Taking a spoon, Armad scooped some soup, which had a peculiar taste but was not so different from what he was used to back home in the Third Lower World before his transmigration.
Suddenly, there was a glow before him, and Armad pushed his plate away in panic, believing the crown prince had attacked him again. However, some words appeared within the glow, catching his attention and somewhat calming his fear.
[You have activated the system. The system has gained some ingredients from the food you ate just now. There are three ingredients identified by the system. You may use two to create a pill. Want to create a pill?]
Armad stared wide-eyed at the writing. What system? What was a system even? But most importantly, what were those ingredients?
From the memories he gained about his current body, the second prince, he possessed no such thing up until the time he died. And Armad himself had no such system from back when he was home. So, from where was this so-called system?
He mentally replied to create pills. As if reading his mind, the System disappeared and reappeared with a different message:
[The System has created 9 pills. Five of them are cultivation boosters, while four are rejuvenation pills. You can check them in your storage bag.]
For a moment, Armad stared quietly at the writing without moving, understanding the message well as the words were straightforward. What baffled him was how his storage bag got opened without him being aware. Storage bags were generally known to be under their owners' sole control. No one could open another's bag. But this mysterious thing called a System appeared out of the blue, telling him things that were previously thought impossible to him. First, it asked him to create pills and then stated that the pills were inside his storage bag.
For a minute, he stayed motionless until he eventually plucked up the courage to check and see for himself. When he opened the storage bag, a new entry with a glass shelf was the first thing that greeted him. Atop the glass shelf were round pills not so different from lozenges. Five of them were white, while the remaining four were grey.
Armad picked up the white pills and examined them.
"These are cultivation boosters," the System said immediately after he finished examining them.
He placed them down and picked up the grey ones.
"These are rejuvenation pills," the System told him.
After that, Armad couldn't decide what to do next. Eventually, he decided to go all the way since he had already started it. He picked up the cultivation booster pills and swallowed them. Soon afterward...
[You have gained six months of Pol.]
[Pol years have been added to your cultivation base.]
He swallowed another and also got an additional six months of pol years. He swallowed the remaining three at once, and when he checked, he noticed a boost of about two years. Armad felt exhilarated. Whatever the origin of this System, it was surely what he needed right now. It would help immensely in realizing his goals in this mysterious dimension he found himself in.
From that moment, Armad stopped hesitating. He picked up the rejuvenation pills and swallowed them. All the fatigue he felt instantly disappeared, and even the remnant of the poison in the prince's body vanished. The prince was shot with a poison arrow two weeks ago and although the arrow had only grazed him, the poison had ultimately killed him over the next few days. When he died and Armad transmigrated into his body, the remaining poison had still been there. He let out a long sigh of relief. Now he could relax as the chances of him suddenly dropping dead due to the poison was no more.
As for the killer, the prince had already killed him before his death. Though that had created another new problem he had to deal with now. But he was still exhilarated. He felt renewed energy in his body. The rejuvenation pills also had an energy renewal effect and could also cure minor ailments related to fatigue and poison.
It suddenly dawned on him that he had stumbled upon a gold mine. Even though he was whisked away from his real body and dropped into that of his namesake, unbidden, the System was given to him. It doesn't matter where it came from, it could help increase his cultivation and assist with defeating his brother, Prince Ikenga, the crown prince.
All he needed to do was eat, and from the food, the needed substances would be formed. As soon as that came to his mind, he pulled his abandoned plate of soup towards him and gulped it down. Then he opened the mound of tuwo next and fell to it. It was a general rule among most noblemen and affluent individuals that they weren't served the amount of food they needed at the time. Rather, everything was lavish. The prince wasn't excluded from this either, as the food Armad was served could feed more than a dozen hungry men. However, he surprisingly gulped everything down. It baffled him how he didn't feel any satisfaction after such a heavy meal. His stomach was, in fact, as flat as ever.
By now, the food had already been digested and circulated through his body, courtesy of the System. As if on cue, the System appeared before he could finish his musings.
[The System has extracted the substances from the food you ate just now. Some substances, as many as 13, have been filtered by it. By your cultivation level, you may use four among them to create pills. Want to create pills?]
Armad answered in the affirmative, and the System disappeared. Five minutes later, it appeared with the message:
[You have created 30 cultivation boosters, 11 rejuvenation pills, 40 horse pills, and 3 glowing pills.]
He opened the storage bag and brought out the array of pills, all of which were of different colors and shapes. He moved them aside and rearranged all of them accordingly. Even though the System always explained any pills he picked, arranging them like this made it more real and less like a dream.
