The Herb King

Leric ignored them and continued studying the runes.

You have acquired the talent [Engraver]

[Engraver] Level 1

- You can now create the most basic runes.

Leric smiled when he saw the changes in his Status Screen.

Although he had no plans to become an Engraver, it might come in handy in the future. He then started planning on putting up some defensive runes around his clinic after it was completed.

'How many runes should I make? Probably a hundred? Hehe. It's not bad to be cautious, right?' He muttered in his heart. Luckily, no one knew his thoughts or they would have coughed up blood. Even the richest nobles only put up about a dozen defensive runes in their mansions, but Leric was planning to make ten times more than that!

While Leric was absorbed in his thoughts, the struggles of the participants became more apparent as the gravity they felt intensified. Some of them could no longer bear the pressure and fell to the ground, eliminating them from the contest.

Looking at the eliminated participants, the experts who were watching the scene shook their heads as they muttered in their hearts. 'Their willpower is not strong enough.'

As time passed by, the gravity became more and more unbearable and the participants fell one by one.

From more than one thousand participants, there were about four hundred who remained stubbornly standing.

Looking at their struggling faces, everyone cheered for them silently in their hearts. These young people were the future experts of their empire!

Soon, only two hundred and fifty participants remained standing. Most of them were covered in sweat and only a few of them remained completely composed.

"The eliminated participants may leave the arena. Don't be disheartened. All of you are elites of the younger generation. You can still sign up for the army and fight your way to the top!" Prince Calvin's words ignited their hearts. They vowed to train more and contribute to the empire.

Prince Calvin then turned his gaze to the remaining participants and smiled at them. "You guys can have an hour of rest before we begin the next stage of the event."

The first part of the battle event came to an end.

After the announcement, Leric stood up from his seat and turned his gaze toward everyone. "I have something to do, everyone. I'll be back soon."

"Sure, Sir Aethelwolf!"

Leric left the VIP section and went the where the Imperial Family was seated. He was prepared to give the signed contract to the second prince. The stack of documents in his storage space took up most of his time last night and he only had a few hours of rest.

As Leric was walking to the Imperial Family's spot, Emperor Ragnar saw him.

"He must be on his way to give us the signed contract." He muttered as he looked away.

Soon, Leric arrived at their spot.

"Greetings, Your Majesty and Your Highness." Leric greeted the emperor the and second prince.

The emperor smiled at him, while the second prince also greeted him. "Hello, Sir Aethelwolf."

"Come. You may sit with us." Prince Calvin smiled as he offered a seat to him. After his heart-to-heart talk with his father last night, Calvin had become more mature in his actions.

"Thanks." Leric said as he sat down with a calm expression. He then took out a bunch of documents from his storage space and handed them to the second prince. "I've already signed the contract. I just hope that everything written in them will be followed." He mumbled in a serious voice. He read everything in the documents twice to make sure that Imperial Family didn't leave any loopholes for him.

The second prince chuckled as he took the signed contract from him. "You can rest assured, Sir Aethelwolf. We will do what is stated in the contract, but we also hope that you can do your part."

Leric nodded his head. At least they were sincere about this entire matter. "Of course! Oh, by the way, my clinic's construction will be completed tomorrow. I hope that you can grace my lousy clinic with your presence, Your Highness. I promise that you won't be disappointed if you go there tomorrow. You might even find something to your liking." Leric's face changed into that of an old fox.

Prince Calvin revealed a look of curiosity upon hearing this. He knew about the matter of Leric's clinic, but he had no idea what he has to offer other than curing diseases. "Oh? Can Sir Aethelwolf tell me about some inside information?"

Leric grinned when he saw that the second prince was interested. The fish had taken his bait. "Of course! Since I consider Your Highness as a friend of mine, I'll tell you more about what you can expect to see on the opening day of my clinic. The clinic will display various rare pills and medicines. Other than that, there will also be a special item that would be on display..." Leric promoted his merchandise, looking like a professional salesperson.

Emperor Ragnar who was merely listening on the sidelines became intrigued when Leric mentioned about soaps. It was an item that he has never heard of, but from how he described them, it has a similar effect to beauty pills. The only shocking thing was that this guy was selling them cheaply and in large quantities at that! His product would surely take the empire by storm!

Meanwhile, Prince Calvin was already looking at Leric with admiration and surprise. This man who was about the same age as him was actually able to come up with such a unique product! He knew that once the noble ladies of the empire heard about his soaps, they would certainly visit his clinic every single day!

Other than being an Alchemist and having deep knowledge in politics and schemes, Aethelwolf was also a shrewd businessman! Inviting him to the opening day of his clinic would make the nobles and merchants more curious about what he has to offer. And when those prey would take his bait, they would become his source of income!

Just the thought of it made Prince Calvin look at Leric with horror. 'What a terrifying genius!'