"Phew…"After over four long hours of surgery, Winter collapsed on a chair, her hands covered in blood."Are you alright, Winter?" Jean asked as she wiped Winter's sweaty forehead.Winter shook her head. "I feel so disappointed…""Yeah…" Jean sighed, shaking her head as she and Winter turned toward the man on the surgical table, who was just stitched up. "It's alright—you did your best.""I know." Winter sighed unhappily.Soon, Gus Zeller was moved to a wheel bed and wheeled out of the surgery room."Hahaha! It's killing me… Just look at her face, it's almost like she's disappointed.""Hehe. Brats putting on airs, I tell you. Well done, a retainer of the Soranos ended up dead on their surgical table… the Soranos are really going to be pissed.""Well, it's not our fault. Let's just watch how this turns out."Winter frowned when she heard those people, but Paco was already striding toward her before she could say a word."Hah! And here I actually thought for a moment there's h
"Oh! They came looking for Winter." The assistant grinned. "They must be planning to ask her for an internship, seeing that she's just been appointed our hospital chief and all.""Hmph!" Paco wheeled on Winter right then, his glare cold as he snapped coldly, "What do you take our hospital for?! This isn't a place for brats to sleep your way to the top. Get out of here!""What? Are we asking to stay?" Tina sneered in contempt and turned to leave again after shooting a cold glare at Winter."Wait…"Winter tried to speak, but she was so exhausted from the surgery that she could barely manage a syllable.Paco continued to snap at her right then, "I say, chief, you've already given me enough trouble for one day, so get it in your head—this is a hospital, not a place for Gene Pearce to keep lovers!"Then, pointing at Gus Zeller on the trolley bed, Paco bellowed, "Look what you've done! Do you know who that is? He's a retainer of the Sorano family! You let him die in surgery—do you re
Gus only had a one percent chance of survival, but some fresh graduate who was thought to be Gene's lover managed to succeed with that chance?!Hell, the man could even talk now!Paco felt as if his world was crumbling around him, as if the decades of medical knowledge he had did not amount to a couple brats.Around him, his assistants were gaping in shock.Paco could not do it! What gave those two the right to succeed?Was it even possible that their medical skills were superior to Paco's despite being less experienced?"Do you know the name Frank Lawrence?"Gus rasped at Winter and Jean Zims, though his eyes were still closed."Frank Lawrence?"Winter and Jean traded glances."He's my brother," Winter replied."He's my mentor," Jean said at the same time.Gus nodded and sighed in turn. "So it really was him… He saved my life again."Then, turning toward Paco and his assistants, he said quietly, "Frank Lawrence is mentor to Kenny Loggins of Morhen. That makes these girls
The girls felt contempt toward Winter while being left at a loss as to where they should undergo their internships.Just as Frank overheard their conversation, Jessica spotted him and did a double take. "Hey, isn't that Winter's brother?"Still, she soon scoffed. "You've really gone all out just to get your sister a job!""Yeah, sending her giftwrapped to some geezer's bed… No one comes close to matching your tenacity."The mockery left Frank confused, though he soon realized that they had misunderstood as they kept yapping away.Winter actually had the disposition to become the chief of Zamri Hospital—in fact, her skill in medicine was plenty sufficient, and she did not have to resort to any unsavory means.While the girls remained skeptical despite Frank's words, Frank simply dragged them along to see Winter so Winter could tell them herself.Still, when they arrived, they found Paco with a group of doctors and nurses, all on their knees as they apologized to Winter. "What…"
Frank and Lanecorp kept a low profile as they waited out the storm.As two months passed, Zamri more or less calmed down as the spiritron vein left the city, evident from the lack of martial elites being admitted to Zamri Hospital.Still, the spiritron vein was not Frank's concern—instead, it was Silverbell.She was the chief of the Martial Alliance, individually powerful and with plenty of martial artists under her command.And yet, Frank was worried as he heard that the spiritron vein was no longer in the Martial Alliance's possession.Even as the thought bugged him, Frank eventually got a call from Fenton—Silverbell's father—one afternoon."Master Frank." Fenton spoke calmly as usual, but Frank was sharp enough to notice a hint of worry."Tell me," Frank replied, much calmer and a lot less angsty.After all, he had truly learned that there were people much stronger than him all over Draconia."Silverbell and I lost touch, and it's been a week. Have you been in touch with he
Carol was definitely content with life—her daughter was now the chief of Zamri Hospital, her son was safe abroad, and she found herself a new partner despite being well advanced in years.Nash was content just like Carol, though he only had one cause to worry in his untameable daughter Kat.At the moment, she was staying in Riverton with Noel York and was involved in the production of a film.While Nash would complain that it was not a stable job, he would be grinning ear-to-ear even as he said that.Naturally, both him and Carol had Frank to thank for all of that. From a certain point of view, he was now their adopted son."Yeah, where do you have to go this late at night, Frank?" Nash asked as he brought kitchen utensils."Hehe… Just a small trip to Norsedam," Frank did not provide details to spare them from worrying.Still, just as he was about to leave, he ran headlong into Helen and an exhausted Vicky, the latter who immediately complained, "I can't do this darling. Helen's
