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Chapter 1: The Problem Child

Inside the study of the General’s Household of a tiny, nondescript kingdom on the boundless King’s Continent.

A 14-year-old black-haired boy lay prone on the desk, his right hand racing across the page as he copied a medical text.

With his left hand he kept massaging his swollen, well-spanked backside, every so often yelping “Ow, ow” in pain.

“Father was really vicious… am I even his own son?”

“Grandpa too… so I accidentally blew up his alchemy furnace, did he really have to tattle on me to Father and then go traveling to cool off?” the boy grumbled nonstop.

The boy’s name was Ashura, third son of Olei Kingdom’s Grand General A Fengtian.

For three generations the A family (TL: It’s literally ‘A’ o-o 阿) had commanded the army and guarded the realm; Ashura’s grandfather Adolf had fought alongside the royal house to found the kingdom and win its present territory.

His father A Fengtian had even created the elite Mountain-Shattering Army, the kingdom’s strongest fighting force.

His mother Qin Lan was a wood-element mage, gentle and capable, who managed the household with ease.

His maternal grandfather Qin Zongren was an outstanding physician and alchemist, highly respected throughout Olei.

Yet Olei was only 1 of the Valencian Empire’s 14 vassal states, as insignificant as an ant on the King’s Continent.

Grand General A Fengtian and his wife Qin Lan had 3 sons and 1 daughter.

The eldest, Anaga, was 18 this year, accomplished in both letters and arms and handsome to boot.

Not only had his martial cultivation reached Warrior Master stage 1 early on, he had studied strategy in depth and could already lead troops on campaign alone.

The second son, Asubo, aged 15, was obsessed with martial arts and cared for nothing else.

He had reached the warrior stage 3 and was determined to enter August Academy for advanced study in the latter half of the year.

The youngest, the daughter Azhiya, at 12 had already grown into an elegant young beauty.

At such a tender age she had awakened the same wood element magic as her mother and stood at Mage Apprentice stage 2, her future limitless.

Yet the flaw in this exemplary family lay with the third son, Ashura!

From childhood Ashura had been exceptionally smart, with an eidetic memory and razor-sharp comprehension.

But he never applied his gifts to study or training; he preferred clambering over roofs, lifting tiles, chasing dogs and chickens… in a word, playing!

Of the instructors hired to teach him, he had angered 3 into quitting and exasperated 2 until they fainted.

Relying on his photographic memory, he would skim the books right before every test and still score passably.

Unable to stand it, Father tossed him into the Mountain-Shattering Army, hoping the military environment would temper his character, but the army soon became a circus.

From time to time in the dead of night the alarm drums would sound, officers and men would dash out in confusion to assemble, only to learn after half an hour that it was a prank and curse their way back to bed.

When soldiers squatted over the latrines, firecrackers hidden below often blasted a column of filth 3 meters high between their legs.

Someone smeared butter on the cavalry saddles, so the riders dared not mount during drills for fear of sliding off and breaking their backs.

Everyone knew which little devil was behind each misdeed, yet Ashura always had airtight alibis and the officers never caught hold of evidence to punish him.

All of it was carefully orchestrated by young Ashura, who took great delight in the chaos.

Things continued until one noon the army’s deputy commander Han Dang bit into a steamed bun and found a toad inside.

The stalwart man promptly knelt at the gates of the General’s Household, wailing as though his heart would break.

He begged the Grand General to remove the third young master from the barracks, vowing to kneel there forever if not, so the boy was hauled back to plague the household instead.

Whenever A Fengtian’s temples bulged with rage, the elder General Adolf would stroke his beard and smile, saying, “The third boy will achieve great things one day.”

Mother Qin Lan was fiercely protective and, whenever A Fengtian struck the third child a few times in anger, she would hurry to pull him into her arms and glare, her look clearly warning, “Lay one more hand on my baby and you’re sleeping on the floor tonight!”

Despite everything, the four siblings were unusually close, and Ashura the troublemaker never bullied his brothers or sister.

Whenever he was punished for mischief, his two brothers would kneel before Father to plead and even offer to take the beating for him.

His sister would dash off to fetch Mother or Grandfather at once, rescuing her incorrigible brother.

Thus Ashura grew day by day; born into a martial clan, he refused to practice because he believed training meant hardship and hardship meant no fun.

Yet thanks to his prodigious talent and the insights he gleaned while standing in punishment watching his brothers train, and the toughness forged from all the beatings, he had still leapt past Warrior Apprentice and advanced to Warrior stage 1.

Today’s thrashing came because he had sneaked into Grandpa Qin Zongren’s alchemy chamber.

Somehow he caused the furnace to explode, destroying both the medicine and the cauldron, and was caught red-handed trying to escape.

Grandpa Qin had once doted on this grandson, impressed by his astounding memory and comprehension… the boy could recite a medical classic after one reading.

In particular, the Qin family’s signature Meridian-Clearing Acupuncture had been grasped by him in 3 days and mastered within a month.

Ashura had only learned acupuncture because he found it amusing to watch Grandpa treat patients, and Old Qin had been overjoyed to see the family art gain an heir.

That lasted until the day he saw Ashura stick needles into the yard’s black dog until it couldn’t walk, laughing uproariously; the legendary physician was so angered by his grandson that he took to bed for over half a month.

Just as Old Qin recovered and planned to set the boy back on the right path as his successor, he beheld the disaster in the alchemy room.

Feeling his life would be cut short if this continued, he dragged Ashura to A Fengtian’s feet, tossed him down, and left without a backward glance to wander the world.

On learning the cause, A Fengtian showed no reluctance in giving Ashura a “complete” childhood.

Mother Qin Lan was also angry that he had driven Grandpa away, and, unusually, did not shield him; the other three siblings hung their heads in silence.

After half a day of beating, A Fengtian realized he could not tame the unfilial boy and consoled himself that he still had 2 good sons and 1 good daughter.

With a sigh he stayed his hand and growled, “Go to the study and copy some medical text; you can’t eat until you’re done.”

With that he turned and left, leading to the scene at the beginning of this chapter.

Rubbing his backside, the boy copied at lightning speed.

He hardly needed to look, for he already knew the tome by heart.

Now he wanted only to finish this thick book quickly; a growing lad could not afford to miss a meal.

Although he muttered complaints under his breath, his mind was on something else.

A secret he had never told anyone…

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