Upon seeing Butler Deron, Richard raised his hand and gestured for him to sit down across the table. "Butler Deron, would you like to join me?"
"No need, Your Highness, thank you for your kindness," the skinny Butler Deron hurriedly said.
After being rejected, Richard stopped the polite exchange and asked calmly, "Butler Deron, what is the reason for coming here this time?"
"This…" Butler Deron hesitated for a few seconds and replied, "Your Highness, today His Elder Highness brought a doctor to check on the king, who is ill."
"Oh?" Richard's eyes flashed and, knowing that the other party still had something to say, prompted him to continue, "So…"
"So this is what I have in mind. Perhaps Your Highness should pay His Majesty a visit as well? After all, this is a special moment. The king is sick and needs someone to show care and concern for him. Also…"
The skinny Butler Deron lowered his voice and said with a slight tinge of sorrow, "Nearly 15 years ago, Queen Sophia went through a difficult labor for you, Your Highness. During her last moments, she asked me to try my best to remind Your Highness to maintain a good relationship with the king. Now—"
"So now you're going to persuade me to learn from my dear brother, William Austin?" Richard asked.
"After all…" Butler Deron hesitated.
"I know you are doing this in my best interest, Butler Deron," Richard said, putting his hands together on the table. "But I saw my sick and respected father, King Donners, a week ago. I suppose, even if I visit him and care for him, it would not be of any help to his condition. So it is better not to go and let him rest."
Butler Deron was slightly taken aback, startled at Richard's words. Richard's words seemed to suggest something ominous. Butler Deron knew that Richard often had weird but accurate insights and could not help but ask, "Could it be that His Majesty…"
A sallow face quickly appeared in Richard's mind, his eyes flashed, and Richard looked at Butler Deron without answering.
Butler Deron's heart instantly chilled. Sometimes silence meant the worst.
"Then-" Butler Deron's voice trembled. "Then will His Majesty still live to see the fallen leaves this autumn, Your Highness?"
Richard still did not answer.
Butler Deron finally understood, lowering his head. He looked up again for a moment, stood up and walked out. He looked old and haggard from behind.
When he arrived at the door, Butler Deron halted and turned to look at Richard. "Actually, if His Majesty's condition is really so bad, Your Highness should go see him. Although a few years ago His Majesty punished Your Highness since he believed what was being said about you, His Majesty is still your father after all, isn't he?"
"Of course, His Majesty is my respected father," Richard answered with a smile.
Butler Deron sighed and said nothing else. He finally walked out and disappeared from sight.
Richard picked up his knife and fork and continued to eat his breakfast.
He ate about three slices of bread, half a grilled bird, a salmon, and drank two glasses of water for his meal.
After breakfast, Richard wiped his mouth with a napkin, stood up, and walked to the main hall, which was just outside the dining room.
Edward followed behind and asked, "Your Highness, are you going to visit His Majesty? Butler Deron said—"
"Put that matter aside first. Let's talk about it when I have time."
"Your Highness, right now, you—"
"I have a very important research experiment to do," Richard said.
"Um." Edward said nothing else.
Richard ignored Edward and walked towards the busy servants in the hall. He pointed at two of them. "You two, follow me to the laboratory."
With that, Richard moved to his private laboratory, and the two servants stood up nervously. One of them was Angie, the smartest girl among the servants, who also had freckles, and the other was Luna, a slightly plump girl. Although she was not as good as Angie, she was still much smarter than the other servants.
Both of them were a little confused. They looked at each other and had no idea what Richard was going to do. However, they walked into his private laboratory obediently.
Richard was already waiting inside. The two servants entered, and he said directly, "Today I am going to do some very tedious work, so I need the two of you to assist me, do you understand?"
"Understood." The girls nodded quickly.
Richard had a satisfied look on his face.
His main reason for calling the two servants had been to grasp a clear understanding of the second life reconstruction.
Last night, he had used anesthetics during the first life reconstruction to succeed. He could now intake the energy from the astral projection without any issues. He had solved one out of three problems, and he had completed one-third of the steps to follow before he could perform magic.
But if he wanted to truly perform magic, he had to solve the problem of the second life reconstruction—build a magic source.
According to The Writings of Monroe, the magic source was a very special container that existed within the body and was responsible for bearing the energy absorbed from the astral projection. The size and shape of the magic source could change according to each individual's preference. If one was willing and did not find it too troublesome, he could construct a magic source with 365 sides.
However, considering matters such as simplicity and stability, many Apprentice Wizards chose to construct cocoon-shaped magic sources.
In addition, there could be more than one magic source. Since it was built through spiritual powers, as long as one wanted to, one could create multiple magic sources within the body.
However, magic sources were highly reactive to energy. When constructing it in the body, it was important to avoid some important organs, such as the brain, heart and more in order not to affect their functions.
Furthermore, this magic source was a source of energy and was vital to every wizard. If damaged, it could cause large injuries to the body. Many wizards often preferred to destroy their opponent's exposed magic source to end the battle easily.
Hence, every wizard had to carefully hide and protect his magic source. Before having built up enough power and strength, it was useless to blindly create new magic sources. This was simply a waste of time and energy, and it also increased the chance of exposing the magic sources to the enemy. This was no different from suicide.
Of course, these were not the most important factors for the second life reconstruction. The most crucial element was the conditions for constructing the magic source.
According to the instructions in The Writings of Monroe, besides astral projection, he needed to awaken the body with the consciousness and put it in a highly activated state for the second life reconstruction.
In fact, bodies were always at a certain degree of activation. Yet under normal circumstances, it could not reach the level required to build a magic source. It was necessary to use one's inner talent to reach a "supernormal performance" and get to that state. After successfully achieving the highly activated state, it was officially possible to build a magic source with spiritual power.
Richard was very puzzled by the "highly activated state" mentioned in the writings. What was it about?