The king praised Tari Salast greatly when Alys asked for recommendations on a Mind Healer, and so Alys found herself in a therapy room.

Salast was a ninety-year-old woman who looked calm as a lake. Alys knew she was supposed to check with the Patriarch first so he could check the lady's background, but she was still pissed off with the man for suggesting she had mental health issues!

Her therapy room wasn't filled with patterns and mystical tools to deal with the mind as Alys had expected. Instead, it felt cozy yet professional. Salast sat on an armchair in front of a sofa, where Alys had been told to sit or lay however she liked. The healer had a side table with a single picture of her children, and the rest of the wooden room had a few flowers, an open window with drawn thin curtains, and a fireplace.

She wore a simple healer's robe, white with golden patterns. It was highly stylized though. Her sleeves were folded, revealing her thin arms with a thin gold bracelet, she wore a fancy belt, and she had cut the hem to end a little after her knees. Her shoes were low-heels in a nice salmon color. Her pearl necklace, the slightly loose bun on her white hair, and the light makeup she wore finished the presentation of a professional yet homely woman. Her face didn't have enough wrinkles for such an old lady — she was rich and had bought potions, certainly — but a few were there. Her grey eyes didn't feel threatening or too happy. And she never looked at Alys with anything other than contained curiosity.

As soon as Alys sat on the sofa, the still sleeping Bella on her lap, the woman had asked what was going on. Alys explained the outrageous claim of the Patriarch.

"Why do you think he said that?" Salast asked.

Alys frowned. Obviously, the Patriarch had only said she had mental health issues because... Because... Why? Why had he offended her like that?

"I don't know," she replied sincerely and avoided the eyes of the old lady, looking instead at a picture of her children on her side table.

"How did you feel about his claim?" Salast asked.

"It angered me!" Alys almost yelled, then controlled her temper. "Greatly." She said with a level tone.

"Why?"

"You and your whys!" To be fair, it had been only two whys, but who was counting? "Just see if I have any issues and heal me if I do. I don't have time to talk." Alys crossed her arms. The woman was a Three Star Psychic, why wasn't she using any skills?

Salast made a pause, then asked, "Where would you rather be?"

"Anywhere else!" Alys was getting really upset. She stood up, almost dropping Bella on the floor. "Anywhere but here!"

"Why?" Salast asked.

Alys exploded. "Because I hate it! I hate it all! I'm not a failure! I'm not a weak lady who needs to be cared for! I'm old, experienced, and powerful! People respect me in Illyria!" The damn burst. She teared up. "The Patriarch used to respect me! Now, she called me some kind of invalid senile old woman! I'm not useless." She sat, already crying. "I'm not! And Bella isn't evil either. She's not. She's just... troubled. Only that."

She waited for Salast's mockery or just more annoying questions. Instead, the old lady kept silent for a long time. Way too long. The silence felt oppressing and judgemental, despite the look on Salast being nothing but the same contained curiosity as before.

The woman's impassivity comforted Alys. There was no pity there. No looking down on her either. She just wanted to know.

So Alys told her everything. How she felt, how she wanted to feel, and what was wrong with her life.

When she left the room two hours later, she had more doubts about herself than ever before. Yet, she couldn't remember the last time she had felt so light.

Aaron's latest cultivation session and sprout consumption had led to a surprising development. The Divine Energy in the sprout had fixed the imbalance of his energies, which caused his Two-Star Vitamancy to level up to Three Star. The harm leveling up so quickly would cause to his being was completely suppressed by the Divine Energy.

He was now a Five Star Qi Manipulator, Three Star Arcanist, and Three Star Vitamancer.

That still wouldn't have been enough to heal Lana's face, but he could've provided much better first aid at least. Not that he was complaining. He was glad for the level up and the extra survivability it provided him with.

He returned to the king to his tower to find the king and Alys waiting for him. He talked to Alys first.

"Patriarch, I admit I may have things of the past to deal with," she said. "I still don't think I would willingly harm myself."

"A good first step, I suppose, and one I don't think you made alone. Why didn't you bring me the name of whoever is helping you, as I ordered you to?"

She frowned. "I was angry at you."

"So? Does being angry gives a clan member the right to disrespect my orders?"

Her lips became a thin line and she shook her head. She was too upset to say anything though.

Aaron sighed. "We shall deal with that later too. For now, kindle the formations on the top floor again. I'm still waiting for the metal to coat the other floors, unfortunately. After you are done, leave to keep caring for your mind and search and Mind Energy. I see you're still an Arcanist."

Alys looked as if she would say something, then nodded and entered the tower. Aaron turned to the king, who had listened to everything. "Yes?"

He produced the city's map with three big demarked areas. "Here it is. I paid for the cost of the land with my funds, as I said I would. The people aren't happy, you'll face resistance."

