CHAPTER 34: TREASURE GROUND

Outside the huge waterfall, several people were tending to the wounded. Among them were three individuals whose injuries were particularly severe.

"Old Duke, Duke Cassian... I apologize for interrupting, but these three need immediate treatment. If not, their lives may be in danger." One of the two knights who had mastered the 5th Move stepped forward and reported with respect.

"I know. Have them endure a little longer until James completes his awakening. I’ll give you all a surprise afterward." Cassian replied with a faint smile.

Cassian understood his father’s intention when he said to not hold back when they fight. They had come to an understanding that after this, Armand intended to bring these people to the treasure ground and increase their strength while attending to their injuries.

The Platinum Knights were confused, as this was the first time Cassian was calm and didn’t seem to bother despite their heavy injuries.

Looking at their confused expression, Cassian decided to explain what he meant since it had already come to this. "We’ll be heading to a treasure ground soon. You’ll recover your injuries there and increase your strength. But you guys can’t leave that place unless you break through and become an Epic Rank Knight."

The Platinum Knights suddenly turned into uproars, as they had never expected this. They became so excited that they shouted excitedly and ignored their injuries.

A few minutes later, the situation inside the cave had calmed down.

Inside, James sat cross-legged and stabilized himself for a few moments. Then, he opened his eyes slowly, his eyes glowed with nebula blue and twilight violet color.

James looked at his own hands, flexing and clenching them repeatedly as if trying to grasp the new power that he had just obtained.

Crack!

Hundreds of small fractured spaces as big as a needle appeared around James. He felt that now he had control over space and time itself.

However, once his eyes’ color reverted back to the original blue, James suddenly lost all of these feelings, and the fractured spaces instantly disappeared.

Sigh!

James sighed in disappointment before standing up, as he wanted to get out of here to see the situation outside. Before that, he changed into new clothes, as the old ones were drenched by blood.

Just as James passed the waterfall, his sight was greeted by something that surprised him. His gaze was instantly locked into the somewhat familiar face beside his father.

He suddenly felt something deep inside his heart, thinking that it’s probably influenced by the past ’James’ who longed for his deceased grandfather.

"Grandpa?" James blurted out and squinted his eyes as he tried to look at the middle-aged man who seemed to be his grandpa’s younger version.

Armand smiled widely, feeling happy that he could meet his grandson again after hiding himself for years.

"James, come here." He opened his arms wide.

James instinctively came over and hugged Armand tightly for a moment.

"Grandpa, you’re not dead? Were you the one who discovered the treasure ground Dad mentioned?" James let himself go and asked curiously.

Armand knocked James’s head lightly and cursed. "Why are you cursing me?"

Then, he chuckled as he looked at the injured knights. "Let’s go. I’ll explain along the way."

...

To the outside world, the Old Duke was long believed dead. The Steelheart Family had intentionally kept his survival a secret, claiming that he never returned after venturing into the Blackfang Mountains. Technically, it wasn’t a lie as Armand truly never came back and had instead spent all these years cultivating in a hidden cave.

The reason why Armand got severely injured was because when he fought with two Peak Epic Knights from the Veylmar Kingdom, he suddenly got ambushed by another two Peak Epic Knights and was almost dead because of it.

If it wasn’t because he managed to kill one person and broke the formation, then sent the news to Cassian, he would’ve probably already died at that time.

The world easily believed the news of his death. It wasn’t unusual for Steelheart warriors to enter the Blackfang Mountains for their final journey, a tradition passed down for generations.

While severely injured, Armand had indeed wandered deep into the mountains. By sheer luck, he stumbled upon a hidden treasure ground while trying to rest after fighting a beast, though that very encounter had worsened his condition.

He was shocked when he found it because this place was something that countless people have searched for a long time, to the point that it has only become a legend these days.

Armand immediately informed Cassian about this in case something unexpected happened. At that time, Armand found out that the liquid had healing properties when he tried absorbing some of it while waiting for Cassian’s arrival.

After discussing with Cassian, they decided to not reveal this to the outside world and the Steelhearts. At least not to the Steelhearts until they were confident enough to protect themselves in case the news got leaked or they needed to use the treasure ground to improve their overall strength.

Even in the entire Steelhearts, only a few people knew about it since this was important in their grand plan. Not only that, these people didn’t even know about what kind of treasure ground Armand had found, as Cassian told them that it wasn’t the time for them to know about it.

The ones who had become Epic Knights were the only ones who knew the existence of the liquid since Halden and Corvin were Cassian’s most trusted subordinates, while Gareth was his younger brother.

Right after explaining it, they arrived in an entrance cave around five meters big. The cave was pretty much dark, as there was no source of light inside. The inside was pretty much spacious but with no sign of life.

After coming to a corner somewhere inside the cave, there was a small entrance leading to another side of the cave, but this time the cave’s interior was completely different, as there were blue luminous crystals everywhere, lighting the cave beautifully.