Chapter 64: Plan
The sudden acceleration violently pressed Cole against the seat as the scenery outside instantly blurred.
Dust and shattered debris exploded behind them, forming a thick trail across the road.
Within only a few breaths...
The carriage had already disappeared into the distance, leaving the chaotic battlefield far behind.
......
Cole didn’t waste time asking pointless questions such as why they were here, why they had chosen to save him, or where exactly they intended to take him. At this moment, none of those questions mattered. The only reason he was still alive was because the Summers siblings had appeared at precisely the right moment.
He simply nodded his head, a trace of genuine gratitude flashing through his eyes.
"Thank you..."
His attention immediately returned to Trish.
The moment he looked at her condition again, the faint relief on his face disappeared, replaced by solemnity. She was lying weakly against the carriage seat, her pale face almost devoid of color while her blood-soaked clothes clung tightly to her body. Every slight movement of the carriage caused her brows to twitch, as though even unconsciousness couldn’t completely shield her from the pain.
Jessica had already noticed her condition.
Her expression gradually darkened as she carefully examined the numerous wounds covering Trish’s body. The more she looked, the more difficult it became to maintain her usual composure.
"Just how did she get such severe injuries...?"
Her voice carried a faint tremble.
Even without experiencing those injuries herself, Jessica could imagine the torment that must have accompanied them. The wounds weren’t the result of a single powerful attack. They were scattered across her body, layered over one another, as though someone had deliberately inflicted damage again and again.
Torture...
Ethan’s expression became grim.
He wanted to say the word aloud, but the moment it reached his throat, he stopped himself.
His gaze shifted toward Cole.
To be honest, Ethan didn’t particularly like him.
If it were up to him, he wouldn’t have gotten involved in Cole’s troubles at all. The Saint Family was an Ancient Family, and provoking such a behemoth was equivalent to deliberately sticking one’s hand into a nest of poisonous snakes.
But his elder sister had insisted on helping.
And Ethan trusted his sister.
So, in the end, he had no choice but to come along.
Cole paid no attention to the siblings’ conversation.
His entire focus remained on Trish.
He silently contacted the A.I. Chip within his mind.
How long do we have...?
Cole already had a solution.
If he could gather the necessary ingredients, he was confident that he could concoct the potion capable of stabilizing Trish’s condition. The problem was that he didn’t possess those ingredients right now.
He would have to find them first.
And considering Trish’s current condition, every second mattered.
Initiating scan. Evaluating based on the subject’s current condition...
The A.I. Chip’s response appeared almost immediately.
[There is no exact survival time.]
[Based on the current condition of the subject’s body, the remaining survival period may range from several days to several minutes.]
Cole stared at the message.
Several days...
Or several minutes.
The uncertainty was almost worse than receiving a definite answer.
His expression gradually became as cold as stone.
The Saint Family...
They had gone too far.
Attacking him was one thing.
Mocking him was one thing.
Even framing him as a traitor and attempting to execute him could be considered part of their twisted power struggle.
But Trish...
She had done nothing.
She had never harmed them.
She had simply stood beside him.
And because of that...
They had nearly destroyed her.
Cole’s fists slowly tightened.
The chains were already gone, yet his fingers still curled instinctively as if he could feel their weight.
A faint crackle of lightning traveled across his skin.
His eyes lowered toward Trish’s pale face.
The anger within him was no longer wild.
It had become cold.
Controlled.
And far more dangerous.
The Saint Family had chosen to make this personal.
They had attacked the people close to him.
That was a mistake Cole would never forgive.
While Cole was lost in thought, the carriage continued forward at breakneck speed, its wheels tearing across the specially constructed road as the formations engraved beneath its frame continuously released bursts of energy. The scenery outside had long since turned into a blur, with only streaks of light and distant buildings flashing past the windows. Inside, however, the atmosphere remained unusually heavy.
After some time, Cole’s thoughts finally settled.
He raised his head and turned toward Jessica.
"Where are we heading?"
