5 Preparations

Leto didn't waste the following days.

He took herbal baths, prescribed by himself from the previous life memories. Old house butler Monte did a great job efficiently gathering the herbs he needed.

Except for that, Leto made sure his body wasn't listless due to physical inactivity. He ate healthy food with lots of nutrients. All this aided him in rapid recovery.

Besides that, he spent his free time asking the wise old butler about history, geography, and even politics, which surprised the old servant a lot. Occasionally, he visited the library to widen his horizons through books.

Former Leto didn't show any interest in anything, except for gambling, alcohol, chasing skirts, art, poetry, music and other sorts of fun activities. He was a pampered lazy bum, who the majority of people looked down upon.

The old butler, maids and his other family members thought that surviving the life and death situation changed him for the better.

It was true. Before former Leto died, he had grown as a person, but ultimately his life ended. Current Leto wasn't someone previous one could compare to in any aspect.

In less than a week, his Strength grew from 19 to 26 points. His soul treasure could measure different sorts of energy. Vitality, strength, Qi, and spirit were different kinds of energies.

Having 26 Strength meant, that his all-out punch could have 26 kilograms of power, which was far worse than normal adult's, but for him, who was bedridden and ill for months, it was already wonderful.

Upon full recovery, he could finally set foot in the path of cultivation. Only having a formidable personal power could give him the ability to control his fate and guarantee his place and respect in society. Weak was bullied while strong - feared and admired. This was an unshakable law of life. He refused to be weak and submit to others...

The first realm of cultivation was Body Tempering, split into 9 levels.

There are not any set rules one must follow to increase the body's vigor. It can be done in countless ways, the most common and inefficient one being regular exercises. When one's fist had the power of 100 kilograms, they could be considered at the 1st level of Body Tempering realm.

For every following level, extra 50 kilograms of strength was required. Ultimately, at 9th level one is supposed to have 500 kilograms of strength in a fist, though it's not only fist strength that increases every level, but overall competence. It's not possible to increase just fist strength if the rest of the body is weak. Of course, some skills could promote one's power, while excellent, suitable weapons could help the warrior bring out maximum attack power, but they are external forces, not the raw strength.

Without cultivation resources, even the most hardworking, extreme person, who trained himself every day could only reach 2nd or 3rd level of body tempering, as boosting one's power further and further was harder and harder in later levels.

Body tempering was about building a quality body foundation, bringing one's mortal body to the ultimate level, so his flesh vessel would be strong enough to handle the absorption and refinement of heaven and earth energy.

Leto knew of many efficient methods to raise his strength in a short time, but as he had knowledge of further realms, he wouldn't proceed hastily. He knew the golden value of building a solid foundation.

Presently, he could only try his best to recover as fast as possible.

A few days later, he concluded the ritual of slaughtering livestock. The butler gave him an uncommon grade knife, so he wouldn't need to exert much power and exhaust himself easily.

Slaughtering them was no challenge as servants held down the animals. All he had to do was raise a knife and slit their throats. A weak minded person would never be able to act so cruelly, but Leto knew how truly cruel the world was. He wouldn't bat an eyelid even if he had to slaughter people if needed.

By the end of the day, he was exhausted, but his harvest was great, as he gathered 927 vitality essence.

Everyone was stunned by his performance, while he thought nothing of it. Seeing him butchering living beings without as much as fluttering the eyelashes frightened the servants a lot as they silently shot him gazes full of fear. They couldn't recognize their young master anymore.

He wasn't scared of taking lives of living beings, neither did he enjoy doing it, but indifference he showed while doing so was more dreadful than anything.

''Sis, was young master always so sadistic?'' The young maid whispered to the older one while staring fearfully at the blood pond accumulated below Leto's feet.

The pitiful cries of dying animals sounded without stop. After killing his prey, the rows of muscular servants brought the corpses away. It was a peculiar, hair raising sight.

The young maid stared at Leto's hand, as he masterfully held a green handled large knife. His hands motioned without hesitation, drawing an arc in the air, leaving the wide slash mark on the cow's neck. The gash would sprout tons of blood as the dying animal gave last struggles of its life.

The older maid was also dumbstruck. Her interaction with the young master wasn't much, but her impression of him was - a timid man who knew how to enjoy life and admire the beauty of nature.

This transformation was too abrupt, but she felt it wasn't too unexpected, knowing what he went through.

''Go, we're not paid for slacking and gossiping.'' She urged the younger maid, who absentmindedly nodded and followed behind her.

''Huff, huff~'' Leto panted as he finished his job. He sat down on the nearby tree log in his bloodstained clothes while gasping for breath.

''The bath is prepared, young master.'' The old butler bowed slightly.

''Ok.'' He nodded and stood up to change his clothes and have a refreshing bath. The scent of blood didn't nauseate him like it used to, but it was still uncomfortable to be covered in it.

He cast a glance towards hardworking servants and admired his dad, who didn't let the meat go to waste and solved one of his problems by holding a banquet, which he was also looking forward to.

''Two birds with one stone, huh?'' He chuckled and smiled slightly.

All kinds of respected figures would attend the banquet. He made up his mind to attend it for his reasons.

'I need to learn a lot more about politics. I can't go unprepared now, can I? I wonder if I can find dad. Sigh, he's always so busy.' He complained inwardly.

The evening sunlight stretched his and hunky butler's shadows on the ground.

Leto silently admired the view of his father's majestic castle in his sight, which stood like a solemn, unshakable giant.

In the warm bath, he washed away his filth and relaxed his body and spirit. While bathing, he checked his body condition and realized, that the rotting marks on his body were disappearing. His flesh wasn't so thin and his skin wrinkled anymore. He even started growing some hair. He felt satisfied with the results.

After a bath, he went to go to sleep. On the way, he met his young stepsister, who greeted him clumsily to show her respect.

The previous Leto didn't have much interaction with his family. As Gile had 7 official wives and over a dozen concubines, it was hard to keep in contact with all of them. Even in the family, there existed some kind of hierarchy, where those in lower positions had to show due respect to superiors.

Leto didn't care about his family affears. He was dead tired and couldn't wait to bury his head into fluffy pillows, but as he approached the door, he saw a graceful figure standing by it, with hands crossed, leaning against the wall. She appeared to be thinking about something.

''Stella?'' He was surprised.

She was startled as she turned her head and stared deep into his eyes solemnly in silence.

''Is there anything?'' He felt uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze.

''Brother, are you really my brother?'' She opened her mouth and asked in her melodious, low voice.

Leto was secretly startled, but he didn't falter, as he expected some doubts to surface at some point.