Inside a spacious and luxurious castle was a room decorated with great splendor.
Outside that room were a large group of people in various housekeeping attire pacing around in circles with nervous looks on their faces.
"Is the Lady of the house going to be alright?"
One of the younger-looking women in a maid-type outfit asked a question with obvious worry apparent on her average-looking facial features.
"She will make it through; just believe in the power of the Royal Bloodline, and all will be fine," responded an elegantly dressed older man with black slicked-back hair.
"AHHHHHHhhhh"
A loud feminine scream was heard again for what felt like the hundredth time for the housekeepers waiting outside the door to the absurdly lavish-looking room.
"AHGHGhhhh...."
And then the screams started to die out until no more sound was heard outside the large room.
After a while, the maids that were inside the room opened the door for the housekeepers stationed outside before allowing them entry into the room, and that was when everyone heard the gruff-sounding voice of a large man with long, dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and a big belly.
A man whom everyone in the kingdom of SunBurn called their king...
King Adam Sunburn.
"So, it's a boy! Good job, Amanda!" Adam said, his voice loud and boisterous.
"At least you did better than that whore of mine who couldn't produce even a single male heir; execution was a mercy for her!"
The fat king's words reverberated out with satisfaction and a bit of annoyance at the last part.
"Just make sure to be quieter next time you give birth. All that screaming you did was annoying." The King huffed, filled with displeasure at all the screaming that had transpired.
The King's words had put a small frown on the woman called Amanda's face for just a moment, but she hid it as fast as it came before she put on the biggest smile she could muster on her already exhausted face.
.....
Amanda, the Queen of SunBurn.
She had long brown hair and clear blue eyes with a shapely body; she looked not a day over 25 but was, in reality, far older than she appeared.
Amanda was the third daughter of the king of Earthhaven, and she had three children of her own before the present day.
[Her Cultivation Realm: Early Unity Form Synthesis]
......
"Of course, my King, it is my honor that our child pleases you." The Queen responded with a hoarse voice and a fake smile.
"Hoho! At least you realize that much!"
The fat King's word resounded in a haughty tone, almost as if he thought it was a privilege to give birth to his child.
"..."
The Queen's thoughts were not too pretty, but she soon ignored them when she saw who, or rather, what was coming through the door.
"Ah, the Spiritual Root Test ball has arrived. Hurry and put it up to the boy this instant!"
The Fat King commanded the steward, who was carrying the ball, in a tone that allowed no refusal.
"!!!"
The man almost pissed himself at just the mere thought of getting on the Fat King's bad side.
The fat King was not the least bit scary, but he was, in the end, the king of a kingdom, and that was all he needed to order anybody to do whatever he so wished in his kingdom.
*Step! Step!*
The steward carrying the ball hurried as fast as he could to the Swaddled baby the Queen had in her arms.
Words started to appear on the ball the steward was holding up to the baby.
'Testing Spiritual Roots'
The King and Queen had expectant looks on their faces as they stared intently at the ball, but the word that came next would leave them utterly dumbfounded.
'Spiritual Roots - none'
'Cultivation Talent - none'
'Future combat potential - none'
'Overall evaluation - Useless'
"..." "..." "..."
At this point, the King, Queen, and even the other housekeepers in the room had completely stunned looks on their faces.
None of them knew how such a thing could be possible; that baby was the son of the king, a descendant of royalty…
How could it be possible for him to not have any talent for cultivation?
How was it possible for a son of the king to be deemed useless?!?
None of them made a sound nor moved a step, at least that was until the king ultimately came out of his stupor and shouted with killing intent to the nervous steward carrying the ball.
"This can't be right!! No son of mine can be trash!! Test the boy again! test him right this instant!!" Adam shouted, fury flaring in his blue eyes.
"..."
The Queen's gaze flickered for a split moment, almost as if she knew something when the king brought up the topic of the baby not being his, but she decided not to say anything.
Meanwhile, the king was spitting all over the place with every word he yelled; he was so angry that his last words came out in a flurry!
He refused to believe that any descendant of his was incapable of cultivating; he wouldn't accept it!
The steward moved the ball toward the baby so fast out of fear that it was almost as if he teleported...
He moved on pure instinct; his instinct was telling him that if he didn't move, the king would kill him!
There was no doubt in the steward's mind about that fact.
"YES, YOUR MAJESTY!!!"
The steward's hoarse voice echoed out in a flurry, as he had already put the ball back up to the baby.
Words started appearing on the ball again as the king was practically giving it a death stare, but the ball didn't care one bit.