Jessica didn’t waste any time and simply answered,
"Dewflower City."
The moment Cole heard the name, he immediately shook his head.
"No, that won’t do. We need to reach Soaring Dragon City."
Jessica’s lips parted slightly, as though she wanted to ask why he had suddenly changed their destination. However, after seeing the seriousness in Cole’s eyes, she ultimately chose not to say anything.
Cole was familiar with Dewflower City.
It was one of the cities closest to Blessed Moon City, and because of its proximity, it was a relatively common destination for travelers escaping the dangers surrounding the larger city. However, that was precisely the problem.
The ingredients he needed weren’t ordinary materials that could simply be purchased from any alchemist shop.
He needed rare resources capable of supporting the refinement of a Bloodline Potion.
Dewflower City simply didn’t have them.
Soaring Dragon City, on the other hand, was completely different.
It was even larger than Blessed Moon City and was renowned throughout the empire for its prosperity and enormous flow of resources. Powerful merchants, alchemists, adventurers, and cultivators gathered there from every corner of the empire.
If Cole couldn’t find the ingredients there...
Then finding them elsewhere would be even more difficult.
Jessica looked as though she wanted to say something, but after a moment of hesitation, she quietly swallowed whatever words had reached her lips.
The carriage continued forward.
...
Soaring Dragon City was enormous.
As the financial capital of the empire, it possessed a scale that made even Blessed Moon City appear somewhat smaller in comparison. Towering walls stretched across the horizon, while countless roads connected the enormous city to distant regions of the empire.
Every day, talented warriors, wealthy merchants, wandering awakeners, and influential organizations entered through its gates.
The city never seemed to sleep.
Fortunately, the empire had constructed special passageways connecting its major cities, allowing carriages equipped with powerful formations to travel far faster than ordinary transportation.
Because of this...
By the morning of the following day, Cole finally arrived at Soaring Dragon City.
The moment the carriage stopped, Cole didn’t waste even a second.
He immediately left with the list of ingredients he had prepared.
Only after entering the first few shops did he realize a rather embarrassing problem.
He had no money.
Cole stood silently in the middle of the street, staring at the expensive ingredients displayed behind the glass counters.
His expression gradually became awkward.
He had completely forgotten one minor detail.
After fleeing the Saint Family...
He had essentially become broke.
Having no other choice, Cole could only turn toward Jessica and borrow the necessary magic stones.
Fortunately, Jessica didn’t seem particularly bothered by the amount.
For someone capable of traveling freely between major cities, the number of magic stones required to purchase the ingredients wasn’t an unbearable burden.
After several hours of searching, negotiating, and purchasing...
By eleven in the morning, Cole finally returned.
His storage ring was now filled with the ingredients he needed.
He didn’t waste any time celebrating.
The moment he returned to the small room the three had rented, Cole immediately closed the door behind him and checked the surroundings carefully.
Once he was certain that nobody would disturb him, he placed the ingredients one by one onto the table.
Rare herbs.
Specialized bloodline materials.
Refined medicinal components.
Each ingredient carried its own distinct aura, and when placed together, the air inside the room gradually became filled with a strange medicinal fragrance.
Cole’s eyes became focused.
The time for preparation was over.
He sat down before the ingredients, his expression solemn as he began arranging everything according to the formula stored within his mind.
This potion wasn’t ordinary.
It was the key to saving Trish.
Cole slowly extended his hand toward the first ingredient.
Refining the Bloodline Potion...
That was indeed the only path Cole had managed to find after repeatedly analyzing Trisha’s condition.
Other methods might keep her alive, but they would come at an unbearable cost. Even if she survived, the damage to her body was so severe that she could end up permanently crippled, unable to move freely and perhaps needing someone else’s assistance for even the simplest tasks.
Cole couldn’t accept that.
Trisha had been the only person who had genuinely cared for him when he first arrived in this world. She had never looked at him with disgust because of his weakness, never mocked him for being useless, and never treated him differently because of the resources he consumed.