After listening to King Ilo's words, Aurelius smiled gently and turned to address other matters.
"Father, the four Devil Fruits cannot remain with me forever."
"Therefore, I ask that you find four young people who are loyal to the Kingdom and possess some talent."
"When that time comes, I will distribute the four Devil Fruits to them, allowing the fruits to serve their purpose as soon as possible."
Hearing this, King Ilo couldn't help but frown slightly.
"You won't eat a Devil Fruit? You should know that these Devil Fruits have no side effects."
Aurelius shook his head and said, "These four Devil Fruits are too ordinary; I don't like them."
"Besides, two years ago, I sent people out to sea to find a Devil Fruit that caught my fancy."
"However, there has been no news so far. They probably haven't found it yet."
"I see." King Ilo nodded gently, saying no more.
He believed that since Aurelius was so intelligent, he must have his own ideas. So, after a brief inquiry, he didn't interfere further.
"Since that's the case, your father will find them for you as soon as possible."
Aurelius nodded upon hearing this. "Mn."
Seeing that the father and son had finished discussing business, Queen Elisa ordered the maids to serve the dishes. "Alright, business is done. Let's start dinner."
The three of them finished dinner in harmony, and Aurelius returned to his bedchamber.
Sitting on the rocking chair in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Aurelius looked at the bright moon outside, and the fire of hope ignited in his heart.
"I'll start cultivating tomorrow."
"I must become stronger as soon as possible so I can truly gain a foothold in this world."
A whisper echoed in his heart, and Aurelius found that most of his original anxiety had disappeared.
Indeed, the root cause of all anxiety was his lack of strength.
...
Night fell, and the bright moon hung high in the sky.
"Your Highness, it is time to bathe and rest."
While Aurelius was staring at the moon, lost in thought, a young and beautiful maid spoke softly behind him.
Hearing this, Aurelius came back to his senses, stood up, and went to the bathing palace not far from his bedchamber.
Walking into the palace, he saw that warm water had been prepared in the bath.
Served by the maids, Aurelius took off his clothes and stepped into the bath.
Leaning his head against the softness of a beautiful maid, Aurelius allowed several beautiful maids to wash his body.
Not long after, Aurelius returned to his bedchamber after bathing and fell asleep peacefully.
In this world, there were no activities like TV or computer games at night.
Therefore, Aurelius rested early every day.
...
Early morning, when the sunlight shone on the wide and soft bed, Aurelius slowly woke up.
Getting out of bed, he brushed his teeth, washed his face, and changed clothes under the service of the maids...
Finally, after Aurelius finished breakfast, he saw the head maid Linda walking over with the three training manual Noble Phantasms he had given to King Ilo last night.
"Your Highness, His Majesty sent someone to return these."
Linda walked to the table and gently placed the three training manual Noble Phantasms on it.
"It seems Father had people copy them overnight."
Seeing this, Aurelius simply waved his small hand gently. A golden ripple appeared, and the three training manual Noble Phantasms returned to the King's Treasure.
"Linda." Aurelius looked at Linda after retrieving the Noble Phantasms.
Hearing this, Head Maid Linda quickly bowed and responded, "Your Highness, how may I serve you?"
"Mn, nothing major," Aurelius shook his head and said.
"Pass down the order later. From now on, all my meals are to be sent to my bedchamber."
"Unless there is something important, I won't go so far to dine there."
After speaking, Aurelius got up from his seat and walked out of the palace.
"Yes, Your Highness." Behind him, Linda curtsied to Aurelius, then quickly went to notify the others.
Aurelius walked leisurely back to his bedchamber area, then to a vast square beside the bedchamber.
This was the training ground Aurelius had prepared for himself early on.
Here, various weapons, exercise equipment, and so on were available.
Walking alone to the weapon rack, he pulled out a specially made wooden sword, then walked to a dummy and began training.
Thrust, chop, tap, lift, flick, collapse, intercept, slash, wipe, pare, block, press...
With the continuous stream of comprehension from the Basic Swordsmanship Training Manual Noble Phantasm, Aurelius's basic swordsmanship became increasingly standardized.
With a five-year-old body and ordinary human bloodline, he definitely couldn't cultivate Armament Haki yet.
His physical strength wasn't sufficient, so Aurelius had to temporarily give up on Armament Haki.
Aurelius had a cultivation plan. Currently, the most important stage was laying the foundation.
Therefore, apart from Observation Haki, which could be cultivated from a young age, everything else had to start from the basics.
High-rise buildings rise from the ground. If the foundation is not solid, even with the comprehension of a Great Swordsman, he might not be able to grasp profound concepts.
Now, with the King's Treasure, it was like having a cultivation cheat.
That constant stream of cultivation comprehension was the best mentor, seemingly guiding Aurelius's cultivation at every moment.
An hour later, Aurelius's right hand became tired from swinging the sword. After resting for fifteen minutes, he switched to his left hand and continued practicing basic swordsmanship...
