楼上的上瘾女士

Hal gulped as it proved impossible to resist the hold of Kirill who stared at him, 

"So, what did you think?" He prompted Hal when he said nothing.

"Honestly, I felt it was way too long. It seemed to just go on and on. I thought it would never end" he said, doing well to hide his fear.

And who could blame him for feeling fear?

He was in the clutches of a saint!

That said, Hal knew he had been guided to this hall by Svetlana on purpose and she was not going to let her father kill him.

Artyom frowned at Hal and Ivan looked him over, 

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked in an angry voice.

Hal rolled his eyes at him, 

"Not like it\'s any of your business but I came here to pick someone up. It turns out she\'s not here so if your grandpappy can let me go now, I\'ll search for her elsewhere" he said in a surprisingly calm voice.

Kirill paused, 

"Hahaha, gutsy, I like" he said and then looked closely at the resemblance this Doxon boy seemed to have with his daughter, 

"What\'s your name boy?" He asked still not loosening the hold he had on Hal.

"My name is Hal, and before you ask, I am not a Doxon" Hal said and this time, Kirill actually let him go.

The Doxon family patron raised a brow at Hal\'s words, before saying, 

"If you say so. My name is Kirill if you did not already know and these are my useless sons, Kohen and Elian, and their sons, Ivan and Artyom." He said.

Hal was a little surprised that Kirill was introducing himself and his family to him after he already \'eavesdropped\' on a private discussion. But he did not really feel like picking at the little details.

He barely acknowledged Kohen or Elian but he did smirk at Ivan and then Artyom who snarled, 

"Bastard" 

Hal rolled his eyes, 

"Still pissed? It\'s just a fruit, let it go" he said.

Kirill looked at Ivan and then Artyom and finally back at Hal, 

"You were at the Garden of Peril? You got the Primal Fruit?" He asked.

Hal smiled, 

"Wonderful deductive reasoning" he said with a bit of mocking as he felt it was funny that Kirill could deduce that but did not seem to have deduced the relationship between Hal and Svetlana yet. 

Then he looked back at the lady who had led him here as she came up behind him and bowed to all those seated, 

"Patron, Master Kohen, and Elian. Young masters Ivan and Artyom, I apologize for the intrusion" she said.

Hal rolled his eyes at her as this ended the little pitstop Svetlana must have planned ahead and then she said to him, 

"Young master Hal, come with me, the Duchess is waiting" 

That seemed to finally strip away the veil of denial and let it click in Kirill\'s mind as he stood up, 

"You\'re... Lana\'s kid?" He asked having been thrown off mostly by the cultivation he could sense coming from Hal. A nineteen-year-old in the Cosmic Phenomenon realm.

A true Genius. 

Hal smiled lightly and looked back as he followed after the lady who led him not towards the entrance to the hall but a door over to the side of it that was not far from where the Doxons were seated, 

"The one and only" he said and walked out of the hall behind the stoic lady.

The eyes of Kohen and Elian were widened in surprise that borderline shock. This was the first they were ever heard of their sister having a son.

Ivan who had already suspected it was still surprised to see it admitted with such candor and Artyom still looked to be struggling with denial.

As for Kirill, he sat back in his chair with a faraway look in his eyes and it was clear that there was a lot on his mind and a lot he needed to ask his daughter...

...

Kirill Doxon was not the only one who wanted to question the Duchess. Hal was pissed off at the whole charade of having him present to hear the conversations between the Doxons but he had a feeling she had not orchestrated him going there to listen to the conversation, she had orchestrated it so he would meet the rest of the family.

And it was a meeting Hal would have very well-preferred not to have.

The door to the lounge was opened and there were two female guards guarding the entrance.

Hal could see a pattern forming, clearly, Svetlana was the type to have those closest to her be women.

When he saw Svetlana lounging on her sofa, actually having an engaging conversation with Rita, Hal allowed his eyes to trail over her wonderful figure while the stoic lady announced that she had brought him as requested.

Svetlana looked up at him and smiled but before she could say anything, Hal said,

"You tricked me"

"Whatever do you mean?" The duchess asked still in her lounging position.

"I came here to get Rita and not to listen to annoying conversations that have nothing to do with me" Hal said.

"Oh, but they do have something to do with you. Without the past, there can be no future" Svetlana said.

Hal rolled his eyes, 

"Real deep of you but there are some pasts that I will do well to ignore. Anyway, you said we should have a chat, so make it quick, I\'m on a tight schedule" Hal said and sat on a seat opposite the sofa.

Rita came over to him and sat on his lap where Hal stroked her back while she hugged her arms around his neck.

"Tight schedule? What, are you so eager to use the Primal fruit?" Svetlana asked with a smirk.

Hal took her comment in stride with a shrug, 

"What\'s the point of dilly-dallying? Besides, there are many waiting eagerly and I will hate to keep them waiting too long. 

So why don\'t you start with the Garden?" 

"The Garden of Perils? Why that?" Svetlana was confused.

"I was just curious" Hal said.

Svetlana furrowed her brows, 

"I found some notes a few years ago that spoke of its creation. How it was meant to be a legacy left behind by Harold Doxon, the tenth Doxon King. 

My... Our Ancestor. 

History tells us that he was never able to become a Demigod and was stuck at the ninth star of the Cosmic saint realm but did become a Divine Runemaster. 

The legendary Rank nine.

The only one to have ever done so in the history of the Haron continent.

He drew the Divine Array that brought the Garden of Perils to life and he did so to help the Doxon Duchy or as it was called back then, the Doxon Kingdom grow.

Not only by providing quality hard-to-find cultivation herbs but also to present challenges and strengthen the resolve of cultivators who decided to journey into it.

But... As I said, he was never able to become a Demigod and then become a god and gain immortal life so eventually he died.

Or at least that is what history says.

He left the kingdom in his final days and that\'s the last anyone ever saw or heard of him.

The Array which he had named \'Embryo\' in the sense that it was his child, his creation took it all as an act of abandonment while getting saddled with responsibilities it no longer felt like having so it has been getting more overboard in its antics.

It hates Doxons the most but is also a tad bit sentimental to us as well." Svetlana paused thinking Hal was about to make an input and he did, just not what she had expected, 

"He named a Divine Array he created, \'Embryo\'?" He asked in an incredulous tone.

Svetlana shrugged, 

"Probably thought it was clever"

Hal shook his head slowly,

"Moving on, let\'s talk about what I actually want to know; How did I become disabled at birth?" He asked.

The question about the garden had loosened things up enough that they could and should proceed to more important matters.

Svetlana\'s seating went from relaxed lounging to serious as she sighed and stretched her hand forward with her palm facing upward.

A blue light shone from her palm and the orb appeared floating above it with the golden balls revolving slowly inside.

Svetlana got a faraway look in her eyes as she said,

"It\'s because of this"