It has been one and a half weeks since Ray went to visit his grandparents at their home. During this time, he learned something new from his grandma—that it would be hard to find skilled workers.
But Ray knows that there are people with passion, and he needs to find them. He also knows there are no fashion or garment schools that teach people how to sew using machines.
Ray started to have a headache; finding people who can stitch would be very difficult. He feels that maybe, in the village areas, there are mothers and grandmothers who make their own clothes to survive. He hopes that those he read about in books in his past life exist in this world as well—mothers who know how to stitch for their children. That's what he's aiming for. After that, he plans to create sewing machines for them—maybe in the future.
In these one and a half weeks, Ray has managed to cultivate his soul to the 4th Wood Stage Peak, just one step away from the 5th stage. He has been consistently training in formations and talismans under his mother and his third mother. From his mother, he has been learning protection formations, while his third mother teaches him attacking talismans.
[Name: Ray Walker]
[Spiritual Cultivation: Not Awakened]
[Soul Cultivation: 4th Wood Stage]
[System: 2/3]
[Attributes:]
Strength: 8 (+3)
Stamina: 10 (+5)
Health: 135 (+20)
Agility: 15 (+3)
Intelligence: 18 (+3)
[Swordsmanship | Formation | Talisman | Library]
After clicking on the Swordsmanship tab, he saw more details that read:
[Swordsmanship]
[Sword Force: Mid Qi Stage]
According to Master Ken, there are five stages of sword force: Qi Stage, Apprentice Stage, Warrior Stage, Master Stage, and Grandmaster Stage. It is said that there exists a legendary stage above Grandmaster. In ancient times, there were many swordsmen who reached this legendary stage, but in the past ten thousand years, no one has reached it.
Currently, our main character is lying on the ground. Yes, he has just been beaten by his sword master, Ken. He wants to get up, but all his muscles are in pain. What do you expect from a six-year-old? And so, he's lying there, thinking about the future.
Ken, who has been training him, has recently changed his training methods. He's started making Ray train his stamina, agility, and strength. As a result, Ray's stats have drastically improved.
Aunt Mary soon arrived and started scolding Ken for training Ray too hard today. She had specifically told him to train Ray lightly since Ray was supposed to meet the king. But Ken, having been caught up in the enjoyment of Ray's growth, completely forgot.
Aunt Mary picked Ray up and took him to his room. She had to massage his arms and legs to help ease his pain. He could finally move again, but Aunt Mary told him to rest. She then helped him take a shower. Ray, as usual, tried to resist by saying, "It's embarrassing. I can clean myself." But Aunt Mary always wins—with happiness.
Aunt Mary has three children of her own, but she's never enjoyed teasing a child as much as she enjoys teasing Ray. She knows that Ray is intelligent. Maybe it's because he seems so mature—perhaps because he's a genius at such a young age. Whatever the case, she enjoys bullying this smart little boy.
Ray, grumpily enduring being touched all over, could only bear with it. Afterward, Aunt Mary helped him dress in a good-looking formal shirt and pants. Then she helped him wear formal shoes. When he came out, he saw that no one was going with him to the king's palace today.
It turns out he was going alone—with someone from the king's palace. But when he went downstairs to see who was waiting, he found it was Rena, the caretaker of Princess Alice. She was sitting beside the king's personal butler and advisor, who had come personally to escort Ray.
Ray looked at Rena and smiled. "Caretaker Rena, we've met again. It has been a while. How are you?"
Rena smiled back and said, "Little Ray, you remember me well. I'm doing fine. We've come to take you to the Qi-Level Vault, as promised. You're to take a few treasures from there. Come with us."
The butler beside her thought to himself, 'It's all because the princess has been pestering the king to bring you to play with her. Otherwise, why would we come here personally?'
Ray smiled and nodded. "Please, lead the way."
Outside stood a very fancy carriage. Anyone seeing it would immediately know it was the royal's carriage. With the butler and Rena leading him, Ray entered the carriage. The inside was luxurious as well—the seats were incredibly comfortable, and there was a lot of space.
There was an awkward silence during the ride. Seeing no one speaking, Ray couldn't hold back.
"Caretaker Rena, how is Princess Alice doing?"
Rena smiled and said, "After that incident, she has been strictly ordered to stay in her room and cultivate. Her soul cultivation is progressing well."
'Though she's been cultivating, she's also been pestering the king nonstop to meet Ray… so much that both the king and the 3rd concubine have had enough of it,' thought the butler.
Ray looked at the butler, who was shaking his head in thought, and then turned to Rena. "Caretaker Rena, please introduce this person to me."
Hearing Ray, Rena quickly responded, "This man is the king's personal butler and advisor. He's come with me to handle some business with Duke Walker."
"I am Norris Featherstone. Nice to meet you, Little Ray. I've heard a lot about you from Rena," said Norris. But in his mind, he was thinking, 'More like heard everything from Princess Alice.'
"Hello, Mr. Norris. Nice to meet you as well. Has anything been discovered about who targeted Princess Alice?" Ray asked.
Norris shook his head. "It's still a mystery, but we've found a clue from the assassins who either died or committed suicide. Some of them were once members of a baron's family under the Montclair faction."
He continued, "We went to question the baron to see if they were betraying the king. Their only reply was, 'We expelled those men from our clan two years ago.' After further investigation, it turned out to be true. So now, we suspect those men were spies from the opposing kingdom. We're keeping an eye on the Montclair baron's side."
Ray shook his head. "These men may have been from the Montclair family's baron side, but the next attackers might be from a different exiled noble family. I have a feeling the enemy is gathering exiled nobles from different families to target the king and create chaos among loyal factions."
Norris and Rena exchanged wide-eyed glances—because Ray said something that has already happened.
Without letting Ray know how accurate he was, Norris asked, "What makes you think that?"
Ray replied, "It's because the king personally selected all the current noble ranks. From what I've heard, they're all fiercely loyal to him—so loyal that they would betray their own family members before betraying the king. My maternal grandfather is one of them. I haven't seen the others, but I've heard enough about their loyalty. So if the king starts suspecting betrayal among them, then that's exactly what the enemy wants."
Norris nodded. "I'll make sure to relay your point of view to His Highness. You may be right. This internal division is exactly what's been happening. We need to investigate this exile network more deeply."
Norris had completely forgotten that he was speaking with a six-year-old. But Rena hadn't. She was thoroughly impressed by Ray's insight.
They were about to continue the conversation, but by then, they had arrived at the royal palace, ready to meet the king and receive Ray's reward.