Galaxy's First Ruler

Time Left to the Impact: 50 Hours

Aldrich had arrived at home by early morning after his brief meeting with Baron Edmund.

The remaining time for his Random-Allocation to Dungeon had extended to 2 more weeks. A Baron had the luxury of 1 month before getting teleported by the RECORD. Aldrich had already shut him off in the lab under the basement as soon as he came.

Aldrich came out of the lab and let out a breath of foul air. He raised his right hand and eyed the Runic symbol on the back of his palm. The symbols had almost crossed his wrist and seemed to climb towards Aldrich's elbow. None could have distinguished that the engraved symbols were not one but two different Rumoks.

A slight smile came upon his face, seeing the efforts that had lasted the entire morning. Aldrich had successfully made two Rare ranked Rumok using the two Baron-level Mana cores. He used one for himself and the other was for Boomie. With the completion of these Rumoks, he had already come closer to achieving his next Title.

The RECORD had counted the two Rare Rumok as four Common ones. Adding with the two he had already made before the last night's raid, Aldrich needed four more to obtain the Title. He still had the 4 Rare Mana Cores with him, but Aldrich deposited them as the Guild's treasury. The reason was simple.

Aldrich had found out that the efficiency of a Rare Rumok was more than twice that of a Common one. It was better to hunt another Baron-ranked Boss and use its Mana core to make Rumok than using the low-quality cores.

'I wonder what Boomie must have said if he had heard me calling the Rare Mana cores as inferior quality. Haha!'

Aldrich amused himself, climbing up the basement stairs. As he entered the shop, he found Mr. Ben sitting behind the counter. The old man was fidgeting with wooden carvings, but his coat and the hat on his head made the delicate movements difficult to execute.

"What are you staring at? Go bring me some tea."

Mr. Ben said, with his eyes still occupied by his work. Aldrich sometimes wondered who had high Perception, he or his parents. He went to the tea counter and poured a hot cup of tea.

Baron Aldrich Guo served the tea as he had always done in the chilly mornings and the busy winter days. The only thing that differed in his eyes was the deep wrinkles on his father's face. Time had left its mark for all to remember its might.

"Your eyes can't exert themselves any longer, Dad. Why are you so bent on doing this?"

Aldrich tried to sway Mr. Ben away from wooden carving as he handed over the tea. Mr. Ben put the little wooden piece and took a mouthful of refreshing tea. Aldrich noticed the rough outline of a stamp on the whittled wooden piece. He took a secret breath of relief, seeing that it wasn't an idol of some God or other historical figure.

The time after the Night had turned out to be a period of Sin and Poverty for many sculptures and other such artists. The absolute ban on making any sculpture had affected many families.

"An ancient Chinese Royal Stamp?" Aldrich asked.

"Yes. Just this one, then I am thinking of investing some time in learning Guqin."

Aldrich heard the name of a stringed musical instrument that had been a choice of many scholars in ancient China. The thing that baffled him was his father's choice of the instrument rather than his will to learn it.

"Are you trying to trace back our Chinese roots? Learning a modern guitar won't make you any less Chinese or any more American, you know?"

Aldrich saw his father's face crumpling up in disgust as he heard Aldrich's words.

"Humph! Your mother is right! I should have sent you to college sooner. Look at you, you can't even understand this simple thing."

Aldrich scratched the back of his head, hearing his father's snort. And Mr. Ben's next words reminded Aldrich of the random cravings of a person's heart.

"A gentleman does not part with his Qin without good reason."

It was a popular saying among ancient scholars.

"Dad, don't tell me you want to learn Guqin just to say this sentence aloud in front of mom."

Aldrich's eyes met with Mr. Ben's, and the slightly gaped mouth of Mr. Ben told him he was right. Aldrich saw Mr. Ben trying to explain himself when he heard a voice out of nowhere.

"Oh, Dear! I didn't know you still wanted to impress me."

Both father and son had been taken aback by the sudden arrival of Mrs. Guo. Aldrich saw a thick book related to different varieties of mushrooms in her hand.

"Mom? When did you come?"

"Al, I was just behind you. But I think it's wonderful, the idea of your father learning Guqin. They say it's the instrument of Sages and…"

SLAP!

Mrs. Guo cut her words short and slapped Aldrich's head. Her lovely voice instantaneously took a turn and seemed to fume in anger. Aldrich saw his mother gritting her teeth and narrowing her eyes at him.

"I thought you were making preparations for tomorrow in the basement. Ben, look at this! I told him to remove the tattoo, but he has extended it even further."

Mrs. Guo held Aldrich's right hand and shouted, pointing at Rumok. Aldrich saw the frown on his father's face as he took a sip of the tea, which was getting colder by seconds.

"Leave him be! Young men these days have tattoos at even weirder places. This is still alright."

"Mom, this isn't…"

"Shut up! Humph! Boomie finally got you a job at Blazing Royal Guild. First, you accepted a three-year contract without telling us. And now you want to shame our family name by acting like a thug."

Aldrich saw his father slumping back in his chair. The old man seemed to forget that he was whittling a piece of wood just a few moments ago as he searched for something to do.

The wet corners of Aldrich's eyes went unnoticed by the Guo couple on a sunny afternoon.