Michael didn’t understand Lilica’s worries at first.
He was glad that he told Lilica and the others about the Temple of the Forgotten, and that he could exchange information about it. It was good to have somebody to talk to about it.
Learning about the Danger&Opportunity level system – that ought to be common knowledge for most older races – didn’t feel nice, but Michael was not too disappointed.
It was a good thing that he was getting closer to the truth. Conquering the Temple of the Forgotten seemed like a distant dream, however, it was something Michael looked forward to.
Even if he had to become a higher life-form, or even shed his mortal body before starting his conquest, Michael felt that it would be worth it. He was quite excited.
Lilica and the others couldn’t understand Michael’s excitement, at all.
First, it was way too dangerous and a bit reckless to even consider raiding the Temple of the Forgotten. And second, it was extremely dangerous to stay close to the Temple of the Forgotten. If one of the Old Ones, or races that were much older and stronger than the Elven were to find out about the Temple of the Forgotten, the entire Untamed Jungle would be turned into a bloody battlefield.
Neither Lilica nor her Elders had seen an Old One until now. However, that was their great fortune which ensured that they could still stand on their own two feet. If they were lucky and their encounter with an Old One wasn’t that bad, they would only be lying two meters under the surface. At least, their tribe would be able to collect their corpses in one piece! That was how terrifying the Old Ones were.
After Michael heard a few stories from the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team, he grew more curious. He led everyone to the Underground Ecosystem and showed the Forest Elves the Temple of the Forgotten.
The pressure it exuded wasn’t horrifying, and it didn’t look terrifying either. But that was only an illusion as the Forest Elves’ worries came true soon enough.
Lilica was brave enough to use a few steps of the staircase and step up slowly. She quickly realized that the pressure around her increased exponentially and that more words flooded her mind. By the time she took the fourth step, Lilica couldn’t lift her feet anymore.
Blood trickled out of her ears and nose, and she quickly stepped down the stairs – or fell down, to be precise.
Once Lilica regained her senses, she retrieved a few sheets of paper from her War Rune and began to write down the words the Temple of the Forgotten transferred into her mind.
Lilica tried to imbue origin energy in the words just like the Temple of the Forgotten did, but she was struggling to replicate the words perfectly. The language used was way too complex.
Liopham was the second to test out the pressure of the staircase leading up to the entrance of the Temple of the Forgotten. He stopped after the third step and descended after a while.
“I read records about the conquest of the Abyss Witchery Dungeon in the Nebulus Forest. It was the greatest raid of the Forest Elven Tribe, and the biggest achievement of Yggdrasil Children at least while the Alliance between the Elven tribes still existed…but why do I feel like this Temple of the Forgotten is far more dangerous?”
How were they supposed to raid the Temple of the Forgotten? It was simply impossible!
Fortunately, the Forest Elves didn’t have to tell Michael about that. He was distracted by the return of Blaire and her tracers.
They had finished traveling through the cavern system and analyzing it thoroughly after which they made a report, which could be summarized in a single sentence.
– All cavern tunnels leading to the deeper levels had collapsed!
He was willing to send a few people to find out more, but Michael was certain that it was a dead end.
Interestingly enough, the earthquakes seemed to have destroyed a few monster habitats. Many monster habitats had been buried, providing Michael and his army the opportunity to strike as long as the iron was hot.
In the next six hours, Michael’s army killed hundreds of Monsters, including quite a few Mid Tier-2 Monsters.
The last day of the cave’s conquest ended with much better results than expected. Now that the tunnels in the deeper parts collapsed, Michael could claim the entire lizard cave as his own.
He could start constructing a proper mine and create a more efficient way to harvest ores, store them, and transport them to his territory. It required more work to build everything he required, but the thought of the gains he could make was enough to give him the energy he needed.
By the time they returned back to the clearing, it was already late afternoon. Michael was given hundreds of corpses to extract, and he did so with a vibrant smile on his face.
