“What?” replied the astonished Professor Boyle as he stared wide-eyed at Gerald.
“What cr*p are you even spewing? My grandfather simply has tuberculosis! It only relapses when he’s tired, so stop trying to scare us! Just leave already!” retorted the annoyed woman.
“Stop it, Harmoni!” growled Professor Boyle as he slowly got to his feet before looking at Gerald with genuine surprise.
“…To think you’d be able to see through my condition that easily, Mr. Crawford… In such detail too…! You must be a hidden master!” declared the professor, leaving Harmoni completely dumbfounded.
Before she could say another word, the professor added, “True enough, I began learning breathing techniques when I was forty, and my stamina greatly increased soon after. On one of my following explorations, I headed into a primitive forest in search of exotic plants… However, I ended up getting seriously injured by a huge python! Despite having broken four ribs at the time, a colleague of mine risked his life to save me. Thankfully, we both made it out alive, and he immediately sent me for an operation. To my dismay, even after several check-ups—and the fact that the doctor told me that I had completely healed—I’d still relapse and cough up blood every time I felt too tired… With all that said, could you elaborate on my condition?”
Professor Boyle was rightfully surprised. After all, he hadn’t even told his son or granddaughter about this before!
“Of course. Basically, aside from hurting you physically, the python also damaged your heart and lung meridians. With that in mind, it’s no exaggeration that the breathing techniques and nurturing formation are what kept you alive till today. Even so, I believe that the relapses have been getting more frequent in recent years, and it gets worse every time too. Am I correct?” replied Gerald with a smile.
“I get what you’re trying to say. The truth is, while the diagram of the formation I read about was quite detailed, I wasn’t able to understand some parts at the start. Because of that, some areas of the formation were completed through guesswork! However, it was some time ago when I noticed that over the years, the formation seemed to be giving less and less energy to me. Understanding that, I then studied the book once more… and soon enough, I learned that the formation required a ‘holy stone’ as a power source!” explained Professor Boyle.
“Indeed. In fact, it was a few years ago when my father told us to locate a holy stone. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get any news about it for years… That is, until I found out that the Morningstars had a lot of holy stones hidden. Sadly, no matter how much I was willing to pay, they refused to give any to us!” added Fayvel as he shook his head. By this point, even he was behaving respectfully toward Gerald.
“I’m honestly glad they didn’t. After all, while it’s true that the formation’s effect would double with the aid of holy stones, using a holy stone on an incomplete formation would kill you in seconds!” replied Gerald.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Invisible Mogul