When I had finally managed to get away from father, I headed towards Elaine's room as I was curious to see how far she had progressed since she left with mother. When I arrived at her room, I saw a sign attached to her door that said, do not enter, but I ignored it and entered her room while hiding my presence; I didn't want to possibly awaken her in the middle of her cultivating.
Once inside her room, I sensed Elaine in her bathroom, so that's where I went, and when I arrived, I saw her sitting in the large bath filled with green liquid that radiated a heavenly smell while she was meditating.
'That green liquid must be the resources that mother got for her, and it seemed like they've been working, considering Elaine is currently absorbing Qi. Though I never realized how much faster my spirit root was at absorbing Qi compared to everyone else.' Thought Elif, still coming to learn how immensely talented he truly was.
While I watched Elaine cultivate, she suddenly stopped and opened her eyes in happiness.
"Yes! I've finally opened all my meridians. Now I can move on to Qi gathering!" Exclaimed Elaine excitedly as she began cultivating again, though a voice stopped her from doing so.
"Good job Elaine; it seems you've been doing well." Said Elif while still hiding his presence from Elaine.
"Ahh! Ugh, brother, don't sneak into my room, and stop hiding!" Said Elaine in anger after she calmed down from fright.
"Haha, alright, alright, calm down, no need to get so agitated; I was merely messing with you. So, have you enjoyed cultivation so far?" Said Elif with a chuckle as he revealed himself standing in the distance.
"Hmph, except for having to sit down for almost two and a half hours to be able to sense Qi, everything else has been enjoyable. Just having this new ability to control Qi is incredible, especially knowing what I'll be able to do with it in the future." Said Elaine with a smile, while ripples appeared in the green water around her body as she expelled the tiny amount of Qi in her possession.
"So it seems all that waiting was worth it, was it not? With Qi, you'll gain incredible power and even be able to fly in the future, which is quite an amazing thing for someone who couldn't do so previously." Stated Elif as he hovered over the bath upside down while his head rested near Elaine.
"It was definitely worth the wait, and soon I'll be able to get my revenge for all the times you've bullied me. Don't think I've forgotten about them; it's only a matter of time before I get my revenge!" Stated Elaine as she tried splashing Elif with the water she was sitting in, though Elif easily stopped it by forming an invisible Qi wall.
"By all means, please go ahead, but all your efforts will be futile; you've merely started cultivating while I'm close to passing my second Heavenly Tribulation. It will take many years before you achieve the same cultivation base as me, and let's not even consider the strength gap between you and me." Declared Elif with a smile as he vanished from his spot only to appear near the exit.
"Heavenly Tribulation? Isn't that when a bunch of lightning bolts attacks you or something? I think that's what one of those servants said." Asked Elaine, recalling some information she overhead from some servant's conversation.
"Yes, and you'll be forced to go through a Heavenly Tribulation in the future as well, but that's not something you need to worry about right now anyways. Alright, I'll be leaving Elaine; I'm sure mother has already warned you about the dangers of cultivating, but still, be safe." Said Elif lovingly as he left the room with a smile.
As I left Elaine so she could continue cultivating, I remembered about the pill mother wanted and figured I should go and hand it over to her. Still, before that, I thought having our royal alchemist inspect it first would be smarter, so I changed directions and headed toward his location.
When I arrived at the royal alchemist's office, I made sure to knock first as he'll get agitated if anyone entered his office without knocking; even mother and father are not exempt from this, though from what I heard, this is quite common among all experienced alchemists, so I didn't dwell much on it.
"It's Prince Elif; I'm coming in." Said Elif as he opened the door, Illumia quietly following behind.
You would think the inside of a royal alchemist's office would be pretty neat and organized, considering all the various herbs and precious plants he'll use when concocting a pill; however, the room is quite the opposite. There are pills scattered everywhere on the ground alongside burnt and mangled herbs, used and destroyed cauldrons hanging from various spots, and, worst of all, the royal alchemist himself is very unkempt.
