Chapter 639: Congratulations

Watching the two older women banter back and forth like this, it became obvious to the others in the room that both Celestina and Elizabeth were feeling extremely happy right now, to the point where they had completely relaxed and were now having fun without any regard to their images.

Such behaviour wasn’t all that unusual for Celestina, but Lucas had never seen the Carlson Family’s Supreme Elder act like this before.

It was as if some great burden had been lifted from the old woman’s shoulders, freeing her to live the life she wanted from now on.

Actually, that’s probably exactly how she feels, Lucas mused to himself as he stepped forward on behalf of everyone else and bowed, “Congratulations on a successful breakthrough, Lady Carlson.”

“””Congratulations!”””

Ending the faux-argument she was having with her old friend, Elizabeth Carlson turned to the rest of her research partners and returned the gesture in her usually elegant manner, “Thank you. All of you. Without your help, I fear I might never have seen this day.”

Clapping her hands, Celestina cut in, “Now that the formalities are over with, I’d say it’s time to celebrate.”

“Agreed!” Edward Newton beamed, “This is a historic moment both for Lady Carlson, and for the Rockwell Kingdom.”

“I’d say it’s even bigger than that,” Louise Rockwell grinned, “This new breakthrough method will change the entire South-Central Region, no, the entire Blue Sky Continent!”

As an aspiring merchant, as well as the closest thing the Rockwell Kingdom had to a crown princess, Louise could easily see the bigger picture.

In the Rockwell Kingdom, there were probably 50 or so Peak-Rank Martial Initiates who were stuck at their currently Realm, unable to break through again.

If all of them could become Low-Rank Martial Adepts using this method, the power-dynamics of the entire region would shift.

Of course, this was currently an impossible dream. The Unarmed Foundations Art could not be shared so haphazardly for a huge number of reasons, but Louise was confident these issues would be worked out and resolved over the coming years.

When she first landed in Misty City, the Rockwell Kingdom’s First Princess was somewhat confused as to why she had been sent here.

She was then thoroughly dumbfounded when she learned about Project Ascension, the possibilities it represented, and the fact that she was being asked to join the research and development team behind it.

That said, it didn’t take a genius to understand why she had been chosen by Marquess Balfour for this position.

Glancing over at the little boy she assumed would be her future brother-in-law, Louise couldn’t help feeling a teensy-tiny-bit of envy towards her youngest sister.

Louise had originally been intending to assess Lucas to see if he was worthy of dating her precious little Tina, but after really working with him for a while, the First Princess had realized it was probably her little sister who had gotten lucky snagging such a wonderful future husband.

Her own dark history when it came to dating and trying to find a boyfriend might have caused Louise some frustration when she thought about how good Christina had it, but she was still very happy for her baby sister, and not just because she felt Lucas and her were a perfect match.

As his future sister-in-law, Louise naturally felt no shame in taking advantage of her little brother-in-law to gain some benefits.

In fact, even if one didn’t count the massive perk participating in Project Ascension represented, Louise had already earned quite a bit from working together with Lucas.

With the publicity he gained at Christina’s 16th birthday, Lucas’ clothing shop, which he had named [Vision], in English, had swiftly become the most sought-after fashion establishment in the entire Rockwell Kingdom, especially its female-focused [Allure] brand which not only made dresses, but also next-generation undergarments.

The boy’s tailor shop even had some orders from other countries already, like from the Darr Kingdom where several high-ranking nobles or even royals had taken a shine to the new clothes.

All that said, Lucas’ shop didn’t cover everything fashion-related just yet, with a notable absence being many things considered ‘accessories’.

And that was where Louise’s merchant company, one that she had built up around the high-end jewelry trade, came in.

Pairing together precious gemstones in elegant silver or gold settings with the bold dresses from [Allure] amplified the value of both products, which brought nothing but smiles to Lucas and Louise.

The pair had even signed a number of exclusive partnership deals that would surely bring in a huge amount of profit for both of them in the coming years.

In other words, Louise was a staunch ally of Lucas’, something she imagined he would need when the young boy asked her stubborn-ass father for Christina’s hand in marriage one day.

Until then, however, the First Princess was more than happy to maintain a good relationship with Lucas, something made easier by the fact that he was so easy to get along with.

Whenever she was with him, it honestly didn’t feel like she was talking to a child, but much more like she was having a casual chat with one of her friends.

There were even times when Lucas felt like a teacher to her, which Louise found odd at first, but had gradually gotten used to over the months.

…..

For many reasons, it was impossible to keep the fact that Elizabeth Carlson had broken through a secret, so the members of Project Ascension didn’t even bother trying to.

Why?

Mostly because amidst all the chaos and rush to actually achieve this breakthrough, they hadn’t really thought about what they were going to do after Elizabeth succeeded.

Also, everyone from The Lab had already seen the sparring match between Elizabeth and Celestina, and though all of them were tight-lipped and extremely loyal, no one had issued a gag-order on them at the time, so the news was bound to spread rapidly.

Within days, everyone in Misty City would know, while the rest of the Rockwell Kingdom would learn of Elizabeth’s breakthrough sometime over the next few months.

Nevertheless, this wasn’t a bad thing, per-say. The appearance of any Adept-Realm Cultivator was a huge deal worthy of celebrating in the kingdoms of the South-Central Region, with even a single new Adept bolstering a nation’s strength significantly.

Perhaps as Project Ascension progressed, and Adepts became commonplace in the Rockwell Kingdom, such a mindset would change, but for now, it was still a very big deal, worthy of both investigations from other countries and casual tavern gossip.

All that said, after that day, Elizabeth Carlson immediately went into seclusion to finish solidifying her foundation and to fully adjust to her newfound strength, a process which was quite typical after a major breakthrough.

If everything went well, she would probably make her official debut as a Low-Rank Martial Adept at some New Years celebration, as for which celebration that would be, that was uncertain.

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