Chapter 126: broken core

The room Alex stayed in was still the same way he remembered, only difference was that they had placed new vases in the room.

The first thing that he did after he closed the door was to sit on the floor. He brought out energy crystals to absorb.

['So now we are back to burning money? Haven't you heard that one of the best ways to regain your strength is to sleep?'] Al complained.

['Shut the f*ck up.'] Alex uttered.

Alex spent most of the morning absorbing the energy crystals. The more he absorbed, the emptier he felt. Alex had been sweating furiously, his temperature increased. When he got frustrated by that feeling. Then he changed the blue ECs in front of him to the low-density green energy crystals.

['I don't think that it's wise to do that.'] Xander stated.

['What else do you want me to do? I feel like I'm getting weaker instead of feeling replenished. I'll take it slowly. If I can't handle it then I'll stop.']

['The suicidal one amongst us.'] Al commented and his comment got ignored by Alex.

Alex tightened his grip on the green energy crystal and started to draw the QI in it slowly. Just a whiff of the QI from the green crystal calmed Alex's pang for energy. He didn't stop there, he continued to draw energy from the crystal.

-Crack!

"Shit!" Alex's core cracked and he was feeling bloated now, he was filled with the pure QI from the low-density green energy crystal, and he hasn't even absorbed the whole QI in the crystal yet.

Alex held his stomach and bent his back forward. He released the QI that was in him but still, the bloated feeling only increased

"Keep the energy in, regulate it with your breathing. Breathe in slowly and then exhale slowly. Let the energy circulate your body then return the excess to your core." Alex thought that he had started to hallucinate again.

"Do as I asked you if you want to live." The voice reached his ears again.

Alex felt like he was about to explode, he did as the voice directed him to do.

He stopped releasing the QI in him and then he started to breathe as the voice advised. The pain and bloat feeling subsided in no time.

-Break!!

His core broke.

-Cough!

Alex immediately coughed out the impurities that were in him. It started as a cough, then it changed to him vomiting his guts out.

By the time he was done vomiting, he quickly checked his insides to assess the state of his core. He was afraid that he had used his arrogance to cripple himself.

['How is this possible, my core broke apart, but now there's a bigger core in where the old one was before.'] He thought.

He found it hard to believe what he was seeing in him. Suddenly he started to absorb the QI around him and soon his new core was filled to the brim and Alex felt stronger than ever.

"This feeling, I've broken through again. How comes?" Now he was lost for words.

['I'm not that lucky, how did this happen?'] Alex found it hard to accept that he had just made a breakthrough.

['Even if we are unlucky and most of the time, unfortunate, it doesn't mean that we cannot find a blessing in disasters. There is yin in yang and yang in the yin, be happy rather than skeptical about what has happened, later on, we'll investigate this. Just don't play daredevil with my freaking life again, or else.'] Al warned.

['We already have a lot of things to do, the list just keep on increasing.'] Alex complained.

['True, but what's important is who the f*ck was speaking to us?!'] Al screamed.

['I don't know, there seems to be someone watching us. It might be that alchemist Sully, maybe he has been watching and waiting for me to bring out the pills. It's a good thing that I didn't make that mistake.'] Alex silently rejoiced in his heart.

Having someone watch over him from a position he couldn't discern, was mind wrecking. The major problem was that he couldn't recognize the voice, it didn't sound like a female's voice particularly nor did it sound like a male's.

['Wait, if it was Sully that have been watching us then we are f*cked. He might have been present when we massacred the 9th platoon.'] Al pointed.

"F*ck!" Alex cursed and bit his lower lip in frustration, he felt chills run down his back. He had already started to consider the option of running away, going somewhere far away then start from the beginning all over.

['That's enough cursing for one day. Alex, Al, think about it. If the greedy man had seen what we did then he would have already met us to ask for some hush money. And I don't think that Sully has such patience. So, at ease soldier.'] Xander explained and sent his worries at bay.

['What do I do now? Do I thank the person or what?']

['Act like you heard nothing. And it is almost time for lunch, I think you should avoid being alone for a while.'] Al advised.

Alex nodded his head and cleared his throat. He looked around the room twice before he left for the door…

Alex made his way out of the room and began walking around the manor, every staff that saw him stopped and gave a deep bow to him. He found it to be a bit pleasing at first, then later on it was just weird.

While walking around the manor, Alex lost himself in his thoughts, he couldn't tell that it was already time for lunch until he was snapped out of his thoughts by a butler that came to inform him that it was time for lunch.

"Already?" He looked at the time interface on his mask and saw that it was indeed time for lunch in the Avanti manor.

"Yes sir, would like me to lead you to the dining?" The butler asked while he was still in his bowing position.

"Yes," After walking around without paying attention, he wasn't sure if he could find his way to the dining from where he was.

"This way please." The butler led the way and Alex followed behind him.

Roughly 5 minutes later they arrived in front of the huge doors of the dining.

-Creak!!

The butler wasted no time in pushing the doors open. Everyone was already there, they had been waiting for Alex to arrive…

"Alexander, it has been a while." Lawrence stood up and gave a small bow to Alex.

So did the butlers and maids that were present in the dining room. It was the same set of staff that tried to restrain him the first time that he was here.

They all knew of his status of being royalty so they knew that they were meant to show respect, regardless of his wish against it.

Everyone but the Avanti family was shocked by Lawrence's hospitality for Alex, he didn't bow to them but he was doing that for Alex.

Now they knew that there was something that they didn't know of, something important. The seraphim members became very curious about Alex's identity.

Lawrence's wives stood up and did the same thing.

"Why are you bowing to me, I thought I said that you don't need to do it," Alex complained immediately as he looked at them with a pleading gaze.

['These poke noses are going to get curious now'] He thought.

"This is the only way I can express my gratitude to the person that saved both my son and daughter, for their life this is a small price to pay." Lawrence smiled and used that as a cover for why he bowed to him.

"Oh, if it's that then there's no problem, I guess." He sighed in relief.

"Your high-" Alice Avanti, Sara's mother, paused and giggled. She said that just to tease Alex and it worked.

['Why is this woman as mischievous as her daughter. If they can pick up what she said then they too might start calling me your highness.'] Alex thought frantically. His worry was also showing on his face for the rest to see.

"Hahahaha," The Avanti family laughed at his expression.

"You are highly welcome in this house, Alexander." Alice completed her sentence with a smile on her face. "Please come and take a seat." She invited.

As Alex walked to a seat that was close to Camron, he could feel the eyes of everyone on him. He frowned and took his seat.

-Clap, Clap!

Reginald clapped his hands and lunch was served…

While they were eating, Alice called out to Alex.

"Alex, Sara told me that while you guys were in the forest you were especially nice towards her. Do you like my little girl? If you do you can have her." Alice said bluntly with a smile on her lips.

-Oughf!!

What she said threw many people that were seated and eating, off, most especially the new faces in the room. Katherine, Drake, Neko, and Tammy choked on their food when they heard that…