Chapter 22 Sudden Rejuvenation

As they rode the mountain car driven by Dante, they observed Zone Zero, which had undergone significant changes.

"Yes, as you know, not only plants and trees evolve but the land itself has become a magical, fertile ground where farming is easy everywhere," someone observed.

"Hum!"

KE waved his hand, gathered some fruit, and handed it to Kyomi and the others.

"Taste this fruit. It's different from the others; it's highly concentrated by Etheora. And don't forget to throw away the seeds inside it."

Sebastian, curious, asked, "My lord, why should we throw the seeds instead of planting them?"

Smiling and holding the fruit, KE looked at it and explained, "That's because the seeds are concentrated by Etheora. If you throw them on the ground, which has become magically fertile, it will absorb them. Then, the ground will return the Etheora and pump it into the seeds until they sprout and become stronger than before."

He continued, "In this way, the land invests so that when the tree grows and bears fruit, as soon as the fruit ripens, it will fall to the ground. This is the time to reap the benefits: the earth will absorb all the Etheora inside the fruit, leaving behind only the seeds, which are more concentrated by Etheora than the previous ones. The cycle repeats over and over like an infinite loop."

After listening to KE's detailed explanation, everyone understood that this plan was KE's.

He knew everything that would happen in Zone Zero and had even created a natural ecosystem just from nature itself.

The youngsters, who were young and had not seen the world, were terrified by this thought.

Only Sebastian was frightened by this idea because he could even foresee what would happen to his enemies, who would end disastrously.

War and fighting are not about strength. A hundred soldiers can defeat ten thousand if they know all their actions.

The person who will emerge victorious from a fight or war is the one who knows the enemy's intelligence and all their movements. It's simply cheating.

And currently, KE is this cheat to Sebastian, for he had never seen such talent in his entire life.

"Sebastian, don't think too much and eat. I want you to try it first because it's beneficial for you," KE advised.

Sebastian stopped thinking after KE interrupted him and nodded.

"Yes, my lord."

"Crunch"

Sebastian took a big bite of the fruit.

"This!"

The first thing Sebastian noticed was the refreshing liquid from the fruit, followed by its amazing taste that surpassed any fruit he had ever eaten in his life.

"Gulp"

Sebastian swallowed the fruit, and his stomach started burning, but only for a second.

"Hiss"

The heat from his stomach spread throughout his body, causing steam to emit from Sebastian.

Once the steam subsided, KE noticed that Sebastian had changed a lot.

His wrinkles had diminished by about 20%, and he had a lot more black hair.

Even his beard had black streaks. Everyone was stunned by his appearance, even KE, because it was the first time they saw a man in his eighties revert to looking like he was in his forties.

"Creak"

As Sebastian moved his hands, muscle sounds emanated from him.

It was as if they hadn't moved in a while, making Sebastian feel thoroughly refreshed.

"Sebastian, take this small mirror and look at yourself," KE cheerfully suggested, quickly pulling out a mirror from the small car box and handing it to Sebastian.

To KE, Sebastian was family, like a grandfather. Sebastian had raised him while his parents were busy with clan affairs.

Thus, Sebastian, Kyomi, all the servants, maids, and workers in the palace were his real relatives, not his parents.

As soon as Sebastian took the mirror from KE, he saw his old face, which he used to see when he was in his forties.

(This...this...this)

Sebastian was shocked by this terrifying transformation.

He hadn't believed that he would time-travel backward and become young again. Although KE had given him the Etheora refining technique and said it could provide power and age, since he was already old, he had no hope for himself.

He had been preparing himself for death for a long time, ready to be buried beside his master.

(Maybe my lord knew about this, so he insisted I come with him)

Sebastian looked at KE, who couldn't hide his joyful smile.

This was the first time Sebastian could see a childlike expression emerge from KE.

When KE showed such childlike expressions for the first time, Sebastian knew what he was thinking was true.

For the first time, Sebastian teared up since his master's death. He had cried only twice in his entire life.

"One for his old master and one now because, from this moment, he wanted to live for KE only.

He didn't want to die yet because he felt a responsibility to stay by KE's side.

"Thank you, my lord, for your gift and for giving an old man a reason to live," Sebastian thanked.

"Hehehe, you're welcome, Sebastian. I just wanted to show you that the end is not really the end, but just the beginning," KE responded.

Sebastian smiled and nodded in agreement with what KE said.

"Screech"

"My lord, we have arrived at the destination," announced the driver.

KE looked out and saw vast lands filled with vegetables, fruits, and working farmers.

He saw livestock lands where the animals grazed on grass or natural seeds provided by the farmers.

"Good, you are exactly on the right path. The plan is going as I wanted," KE acknowledged.

"Dante, let's first go to Jordan, and after that, I want a distant land to finish my research for a month," KE instructed.

Dante heard what KE said, started the car, and took them to Jordan.

Jordan's place was a bit far from the agricultural lands, but as soon as they arrived, they heard the shouting of many children at once.

"Come on, kids, come on, move quickly!"

"Run around the field for another round - one, two, three; one, two, three!"

Jordan was behind them, running around the field, shouting and counting, and all the young ones were following and shouting after him.

This was a training plan made by KE with Jordan. As a former soldier, Jordan had a lot of training experience.

With KE's understanding, they were able to create a training schedule that strengthens the human body without harm at about five times the training speed.

Unfortunately, it only works up to human limits, not beyond them.

After their physical build reaches human limits, Jordan will give them the Etheora refining technique so that they quickly cultivate Etheora, thereby achieving double the result with half the effort.

Of course, KE will not leave them without studying; they must read about ten books a month.

As for the forgetting problem, they just have to eat the food from the dietary table that KE built for them, which strengthens bone density and flexibility and nourishes their body and mind.

And other games like puzzles, chess, and shogi that exercise the mind and increase intelligence.

With this dietary and physical plan, along with puzzle games, all of human capabilities will emerge at once, both intelligence and physicality - killing two birds with one stone.

"Come on, together, one two three, one two three!"

"One two three, one two three!"

Everyone shouted and began to run until they reached the end of another lap.

"Well done, take a ten-minute break, we have more exercises afterward," Jordan instructed.

After finishing his instructions to them, Jordan hurried over to where KE and the others were.

"My lord, how are you? Why did you come and not notify me?" Jordan inquired.

KE looked at Jordan, having not seen him for a while, and noticed that his Japanese accent had gotten slightly better.

"The reason I didn't notify you is that I didn't come here just to see you all, but I have research that must be completed, or at least I must try to complete it in a month. After that, I will go, and I may return again after I finish my work because, honestly, I don't have much time left now," KE explained.

Jordan nodded understandingly because he received a reminder file that KE will carry the clan's work and he doesn't have as much time as he used to have.

"Sir, what should I do now?" Jordan asked, hoping to help during the ten-minute break.

"I just wanted to see the young people training and how they're doing," KE replied, watching the youth train with Jordan.

"Is there a problem with their training, sir?" Jordan asked.

"No, but they're improving slowly. I'll look for a way to speed that up," KE responded thoughtfully.

Jordan thought their training was going too slowly.

After hearing KE's dream and learning about various enemies, he believed the young people needed to train harder and get stronger faster.

Even with KE's special food, exercise, and learning plan, their progress seemed slow.

So, Jordan tried to push them to get stronger fast and get the plan going.