After fidgeting restlessly for a while, Helen finally looked up at Frank, her cheeks flushed as she stammered, "D-Darling… I want what Vicky had, too…""Hahaha! I knew it!"Vicky exclaimed as she suddenly appeared behind Helen, grinning gleefully as she folded her arms before her chest. "Just spit it out already. Don't you feel embarrassed, fidgeting about at your age, Ms. Lane?""You stay out of this!" Helen wheeled on Vicky and snapped.When Helen turned, she saw that Frank was in front of her, leaning down to give her a warm kiss on the forehead.As she reached up blankly to touch her forehead, she looked up to see Frank's smile.Flushing in embarrassment, she turned and left, snorting. "Alright, that's enough already! It's time for dinner!"Even as she chased a giggling Vicky inside, Vicky turned to look at Frank. "Come home soon.""Yeah." Frank nodded, smiling.Later, even as Helen picked up a bowl on the table, she stared blankly at the dishes around the table as she hea
Edon was ready to point at Chet's nose and snap, but he froze as his brother calmly said, "The chief of the Martial Alliance is here in our residence.""What? The chief of the Martial Alliance?! You mean…""Yeah." Chet nodded somberly, looking at his brother's shocked reaction before adding, "She has been maimed, her cultivation almost lost.""Then, the spiritron vein…""She doesn't have it," Chet replied.As disappointment showed on Edon's face, Chet continued calmly, "I know what you're thinking—in fact, I was thinking it when I received her. However, she gave it up before she arrived, and the Martial Alliance lost over a hundred martial artists in the battle. There was no shortage of Ascendant ranks, and only she managed to escape, barely alive."Sighing somberly, Chet concluded, "For me, it's clear from this that the spiritron vein is too important for our family to even touch. Too much greed really consumes you."Edon lowered his head, clearly doing the math.When he looke
Frank's words left the white-clad geezer sweating down his back.Even he had to admit that the brat projected a menacing presence that intimidated even him! "Are you really going to do this?!" he snarled through his teeth nonetheless.He certainly would not have caused trouble if he had known that he would run into someone as powerful as Frank in this place.And now, forget revenge—they had nowhere to run.But as if bothered that the white-clad geezer was not dead already, his entourage kept adding fuel to the fire."What's the problem, sir?""It's obvious that he wouldn't win against you. Why are you getting cold feet?'At this sage, the white-clad geezer had nothing to hide and bellowed, "All you know is revenge! Do you even know your level compared to his?!"Forget you lot—no martial artist would ever win against that man! "Let me put it to you this way—there aren't more than a hundred individuals who could defeat me in this country. Not only is he among that hundred, bu
However, Frank was already prepared.He silently sent a tremor of the same frequency down under, nullifying the white-clad geezer's tremor with ease.Hence, before anyone realized what had happened, the white-clad geezer already realized that he would not win against Frank! Unlike her niece, the white-clad geezer had been traveling all his life. He understood that while earthbending was amazing, it was hardly invincible.A technique was just a technique, and nothing more. It came with its deficiencies, depending on the way it was wielded, and prodigies were completely on a different level compared to them—in fact, the white-clad geezer was recently beaten by another youth.Even if it rarely happened in a small town like Shagan, it happened all the time among martial artists and the like. Youth surpassed all—was there any martial artist worth their salt who did not understand that the kids would eventually surpass them?"Let's go!"Without hesitation, the white-clad geezer was
As it turned out, the white-clad geezer did not return for revenge.People change as they age, along with their mindset, and develop a longing for their hometown.In fact, the white-clad geezer had returned to make peace with his family, and died in their company.Naturally, he was furious to hear that someone was using his name to bluff their way out and abduct his niece, the hag.And so he came with the rest of them, looking for Frank.After all, if Frank was not sent by the white-clad geezer, the only other person would be…-Back at the present, the white-clad geezer growled icily, "Where is my niece?"Frank smirked. "She paid the price for her crimes. What, do you want revenge?""A life for a life," the white-clad geezer growled. "That's the one rule that has never changed since olden times!"His entourage roared in approval. "Don't get so full of yourself, brat! He is different from the rest of us, and he can kill you anytime!""Really?" Frank simply snorted nonchalant
