229 Tier-2
By the time Michael advanced to the 1st Tier, he had already used Extraction to aid his first natural cleansing.
Extracting impurities from his body wasn't possible under ordinary circumstances. It seemed like he could only meet the conditions to extract impurities during a natural cleansing.
That was also why Michael used 6-Star Extraction, strengthened by several layers of Enhancement during his second natural cleansing.
The fewer impurities he left inside his body the faster his energy circulation would be. At the end of the day, the overall strengthening he received from his War Rune's advancement would be on the higher side with fewer impurities restricting him.
A body void of impurities was what Michael worked toward. Perfectly purifying himself would increase his strength drastically, and using 6-Star Extraction was his approach to get closer to his final goal.
The means at his disposal at his current stage were incomparable to Extraction when he first used it to extract the impurities during the first natural cleansing. At that time, Extraction had only been a 3-Star Soultrait, and Michael hadn't been in possession of an Enhancement either.
Time passed slowly, and several layers of thick black mass covered his body. It stuck to him and made him feel filthy and disgusted. Even the intense golden streams of Extraction got buried under the mass of badly reeking impurities.
'The human body is really filled with nothing but rubbish…' Michael mused at one point.
Advancing to the 2nd Tier wasn't an easy task. It required a tremendous amount of origin energy and nutrition to strengthen his body and expand the pillar of light properly.
Using up a tremendous amount of origin energy immediately after advancing to the 2nd Tier was something most Awakened would advise against. However, Michael had to use Enhancement and Extraction to exploit the opportunity that appeared with the second natural cleansing.
That was also why Michael was drained of all his energy when the second natural cleansing ended. He could barely crawl into the bathtub that had been filled with warm water and a medicinal solution before he dozed off.
When he woke up again, the layers of impurities covering his body were no more.
Michael was confused at first, but he found Tiara standing next to the bathtub, clearing his doubts.
"I removed the impurities and cleansed your body, Master. You don't have to worry about the stench either. I took care of everything!" She explained with enthusiasm in her voice.
Michael raised an eyebrow while keeping his attention on Tiara. He was not sure when she started to wear her maid uniform once again, but he faintly recalled seeing her in it a lot in the last month.
Michael hadn't given her an order in that regard. Tiara did it on her own volition, which was quite confusing. Tiara was a great combatant. Using her as a maid seemed like a waste of her talent and potential. However, the Battle Maid of the Silverfang Tigerfolk didn't seem to care. She would fight the moment Michael ordered her only to return to the territory and wear her maid uniform once again.
"...Good job. Thanks for looking after me…" Michael could only say, not sure whether to scold Tiara or to praise her for cleansing his body.
He looked down at himself and noticed that he was still wearing his underpants, causing a sigh of relief to escape his lips subconsciously.
'At least, she didn't go overboard.'
"You can go outside. I'll change and come out in a minute."
Michael waved his hand, gesturing to Tiara to leave. Tiara bowed politely to Michael and left the room.
Tiara closed the door behind her as she left. Her cheeks turned red like a tomato and her tail started to swish wildly.
"...I'm insane…" She blurted out, shaking her head furiously, trying to control the thoughts that began to corrupt her innocent mind.
While Tiara was fighting with her inner demons, Michael got out of the wooden bathtub. He stripped off his wet underpants, dried his body, and put on a neat set of dry clothes.
Afterward, he stepped out to meet up with the rest of his people.
By now, the corrupted land of the Untamed Jungle's outer ring had been fixed. Michael spent a small fortune and a considerable amount of time to extract every single trace of the chaos essence that had taken root in the corrupted land before nourishing the Untamed Jungle with a few more batches of hundreds of thousands of Tier-1 monster carcasses.
He had already finished fixing the corrupted land, and placed a few watchtowers in the Untamed Jungle's outer ring, and stationed a few guards who would report the movements in that area to him.
Since Michael couldn't simply show up at the gate and demand to enter Xiltra as he pleased anymore, he had to find other means to stay up-to-date. It would be easier with a meticulously planned information network, but setting up something like that was easier said than done.
Thus, watchtowers were the fastest and a cost-efficient solution for the time being. He could switch to other means of surveillance once the time was ripe.
