Max became serious upon hearing her words. Though he had made a deal with Mike, it wouldn’t take effect if he was not able to help them.
He walked over to the bed and put a hand on Sophie’s abdomen.
Riva furrowed her brows when she saw this, but didn’t say anything.
Suddenly, Sophie, feeling someone touch her, tried to focus her eyes to see who it was but only saw a blurry figure.
“M…Mother?” She asked in an almost inaudible voice.
Swoosh!
Riva rushed over and took her hand in hers, “I’m here. Mother is here, baby. Don’t worry. I brought someone to take a look at your condition. Your uncle Mike said he will be able to help you..”
Sophie didn’t respond but from the look on her face, it was easy to tell she didn’t believe she could be healed.
If it was possible to heal her, she and several others who had been suffering for years would have healed by now and all those people wouldn’t have died.
‘It’s alright. Let mother do what she wants. That way, she wouldn’t feel too guilty after I die.’
As though Riva could read her thoughts, her eyes reddened and tears welled up in her eyes.
Max looked at her, and then Sophie.
Previously he hadn’t noticed, but now that he took a better look at them, their appearance indeed had some similarities.
Then a realization suddenly hit him, ‘No wonder she threatened me. Watching her daughter suffer at death’s door, helpless to do anything, must have messed up her emotions.’
‘Then I suddenly appeared and claimed I may be able to help her, reigniting her hope. But when she saw me trying to flirt, seemingly not being serious about what I was here for, she naturally became angry.’
Upon realizing this, the displeasure he felt earlier lessened a little.
Still, for some weird reason, he found it a little hard to believe that she was her mother.
‘How strange!’
Looking at Sophie, he suddenly frowned.
Mike had told him that because the price they had to pay to forge a Lifebound Artifact was too steep, especially for those in the mortal realms, the family had a rule which stated that everyone could only try forging a Lifebound Artifact one time and one time only.
Furthermore, it had to be done under the supervision of a Five-star elder. So the elder could help mitigate the backlash if they failed.
To ensure no one violated this rule, the family would keep those who had tried one time until either they break through to the Five-star realm, where they would be able to try again, or they reach the end of their lifespan.
Sophie clearly didn’t satisfy either of the conditions as she was still young and was just a Four-star mage, but she was allowed to try multiple times?
‘Her supervisors definitely wouldn’t have allowed her to try again, especially because she is Riva’s daughter. So, either she deceived them, or… Riva was her supervisor and she allowed her?’
The reason he guessed Riva must have been her supervisor was simply because she was her mother and it was easy for her to supervise her and also because he could see guilt in Riva’s eyes when she looked at Sophie.
He frowned again, ‘Vani said Riva is an accomplished magic and Lifebound weaponsmith, meaning she clearly knows the risks of forging Lifebound Artifacts multiple times. Adding the fact that she is her mother, she should be the last person who should allow her, but she did? This is too strange.’
After a while, he shook his head, ‘Why am I thinking all this?’ With that, he threw these useless thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on his task.
A short while later, he was done diagnosing her condition.
‘No wonder despite the Fuller family’s wealth and influence, she is still in this condition.’ He sighed.
It would be understatement to say her condition was bad… It was extremely bad, almost unsalvageable.
Her mana core wasn’t just injured, it had lost all substance and was falling apart. Her mana pathways had atrophied, and were cracked in several places.
Even worse and the reason why she looked like she was going to die, her blood had barely any vitality in it and her vital organs were no longer properly working.
Now Max was no longer sure his bloodline energy could heal her.
‘If I want to heal her, I’ll have to use Nascent Energy, but I don’t have any left…’
Riva, noticing that he was done diagnosing, looked at him and asked in a low and trembling voice, “H-How is it? Can you… heal her?”
Max looked at her and walked out of the room, “Come with me.”
“Mother will be back in a minute, alright baby?’ Riva kissed Sophie’s forehead before following him out.
“Mm.” Sophie assented with a soft grunt.
Outside the room, Max was silent for a few seconds before he looked into her eyes and said something she already knew, “She is almost beyond saving. If not for the vitality boosting pills forcefully keeping her alive, she would’ve already died.”
Riva’s eyes shone, her breathing stopped as she frantically said, “You said ‘almost’. This means you can save her, right?”
Max kept silent, letting her become more agitated. Only when she was agitated and anxious enough would she agree to what he was going to say.
“Tell Me You Can Save Her!” She shouted, her aura pressing down on him.
Completely unphased, Max looked at her with an expressionless face.
Riva looked at him, sighed and withdrew her aura, “Sorry I just lost my emotions.” She apologized then turned around, her shoulders shaking, “You can leave.”
Ha!
‘This woman…’ Max smiled wryly and said, “I can save her.”
Swoosh!
Riva turned around, allowing Max to see her face full of tears, and excitedly asked, “Really?!”
Max nodded, “Yeah. Stop crying first, then we can talk.”
Riva quickly wiped her tears, took a few breaths to calm her emotions and then asked again, “Are you sure you can save her?”
“I already said that, didn’t I?” Max calmly said.
“You did. I’m sorry. I’m just…” Riva apologized and then said, “So, tell me, what are your conditions?”
“Conditions?” Max shook his head, “You misunderstand. I don’t have any conditions. I just want to tell you this beforehand that her condition is way worse than I imagined. So, if I want to heal her, I have to take some extreme measures.”
The 10 Bonus Chapter Mass release between 10-15 November!
