"Ughh..." Arthur opened his eyes slowly, harboring a deep-seated tiredness within. The unfamiliar ceiling before his eyes did nothing to faze him.
"Damned Transmigration..." These were Arthur's first thoughts as the memories returned slowly. "W... where's this now?"
Arthur's voice was dry and thin; he was shocked to hear himself, but the moment he thought back to the pain from the torture, it made sense.
"I didn't know I had that much screaming in me..." Arthur forced his weak body to sit up slightly.
The instant he got his head up enough to look around the room, he recognized it. He was back in his room in the Cross Estate.
"Ugh... How long have I been out for?" Arthur pulled up a few pillows together to relax his back as he fell into thought, trying to remember anything he could.
"As long as this is the estate, then..." Arthur suddenly called out. "Yohov?"
"Young master?" A questioning, raspy voice responded instantly as he materialized from the shadows beside the bed he was lying on.
Wearing a traditional butler outfit with his neatly combed dark hair, he bowed respectfully, following etiquette.
His appearance didn't seem to have anything that stood out except the sight of a white porcelain mask with the number five boldly carved into its surface in black ink right where his left eye was supposed to be, and the Aura he was holding back to avoid suffocating the weak Arthur.
Arthur was a little shocked to see his personal butler, Arthur grew up with, but also relieved that he was really back at the estate. "Yohov? How'd I get back to the estate?"
Arthur asked tiredly; although he already had an idea how, he still asked. Telmear was the only one who he thought could have brought him back to the Cross Estate.
And as for Terria, let's just say that she would rather spend her time away from their mother and in her Tower unless there was an important summons from their mother.
"The Fourth Lady and the Third lord both arrived with the Young master together." Yohov's voice carried a hint of respect in his voice as he spoke about Telmear and Terria.
"Terria came with? Is something happening in the Estate?" Arthur raised his head slightly to stare at Yohov as he spoke with a raised brow; his surprise could clearly be seen.
"Actually, young master..." Following these words, Yohov waved his hand slightly, taking out a vial containing a greenish, viscous liquid. "The Matriarch returned to the Estate a few moments ago and is currently in a meeting in the main hall with the rest of your siblings."
"S- Mother returned to the Estate." Arthur almost referred to his mother as 'she,' which, from his memories, didn't correspond with Arthur's way of referring to her.
Arthur's mother hardly returned to the Cross Estate unless there was an emergency that needed her attention by all means.
Her planar explorations usually took priority, especially considering that this time she'd spent the past five years in the Hera plane, hunting for a Star Ranked beast.
This information was from Terria- well, not quite, since Arthur overheard her conversation, but it was reliable.
"Did something happen in the Estate that I don't know about?" Arthur had to ask, considering that Arthur's mother had returned to the estate. It was either that or she finally caught the beast she headed out to find.
"The matriarch heard about the young master's awakening and decided to return to the estate." Yohov's voice contained a trace of pride as he spoke, further confusing Arthur.
"Just that?" Arthur asked speechlessly. The last time Arthur saw his mother in the estate, there was a case of an invasion by a plane that the family controlled.
Now he was being told that his mother, one of the continent's strongest Transcendents, returned because he awakened.
The idea was absurd, especially since his general knowledge of this new world came from Arthur's memories and from her feats and achievements since she awakened as a Transcendent who reached the Sixth summit.
Something like his awakening seemed beneath her, thinking back to Telmear's words to the Principal. He really felt it was an excuse just to avoid having to spill information concerning his awakening.
"Just that?.... Did you just refer to your awakening a year earlier than any other Transcendent and your achievement of reaching the Final Summit as 'just that'?" Yohov asked in a slightly reprimanding tone, unable to help himself. He'd known Arthur all his life as his personal servant since he was born, and he sensed Arthur genuinely didn't think much of his awakening.
Arthur was speechless hearing Yohov; it wasn't like he didn't attach a number to the importance of reaching the final summit of the Tower of authority, but it seemed his evaluation needed another evaluation.
Arthur stared at Yohov unblinkingly for a second before being distracted by the vial he was holding. "-What's that?"
Yohov quickly presented the vial to Arthur as he explained. "Lady Terria left this for you; it's a low-grade recovery potion."
Arthur had been trying his best while sitting on his bed, listening to Yohov to gather the strength so he could prepare to head out to the meeting hall, with no progress so far, Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
The flame poison did a number on him both physically and mentally, which reminded him of the importance of strength in the Transcendent world.
Sure, he was lucky enough to transmigrate into a family like the Cross family, which acted as a shield for his weak existence, but he'd seen firsthand that even the shield of the Cross surname couldn't keep him safe from everything.
He took the vial without more questions as he popped open the lid; he sniffed lightly to perceive the scent of the potion, which seemed like a bad choice the moment after,
"Ugh... Bad." The smell was incredibly pungent and made him not want the vial anywhere close to his mouth, but he had to, knowing the condition of his body and how he was feeling at the moment.
Closing his eyes, he gulped the contents in one go before handing the empty vial back to Yohov, who stood silently to the side.
"Hm?" Arthur felt the effects of the potion almost instantly. "Did he say this was a low-grade potion?"
His body began regaining its pink luster as the potion did its job, a very good job because, in a few seconds, Arthur felt his energy returning.
"Nice... My limbs don't feel dead anymore." Arthur commented to himself, slowly getting out of bed when he finally felt something the potion couldn't help recover.
"Great... the potion did nothing for my mental energy," Arthur complained internally the moment his vision blurred slightly from standing too fast,
It was almost like he was hyped on caffeine but felt incredibly sleepy at the same time. "I need a shower."
Arthur eyed the door leading into the bathroom before asking, "How long have I been asleep anyway, and how long has the meeting in the main hall been on for?"
He was trying to decide if he could take the time for a shower before heading out to see his mother and siblings or not.
"Oh, about that, you were brought back to the estate yesterday, so about an entire day... you were unconscious for an entire day." Yohov explained.
"-But the meeting has only been on for a few minutes." Arthur was a little stunned when he heard the amount of time he was out, but considering what he went through, it was reasonable.
Deciding to take advantage of the little time he had, he quickly went into the bathroom for a quick shower before he could head out to the main hall.