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Ken waited patiently for Dominic to get to the point. 

"I heard you were very close to Annie in the past year, and that she had a few arguments with her parents over you, did you know that?"

"She told me that they wanted to shun me, but she didn\'t want to give up on her sparring sessions with me."

Ken spoke directly. He didn\'t plan to be subservient; now that his oppressors were dead, he could use his status to the maximum instead of cowering all the time. With his luck improved, people shouldn\'t find trouble with him for no reason.

"I see, but let\'s not speak ill of the dead. I called you here because I\'ve fed Annie with a truth drug while questioning her, and I found some interesting things about you."

He stopped beating around the bush and told Ken directly what he called him for. Having a fourth-rank alchemist who made a fifth-grade product successfully wasn\'t very important to the clan, and when this alchemist isn\'t 8 yet, it changed the picture completely.

"What did she tell you?"

"Annie told me that you have been a fourth-rank alchemist for a while now and that you are the one who made the fifth-grade pill that she used to poison her parents. Don\'t worry, she said you only gave it to her to protect herself, and she was the one who chose to use it this way."

Dominic said while looking into Ken\'s eyes. He was surprised to find out that his grandson was so talented. He regretted allowing Krone and Norman to oppress him, if he knew Ken\'s potential earlier, he\'d rather invest heavily in Ken.

\'It\'s not too late to save the situation. Norman and Krone\'s death works in my favor in this aspect. Nobody else showed him direct hostility before, and now that they\'re dead, his grievances with the clan are mainly over.\'

Dominic thought to himself as he made plans to nurture Ken and improve their relationship.

"I see. What do you plan to do with this information?"

"I plan to keep it secret and do my best to nurture you. I\'ve already given the instruction to double your income from the training grounds and make sure you don\'t need to pay for your bodyguards. The bodyguards must stay, your life is too important to our clan."

"I\'m a fourth-rank alchemist. Do you think I need your help to get money?"

Ken said with a mocking tone. He saw that his grandfather was determined to settle things between them, and he will make sure to squeeze him dry to get the maximum benefits out of it. 

He also didn\'t care about his grandfather\'s attempts to make amends. He already saw their true face; they abandoned their children and grandchildren for decades and were playing now nice because he had some talent. If stabbing them in the back offered more benefits for him, he\'d do it.

"I can upgrade your living conditions and add a maid."

"I\'m 7."

For some reason, adults kept forgetting he was a child and uninterested in women.

"Uh, right. What do you need then?"

"Upgrade my living conditions. I want a larger study, a better training room, and a better Alchemy room."

"Sure, you got it."

Dominic didn\'t mind such terms. He planned to do those things anyway in order to nurture Ken.

"That\'s not all. I want you to become my proxy and buy things for me unlimitedly. Furthermore, I want access to all knowledge and theories meant for fourth-rank and fifth-rank formation masters."

Dominic looked at him with worry. Even elite disciples didn\'t have more than two attributes in their cores, and he already knew that Ken used the sword and Darkness when he sparred with Annie. 

If Ken also learned formations, he\'d have four attributes in his soul, making it impossible for him to even form a core.

"Don\'t bite more than you can chew. You can\'t be an expert on everything even if you\'re a genius. It\'s enough if you can become a grandmaster alchemist in the future."

Fourth-rank alchemists were called Master Alchemists until they got to the seventh rank and became Grandmaster Alchemists.

"I\'ve already formed my core, so you don\'t have to worry about it. I only have Sword Qi, Runic Qi, and Alchemical Qi." (1)

Ken said and manifested those three types of Qi, making them move around him to demonstrate his control over them.

He appeared to Dominic as a Low Core Formation Stage cultivator. As for why he didn\'t have Darkness Qi, he could claim that he didn\'t master any Darkness technique to the Advanced mastery realm.

"Three types of Qi. Your foundations must be amazingly sturdy, great job."

Ken\'s grandfather praised him and looked at him contemplatively. He didn\'t know of anyone who chose two supportive attributes for their core. 

