As the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky grew dark, and the streets fell silent. Thick clouds obscured the moon, and the air carried the scent of impending rain. Elias and his mother walked together, their footsteps echoing softly through the deserted streets. The only sounds breaking the stillness were the occasional rustle of leaves and the gentle patter of raindrops.
They reached the Xiawen mansion and entered through the grand door. Inside, the familiar aroma of cooking meat and vegetables greeted them. The servants were busy in the kitchen, preparing a simple meal.
When dinner was ready, Elias and his mother took their seats at the dining table. The Xiawen family's usual lively chatter was missing tonight, replaced by an awkward silence. It was only the two of them.
Raymond and Liandor usually try to put down Elias, while Ray constantly tries to gain Yui's favor.
Over the past year, Yui and Ray had grown close, but Elias's meddling and constant interference had created misunderstandings that prevented their relationship from blossoming into true love.
It was, at most, "an infatuation," as others said back on Earth.
Even for Elias, he had to admit that it was quite a feat. He had to be subtle enough so Liandor wouldn't notice his plot yet effective enough to separate them.
Although Yui and Ray were married and shared a bed, Elias had been paying special attention to their sexual life. He knew that he would get likely get discarded by Yui if she got pregnant and gave birth to a rightful heir. He only survived in this family and clan because of his mother's love, so halving this with a hafl brother was akin to reducing by half his survival chances.
So... He made sure they didn't have a child and sabotaged their chances of having children.
Elias would often lace Yui's drinks with a drug to prevent her from becoming pregnant. Elias knew that if Yui had a child with Ray, she would pay less attention to him, which would only increase the pressure from Liandor...
Thanks to his little plot with candies, he successfully removed Raymond from the picture and is temporarily freed from any pressure from the Xiawen family. He plans to use this opportunity to extend his life span as much as possible.
Elias was also aware that the only reason Yui didn't detect the drug he used despite her being a rank 2 cultivator was because the poison was actually a simple rank 0.
As cultivators advance in rank, their bodies become stronger and their lifespans longer. This makes them more resistant to poison and sensitive to aether. However, ranked 0 poisons or drugs, like Elias used, is undetectable for cultivators because it lacks aether. So she couldn't possibly detect it despite her rank.
Moreover, even if her body was now stronger than the average human, it still wasn't enough to prevent the drug from taking effect.
As for how Elias obtained this drug... Elias had actually created the drug himself. He remembered a method from a distant memory of one of his past gameplays, during which he had needed such a recipe.
Crafting the drug was honestly quite simple. It required only unranked and common herbs, which he could easily get. He then only needed to blend it and let it dry.
As for why Elias learned to make such a drug... that was a different story altogether.
Yui cleared her throat, interrupting his thoughts. Elias looked up from his plate, meeting her gaze. "So, Elias, how was your day?" she asked softly.
"It was fine," he replied, taking a bite of his food.
"Did you manage to get what you wanted?" she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly." May I ask what did you buy?" she added, her voice a bit hesitant.
Elias swallowed his food and replied, "Mother, I am sure you don't actually care much and trust me about my purchases. How about you go straight for what you wanted to say?"
The room fell into a heavy silence. After a moment, Yui took a deep breath, her eyes fixed on Elias with a steady gaze. "You know me so well... I'm not sure how to start this, but something has been bothering me lately... Do you remember a year ago, when we were still slaves, and you ate some meat? The ranked 1 wolf meat?"
Elias immediately understood where this was heading. He nodded slowly, his face showing no emotion.
Yui hesitated, her fingers gripping the edge of the tablecloth tightly. "I'm sorry, but there's a possibility that your talent... might not be as good because of it. I am sorry. I even gave you my portion... If I knew..."
It was clear what she meant. The meat Elias had eaten came from an aether beast. Consuming anything with aether before awakening could severely damage one's talent, and Elias was no exception... At least on the surface.
Unlike humans, who can only have aether within their apertures, aether beasts are constantly saturated with aether throughout their bodies. Although they do not have aperture as humans do, their whole bodies are basically aether vessels.
Having aether circulating through a human's body could lead to serious issues or even death. The most evident case was for unranked people like Raymond or even someone with Elias's rank-10 talent. Their bodies would slowly fill themselves with aether and die naturally.
However, for a beast, it was a different story. They could have aether circulating through their bodies without any consequences.
Elias looked longly at his mother. Her eyes were filled with worry and concern. She was clearly afraid that her son's talent was damaged.
Yet, contrary to her expectations, Elias simply smiled and shook his head. "So?"
Yui blinked, taken aback by his response. "What do you mean, 'so'?"
Elias shrugged. "I'm not sure what you want me to say. I'm sure you're worried, but it's not like we can do anything about it, right?"
"But..." Yui tried to argue, but she couldn't find the words.
"Moreover, didn't you say that you would protect me all my life? So I am actually not that worried." Elias said, his voice warm.
Yui's eyes widened, and she froze in place. She expected Elias to blame her, to be angry, or even to cry, but he did none of those things. Instead, he just smiled at her. Somehow, Elias could always find the right words to comfort her.
Yui's eyes welled up, and she threw herself at Elias, hugging him tightly. "Sometimes, I feel like you are more mature than me. Compared to other children, you are frightening..." she whispered, her voice trembling with a smile.
Elias gently patted her back, his expression softening. "Don't worry, mother. Everything will be fine... But just in case something happened, could I have more manifestations?"