It was night, but I wasn’t tired. Now that I was inside a training ground, I might as well do something inside. However the fear of going outside after such a dangerous entrance was probably contributing to my motivation.

  Cultivation wasn’t only by sitting on a lotus position, it is actually much better doing something because Cultivation is to cultivate, to enhance something. As much as I want the powers of internal cultivation I’ve seen on the internet, I haven’t encountered such variation here so why not just do whatever I wanted?

  The ground was a light brownish dirt, it looked clean and smooth like it was just powdered wood. The heels of my feet sinks a little at each step. I moved closer to the racks of weapons and looked at everything. “Sword is definitely the basic one… as much as I don’t want to be basic, what else could I even use?”

  The lack of memories was still pretty daunting to me. Having zero basic knowledge about the world basically makes me a baby in a child’s body. It was hard, incredibly hard, I don’t know how I’ve even survived this far. Great luck and plot armor definitely had to be the reason. “Yes, I am saying this cultivation bullshit is plot armor, I don’t know why I’m the main character, or maybe I’m not, but, still, plot armor or not, I can’t accept I’ll survive with just this. I know my life, it’s shit.”

  I picked up the sword like some basic bitch and headed past the white line on the ground, entering the inner square. There was not a lot of mana in this room. As I observed closer, the bits of mana were probably one’s that I was seeping out naturally. The entire room had no mana of its own.

  “Well, my entire reason to practice just vanished.” However, that lack of mana was probably the thing that gave me a weird feeling. Standing inside this room felt like I was caged in a thick cube. Just being here felt suffocating like any second I would die of loneliness.

  From the way the stairway released a trap at each step, the ringing of my head as soon as I entered, this place wasn’t a simple training ground, it was an isolation camp. Inside this place, even Orfield might not be able to find me. “No, that’s not correct, inside here, no one can find me. I don’t know about that door, but it probably has other ways to kill intruders. This is a secured area, for me and only for me. It’s just shit that I don’t know a single thing about this place. Based on the purpose of this place, I’ll never be able to find out either. If the original body was this smart, I wonder if he placed any hints for me, if he planned all of this.”

  I swung my sword, removing my fleeting thoughts. There was nothing more important to think about than getting stronger. Now that I was alone in the mansion and Orfield was doing something else other than observing me forever as he said so, I would be having a great time.

  There was no need for swordsmanship, beauty, elegance, or any of those bullshit. I swung my sword freely. I swung it as much as I wanted. Used my qi or not, I just shuffled like a lottery machine. The wind gushed and my muscles jumped. My body danced like a kid discovering the outside world. It was beautiful, it felt amazing, it felt free. In this entire vast open space, I could jump, run, roll, throw, do whatever I wanted.

  My dream house was just like my mother's. A bungalow with a vast open garden. Even just those small ones are perfect if I was a kid. Spinning in circles then laying down on that smooth itchy grass.

  I jumped up and then fell to the ground. It wasn’t as hairy as grass, but it still felt soft and relaxing. Perfectly what I wanted it to be. “So this is what achieving your dream is like. I’ve been having so much fun in this place I called hell. I wish this entire feeling lasts forever. I want it to, I wish it could. I really wish it would.”

  Even with my eyes closed, I couldn’t really sleep. After a few minutes or even hours laying on the ground with my mind completely blank, the first time I could ever do such a thing, I then stood up. The use of a training ground was to train.

  I took off my clothes and only left my pants on. My body was incredibly scrawny. Yet this small and skinny body was able to kill a giant beast and even overpower adventurers. Cultivation was just that busted, no, this body’s talent was just busted.

  The royal family has a rule that doesn’t allow the children to learn magic at an early age. It was bullshit, whatever the reason was, they are hurting talent way too much. I put aside the problems of the royal family and picked up the sword once again. This time I swung properly, imagining a person in front of me attacking, and then I blocked or parried. That was gonna be my routine until I felt like I need to stop.

  ***

  Under the veil of darkness hovering over a dome of light coming from the line of bright candelabra a group of people sat on a long rectangular wooden table. A large array of wooden chairs are arranged at the length of the table. At the two ends were tall chairs etched with engravings.

  “Official meeting number 256 of the Second Prince Faction.” Said a man sitting at one of the engraved chairs. He wore a dark hood covering most of his face with a shade of darkness.

  “Representative of the Prince, present.” He continued.

  “Secretary, present.” Said a man directly to the left of the Representative. He wore a monocle at his left eye dressed in a black suit. A booklet is placed in front of him, opened halfway, to the left was a wine glass filled to the brim.