After all, it\'d impair their fighting abilities greatly, and without power, even a high-ranked alchemist would have a hard time not getting abused.

"So, do you agree?"

"All right. I hope your Sword Affinity isn\'t too weak because you have 3 attributes."

"It\'s not. How many people know about my talent?"

"Only me. I\'ve executed the guards who escorted me on the spot."

Ken wasn\'t surprised by Domonic\'s ruthlessness, so he didn\'t overreact when he heard it. He is just pleasantly surprised to learn Dominic kept his secret to himself.

"Do you want me to release Annie? I understood from her that you share a special bond."

Ken almost facepalmed when he heard he could choose to release Annie. She was useless now, and he didn\'t want a girl in love to bother him every day. However, he still needed her for her luck. If she got killed, he\'d go back to his former luck.

"No. If she could kill her parents, I might be next when she goes crazy again. If not me, then others might be in danger. What\'s the usual punishment for parricide?"

"Death. We don\'t nurture murderers who kill even their own kin here."

"Go with that then, but keep her jailed for at least one year to let me change my mind."

Ken said and left the room. He planned to find a better substitute for her this year.

He could imagine how hurt Annie would be when she hears he abandoned her, but he already told himself plenty of times that she would never bat her eye in his direction if not for his usefulness.

------------

He planned to spend the rest of the day concocting pills to make up for the hours he lost on his breakthrough. However, he couldn\'t help but notice Soleil was making a grumpy face whenever she saw him.

"Soleil, do you have anything to say to me?"

"No, Young Master."

"I won\'t punish you if you complain."

"I\'m not complaining, I just think you should be at least considerate enough to drain the water if you decide to use the water I\'ve heated for myself."

"Oh... You\'re not supposed to use my bathroom, are you?"

She froze for a moment and hurriedly changed the topic.

"Ahm, there\'s something important you need to know. There\'s news for the disciples in the Core Formation Stage and above."

Ken couldn\'t participate since he was still officially at the third stage. One of his bodyguards went to listen while the other remained with him. 2 hours later, the guard finally returned to report to Ken about the content of the meeting.

"Young Master, I\'ve returned."

"Come in and report."

The guard entered Ken\'s study and bowed before starting his report.

"The one to call this gathering was Elder Patrick from the Defense Division. Apparently, a war broke out between two sects from the top 5, and we are affiliated with one of them."

"Which sects?"

"Divine Sword Sect and Four Seasons Sect. They had some skirmishes between themselves and even with other sects, but after a few deaths, Divine Sword Sect declared war against the Four Seasons Sect."

"What does it mean that they are in a war?"

"Young Master, are you aware that the central area of our continent is the richest in resources?"

·ƈθm "Yes."

"The top 5 sects send their disciples to venture into the area all the time and seek opportunities for themselves. None of it belongs exclusively to only one of them. Most of the skirmishes and fights took place in this area as they don\'t go into the private lands of the other sects."

"I see. So the war takes place in the central area of the continent?"

"You could say that. They aren\'t empires with armies, so they won\'t go on a conquest journey. However, they will send cultivators to the borders to kill the disciples of the other sect as well as their disciples will kill each other on sight in the central area."

"The other top sects must be happy. When two tigers fight, one is sure to be wounded. In this case, two of them might be weakened enough to open two new spots in the top 5." (2)

Ken said mockingly as he thought about the war between the two sects. However, he wasn\'t naïve and knew they will find a way to preserve their spots. They didn\'t become so strong by being idiots.

"So, what does it have to do with our sect?"

"Divine Sword Sect approached our sect and agreed to give us a quota of their spots. In exchange, they must wear the robes of their sect while inside and kill any disciple of the Four Seasons Sect they meet."

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A/N: 

(1) From now on, the Formation Mastery Qi will be called Runic Qi. I admit this system was invented only lately, so I hope I didn\'t write anything contradicting at the beginning of the novel. It will be explained in-depth soon.

(2) When two tigers fight, one is sure to be wounded – when two powerful forces fight, one of them will weaken or get hurt.