Zhang Wei-Lan had invested in his son this heavily because he desired to pass the Imperial Lineage under his command so he could leave Earth and explore the infinite possibilities to be the first Daywalker on Earth to reach the Eternal Rank.
He knew it was near impossible to achieve it while staying on Earth and managing a region, an agency, a family... and so much more.
Just when he started having faith that his hard work and legacy were left in the right hands, his son goes and gets his ass handed to him in the most humiliating fashion possible.
He wouldn’t have minded if he lost after putting in a bitter, honorable fight to the end... instead, Yanhuan’s videos were circulating all over the network, acting all cocky and brazen while he was already put in an illusion.
Zhang Wei-Lan understood that if his son were careful and had his guard raised to the limit, he would have discovered the illusion much earlier and saved himself the embarrassment.
That’s what was pissing him off the most... the idea that he was leaving his legacy in the hands of an arrogant brat that didn’t have the strength or mentality necessary to move a nation.
"Well... I am not going to lie and say that the enhancement is going to ensure his victory against that kid." Dr. Isaac shook his head, "The Enhancement Array works by tapping into any area that hasn’t reached its full potential for the evolutionary rank he is at... since he has evolved using perfect evolutions, there won’t be much to enhance."
"That’s not enough." Zhang Wei-Lan frowned, "I just received news that the boy has evolved to Warden rank using a perfect formula... my son needs a significant enhancement... especially for his subconscious barrier so he wouldn’t make a fool of himself again."
"What can I say?" Dr. Isaac shrugged, "I am no miracle worker... my Array mastery is still too low to achieve your desired needs. I am an Evolutionist, not an Array Master."
"..." Zhang Wei-Lan was left silenced.
He knew that Dr. Isaac was already doing them a big favor by helping them set up this array, even when it wasn’t his main field of study.
Unfortunately, hiring an actual Array Master wasn’t cheap or accessible to anybody... even Zhang Wei-Lan struggled to get an appointment when these Array Masters had thousands of orders lined up in front of them for the next decade.
Being an Array Master was an extremely lucrative business... however, it required an immense level of talent, knowledge, and intelligence to get decent at it.
Dr. Isaac was considered one of the smartest earthlings alive, if not the smartest in this period... and still, he was barely considered a Beginner Array master.
Meanwhile, Levi had access to Ash’Kral... an Array Grandmaster, and he was taking him for granted due to the nature of their relationship. If news of this were to ever get public, Levi would be hunted down not for himself this time, but for Ash’Kral!
As Zhang Wei-Lan stared at his son, who was gritting his teeth in silence while going through the painful process of brute-forcing the enhancements, many thoughts coursed through his mind.
’This won’t do... if arrays can’t help, then potions will do the trick... and I know just the right Alchemist.’
Zhang Wei-Lan narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction... he wanted to avoid asking a favor from that person, considering their opposite delicate positions, but the longevity of his legacy mattered to him more at the moment.
"Watch over him... I have some business to handle." Zhang Wei-Lan ordered as he turned around and left... his hands held together behind his back.
Meanwhile, Yanhuan saw a glimpse of his father’s back walking away from him... his cloudy vision kept distorting his appearance, but one thing was for sure.
He was leaving him behind.
’Damn it... don’t leave... I can do it, I can get strong enough to beat that bastard... I won’t disappoint you again... don’t lea... argh... I can do it!’
Yanhuan’s eyes turned bloodshot as the agony cut through him... his flesh and soul ripped apart, then reconstructed bit by bit within the merciless array.
Pain was something he was too familiar with... His perfect evolutions had granted him mutations with little suffering, but it wasn’t that pain that made him toughen through this array.
He clenched his fists until his nails cut into his palms... yet, he refused to leave the array.
All for one reason.
His father.
From the outside, Yanhuan had always been labeled a spoiled brat... the pampered heir of a terrifyingly powerful man, born with talent and riches so unfair it left everyone talking.
People said that his strength was inherited, that his achievements were handed to him on a silver platter.
They saw the luxury, the resources, the effortless results... but they never saw the cost. Yanhuan’s childhood was never one of warmth or indulgence... It was a battlefield every single day.
From the moment he could stand, his father treated him as a successor, not a child worth loving... Praise was nonexistent in their relationship.
Comfort was considered a weakness, and failure was met with silence... a reaction far more terrifying than anger to children at his age.
Before Yanhuan could make sense of his own tears, his life had already been shaped by training. Rules came earlier than happiness, hardship replaced play, and self-control was taught long before warmth or comfort ever reached him.
Every lesson that his old man taught him was brutal... every mistake was engraved into memory through pain. Yet, his father never raised his voice, never showed cruelty openly... but his expectations were... Absolute!
Yanhuan was pushed past his limits again and again, thrown into trials meant for those far older, far stronger than him.
When he collapsed, he was left there to rise on his own. When he succeeded, he received nothing more than a single nod from his father.
And that nod became everything to Yanhuan, chasing it obsessively.
He chased it through sleepless nights, broken bones, and suffocating solitude... he smiled in public, played the role of the carefree prodigy, the arrogant young master... because it was easier than letting anyone see how desperately he feared being deemed... insufficient and unloved.
Now, sitting within the array as his existence was broken and reforged, that same child still lived inside him.
The boy who had stood straight despite trembling legs, who had swallowed his screams, who had learned that love... at least his father’s version of it... had to be earned.
As blood seeped from the corners of Yanhuan’s eyes while gazing at the fading back of his father’s, Yanhuan refused to scream or call for him out loud.
All he thought about was: Just a little more... if I endured this... if I got strong enough to beat Levi... then maybe, just maybe... his father would finally look at him not as a project... but as a son.
Alas, Yanhuan had no idea that his father had already given up on the array being enough to increase his strength... and yet, he didn’t tell him.
He just left him there to suffer. Just like every time Yanhuan showed weakness... he never punished him by putting his hands personally on him, but he always, always found a way.
As Dr. Isaac watched Yanhuan continue to bleed without any desire to stop the process, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
’He is so obsessed with maintaining his legacy, he fails to see that his true legacy is his children... and he is slowly breaking them apart.’ He sighed, but he didn’t butt in on their family matters.
He was being paid handsomely to carry on with his experiments, and he had no intentions of ruining his funding.
***
After Zhang Wei-Lan left his territory, he didn’t return to Earth... instead, he went to Nocturn’s Heart City after setting up a meeting with that ’person.’ Right now... he was sitting in a private restaurant room, awaiting his arrival impatiently.
’Bastard... every time I seek him first, he leaves me waiting for him beyond the agreed time.’
Zhang Wei-Lan thought inwardly with a frigid expression, his finger tapping periodically on his elbow, matching the passage of seconds... and yet, he remained waiting.
Ten minutes later... a secret knock resounded in the room. Zhang Wei-Lan allowed him in with an irritated tone.
"What got you so frowzy... my dear Wei-Lan."
A teasing voice emerged from the lips of a little rabbit-like creature... though, his appearance was not cute in the slightest. His rabbit-like features were unsettling as he had one long ear, and the other broken in half, flailing with each hop he made.
His eyes had blackened sclera and dull violet pupils, gleaming under the dim light in the room. His mouth was exposing a chipped, stained incisors in a corpse-like grin, making him resemble a lunatic who had escaped an asylum.
Even when his appearance spoke nothing of confidence and more so of a nightmarish rabbit, the dark bishop robes he wore highlighted his true status.
"Bishop Va’ren..." Wei-Lan uttered icily, "The next time you let me wait... I will sever all ties with you, now, and forever."