As he stepped out of the bathtub, the embodiment of strength and power revealed itself in the form of a man with a perfectly trained physique.
His entire body looked like it came right out of a factory; chiseled to perfection.
Veins snaked their way across his bulging muscles, pulsating with vitality and the undeniable proof of Michael’s hard work. Beads of sweat clung to his broad shoulders that had been sculpted and defined by countless hours of training.
Michael had pushed his body to the limit and beyond. With each breath he took, his chest expanded and contracted.
His muscles rippled with every movement, hinting at the tremendous strength he possessed. His hands, calloused and hardened, bore witness to countless repetitions and heavy lifts, displaying the determination Michael gained after learning about Kaleb’s first experience in the Origin Expanse.
His face was flushed with the exertion of his workout, but he exuded a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Finally, he finished the second stage of the Berserker Physique!
Despite being far from advancing to the 2nd Tier, Michael’s physical strength now rivaled Tier-2 Monsters. His physique had been refined to the extreme, unraveling every bit of hidden potential in him.
Not even a full month passed since Kaleb returned from the Origin Expanse the first time, but Michael felt increasingly confused.
In the last two weeks, Michael began to understand how terrifying the combination of great investments, a powerful Soultrait, and an Inheritance technique could be. Kaleb had everything, and his progress was exceptional.
The youngest member of the Zenovia family advanced to Tier-1 within a week of his Awakening. By then, Kaleb had a much easier time using his 7-Star Soultrait, Frozen Nova.
Being the 10th human with a 7-Star Soultrait – who was still alive –, Kaleb’s awakening attracted lots of attention. Everyone considered Kaleb one of the 10 Heavens, and the Zenovia family’s image and goodwill increased exponentially.
Following this, Alice had been called and told that she should focus more on Kaleb. That was also why Michael’s Individual teaching had been reduced to two sessions a week. Even then, Kaleb was always around them.
With Kaleb by his side all day around, Michael knew best how fast his friend progressed.
It was only a matter of time before Michael realized that their rivalry might turn into an endless pursuit from his side. He knew that he couldn’t wait any longer.
By then, his tireless training began.
He increased the weight of his heavyweight combat suit in the Limit Breaker course, increased his intake of nourishing and nutrient-rich meals, and he began to practice the Pandemonium’s Requiem energy absorption technique to always have enough origin energy to nourish the Berserker Physique as much as possible.
At last, his tireless work bore results. He was still at the Mid-stage of Tier-1, yet his physical strength and speed were much higher. It was an exceptional achievement. Despite that, Michael knew that he shouldn’t get carried away by the temporary success.
His rivalry with Kaleb was just getting started!
Fortunately, the development of his territory was smooth. The expansion continued smoothly since he entered the Saphirelake Military Academy, without facing any big setbacks.
That was even more surprising than Kaleb’s awakening of the 7-Star Soultrait!
Michael expected a lot, but he could have never presumed that the Twin Lions and Senator Keltos wouldn’t do anything about him, or the Untamed Jungle for the last 77 days.
But Michael didn’t let the confusion bother him. His army hunted close to 200 monsters everyday on average for the last two and a half months, totaling more than 15,000 Tier-1 Monster corpses in less than three months.
All of that was possible thanks to the expansion of his military, their increasing hunting proficiency, and because everyone grew much stronger.
By now, everyone in the army had advanced to Tier-1. Michael invested a fortune to nourish his people, resulting in a rapid improvement of his military power. Their Tier increased alongside their equipment.
It was much easier to hunt in the Untamed Jungle, and the only restriction put on Michael’s army was the decreasing number of monsters in the vicinity.
The Untamed Jungle was still overpopulated and flooded with fierce monsters, but that didn’t apply to the vicinity of Michael’s territory. Not anymore, at least.
Using Extraction on more than 15,000 Tier-1 Monsters during the last two and a half months was bound to give him great loot.
After he combined the Summoning Scroll Fragments, Michael gained a total of 11,930 Summoning Scrolls, 1873 blueprints, and 93 Artifacts from the Tier-1 Monsters of the Untamed Jungle. However, these were not the only gains Michael made.
