[Zara (SC Elyra): Zara accepted your request. Michael Fang has been given permission to receive an auto-update about Daniel Fang’s Lord ID. Current status → Intact Lord ID/ Tier-3 Lord]
“That is great…” Michael mumbled quietly to himself. He was relieved that his brother was fine.
A few minutes earlier, Alice told him that the supercomputer in Elyra accepted his request and that he would receive a notification whenever something about Danny’s Lord ID changed.
That was everything Michael wanted to know for now.
He finished his chat with Alice after a while. The Real Combat assessment was not yet done, and he had a few more battles to fight.
Until lunch the day after, Michael fought a total of ten times – just like everyone else.
The number of battles was no problem for Michael. However, the issue was that his opponents grew increasingly more difficult to deal with after his fight with Lincoln. It felt like everyone turned into a monstrous genius all of a sudden.
Michael had to face Zeke Lavita as well. Unsurprisingly, Michael lost this battle miserably. It was even more of a humiliating defeat than his fight with Lincoln.
Zeke caught him in an illusion, three seconds after their fight began. Despite knowing what was going to happen, Michael couldn’t avoid getting trapped in Zeke’s illusion. It was terrifying.
Other than that, Michael lost a few more battles as well. The only battles he won were against the opponents before Lincoln, and one more young guy after Lincoln. Michael had been pumped up for the battles, but he was humbled real quick.
He fought with all his might against everyone, but their techniques, Tier, Soultraits, and Artifacts overpowered Michael. Fortunately, Michael didn’t lose miserably anymore after fighting Lincoln and Zeke. On the contrary, he forced his opponents to struggle desperately to defeat him.
His opponents were on the verge of losing more than once, forcing them to unleash some of their hidden trumps in front of everyone.
Unfortunately, the final ranking didn’t pay much attention to the severity of the battle. It noted down whether you won or lost, and created a ranking accordingly, irrespective of how much effort you put in.
That was also why Michael didn’t make it into the Top 500 at last. He felt absolutely gutted by his performance. He was strong enough to fight a bunch of people, who’d made it into the Top 500 in the end, but his battle records weren’t good enough to push him into the Top 500.
It was a hassle, but also another reason to strive for more strength.
Michael’s progress in the last 30 days was not exceptional, but it was still great. He received some Saphire Points at the end of the second assessment, which Michael used up immediately to apply for some academy courses.
He joined the Limit Breaker course from Silverian Schild again, and he was fortunate enough to grab one of the last few spots for Memory Lane. Memory Lane required Saphire Points to join, which was why everyone tried to pick it hurriedly once the first batch of Saphire Points were distributed. Luckily, Michael was swift enough to join the course.
Other than that, Michael also enrolled in the special courses Old Tongues, and Ancient Ruins. Michael also picked Individual Teaching since Alice was willing to teach him.
Interestingly enough, all of his courses were special courses. The Mainstream and Secondary courses were interesting, but Michael was keen to find out more about the Temple of the Forgotten. Thus, he chose two courses that would most probably help him conquer the Temple of the Forgotten in the future.
Old Tongues and Ancient Ruins were mostly self-study courses. The Researchers would hold 2-hour classes twice a week to speak about the students’ progress, and to answer questions. Other than that, it would be much easier to read the study material the researchers shared than listen to boring lectures four times a week. It was a waste of time with the advantage of the Origin Expanse’s time ratio.
Memory Lane was a two hour class at the start of the week. The students had enough time to self-practice for the rest of the week until the Professor would hold a Question-and-Answer session at the end of the week.
Alice’s Individual teaching was thrice a week for two hours each. Michael had yet to pick the dates but he was likely to shuffle his schedule a bit and adjust them along with his other courses. As long as it was not immediately after the Limit Breaker Workout session that would be held daily early in the morning before the sun rose, Michael would be fine.
In total, Michael had to spend around 34 hours in the Saphirelake Military Academy every week. That was less than Michael expected for a total of five courses.
But that was great.
His schedule didn’t force him to spend too much time outside the Origin Expanse. That meant, he could use the advantageous time ratio of the Origin Expanse to workout, study, reinforce his mastery of his Soultraits, and much more.
The Origin Expanse was the perfect environment to study. It was quiet in his territory right now, nature was flourishing, and the amount of origin energy in the Untamed Jungle was more than enough to keep him energized. It was perfect!
Once the Real Combat assessment ended for him, Michael separated from the rest. He left after exchanging contact details with the Barscht Triplets, Zeke, and Lincoln.
