corner of a huge bathing pool as he stared at the extravagant hanging lights above him in a daze. A long moment later, he breathed out deeply and lowered his head to gaze downward.

  “.……”


  It still isn’t resting, huh? Looks like I need to bathe a little longer.

  “Haaa.”


  Roel sighed deeply as he scooped up some water and splashed it on himself, hoping to cool his overheating head. However, it was hardly effective at all.

  Truth be told, Roel’s senses were a mess at the moment. The excessive life force he had absorbed was currently rampaging within his body. He felt like someone who had drunk an entire vat of ginseng wine, leaving him with more energy than knows what to do with.

  Looking at his body, which had turned light pink like a crab fresh from the steamer, he couldn’t help but remember the chaos that had transpired just an hour ago.

  At that time, in order to recover from an extreme case of life force deficiency, he underwent special treatment from Alicia. This was all in accordance with Andrew’s suggestion, but for some reason, despite having chosen the easier to control bodily fluid transference method, he still ended up taking in a severe overdose of life force.

  Roel was initially intending to collect Alicia’s tears for the treatment, but due to the vehement rejection from the latter, they ended up going for a rather amorous ‘wine feeding’ instead. It should have been easier to control the dose of life force through this method, but for some inexplicable reason, he still ended up taking in too much.

  Even up to this moment, he still couldn’t understand how he ended up in his current state. In the end, he could only conclude that the life force he had received from Alicia had ended up reacting with the Pamela wine, resulting in an unexpected amplification of the side effect.

  He felt like his entire body was being swallowed by the heat, especially when Nora and the other girls were hanging around him earlier. In the end, he could only quickly escape the scene and try to cool himself down in an ice bath.

  For some inexplicable reason, he kept having the feeling that those girls weren’t too willing for him to come back to his senses. In fact, there was a look of displeasure on their faces when the servants delivered bags of ice over. However, there was no time for him to think deeper into it, for greater trouble awaited him.

  Around ten minutes after the three girls came to blows with one another, Carter and Bruce arrived on the scene together with Andrew and a few other notable figures. When the two fathers saw the door lodged in the ceiling, as well as the huge hole caused by Grandar when he manifested earlier on, they couldn’t help but glance at one another.

  It would appear that Roel’s intervention was a success. Grandar’s appearance had messed up the ‘crime scene’ sufficiently that the high-level transcendents were unable to make out what had happened. While everyone was still trying to make sense of the incident, Roel stepped forward to take the blame.

  “Lord Father, Uncle Bruce, I took in too much life force while recovering from my injuries earlier and ended up failing to control my mana properly, resulting in an unfortunate mishap. It’s good that Alicia, Nora, and Charlotte were present to stop me, or else the consequences could have been dire.”


  Roel’s apologetic tone left Carter and Bruce brooding deeply. The two of them traded looks before glancing at the three stiffened girls standing by the side. Honestly, it didn’t take much effort to determine the truth.

  Ah, it looks like my child has grown up. She even knows how to fight for her man now.

  Such thoughts arose in the two fathers’ hearts, leaving them feeling a little wistful. Bruce took another look at the apologetic Roel and immediately understood what he was trying to do.

  To put it simply, Roel was showing them a way to defuse the situation. He even went to the extent of destroying the ‘crime scene’ so that he could take the blame. It was really rare to see someone of his age able to be so meticulous and to handle the situation maturely. Naturally, Bruce chose not to pursue the matter but to cooperate with Roel.

  “I see. It’s indeed an unfortunate accident, but it’s good that no one was hurt.”


  With those words, Bruce was setting the tone for how the matter should be handled—’an unfortunate accident’. He stepped forward to hold the hands of the apologetic Roel and comforted him.

  Illness was always the perfect excuse for any accidents that occur. Roel was, after all, a patient, so any mistake he did couldn’t possibly be out of his own volition.

  It’s just a roof! Is that even an issue at all?

  As expected of the patriarch of a merchant clan, Bruce was extremely skilled with his words. Both Carter and Roel felt quite comfortable with the way he phrased everything, and the atmosphere in the room grew harmonious. The other high-level transcendents who tagged along also wisely chose to go along with the flow.

  After a series of ‘empathetic exchanges’, Roel, having completed his mission, took his leave and went to use the bathroom for a much needed cold-water bath. Now that he finally had some time to himself, he began thinking over the events that had happened over the last few days.

  “Grandar, are you there?”


  “I’m here.”


  A heavy and slightly hoarse male voice echoed in Roel’s ears. Following that, a surge of crimson mana zapped across the air and drew out a small skeletal figure before him. Roel heaved a slight sigh upon laying eyes on this skeleton, and he began voicing out the question he had been bottling up in his heart.

  “I had a dream a while ago……”


  While resting in the cold water, he began explaining to the skeleton what happened that night. Grandar listened to Roel’s story quietly, barely reacting at all, but when Roel mentioned that he had caught the attention of a pair of eyes, the light in the skeleton’s eyes narrowed a little.

  “.…… That could be troublesome.”


  When Grandar gave his view toward the matter, Roel couldn’t help but frown grimly. Roel had been saved by Grandar multiple times now, but the latter had always described most of the threats he faced as ‘minor’ and ‘small’. It was as if there was nothing too big for this humongous giant to handle. Yet, for the first time, he actually described something to be ‘troublesome’.

  “Is the owner of that pair of eyes powerful?”


  “I don’t know. The window was closed when you had that dream, so I couldn’t sense anything at all. However, the ability you absorbed indeed originates from a powerful monster. If that monster is the envoy of the Mother Goddess, it’s likely that Her powers are far beyond measure.”


  “Grandar, had you not heard of the Mother Goddess back in your era?”


  “I could have. Perhaps it’s because my head has become empty, but I’ve forgotten many things from the past. There are many details in my previous life that I don’t recall anymore.”


  Grandar hesitated for a long while before adding on.

  “It looks like it’s time to find some subordinates for you.”