”Dude, you look like crap. What the hell happened?” Ayag, who was eating potato chips made by Raylene, asked Michael. He may have changed his robes and washed his face using the rainwater, but he still looked extremely exhausted and pale.
The moment he reached the bedside, he collapsed to the bed just a few inches away from Vedora.
”I fought an Elder vampire,” Michael sighed. After hearing his words, Ayag dropped the chip in her mouth back into the silver bowl,
”Did I tell you I fought with Noah?” Michael said, looking at the dark ceiling.
Then, he turned his head to look at Azazel before Vedora could ask what happened in Idrisal from the beginning,
”Connect me to Elidyr. Something is drilling my mind, and I think he may have an answer,”
”As you wish, My Lord,”
Azazel waved his ghostly hand as a thirty-two-inch mirror materialized in the air a few meters away from the bed.
Michael rose and willed the system to establish a connection with Elidyr through the earpiece,
Several seconds later, the mirror flickered as Elidyr appeared in the mirror. Currently, Michael could see numerous drawings on the wall behind him and a messy bed behind him,
”My Lord,” Elidyr slightly bent his waist to show his respect,
”Is there a God of Light Elidyr?” Michael’s sudden question put a frown on Elidyr’s face,
”Not as far as I know, My Lord. But when you, the God of Darkness exist, it wouldn’t be illogical to say there is a God of Light too. May I inquire why you suddenly asked me this my Lord?”
”Because I think Noah is not only the successor of Andreas. I think he is also the God of Light,” Michael’s voice was grave. In fact, Vedora or Azazel had never heard this much seriousness in his voice before,
”Why do you think that my Lord?”
Michael let out a long sigh and began narrating what happened in the competition from the beginning. None of them uttered a word after Michael finished his story.
Elidyr finally broke the gloomy silence,
”Light spells, drawing power from the light, darkness weakening him, Andreas choosing him to be the successor and trains to defeat the dark lord. Hmm,” Elidry rubbed his chin as his voice trailed off,
”Everything makes sense, my Lord. You might be right,” said Elidyr after pondering the matter for a long few moments,
”That must have been the reason why the system told me to wait until it reaches version eight. He is a god. Just like me,” Michael said to himself,
”If it’s true, we have to be more cautious than ever before,” Michael heard Cain as everyone except Michael locked their gazes with Cain,
”Also, if you could connect the dots, Noah might be too. So we have to stay as far as possible from him,”
Hearing them, Ayag couldn’t help rolling her eyes,
”Why can’t we just go and kill him while he’s still weak?”
”NO,” Elidyr immediately raised his voice,
”We must not underestimate Andreas and the Skyhall. You have only one runemaster, me. But they have countless, and if I’m right, Andreas would have made sure no harm comes to Noah,” Michael agreed with Elidyr with a nod.
When Michael injected Noah with a healing potion using the APD, he felt a gentle force resisting the potion for a moment. To Michael, it felt as though Noah’s body scanned the potion and filtered it before letting the potion into his bloodstream. In case Michael tried to inject Noah with Blood Tonic, he had a feeling Noah’s body would have rejected it by destroying the nanites.
As Michael was deep in thoughts, Elidyr once again broke the silence that haunted the room,
”The best course of action would be to stay away from Noah and raise your army in the shadows for the great war yet to come, my Lord,”
”Where should we go?” Sarba felt a lump forming in his throat in the sadness of leaving the place he has grown to love.
”Ghost will go to Awor,” Michael cracked his neck as his mind quickly formed a plan.
”Let me guess. You are planning to kill more people in Elon as Lucifer,”
Michael nodded but chose not to explain in detail. He couldn’t just say he has to get more experience points by killing people so he could get stronger.
”Why not Gisal? We are absolutely safe there,” asked Sarba as Michael sighed,
”We can’t be sure until we know everything about the Guardians and the Skyhall,”
”Then what’s the plan?” Ayah asked Michael as he turned back to look at them,
”Simple. Ghost will move to Awor and establish himself there. Lucifer will eradicate Noah’s potential allies and weaken him in Elon and Ozer. The Dark Lord will build an army in the Southern continent,”
”I can feel the excitement in my veins,” Ayag grinned,
”Do you have a contact in Awor my lord?”
Azazel asked Michael and draw Michael’s gaze towards him,
”Eve Voldigard,” as soon as Michael uttered the name, a glint of surprise emerged in Elidyr’s face,
”Voldigard? Is she a relative of Lane Voldigard?”
