Chapter 5: Poisoned

One week later.

Bronze Dragon Duchy, Dragonhead City, Ethelric Family's Manor.

"Welcome back, City Lord!" The several guards who saw their City Lord return welcomed him with a curious expression on their faces.

They are not ignorant of the sparring invitation that City Lord Imba issued to Belthric. They are also aware that the sparring happened earlier today. As such, they cannot help but be curious about the sparring's outcome. If not for Belthric's position and authority, they might have asked him about the sparring's result directly.

Unfortunately, no matter how curious they were, none of them dared to ask any question. This was especially true after Belthric ignored all of them. He simply went on his way with a dark expression on his face.

Just his reaction and expression alone already made the people working at Ethelric Family Manor have some guesses. They think that the sparring's result was far from being favorable to Belthric.

While ignoring all of his men, Belthric straightly went to the Manor's master bedroom. He didn't return any of the greetings that he received along the way.

All he wanted to do at this moment was to enter his bedroom but just as he was about to enter the bedroom, Zaven called him.

"Dad! Dad! Resources! I need more resources! I need my cosmic beast egg to hatch!" Zaven's desperate voice entered Belthric's ears.

Normally, Belthric would immediately give what his son wants but not this moment. He doesn't have the luxury to play on Zaven's childishness.

"Get back to your room! We will talk about this later!" Belthric said, devoid of the usual warmth that he has for his son.

This stunned Zaven greatly but instead of thinking that there might be something wrong with his father's condition, his immense childishness causes him to instantly explode.

He has been mentally unstable for months. No, in fact, it should be years already. Only in the past few months, has he become way more mentally unstable than he usually is.

"No! I want the resources now! Give it to me!" Zaven insisted and at this moment, Belthric really can't hold out for much longer anymore.

"I said later!"

"I said no! I want the resources now!"

"Go back to your room, Zaven! Fuck that cosmic beast egg! Who knows if it's even alive? It might be dead now, stop dreaming!"

At this point, even Belthric has exploded. He hurriedly pushed the door of his bedroom open and entered, leaving an extremely stunned Zaven. Never in his life did his father treat him like this!

This was the very first time! As such, tears immediately gathered around Zaven's eyes and it didn't take that long before waterfalls appeared.

"Y-you! D-dad!" Zaven shouted a bit hysterically as he knocked on the door.

"GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM!" Belthric's thunderous voice rang and a slight pressure from a City-level cultivator descended causing Zaven's knees to give up and he fell on the floor.

"Y-you... I HATE YOU!" Zaven shouted at the top of his lungs and as soon as Belthric's pressure vanished, he immediately stood up and ran away.

However, he wasn't far from his father's bedroom when hurried footsteps entered his ears and when he looked at the source, he saw his cousin knocking on the door.

"Uncle! It's me! May I enter?" Raven asked and the door actually opened for him to enter.

Seeing this, Zaven's eyes widened in shock. He cannot believe it!

His father wanted him to get lost but he allowed Raven to enter his bedroom.

"It's because I am weak and useless. They don't love me anymore!" Zaven said to himself as more tears fell down his eyes.

"I don't want to be weak anymore!" He said as he ran again.

——

Inside Belthric's room, the moment that no one could see him anymore, he immediately kneeled on the floor as he coughed out a mouthful of blood. His face paled instantly as he clenched his fist.

A deep sense of powerlessness overwhelmed his senses as the injuries he received from the sparring flared.

"Brother... if only you were here... if I am the one that died... brother... why did you leave us so early?" He said powerlessly while reminiscing the memories he had with his powerful and talented brother.

In fact, the situation between Zaven and Raven is similar to the situation that Belthric has with his brother; Hail. Belthric was the untalented kid while Hail was the genius.

In Hail's prime, he was stronger than your average City Lord, definitely stronger than City Lord Imba. However, not only that did not make him arrogant. He was instead very humble and kind.

He was even the direct cause of why Belthric managed to have the power of a City-level cultivator albeit the weaker ones. Hail secured a lot of precious resources to boost Belthric's cultivation to what it is now. If not for those resources, most probably, Belthric would still only have the power of a Town-level cultivator.

Unfortunately, Hail died too early. If not, even if he didn't become a Province-level cultivator, he should still be able to reach the peak of City-level cultivators. Too bad that he died and the untalented sibling was left behind.

When Raven entered the bedroom, he saw his uncle on the floor and he immediately panicked. He ran to his side in worry.

"Uncle, what happened to you? Why are you throwing up blood? We have to call a healer immediately!" Raven said but Belthric simply shook his head.

"This is not something that our healers can cure. That vicious man! He actually poisoned me!" Belthric said angrily, pertaining to City Lord Imba.

"P-poison?" Raven's heart trembles upon hearing that and as much as he is mature, he is also still a child and he cannot help but tear up. Everyone in the Ethelric family loves each other. Upon hearing Belthric's condition, how can Raven not worry greatly?

"You don't have to worry about my health. This poison is very peculiar. I already know its effects. At normal times, the poison will not affect me at all. However, once I use power at the City-level cultivator, the poison will flare up and it will harm my organs causing... me to lose my lifespan..." Belthric said heavily.

While the poison won't normally impede him but once he uses his full power, it will eat away his lifespan. This was indeed very troublesome.

"This... only because he wants the cosmic beast egg? He did such a vicious thing?!"

"No, not only that. Imba has always been vicious and in the past, your father taught him a lesson. This is simply his real nature and also an act of revenge"

"What should we do now, uncle?"

They naturally can't lose the only City-level combatant of the city. Not only would they be hard-pressed to resist the pressure from Imba but that would also affect the security of the Dragonhead City against the cosmic beasts from the Dragonhead Mountain. This is a very unfavorable and dangerous situation for them!

If there is one thing they can do now, that is...

Belthric looked at his nephew with immense guilt in his eyes as he said... "Raven... loosen the suppression on your cultivation. You... you have to reach the City-level sooner than we planned. At the very least, until I ran out of lifespan..."

"Uncle! Don't say that! It's just the City-level, right? I will definitely reach it in a few years! No! I will make sure to reach that level even sooner!"

To others, Raven's words sound arrogant. After all, how many thousands and millions of people were unable to reach the City-level no matter how hard they tried? An uncountable number of people tried to reach that level but failed to do so!

However, Belthric has not an ounce of doubt that Raven can make his words into reality. Unfortunately, he cannot allow that to happen.

"No! You cannot unleash all of your talent! Your talent is simply too monstrous and countless people will feel threatened by your potential. At most, you can be a normal monstrous genius but you absolutely cannot become a peerless genius! If not, many people would surely try to inspect your body. When that happens, your true potential will be discovered. By then, who knows what will happen?"

Belthric shook his head aggressively. Only he and Raven know about the terrifying secret of the latter's talent. It was not an exaggeration to say that once his talent was discovered, it would shake not only the Bronze Dragon Duchy but the entire Zedora Kingdom!

Only those in the know can understand just how monstrous Raven's potential was. If he wants to, reaching the City-level is too easy!

He even needs to suppress his cultivation really hard just to maintain being at the elite level of Village-level cultivators. The heavens seem to have blessed him with the highest level of potential!