"I know what I'm doing," Rocky nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Obviously, the other three had no idea what they were talking about, and
Marcia didn't expect that they would understand either way.
"You three should stop pestering Basil—especially you, Lena! You are the Witch of the Holy Dragon
Empire. The overall situation of the empire is dire, and His Majesty needs a little more rest before he
can get back to taking care of the state affairs. So, you should do your duties without fail," Marcia
scolded, treating the three women like her younger sisters.
"I know! And I will! I just haven't seen Basil in a long time. I want to spend more time with him!" Lena
said, pouting.
"Master, we spent the whole night studying, but we still couldn't come up with a method to cultivate
together with Basil. Please give us some advice!" Sabina cut in impatiently.
"Cultivate together?" Marcia turned to Rocky, raising her brows.
He shrugged with a shy smile.
"Speaking of that, I need Basil's help to refine the Dragon Sarira. So, cultivating together is a good
idea. I may be able to give you the part of the power contained in the Dragon Sarira, which may in turn
help you improve your strength. In addition to that, Basil can also continue to fuse the power of the
Holy Dragon Bead the same way." Marcia's eyes gleamed with excitement.
Rocky felt a dark cloud hover over him after hearing her elaborate plan. He rolled his eyes with a
reluctant chuckle. He wasn't afraid of any kind of cultivation. He was hoping to speed up the process of
fusing the power of the Holy Dragon Bead, but as a man, he wondered about the consequences of
cultivating with all these women.
"One more thing. General Lance sent word—Isis and Nigel are on their way back to Imperial City. They
will be back at the Palace City soon," Marcia added.
"That's great news," Rocky nodded with a smile and turned to look outside the window. A cool wind
blew on his face. When was the last time he had some time to himself?
After another scolding from Marcia, the three women finally left Rocky alone in his Crimson Palace and
went to Lena's Witch Palace.
Soon after that, he opened his Magic Spiritual Space and walked in.
He first visited Uriah, who was sprawled out on the ground with its eyes closed. He could still
remember its original appearance at a glance, even though it had changed dramatically.
Sensing Rocky's presence, Uriah opened its eyes and slightly raised its head to greet him. It was still
too weak to stand on its feet.
"Did I wake you?" Rocky asked with a smile, touching his head against Uriah's.
It rubbed its head against Rocky's as he patted on its neck gently.
He still had a lot of questions about Uriah's rebirth, especially about that time when all the beasts knelt
down in front of Uriah when it came out of its shell. It was nothing short of astonishing.
But now, it was too weak to even stand. He was well aware that if he didn't repair the pair of deadly
genomes inside Uriah as soon as possible, the result would be irreversible.
He left after staying with Uriah for a while, letting the beast to get as much rest as possible. Next, he
went to check on the newly born descendants of the Fire Rock Turtle and the Dark Heaven Insect. He
had been too occupied with Alston, and then rescuing his father from the Dragon Master Clan, that he
had completely ignored these little fellows. Fortunately, their mother, the Fire Rock Turtle, had taken
good care of them. It looked like he had nothing to worry about.
After that, he went to the lab to sort out the genetic data he had collected about the spirit-manipulated
beasts, and he now had the results of his six-month research on genomes. Setting up a Genome
Research Institute didn't seem like a far-fetched dream anymore.
Of course, it was not going to be an easy task to establish one in this world, although his previous
preparations had gone smoothly so far. The Xiao's beast hospitals were prosperous in the Timber Deity
Empire and they had opened branches in other small countries as well, which meant that he already
had a foundation for basic resources.
Rocky also wanted to use all his resources in the Holy Dragon Empire to establish a chain of beast
hospitals, while also simultaneously continuing to improve his research foundation.
However, there was another issue that needed his immediate attention, something that was required to
build his foundation—extra pairs of hands.
There was no way he could run a Genome Research Institute on his own. Besides, the scale of the
research institute he had planned out for the empire was not very modest. So, he needed a lot of
human resources.
People in this world didn't know anything about science or what it was, nor did they know what genetic
technology was. So, finding new talents, who were interested in developing this institute alongside with
him, was a difficult task in itself.
Before leaving the Fragrance House, he asked Laney to use her intelligence network over both Timber
Deity Empire and Holy Dragon Empire to find people who had any kind of research experience in spirit-
manipulated beasts.
Well, Rome was not built in a day, and neither was the science developed overnight. So, he had to be
patient and take his time to prepare for the establishment of his research institute.
By the time he finished sorting out all the data and research materials, two days had passed. He
stretched himself to relieve his stiff muscles and left his Magic Spiritual Space.
As soon as he walked into the Crimson Palace, he learned that Isis had arrived at the Palace City with
his son, and they were being received by the emperor in his palace at that moment.
Rocky headed straight to the emperor's palace to greet them.
There were a few ministers of the Holy Dragon Empire outside the palace, along with several princes,
other members of the royal family and some elders, including Elder Kerr and Elder Duke who had
fought fiercely with him before.
On the second day after the emperor was brought back, Bryant and Marcia had announced his return
to the public, which naturally was cause for huge celebrations. The panic that had been caused due to
Alston's death had vanished with the return of the emperor. The people could finally put their minds to
rest.
But at the same time, the ministers and the royal members were anxious to know why the emperor had
gone missing and what had happened to him during the time he was gone.
For the past two days, the emperor hadn't shown his presence in court. Except the princes, Bryant and
Marcia, no one else had seen him, which aroused suspicion among the ministers and royal members.
They began to suspect whether the emperor had really come back, or if his health was impaired.
So, the emperor summoned a few important ministers and the princes of the Holy Dragon Empire to his
palace. Rumor was that there would be an important announcement that day, and that led to a crowd
gathering in front of the palace.
As soon as the royal members and the ministers saw Rocky, they greeted him with a low bow,
"Greetings, Your Royal Highness!"
Rocky was taken aback at first, and then quickly remembered that he was coronated as Prince
Crimson by the emperor. Apart from that, he was also a Great General. With this privilege and status,
he could easily establish an army of his own any time. It was safe to conclude that he was one of the
top-ranking officials of the Holy Dragon Empire now.
And if he so willed, it would be a piece of cake for him to even become the emperor of the Holy Dragon
Empire.
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