Chapter 154: A Second Chance
Six days pa.s.sed by in a blink of an eye.
Kahn and Albestros had made this mansion of the Leshen as their temporary residence after the day of their visit.
Both of them acted as his caretakers in a sense. Kahn hired professionals to clear out the mansion of all the grime and dirt that acc.u.mulated over the years.
And the garden that was full with longra.s.s and unkempt bushes was finally taken care of.
So far, the ruined estate was half renovated. But it was still in an acceptable state for normal living standards.
Kahn did it because this was the only place the dying alchemist had left. So he wanted it to at least be presentable before the leshen pa.s.sed away.
Inside the master bedroom, Prithvi was in the bed, his countenance had turned like a defeated person. His body looked even more dried up and even his arms and legs had small cracks all over them. Beside him, Albestros was sitting on a chair.
In the past few days, his body had stopped responding to his mind and he could no longer even get out of the bed. Even breathing had become a ch.o.r.e for him and his appearance looked similar to a dried husk.
"Tell me, old friend.. What do you wish to do after this? Do you plan to settle down in the capital?" asked Prithvi in a hoa.r.s.e tone.
"Don"t talk.. You need to rest properly." replied Albestros.
"Who.. Are.. We.. Kidding. I can see myself embracing the afterlife soon. Answer me.."
"Well, I and the kid did plan to do so. After my children were avenged.. I finally felt like it was time to move on and start anew. As a matter of fact, we came to meet you thinking you could help us a bit. But your situation was.. Unexpected." spoke the old man.
"You know, Alby.. The only regret I have at this point is that I never truly lived for myself. I always lived to meet someone else"s expectations of me. Although I don"t regret all those years I spent studying and performing alchemy.. I still haven"t been able to make peace with my fate.." said Prithvi and a small tear droplet fell from his completely black eyes.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Kahn entered the room, he was dressed in a white shirt and brown trousers.
"Sir Prithvi.. I have informed your family a couple of days ago about your current health. But.." before he could complete his words, the grandmaster alchemist spoke.
"But none of them came. I see.. So they would not even come for my pa.s.sing rite.." spoke Prithvi with a heavy heart.
"I will leave you two alone." said Kahn and left the room.
"Alby.. There"s something I want you to do for me." spoke Prithvi and discussed about an important matter.
The next day at the time of evening..
Prithvi pa.s.sed away.
Despite informing about his current state to several people he knew in past.. There were only Kahn, Albestros & the Druids who carried the funeral procedure present at this moment.
As the sunset happened and only the two men who performed the pa.s.sage rite instead of someone from Prithvi"s next of kin stood at the corner of the garden, where they buried the pitiful old Leshen, Albestros spoke with a heavy heart..
"You know.. I never truly had many people whom I could call a friend in 70 years of my life. And it was the same for him. But the bond between us was like brothers.
He and I started as apprentices at the same time in the capital in shops next to each other. And since we both were full of pa.s.sion.. We would talk over various things about our respective professions.
I didn"t understand anything he was saying & neither did he about what I said. But he was the kind to value friendship and ethics.
He was a very quick learner and his mind was always looking for new information and possibilities like a researcher. There was even a time when he almost burned his house trying to make a new kind of potion.
I"m sure if he knew about what happened to me, he would"ve done everything in his power to help me.
He.. He deserved better." spoke the old man with a heavy heart and eyes full of tears as he stood in front of his old friend"s grave.
"First it was Jessica.. And now him. Maybe I am a curse; everyone I know & have any relationship to ends up dying." he said.
Kahn put a hand on the old man"s shoulder.
"It"s not your fault. Life hasn"t been kind to many of us. Everyone suffers in their own ways." spoke Kahn, trying to console the old man.
"He died with nothing but regret. He wanted to live more.. He wanted to finally live for himself at least once." said Albestros.
The next second, he took out a set of deeds from his s.p.a.ce ring.
"What are those?" asked Kahn with a curious expression.
"The ownership deed of this mansion & the old building of his company. The only two things he owned till the last days of his life. I refused but he pa.s.sed on their ownership to me yesterday." explained Albestros.
"Wait.. Doesn"t it look like we took advantage of sir Prithvi and goaded into him giving you this deed as his last will? Wouldn"t his family come for the mansion & that building?" asked Kahn.
This was indeed a reasonable question as many people did take advantage of dying people and used the fake care & love they gave them in their last moments to get properties and something in the final will.
"Let those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds come! I"m going to remind them of what they did and why their father pa.s.sed it to me." spoke the old man in an angered tone.
Kahn sighed but looked at the grave once more. He too felt very sad for the old alchemist.
Because dying alone and with regrets was the worst kind of death in his opinion as he too once suffered through the same fate.
At this moment, Kahn touched the grave with his hand and his eyes were filled with a form of resolution.
After the midnight finally came, the bright moonlight and chilling breeze gave the night a serene and tranquil feeling.
At this moment, in front of the grave of the deceased Prithvi, stood 3 figures clad in black.
On the other end, inside the mansion.. A mage suddenly appeared out of the shadows in Albestros"s bedroom and cast a Silence Barrier.
In the garden, the 3 figures started digging out the grave of the deceased leshen.
A fourth figure suddenly appeared behind them.
"Do it carefully. His body shouldn"t be damaged in any way." spoke the fourth person.
It was none other than Kahn who was standing behind them with both his arms folded behind the back.
The 3 figures digging the grave and the mage inside Albestros"s room were the new members of Legion. The ones he created from the battlefield where he saved Szayel.
When the body was carefully dug out of the ground, Kahn noticed the pained and regretful expression on Prithvi"s face. Even in his last moments, the grandmaster alchemist died without peace.
"I know what I"m doing is called desecrating the dead.. But I want to give you another chance and a way to live." spoke Kahn and placed his hand on Prithvi"s body.
"Absorb." commanded Kahn.
After 30 minutes, he was done absorbing the body of the deceased leshen. But this wasn"t the end..
"Armin.." spoke Kahn and suddenly, the Priest subordinate who was resurrected over a week ago jumped out of his shadow.
He looked at this subordinate who was made from the bodies of Healers & Druids. Just like everyone from the Six Generals, he too was a Variant but Kahn never had a proper body to upgrade him.
"System, impart Metamorphosis bloodline to him. And merge him with Prithvi." ordered Kahn.
[Command accepted. Synthesis procedure initiated.]
After one full hour, the synthesis procedure was finally done and Armin, who had already reached 100% Loyalty took a human form.
Prithvi was a Level 120 Peak Grandmaster Rank individual. So Armin straight up met the conditions and rose to High Lord rank since Prithvi"s core was also used in this procedure.
A brown-haired young man, who had green aura and archaic tattoos over his forehead & forearms came to be.
Kahn pa.s.sed him a set of white regal clothes made for Healer cla.s.s that he found in one of the s.p.a.ce rings he looted recently.
At this moment, Armin who was always the silent kind, spoke to his master.
"Master.. There is a remnant will of this person. It wants to merge with my consciousness. It wants to.. Keep living." he revealed.
"I see. Accept it. It won"t make you a different person or control your mind. But it will give you some personality traits of the owner of that will." replied Kahn.
He already had seen the effects of being affected by someone"s remnant will like he had with the deceased mother Somir.
"Yes, master" spoke Armin and the next second.. A green halo formed around his head and his entire body released a burst of aura.
The next moment, however.. The system gave Kahn a notification in his head.
[Congratulations to the host for upgrading the subordinate named Armin to a new profession.
The subordinate has unlocked a Legendary rank cla.s.s…
THE PATHFINDER.]
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Author : Armin Human form Reference Art in chapter comments. Check it out.