Boundless Cultivation
Chapter 108 - Where is Everybody?

Alaric absorbed the rich ambient mana within his cultivation sanctuary, nourishing his mana core while sending pulses of healing energy to gradually mend the cracks on its surface.

It was a delicate procedure since even channeling the healing energy through his mangled energy pathways triggered a sharp pain. Not to mention, he had to manually direct the energy through the sensitive pathways, keeping in mind to ignore the damaged sections of the pathways.

So far, his mana core was responding quite well to the healing energy, the cracks on its surface gradually becoming unblemished. However, repairing his tangled energy pathways proved to be a challenge.

They didn’t respond well to his mental commands, as if the living will inside them had gone dormant. Truthfully, he couldn’t say he was that surprised that his energy channels weren’t responding that well.

The intricate web of energy pathways that once aligned so perfectly throughout his energy body now resembled a tangled web of thread in certain sections. And he knew better than to brute force his way to repair them.

Have my energy pathways become damaged beyond repair? He quickly dismissed that thought. No, they’ve simply become weaker. Alaric couldn’t help but release a sigh. It seems it would take a lot longer to fix them.

Instead of getting frustrated, Alaric racked his brain for a solution. His living energy pathways had a will of their own, but they were deeply connected to his subtle body as well.

Part of the reason it was so easy to restructure them during his fight with Omega Prime was that they easily complied with his command and vision.

If I could somehow ignite their willpower again. Wait a minute! Suddenly, an idea struck Alaric and he was excited to implement it.

Perhaps I can use my reserve of willpower to reawaken them? He wasn’t sure whether that was possible, but he decided to give it a shot.

The moment Alaric tried to scoop even a tiny bit of willpower from his reserve, he immediately felt a headache, followed by a deep wave of nausea.

Ugh…Alaric clutched his head, kneading it to soothe the temporary pain. Fortunately, his headache subsided quickly once he stopped tapping into his willpower.

Alaric promptly figured out the issue. Whereas once his willpower reserve resembled the water in a lake, it was now akin to a small puddle on the street.

During his battle with the homunculus, he had channeled too much power through his oath skill, which had almost completely depleted his willpower reserve.

It was a testament to his strong mental foundation that he was still able to perform his daily activities without any issues on his measly available reserve that was still replenishing.

However, using his willpower for more strenuous purposes such as powering his skills, abilities, or even infusing his energy channels with it had become a huge burden.

Sometimes, I forget that I’m not as strong as I used to be. Alaric chuckled. He didn’t bother to check his willpower reserve precisely because of this reason. During his prime, a single night’s rest was enough to completely restore his willpower reserve.

Now faced with a more urgent issue, Alaric decided to meditate and accelerate the regeneration of his reserve. Fortunately, the moment he deliberately focused on accumulating it, the process accelerated tremendously.

Within a matter of hours, it had regenerated enough to facilitate his experiments. Alaric wiped the beads of sweat clinging to his forehead and drew a deep breath, satisfied with his effort.

Without wasting more time, he gently extracted a tiny bit of willpower and directed it towards his living energy pathways. At first, the energy pathways remained unresponsive.

However, when Alaric infused a bit more energy and mentally urged them to utilize his shared willpower, his energy pathways eagerly soaked up his willpower like parched soil drinks water.

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He immediately sensed a drain on his mind, but became happy to realize that his living energy pathways were slowly perking up.

Alaric gave them a mental command to heal their most damaged sections first and gradually unravel the knots that were preventing a smooth flow of energy throughout his body.

He was glad to observe that within 30 minutes, the energy channels were much more alive and focused on healing a few of his damaged sections. Unfortunately, the strain on his mind was becoming too much by this point, and he had to stop the healing process.

Still, the whole procedure had been a success. It seemed as long as he could provide his living energy pathways with a steady supply of his willpower, they could fix and restructure themselves to their original condition.

He felt as if a huge burden was lifted from his shoulders. Now, he simply needed some time to bring his body back to shape. However, this discovery had paved the path for new experimentations and he was eager to witness whether they would bear fruit.