As the geezer spoke, he opened the rosewood box and put an ashtray in it. "I actually don't have any abilities—everything I make is produced from this box. With its help, I can imbue any object with an enchantment beyond human comprehension. See for yourself!"He closed the box and held it by its sides as the box glowed in a rainbow gradient.Frank felt a sense of familiarity as he watched, as the energy signature resembled the spiritron vein, but one different from the meteor.So what the heck was going on?While Frank was left surprised, the geezer stopped and opened the box, handing Frank the ashtray.As Frank held the ashtray, he saw that it really was altered—it could carry more now!The geezer then passed him a yellowed old book. "This is how you can use it!"Frank frowned. "Why are you giving it to me? I can't take it, or people would just say that I stole it from you when they find out."The geezer smiled in wry amusement. "It's yours either way, kid! And after you've d
To be honest, the hag really had not considered that question and was just playing along to her own whims, never once considering why she was such a philanderer.Frank then pressed his advantage. "Your so-called love is but a manifestation of your lust. It seems noble, but it has no warmth or color, and the world has no way of determining if it exists."If I want it, I can do what you do too. Heck, I'm sure that's the same for everyone else—they're just kind people who know that they shouldn't hog the limited resources of mental asylums.""Insolence!"The hag lunged at Frank as she realized that he was mocking her, but Frank was already prepared and pinned her to the floor with his telekinesis."Alright, you can quit hollering now. The more you do, the more you're just proving that you've lost!"Crouching in front of the hag, Frank growled coolly. "Did you think I'd only rely on brute strength to force your compliance? You're kidding—I don't even need to do that with someone like
It was just as the geezer had said—the hag had been pampered for so long that she could not tell right from wrong.In fact, in her mind, everything she did was never wrong and was even reasonable!That was what frustrated the geezer the most, and he simply stopped arguing and started whipping her with his belt.Pain really clears the mind, and the hag was no exception. In fact, she thought for a split second that she might have made a mistake.However, it only lasted for that split second—a little whipping was never really going to correct a lifetime of distorted beliefs!"I don't get it!" she cried. "Why do you treat my love with such disdain?! You don't have to love me, but you have to respect me!" The geezer laughed coolly and continued to whip her as he snapped, "That's true! But now, what I say goes—that's all there is to it!"That was when Frank suddenly reached out and caught the belt.It stunned the geezer, who quickly checked Frank's hand, and sighed after seeing that
It had been so long since he had seen his enemy, that the geezer almost fell out of his lounger.If he were to be honest, he really did not hold out much hope since it had been years, and no one lasted more than twenty strikes against the hag.However, while he was convinced that his revenge was futile in this life, Frank suddenly appeared.While he looked like he had nothing but his looks going for him, he brought the hag like she was some harmless hatchling."H-How did you do it?" the geezer exclaimed, presuming that Frank must have pulled some cunning trick.However, the geezer was once again reminded of the hag's conceit as she snorted. "How, you asked? With just a wave of his hand, and I lost!"Turning to Frank, she snapped, "There, he had his justice. Can you tell my uncle to show his face now?"Frank rolled his eyes. "I don't know your uncle. I only brought you here because of him!""No… That's impossible!" The truth was starting to dawn on the hag, but she still refus
"H-How did you do that?!"While the cabal was left flabbergasted, the hag was much calmer for some reason.After all, her father had told her about an uncle of hers, who had left the family because they kept abusing their earthbending ability.It was rumored that the uncle eventually cultivated a superior ability, fusing things that would otherwise not be just like what Frank just did.As such, she told her cabal as much, but Frank shook his head. "I learned your technique by directly observing you when you used it. And by doing so, I found a fatal flaw, which I adjusted for."He certainly did not have anything to do with the hag's uncle—he was just that quick a learner and that gifted to wield earthbending in an instant.Naturally, the hag was not about to believe that.No matter how gifted a person could be, there was no way anyone could learn earthbending instantly and even perfect it. In the end, someone must have taught him!As such, she was starting to get impatient with
Before the cabal could react, molehills appeared beneath their feet and sent them flying.Most passed out when they hit the ground, while the rest were barely holding on."W-Who the hell are you?!" The cabal had grown conceited since they did not have many rivals in a remote corner such as this one, and they therefore presumed that no one could challenge them.And now, they could not win with numbers against Frank, let alone one against one.Could anyone bear the shame?"What a bunch of mooks. I told you kids to stay on your training, but none of you listened. And now you're acting surprised?"A hunched hag appeared on a nearby alley, looking very much affable.Surprised, the cabal exclaimed, "What are you doing here, ma'am?""Do you think I'd miss the tremors?" the hag snapped coolly before wheeling on Frank. "Impressive physique! I certainly didn't expect you to hurt those boys."The cabal quickly warned her, "This isn't the time, ma'am. He knows earthbending, and he could