"By the way, did you put away that cultivation manual?"
Cultivation manual? Leon's mind went blank for a second.
"You didn't lose it, did you? Sure, you failed the awakening ceremony last year, but you've still got one more shot in four years. Don't give up."
Seeing his grandson's expression, the old man started to panic. After all, he'd gone through a lot of trouble sneaking that spirit cultivation manual to Leon behind his wife's back.
If it was lost, all that effort would've been for nothing.
After the old man's reminder, Leon finally snapped to attention and quickly said:
"Oh, oh yeah! No worries, I put it away ages ago."
Hearing this, the old man finally relaxed.
But what the old man didn't know was that Leon had flipped through a few pages of that cultivation manual from years ago, then tossed it into some corner in disgust...
What garbage.
Actually, the manual the old man brought wasn't bad quality at all. Even Rose and Arthur used that same technique.
But Leon had already found a secret manual called "Divine Origin Energy" in the palace of the Mystic Ruins Realm ages ago.
This manual combined body tempering, meridian opening, and spirit cultivation all in one. Its comprehensive nature was way beyond anything this world's spirit cultivation techniques could compare to.
This world's spirit cultivation methods focused on "gathering." Basically storing primal spirit energy in your body. The more you stored, the better.
The awakening ceremony used a magic formation to draw out the primal spirit energy you'd been accumulating for years, run it through the formation's pattern, and complete your profession imprinting.
During this process, the more primal spirit you had stored, the higher your success rate naturally was.
If you failed, the energy that got drawn out couldn't be returned. Years of cultivation would be completely wasted, and you'd have to start gathering from scratch.
So the efficiency and speed of spirit gathering was the standard this world used to judge the quality of cultivation techniques.
Crude. Way too crude.
After cultivating "Divine Origin Energy," Leon learned what it meant when they say comparison is the thief of joy.
Circulation cycles, refinement and transformation, control.
Ninety percent of the Aeternum Continent's spirit cultivation techniques didn't have these concepts.
Last year when Leon went to take the awakening ceremony, he earned nicknames like "Pure Waste" and "Primal Spirit Insulator" that were dripping with mockery.
The three profession formations never lit up once from start to finish. Not even the tiniest reaction.
Even the mage employees running the ceremony were stunned.
They'd seen people who were useless, but never anyone this purely useless...
Even regular people who never practiced spirit cultivation had at least a tiny bit of primal spirit in their bodies.
But this fifteen-year-old kid was literally "bone dry."
Leon became pretty famous for a while. After all, when you reach an extreme in any direction, even if it's the wrong one, it generates buzz.
He still remembered the way Amos looked at him with gritted teeth. Having a son like that was really "bringing honor to the family."
That look almost made Leon crack up laughing.
But since he was just a bastard son, the family had zero expectations anyway, so the buzz died down pretty quickly.
What nobody would ever guess was that Leon had failed the awakening ceremony on purpose.
If the gathered primal spirit was a bucket of water, then the awakening ceremony was punching a hole in the bottom. Everyone else's water would gush out completely, gone in an instant.
But Leon? When they punched the hole, he turned his water into ice. Not a single drop leaked out.
Thanks to cultivating "Divine Origin Energy," his control over primal spirit had already reached an absurdly high level.
Why did he do this? Simple. It was preparation for leaving the family tomorrow.
Everyone in the family basically assumed this low-status bastard son would work hard to climb up the family ladder and gain status.
But Leon never thought that way.
The Remington family? They didn't mean jack to him.
Leon didn't need this family's approval. Once he left this cage, he'd be his own man.
Having built a business from scratch in his past life through hard work and struggle, Leon never lacked confidence.
Plus, he had the Mystic Ruins Realm as his cheat ability.
As long as he appeared completely worthless, the family would have no chance to exploit him.
If the awakening ceremony had succeeded, it would've actually been harder for him to leave.
"Sigh... I'm a triple zero when it comes to primal spirit, my eldest son is a triple zero, and now you, my grandson Leon, you're also a triple zero. I don't know what our family did to offend the heavens to deserve this fate."
The old man poured himself a drink and smiled bitterly.
Looking at the old man drowning his sorrows, the only elder in this house who actually cared about him, Leon finally stood up and gently patted his grandfather's back, saying:
"Grandpa, no need to be so pessimistic. I've never needed anyone's blessing to succeed. Not the family's, and not fate's either."
Never needed anyone's blessing?
Jonas stared blankly at his grandson. That faint smile on the young man's face was like a gentle breeze that swept away the sadness and worry in his heart.
When he shook his head and looked more carefully, he found that Leon had already turned around to clean up the dishes.
Was it... just his imagination?
...
First thing in the morning, Leon went to go through the motions.
When Amos heard that Leon wanted to see him, he was pretty surprised.
In these sixteen years, this son of his had never once come to him voluntarily.
That's right, not even once.
In fact, Leon's whole impression on the family was that he was obedient, withdrawn, and introverted.
His father Amos was no exception.
Amos couldn't say he was satisfied or dissatisfied with this son.
Compared to his pair of troublemaking twin kids, this bastard son's behavior was actually pretty decent. From what he could remember, the kid had never caused any trouble that required him to step in and handle.
Pretty low-maintenance.
But on the other hand, the kid was completely unremarkable. Besides being good-looking, he had no other outstanding abilities.
Especially that awakening ceremony. Failed spectacularly...
"Let him in."
After thinking for a moment, Amos set aside the documents in his hands.
"Greetings, Father." After entering the room, Leon gave a proper, impeccable bow.
"What brings you here to see me?" Amos didn't mind his bastard son's expressionless, lukewarm attitude.
He was used to it.
"I'm planning to apply to White Maple Academy in Windmere City. I've come to bid you farewell."
Hm?
Amos thought his bastard son had caused some kind of trouble, but it turned out he just wanted to leave home to study.
"Does my mother approve?"
Hearing this, Leon, who'd been keeping his head down, smirked with disdain.
Just as he thought.
Though there was no real affection between them, Leon had spent sixteen years in this castle. He understood pretty well what kind of person his cheap father was.
Doted on his kids, cared about his reputation, mediocre mental fortitude, mild mama's boy.
Of course, "his kids" didn't include Leon. After all, they didn't even share the same last name.
"I'll be requesting permission from Grandmother shortly."
"Then go ahead. As long as my mother approves, it's fine."
Amos waved his hand, indicating Leon could leave. He didn't have much interest in this bastard son, so he didn't really care where the kid went.
Deep down, he actually agreed with the kid leaving the family.
Because of this bastard son's existence, his wife Mira gave him plenty of cold shoulders. Having this kid around brought him absolutely zero benefits.
Leon turned and left the room, but on his way downstairs, he ran into some people he'd rather not see.