Franze straightened, his calm demeanor steady. "Your Highness Charles, what brings you here?" he asked, his tone respectful.
Charles giggled, his eyes wide with innocence. "Hehe, I'm here to check on my food. I'm already hungry. Will it take much longer?" he asked, blinking expectantly.
Franze inclined his head slightly. "Your Highness, heavenly dishes take time to prepare. We must give her some patience," he said, his voice even and measured.
Lumine's lips twitched. Hmph, at least one of them has some sense, she thought, her frustration easing slightly.
Charles's brow furrowed, puzzled. "Is that so? But in the palace, heavenly dishes come out quickly," he said, his confusion genuine.
Lumine's irritation flared again. That's the palace, with endless resources! Not here with limited equipment! I'm working alone, you stupid prince! she fumed inwardly, gripping her ladle tighter.
"You can't compare the palace to here, Your Highness. We should be grateful we can finally eat heavenly dishes again after so long, so please, be a little patient," Franze said, calm as always.
"Hehe. If Franze says so, then I'll listen obediently. Franze always knows what's best for me."
Tch. What a goodie two-shoes, Soda mocked inwardly.
"Alright then. I'll wait in my chamber. Remember, don't fight. Cook Auntie, please take your time preparing the dishes. I won't disturb you anymore. Soda, Franze, don't disturb Cook Auntie either. Oh, right—there's a newcomer nearby. Please recruit this person. I wonder what role they'll fit this time. Hehe."
Prince Charles turned and literally hopped away like a child heading off to play.
Auntie? Did he just call me Auntie? Argh! Lumine's anger hit its peak.
Soda and Franze vanished to fulfill their new task.
---
Leyvi sat in silence, a faint smile tugging at his lips. He had finally crossed the barrier.
Without the bamboo formation, he thought it would take far longer to reach this realm. Yet Barbara's help had changed everything.
For months, Barbara analyzed his mantra with meticulous precision. By observing the energy patterns, she discovered something subtle. Certain syllables created microscopic disharmonic oscillations in Leyvi's neural pathways. Almost negligible, yet during long sessions, these ripples could be the very obstacle that kept someone from touching the Zenith State.
Through countless trials and adjustments, they refined the chant. One syllable stretched a fraction longer, another softened in tone. At last, the disharmony vanished.
The result was immediate. Leyvi's focus sharpened to an entirely new level. It was then that the truth struck him. Barbara was a genius beyond measure. The manual he practiced was said to be the royal family's perfected scripture, a culmination of centuries of effort. Everyone believed it could no longer be improved.
Yet Barbara had done so with ease.
For the first time, Leyvi couldn't help mirroring Anda's thoughts. If he brought Barbara into the Leyan Family, she'd revolutionize their cultivation. Their progress would soar to unimaginable levels.
Noticing Leyvi's lingering gaze, Barbara felt her cheeks flush. A strange, tingling warmth spread through her body.
Later, Barbara noticed something intriguing. The mantra Leyvi learned from the Howling Kingdom's Spiritual Cultivation Manual and the one developed in the Cloud Continent were quite different, yet both aimed for the same goal: to enhance the sea of consciousness through the brain.
Since the human brain contains countless neural pathways, Barbara reasoned that there must also be better pathways for these mantras to take advantage of. It was similar to how Qi cultivation manuals identified the most efficient meridian routes for Qi to circulate faster and more effectively.
With this in mind, she requested Leyvi to learn the Cloud Continent's mantra as well, so she could compare the two. It was for her research, but she couldn't help feeling a pang of guilt. Interrupting Leyvi's cultivation might annoy him, and that thought made her anxious.
To her surprise, Leyvi didn't mind at all. He agreed immediately, his face bright with the same cheerful smile and warm laugh as always.
Barbara's heart fluttered with relief. Ava, what are you doing? Your husband is this kind, and you're complaining? she thought, her resolve hardening. She couldn't let Ava's misconceptions persist. I'll set things straight, she vowed.
This thought repeated endlessly in Barbara's mind during all her time with Leyvi.
