After leaving the warmth of the house, he stepped outside into the bone-chilling cold and saw Cindy and her group making a snowman. When the little girl saw him, she dropped the snow in her hand, running towards him.
As usual, she threw herself with utmost trust that he would catch her.
"You gained some weight, Cindy. I can barely lift you" Michael pretended to be struggling as the little girl laughed.
"I've grown stronger. Teacher Claire said I would soon reach the Foundation stage" she flexed her biceps before locking her gaze with the baby dragon, her eyes sparkled as she reached her hands out to grab Nightmare.
"Brother can I please please please hug him?" she pleaded to Michael, seeing Nightmare swiftly avoiding her little hands.
"Come on Nightmare, don't disappoint a cute little fudge like Cindy"
"Yeah, be a good pet hehehe" Gaya chuckled embarrassing Nightmare but before he could do or say anything, Michael gently grabbed the little dragon and handed him over to Cindy.
"He's sooooooo cuuuuuteeeee!" Cindy squeezed him against her chest, showering Nightmare with kisses.
"Come on little….human...stop...it" but no matter how hard he protested, Cindy did not stop kissing him.
"Who would have thought a terrifying dragon would be showered with kisses by a little girl?" Nightmare pleadingly looked at Michael asking him wordlessly to save him from this embarrassment.
However, this scene was too cute for Michael to stop. He just carried Cindy in his arms, walking towards the herbal garden to plant the new rare herbs he picked from the treacherous ocean.
On his way to the herbal garden, he noticed the renovation work was 70% completed and ready to move onto constructing new buildings. A couple of disciples ran through the snow carrying firewood from the nearby forest to their student quarters.
"How're you doing, Senior?"
"Greetings, Sister Aelia"
"Hiya Cindy"
The disciples happily greeted them before continuing their work. None of them seemed to notice Michael's cultivation level though or they would have freaked out immediately. He noticed the disciples weren't wearing suitable clothes for winter but wearing their usual uniforms.
Thinking about this, he just nodded at them with a smile while Cindy gave them a short wave as she was busy squeezing Nightmare. After strolling through the snow, Michael came to his herbal garden where a group of disciples shoveled the snow from the garden under the supervision of Elder Reiner. Just like the disciples he met before, the disciples who were working in the garden too did not wear winter clothes and even Elder Reiner wore normal clothes. Although a cultivator could use Arch Energy to keep the body temperature unchanged, it was a waste of energy to constantly use it to keep the body warm rather than just simply wearing suitable clothes.
Even Michael felt it would be a waste of energy to keep his body warm using Arch energy rather than wearing winter clothes. Yet until he could actually buy some winter clothes, he had no choice but to use Arch energy so he wouldn't freeze to death in this climate.
"Ghost, you're back, I heard what happened to the baby dragon, is he alright now?" Elder Reiner's eyes were filled with concern and worry. He quickly placed his palm on the baby dragon's head like he's checking the baby dragon's body temperature.
"human save me!" Elder Reiner took back his hand in lightning-fast and stared at the baby dragon trembling in shock.
"So it's true, even the baby dragons can communicate using human tongue"
"Of course I can talk, now help me human!" Nightmare tried to get out of Cindy's clutches by asking elder Reiner to save him.
"Come here, little fellow"
"Let me hug him just a little more" Nightmare sighed in relief but to his shock, Elder Reiner too acted like Cindy, squeezing him before kissing him on the forehead.
"What is... with you humans...squeezing...me?"
"Elder Reiner, I bought some new herbs, how about we plant them now?"
"Really?! Here take him" Elder Reiner's face brightened up in excitement. He quickly gave back Nightmare to Cindy before Nightmare could escape.
"I assume you took them from the Treacherous Ocean" Elder Reiner calmly asked and his calmness really surprised both Gaya and Michael.
"Yes, Elder Reiner. You seem awfully calm about that" Michael said.
Elder Reiner just patted Michael on the shoulder,
"Youngbloods like you need to take risks like that. Besides, I knew you would survive that place"
It was a breath of fresh air for Michael to see Elder Reiner act so calm even after hearing that he went to the Treacherous ocean. The vote of confidence made Michael like Elder Reiner more than the other elders.
"Elder Reiner, where are the other elders? And have you seen Claire?"
