Chapter 606 - Charles [3]: The Gap
Chapter 606 - Charles [3]: The Gap
40th, Trian Month, Trian Ruins.
In the valley of level 7s, an unexpected event unfolded.
"Hey, sto—mff!"
"You! Are you cra—uckk!"
"Son of a bi—arhhh!"
The three princes who cursed the white wolf in front of them didn't even get the chance to finish their sentences and were slapped to the ground.
Charles turned back to his human form and looked up.
A thick layer of white fog shielded the valley from the sky. But it also had a restraining effect on mobility.
If it didn't exist, he would've jumped high and checked what he wanted. With the option out of the window, he had to resort to this.
"Where are they?" Charles looked at the three princes in front of him with a cold gaze.
"H-How are we supposed to know?" One of them said indignantly.
"They are much stronger than us. Stronger than you!" Another chided.
"You'll find them once we're in the abode anyway. Why are you picking on us?" When the third one said those words, his face turned red in shame.
Even though they recently reached high level 7, they were still Charles' seniors. In fact, the second prince to get beaten was 10 years older than Charles.
Though he's about to lose his prince status soon, it still was disgraceful.
Listening to their response, however, Charles' brows furrowed into a frown of displeasure.
From their expressions, it seems like they weren't lying.
Charles clenched his fists and the three princes shivered.
In the end, he exhaled and relaxed his fist. He enjoyed tormenting his enemies, but these three weren't even his enemies.
Charles knew he was weird in some ways, but unless it was necessary, he wouldn't go out of his way to torment people.
So, he walked ahead and transformed into the white wolf. Clenching his leg muscles, he was about to jump when one of the princes suddenly said.
"Jamie might be in the Sidhe garden! H-He has a habit of collecting healing flowers." The second prince said through gritted teeth.
"…"
His teammates looked at him with dumbfounded gazes. They didn't understand why he'd suddenly reveal this information, even when there was absolutely no need to.
The second prince felt his face burn in shame but he managed to say. "I-If it was others, they would've stolen our treasures too. T-Thank you for not doing that."
"…"
At his words, the other two princes also looked at Charles with a little less hostility and a bit of gratitude.
Charles merely laughed at their reaction.
This world…they thanked him for beating them up, but not looting them.
As he thought, this world was truly broken.
'Someone needs to fix it.'
Him.
Charles was thinking along those lines after realizing what Roxanna actually did. Even though he loved his aunt, he was able to distinguish what was right and what was wrong.
Roxanna was in the wrong. She did some of the most atrocious things.
Charles didn't like that. But more than that, he didn't like the environment that allowed her to do such a criminal thing. Even more than that, he didn't like the society that molded her into such a person.
He knew about Roxanna's childhood.
When she wanted to be a normal girl, she was forced by her parents to spend every day in the lab.
When she finally stepped out, she realized she was no longer normal.
Even if she tried her best, she'd remain an outsider in a world that felt alien to her.
Of course, while the world was at fault, so was Roxanna. She was a criminal and did many evil things.
Charles wanted to see a world where such things wouldn't be allowed.
An ideal world where people like his aunt wouldn't suffer to become psychopaths and torture children in their labs.
…That was the purpose he found.
But before that, he'd avenge her. No matter if she was right or wrong, he loved her more than anyone else.
That's why, for the inexorable fight between him and Varian, Charles wanted to be prepared.
"Thank you." He said to the second prince and kicked the ground.
The air exploded into shockwaves and swept across the plains, blowing away the trees and plants.
"…What was that."
*** *** ***
Sidhe Garden was a place filled with beautiful flowers. Each of these flowers was a plantae morpher with healing properties.
Some of these were more effective than potions. In general, they were also more effective in treating internal injuries and ensuring no hidden injuries remained.
That's the reason Jamie, one of the three kings, visited this area.
Of course, collecting flowers was anything but easy. Each flower had a guardian beast and no guardian beast was weak.
It was an uphill task, but for Jamie, it wasn't that hard.
So, after he collected the tenth flower, the attack behind him came as a surprise.
Boom!
Jamie bent backward. His feet pointed to the sky, but his back was completely horizontal.
'White paws?'
It was a large white paw that tried to attack him. When it realized that he dodged, the white paw slapped down, aiming for Jamie's chest.
Jamie simply clenched his fist and punched.
Boom!
The moment their attacks connected, Jamie's feet sunk into the ground, but the owner of the white paw flew was blown into the sky.
"Roar!"
"Haha!" Jamie laughed at the provocation and kicked the ground.
His body was like a bullet tearing through the air and reached the white wolf in the blink of an eye.
In the mid-air, the wolf slapped him with its tail with a force enough to break a small mountain.
Jamie responded with a kick.
Boom!
A huge shockwave swept the surroundings as both Jamie and the white wolf were pushed back and landed.
The only difference was that Jamie was breathing normally while the white wolf's breathing was ragged.
Its tail was also deformed and bled.
But the wolf didn't back down. Instead, with even more ferocity, it roared and lunged forward.
"Stupid." Jamie shook his head and raised his palm.
Boom!
The fight went on for thirty minutes.
It was mainly because Jamie didn't fight with the intent to kill.
But still, by the end of the match, the results were obvious.
The white wolf, no, it was Charles now, lay in a pool of blood, utterly defeated.
On the other hand, Jamie panted hard as blood flowed from several of the small but numerous injuries throughout his body.
"W-What a son of a bitch!" Jamie looked at Charles with a mix of admiration and anger.
Charles didn't respond. He merely tapped his storage ring and grabbed a potion before gulping it.
He did this all while lying down. It wasn't that he didn't want to stand up, but he just couldn't.
His legs were broken, and so was his back.
Thankfully, one of his hands was still working properly.
"Charles, I know what you want, but I advise you to give up." Jamie looked at the junior far younger than him and advised.
Then, he hesitated for a moment before continuing. "To be honest, your current strength…in itself is absurd. There is no precedent for a high level 7.
Even though you're just starting out as a high level 7, you are already far ahead of everyone in your age group. Heck, even people five years or ten years older than you don't have much on you."
Charles slowly stood up, the expensive potion healed his legs just enough for him to get back on his feet.
Jamie noticed the look in Charles' eyes.
It was a burning will.
"You won't give up?" Jamie frowned and then his eyes turned cold. "You want to beat the peak level 7s, 8s, and even 9s in the abode?"
Charles' eyes glowed with ambition.
He wanted to win.
Inside the ruler's abode, everyone's level would be suppressed.
But still, some people would remain stronger than others.
His strongest opponents would be at the peak of level 7.
That's why he wanted to check his relative powers with the three kings—the strongest level 7s in the expedition—the strongest peak level 7s.
The result was clear.
He lost miserably.
In fact, Charles didn't even put a proper fight.
If not for Jamie going lenient on him, he'd have died.
Of course, Charles had enough treasures to escape such a situation. That's why he dared this in the first place.
Still, the results, though expected, were disappointing.
Charles was confronted with a future that had little to no chance of him winning the ruler's abode.
'I still have that one last option…'
Still, even though he was significantly weaker than Jamie, Charles was able to feel the distance between them.
It was vast but unsurmountable.
'With that...'
A crystal bottle flashed in his mind.