256 Chapter Fifty Six - He has his reasons (2/2)

The following morning, his first class servant began to panic; he could not rouse the General from his meditation! In the past, the servant would approach after a sichen, and the General would immediately open his eyes, but the General, who never usually meditated overnight, did not awaken this time! The servant was not a Cultivator, did not know what to do, but the General had always told him not to disturb a meditating man, so he could only find the old Madam.

Old Madam Ramas, Sun's paternal Grandmother, decided to send for a physician that happened to understand Cultivation matters and that man had quickly ushered everyone out of General Ramas' room and courtyard after taking his pulse once. He even went so far to encourage Lady Ramas to move out of her neighbouring courtyard. He explained that the General was attempting to breach a crucial bottleneck in his cultivation and that the consequences of such could definitely be detrimental to other Cultivators not to mention mortals!

Lady Ramas moved to a more distant courtyard and just in time for explosive lightning suddenly struck down in the location of her old home causing much damage in the process. The General, however, bared the tribulation despite his advanced age and formed his much longed for core. The man was extremely overjoyed!  He had to discover the source of the bath salts his servant used this time.

This was also the time that the second-class servant realised that his idea was full of loopholes and that the General did not like those who misappropriated from his family and claimed credit. That servant was not thanked and he was sold out.

The long and the short of this episode was that the General had a breakthrough and wished to reward the one responsible. Except his stinky grandson hadn't thought to share this miracle potion, which helped draw him into trouble-free meditation and loosen certain stubborn impurities within his body, although the child did admit that this was created by young Leon.

The General already had a good impression of this boy and his investigations had revealed that the young alchemist was filial to his old grandfather, further increasing the soft spot growing for him. So why not recognise him as an adopted grandchild? Adopting clever children was not a new thing and that adoption did not mean necessarily giving up old family ties, just offered new ones. Leon would gain the same connections and opportunities as his blood related grandsons and he would have another child to boast about, another child to bring glory to his name, sharing that which was also old Leonard's.

The more that he thought about it, the more that he liked it, so he decided to come to the Interschool Exchange that Sun had mentioned young Leon would be a part of competitively and support him. Checking out the school and spending time with his actual grandson was just a bonus.

The General led his two grandsons and granddaughter towards the central arena, where large reflective mirrors were elevated to show random five minute scenes involving the sixty teams currently battling to survive and compete within the other Realm. He did not notice the girl wrinkling her nose, unhappily.

When Carmen had heard about the General's idea to come to the Institute from her grandmother as the older woman conversed with her close friend, she knew she had to tag along. At first, her grandmother would not hear of it, so she had begged, pleaded stating that she just wanted to see the school where her 'dear brother' was attending. In the end she resorted to 'being so upset as to have no appetite', softening her grandmother's will, while secretly eating at midnight. It had been quite tough.

The older woman had eventually conceded, her grandfather was hesitant, but allowed it under his wife's cajoling. He was not as blindsided as his wife, however and understood that Carmen had alternative motives. He thought that perhaps the little girl needed to witness several realities before she understood that Jin Li was not for her. Even if he wasn't so indifferent to the girl, General Ramas doubted that the youth would choose to chain himself to one less than equal to himself in potential. Much like Leon's mysterious father, he would share a time with her then leave her behind, alone. General Ramas would not tolerate such a husband either.

Unfortunately, he did not realise the stubborn, single minded determination of his granddaughter.