Recovery, Hope and Plan

2 weeks. That's how long it took to get back on my feet. 

For the first week, I was barely able to stay awake. I only woke up during meal times. I would fall asleep right after. 

During the meals, I had to drink some of the worst tasting medicine. It was made by one of the elders in the family. 

She was good at herbal medicine and recovery tonics. I should thank her for her efforts in person. I need to get better for that to happen

I will introduce her to Jonathon. 

Maybe they could make good tasting herbal medicine. It should make them some good money. Of course, I get a share of their profits. 

As I was saying, the first week went by quickly for me. It wasn't awake for more than 3 hours a day.

Mom, Dad, and Risa would visit me often. They would share what they were doing and how the city was doing. Things were not going that well. 

The 10,000 people were not in good condition. Even emptying the Zocraten herb reserves didn't help. 

There were negotiations ongoing between the empire and its nobles. The medicine needed to fully heal these people would be costly. 

Elina was only able to visit me once. She was heavily involved in managing the crisis. 

She was busy putting in effort to help her parents. Since they had emptied their warehouses, their funds were running thin. 

Without the burnt field to replenish them, they could only hope for the emperor's grace.

Right now, they were preparing their proposal for the emperor. Trying to gain a couple of years of tax forgiveness and to retain their current rank.

I would help her if I could but I am sure that she would be able to deal with it. She doesn't disappoint. 

Celes wouldn't come every day after her training was over. She would quietly eat her make with me. 

She was in the corner of the room and ate while my mom glared at her. Both Mom and Elina don't like her. It's not her fault that her social skills were lacking. 

Being raised by crazy adventurers doesn't teach one normal socialization. 

She was actually being a bit weird though. She was too quiet, barely speaking a sentence over the week. 

This was strange. She was someone who was over talkative. Her state now didn't make sense to me 

I asked her about it but she wouldn't tell me. I'll deal with her later. 

As for Jonathon, he had gone back to the neighboring city. He had a business to run and couldn't leave it alone for too long. 

The second week was much better. I was able to stay awake for 6 hours a day and could even sit up on my own. I was no longer spoon fed by my mother. 

Elina also came by often. She looked quite relaxed compared to the last week. She looked so stressed then. 

Celes also went back to being normal. She would talk for as long as she wasn't training. I don't know what was wrong last week but at least she was good now.

This week had gone by even faster. It must have been because of everyone's company. 

It had been 2 weeks now. I could walk on my own. The pain was pretty much gone. I felt the same as I used to. 

The only real difference was the throbbing in my stomach region. The place where my core was supposed to be. I also couldn't feel that electrifying mana that ran in my veins. 

It truly is a shame. I could still live like this. I didn't have to fight. I could just be a backline commander. A strategist position wasn't that bad. 

I had no hope of getting my hands on the medicine or techniques that could fix my core. 

Those were exclusive to the most powerful nations, sects, and schools. 

It took some time to come to terms with my situation. Even living as many lives as I did, would not make losing something so precious easy. 

Power that belonged to oneself was rare. Losing it felt like losing a part of yourself. It made one feel empty. I could cope with it because of my experience. 

I could understand why others would go crazy when losing their mana cores. 

Just when I had come to terms with my new role...

"I know where we can find a core recovery technique." Elina said with a serious expression. 

She was staring right into my eyes. Her blue eyes filled with confidence.

Just as I had brought my hope to the very bottom, she dug it out and revived it. 

"Does this have to do with your future knowledge?" I asked, skeptical.

Using the information she had given, we had already taken things to a somewhat different scenario. According to her, the blood cult never made a move like this in the past. 

The empire also wasn't able to know about the war ahead of time. The kingdoms had opted for a surprise attack, not a subtle declaration of war like now. 

"I need to make sure the changes we made haven't affected this." I explained to her my concerns. The technique's location may have been affected by the butterfly effect. 

I needed to be sure before doing anything reckless. 

"It shouldn't have. This technique is stored in spherical stone. It is buried on Mount. Adrian.

Last time, it was found by a group of surveyors who were looking for new ore deposits.

They handed it over to the imperial palace for a small reward." she revealed the happenings of the other timeline. 

"Knowing they couldn't keep such a dangerous thing for themselves, they handed off to the highest possible power." I said.

Those were smart people who knew the limits of their greed. 