Repeating this cycle, the morning passed quietly.
Lunch was rich in variety, full of nutrition and energy. After lunch, Aurelius rested for a while, then walked into a cool palace next to the training ground.
Inside the palace, cotton ball ejection devices were installed in all directions.
Under Aurelius's command, more than a dozen maids went to the cotton ball ejection devices in different directions.
Aurelius walked to the center of the palace and tied a black cloth around his head to cover his vision.
Following Aurelius's signal to start, the dozen maids operated the cotton ball ejection devices and began firing at Aurelius's position.
Although the cotton balls were soft and wouldn't cause wounds when hitting the body, being hit at high speed still caused pain.
Observation Haki, one of the three types of Haki.
It can sharpen the five senses, allowing one to detect the aura of surrounding creatures and changes in emotions. It can also be used to predict and avoid danger.
The power to strongly sense the opponent's presence is called Observation Haki.
Once this power is improved, one can read the position and number of enemies outside their line of sight, as well as the actions the opponent will take in the next instant.
Observation Haki is closely related to psychology. One needs to be calm to ensure its use. In a state of emotional agitation or loss of reason, Observation Haki cannot be used.
Currently, Aurelius was cultivating Observation Haki.
However, although he had a constant stream of Haki comprehension, it would still take some time to get started.
...
One month passed in a flash.
In one month, the kingdom underwent completely new changes.
Throughout Crown Island, a large number of schools gradually began construction.
Since that night, King Ilo convened a kingdom meeting the next day and presented Aurelius's plan at the meeting.
After listening to King Ilo present Aurelius's plan, the numerous officials were all incredibly surprised.
Who could have imagined that Aurelius, only five years old, would have such a clear plan for the kingdom?
At the meeting, everyone passed it unanimously. Subsequently, the kingdom began vigorous construction.
As time passed, a month later, the entire kingdom knew that the royal family had a genius prince.
King Ilo did not hide Aurelius's contribution at all and truthfully announced everything to the public.
Because of this, the citizens of the entire kingdom came to know Aurelius as a prince who cared for the people and the country.
With the whole country united, a large number of schools began to be built gradually in various places.
Textbooks for the schools were also launched successively under the joint efforts of various kingdom departments.
In addition, King Ilo gathered a large number of scholars to concentrate on copying the Dual Haki Training Manuals and the Basic Swordsmanship Training Manual.
In one month, with the efforts of a large amount of manpower, ten thousand copies of each of the three training manuals were made. (Note: 10,000 copies of Armament Haki, 10,000 copies of Observation Haki, 10,000 copies of Basic Swordsmanship).
After accumulating thirty thousand copies, Aurelius took some time to turn all thirty thousand training manuals into Noble Phantasms.
Subsequently, the three types of training manual Noble Phantasms were evenly distributed among the four kingdom legions under King Ilo's allocation.
At that time, after the soldiers of the Kingdom's Army felt the magic of the training manual Noble Phantasms, they began to worship Aurelius, the prince who had never shown his face.
The kingdom changed with each passing day, and Aurelius himself made great progress under a month of hard cultivation.
Training ground, inside the cotton ball ejection palace.
Bang! Bang bang!! Bang bang bang!!!
Inside the palace, a full forty maids were operating the cotton ball ejection devices, constantly firing at Aurelius from all around.
Throughout the palace, clusters of snow-white cotton balls flew continuously.
In the center of the palace, Aurelius held a wooden sword, his eyes covered by a black cloth, constantly dodging the cotton ball attacks.
Just as the cotton balls were about to hit Aurelius, his body would dodge instantly as if he had foreseen the future.
If he truly couldn't dodge, the wooden sword in Aurelius's hand could instantly knock those cotton balls flying.
At this moment, blindfolded and without vision, Aurelius was completely immersed in cultivation.
Under the chaotic and irregular cotton ball attacks, Aurelius moved with ease.
Tap tap tap...
However, with the sound of light footsteps.
Seeing Linda's slight signal, the maids slowly stopped their actions.
"Hmm?"
Sensing that there were no more cotton ball attacks, Aurelius frowned slightly and reached out to untie the black cloth covering his eyes.
"What's going on?"
As Aurelius spoke, Linda quickly stepped forward and answered.
"Your Highness, forgive me for interrupting rashly."
Looking at Linda, Aurelius didn't mean to blame her. After all, he knew Linda wouldn't interrupt without reason.
"Speak. Is something the matter?"
Hearing this, Linda quickly said, "Your Highness, the team sent out to sea previously has returned. That team is currently waiting inside Your Highness's training ground."
"?"
Hearing Linda's words, Aurelius was slightly stunned.
Then, as if realizing something, Aurelius couldn't help but show excitement.
Dropping the wooden sword and black cloth in his hands, he walked quickly towards the training ground.
Seeing this, Linda quickly followed.