It was already dinner time when Will finished his first cultivation session.
He went straight to the dinning hall where his mother, Silva, was already waiting for him.
Lucas waited on the door while Layla helped in serving the food.
In one of the seats, a young lady with long hair sneaked a glance at Will before lowering her head.
There was also another young boy who was smiling as he stared at the food in front of him.
These two were his siblings. The girl named Wendy, thirteen years old, was his sister that resembled her mother.
The boy Wyeth was the youngest among the three at eight.
"Brother!"
Wyeth called to him excitedly.
Will ruffled his hair and sat opposite to his mother, who was staring at him with wide eyes.
"You…"
"I'll tell you about it later." He already knew she sensed his cultivation. "I'm so hungry."
The dinner prepared on the table was a simple one. A steak on each plate, some flavorful soup, and diced fruits.
"Alright. Let's eat." Silva was very eager to learn what happened but still managed to hold it in.
Will devoured his meal quickly even with his left hand.
"Is there more, Lalya?"
"Of course." Layla smiled and gave him another portion of the steak.
After their dinner, Silva told Will that he will visit his room after putting Wyeth to sleep.
Will nodded and looked at Wendy before she ran away after making eye contact with him.
On their way to his room, he asked Layla.
"Why is Wendy like that to me?"
She replied. "Well, after your spirit roots were damaged, you became cold to her so she became distant to you."
"Oh." Will quickly understood.
"But how did my spirit root get damaged?"
Layla sighed and began explaining what happened.
Five years ago, a child from a Viscount Family came to their residence asking for a spar.
Both sides agreed that it was only a friendly spar between two young heirs but the Viscount's son went all the way.
It ended with Will almost dying and left with a damaged spirit root.
Wilhelm was enraged and almost waged war to the Viscount family if not for the Count of their fiefdom meddling in their midst.
They received a compensation of a thousand gold coins from the Viscount family, humiliating the Sundersky family.
Wilhelm threw the gold coins on the floor and spat on it.
He vowed to take revenge for his son but first he tried to find a cure for his damaged root.
It proved to be difficult because even years later, he could not find it.
Only two years ago, when he entered seclusion for his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm, he stopped searching for the cure.
With Wilhelm in seclusion, the incident happened again a few days ago.
The Viscount's heir returned and forced Will on a spar.
At the end, Will, who doesn't even have a cultivation, was injured.
The Viscount's heir was full of mockery as they left the Sundersky Barony.
Just hearing what happened to him makes him so angry he wanted to bust open the skull of the Viscount's son.
"What's the name of this bastard?"
His words surprised Layla, who was not used to hearing him curse.
"Vincent Morris."
Will snorted. "Sounds like a real prick to me."
"Just wait for me, prick. I'll break your head."
He vowed to himself as he entered his room and waited for his mother.
Silva arrived a few minutes later and she immediately asked.
"What happened son? I felt the presence of qi in your body." She was worried and confused at the same time.
Will smiled at her and replied, "I can now cultivate."
Silva almost fell to the floor and she grabbed his hands.
"Really? Then that means…"
"Yes. My damaged spirit root is repaired."
"Thank goodness. That's great, that's great." Silva cried while smiling.
"But what happened? How did you repair your spirit roots?"
Will responded with the same answer she gave Layla.
"Destiny's will, I guess."
Silva was confused by his answer but didn't ask further.
To her, what's important was his son's spirit root was healed and he could continue cultivating.
"Right, mother. I need your help."
Silva wiped her tears and smiled.
"What is it?"
"I need a cultivation technique."
"Oh, oh.! Sure, of course. We have the cultivation technique that the kingdom bestows to the nobles. I'll get it for you." Silva stood up and was ready to leave when Will stopped her.
"It's fine, mother. You can bring it tomorrow."
"Sure, sure. There are also some martial techniques that were given to us. As the heir of our household, you have the right to learn all of them." Silva assured him.
She was excited to see her son again with his lively eyes and determined look.
Seeing him returning the motivation that he once had despite having low-grade spirit root removed a huge burden in her heart.
Right now, she wanted to do anything for him.
"If you ever need something, just ask me. I'll get it for you."
"Thank you, mother. Indeed I have things I need, but I'll tell you about them later. For now, I would like to take a rest."
"Alright. Take a rest." Silva embraced Will, careful not to hurt his injury and kissed him on the forehead.
On her way out, she turned to Will for the last time.
"I'm happy for you son. Your father will surely be elated to see you like this."
She smiled and left the room.
Layla helped Will to the bed while Lucas slept in the servant's room on the first floor.
'This day is tiring.'
…
The following day, Will went to the library.
There was no librarian for the one cabinet of books that was in the room.
He picked up a book and read it.
"Good information but not the ones I need." Will returned the book and picked up the next.
He was reading when the door opened.
Silva entered with four books in her hands.
"These are the techniques that the kingdom gave our family."
She handed Will the books and he scanned them one by one.
"Thank you, mother. I'll do my best to learn them."
