"I see. If you can avoid being forced into a faction while securing enough support for yourself through your craft, it would be the best option. Before you leave, is there anything you need my help with?"
Dominic asked as a last gesture of goodwill. He wanted Ken to be part of the clan, but he also had to give Ken something to show sincerity. Ken was left this whole time to fend for himself, collect resources for himself, and deal with all his problems on his own. Dominic wanted to change that.
"Yes, I need a bigger house."
"That can be arranged. What about resources? I know you've gotten a lot in the central zone, but they will eventually dry up without a steady income," Dominic pointed out.
"I will be fine. I get 15,000 medium Qi Stones per month for my rank, and the amount is tripled for crossing three age groups. Other than that, I've submitted a new practical theory and approach to the Alchemy Division, I should get a hefty reward there as well. Once I sell them some pills, they will reactivate my monthly wage for being a fourth-rank alchemist as well."
Ken explained his sources of income, and it was indeed impressive. It was enough to sustain him. The sect wanted to allow the talented and hard-working disciples to improve without worrying about lacking resources, thus, achievements were rewarded generously.
"I see. I hope you can also offer your research to the alchemists in our clan. Your reward will be reduced since you published it to the whole sect, but you will be rewarded, nonetheless. I will make sure that nobody dares abuse your young age and try to force you into concocting free pills for them."
Dominic didn't believe anyone would do it to his direct grandchild, but he said it so Ken would feel grateful and safe. Only Norman and Krone, other direct descendants of the patriarch, would do something like that, and they were dead now. The others had nothing against Haoran and wouldn't go out of their way to torment Ken.
"I will share it with the clan as well. I'm waiting for the Alchemy Division to rate how helpful it is first."
Although the clan could just enter the library and learn it from there, the elders of the Alchemy Division might limit the access to fifth-rank alchemists or worse, sixth-rank ones, denying access from most of the alchemists of the elite clans.
As for the juniors of the Alchemy division that would also lose from this restriction, the important ones had senior elders or grand elders as masters, and those could grant them special permission. The rest would have to suffer along with the elite clans.
"I will take my leave now."
"Take care. You can come to me if you face any difficulties in the future."
-----------
In the next few days, things happened behind the scenes. First, Senior Raziel looked into the matter of Ken being an alchemist and found out he was indeed registered to the Alchemy division two years ago, and as a fourth-rank alchemist at that.
Second, Elder Fernando watched Ken's new house for a few days to see the child's routine and whether he was training diligently when there were no adults around. By spying on Ken's house, he could see everyone's activities, and he got to see Ken sit crossed-legged all day long except for mealtimes and nighttime.
Ken used the time to develop Henry's cultivation and techniques, and despite immersing himself in concealing formations, they could not hide him from a direct investigation from an eighth-stage cultivator.
Third, Ken finished integrating the inheritances in his mind and only had to write them down and pass them to Henry.
And the last thing was that the day arrived and he to go to take the test in the Formation Mastery division.
'let's go have breakfast and leave for the test,' Ken thought to himself as he got up from his hot bath and stretched. Soleil always prepared one for him at fixed times after she learned his schedule over the past few days.
Entering the dining room, he found Henry eating his breakfast under Soleil's glare. The maid never liked the presence of the extra resident which took more of her time, but as a maid, she had to serve the guest as well.
"Hmm, the new place is quite nice," Ken remarked as he sat down at the head of the table. Back in the old house, it'd turn cramped when three people walked around the single room that served as a kitchen, dining table, and living room. Now at least six people could sit together without giving up on personal space.
"It's very nice, but it's more space to clean," Soleil answered.
"But the formations clean everything automatically," Ken raised an eyebrow at the strange complaint.
"Only the dust," she said, emphasizing her words by cleaning a plate Henry finished using in his meal.
"Just do your job as a maid if you don't want to be fired," Ken shrugged uncaringly. He wasn't one to entertain the cheekiness of a maid.
"Young Master, don't bully your poor maid. Where can you find a loyal and diligent maid like me if you fire me?" She said coquettishly as she hurriedly stopped her drama and did her job.
"You're diligent indeed. Anyway, I'm off to the Formation Mastery division if anyone asks," Ken announced and left. He didn't know when his great-uncle would arrive or send someone to fetch him, so he made sure to let Soleil know his location.
He stood at the entrance to the large white marble building and crossed the courtyard to reach the building.
"Hello, Young Master Sue. Did you come for the test today?"
"I did," Ken nodded at the receptionist and handed her the token she gave him a week ago. She scanned the token for a short moment and placed it in a pile of other tokens she received from examinees that arrived earlier.
"Follow me, Young Master. I will take you to the exam room."
------
A/N - I'm conducting a vote for a possible cover change to attract more readers. Join my discord server to participate!
Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on free(w)ebnov(e)l.𝒄𝒐𝙢