Realm of Infinity-Chapter 113: Successful trade

Noah and Alen stood at the foot of his bed. Alen looked at his father with a mixture of grief and newfound resolve.

Noah caught his father's eye and gave a subtle nod. It was time.

Alen didn't speak. Instead, he simply closed his eyes and let go of the suppression he had placed on his internal energy.

In an instant, the air in the room grew heavy. A golden, sharp aura burst from Alen's body, vibrating with the unmistakable power of a top level Nascent Soul cultivator.

Arthur's eyes snapped open. The foggy, glazed look of a dying man vanished, replaced by a sharp, piercing clarity. He sat bolt upright, his hands trembling as he felt the sheer density of the spiritual energy radiating from his son.

"Alen? You... your foundation... are you..." Arthur's voice cracked. Tears began to carve tracks through the dust on his aged face.

"Yes, Father. I am back," Alen said, his own voice thick with emotion.

He sat on the edge of the bed and began to recount the events of the last twenty four hours. He told him about the pills, the miracle in the woods, and the terrifying Grade 5 Soul Replenishing Pill that had mended his broken soul in a single night.

Arthur turned his gaze toward Noah. The disbelief was plain on his face. "Noah... is he telling the truth?"

"Yes, Grandfather," Noah said, stepping closer.

He kept his expression serious to emphasize the weight of his next words. "But this secret must stay within these walls. Not a single soul outside the Aurelion bloodline can ever know of this. If the secret of my power is leaked, the source of these miracles will vanish forever. We would be hunted not just by the Prince, but by every Empire on the continent."

Arthur's posture straightened. The defeat that had hunched his shoulders for a year seemed to evaporate.

"I understand. I would cut out my own tongue before I betrayed you, my boy." He looked at the ceiling, a fierce light returning to his eyes. "The Aurelion name... it might actually survive."

Noah nodded, but he didn't let the sentimentality distract him.

"We have a long road ahead. Grandfather, do you have a Grade 3 Antidote pill? I need to heal the poison in your system before we can truly protect ourselves."

Arthur's face fell slightly, and he shook his head.

"No. After the exile, the royal guards stripped us of all high grade medicine. We have nothing but basic herbs left."

Noah turned to Alen.

"Then that is our first priority. Father, you must leave the capital tonight. Sell the Grade 3 Body Strengthening pills I gave you in a different territory. Use that money to buy the Antidote pill and as many Grade 1 cultivation materials as you can find for Ron."

Arthur leaned forward, his mind working with the tactical precision of the general he once was.

"Alen, do not stay within the kingdom. Go to the Lubelious Kingdom. They are famous for their alchemy. The materials will be much cheaper. If you sell in one kingdom and buy in Lubelious, you can maximize the return without raising local suspicion."

Suddenly, Noah's eyes scanned the room.

"Grandfather, do we have any family treasures left? Anything they didn't rob because it was hidden too well?"

Arthur's breath hitched.

"Are you saying... your power works on objects other than pills?"

Noah didn't answer directly; he simply smiled. The implication was enough.

Arthur stood up, the phantom pains of his poisoned body seemingly forgotten in the rush of hope.

"Wait here."

He left the room and returned thirty minutes later, carrying an elongated wooden box covered in thick dust and cobwebs.

He set it on the table and opened the latch. Inside lay a sword that seemed to drink the light of the room. The hilt was wrapped in dragon leather, and the blade shimmered with a faint blue hue.

"This is the Grade 6 Sword I used in my prime," Arthur whispered.

"I hid it in a hollow space beneath the floorboards of the old ancestral shrine before they robbed us. I didn't want to sell it. It was a gift from my father, who died in service to the crown. Besides

I am too weak to protect the money

it would have brought. It would have been our death warrant."

Noah ran a finger near the blade, feeling the hum of the metal.

"Grandfather, what is the market price for a Grade 6 weapon? And... what about a Grade 8?"

Arthur's hands began to shake as he did the mental math.

"A Grade 6 weapon, at auction, can fetch at least 5,000 mid level spirit stones."

"Five thousand mid level... that's five million low grade spirit stones," Noah calculated aloud. That was an astronomical sum.

"And a Grade 8?"

Arthur took a sharp breath.

