Prime Originator

"A suitable place for the Teleportation Array, huh?" Lilith muttered with a pondering look as she considers several things according to Leon's preference.

"How about right here, inside the central palace? It's private enough and not open to the public. I was just about to inspect the condition inside."

Lilith suggested. 

"Alright." 

Leon nodded.

He was quick to agree after giving the central palace a short glance at its exterior. 

The central palace was one of the few buildings that remained undamaged despite being crushed by the weight of the rat carcasses due to its sturdy building materials. 

After following Lilith inside the palace, the two of them were quick to frown at the pungent stench. 

"This smell is horrible! What the hell is this smell?! More importantly, what the hell happened in here?" 

Lilith quickly complained with a big frown while observing the maids sweeping the floor and cleaning the bloodstains in the hallway. 

"Those aren't the blood of rats..."

"Welcome back, Your Highness."

Hints of life and excitement flickered in the dull eyes of the maids as Lilith acknowledged their greetings with a nod. 

"I didn't see any of you during the evacuation. Don't tell me that none of you had left the palace when the place was collapsing?" 

Lilith suddenly noticed the detail while she was questioning the maids. 

The maids quickly gave each other a glance before they admitted, "We have never left the palace, Your Highness."

"You are all very lucky." 

Lilith stated. 

Shortly after, Lilith led Leon and Darlene to the back courtyard at the end of the hallway before she was suddenly drawn to the source of the pungent stench.

"The concentration of foul smell is originating from here... Just what is this smell? It smells like..."

Lilith and Leon arrived at the door to her parent's bedchamber before she commented. 

Leon could not be more familiar with the smell and shook his head with a sigh, "You don't want to know the smell is."

"I don't think you should see what is inside either," he added. 

With a sweep of Leon's divine sense, the situation inside the bedchamber was clear to him.

"Don't treat me like some little girl. Right now, I am acting leader of my clan. I will have to face everything eventually." 

Lilith pushed open the doors to the bedchamber decisively before she was assaulted by the pungent smell of body fluids and blood. 

In addition to the scene she saw inside the bedchamber, Lilith's stoic face quickly paled with a tinge of green before she barfed. 

"Bleurgh!" 

"I warned you," Leon stated wryly while soothing Lilith with a back rub. 

At the same time, he channeled some Wood Energy, which significantly reduced Lilith's unsettled feeling.

Meanwhile, Darlene, who had been following behind Leon silently, only wrinkled her brow slightly.

"Bastard!" 

Lilith spat angrily with a clenched fist after recovering some color to her face.

"Lord Bahlzacs was a complete bastard! What does he treat women as?!"

"A tool of pleasure, it seems. Sometimes, you can understand what kind of a person the master is just by how their subordinates behave. It seems this Desolate Netherbird Second Prince is no good person." 

As Leon commented, he made his way over to the master bed and gave the naked women a quick diagnosis. 

"These pitiful ladies can still be saved," Leon determined before quickly administering treatment. 

He fed them Tier-2 All-Purpose Healing Pills before fixing some dislocated bones and rubbing some Golden Ointment on their bruised flesh. 

Several coats were draped over their bodies after Leon was done before he returned to Lilith's side with a frown. 

"How are they, Leon?" Lilith inquired.

"The flesh can be healed, but their minds are broken. It'll be hard for them to recover from this mental trauma."

Lilith felt sad for the fate that befell her female clansmen after falling into the clutches of Lord Bahlzacs. 

"If I want to destroy the Desolate Netherbird Tribe and save my parents, will you continue to help me?" Lilith asked. 

"We can discuss this after we are done here. These ladies are pitiful, but so long as they are alive, there is still a chance for recovery."

"Un." Lilith nodded and said, "You're right, Leon."

Shortly after, Lilith called in the maids and servants of the palace to take the female clansmen to the bathhouse for cleansing. 

"Right, the Teleportation Array needs to be settled as well."

Lilith suddenly recalled the objective for Leon visiting the palace before she said, "Let me take you to the basement."

"Alright." 

Leon nodded.

He wanted to crack a joke about taking him to her r*pe dungeon, but he felt it was inappropriate considering what they had just discovered back in the bedchamber.

A few minutes later, they arrived in the underground cellar where the wine was stored and kept for special occasions in the palace.

"What do you think of this spot?" Lilith asked before adding, "If I have people guard this place, it'll be quite secured."

"It's not bad. This place will do. Thanks, Lilith," Leon nodded.

He took a moment to deploy the Teleportation Array on the ground before condensing Artificial Demon Cores and socketed them. 

