Chapter 293 - Alarming Discovery
Leon slowly opened his eyes to the outside as he found himself back in his exact seated spot. He was ready to close his eyes again when his eyes twitched at the sound of incoming footsteps.
"Your Highness." A senior maid greeted with courtesy.
"What is it?" Leon asked coolly.
"Baron Grant wished to inform you that Brian Bradford had awakened, Your Highness."
Leon's eyes flashed with a peculiar light before he nodded. "I understand. You may return and inform the Baron that I will head over shortly."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The senior palace maid curtsied and respectfully took her leave.
After the senior palace maid left, Leon called for another palace maid. It did not take long before the junior maid, Ellie arrived at his private courtyard with a joyful look.
"How can I help you, Your Highness?" Ellie asked courteously.
"I need you to go contact a printing company to process these papers into a book and have the copy sent back to my father. The king will know what to do with it then."
Having said that, Leon handed the stack of paper over and a bag of cash. After a short pause, he added, "Also, get a palace guard or two to accompany you for protection."
The task was simple, but Ellie was a commoner before she started working for the royal family. Having a palace guard to accompany her was just a precaution to avoid any unnecessary complications that may arise from carrying out his task in the Upper District.
"Yes, Your Highness. Thank you for your concern." Ellie said with joy before asking with a hopeful gaze, "Is there anything else you need to be done, Your Highness?"
"No, that is all for now."
"Oh…"
Ellie appeared disappointed, but she immediately cheered herself up and excused herself to carrying out the task Leon assigned.
Leon shook his head and shortly left his private courtyard. It was not long before he arrived at the Guest Courtyard and headed for the room, he last remembered leaving his adoptive father to recuperate.
Brian Bradford and Baron Grant appeared to be talking about something, but they paused the moment Leon entered.
With a completely different face that Leon was used to, Brian Bradford looked at Leon with guilt.
"Do you blame me?"
"Not at all." Leon shook his head and said, "In fact, I am grateful for what father and mother had done for me."
The life and hardship of a commoner was not something that Leon experienced in his previous life but needed. It provided him with some aspects of life he had been ignorant of and awoke a drive and ambition not apparent to him before.
If he had relived the life of another prince from the start, with his memories of the Divine Realm, he would have been an empty shell that lived and die for revenge. Even if he succeeded, that would be the end of it and nothing more.
With the values embedded in his current life and the memories of his past life, he realized how precious life truly was. A doctor can decide the life and death of his patient, but he is not the master of life and death. Some things were out of his reach unless he had the strength.
Thus, in this life, his late father must still be avenged, but he would not forsake everything for revenge. He would cherish his loved ones and live life to the fullest, no longer taking it for granted.
It was also what his late father had wished and sacrificed his life for.
Brian Bradford looked at Leon with a gratified smile after knowing Leon still considered them as parents in his heart. Leon was raised for a purpose, but they imparted important values and raised him like a real son.
"How are you feeling, father?" Leon asked despite knowing the answer.
"Good, good… not too shabby, Haha... if only your mother was also here." Brian transitioned from humorous to being dispirited.
At the side, Baron Grant courteously asked, "Should I leave so you can have some time together, Your Highness?"
"There's no need." Leon waved as he refocused his eyes on his adoptive father with an air of solemnity. "Do you remember what happened to you and everyone else before you lost consciousness, father?"
That is right. His mother was still on the other side of the teleportation array. They had to quickly save the rest of the people trapped on the other side.
Brian thought hard through his vague memories and began to recount what he knew.
"We… we were hiding under the old bar like usual when there was a sudden tremor on the surface and the cry of a young lady we occasionally hear, except the cry this time was terrible compared to the past."
"As such, we all went to investigate and tried to peer down when a bright light suddenly shot out from the well and illuminated the dark clouds that we never knew existed above the area. After that… after that…"
Brian began to frown as his memory grew fuzzy. He thought harder until many creases were formed on his forehead before the obscurity became clearer.
"I remember now. After that, the dark clouds started to shine with a red light. When we saw the red light, we all lost control of our bodies and became weightless as some unknown force pulled up into the dark clouds. Before we knew it, we were already in a dark swamp of a completely different place."
At this point, Brian Bradford trembled at his own vivid memory like he was reliving the scene.
"That place was very strange... very dark… and hard to breathe." Brian's eye widened as he reached a more crucial point. "There was a blood-red moon in the sky, and the world was covered in its eerie dark and dim red light with bones littered everywhere… There were no signs of other life, and it seems that we all passed out shortly after arriving there…"
"How can there be a blood moon? And bones littered the place?" Baron Grant was visibly shocked. "Are you sure you are not describing hell?"
"It indeed seemed like we had stumbled into hell. I'm still not sure how we got there and how I managed to come back…" Brian sighed with a heavy feeling.
Leon also felt heavy at heart. His adoptive father did not provide enough information for him to learn where the other side was, but at the very least, he was confident that it was a place very suitable for demon habitat.
After speaking a few words, Leon shortly left the room and returned to his private courtyard to study the two demon formations and array wholeheartedly.
It took three days for Leon to fully comprehend the two demon formations and array, but not because he was stupid.
The demon formations and array were all Tier 4 while Leon was only a Tier 3 Runic Master who can only produce Tier 3 formations, arrays, inscriptions, and artifacts.
Arden was an innovator who researched the depth of the runic language and not the height of its application.
However, it was also due to this kind of inheritance that Leon possesses an incomparably sturdy foundation in the runic language.
Like a mathematician knowing all his mathematical formulas, it was just a matter of time before any equations were solved. He would also gain experience in solving similar problems and increase his own proficiency.
As such, Leon was qualified to become a Tier 4 Formation Master and a Tier 4 Array Master. He now possesses the knowledge to produce his own Tier 4 formations and Tier 4 arrays.
If there were Tier 5 formations and arrays to study, sure, the time would take even longer to comprehend, but Leon would also reach Tier 5 Formation Master eventually.
Others would require years of study and accumulated knowledge before they were ready to produce formations of higher tier and upgrade their professions, but Leon only needed to study an existing one to become a formation master of the correlating tier.
This was the most significant gain from Arden's inheritance.
However, none of this mattered to Leon. The moment he understood what the two demon formations and the single array was used for, his eyes immediately snapped open as he shot to his feet with alarm.
The two formations were energy gathering formations. They collect energy from heaven and earth and feed it to the central array to create a portal that leads to another location.
Leon already understood this much when he observed Lost Isle Alley.
What alarmed him is that the heaven gathering formation and earth gathering formation were both rigged to breakdown.
Whether the heaven gathering formation collapses first from the structural disintegration of the old buildings or the vengeful spirit bound to the earth gathering formation dies first, either of them would cause the central array to become unstable and create a spatial collapse.
When that happens, one of two possible scenarios will happen. The surrounding landmass will be swallowed and brought over to the other side, or vice versa.
In other words, if their side got swallowed, they would be dropped into the middle of demon territory.
On the other hand, if the other side were brought over to their side instead, the demons would have succeeded in placing an anchor on their continent, where they will spawn and commence an invasion.
None of these were ideal scenarios. In fact, they spell a terrible calamity!