Chapter 933: Unexpected Family

Rowan stayed on the top of the mountain for the next few weeks, his eyes closed in deep meditation as he attempted to handle the damage in his psyche. Instead of attempting to suppress the pain, he was doing the opposite and taking it apart.

Suppressing the pain would be like looking away from a raging fire in one's own home and expecting it to vanish. No, if Rowan let this pain linger, it would fester and in time, he would become corrupted, his very Aura and Essence warped by this inestimable torture.

Shattering the destinies of his clones might seem incredibly harsh, but Rowan was not someone who would hold himself back from taking drastic actions if it was needed, even if it would hurt him.

He analyzed the damage in his psyche like a large painting, as he slowly observed every single shade and color that made it such a terrible malady, he engrossed himself in understanding how this hurt had manifested and engraved itself in his consciousness, and as he slowly understood it, the pain began to fade. Rowan sat there for another week before he opened his eyes.

His actions had reduced the impact of the psychic wounds by about ten percent, and if he sat there for a year or less, he might be able to eliminate the full effect of this wound, but Rowan saw no need to do such a thing, he wanted to live with this wound for a while longer.

It was inconvenient, sure, but he could learn a lot from this Painting of Pain. It was not every day he came across something that could hurt him this badly, and if it could do this to him, then he imagined it would be as effective against other higher-level opponents. If he could figure out the entire framework behind this pain, he would have another powerful weapon in his arsenal.

When he understood the pain completely, he would eliminate it, before then, he would just have to live with the pain.

Rowan stood up and was about to step off the mountain when he heard a tiny scratching sound, and he turned to look at the Bluegrass in surprise.

This bluegrass had manifested a consciousness hence gaining a soul when it was less than three years old, and so Rowan knew it had awareness, but for the last thousand years the plant had never tried to communicate with him, and Rowan was grateful for the silence.

However, it would seem the prospect of Rowan's departure had shaken this bluegrass and for the first time in a thousand years, it moved.

The tiny plant that was not more than seven inches was waving at him, bending its stalk in a manner that should be impossible for a normal plant, Rowan's gaze detected the grass releasing a faint blue mist, and it was not hard for him to decipher its meaning.

The bluegrass was attempting to communicate with him using chemicals and pheromones, the tiny burst of mist that it sprayed out contained nearly all the information about its structure, evidently, this grass trusted him and was revealing all its essence to his eyes, and also an urgent message that it blasted over and over to Rowan; it wanted to follow him out of the Frozen Waste.

Bending down and touching the bluegrass, he inspected it more closely. Rowan had not bothered to thoroughly investigate this grass for he had only been willing to preserve its existence and did not care what special attributes it might carry, now his curiosity was piqued and his eyes lit up when he saw the full structure of this grass.

What was revealed above the ground was just a small portion of this entire grass, over the last thousand years, the bluegrass might have grown only a few inches, but underneath the ground it had grown roots that spread out for tens of miles, penetrating through the mountain and into the frozen plain below, and even as Rowan observed the plant he could see its extensive roots still visibly growing a few feet at a time.

After a while Rowan stood up and spoke to the bluegrass, "I know you intend to leave this frozen waste by my side, but you are a unique lifeform that is born from this land, uprooting yourself and departing at this time would stunt your growth, and so, there is no way I would allow you to leave at this time."

The mountain began to shake, and the valley below as well, the bluegrass cried out in grief releasing a frantic burst of chemicals.

Rowan frowned when he noticed that the grass was about to tear itself away from its roots, its message was simple, since the moment of its birth Rowan had always been beside it, protecting, nurturing, and in the cold evenings when an unknown chill would assault its green heart, Rowan would hum to it, his voice and song was a miracle that was almost impossible to describe.

Enhancing the wisdom of the plant and granting it solace, also Rowan found it amusing that the bluegrass believed that it was a sort of relaxing totem for Rowan, and if it remained by his side Rowan would not feel sad.

The bluegrass does not care about its potential, as far as it could tell, Rowan was its only family, and it would rather live a life of an invalid while remaining at his side than live another year alone in this waste.

He almost rolled his eyes in astonishment, 'Why would the bluegrass believe that he was sad?'

Nevertheless, Rowan paused in contemplation of one statement this bluegrass had said, it was about the unknown chill that it occasionally felt. During his thousand years on this mountain, no one beside him had been able to detect the influence of the Primordial Eye, and although he had observed the bluegrass shivering sometimes, it was always seemingly random, and Rowan did not ascribe this action from the bluegrass to be related to the Eye.

If this bluegrass had the talent to detect an ephemeral force like the Primordial Eye then its importance had rapidly shot up, and it also meant that Rowan could not allow it to destroy its future just so it could follow him. He could pull off this entire grass, roots included, and take it with him, but without the unique environment of the frozen waste, there was no way it would ever be able to develop itself effectively.

And so, over the next few minutes, he began negotiating with the bluegrass, and finally, a bargain was struck. Rowan would come to visit it every century, and he would leave a guardian behind to stay by his side, someone the bluegrass could interact with.

With this satisfactory deal cemented between them, Rowan left an esteemed Sovereign behind, to watch and protect this bluegrass, and because the bluegrass was quite intelligent, the Sovereign was to be its teacher. Inside the frozen waste, nothing was powerful enough to suppress a Sovereign, so the bluegrass was safe.

With the direction he was heading towards decided, Rowan began to walk towards the Land of Miracle, the birthplace of Elura, where he expected to develop himself to a higher level, obtain his Class, and finally hear the side of his mother's story.

Learning about his third bloodline would also be easier, and he could finally begin to integrate himself with reality.