Vel made everything ready as he ordered the servants to prepare a bath for him for when he was finished. Today was the day he had waited for for a very long time. The day he turned eighteen and finally could break into the origin realm. His grandfather had promised him that he would take him back with him to Rome and let him attend the most prestigious martial arts school in the country if he could break through before he left Rome. Being able to break through was not that hard, he had condensed the spirit force so much that he even had to hold himself back from breaking through multiple times.

The origin realm was where the spirit force inside the dantian would turn into liquid and nourish the body making it a lot stronger and faster. So it meant that the more spirit force someone had the better his body would be.

Vel sat down and concentrated on his dantian as he performed the last couple of steps to breakthrough and made sure that nobody would disturb him. Only a minute or two later he felt his dantian become twice in size. The books said that normal cultivators would get two drops of liquid spirit force and that most geniuses were able to get three or four.

Vel kept his focus as to not lose focus as drop after drop of spirit force entered his dantian eventually ending at six. That was one more than his father and one less than his grandfather. He had read about people people who had reached nine or even ten drops so he knew he wasn't anything that special.

The most important part was still to come. He concentrated on the liquid inside him and when he was ready released it inside his physical body which not only strengthened his bones but also removed all the impurities in his body through his pores which by now had covered his entire body in black sludge. The power he felt through his body was unreal. He hadn't tested it but he dared to bet anyone that he was at least five times as strong as before.

He spend the next twenty minutes making sure everything was how it should be before he got up and took the bath. He couldn't help think how amazing this was, he felt like he had a whole new body. But there was no time to get stuck on that. Because he knew that there was something else he needed to do before he could leave for Rome in clear conscious.

Vel quickly got dressed and ready to leave. He had promised himself to wait until he had broken through as he didn't want any distractions. It all began six months ago when his youngest uncle send him a letter talking about how his brother was doing strange things in the countryside and that he wanted Vel to investigate for him as he himself was banned from going there as it was part of the families property.

He didn't think much of it at first but then he found the bastards laboratory that he was using to make drugs, cocaine to be exact. The worse thing was that drugs like that didn't work on cultivators so the people that were affected the most would be the poor and the weak.

He knew deep down the bastard wouldn't change and today was the day he was going to arrest him and be done with him. he had noticed a couple of months ago that he had changed, he didn't care about Abbas anymore, he wanted to keep growing in the world of cultivation and become the second immortal this country had, that was his destiny.

Vel called for the servant again and asked, “did they apprehend him?”

The servant nodded his head and answered, “Yes sir, he had been taken to the main hall and your father, uncle, and grandfather have been summoned as well.”

Vel gave the man an approving nod and made his way to the main hall. The main hall had two chairs at the center where his father, grandfather were sitting with his oldest uncle was standing next to his father all waiting for him to explain why he had summoned them. The only other person in the room was his mother and grandfather's secretary who were standing by the entrance as they themselves had just arrived.

The moment he entered the room everyone got a big smile on their face and started to congratulate him. They were cultivators themselves and could instantly tell had broken through. “I know you're happy but couldn't thin wait until after lunch?” his father asked jokingly.

“I'm sorry father but it cant,” Vel said with a serious tone. He pointed to the guards behind him and continued, “bring him in.”

Paulus's smile turned into anger as he saw two guards drag his son into the room and shouted, “what's the meaning of this? Release him at once!” He instinctively tried to get up to help but was stopped by his father who told him to hold on.

“Explain yourself,” the senator said calmly but also threateningly. Like he was telling Vel to come up with a good reason for this or else.

Vel spend the next ten minutes explaining how his younger brother had made a laboratory and was producing dangerous drugs targeted at the commoners and slaves of the city. He explained how these drugs were addicting and could kill thousands and that it would destroy not only their province but also the country.

“Is what he is saying true?” The senator asked Felix straightforwardly.

“Part of it,” Felix said in his usual I don't really care tone.

“Then explain which part,” the senator said in a threatening voice. Making or using drugs was against the law and would be punished with execution if found guilty. That's what he thought at least because nobody had been able to make drugs that affected cultivators and the senate was too lazy to care about normal humans to enforce it.

“I did produce drugs, but they are not for human use,” Felix said with a little smile on his face.

“Then who are they for?”

“Cows.”

“Why would he be making drugs for cows? This is a ridiculous lie, even for someone like him,” Vel said in a mocking voice. He had investigated the building, he had seen the ingredients he was using. He was clearly making cocaine inside the laboratory.