Michael nodded,
”Yes. She didn’t talk about Professor Lane, but I think there is some history between Lane and Voldigards. I will gather more information and try to exploit whatever there is to strengthen ourselves,” Michael looked at everyone to see if anyone had something to say. However, they all nodded in agreement with his plan,
”When are you and Gaya coming here? We should all move to Awor together,”
”Speaking of Gaya. Where is that snake?” Ayag smiled. Although Ayag didn’t show, she missed having Gaya around so much. Without her, the dark mansion felt gloomier than ever.
It was rare to see Elidy smile but thinking about Gaya, his lips curved upward, revealing an alluring smile.
”She is having the best time of her life in the combat class. Yesterday she brought hundreds of snakes and set them free in the classroom. There are still many students in the infirmary healing,”
”These snakes were poisonous?” asked Ayah with a devilish grin,
”Very,”
”Nice. Damn it. I wish we were there to see them screaming and crying. Did they scream and cry?” Ayag tilted her head as Elidyr nodded, brightening her face even more.
”Tell her not to overdo it. She needs to teach them something to maintain her cover,”
Elidyr rubbed his eyes, fighting the urge to sleep.
”I already did. By the way, we will be there by next week. Then, we can finally finish the mortars,”
Michael could see the exhaustion and sleepiness in his eyes. Hence, Michael didn’t keep him any longer,
”Take some shut-eye Elidyr. You can’t function best if your brain and body are desperate for rest,”
”I will, my lord,”
After that, the mirror flickered again before turning completely dark.
Then with a flick of his wrist, Michael took out Lucifer’s suit of armor and put it on an armor stand. The armor looked as menacing as ever with its dark metallic platings and crimson red linings.
”When I fought the elder vampire, I realized one of my biggest weaknesses” Michael ran his fingers through the armor,
”What is that?” Asked Ayag,
”Armor,” Michael simply said,
”This armor might look fancy, but it can’t protect me from spell attacks. I need stronger armor. For both Lucifer and Ghost, who needs a suit of armor more than Lucifer,”
While fighting as the Dark Lord, Michael could unleash his full power without worrying about exposing his identity. Hence, Michael was relatively safe fighting as Lucifer than as Ghost.
Granted, there were cool clothes in the system store but they were not armors. To forge stronger armor, he needed stronger materials. Unfortunately, the system locked the ores and armor materials under an upgrade wall. In other words, until he upgrades the system to version 8, he wouldn’t be able to buy a suit of armor or any materials from the store to forge a stronger unique armor.
However, it never stopped Michael from getting what he wanted.
”The Aqua auction might have what I need to forge armor. Eve said she knows some blacksmiths who are capable of forging any sort of armor,”
”Also we should recruit a loyal blacksmith. Awor might be a good place to start looking for suitable candidates,” Cain reminded Michael.
To become a Blacksmith himself, Michael would have to pay the system a whopping 700,000 badass points and it would make him just a 1-star Blacksmith. However, if he found one with a Blacksmith specialty, he could turn him or her into a 5-star Blacksmith for 1.2million badass points.
Compared to Alchemy, smithing was in a different realm. But, coupled with his Inventor trait, Michael knew he would be able to create some nasty weapons that could change the tide of the war.
Of course, Michael planned to become one himself in the future. But for now, recruiting someone else seemed like the cost-effective and plausible way. He wished Jack was here because Jack had all the requirements to become his personal Blacksmith. His death was really a loss for Michael.
”Loyalty should be the key here,” Sarba said in his soft voice as though he read Michael’s mind,
”I am pretty sure we can find a desperate dwarf who would be willing to become the Dark Lord’s subordinate in Awor,” Michael devilishly grinned. Excitement rushed through his veins, thinking he was finally going to Awor, the most powerful continent of all.
”My Lord,” Suddenly Azazel called him as Michael turned around,
”Today is the day we asked Miss Peyton to meet you in Maven,”
”Oh, the assassination of the Alpha guardian. I almost forgot about that. But you haven’t killed her yet?” Ayag asked Michael,
”I will. Let’s go meet Peyton shall we?” Michael willed the system to equip his armor as the suit of armor vanished from the stand and appeared on Michael except for the last piece; Mask. It appeared in Michael’s hands as he slowly put it on his face,
”Where are we going?” asked Sarba as they flapped their tiny wings to take off from the bed to Michael’s shoulder,
”To the crypt,” Michael activated the runic teleportation, and the next moment, he just vanished into thin air, leaving Azazel behind.