'Testing Spiritual Roots'
'Spiritual Roots - none'
'Cultivation Talent - none'
'Future combat potential - none'
'Overall evaluation - Can't get any more Useless'
The King practically erupted in fury after scrutinizing the new set of words; his fat rolls went up and down with every stomp he took.
The floor practically screamed for help as it started to crack in a spiderweb way underneath the king's power!
Even though the entire castle was enchanted to withstand full power attacks from Void Refining Realm stage cultivators, it was barely holding up against the fury of the fat king!
Fury filled the fat king's heart before he yelled, "This can't be!!! I refuse to accept it!!! I refuse to accept that I gave birth to trash!!!! I refuse to believe that I gave birth to something so useless!!!!"
"..."
The Queen practically confirmed her theory when the spiritual ball tester was used again, but once more she decided to keep quiet and pretend to be stunned as well.
The fat King was absolutely furious as he started to scream and spit out like a madman—a madman who refused to accept reality!
The Queen, who was still 'stunned' from the first time the ball was tested, awoke from her 'stupor' only to hear the same result again.
Well, she practically lost it as well and started mumbling in an incomprehensible way.
"Ho-How can this be?!? How could something like THAT come out of ME of all people?!? I cannot accept this!"
The Queen's scratchy voice came out in a high-pitched way as an incomprehensible feeling welled up within her!
"..." ''..." "..."
The housekeepers, maids, and stewards were still lost in their own little worlds, with no clue on how to handle the situation.
They had never seen or even heard of a case where a descendant of royalty was born without the talent to cultivate…
Hell, even every descendant of common nobility they heard of had at least the lowest-ranking spiritual root, and yet... a prince of one of the highest social standings in the SunBurn Kingdom was born as useless as they came!
It was unbelievable for those witnessing this scene, to say the least.
However, such bewilderment festering between them was interrupted when both the King and Queen of SunBurn came to a common consensus without even speaking to each other before they shouted as if in sync.
"Get rid of that trash!! Now!!"
The King and Queen yelled in unison.
"I don't care what you have to do!!! I just want that trash out of my sight this instant!!!! Dump it in the woods as wolf food for all I care!!"
The Fat King screamed in anger, so much so that a vein was bulging on his forehead.
The stewards were still trying to process what their King and Queen just commanded them to do with stupid looks on their faces…
"!!" "!!"
Until they finally snapped out of it and hurried over to the Queen with a basket and blanket in hand.
"..."
The king gained clarity back in his eyes as he found a solution to his new problem; he then spoke his next words in a tone as threatening as possible.
"Tell everyone that thing died while being born," he began.
"And I assume that everyone here knows what will happen to you if anything that occurred here today is leaked to the common populace?" Adam ended with a chilling tone, his fierce gaze focused on the housekeepers.
"!?" "!?"
The King's words sent a cold chill down all their spines, as they fully understood what would happen to them if they told anyone about the truth of the prince, and it wouldn't just end with a simple death.
No, no, no, they were sure that they and their families would be tortured for days on end until they finally succumbed to their injuries and died very slow and painful deaths.
They shuddered at just the thought of it.
.....
The stewards, who were now carrying the baby in the basket and heading to the door as we spoke, understood what they had to do.
They were going to kill an innocent baby, albeit indirectly. The baby was still going to die all the same because of them, but they had no choice in the matter; it was either them and their family's heads or the life of a baby that wasn't even related to them.
The choice was obvious for the stewards.
.....
*Sigh...*
The King and Queen sighed in relief when they saw the stewards leave with the baby towards the forest.
They were relieved that their problem was about to disappear, but that was when they realized something peculiar about the baby boy they just sentenced to death.
That thing being that the baby never once cried, not while being birthed and not while its fate was being decided; it didn't even cry with all the yelling its parents were doing.
They began to think that the baby was smarter than any baby they had so far, but soon dismissed their thoughts when they remembered what the ball said about his non-existent cultivation talents.
"A smart boy with no cultivation talent is a useless boy all the same," said the fat king, a pissed-off look present on his face due to the seed he wasted on making that wastrel.
*****
Meanwhile, in the Great Wildlands Forest, thousands of miles away from the SunBurn kingdom,.
Ten minutes after the baby prince's fate was decided, there lay that same baby prince with bright blue eyes and black hair, staring face-to-face with a 10-meter-large white wolf.
For but a moment, if anyone was listening closely enough, they would hear a voice that didn't quite match a baby's voice come from the direction of the baby prince that sounded something like:
'Well, shit…'