Ch-27: Awakening Altair

After Si-Eun had healed completely, she looked at the downtrodden face of Raon, as his expression was quite bitter.

He was caressing Altair, who had been clothed properly for the first time since her birth, as she had still not gained consciousness.

It was not like the three of them could not help her gain consciousness immediately, but Raon refused to do that.

Si-Eun went next to Raon, and she patted his back to console him, since she believed that he was sad because of the formation's explosion, after which time would run the same for Altair.

Well, that was one reason for Raon to be down, but the other reason was that he would never be able to see Lia's body again, as it would have been blasted into pieces.

It took some time for Raon to accept the reality of the situation, but his master, Si-Eun, had already spoken about taking Altair as her legacy disciple, so maybe it was for the best.

Raon slowly told them about his Empire and asked them to be his backers in case things went wrong at some point in the future.

He didn't let them refuse, as he reminded them that they were the ones who made him their disciple, not the other way around.

The two agreed to be his backers on the condition that he wouldn't ask them to fight except in the case of protecting him or Altair from someone far stronger than the two.

Raon guided Junho and Si-Eun to the place where his hidden residence as the shadow ruler was located while holding the baby Altair in his arms.

It wouldn't be right to call Altair a baby, as she was nearly half the height of Raon, around 100 cm (3'3 ft) tall, and weighed less than a fifth of him, around 17 kg.

For Raon, holding Altair as well as guiding his masters should have been a daunting task, as this would be the first time he held Altair, but he surprisingly managed to do it smoothly.

It only took them a few hours to reach that place unnoticed due to their higher strength and better hiding techniques.

He immediately summoned his shadows, as they were soul-bound to him, making them fully loyal, but even then, he only called the one that he had assigned as their leader the first time.

His codename was VKS027-01, given by Raon due to all the shadows being assassins, so using codenames suited them much better.

VKS027-01 arrived alone, but knowing the one calling him was his liege, he brought all the latest information gathered after their last meeting.

As soon as VKS027-01 entered the hidden room, he noticed that the masked man who was his lord seemed a little different.

Unfortunately, he couldn't put his finger on it, nor did he dare ask anything from Raon as he clasped his fists in greeting.

It was praise to Raon's masters that he was able to calm down and hide his feelings before meeting VKS027-01, or it would shatter his stern image.

Raon made himself get busy with the things related to his Empire in a way to distract himself from everything that transpired regarding Altair.

His goal hadn't changed, but he steadied himself for the future as he asked his shadow leader to return after ordering him to bring their centralized data file.

Afterward, Raon went through the latest information and pieced it together to move ahead with his plans, but at the same time, he was ready to leave everything the moment Altair awakened.

He requested both his masters to inform him about it the moment she woke up, as the three were hidden inside that room in a disorienting formation.

While Raon busied himself with the latest news and orders regarding his spanning Empire, Altair showed no signs of awakening, even after several hours had passed.

Frustrated by Raon's hard-headedness, Si-Eun went and directly brought him near Altair and asked about awakening her, as it wasn't a good idea to just leave her be.

Raon kept silent before slowly and solemnly nodding his head, permitting Si-Eun to check Altair up for any problems in her body after thinking about it.

Si-Eun, seeing him agree, sent a small wave of her energy that coursed through Altair's body, invisible to anyone but her as she scrutinized each part of Altair's body.

After a thorough check-up spanning thirty minutes, Si-Eun confirmed that nothing was wrong with her body or soul except her vitality being lower than it was supposed to be.

Hearing the verdict, Raon sighed in relief until he heard about the vitality part, as he was aware that, except for that formation, nothing else could have done it.

Lo and behold, Raon was undoubtedly correct. The formation would have absorbed Lia's vitality upon her death and then Altair's, if not for Raon being a much more appealing source.

Unknowingly, he ended up saving his daughter when he was only trying to save Lia's corpse from being sucked dry by the formation but was stopped due to his blood.

This was the only conclusion Raon could come to, but even he was unaware that the bloodline that he carried could have such appeal to a natural formation.

What Raon didn't know was that if not for the formation repairing Altair's vitality over the course of 475 years, she'd be unable to survive.

The thing that brought her misery was also the one that brought her out of it; it was indeed a curse yet also a blessing in disguise for the little girl.

Raon didn't spend much time thinking about the past, though, as he had to help wake up Altair with her weakened vitality before her condition worsened.

"Don't worry, she can be easily awoken, but her lost vitality can't be recovered unless..." said Si-Eun, stopping mid-sentence.

"That's good, but her lost vitality can be recovered, right? Unless what? Speak" said Raon agitatedly by her prolonged silence.

"You have to find a source of pure vitality. It is something considered rare even in the upper realm, so finding it here is next to impossible" said Junho, aware that Si-Eun wouldn't speak of it.

"This..." Raon went quiet after hearing the requirement.

"Alright, shut up, you both. Let me wake my future disciple up" said Si-Eun, ecstatic at the thought of getting such a disciple.

She had not told the two of them that even average cultivators would die if their vitality was drained to this extent, but here was Altair being alive without even having an iota of cultivation energy within her.

Just the mere thought of having such a talented disciple carrying her legacy excited Si-Eun to the point she used an expensive rank-4 stone to wake up Altair.

She was going to temporarily substitute the lost vitality with this energy that would work until Altair could start cultivating and be able to manage it on her own.

It was a long and tedious process due to the requirement of precise, fine control of the energies and merging them without rejection from Altair's body.

Junho informed Raon that it would take at least a few hours to complete the process, but it would take longer for Altair's body to get used to it and wake up.

He went with Raon to see and discuss the details regarding the Empire as well as improve it to a whole new level that Raon couldn't do just by himself.

Si-Eun joined the duo after more than five hours, as she informed them that the minimum time for Altair to wake up would be a week.

The trio spent the next week discussing and improvising Raon's plans as he ordered his shadows to act on them without any fear of failure.

On the eighth day, Altair finally woke up feeling dizzy with disoriented thoughts as she wasn't able to gather the recent events.

She was mentally and physically just a five-year-old girl who had been living in a dream with her doting and loving parents.

Seeing her loving mother sacrifice herself to save her father and herself wasn't something that she could handle due to her young age.

Fortunately, her last memory was fainting after seeing a knife penetrate her mother's chest as her mother smiled at her despite the blood oozing out of her mouth and wounds.

It was a memory that would ignite trauma, hatred, fear, and vengeance for the ones who did that to her mother, giving her a strong drive to grow stronger in the future.

The first person she saw after coming back to her senses was her father, who, although looked a little different, was all the same.

Her father, Raon, lifted her as he kissed her forehead and hugged her close as his eyes became teary for the first time in centuries.

Si-Eun and Junho were generous enough to not bother their reunion, as they gave them privacy as well as time to talk about things.

The two were aware of Raon's doing, and despite it being wrong, they couldn't condemn him as they could understand his side too, which was quite ironic as the two never had children.