"You made sure to buy land from people who needed the money the most, as I asked?"

"Of course. That's why it took so long."

"Good. I'm doing nothing illegal, and I'll ignore their anger if they are unreasonable. I aim to make them happy with my plans though. They'll be especially amenable to being offered jobs after the crusade is done inflating local prices. Make sure to not suffer a coup before we are back."

Part of Aaron felt a bit Machiavellian to think and act like that, but he was just using the situation to his advantage. Granted, the crusade was there to inflate the prices only because of his decision, but he didn't feel bad about pursuing his goals. Not too much anyway.

Just to feel a bit better though, he said, "Also resume your food donations to the needy. I'll have Bymor tell the Temple of Light to assist you with that, both with people and with resources."

"As you wish." He bowed slightly, then hesitated a bit before saying, "If you're interested, I know the professional Tyren is seeing."

Aaron shook his head. "Alys must tell me whoever it is herself. This is more about obeying orders, it's about respect and trust. Her mind grew too fast recently, and she went through a lot. All this is affecting her in unforeseen ways. I expected such behavior from Lana, not Alys, but you never know unless you read someone's mind entirely, which I'm against."

She king nodded. "I tried it once. I had to erase a big chunk of my memories afterward, and it caused me lots of issues. Some of the things people keep to themselves are best left alone."

"Wise words. Anything else?"

"No. Well, yes, but it's not important. I want to thank you. They had already stolen my safe, but they couldn't take it away from the city before my troops tracked them. Your wisdom knows no bounds."

Aaron laughed. "It was no wisdom. My detection skill could feel the tunnels and the lack of a safe where you said there should be one."

"Is it so? Then why didn't you say— Oh. Trust."

"Yes. If you wouldn't trust my analysis, why should I care about your safe? You're used to politics, which is about manipulating people. I care about relationships more, and they are two-way roads."

"Oh, right! Speaking of that, the Red Duke sent word. He apologized for the delay in delivering what you asked of him, but the merchandise was marked with anti-theft measures by his sons. He's waiting for an expert to remove them."

Aaron frowned. That was a lie. He hadn't felt anything of the kind in the beast and half-beasts with his active perception when he had visited.

"Where is the Red Duke right now?"

"He should be in his manor."

"I doubt it, but come with me to check. I might need to ask you to look for the man in your kingdom."

Aaron brought Lana and his bodyguard, who was standing watch over her, and the four of them rode a royal carriage to the Red Duke's manor. There was no sign of the man, his family, the beasts, or the half-beasts in Aaron's active perception. A quick inquiry revealed the duke had left the city the day before.

"You know what to do," Aaron told the king, who nodded.

After that, he found Bymor and dealt with matters of the crusade. A flying ship arrived that night, coming from a nearby kingdom. They set camp in an area outside the city where people from the Arcane Circle and some others who had teleported here were standing.

Not long after, Aaron left Lana and his bodyguard on the top floor of Alys Tower again and left to cultivate for the third time.

That would be the last time. After he was done, he would be free to reach the Champion level with no issue in a few days.

The post-cultivation drizzle hit Aaron's face. He had expected the unexpected from the Timelords he was preparing to kill, but not from his own cultivation.

His Arcane and Vital Energies had leveled up twice to reach the Five Star level in that cultivation session. Divine Energy was no joke, and its means were much beyond merely leveling him up. If he could cast skills using that energy, he would be at least a Grandmaster already. Though despite its power, it was still surprising that raw energy had leveled him up like that.

However, in hindsight, it was obvious that something like that might happen. Not only was he consuming Divine Energy, but he was also doing it right after cultivating using the Rise to the Heavens' method. A method he didn't completely understand, but that even now, helped him understand the One below the Dao a little bit, and pushed him forward in his cultivation. A miraculous method indeed.

When he had become a Five Star Qi Manipulator, he had found a bottleneck. It had become so that he would need to hit the Five Star level in all his three energies to be allowed to reach the Champion level. He had thought he knew a solution though: consuming three extra sprouts.

He had miscalculated. Not only would he be allowed to cultivate to the Champion level three days from now, but the sprouts themselves had leveled him up. That was both boon and bane. Boon for he was strong. Bane because he wouldn't be able to take advantage of a lower waiting time between cultivation sessions anymore.

It was too late for regret now. He had taken Vital Energy for safety measures, and it had already helped. Without it, both Lana and the king would be dead. The Truth of Heavens demanded balance though, and it had happened in the form of curbing his cultivation speed. A quite soft blow to take, to be honest.

Becoming a Champion in three energies three days from now would bring its own benefits. The main one would be him become able to deal with a Master Entropomancer. The female Timelord would be no issue for him then.

For now, he had a march to start.

He opened his eyes and headed toward the city.