What shocked Barbara most was that Leyvi mastered the mantra in just a couple of hours, whereas others needed weeks or even months. Watching him, she felt a strange flutter in her chest, something she quickly dismissed as admiration. This was why she had felt guilty to begin with, thinking it would take so much of his time. Yet here he was, smiling like it was nothing at all. She couldn't help but praise Leyvi's genius inwardly.
But what Barbara didn't know was that Leyvi's consciousness had actually spent weeks inside the internal storage room to learn the mantra to mastery. In truth, in this particular aspect, he wasn't the prodigy Barbara believed him to be. He was simply using his cheat.
Afterwards, Barbara compared the two mantras and discovered that the energy flowed through different parts of the brain. She had a strong feeling this might be the key to improving the mantras, but without closer observation, she couldn't do much.
This meant doing something similar to what she had done to Ava before, sending her spiritual sense inside Leyvi's body. The very thought made her heart race. Ava was one thing, but Barbara felt certain Leyvi wouldn't allow her to peer inside. Still, for the sake of her research, she gathered her courage and shamelessly asked, already bracing herself for rejection.
But once again, what she feared didn't happen. With his usual bright smile, the same smile that always made her feel oddly at ease, Leyvi agreed to her request.
When she asked why he would allow it, his answer was simple: "I trust you."
Her heart trembled. Warmth spread through her entire body like a gentle tide.
It was at this moment that Barbara realized she had fallen in love with Leyvi.
Oh no. How am I supposed to explain this to Ava later? Falling in love with her husband… I'm so embarrassed! How did this even happen? How did I fall in love this easily? All it took was "I trust you"? Are those magic words?
And so, with Leyvi's permission, Barbara could finally observe everything that happened in his brain in more detail. Through careful observation, she eventually created a better version of the mantra by combining the strengths of both.
This was the best she could do for now, because creating the ultimate mantra would require her to study the brain entirely and fully understand its mysteries.
With the new mantra, Leyvi's spiritual cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.
The chant that had been echoing in the chamber finally ceased. Silence followed, heavy yet soothing. Then, Leyvi opened his eyes and broke into laughter.
"Hahaha! I did it! Barbara, I think I've entered the Spiritual Touch Realm!"
"Really? That was fast!" Barbara's eyes widened in surprise. She now cultivated within the spiritual vein as well, near Leyvi. Nothing she did could disturb his concentration anymore while he chanted the mantra.
"Thanks to you, of course. I think having you around is an even bigger boost than that nature-born formation I relied on last time. Hahaha!" Leyvi praised, his voice brimming with genuine joy.
Barbara felt her cheeks burn. Is he saying he wants me around forever? Is he… proposing to me? Oh no. How am I supposed to respond to that?
The more time Barbara spent with Leyvi, the more she became drawn to him. And she knew it. She was painfully aware of her growing feelings.
"Ah right, why don't you try using the Spiritual Touch ability? I want to see." Barbara suggested.
"Sure," Leyvi replied.
He extended his spiritual sense as usual, feeling a subtle difference in the sensation. Instinctively, he knew he could touch everything within his spiritual sense, but he wasn't sure how it was supposed to work.
After a few attempts, he finally understood. The spiritual sense felt like an extremely thin fabric that needed to be stacked, folded, or rolled together countless times to form an invisible, imaginary shape. For now, the first thing that came to his mind was a hand. Other people probably imagined a hand on their first attempt as well.
Leyvi compared the spiritual sense to fabric because conjuring this invisible hand consumed part of it, as though using the material to craft the shape. When the spiritual hand was finally formed, the range of his spiritual sense noticeably shortened. This meant that the creation limit of one's Spiritual Touch depended on the size of their spiritual sense.
With the hand he had formed, Leyvi scooped Barbara up.
"Ahhh!" she yelped, startled by the sudden sensation of levitation.
Her eyes widened as the realization sank in. This is only his first time trying Spiritual Touch… and he can already lift me? He hasn't even trained with it yet! What kind of genius is he?