Throwing Caution In The Wind

Jada's health gradually improved, and just three months after Ryujin had introduced these training routines, she joined them in doing the light one's like stretching, squats, and running, albeit in little time and at well paced intervals.

Then as the months flew by, she began doing more intense ones until she could finally generate Vital Qi all on her own; however, the problem that faced the entire family was the fact that they lacked a perfect Qi or Blood Circulation control.

Ryujin would sometimes help them with this at night, and whenever he himself was to exhausted, they would all secretly try it themselves. Regardless, once they slept, their Vital Qi would naturally flow into every starved parts of their bodies on its own.

Due to their training, Lin and Jada became moderately bustier and firmer, their skin glowed and turned rosy upon coming in contact with any sort of radiance or heat.

Their hair grew longer, smoother and shinier, and in generally, they were so full of life and beauty, that they turned heads anytime they visited the marketplace and even caused problems with their smiles, since some husbands were too distracted to notice their wives presence.

Raja became bulkier, almost like a tank god, whilst Shin's muscles became more compact, filling him with an absurd amount of explosive strength and speed.

The changes in their skin, musculoskeletal structure, and gait turned heads wherever they went. Women blushed left and right and even sometimes blow kisses at them.

Raja kept an eye on Shin during these times, as he was intent on ensuring the latter only had eyes for his sister, whilst he himself basked in the vanity, since for some strange reasons, stroked and strengthened his ego.

Dara as well was no different, and soon enough, people began to wonder what was happening with the Shin Family, causing Ella's house to be filled with more customers who were intent on knowing the secret formula she had given to the family.

However, whilst all of these were happening, and the Shin Family celebrated the changes happening within and without them, Ryujin could not feel any sort of joy at all.

Make no mistake, he benefitted the most from the diets and training routines, both in physique, looks, stamina and capabilities (in the context of their respective capabilities to age group ratio), but the fact that he had not even begun cultivating the Body Tempering Stage frustrated him to no end.

And so, he was finally four years old. The period between four and six years in Atlantea was called "the golden age" since most children were big enough to have some freedom, and yet too little to be of any help in the daily activities.

They would be allowed to play all day without a care in the world. It was the perfect time to make friends and grow closer to one's own neighbors, deepening the ties between families.

The day of his fourth birthday, after he finished the chores, Jada and Dara introduced Ryujin to all their neighbors before returning home.

He was supposed to socialize and play, but Ryujin had other plans. There was no amount of failures or grieve that could make him ignore his desire for cultivation and thirst for power.

Thanks to the improvement of his family's views about him, he had come to learn about more important and life-changing aspects of his family that he would have otherwise never been told.

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Firstly, Shell Island was separated into three rings and a core area. The outermost ring, also known as the Shore Ring, was where the sea meets the sand.

This ring served as the gateway to the island, welcoming traders and travelers from distant lands.

Its docks was always bustling with activity, as ships are loaded and unloaded with goods that range from exotic spices to rare minerals found only in Atlantis, to those imported from other islands.

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The Outer Ring was a lush expanse of farmland and orchards. It could be said to be the breadbasket of the island, where farmers cultivate crops of various sizes and shapes, all nourished by the island's fertile soil and ocean waters.

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The Inner Ring is where the heart of coral island's commerce and industry beats. It is the ring where everyone's businesses were established, ranging from, bakers, artisans, physicians, food stores, and various other kinds of markets.

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At the very center lies the Island Core, also known as Coral Village. It was the residential area for the citizens of Shell Island, and home to the descendants of the original families that discovered the island. 

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Secondly, there were five families whose influence held sway over the Shell Island, and each of them had control over an equivalent amount of cardinal domain of the island.

The fifth family was the Chieftain's family whose estate is located at the core of Coral Village, and oversaw the activities of the entire island, feeding off their hard work, and reporting or receiving orders directly from the king.

The Shin Family were lords over the western domain of the island; meaning, they owned the western quarter of the core, inner, outer and shore rings of the island, and Raja's family owned the entire southern domain, or whatever was left of it.

Though they are now unanimously known as the owner of the chieftains estate by the tribesmen living within their respective jurisdiction, they have yet to gain permission from the king to take control of it.

Furthermore, Ryujin could tell that there was a very high chance that the other two families might want a bit out of the chieftain's legacy and wealth as well, and he wasn't entirely sure if his father and uncle had realized the danger that such greed my pose to their family, or so he thought.

Raja's family domain had been destroyed, from their shores, all the way to their very homes in coral village, which was why they were currently living within the Shin Family Estate.

In fact, with the way the tragedy had played out, Ryujin suspected that the other two families might have been in on it; after all, the chieftain's forces had invaded from the North Eastern part of the island, wreaking havoc inwardly, and giving them a chance to catch Raja's family off-guard.

This situation has placed his family into an extremely sensitive position.

