Chapter 430 - Problem

"Woohoo Brother Yu, good job."

"Brother Yu, you are amazing." 

"I can't wait to see you reach the Top 3, brother Yu."

"Stop showing off you bastard."

"How dare you beat lady Shan like that!" 

Both love and hate were thrown towards Alex's way as he walked down the stage and left the area. He flipped his torn robe to see his clear skin with no scars or scratches. 

They were all healed by the time he left the stage. He smiled and went towards his Master's manor under the guise of the night.

'Finally, top 10.' He thought. 'I'm sure things will get only harder from here on. But I should be mostly fine as long as I don't come across some uniquely talented individual,' Alex thought. 

He had a lot of things about challenging people and such in his mind. He was both looking forward to and not looking forward to tomorrow since there would be limitless challenges for him and he would have to accept each one in under an hour or he would lose his rank again. 

Furthermore, he was sure there would be people ready to register to fight against him the moment he finished one, so he couldn't even register another one. 

His only chance was making sure he was early to the Fighting hall and registering a match on his own first. 

'Yeah, I should do that. I should skip breakfast if I have to,' he thought and walked directly to his Master's manor. He entered the manor and went to the training hall, but no one was there.

"Huh? Is Master not here yet?" he wondered and waited for a few minutes, but he still didn't come. 

"Uh, I will just go and spend some time in sister's house," he thought and walked back out of the training hall. He went back into the manor and was about to exit it outside when he heard muffled voices coming from somewhere. 

'People are here?' Alex was surprised and sent out his spiritual sense. He then saw his senior sister and Master in a room, talking to each other. 

'Oh, the master is already here. And sister hasn't left yet?' Alex was surprised and walked towards the room. As he got closer, he could hear clearer sounds of the two of them speaking. 

"…ter is still quite vague, but I'm scared, master." Alex could hear Luo Mei's voice coming from a room nearby.

"But I still don't think if it's a good idea. Especially, given the current situation of the empire," Wen Cheng said. "With all the beast invasion happening, I don't know if I'm okay with you going on your own."

"I'm not going to be alone. Mengmeng will be with me," Luo Mei said. 

"She needs your protection rather than you ne— Oh, little Yu, you are here," Wen Cheng said as he looked towards the door. 

Alex slowly opened the door and walked in. Wen Cheng looked quite serious sitting on the sofa. He then looked towards his senior sister and nearly felt his heart drop when he saw her red eyes with tears filled to the brim. 

"Wh-What's wrong, sister? Why are you crying?" Alex asked. 

"Sigh, you don't have to worry about it. Just go back to the training hall, or rather just go back to your house. There won't be any training today," Wen Cheng said. 

"It's okay, master. Let him stay," Luo Mei said. 

"Sigh, alright. Come here and sit little Yu," Wen Cheng said. 

Alex went next to Wen Cheng and sat down. "So, what's going on? Are you in any trouble, sister?" he asked. 

"I just got a message from my father. It said that he has been ill for a little while and they can't find any cure. If nothing improves then he—  then he—" 

Luo Mei covered her face with her hands and started crying. Alex understood what was happening. 'Sister's father is dying?' he thought to himself in surprise. 

"Wait, can we not do anything? What about the doctors? Are there none?" Alex asked. 

"Due to the beast attacks, no alchemist is moving around the empire at all. So, we can't even check to see what is wrong with him," Wen Cheng said. 

"I'm leaving right now, master. I need to go check on my father," Luo Mei said. 

"As I said, it's dangerous for you to go alone. Wait until the morning and I will get you registered on a caravan that's going out. That way, we can get some people who protect the caravan to protect you too," Wen Cheng said. 

"But Mast—"

"No buts! It's not just the beasts I'm worried about. There are bandits out there too. You think I won't be worried?" Wen Cheng said. 

"If it were any other time, I would've gone along with you to see my dear friend. However, I have too many responsibilities to do so right now. The beasts could attack any minute now, the sect's finances are in shambles, and we are one step away from having to take drastic measures."

"So, just do what I say and leave tomorrow morning. It will only take 2 days to reach Rubyroad City anyway," Wen Cheng said. 

Luo Mei wanted to argue more, but in the end she nodded and agreed. 

"Should I go as well, Master?" Alex asked suddenly. 

"What? Why would you go?" Wen Cheng asked. 

"I can be of support to sister. Also, didn't you say they were lacking alchemists? I can help with that," Alex said. 

"Huh? Can you diagnose people too?" Wen Cheng asked.

"Uhh, no, not yet. But with my memories, I can just go read the books in the library and be done with. I can also go make simple pills if need be," Alex said. 

"What about your rank in the sect?" Wen Cheng asked. 

"That can pause for a while. Besides, all I do is fight fodders 10 times before fighting a single strong person. It's getting a bit boring now," Alex said. 

"Sigh! Alright, Fine." Wen Cheng gave up. "I will go set it all up. You go and rest for now," Wen Cheng said to Luo Mei. 

"I will go to the library right now," Alex said and stood up. He quickly said his goodbye and went towards the library. 

He could read the books that weren't techniques for free thanks to his divine sense, so he did that without any hesitation. He wasn't going to spend so many spirit stones for the records. 

'Not that I think about it, I do need a few techniques too,' Alex thought and walked around, looking for techniques while he studied the medical books in the library. The knowledge in them didn't seem very extensive, but he was planning on buying the better ones in big cities anyway.

The techniques however were pretty useful for the current him. He got all the skills that he could get and left with them after he finished reading through the medical knowledge. 

"I want to rent these books," he said to the elder. 

The elder looked at the pile of books on his hand and asked, "You do know that you can only rent books for a week, right? And you don't get any discount for the techniques," 

"Yes, I'm aware," Alex said. 

"And you still want to rent it all?" he asked. 

"Yes" Alex nodded. 

"Very well," the elder said as he took the pills and calculated the price. "Its 8 True Spirit stones," he said. 

Alex nodded as he looked through the books he had. Only one book amongst these book was even worth any money in his opinion, but he needed to all if he wanted to improve himself at all. So, he paid the money and walked out. 

He went back to his house which was just a house lane below Luo Mei's house and walked in. 

It was dead in the night by now, so he had two choices. He could either go through his memories to understand the concept behind the procedure for diagnosis for his medicinal knowledge, or he could learn the techniques he had just brought back. 

When he thought about it, only the techniques made the most sense to him. So, he poured out the techniques from his storage bags and started reading through them all. 

These books were all simple techniques that were either Mortal Grade or Earth Grade in strength. He had strong techniques, and that wasn't what he was looking for. 

He separated one book from the pile and called out Pearl. 

"You need to practice this technique, okay?" he said. 

"Meow?" Pearl questioned.

"No, I will read it to you. Just remember while you are in your space, okay?" he asked.

"Meow!" Pearl said with a bright smile. Alex smiled too and started reading the book to Pearl. Pearl had the comprehension level of a child, but thanks to his Spiritual sea opening, he should have been able to remember it all. 

Once he comprehended what all of the words Alex had just said were, it would depend on his talent to understand it. 

'The technique is metal aligned, so it should work for Pearl right?' Alex thought. Once he was done, he sent Pearl back into his beast space and continued reading the rest of the book. 

The simple books took barely any time to read and learn thanks to his God Grade talent. Once he was all done, he close the books and started practicing what he could. 

Once it was morning, he stopped.. It was time to leave with his sister.