  “Administrator of Strategies, present.” Said a man at the middle of the table surrounded by empty chairs, the furthest from the Representative. He wore an open red coat over a navy blue vest and white shirt.

  “Manager of Finances, present.” Said a man at the right of the Representative. He wore a single white shirt and black pants.

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  “Supervisor of Members, present.” Said a man far from the Secretary but closer to the Manager. He wore a black top hat and a black suit.

  “Executive of War, present.” Said a man with dark red hair affected by the darkness close to and at the opposite of the Administrator. He wore a golden open coat reaching the floor and spreading a bit further. His clothes consisted of a white vest with gold trims filled with badges of honor and sets of golden sigils.

  “Head of the Servant, present.” Said a man just beside the Supervisor. His white hair reached out to his waist and his wrinkles were even visible through the darkness. He wore a brown capote with the hood down covered by his hair.

  “Now that everyone is here except the President, let us start the official meeting upon the event of the Crown Prince’s arrival.” Said the Representative.

  “Time of the Crown Prince’s presence, 34 hours.” The Secretary flipped his notebook.

  “Upon the arrival of the Prince, his last knight, Harry, was not present. Upon the report of the Administrator, Harry was killed by the Crown Prince.” Said the Representative, his smile wrinkling to the edge of his eyes.

  “The Crown Prince? I don’t believe it, that shithead doesn’t have the power to fight a knight and then a group of more people.” The Executive spoke without notice. The quite room echoed his words until they disappeared without a single response.

  Once the echo had dispersed, the Administrator spoke. “May I explain the situation, Representative?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “As ordered by the President, I convinced Harry, the last knight of the Crown Prince to do anything with his power to kill the Crown Prince.” His smile exposed his teeth while his right hand was crushing his chest. “It was quite easy to convince him. Everyone on his side loathes the demon hiding inside his body.” Every word elevated into his eyes twitching and his body shaking more and more.

  “Stop getting sidetracked, Administrator.” The Representative Interjected.

  “My apologies. As I was saying, once I had convinced Harry, we had planted someone to track every movement of his, including the Crown Prince.” He dropped his hand down.

  “After successfully dragging the Crown Prince out of the city of Penalgum under the guise of it being chased by a syndicate whose the women he had intercourse with the previous night.” His voice gradually became slower and calmer with a smile being carved on his face. “By quickly moving, Harry had successfully made the Crown Prince leave a lot of his belongings, only bringing the carriage, his seal, and a mall pouch of his money.”

  “Speed it up.” Said the Representative

  “After the syndicate plan failed, luckily a forest beast was beside a nearby village. However even after that, the Crown Prince… still survived. By whatever other tricks he had up his sleeve, my men couldn’t observe further under the protection from being discovered by the Crown Prince’s backer. Once they had arrived at Numinity, I was left with one choice, hire red markers. However even that failed, this time, my men saw the Crown Prince use magic to kill the party and his knight.” The Administrator said his last words with an open smile and a groan.

  “What a waste of talent.” Said the Executive.

  “As you have heard, the Crown Prince has learned magic. The King even let this be. The King is clearly underestimating us.” The Representative leaned forward, laughing afterwards.

  “Well, we were beaten by a kid multiple times.” Said the Executive, waving his hands and lifing his feet.

  “One more time! If you talk one more time without permission, I will not hold back!” He stood up immediately and smashed the table.

  After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and sat back down. “Anyway, the Crown Prince learning magic doesn’t really matter. Something much more important has shown itself that even disobeying a generation law of the royal family can be treated as a measly problem.” He looked at the Secretary.

  “Just a short 3 hours ago, the Great Sage Milan, a fourth-class mage, the strongest mage that has come from our country has returned and is preparing to set up a magic tower.”

  “The King isn’t just telling us that we are no threat, he even dares… to guard his door with a ferocious traitor.” He bobbed his head with emphasis on his words. “We cannot let the King and the Crown Prince be anymore.” He stopped for a second.

  “With the year the Crown Prince was gone, I was not letting the peace just fly by.” He leaned back. His eyes were circling everywhere and his body couldn’t rest on a single spot.

  Filled with frustration, anger, hatred, “If that stupid prince didn’t fucking dare to trade such bullshit, I would have taken over the palace in just one more year!”

  “Administrator, I’ll let your failure pass by, let the plan Cuircus commence.” He straightened his back and smiled at everyone, getting back his composure.

  “I couldn’t help but hear that Milan had come back.” A man said behind the darkness.

  “President!” The Administrator immediately stood up and bowed. The others followed instantly.

  “President, present.”