Silva touched his hair and said lovingly, "Take your time. I'll bring you some snacks later so you have something to eat in case you're hungry."
Will nodded and grabbed one of the books.
"Ah, right." Silva spoke near the door. "Lucas is now officially your aid. How did you know about his sword aptitude? I was shocked to hear what happened from Rasha."
Hearing her words, Will could only smile. "I hope you can make his sword aptitude a secret. I don't want people knocking at our doors at these times."
With Lucas' sword aptitude, he would surely attract the attention of many powerful people that would want to scout him or take him as their disciple.
Will didn't want that to happen because for him, Lucas was one of the ways he could survive not just the demonic beast invasion but also in this world.
If the news about him was to spread and the powerful people took Lucas with force, Will knew that he would not be able to do anything about it.
Silva also knew about the potential of Lucas and how he could affect their household.
"I know. I will keep my lips tied. Rasha also knows about this and promised to keep this a secret. I also spoke to Layla about it. You don't have to worry much."
"Thank you."
Silva left and Will focused on the book on his hand.
"Harmonious Cloud Cultivation Technique."
He began to read the contents of the technique.
It was a Rare-grade Cultivation technique that was better than what he used in his previous life.
After understanding the technique, he immediately used it to cultivate.
The rate of his refining qi became faster than before.
After a few hours, Will stopped cultivating.
"Hmm. It's a good technique but the problem is my low-grade spirit qi."
He sighed.
"In the end, just having my spirit root repaired and gaining a rare cultivation technique is not enough."
"This spirit root, I need to find a way to upgrade it."
Upgrading the spirit roots of an individual is possible.
However, just like repairing a damaged spirit root, finding the treasures with such effects would be rare.
Will then remembered something and called the system.
"System, can you upgrade my spirit root?"
He asked with high anticipation.
Will waited for a few moments before the system replied.
[ Upgrading host's Spirit Root from 'Low-grade' to 'Mid-grade' costs 300 Destiny Points. ]
Will jumped from his place and yelled, "Alright!!"
"With this, I can now upgrade my spirit roots! Destiny points, I need to earn them."
Knowing that he could upgrade his spirit root using Destiny points lifted Will's burden a lot.
"Now, I just need to learn how I can earn these points."
He knew that after Lucas experienced Sword Enlightenment and became his aid, his destiny was forever changed by Will.
"If I support him more, I should be able to change his destiny more, right?"
He decided to try it later.
For now, Will looked at the other three books that his mother brought for him.
"Chasing Wind Steps, a rare grade movement technique that is swift and silent as a wind."
"Sky Streaming Sword, a rare grade sword technique consisting of sword wave skills."
"Bronze Skin Sutra, a rare grade body cultivation technique that gives the user a bronze like defense."
Will was surprised at how a baron household like theirs could get their hands on such rare grade techniques.
In his previous life, such techniques would be uncommon to see even for nobles.
"Is the king that generous?"
"Whatever it is, I'm thankful. I can use these for now."
He carefully learned them one by one for the next few days.
Will didn't leave the library and immersed himself in studying the techniques and cultivating.
Silva and Layla would bring him food while Lucas never left the door of the library.
Because Will had some experiences in learning techniques in his past life, his understanding was a bit better so learning was easier.
He emerged from the library five days later after fully learning the techniques.
Now, he just needed to practice them.
After opening the door, he stretched his tired body.
"Oh, you're here."
Will smiled at Lucas who bowed at him respectfully.
"Ah, I'm hungry." he walked straight to the kitchen and after a quick meal, dragged Lucas to the training hall.
There, Rasha was there training his sword.
When he saw Will, he ran to him.
"Young Master," Rasha cupped his hands and was shocked to sense qi from Will.
"Y-Young Master? You have a cultivation base…"
Slowly, Rasha's hands approached Will's shoulders.
"Yes, my spirit's root was repaired so I can now cultivate."
Rasha teared as he held Will's shoulders.
"That's great. I'm glad, I'm glad."
Will patted his shoulder and spoke. "I need to use the training hall for today."
"I understand." Rasha wiped his tears and gave the hall a quick clean.
Will walked to the platform and drew his sword with his left hand.
It was the sword he used personally.
He then began performing the Sky Streaming Sword technique.
His movements were slow but they were all correct.
With his advanced-grade sword aptitude, learning and performing a rare grade sword technique was very easy.
Watching him, Rasha was amazed at how his Young Master could perfectly do the technique that many people deemed to be difficult to learn.
On his side, Lucas was memorizing and studying his Lord's every movement.
After performing the sword technique, Will stopped to rest.
[ Lucas Greyrain learned the rare-grade sword technique, Sky Streaming Sword, from a young age. You have received 100 Destiny points. ]
'Damn, that works too?'
He turned to Lucas who was staring at him intently.
'Superior-grade sword aptitude is sure scary. He learned it just by watching me perform.'
'But is it okay if he learned it? Mother said that this technique was given to nobles.'
'Ah, whatever. I'll think about it later.'