Alchemy, medicine and cultivation, any of these three topics were profound and would require much practice to become proficient. Talent could only take a person so far and hard work decides one's success. One can argue that medicine was a branch of alchemy, but even then, it would take a considerable amount of time and practice, and for Leon to achieve all three at his age, he had to be some monstrous genius.
It was incredible feat for Leon to achieve proficiency in his professions and not fall behind on his cultivation at such young age without the support of the royal family. Those that have investigated his background and history, all found that he had led a very ordinary life up until recent days.
There was no inclination that pointed towards him having met a master, but Elizabeth was inclined to believe that someone must have taught him everything and that Leon had hidden himself deeply up until this point. From what she understood, her son was adept at stealthy and assassination skills, while being a fire-user to boot. Additionally, a person with great understanding in medicine, would also have great understanding in poison.
There was no reason for someone to teach her son such dubious skills just because they valued his talents alone. It was a terrifying thought if the other party had known her son's identity and taught him these skills with ulterior motives.
Were there remnants of Duke Agni's anti-royal faction? Did they take her son from her 17 years ago to cultivated him in the way of the assassin to kill her? Indeed, they would likely succeed as she would never expect her son to harm her. But she had seen Leon's genuine emotions that there was no sign of brainwashing. Perhaps they failed their brainwashing, or her worries were simply unfounded. However, her suspicions were still raised.
Who did her son acquired his skills from? Who had the most contact with her son in the last 17 years and could easily influence him the most? His foster parents? Elizabeth believed this was a matter worth looking into and planned to carry out a secret investigation.
Moving back to present time, having been told by her son that he was an alchemist, she gave her son the benefit of the doubt and took it at face value. A lightbulb lit up her mind as she did.
"Alchemist you say… Mother understand. You came seeking herbs from the treasury because you found a way to cure your father's vegetative state, right?" Elizabeth said emotionally. Her previous thoughts were pushed back and hidden deeply. Leon was unable to read anything from her expression.
"Yes, mother. Hopefully the herb I am looking for is here, otherwise it might be troublesome to find." Leon heaved a sigh of relief.
He had prepared an excuse, expecting his mother to question the origin of his abilities, but she was more accepting of his words. He was unaware that his reveal had brought untoward attention to his foster parents.
"That's great news! Quickly go see if the herb you need is here." Elizabeth hurried her son. Finally, there was hope of waking up that Old fool!
Leon nodded and quickly started searching through the jade boxes. His earlier sniff had discern all the herbal fragrance in the air, but it didn't mean he had discerned all the herbs stored in the second floor. The spirit herbs he detected, came form rosewood boxes that wasn't sealed flawlessly and allowed its fragrance and spirit energy to seep away through the tiniest of cracks. Given time, the spirit herb would be reduced to normal herbs if nothing was done.
"Mother, can I take these spirit herbs? It would be waste to let it collect dust here." Leon started explaining to his mother about the herb's spirit energy dissipation.
"My son, whatever you like, you can take. Everything here belongs to you."
"Thank you, mother."
Leon began sorting out the herbs. Those he was taking, he placed them all to one side and left the others. He arrived at the flawlessly sealed jade boxes and sank his divine sense inside to discern the herbs. These were the spirit herbs that he could not discern with his smell due to the absence of the herbal fragrance.
Inside the jade boxes were some more exotic spirit herbs that did not belong to the ordinary category as they carried at least one or more type of energy other than spirit energy. There was the Heart Blazed Lotus, Golden Ganoderma, Misty Petal Flower, Spirit Cleansing Grass, Rupturing Drystone Flower and several other spirit herbs of similar traits. In addition to spirit energy, they also possess energy of the 5 elements present in the spirit herbs.
Leon was first pleasantly surprised at the unexpected finding, before disappointment seeped in. These herbs might be able to aid his cultivation, but his original purpose, the 7-Petal Frigid Agapanthus needed to concoct the Tier-1 Soul Mending Pill wasn't among these spirit herbs.
"What's wrong, my son?"
"The main herb needed for father's pill is missing." Leon said with a frown.
If the spirit herbs couldn't be found in the royal treasury, which gathered the best items within the kingdom, it would only harder to find elsewhere.
"Why don't describe the herb and mother will see if there is a place where we could find it."
"Yes, mother." Leon nodded and began describing the special spirit herb to his mother.
The 7-Petal Frigid Agapanthus was a purple-white flower with biting-cold stem and able to freeze anything that touch its frosty petals. It had a special condition for growth and not many places in the kingdom could satisfy it. However, Elizabeth was immediately able to think one such place.
"A cold misty region and covered in dense yin energy?" Elizabeth rubbed her chin in thought and said, "The Extreme Misty Forest seems to meet this requirement. However, it is a bizarre place, filled with unknown dangers. You leave this matter to mother to handle. The Merchant Association would definitely send people to look for it, if mother offer a sky-high reward."
Leon listened quietly to his mother's proper arrangements as everything was slowly taken care of, including but not limited to; ordering palace maids to carry the selected herbs out and send it to his room.
Elizabeth had made sound judgements. Indeed, there was no need for him to set out to look for the herb personally. If the job could be delegated to others, he should allow for it. His only concern, however, was whether the people sent to complete the task would be competent enough not to damage the herb, when it is found and harvested.
"Well that settles the matter. Are you done looking or would you like to check out the third floor, my son?"
Leon was ready to head out when he paused at his mother's question. He was too eager to return to his private living quarters and begin his pill concoction that he forgot about the third floor.
"What is on the third floor, mother?" Leon asked.
"Cultivation techniques and sword arts."
Elizabeth said with a curious smile. Her eyes trained on her son and wondered how he would react to the news. There was a martial art depository outside, but only the high-end techniques and arts were kept inside the treasury. Of course, this did not include the Crawford's Transcendent-grade technique; the [Great Sky Refining Art].
Hearing there were cultivation techniques, Leon was naturally interested in looking. As for sword arts, he paid no heed to it. Since he was planning to train in the spear, the sword arts had no use for him except for reference and inspiration.
"I would like to take a look, mother." Leon said with simple curiosity. There was no greed in his eyes. He did not covet the Transcendent-grade technique. No matter how strong a Transcendent was, could it be stronger than the Divine State? Leon chose to dual cultivate awakening and divine cultivation because awakening cultivation could assist him in comprehending the Laws early to further his practice in the [Hegemony of Primal Chaos]. Thus, divine cultivation was still his core focus and awakening cultivation was only supplementary.
"Alright, let's go." Elizabeth smiled with content. She was pleased that her son wasn't a greedy person. Most nobles would go mad even if it was just a chance to glimpse at a high-grade cultivation technique.
…
Couple of hours later,
Leon was still on the third floor as he was reading the high-grade cultivation techniques. By now, he grasped a clear understanding of awakening cultivation techniques and his mother had long left to tend to some matters. The reason he was interested in looking at the cultivation technique was because he wanted to compare awakening cultivation to divine cultivation.
Much to his surprise, there were many similarities between the starting point of both cultivations system. Both required gathering energy to form an energy center, except one was in the glabella and the other was in the soul. The difference between physical and spiritual was what made the two fundamentally two different cultivation system.
Divine practitioners focus on establishing their own inner universe and draw power from within, while awakeners draw power from the existing outer universe.