July 31st, 1513; 12:00 hrs;
Clank! Clank!
Inside a training hall, two people were sparring constantly, when a third person entered, attracting both people's attention.
"You're still training?" Jessica's nose crunched, looking at Lucien's half-naked, sweaty body, "Freak! It's time to go."
'Why is she still mad?' Lucien frowned, but didn't say anything, and just nodded.
His formal departure to Lumen City was at 14:00 sharp, and he was still not ready yet.
"Alright, go ahead. I would be ready in 30 minutes." He nodded to Jessica, keeping his sword back in the rack.
"Hmph!" Without even giving him another glance, Jessica left.
"Leaving already, huh?" Megan commented, a teasing grin on her face.
"What? Don't tell me you are missing me already?" He chuckled, wiping the sweat from his face.
"Of course." She laughed out loud, "I was getting triple the pay to get information on you."
"Geez! Talk about being honest." He also laughed with her.
In the past 20 days, seeing how Lucien wasn't even fazed by the fact that she was there to get information on him, made her a lot more brazen with him.
When she was first handed this mission, she was scared that she might be in a lot of trouble if Lucien or his mother found out about her.
But when it turned out that neither he nor his mother cared about it, she was relieved and even grew close to them.
Sure, there were times when Lucien had threatened her to hide some things about him, but he didn't do anything to him if she listened.
"Still, it was an honor to tutor a talent like you." She whistled, still amazed at how fast he grew. "From Recruit to Adept in 17 days, how did you even do this?"
A grin tugged on Lucien's face as he said, "This wasn't the first time I have been through this process, you know."
Since the first three power realms didn't have any prerequisite conditions to fulfill to advance, as long as one was talented enough and cultivated enough, they could break through easily.
The prerequisite conditions were only a problem when someone wanted to break into the fourth power realm, the Ascendant.
There were multiple ways to cultivate spirit energy, but the fastest one was fighting, practicing, and pushing themselves to their limits.
Cultivating spirit energy and breaking through this way was like building muscles.
Just like how muscles get stronger and bigger after pushing them to their limits, a person cultivates their spirit energy by pushing it to its limits and recovering.
When the body absorbed the spirit energy available around them to recover, it also fed their energy cores.
Lucien was talented, sure, but talent could only take him so far.
That was the reason why he pushed himself daily to get stronger, since he was racing against time.
"Urgh! If you don't want to tell me, you could just say so." She rolled her eyes at his reason.
"Well, I said nothing but the truth. It's up to you to believe it or not." After wiping off his sweat, he wore a light T-shirt and moved towards her.
An awkward silence was formed between the two, which was broken by Lucien, who raised his hands slightly, "It was fun till it lasted."
Megan wasted no time and accepted his handshake with a deep bow, "It's been an honor, Your Highness."
Separating, Lucien turned around to leave silently.
"There goes my triple paycheck," Megan said one last time, making them both chuckle.
She watched his back as it finally disappeared behind the door.
'I wonder how Prince Edric would react to this.'
…
"Mother, why are you still here?" Lucien asked, seeing his mother right in front of him.
Inside the luxurious limousine in a motorcade, Lucien was leaving for the airport.
Since there was no direct teleportation gate in Lumen City, Lucien had to take an airplane to the city.
"Why, you ask?" She sounded annoyed that he even asked this question, "Of course, to bid you farewell."
"But we just had that whole formal farewell, didn't we?" He was already tired of that, and this only made it worse.
"I just wanted to be with my pumpkin pie for a little longer." She answered, an excited smirk plastered on her face.
Lucien stared her dead in her eyes, and added, "And what about her?"
His gaze fell on an 8-year-old kid sitting next to his mother, who had nothing but a jolly expression on her face.
She was looking outside with a pure, whimsical look, enjoying everything and everyone on the way.
"Oh, Luna?" She turned her head around and started pinching her cheeks despite her protests. "She wanted to go outside of the Palace, so Hazel asked me to look after her."
Mngh!
Luna wanted to stop Maria from pinching her cheeks, but she could do nothing about it.
Everyone was stronger than her, and everyone did it to her adorable cheeks.
She was enjoying people taking pictures of the royal motorcade, and liked it when she was the center of attention.
Poor girl didn't even know that no one could see inside from the outside.
Hehehe!
Everyone outside was so amazed by the motorcade, and their reactions were better than any entertainment that she got in the Palace.
Sigh!
Lucien always had a soft spot for innocent children, and he couldn't say anything anymore.
"Fine, I guess." Lucien agreed, and Maria smiled.
…
But that didn't last long, since the airport was merely 25 minutes away from the Roseveil Palace.
It could be longer with the heavy traffic of the Veltara City, but traffic wasn't a thing that a Prince had to worry about.
The city forces took care of that.
"Remember to eat properly."
"Make sure you take baths and brush your teeth daily."
"I know Gerald cut your allowance by 90%, but if you need any money, just call me."
"Also, never hurt another innocent's feelings."
"..."
Lucien nodded his way through his mother's continuous lecture, constantly grumbling inside.
'I don't even know how to use a phone.' Despite inheriting Lucien's memories, he was still somehow technologically illiterate.
"Also, make sure you pay attention in the clas–"
"Mother!" Lucien interrupted, "I am running late."
The departure was already way past the scheduled time, but since it was a private jet, they had a certain amount of freedom.
Maria said nothing and pulled him into a hug.
"Good luck in the academy, Lucien. Make lots of friends there and let me meet them."
"I will try, mother." He replied and got out of the hug.
He finally waved Maria and Luna goodbye, and they reciprocated.
"Bye-bye, Lucy!" Luna liked to call him Lucy, and he could do nothing but wave back.
"Bye, Lucien, be safe."
It was time.