Not only were their forces weak, since they only had the strength of a single family; should the other two families take the opportunity to clear them out once and for all and split the entire island amongst themselves, it would be as easy as taking candy from a baby.

Thus, Ryujin felt the need to grow stronger as fast as possible, and in recent days, he had learnt that the reason why his uncle and father are not always around was because they were busy trying to restore their domains and gather whatever manpower was left after its destruction.

And finally, what was truly making Ryujin the most tense was the fact that, the other two families had gone eerily quiet in their activities since the tragedy struck, and Ryujin couldn't help but believe that it was simply the calm before the storm.

All of these aside, the Shin Family had always been relatively lax and diplomatic in their rule, giving their tribesmen the freedom to do as they wished as long as it didn't harm the interest of their neighbors or the ruling family.

It was to the extent that, some of thriving families amongst them now own a piece of the domain.

(Let's call the ruling family Grand Families and the other families, family from now on.)

Thus, on this day, Ryujin had called for a family meeting where he began to share his ideas on how to go about their current situation.

Regardless of how much destruction the chieftain had brought upon them, they were not supposed to have fallen so far to the extent that feeding, or affording cultivation resources becomes an unbearable burden to them.

Firstly, he decided that his families reclaim their right over every inch of land within their domain, whilst also levying very affordable taxes on the businesses in their area.

"Your idea is not only sound, but quite reasonable; however, I doubt if it would be feasible at this point." Raja said.

"I agree. Not only have our tribesmen been enjoying this freedom for a long time, it might cause problems if we are just to show up and bring all of this responsibilities down on them." Shin added.

However, Lin seemed to see the bigger picture and thus supported her baby.

"I understand why both of you might have reservations concerning this idea, but the tribesmen needs to start sharing some of the responsibilities of developing our domain as well." She advised.

"Father, Uncle. This is not the time to be thinking about people's feelings.

The reality is that out current position within our domains is not favorable, and if we don't assert or reclaim dominance, then it won't take too long before some of these families start making suspicious moves of their own.

The other Grand Families might have gone quiet, but that doesn't mean that they won't take the opportunity to claim the entire island for themselves, and as it is now, this is the prime time for them to do so, if they haven't even begun already."

Ryujin explained with a serious expression, and when he noticed the silence within the room and the strange expressions of those around him, he realized he had once again blown his cover.

"It is just an opinion I got from reading about the kingdom's history, as well as the thought and behavioral pattern of every past King and Grand Family Patriarchs." He quickly added, looking to redeem himself.

However, what he had failed to notice was, having an eidetic memory was one thing, showing wisdom, understanding and insights well beyond one's age was another, and even his decision to further explain how he had come to such an understanding blew his cover even further.

Perhaps Ryujin's carelessness might have been as a result f his frustration of not being able to cultivate, or out of fear that his family might be facing another impending destruction; nonetheless, his cover had been blown, and there was nothing he could do about it.

However, for some strange reasons, the adults didn't seem to mind and instead, continued the conversation as if they didn't understand the gravity and implication of Ryujin's impossibly matured thinking process.

"So, how do you think we approach this matter?" Raja asked and Shin nodded in agreement.

Knowing his cover had been blown either ways, Ryujin decided to throw caution in the wind and simply ride the waves of whatever consequences might result from his carelessness.

Firstly, he advised that they begin by announcing the merger of both families' domain into one, that way, their excuse for taking these actions can be for the development of their united domains, as well as its protection.

He also added that, taking such actions would help them sieve out any Spy-X-Family that the other Grand Families might have planted within their domain, enabling them to weed them all out once and for all.

Secondly, he also advice that his father and uncle gather all the able-bodied men within their respective domains and create new squadrons of guards whose duty would be to protect their united domains.

He added that these guards could be paid from the taxes they would have levied on their tribesmen.

Ryujin went on and on, even going as far as to give his opinion about ways with which the domain merger could be feasible and how that would make the tribesmen be more willing to pay their taxes.

One of them being the fact that, every family within both their domains would be given a new share of Raja's family domain, and the amount they would get would be dependent on their efforts towards achieving their goals.

Their conversation didn't end until night time, with Raja, Shin and Lin, intentionally criticizing his plans, but Ryujin could already tell that they were only doing that just so he could perfect their plans further, until it was feasible enough to be executed.

Afterwards, they came to a conclusion of how they would execute their plan and the sequences with which they would initiate it in stages. Then they all went to sleep.

That night, for some reasons, Ryujin couldn't sleep at all. His mind kept overthinking at full throttle, and his heart wouldn't stop racing.

Most of his thought were centered around the following question;

How will his family view and treat him from now on?

Would they abandon him or outrightly kill him?

Would they even consider and initiate the plans they had made all day?

How will the tribesmen react to these changes?

Finally, how would the two grand families react to their plans?