"About what I asked earlier... Will you..." 

Lilith brought up the precious matter after seeing Leon finish deploying the Teleportation Array.

"There's not much to say on this matter. Of course I will help you." Leon smiled slightly.

"Really? But why? Why are you going so far out of your way to help me?"

Lilith should have been happy to hear Leon's answer, but she could not help but feel puzzled instead. 

"You ask some pretty dumb questions, Lilith. Isn't it because we are friends?" Leon responded before saying to Darlene, "Wait here with Lilith. I will be back soon."

Shortly after, Leon disappeared inside the Teleportation Array after adjusting the spatial coordinates to the Western Frontier. 

Lilith was not given a chance to inquire further before Leon disappeared in front of her. 

'Would you go so far for just any normal friend?' Lilith mentally sighed, uncertain of what she was expecting from Leon. 

...

On the other side, Leon quickly checked up on the General Marquis and had a brief catch-up with Monarch Bluewinter of the Blue Luan Tribe before grabbing a few frozen Three-legged Golden Crows. 

Fifteen minutes quickly passed on Lilith and Darlene's side before Leon reappeared from the Teleportation Array.

"I'm back." 

"Welcome back." 

Leon was quickly welcomed back by Lilith and Darlene before he nodded in return.

"Let us head outside." 

"Alright." 

Shortly after receiving Lilith's nod of agreement, they head outside together. 

Leon began inspecting the surroundings for an empty spot big and clean enough to place the large frozen birds.

Unfortunately, he could not find a spot in his immediate surroundings that meets the requirement. 

"Where is your Uncle Jorn?" 

"Uncle Jorn… He should be dealing with matters over at the first food storage area."

Shortly after receiving his answer from Lilith, Leon nodded and told her, "You can send someone to call him over. We will be on the hill outside the clan, where Soft Feather and Aria are. I'll let him manage the food I brought in my interspatial storage." 

"So it is in your interspatial ring. I was just wondering about that. Alright, I'll let Uncle Jorn know," Lilith nodded in understanding. 

However, she was unaware that the storage space of Leon's interspatial ring was too small to contain the frozen bodies of the Three-legged Golden Crows. 

Nevertheless, it was not something Leon needed to explain. 

When Leon arrived at the hill outside the Desolate Crow Clan with Darlene, Aria seemed to have sensed his approaching presence as her eyes snapped open, ending her short cultivation session.

"Sorry, Aria. I didn't mean to interrupt your cultivation, but since you aren't cultivating anymore, help me create a large layer of ice." 

"Mm, okay." 

Aria agreed without asking the reason why they needed it. 

Leon smiled gently before the two cooperated to form a large ice layer at the bottom of the hill opposite the clan with their ice abilities. 

The enormous Three-legged Golden Crows from Leon's Worldspace shortly after.

Soft Feather's eyes immediately lit up as she raised her head and queried with anticipation, "Are we having Three-legged Golden Crows for dinner?" 

"No, these are for the Desolate Crow Clansmen. What would they have left to eat if you take their food?" 

"Boo! I also want to eat too!

Soft Feather jeered.

"Holy smokes! Where did these giant birds come from?! Wait, are these… Three-legged Golden Crows?!" Uncle Jorn exclaimed loudly in shock upon his arrival with Lilith.

"This… This…!?" 

Uncle Jorn was simply unable to comprehend how five giant Three-legged Golden Crows from the Paragon-level Three-legged Golden Crow Tribe would suddenly appear outside his Desolate Crow Clan. 

Did the heavens pity his clan and sent them down to help the Desolate Crow Clan overcome the food crisis?!

Just as Uncle Jorn was about to drop to his knees and thank the heavens for its gracious gift, Leon gave the person a casual glance. 

"I shall leave the Three-legged Golden Crows to you. You should know what to do with them, right?" Leon asked. 

"You don't have to worry about going crazy from eating their meat. The Wrathful Demonic Energy has already been removed. You just need to prepare and cook it properly." 

"This… Did you bring this to our clan, Prince Leon?" Uncle Jorn gazed at Leon with astonishment. 

"No need to sweat the details," Leon waved his hand nonchalantly before saying, "Alright, don't bother me. I have something to do." 

Leon took his seat on the ground and took out the bottle of blood essence he collected. 

"Hm? Are those the blood essence you collected from the clansmen? What do you need them for?" Uncle Jorn could not help but ask despite Leon's prior warning. 

"Study and practice." 

Leon shrugged.