'Even if he is weird, can't he at least be clean? Is that too much to ask for?' Thought Elif in slight disgust as he floated over the ground and headed toward the back where the alchemist is usually if he isn't making pills.
"Mr. Caine, MR. CAINE!" Yelled Elif, already having experienced his terrible level of awareness when he is focused.
"Huh, ahh, Prince Elif, what can I do for you? Try to make it quick; I think I'm onto something." Said Cane, not even bothering to turn around, deeming his notes to be more important.
"I have an unidentified mid-Immortal Pill; as the Royal Alchemist, I figured you should have the most knowledge on this subject." Said Elif while Illumia opened the box, causing the dense smell of herbs in the room to be overpowered by the Pill's heavenly scent.
Shortly after Illumia opened the pill box, Caine instantly stopped what he was doing and suddenly appeared in front of Illumia with outstretched arms and a lustful expression, causing a stranger to think Caine was trying to sexually assault Illumia.
"What do you think you're doing with those disgusting hands? Someone will ingest that pill one day, and I would prefer it if your grubby hands hadn't already touched it." Said Elif, holding his hand between the pill and Caine's hand, much to his annoyance.
"Fine. There, now can I inspect it, Prince Elif?" Replied Caine in annoyance after having cleaned his hands with his Qi.
Grumbling to myself at his laziness at having only cleaned his hands and not his body, I take my hand back and allow him to hold the pill, but I made sure to keep an eye on his actions with the pill as I've seen him do some weird things with them.
"Such beauty! Such a heavenly scent! This truly is an Immortal tier pill, and it is at least of a three-star quality!" Muttered Caine, the lustful expression in his eyes growing to the point where even Elif started feeling uncomfortable.
"Just tell me what kind of pill it is." Ordered Elif, regretting his decision to come here.
He merely scoffed at my order before a large book flew out of a bookshelf and hovered right before him while he began flipping the pages until he eventually stopped.
"Pseudo Enlightenment pill. Ingesting this will put the user into a pseudo epiphany state for a varying amount of time; however, it is rumored if ingested at the correct time, it is possible to achieve a true epiphany." Said Caine, causing Illumia and Elif to get shocked by such words, especially Elif, as he has personally experienced an epiphany, twice actually.
"That's incredible, but didn't great-grandmother say it's impossible to increase the chances of you entering an epiphany?" Questioned Elif, fanning himself with his quạt tay as the pills scent was quite overbearing, though his actions didn't seem to help in the slightest.
"She meant when related to a cultivator's talent or willpower, not towards outside influence, your highness." Answered Illumia, though she was also shocked since this was the first time she had heard of a pill like this, and while she had lived for many eons, she was a warrior, not an alchemist.
"Hmm, well then, I should get this back to mother and father; I'm sure they'll wish to know about its capabilities." Said Elif, reaching his hand out, signaling for Caine to return the pill.
"I-I'm sure their Majesties don't need such a pill right now; they probably wouldn't mind waiting a little longer." Said Caine, protectively holding the pill from Elif.
"You're probably correct, but I wish to leave this terrible room, and I'm not leaving without the pill, so hand it over. If you're so obsessed with an Immortal tier pill, why not create your own? You're an alchemist, are you not?" Said Elif, snatching the pill out of Caine's hand before placing it back in the box, which Illumia immediately closed afterward.
"Tch, for your information, your highness, concocting an Immortal tier pill isn't something I can just willy nilly do, they require detailed planning, prepping, and the ingredients; even then, the chances of success are not one-hundred percent." Explained Caine, sounding quite upset from having lost the pill.
"And how is that my problem? Just get better at concocting pills; that simple. Bye." Said Elif as he happily left the room with Illumia while leaving an irked Caine alone in his office.
'I hope I don't have to visit him for a while.' Thought Elif, feeling dirty by just having been in there.