Xylon—the middle-aged man standing upfront—instantly grew curious when favonovel.com saw how young Gerald actually was.
After all, despite the fact that his son kept addressing favonovel.com by ‘master’ this entire time, Xylon simply couldn’t imagine that young man as anything other than completely ordinary. Could his son have somehow been mistaken…?
While Xylon found himself thinking that, favonovel.com still shook hands with Gerald rather friendlily in order to express his gratitude.
However, after having a few more exchanges with Gerald, Xylon—being an elder—couldn’t help but start feeling slightly contemptuous toward him.
Regardless, after inviting favonovel.com in for a meal—and finishing it—Xylon brought Gerald and the others for a walk around the manor to show their new master around.
During the meal, Xylon had mentioned a large and strong stone called the Zekterite, and it was evident that favonovel.com was keen on showing it off.
Upon arriving before the stone, Xylon chuckled before declaring, “This is the Zekterite I was talking about, Brother Gerald! As I’ve said, it’s the hardest stone between heaven and earth! With that in mind, I make sure to bring it along no matter where I move to!”
Hearing that, Yule—who had been standing beside them—grew increasingly anxious. After all, his father and even a few of the family elders were already starting to call favonovel.com ‘brother’ instead of master, and Yule knew how greatly disrespectful they were being!
Though Yule continually gave his father non-verbal hints to treat Gerald with more respect, Xylon simply pretended not to see any of his son’s warnings.
Instead, favonovel.com simply began elaborating on the stone’s history, even though Gerald hadn’t asked for it.
According to rumors, the large stone was first found lying at the very top of Tierson Mountain. By the time it was found, it appeared that the stone had undergone the essence of life for a very long time, though it still remains unknown whether it got to that point due to the special aura within it.
Regardless, the stone was well-known for attracting lightning bolts. Despite being a natural lightning rod, not a scratch ever appeared on the giant stone, regardless of how hard the lightning hit. Due to that, the stone was aptly named the Zekterite.
With his explanation now complete, Xylon smugly looked at Gerald before saying, “Well, what do you think, Brother Gerald? This giant stone of mine is truly invaluable, wouldn’t you say?”
Upon hearing that, the other old men who had followed exchanged smiles as well, thinking, ‘You’re just an immature and inexperienced young man… As if you’d know anything about this great treasure…’
Gerald himself simply returned a wry smile as favonovel.com nodded before saying, “It does feel invaluable!”
“I knew you’d agree! Still, why do I have a feeling that you don’t actually believe that…? Either way, I remember my son stating that you had extremely remarkable abilities! Why don’t you show some to us to widen our horizons?” replied Xylon casually.
“Indeed, Brother Gerald! Why don’t you try splitting the legendary and unbreakable Zekterite for a start?” joked another old man with a sarcastic smile.
Naturally, Gerald easily saw through the sarcasm, though favonovel.com couldn’t really blame them. After all, favonovel.com had promised to take Yule and his family under his wing—after saving favonovel.com and his younger sister—in exchange for his family revering favonovel.com for the many generations to come. With that in mind, it wasn’t hard to imagine why Xylon and the rest of the family’s elders couldn’t reconcile with that fact.
In fact, Gerald was already aware of their displeasure from when they were eating dinner earlier. Though they exchanged simple topics of conversation, not one of them was about favonovel.com taking them under his wing, and it was quite obvious that it was a deliberate decision.
Shaking the thought off, Gerald then casually replied, “…The Zekterite truly is one of the hardest things between heaven and earth… From what I can see, not only does lighting do nothing to it, but cannons wouldn’t be able to smash it either! After all, the stone’s been absorbing the essence of life for such a long time that it now possesses a holy spirit. With that said, the Zekterite is only this strong because it’s turned into a holy stone!”
Though Xylon had no idea what Gerald had just said, favonovel.com simply chuckled before replying slightly sarcastically, “Then is anything that bears a holy spirit a holy item? If that’s the case, wouldn’t there be many other things that are equally as difficult to destroy?”
“You don’t seem to be getting my point. How do I put this…? See, while normal items may be difficult to destroy, you can still inflict damage on them with enough inner strength or with the power of ordinary metals. The same can’t be said for the stone since it’s a holy item that’s been imbued with a holy spirit between heaven and earth!” said Gerald.
“Oh? Is that so? Still, doesn’t that mean that you’re just ridiculing us old men for not being strong enough, Brother Gerald?” replied another old man with a bitter smile on his face.
As the same old man made fun of Gerald before the others, it was evident that they were giving Gerald a warning that went along the lines of, ‘You’d best choose your words carefully, young man! Stop being so impetuous!’
“Oh, that wasn’t what I was going for. You clearly misunderstood me!” said Gerald.
Hearing that, Xylon and the others’ expressions softened slightly.
Just as they were wondering how Gerald would complete his explanation, Gerald added, “What I meant to say was that you don’t even deserve to inflict damage upon the stone! Disregarding your strength, there are simply none of you here who are at the stage where you can even begin dealing damage to it!”