At last, almost as if the Will of the Origin Expanse wanted to reward him for conquering the lizard cave, a Mythic Summoning Scroll dropped from a Mid Tier-2 Monster.
Michael extracted it, and he couldn’t really believe his eyes at first.
After not having received one for so long, he nearly forgot that some Monsters could drop Mythic Summoning Scrolls.
Michael had only a few hours left before the spaceship would arrive on Kelta, and he couldn’t help but feel that the Mythic Summoning Scroll was a good Omen.
If the Mythic Summoning Scroll would give him a great summon, he would have a great time in the Saphirelake Military Academy. However, if he was unlucky – just like he had been in the last few weeks whenever he started another summoning session – his time in the Saphirelake Military Academy would turn out horrible.
Usually, Michael didn’t believe in omens, but something told him that he was going to be lucky with this one.
The Summoning Gate vibrated when Michael approached it with the black-leather Mythic Summoning Scroll in his hands.
It felt like a sign.
“Show me that I’m not unlucky, Origin Expanse. Let’s go!” Michael shouted aloud as he broke the golden seal of the Mythic Summoning Scroll.
The Summoning Gate began to tremor the moment the seal was broken.
Even before the Mythic Summoning Scroll could unfold itself, it was sucked inside the energy pool.
Glimmering sparks of golden light filled the air around the Summoning Gate in the next minutes as one star after another began to light up.
The Summoning Gate’s metal frame continued to tremble.
One Star shone up.
Another followed quickly.
Five minutes had already passed but the Summon still didn’t step out of the energy pool.
A third star lit up.
Half an hour later, Michael’s expression was a mixture of confusion and a trace of excitement.
Finally, a fourth star condensed on the Summoning Gate’s metal frame.
Another 4-Star Summon!
It felt as if quite a bit of luck had been accumulated for this moment, for this Summon!
The Summon’s outlines formed in the energy pool, and it stepped out soon after.
A Sword-Sabre-wielding Man wearing the combat clothes of the Desert that covered his entire body emerged.
He wore a crimson mask to hide his entire face and brandished his sword-like saber in front of Michael before he held it out for his new master to take.
“I’m the Masked Saber. I’m happy to be of your service Mi–…my Lord!”
“Welcome, Masked Saber. I’m glad to have you here,” Michael said with a fond smile on his face.
Michael felt that Masked Saber had a familiar presence and that the 4-Star Summon was very amiable.
“How about I sho–…” He was just about to give Masked Saber a guide around the territory when he sensed that their Link of Loyalty was being formed.
At first, Michael thought that their Link of Loyalty would be frail and easily breakable. Combat Summons with a high-star rating usually achieved something great, which meant that they were either great leaders, prideful warriors, or exceptional in other ways. Usually, these Summons didn’t like being ordered around. They were prideful and harder to control than others.
However, that wasn’t the case with Masked Saber.
On the contrary, Masked Saber’s Link of Loyalty was quite firm. It was not yet completed, but Michael could already tell that Masked Saber’s link of loyalty was the thickest of all of his Links of Loyalty…and that included Tiara’s Link of Loyalty.
Tiara was already willing to take a bullet in his stead. Was it even possible for any of his summons to have a firmer Link of Loyalty than the Battle Maid?
Michael hadn’t been sure about that before, but it had been proven with the appearance of Masked Saber.
It was confusing that Masked Saber had a firm Link of Loyalty, but it was also great.
Michael felt good.
For a while, he felt extremely lucky. It was just too amazing.
His territory’s population surpassed 5000 subjects, and his territory developed rapidly in the last 30 days he spent outside the spaceship.
How could he not feel great?
**
A few hours later, Michael left the Origin Expanse.
He appeared in the cabin and sat down on his seat. Only a few minutes later, the Dekalos-Class spaceship entered Kelta’s range.
They were about to land. Their trip was over.
His life in the Saphirelake Military Academy was just about to begin.