He received three daily Summons, adding a total of 454 1-Star Summons, and 8 2-Star Summons to his territory
Since he entered the Saphirelake Military Academy, the population of Michael’s territory expanded by around 12,400 subjects, of which 8 were 2-Star Summons, 1743 were 1-Star Summons and the rest were Starless Summons.
The addition of such a high number of subjects made it much easier to distribute the working force.
Michael’s territory had many projects that required numerous helping hands, and it was good to have enough subjects to fill the gaps.
Now that Michael finished the Berserker Physique, he could switch to the Sacred Rectification body refinement technique whenever he wanted.
However, he felt that the refinement of his War Rune was of greater importance. He reached the Mid-stage only due to the big energy shares he received from his Summons’ Links of Loyalty. He didn’t even use energy pills for training purposes yet.
Now that his physique was improved to near perfection, Michael could pick up the pace of his progress. It may not look like this, but he progressed rapidly. Others would only see the refinement degree of his War Rune while missing out on the most important factors; his true combat prowess, and the depth of his foundation.
All of his money and time was invested to ensure a bigger and steady flow of returns. He invested to increase the efficiency of his income streams, making sure that he could focus on his advancement and the progress of his army.
The money he earned from selling monster corpses in the Bartholomew shop was used to buy equipment that allowed him to improve the quality and quantity of the low-level armament production – which he provided to the Forest Elven tribe.
The Forest Elves were in need of a high number of armaments of all levels. That was why Michael had been so heavily invested in blacksmithing, which had been proven correct for the last two and a half months.
Michael used tens of Blacksmith Summoning Scrolls, and he turned the Underground Ecosystem into a secret workshop for his artisans. It was one of his biggest projects since he entered the Origin Expanse, and it was certainly worth the investment he made. The hidden workshop turned into the blacksmith’s workplace and doubled-up as a place to stay if they wanted to. The miners working in the lizard cave loved the place as well. It wasn’t too far from their workplace, and they could live there with their families.
It was quiet and peaceful after the military cleared up the vicinity of the Underground Ecosystem.
The Large-scale Underground Forging Hall had been completed and the production of low-level armaments was at its peak.
In exchange for the low-level armaments he provided, the Forest Elves provided him with a big mountain of agricultural blueprints that were then sold to the Bartholomew Corporation.
The Bartholomew Corporation was very thankful for his hard work. Michael provided more rare agricultural blueprints in three months than the corporation could collect in half a year. It was ridiculous but also amazing.
The Department Head of the Bartholomew Corporation in the Saphirelake Military Academy chose to strengthen Michael’s connections with the Bartholomew Corporation even more. They went out of their way and gifted him something extraordinary; a 4-Star Tier-1 Spatial Pouch Artifact!
Ordinary Awakened didn’t require a Spatial Pouch Artifact. Their War Rune’s spatial space was more than enough to get through the day. However, many merchants required more space to travel around unhindered and carry a large number of items with them. They would always invest in Spatial Pouches and similar Artifacts because they were like the War Rune’s hidden spatial space.
Under normal circumstances, Michael was sure that he wouldn’t require a Spatial Pouch either. However, he faced more situations where his War Rune’s space had been filled to the brim recently. He was wealthy enough to purchase all kinds of resources for his people, but he didn’t have enough space to carry them around in one trip.
That was also why he had been forced to jump back and forth between the Origin Expanse and the Saphirelake Military Academy more often than before.
Thus, Michael was grateful for the gift.
It was exceptionally useful and just what he required.
Interestingly enough, the Bartholomew Corporation was not the only group that worked on strengthening their relationship in the last few months. Michael’s relationship with the Forest Elven tribe had improved as well.
There was no exchange of gifts, but Michael began to communicate with the Forest Elf Elders within the Origin Expanse.
Michael felt that it was very useful as well, especially since he could talk to the Elders about the Temple of the Forgotten.
The Elders were very interested in the Temple of the Forgotten, and they would have loved to visit Michael’s territory to take a look.
Unfortunately, that was not within their possibilities. The Forest Elves had never heard about the Zentika Empire before Lilica told them about the Native Empire.
Even if they wanted to come to Michael’s territory, they weren’t sure how long they would have to travel through the Origin Expanse – forget about the direction they had to travel, in the first place.