***

Alaric was on his way to the dining hall when he registered the eerie silence. Usually, he spotted a few maids or servants engaged in their respective tasks such as cleaning the hallway or polishing the photo frames and vases when he wandered the hallways.

Where is everybody? He halted, scanning his surroundings. If his mana core wasn’t cracked, he would’ve utilized his true vision to scan for any living beings in the vicinity. As it was, he had to rely on his normal senses.

Alaric belatedly realized that he hadn’t encountered any guards patrolling the estate for a while.

That is very odd. A surge of adrenaline coursed through his chest. Is it another enemy invasion? He quickly slipped to a side room and flung open the doors. Nobody greeted him. He inspected a few more rooms, but each of them was empty.

“Hello, is anybody here?” he shouted, eagerly anticipating a response. It didn’t make any sense. How could enemies infiltrate the estate and subdue everybody without alerting the guards? Not to mention, Captain Aldric, Sir Baldwin, and Edgar were currently present.

Who would dare to be so audacious? His mind spiraled into chaos as he became more cautious. It wouldn’t be wise to alert his presence to the enemies.

He mentally reprimanded himself for being so careless. He had been in a daze the whole day, his mind occupied with various thoughts.

Alaric had been forming theories about the purpose of the Dark Continent access token. And about what secrets he would discover when he finally ventured to that mysterious location.

His new title and the entry into the system reputation ladder also caught him off guard since he wasn’t expecting any rewards aside from the soul reforging treasure.

Still, most of his day had been devoted to regenerating his willpower reserve. And now, he suddenly found himself in this precarious position. The only saving grace was that his danger sense remained as peaceful as a still lake.

When he reached the door to the dining hall, he strained to detect the presence of anybody hiding inside. Perhaps a few servants had taken refuge in the huge hall?

However, no matter how much he strained his senses, he couldn’t perceive a thing. Almost as if somebody had deliberately enveloped the place in a bubble of silence.

That assumption had him on edge, and so he decided to be on his guard when he carefully pushed open the large doors. A stark darkness welcomed him, before his vision was blasted with lights.

Alaric braced for the worst, drawing upon the mana of his cracked core. It was better to experience pain and be injured than to be dead. Hell, he wouldn’t let anybody take him hostage either.

However, the enemy attacks he expected never assaulted him. Instead, he was slammed by the boisterous cheer of a small crowd.

“Surprise!” a gathering of familiar faces greeted him, as pops of highly-controlled fireworks erupted inside the large hall.

Huh…what is happening? It took him a few moments to realize that so many had gathered together in the dining hall to surprise him for his 14th birthday.

He released a deep sigh, realizing he had been thoroughly fooled, and interrupted the activation of his abilities. Unfortunately, the few moments of engaging his mana core took its toll, and he winced at a mild pain in his core.

His form almost buckled as the tension left his body, but a firm hand steadied him and guided him towards a cushioned chair. He turned around to look at his father, who was oddly smiling at him.

“Happy Birthday, my son,” the count said sincerely. Alaric couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by suddenly finding himself the center of attention. Still, he nodded at his father to show his appreciation.

“When you said you held a small party this evening, I hadn’t expected something quite like this,” he said, gesturing at the small crowd.

He spotted the presence of a few guards he had trained with as a child, which surprised him since they had been promoted a long time ago and usually overwas other properties of the state.

Among them were vice captains Fenrir and Theon, who had been promoted as well. Both of them came to Alaric and greeted him as well.

The hall had been decorated with colorful balloons, scented candles, and various decorative items that lifted the mood of the entire place. Extra seating arrangements were made for the soldier and guards as the servants and maids offered them drinks and starters.

The delicious aroma of various dishes made with buttered breads, flavored rice, scrumptious meat, and more wafted his nostrils as the serving maids were busy arranging the large dining table.

However, what caught his attention was the large, triple-decker vanilla cake layered with rich servings of choco-chips that rested at the center of the dining table.