"Is everything alright between you two?" Claire asked. He could see the worry in her eyes. A year ago, he was the number one assassin in the world, he had no one to worry about him. Although this world put him through various life-threatening rides on a daily basis, it also gave him people like Claire who genuinely cared about him.
"Yeah" Claire knew Michael enough to see the sorrow behind his calm eyes.
"If you want to talk about anything, we are here for you Ghost"
"What are you talking about? Teacher looks fine to me" seeing the worried look on Claire's face, Olivia questioned her. In her eyes, there was nothing amiss with Ghost.
"Have you ever been in love Olivia?"
Claire's question Ocaught Olivia off guard. She folded her arms, creasing her brows.
"No. Why do you ask?"
"When you're in love, your eyes speak just as loud as your mouth. It's a language you might not learn in your life hehehe" Claire giggled.
"Hey!" Olivia pouted. She threw a quill at Claire but Nightmare caught the quill with his mouth before it could hit Claire. The two girls almost forgot their status and started to play like little girls.
"See, I have a little guardian angel here" Claire kissed Nightmare on his forehead.
"Sec Leader Claire, when are you guys leaving the sect?"
Michael's question put a stop to their childish play. Claire quickly regained her sect leader composure,
"In the evening. We'll travel to Sarton by carriages and from there, we'll take the ships to Royal land. It's an easier, safer and far shorter journey than traveling by road"
"Cool. So Olivia, how're your studies going on?" He dragged the chair towards their study table.
"I finished the work you gave me teacher" with a flick of her wrist, she filled the large table with parchments.
Since Michael needed to take his mind off Guardians and Gaya, he decided to spend the time until they leave for Royal with Olivia.
"Let's stop theory stuff and move onto the practicals. Take out your cauldron out" her face immediately lit up like someone lit a candle in her head.
In a blink of an eye, a dark violet cauldron appeared on the table. On its surface, several silver runes could be seen. In addition to the runes, there were etchings of various shapes such as flowers, plants, Olivia's name as well as a lion's head.
"Teacher, would I be able to make pills and potions like you? I mean without the cauldron"
If Olivia asked the same question a few months ago when she started to learn from him, he would have really laughed it off. However, after all this time studying under him, he noticed the jump in her talent. At first, she was only able to make pills and potions with 50% purity. Now she could touch the 57% purity mark. Although he became a 5-star Alchemist in a few moments, after making almost thousands of pills and potions, he knew how hard it is to get the 7% leap in a short amount of time.
However, this was not the time for her to learn his technique. First, she needed to become his subordinate who has more than 95% loyalty. Only then, Michael would think about teaching her how to control the Alchemy flames like him.
"That's too dangerous. A simple mistake and you'll be served rare"
"Hahaha" Claire couldn't help chuckling.
Olivia stuck her tongue out at Claire but she didn't argue with Michael. She understood him completely.
"Whoa, before you guys play with fire, I'll take my books and leave this place" Claire quickly collected her books,
"I don't want to be well done" Claire winked at Olivia as she rolled her eyes,
"That's terrible"
After Claire left the study room with Nightmare, Michael began to teach Olivia how to use the cauldron to its maximum potential.
********************************
As the oat field encountered a peach sky, the evening had come in stately fashion, with all the grace of a breeze in repose. In that welcome amber glow the time of slower thoughts had arrived, those moments when with open eyes, Michael's mind became as a perfect empty horizon, seeing, yet content to sit. He felt the soothing breeze birthed by the surrounding foliage, became absorbed in the music of crickets, letting the gentle energy of nature wash in.
He watched the disciples getting in the carriages from the mountain peak, his usual place to meditate. His black trench coat fluttered in the wind while his turtle neck gave him a unique charm. Unlike before, he wore the dual sword sheath on his back. At the moment, it was empty.
He willed the system to retrieve the space ring given to him at the House Kane.
"It's time for you two to come out" The space ring let out a faint whistling sound before two beautifully forged swords appeared in Michael's hand.
The two swords had a blade of a gray color, with a pattern made of swirls and triangles engraved on it. The blade itself was engraved. A line of text 'Ghost' was engraved on the blades, which only added to the elegance of this weapon, as well as its cost. Each blade had a small, straight cross-guard, just large enough to make sure his fingers were safe and the blade would remain firmly in your hands. The cross-guard had an intricate skull on each side, he knew the cost of this weapon must have been high.
In addition to the cross guard, a fairly small pommel was engraved with the symbol of its owner, again, a skull.
The two swords belonged to the Rare weapon class which meant they could have three runes.At the moment, there were no runes on the sword but if Michael wanted, he could find a rune master to place runes on the swords. The system level was too low to place runes on the swords via the system.
Swing!
Swing!
Michael tossed the sword in the air as they both dramatically flew down straight into his sheathes.
[That was cool]
Even the system was impressive. He reached sword mastery to the point the swords felt like they were part of him.
"I know" With a swift leap, he jumped off from the cliff.In the mid air, he activated the lightning dash to fly towards the sect. Within a few blinks of an eye, he came to the pathway where the carriages were waiting to depart. The disciples were entering the carriages one by one without causing a ruckus. Many among the disciples painted their faces to resemble a skull while many female disciples had the letter 'G' written on their faces using a black dye.
The moment they saw Michael land at the pathway's start, they started to cheer,screaming his name out loud.
"Ghost!"
"Ghost!"
"Ghost!"
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 200 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 300 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 600 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 700 badass points]
...
Michael was overwhelmed by their support.It was as he was a famous sportsman who entered the arena filled with his die hard fans.
"Cast a spell!" someone among the disciples had the courage to shout out for a spell.
"Cast a spell!"
"Cast a spell!"
Soon they all started to demand in unison.
"What the heck, Ignitia" Michael raised his two hands clasping towards the sky. With an electric noise, the golden cracks of lightning danced around his entire arm before shooting to the sky as a thick bolt of lightning. The light produced by the lightning bolt brightened up the pathway.It was like a beacon, screaming Michael's location.
The badass points rained as he almost earned yet another 6000 points by just casting a spell. It was cool to show off but he didn't want to waste his energy before the tournament. Therefore, with a swift jump he leaped into the air. Ricky was waiting for Michael near the last carriage in the line. His carriage was hooked to four horses.As Michael preferred Ricky chose the fanciest and the most comfortable carriage in Bradford. It cost him extra 60 gold coins to paint it in black.
"Master Ghost, shall we go?" Ricky asked. Even Ricky painted his face to resemble a skull so he could show his support to Ghost. Ricky would have painted an 'A' for Aelia on his forehead if Claire didn't announce that Aelia is not participating in the tournament for personal reasons.
"Where's Nightmare?"
"Oh he's traveling with Sect Leader Claire, Olivia and little Cindy"
"Cool"
Michael didn't mind Nightmare travel with them. He loved the silence anyways.
Michael opened up the carriage to see red cushion seats with a small graceful round table in the middle for Michael to dine on. An elegant cup and soccer set was on the table with a pot full of coffee made by Raylene herself. Coupled with the carriage's lavender scent and the coffee fragrance, the carriage put a smile on his face.
"Do you like it, Master Ghost?" Ricky was slightly nervous but when Michael nodded with a smile, he felt relieved.
"Let's go"