Ved opened his eyes, it had been a week since then. His three hearts were yet to fully regenerate, that would take a month at least.

He looked down at the massive bustling city below him and smiled. His recent change didn't just break him free of humanity, it brought him closer to his own people.

It was only now that he realised how little he felt like he belonged here before. His king's authority which allowed him to feel their emotions was even clearer now.

He could sense their feelings more clearly, to the point it was bordering reading minds. " My lord, lady Evergreen seeks an audience."

Avery spoke behind him, bowing slightly in his direction. She usually had a stoic and all serious face but now Ved could feel her admiration and love for him.

' Call her in.' she left and came back with a beautiful woman wearing a long green dress, on her head were two antlers coming out of either side of her head.

The woman smelled like flowers and roots, she had a soothing scent. She bowed to him, her cheeks were flushed red and Ved could feel her excitement.

" I've brought this month's elixir batch my lord." The woman said. Ved nodded, ' I don't think you sought an audience just to tell me that.'

She shifted nervously, ' You can speak freely.'. He reassured her. She took a deep breath, " I would like to ask my lord provides me with one of the blood cleansing peaches."

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Evergreen POV

Evergreen stood behind her lord nervously, she knew her request was huge. The blood cleansing peach was a legendary grade spirit fruit.

One of only three spirit plants of that grade in the king's garden. Those three spirit plants were one of the king's most priced possessions.

Not even to mention the will combustion root, a real mythical grade spirit plant. ' Fine, you can take a few.'

That caught her off guard, she thought she would have to try and convince him but it was just so easy.

' I'm assuming you're asking because you've learnt the formula for the blood purification elixir.'

She nodded, " Yes my lord, all I lack now is practice." ' Take as many as you need, Avery with show you out.'

She was super excited yet also disappointed, seeing the king was not an easy thing, he didn't show himself much.

She wished she could spend more time with him. Yet she was also a bit conflicted, she remembers him, years ago.

He was merely a tiny lizard back then, a weak child that could be blown away by her breath yet now he towered above her like a giant.

Avery led her to a small garden, near it centre was tall peach tree with plum looking peaches all over it branches.

The essence density here was so high, she was certain if she spent a year she would be able to reach the absolute peak of rank 4 in a few months.

She sighed, perhaps she did need to stop neglecting her cultivation. Alchemy was great but so was cultivation, even little White had surpassed her.

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After they left Ved at there contemplating, his bottleneck was broken now meaning he could break through anytime.

However he might need to see Naledi before the next wave arrives and he wouldn't be able to leave this minor as a rank 5.

Not even mentioning he had no idea how long his evolution would take, but probably more than 2 years.

He decided to wait for a while, if nothing happens then he would undergo evolution and see Naledi after, when the world can support rank 5 beings.

He thought back to his fight with Vermilion. He learnt quite a few important things back then, one being his desire to stay alive was more lacking than he thought.

His humanity and sense of morality was holding him back, not to say he was no longer moral but he wouldn't put such values above himself.

He remembers during the first wave, he refused to consume White even though he thoughts he might die yet he continued claiming his life mattered more than anything, what a joke.

However he now knows, it wasn't because he was moral per se, he didn't truly believe eating White back then would've been wrong even though he tried convince himself he did.

No, he just didn't want to do it because those values were the only thing connecting him to her, he chained himself to his desire to be with her again.

Those chains limited him, they limited the will of his desire, survival. Another thing he noticed was that his bloodline had more effect on him now, changing his thoughts process.

He thought of everybody as below and lesser than him, it was a strange feeling. The pride and confidence he felt, like nothing could ever challenge him.

It was dangerous, making him have reckless thoughts. Had it not been for an opposing will born of his strong desire to avoid death, he would've flew out to challenge Vermilion by now, with his full body, risking true death.

The thought alone terrified him. However this brought another issue, Ved had two conflicting wills, fortunately due to fully excepting his beast self, his dragon will caught up in terms of density to his other will.

These two wills conflicted each other greatly, one made him prideful and reckless, the other made him cautious to the point of cowardice.

While they reached a balance due to being equally dense, he had a feeling their conflicting natures will effect his next evolution.

The good thing was, he had an idea how to fix that problem. The other thing he learnt was about images.

Other than their ability of suppression which is just a stronger form of will suppression, images don't make you stronger or weaken your opponent. At least not in the traditional sense, they're less direct.

Instead they change effect, your attacks would still just be as powerful and your opponents defense would still just be as strong.

However your attacks would be more effective on them, specifically on them or whatever else you targeted. The opposite is also true, your defence does not grow stronger nor does your opponents attacks grows weaker.

They would still contain the same amount of energy and force but your image makes it so that attacks become less effective on you even without changing your strength.

If he could make an example, though not perfectly accurate, the closest thing he could think of was drenching a piece of fire wood in water making it harder to burn.

The flames are still just as hot and wood is still wood but the fire would be less effective due it being wet. Or drenching your opponents wood in oil to make it more flammable.

The same went for speed, he once thought attacks slow down when entering the range of the image, he was wrong.

Instead, the world itself bends arounds you, making things look slower and allowing you to cover more distance in less time giving the illusion you're moving faster.

But the truth was, you still had the same speed, the world is the one carrying you forward like riding a wave.

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I need to clarify some things, a higher grade doesn't necessarily mean you're stronger in a fight. Somebody with a lower grade but has combat related abilities can win against somebody with a higher grade but has support abilities instead.

There are other factors like experience, martial art and battle iq, all things can effect ones combat ability. A higher grade just means higher will volume and more pure essence. Hopes that clarify things incase you didn't know

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