After stepping inside his room, Michael didn’t waste any time. He manifested the Runic Gate and returned to the Origin Expanse.
Michael was ready to change a lot in his territory. All preparations had been completed, leaving only Michael to dish out the final command.
“Let’s split up the army. It’s nonsense to run around with several hundred combatants in the Untamed Jungle. It’s too densely grown to fight with such large numbers on one battlefield,” Michael told Tiara, who agreed at once.
They’d already been planning the split-up of the army for a few weeks. The arrival of the Forest Elves changed a lot, but it made things a little easier as well.
Creating several Combat Units ensured better security in the territory, and it improved the hunting progress by a lot.
But Michael didn’t come back to the Origin Expanse merely to split up his territory’s army. He ordered the expansion of the canopy bridges and gave the first orders to focus on the Workshops in the Underground Ecosystem.
The Underground Ecosystem would turn into a quiet workshop for the blacksmiths, and a home for the miners, who were willing to stay underground and near the ore deposits.
Michael focused on the production of low-level armaments for the time being. It was his best source of income, and it helped the Forest Elven tribe a lot. That way, Michael could earn a fortune and further improve his relationship with the Forest Elven tribe. There was no disadvantage.
Other than the production of goods, a few new lives were born in the Origin Expanse in his territory.
A few Bilrox younglings hatched from the eggs of the female Bilrox Michael bought a while back, and more were bound to follow soon enough.
The Bilrox Ranch was bound to be bustling soon enough, just like the rest of the territory did.
More treehouse complexes were constructed on a daily basis and more subjects joined the territory after emerging from the Summoning Gate.
The territory grew rapidly, and as of now, it didn’t seem like trouble awaited them.
That was great, and it gave him the opportunity to spend the rest of the week studying religiously and working on more plans to focus on in the future.
His first week in the Saphirelake Military Academy didn’t feel different from his time in the Dekalos-Class spaceship.
The Memory Lane course was jam-packed with students. The study material was more detailed than it had been in the spaceship, but the content of the first week’s lesson wasn’t too different. In fact, it was a summary of the lessons Michael had already attended in the Dekalos-Class spaceship to ensure that everyone was at the same starting point.
On the other hand, the Limit Breaker course was pretty interesting. Only a few students picked the course, and most actually only picked it due to the benefits one would receive.
A Jumbo Meal and one medicinal solution ticket were given to everyone – but only after they were present at the workout session. The condition was made to ensure that nobody could receive the benefits of certain courses without actually attending them. It was also why many freshmen would soon quit the Limit Breaker course.
But Michael didn’t care about that. He was quite satisfied having the Barbaric Couple, and Kaleb as fellow students in the course. Kaleb was registered as a special case, which is why he was allowed to attend some of the special courses without being officially accepted as a freshman at the Saphirelake Military Academy.
He would only become an official student of the academy once he manifested his War Rune.
Interestingly enough, the Barscht triplets and a bunch of other Minor Nobles chose to join Silverian Schild’s Limit Breaker Course as well.
At this point in time, Michael could tell that his life in the Saphirelake Military Academy would become increasingly interesting. He made a bunch of friends and got to know more people.
But most importantly, Michael was given the opportunity to grow stronger and learn more about the Origin Expanse and the extraterrestrial.
It was simply too exciting and much more pleasant than his time in school in Elyra.
How could he not be happy about his current situation?
Meanwhile, his individual teaching with Alice started only after the first week ended. Alice had been busy all week, which was why they could only start now.
But that was something Michael was fine with.
In fact, he felt good spending one week adjusting to the new environment and studying more about Ancient Ruins and Old Tongues. It was quite interesting even if it may sound extremely boring for others.
Because it sounded rather boring compared to “Advanced Warfare”, “Magic Warfare”, and so on, not many students picked the Ancient Ruins and Old Tongues courses. Fortunately, that made it easier to get to know the other freshmen and create a harmonious study group where the researchers were more like friendly guides than strict teachers.
Unfortunately, not all courses made him feel as comfortable as the Ancient Ruins and Old Tongues courses. In the Memory Lane course, everyone felt anonymous. Even though not a single seat was unoccupied in the course, Michael didn’t get to know anyone. On the other hand, the Limit Breaker course had a sense of familiarity in Michael’s heart.
He knew most people in the Limit Breaker course and felt that it was quite nice to be suffering alongside them. Seeing their suffering eased his mind to a certain extent, telling him he was not the only one who was struggling.
It was weird but nice.
However, his first lesson with Alice was everything but nice.
In fact, it was horror.
“Escape, or die!”