“You can go and check for yourself grandfather,” Felix said without showing any fear.

The senator quickly looked towards his secretary and he nodded back to him before he disappeared. “Let's say what you are saying is the truth, why would you be making drugs for cows?” The senator asked curiously as his instincts told him he was not lying.

“Uncle, can you tell us how many barrels of milk we produced the last two months?” Felix asked knowing his uncle had the administration documents on him at all times, he kept it inside his storage ring.

Herius looked a little bit confused but did as Felix asked. He reached inside his storage ring and took out the documents and tried to find the number for the last two months. He could lie and say he knew the numbers but he didn't, there was just too much going on for him to care about the amount of milk the farms produced.

Herius Opened the small book he was holding and said, “Last month we had seven-hundred barrels from ten farmhouses, and this month we have…” Herius looked up towards Felix with shock in his eyes, this had to be wrong! He quickly noticed everyone was waiting for him so he continued, “this month it was two-thousand fifty-nine barrels.”

Everyone in the room looked at Herius in shock and only after a couple of seconds his father asked, “but even so, why were you doing this?”

Felix looked at the senator with a smile on his face and answered, “I was making myself useful.”

Vel walked towards Felix and picked him up by his robe and whispered, “I know those were the ingredients of cocaine, don't deny it!”

“Whats cocaine?” Felix said with a big grin on his face. Did this fool really think that he and his uncle could just spy on him and that he wouldn't notice? He had warned the fool to leave him alone or he would be sorry. It seemed like today he would learn that lesson the hard way.

“Put him down!” The senator said as he released some of his spirit force which made everyone in the room go weak in the knees. Right at that moment his secretary appeared in the middle of the room and informed the senator about something privately.

“It seems like Felix was telling the truth, there are no human drugs at the shed,” the senator said as he gave the guards the order to release him. “I will do as I promised and take you to Rome with me so you can study in the Alchemy Academy under my protection.”

Paulus hearing this panicked. There was no way he would get out there alive, a Germanian kid studying at the capital? They would have his head in two days. He wanted to say something but was interrupted by his wife clearly shaken said, “Please reconsider father, the chance of you surviving there is really small even with your protection.”

“I also didn't want to go farther but I have to. At first, I thought I would stay here and become a big brother right-hand man like uncle is to you. But as you can see that's not possible, and a man without goals could just as well be a dead man,” Felix said as he rubbed his arms that still hurt from the chains. He turned around looked at Vel, and continued, “with him as a brother who needs enemies.”

“Enough, go back to your rooms and give me and your grandfather some time to think,” Paulus said as he stared at the ground the whole time. He was ashamed, ashamed of having two sons that didn't understand what family meant. Especially he was angry at Vel who almost had at best almost gotten Felix locked up for life or worse, killed.

“Just like that?” Felix asked in confusion.

“What do you mean?” Paulus asked confused.

“He tries to have me killed and gets away with it just like that? It seems like being the firstborn of a family gives you the privilege to accuse others without any consequences.”

Paulus wanted to say something but was told to stop by the senator who answered, “he is right. The boy needs to be punished for his actions.” The senator thought about it for a couple of seconds and continued, “you will be sent to the military barracks at north Belgica and are not allowed to return to this city before you clear the twenty-fifth floor of the tower. You will also forfeit any financial help from the family for the next five years and your spending money will be given to your younger brother as compensation.”

The senator looked at Felix as to ask if he was happy with this who nodded in agreement. The truth was that he had done more than Felix had expected. After that, the senator told everyone to return to their own room as he was tired and didn't feel like eating anymore.

Vel was standing by the door in shock. It was his destiny to go to Rome and train under the best teacher the country had and become immortal. But now he was sent to the barracks where the commoners trained and they expected him to reach the twenty-fifth floor with that training alone? To give context to that, it took his father forty-nine years to reach that floor and that was with the best education the country had to offer.

Felix walked past Vel with a mocking smile on his face as he whispered, “this is your second warning, there won't be a third.”

“Or you do what?” Vel said as he looked at him with killing intent in his eyes.

Felix came closer and without any warning bit his mouth close as hard as he could which made Vel flinch and take back a couple of steps. He stood there looking in shame as he saw Felix exit the building. He had never hated a man more in his life, the time would come when he would erase him from this world and his life. That was a promise!