Gaya asked, doubting that Elder Reiner still has no idea about the return of Claire's grandfather.
"They are in seclusion, I think they won't be available for another three days and Claire, she's in her home. Why do you ask?"
"Because the previous sect leader, Christopher Merigold is not dead and he's with Sect Leader Claire right now" Elder Reiner halted his steps as a sliver of cold chill ran through his spine, his usual smile instantly vanished from his face and replaced by a mix of complicated emotions.
"No...it...can't...be...how"
"It's true, Elder Reiner, whoa" Elder Reiner stumbled on Michael as he quickly grabbed the old man to steady him.
"You, get your ass over here" Gaya shouted at one of the disciples shoveling snow.
Not only the one who was summoned by Gaya but also every disciple who was working in the garden came running to Elder Reiner when they saw Michael holding Elder Reiner's weak body.
"Grandpa Reiner, what happened to you?" Cindy stopped petting Nightmare, looking at Elder Reiner, her eyes already started to well up in tears.
"This is why you never break shocking news to elders too suddenly, Aelia" Gaya shrugged hearing Michael.
"Yeah, you dum dum, you almost killed that old human" Nightmare did not let go of this opportunity to mock her while hovering above her head.
"Ghost, how... where?" Elder Reiner asked in a weak voice.
"I think it's better if you ask the previous sect leader himself, Elder Reiner," Michael said as Elder Reiner slowly regained his normal composure to go meet the previous sect leader himself.
"Do you think I should break the news to Elder Sandra?" Gaya laughed thinking that she almost gave a heart attack to Elder Reiner. The old man's reaction saddened and shocked the others but for her, it was funny.
"No, you shouldn't," Michael said before slapping the back of her head
Plop!
"Jerk!"
****************************
After Elder Reiner went to meet Christopher and Claire, Michael stepped into his garden and planted all the new herbs he brought such as Blue Camelia, Mountain Saffron, Ivory Dill, Autumn Leaves, Worm Mustard, and many others.
Since the disciples did not know much about herbs, they couldn't recognize the value of the herbs they were planting along with Michael. However, Gaya recognized a few of the rare herbs such as Blue Camelia, and bounced up and down in excitement thinking about how much money they would make by selling the herbs to nobles and alchemists.
"If I can eat that, Ghosty, I can definitely reach Foundation stage level 3 in a few weeks" Nightmare sniffed the Ivory Dill with sparkling eyes only to get swatted by Michael.
"Go away, it's not for you to eat, not yet"
"Hehehe" Gaya laughed at Nightmare getting chased away by Michael leisurely sitting on her chair without helping Michael in the garden works.
"That was intense" While Michael was gently planting the herbs, he saw Jack walking into the garden flabbergasted.
"I've never seen sect leader Claire cry like that" Jack sighed sitting on the ground near her feet.
"Did you see Elder Reiner?"
"Yeah, he's currently with sect leader Christopher. Brother Ghost, Sister Aelia, do you think Sect Leader Claire would step down from her position?"
The disciples working with Michael looked at him waiting for his answer,
"I don't know but I guess sect leader Christopher won't take the position even if sect leader Claire decided to give him," Michael said like it was only his guess but deep down he knew Christopher wouldn't take the Sect leader position as he has more important things to worry about, like searching for a permanent way to lift the curse and rescue Claire's mother from the elves.
Since Michael had to face the great clans anyways, he planned to use Claire's mother as an excuse to fight the elves unless they choose to stay the fuck out of his way of conquering this world.
"Jack, I need you to hit Bradford and buy these things for me" Michael gave the list of things he needed to build his secret weapon to beat all the guardians and the church.
When he finished building what he's planning, the church, the guardians, and all of the nobles in Gaya's hit list wouldn't even know what hit them.
The time for relaxation was over and after returning to Abyssal, the time for bloody action would begin and Lucifer's name would spread through the entire kingdom.
"Take the pegasus and also" Michael handed over the list to Jack before turning to look at all the disciples,
"Bring the biggest cloth merchant in Bredia to me"
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Hi readers,
As usual, this chapter is about the little things that would make the story flow flawlessly. From the next chapter, the next surprising arc will begin, and trust me, it's going to be one hell of a ride packed with action and adventure.