Chapter 151: [X] - 151: Not a Child’s Toy
Vespera’s gaze dropped to the slight bulge in Alex’s pocket.
"Alex, how did you even..."
Shock crossed her face the moment she registered the residual signature leaking through the fabric.
The pressure was thin but unmistakable, a thread of force that did not match any of the standard elemental signatures the household formations were built to recognize.
It was sharper than water, denser than wind, and carried none of the steady weight of earth or the restless heat of fire.
Alessio followed the same line of sight.
The first things he felt was shock, then a sharp rise in volume as he looked straight at Alex.
"Do you have any idea what you have just taken out of the treasury?" Alessio’s voice carried across the remaining space of the room without needing to be raised further.
Only the three of them were present in the room right now.
"Even a quarter of the entire Winterfang capital’s liquid value would not be enough to purchase a pure elemental stone of that quality."
"The open inventory does not even contain any stones like this and you somehow selected one of the rarest ones."
"That box is not part of the standard list."
"It is not something a child is supposed to be able to open, and it is not something even the clerks have much knowledge about."
The shock deepened as the full implications settled.
Alessio’s next question came harder, the earlier volume still present under the words.
"When did you suddenly awaken such a strong elemental affinity? The last formal check showed you had no detectable elemental affinity of any kind."
"The affinity stones registered nothing."
"The examiners recorded a blank result and filed it without further comment."
"That was less than two years ago and affinity does not appear from nowhere at this density."
"Stones of this grade do not respond to blank records."
"Alex, explain to me how is this possible, I want to know what is actually going on with you."
Alex answered with calm arrogance, the same tone he used when stating a fact he considered self evident and saw no reason to soften for the sake of anyone else’s comfort.
"I am simply that great."
"An ordinary affinity stone was always too small and too crude to ever detect my true level."
"The tools they used were not built for what I carry in me"
"Dad, the blank result was their limitation, not mine."
"If the examiners could not read it, that is a problem with the examiners and the stones they brought, not with me."
Alessio’s mouth twitched hard.
The expression sat somewhere between disbelief and the particular frustration reserved for this specific son on days when the boy decided to test every boundary at once and then act as if the results were inevitable.
He fixed Alex with a sharp look that left no room for the earlier birthday atmosphere or for any continuation of the polite performance the banquet had required.
"What are you planning to do with something that is very clearly not a child’s toy? That stone is not a training aid for beginners, if you don’t know, which you definitely don’t."
"Alex, that is not a curiosity to keep in a pocket."
"Higher ranked cultivators use stones of that grade to refine and force improvements in elemental affinities that have already been established for years."
"They do not hand them to ten year olds."
"Explain to me what will you do with such a thing? Even if you suddenly have an affinity to such an element, this quality of elemental stone is not something that will help you improve it, it is way too much for someone who is just at Rank 1."
Alex replied without raising his voice.
The answer stayed short and open ended on purpose.
"I will do something useful with it, you just have to believe me dad."
Alessio was not convinced.
The answer was too short and too open ended for a resource of that value.
The residual signature in the pocket continued to leak its thin thread of force into the room, a constant reminder that the item was already out of the vault and past the point of easy return.
’Sigh...I guess there is not other way.’
’I have to use my ultimate move...’
Alex put on the same carefully constructed hurt look he had used earlier in the evening, the soft eyes and slight head tilt that made continued resistance feel unnecessarily harsh even when the resistance was reasonable.
He turned the expression toward his mother with the same timing he had used when requesting access to the treasury.
Alessio’s eyes widened the instant he understood what the little devil was attempting.
The maneuver was the same one from the earlier request, only now the item was already out of the vault and the birthday agreement was already in place.
The political and practical weight of trying to reverse the permission after the fact was obvious.
Before he could warn Vespera or intercept the move, Vespera spoke first.
"It is his tenth birthday," she said and her tone was calm and final, the same tone that had ended the earlier argument about opening the treasury.
"We already agreed he could take one thing."
"The item has already been removed under that agreement."
"The clerks will not even need to be informed about this one as they wouldn’t have any idea about it anyway."
"Alessio, are you intending to go back on your word now that the stone is in his pocket and the permission has already been exercised?"
Alessio immediately denied any intention of breaking his word.
"You know I am not denying him, I just want him to know what he is getting his hands on."
The denial came fast enough.
Going back on a private one given to his own son, he didn’t want to do it.
He turned back to Alex with residual tension still in his voice, the earlier volume reduced but not gone.
"Alex, I want you to know this one thing clearly, the stone is extremely valuable, it is normally used by higher ranked cultivators to refine and improve elemental affinities that have already been trained for decades on field."
"I still do not understand how you gained access to that particular box in the first place."
"The formations on it are older than the current inventory system and are not supposed to open for anyone without a recorded affinity that matches the sealed list."
"Under no circumstances should the stone be lost or wasted."
"Keep it for yourself and use it only when the proper time arrives."
"Do not treat it like a toy and do not hand it to random people you don’t trust."
"That is not a request."
"That is the condition under which the earlier permission still holds."
Alex inclined his head, the picture of a polite son who had simply received a birthday gift under the terms already set.
"I will follow everything you said!"
The residual signature of the red lightning stone continued to sit against his side, sharp and contained, a quiet pulse that did not match any of the standard categories the household had ever recorded for him.
And that is how Alexander Abyss found one of the rarest and purest elemental stones.
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End of Chapter 151: Not a Child’s Toy
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