At this point, he threw caution to the wind and gathered all the cultivation booster pills, consuming everything. In a matter of minutes, his cultivation increased by fourteen pol years. The main thing that caused other major tribes like the Bayajidda, the Shishirui, the Kilzanki, and others to avoid challenging the Wilberforce was the King's Legion army that stood behind the Wilberforce. Their ability to boost their cultivation via forceful Pol activation would always evoke fear in the hearts of their counterparts. Only they possessed that ability with the help of some enigmatic substances known only to them.
In both this world and his former Third World, most other tribes spent their lives with the same cultivation they were born with. But now, Armad had stumbled upon this System without knowing why or how. It gave him the chance to create pills, which, when eaten, increased his cultivation directly via Pol years.
The pills had no taste whatsoever, but Armad could discern a slightly warmer feeling when he ate the rejuvenation pills. They all felt warm in the mouth before dissolving and digesting. However, the most noticeable difference between them was their colors.
Armad breathed deeply. His cultivation speed was almost eight times as fast as it was when he first appeared here. This could mean that if he continued at this pace, his cultivation would increase and keep on increasing, along with his strength. It could probably also help anyone he fed with the pills to boost their cultivation since the system didn't forbid it.
This was also a chance to create his army and show his face before his father, High King Airion Wilberforce. Most importantly, with this, he could challenge his so-called brother, the crown prince. At this moment, he heard loud noise outside. He recognized the voices immediately so he walked to the window and looked in the direction of the voice.
Outside the gates of his new home, two groups of soldiers faced each other.
"The king is dead. Otherwise, why don't you allow us entry and greet him?" The Commander of one side said, looking from the angry faces of the soldiers to the nervous faces of the men guarding the entrance gate.
"The king is not dead. And your words can easily be mistaken for treason, Commander." The elderly man leading the other side didn't move from the door.
"Treason? Haha... Men, the mighty personal guard of His Highness is charging us with treason. Should we be afraid?" The Commander glanced at the men behind him and they all laughed. He had more people around the palace compared to the guards.
There was a few seconds of silent stares between the two sides before the commander lowered his voice and said, "Look, Suleini, this thing is simple. Let us in and greet His Highness. If he is alive, I'll even apologize and leave. No one needs to die today."
"You would do well to stop addressing him as his highness. His Majesty, the king, has been named the king of this town by his father, High King Airion Wilberforce. For the next three years, and quite possibly forever, he will be king in this place. He also forbade anyone from entering his chambers today. It's a strict order and I can't disobey it. Why don't you go back and come back in a few days?"
"I want to see the order. By law, any order like this must be written and stamped. The king couldn't have forgotten about this law, right?" The Commander insisted.
"He is the king. He makes the law here. Why do you think he will write anything he doesn't want to? I am telling you now he's alive and well. Commander, be careful not to anger him."
"Anger him? I don't think so. I think it's you who is in the wrong here. You have imprisoned the king and want to harm him. I just want to make sure the king is alive. Why don't you let us in if you are sure he's alive?"
"I will not let you in. Go back."
The Commander didn't seem angry. He was smiling. A dead king meant a free-for-all treasury. And he was sure the young king was dead. He just needed to make sure by seeing his corpse.
"Suleini, do you want to fight it out? I'm Commander Kisa of the King's Legion. I'm appointed to look after the young king by High King Airion. His safety is my responsibility. If you don't move aside, I'll charge you with treason and imprisonment of King Armad."
The old guard was furious. "I want to see you try."
Armad saw and heard everything from his room due to his enhanced Pol sense thanks to the prince's high cultivation and training since childhood. He could also understand it all since he got the memories of the dead prince. Commander Kisa and other two thousand members of the King's Legion were appointed by his father to escort him to this town and stay there for the next four years with him. If at the end of this period, Armad was able to build the town to satisfy the High King, he would forever remain king there. But the crown prince didn't like it, feeling that Armad would take a part of his kingdom before he even became king. So he secretly ordered the King's Legion to sabotage Armad.
A couple weeks before the prince got killed, he caught one of the captains from the two thousand King's Legion army sent with him to protect him sending sensitive information back to the capital to Ikenga. The captain tried to escape and even shot Armad with a poison arrow while escaping, which resulted in the prince's death. Now that the leader of the King's Legion army was sure Armad was dead, he was showing his fangs. Though he was right, the prince was dead, another Armad had already replaced. And this one had a System.
Armad felt a raging anger in his chest. Commander Kisa might really kill him when he realized he wasn't dead. Although he wanted to tear the King's Legion army apart right now, his cultivation was still below 6000 Pol years, at the middle stage core formation, so he obviously couldn't attack now.
"Come in," he called and shortly after, a guard rushed in.