Chapter 85(3)
He pushed the thought aside and focused on something more productive. "The next body tempering pill," he said.
"The one that would help me after I break through to Advanced Knight Stage. How much would it cost?"
The screen flickered as the system processed the question.
[The next tier of body tempering pills, designed for Advanced Knight Stage cultivators, begins at 15,000 System Points for the lowest quality option. The Little King should understand that the Tier 2 pill he just consumed was effective primarily because he was already within five points of his physical limit. If the Little King had taken the same pill before beginning his training, before any of his leveling up, a pill costing approximately 7,000 System Points would have been required to reach his current physical limit.]
[Furthermore, after the Little King breaks through to Advanced Knight Stage, low-level pills such as the one he just consumed will have little to no effect on his body. The gap between stages is not merely a matter of numbers but a fundamental shift in the body's capacity to contain and utilize Ki. Pills that are effective at Beginner Knight Stage become increasingly less effective at Advanced Knight Stage, and pills designed for Advanced Knight Stage are correspondingly more expensive.]
[The Little King should also understand that his current physical limit of 50 is relatively modest compared to individuals with superior bloodlines or those who have undergone specialized training from childhood. Jack Reyes, for example, has a physical limit of 55 at the same cultivation stage, and there are individuals in higher tier cities whose limits far exceed even that.]
Elijah sighed, a long and tired sound that seemed to come from somewhere deep in his chest.
Thirty thousand system points was an impossible number right now, a distant goal that would require months of quests and battles and sacrifices to achieve.
But it was a goal, and having a goal was better than drifting without direction.
"Give me more quests in the future," he said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and planting his feet on the cold wooden floor. "I'm going to need the points."
[The system will provide quests as appropriate, Little King. The King's Path does not end simply because the King has reached his current limits. There is always further to go, always more to become.]
Elijah nodded, and then he stood up.
His body moved differently now, smoother and more controlled, every muscle responding exactly as he intended without the slight delays and hesitations that had been there before.
He rolled his shoulders and felt the joints move with an ease that was almost startling, and he stretched his arms above his head and felt the pull of muscles that were stronger and denser than they had been an hour ago.
He walked to the small bathroom attached to the bedroom and turned on the shower, letting the hot water wash away the sweat and the dried blood and the remnants of the bandages that had been wrapped around his chest.
The water ran pink for a moment, then clear, and he stood under the spray with his hands pressed against the tile and his eyes closed while the heat worked its way into his newly healed body.
When he stepped out and dried himself off, he looked at his reflection in the small mirror above the sink.
His face was the same as it had always been, the red eyes and the black hair and the sharp features that his mother had given him, but there was something different in the way he held himself now, something that had not been there before.
His shoulders were broader, his chest was fuller, and the lean muscle that covered his frame was more defined than it had been even after weeks of training with the upgraded equipment.
He dressed in clean clothes, dark pants and a dark shirt and the black jacket with the golden sun and the golden trim that marked him as the leader of the Azura Gang, and he walked out of the bedroom and into the hallway beyond.
The sounds of the gambling den drifted up from downstairs, the familiar chaos of dice rolling and cards shuffling and voices rising and falling in the rhythms of men and women who had come to test their luck against the house.
He could hear Mai's voice somewhere in the mix, sharp and clear as she directed a customer to the right table, and he could hear the lower rumble of Rena's voice as she spoke to someone about the accounts.
The gang members who were stationed in the hallway nodded at him as he passed, their black jackets with the golden sun bright against the dim light of the corridor.
They were there to protect Mai and Rena, to make sure that no one got to the upper floors without permission, and Elijah felt a surge of gratitude for their presence even as he walked past them without speaking.
The door to the office was closed when he reached it, but he could hear voices inside, two of them.
One of the voices was Kai's, familiar and welcome, and Elijah reached for the handle without thinking.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside, and the sight that greeted him stopped him dead in his tracks.
Kai was sitting in the chair behind the desk, his blue eyes bright and his dark purple aura flickering around him, and across from him in the chair that Elijah usually occupied was Jack Reyes.
The two of them had been in the middle of a conversation, their voices easy and their postures relaxed, and they both looked up when the door opened.
Jack's red eyes met Elijah's, and a smile spread across his face that was neither mocking nor triumphant but simply pleased.
His blond hair caught the light from the window, and his gold aura was calm and steady around him, and he looked for all the world like a man who had come to visit an old friend rather than the person who had beaten Elijah half to death just hours before.
"Elijah," Jack said, and his voice was warm. "I was wondering when you would wake up."
Elijah stood in the doorway with his hand still on the handle and his mind struggling to process what he was seeing.
Kai and Jack, sitting together in his office.
Kai leaned back in his chair, his blue eyes meeting Elijah's. "I am not gonna ask, how you already look fine and better then before. Just come inside and have a sit," he said.