"I can only guess. A Grade 8 weapon is a legendary tool, something fit for an Ascension Realm expert. This kingdom has never even seen one. Only the Mega Mana Empire possesses such things, and even there, they are rare treasures of the state. I imagine it would easily fetch ten million mid level spirit stones."

"Then we cannot sell a Grade 8 yet," Noah concluded.

"A kingdom like this couldn't handle that transaction without attracting the Empire's attention. We must wait until you are fully healed and back at your peak. For now, the focus remains on the Antidote pill."

The plan was set. They left Arthur's room and gathered Elina.

When she learned that her husband's strength had returned and that there was a path to saving Arthur, she cried for an hour. The weight of being abandoned by her own family and the constant fear of the Prince's guards had nearly broken her.

As night fell, the four of them stood in the small courtyard. The air was crisp, and the moon was hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds, a New Moon, the darkest night of the month.

"Alen," Arthur said, gripping his son's shoulder.

"Be careful. Do not haggle for the best price. Sell the pills for the bare minimum if you have to. Just get back alive. The Prince's guards are watching the gates, but they don't expect a Nascent Soul expert to be lurking in this 'dog house'."

Noah watched his father. He knew the risk was high.

If Alen was caught, the Prince would use it as an excuse to execute the entire family. But they had no choice. To stay still was to die slowly; to move was to fight for a future.

Alen hugged Elina tightly, whispered a promise in her ear, and vanished into the darkness, his dark cloak blending into the shadows.

Alen didn't go toward the main gates. He knew the guards there were numerous and bored, likely to stop anyone just for sport.

Instead, he moved toward the southern district, where the great walls of the capital met the edge of the forest.

He ran with the silent grace of a predator.

He arrived at the base of the massive stone wall. It was fifty feet high, smooth and cold.

For a cripple, it was an impassable barrier.

For a Nascent Soul cultivator, it was a mere hurdle.

He was about to leap when a torch flickered nearby. Two guards, likely on a late night patrol they weren't supposed to be on, turned the corner.

"Hey! Who's there? Stop!" they shouted, unsheathing their swords.

Alen didn't have time for a conversation. He didn't want to kill them and draw a massive investigation, but he couldn't stay.

He released a tiny fraction of his aura, just enough to paralyze them with fear.

The two Golden Core guards felt as if an invisible mountain had just dropped onto their chests. Their knees buckled, and they collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

Alen leaped. He cleared the wall in a single bound and disappeared into the treeline on the other side.

Back at the wall, the guards scrambled to their feet minutes later, their faces pale.

"Captain! We need to find the Captain! A Nascent Soul being just jumped the wall!"

An hour later, in the guard barracks, the Captain, a stern man who was also at the Nascent Soul realm, listened to the report.

He rubbed his chin. "A suspicious expert fleeing the city? Did he steal anything?"

"We don't know, sir. He was too fast."

The Captain sighed.

"Unless a high ranking official reports a theft, don't bother. We have enough problems. By the way, did you check on that village? The one with the rumor of the girl with a one element spirit vein?"

"We found nothing, sir," the guard replied. "It's likely just a peasant's story. How could a commoner awaken a pure element vein? It's a joke."

"Keep an eye on it anyway," the Captain muttered. "Genius births are never a joke."

Two days passed in a blur of anxiety for Noah.

He spent his time training Ron, who was rapidly absorbing the energy from the basic pills Noah had "traded" to him. Ron's body was becoming sturdier, his movements sharper. He was no longer just a servant boy; he was becoming a martial artist.

On the third night, a soft rhythmic tapping sounded at the back door.

Noah opened it to find Alen. He looked exhausted, his cloak torn and dusty, but his eyes were bright.

"Father! You're back," Noah whispered, pulling him inside.

"I have it, Noah," Alen said, patting a pouch at his waist. "The Antidote pill, and a surplus of resources."

But as Alen stepped into the light of the kitchen, Noah noticed he was carrying something else.

"Who is this, Father?" Noah asked, peering at the girl.

Alen looked down at the little girl. She looked to be about eight years old, with hair as white as snow and a face that, even in sleep, looked hauntingly beautiful.

"I don't know. I was taking a shortcut through the Forest on my way back. I found her lying in a clearing, unconscious. The spirit beasts were circling, but they weren't attacking. They seemed... afraid of her. I couldn't just leave her there."