"What happened to it after?" I knew that even the imperial family couldn't hold onto it. 

"All I know is that the emperor traded it to a more capable force. It was kept secret who the force were." she said.

"It's only fair they keep it secret. There is no reason for others to know what the emperor might have gotten in return." 

The current emperor was a cunning man who rose to power without having to kill any of his siblings.

The proof of it was his sole older sibling, Karina Zlatan who was helping him all the time. 

His younger siblings also stayed outside of the capital. This was to show that they had no ideas for the throne. Those siblings stayed quiet and enjoyed a life of luxury with their families. 

A man who didn't need to spill blood to attain such power was to be feared the most. 

"How long form today was it discovered?" I asked.

"2 years from now. The details weren't easy to hide. You investigated it like a madmen." she said in a sad tone. 

"Hahaha. Of course, I did. Even if I hadn't lost my core, it was still damaged. A technique like that would help me heal it."

In the other timeline, I still had a somewhat damaged core from the Sect War. It wasn't as bad as it was now as the blood cult stuff didn't happen. 

"You did find a fruit that helped you heal it back to normal." she suddenly said with a grumpy tone.

"As expected of me but why are you so grumpy about it?" Shouldn't she be glad for me?

"You spent 3 years away from home to find it. You didn't even take me with you." She looked at me with a little anger. 

It seems that I had gotten desperate for power. It makes sense that I would do that. The only reason I would level her for so long was if I wanted the power to protect everyone. 

"Was this right after I came back from the war between the empire and the kingdoms?' I asked as she looked at me strangely. 

"How did you know?" her expression was funny.

"Heh, the war must have made me more cautious. It came out of nowhere. I would have definitely wanted more power then. Who knows what kind of things might have gone wrong? 

And, given that the ream war happened, my caution was justified." I explained what my future self must have been thinking. 

"Hmph. Why wouldn't you take me with you then?" It was nice to see her pissed. 

"It's simple, your fighting skills suck." I said bluntly. 

"What do you mean they suck! I just don't like fighting. That doesn't mean I can't. Why do you think I was beside you during the realm wars if I couldn't fight?"

She blew into a rage. I could feel the surroundings getting colder. A shiver went down my spine. 

"Oi oi, calm down! I'm sorry! I'm sorry. Don't shoot please." I seriously begged for forgiveness. My future self didn't take her because he was worried. 

I couldn't tell her that. A fruit like that surely would have been tough for me to get. I wouldn't want to endanger her in the first place. She doesn't like to be coddled too obviously so I couldn't tell her outright. 

I was sure that she understood my worries and why I wouldn't take her on a long and arduous journey like that. She just didn't want to admit it. 

Ah, it's so hard to deal with her. 

That said, I seriously asked her to calm down a couple more times. She had even summoned some scary looking ice spikes. I do not want to be stabbed right now.

My internals still had some pain and I didn't want more. 2 weeks of it were enough. 

...

2 years later, it was going to be found. This means right now is the perfect time to get our hands on it. 

No one would even know that we had it if we didn't tell them. This had to be done covertly. 

I couldn't involve my parents as they wouldn't be able to make moves without supervision from the elders. 

If the elders knew what I was going to get my hands on, they would definitely try to trade it away for some benefits. I wouldn't be able to even use it before the trade as the elders don't like me. 

They would prefer one of my cousins to become head. My strength being recovered would be a problem for them. 

They were probably already scheming away. They have the excuse of me being a cripple no. Someone with no cultivation had no business being head. 

They would have a strong argument this time. I had to get the technique without letting anyone be suspicious. 

How would I get something from Mount Andre without anyone surveilling me or being suspicious of me? 

Hmm. It was the emperor's birthday in 2 weeks. Mount Andre is right outside the capitol. It was no wonder the technique went right to the emperor's hand. 

If it was any other region, it would have gone to a noble first and then to the emperor. 

The surveyors must have been imperial surveyors since the mountain and the forest around it are imperial property. 

While I was thinking of a possible plan, Elina interrupted me. 

"The forest around the mountain has a hunting ground, right?" Elina asked. 

"Yeah, they do. The prince and processes hunt there often," I replied.

'Then you could just do this..." Elina went on to reveal an elaborate plan. 

The plan was kind of insane. More insane than the stuff I've done.

I thought she didn't have the confidence to be so bold and forward. What happened in the last two weeks?