When he stepped out of the wooden manor, Michael was greeted by the densely grown Untamed Jungle. It was dimly lit because only a few rays of sunlight made it past the thick canopy of jungle trees.
The trees all around them were old and had a thick trunk. They were decades, if not centuries old, and continued to grow without anyone disturbing them. At first, Michael wanted to cut down the trees around the wooden manor and the Summoning Gate, but he chose against it.
He only cut down the areas where it was unusually dense to ensure that some trees could survive and continue to grow.
When trees grew too closely together, their branches, roots, and foliage overlapped, leading to intense competition for resources, such as sunlight, water, and nutrients. Michael made sure to break down the competition between the trees in his territory with the use of Extraction.
Simultaneously, he used the trees he cut down to construct treehouse complexes and put them in the trees he had salvaged.
Most residents of his territory lived in large treehouse complexes. This was to ensure that the highly nutritious ground could be kept free for the Bilrox ranch, the farms, warehouses, the Alchemy house, the Medical hall, the public canteen where food was distributed to everyone, the training grounds, and much more.
All in all, Michael didn't alter the environment around him too much. He wanted to use the Untamed Jungle and live alongside it in a symbiotic relationship rather than draining the Untamed Jungle like a parasite. That was the best solution he could think of considering that he desired to stay a long time in the Untamed Jungle.
Of course, Michael had to get rid of the harmful plants that spread through the Untamed Jungle's middle zone and remove huge chunks of the thick undergrowth. But Michael made amends for that. He chose to consider the Untamed Jungle a sentient existence, which was why he made tributes to the Untamed Jungle whenever he harmed it.
His tributes were mostly monster corpses which the Untamed Jungle devoured and digested to accelerate the growth of its flora and fauna.
Finding a raised spot, Michael climbed it and his gaze moved through his territory. Wherever he looked, people were busy with work. New treehouse complexes had to be constructed at all times, ensuring that there would be enough space for new summons to stay and rest. Other than that, a new system had been constructed for the canopy bridges.
The infrastructure of the territory had been upgraded, creating more pathways to pass through the Untamed Jungle in a much shorter period.
They even completed a straight pathway to the fiend trees where Sun Demos and his Demon Monkeys resided. Sun Demos and his subordinates hadn't been relocated to Michael's territory. They felt more comfortable in the darkness of the gloomy fiend trees.
Michael let them be. If the Blood Oath Demon Monkeys were satisfied with their habitat, who was he to drag them out of their favorite place? He was not a tyrant, after all!
He took a deep breath of fresh air, and a smile blossomed on his lips.
Everything in his surroundings felt much more vibrant than ever before. It was hard to explain since Michael felt like this for the first time, but everything around him felt restlessly alive. Even the gusts of air were full of vigor, seemingly sentient as they brushed past him.
His body felt much lighter than before, and he could see a faint luster of twinkling stars spread across his body. Looking down at his body, Michael could clearly see his shimmering skin, and the smallest details of his pulsating veins and bulging muscles.
Michael couldn't comprehend it yet, but the extraction of impurities didn't only lead to a drastic increase in his origin energy circulation and physical strength. The removal of impurities sharpened his dull senses that had been affected by impurities as well.
It improved his stamina by removing the impurities in his lungs and other vital organs, in addition to improving his endurance and regeneration abilities, enabling the smooth circulation of blood, origin energy, and transfer of nutrition.
Advancing to Tier-2 and completing the second natural cleansing should have increased his strength and overall capabilities by more than 50% under normal circumstances. However, by taking the additional extraction of impurities into account, Michael guessed that his power and overall capabilities must have increased by nearly 100%!
Even a Low-stage Tier-2 Adventurer wouldn't dare to face Michael head-on right now, even if Michael didn't use his Soultraits and Artifacts!
Now that Michael advanced to Tier-2, he was not sure how strong he had become. However, he knew that he still had a long way to go.
Michael was satisfied with the increment in strength he had attained by advancing to the 2nd Tier, but he found himself getting impatient and greedy.
Despite knowing that it was not healthy, Michael found himself caught in his desire and greed to overpower everyone around him and to be able to expand his territory without the need to be wary of the people, empires, and regions around him.
Letting his greed lose, Michael sensed that something inside his War Rune's storage was tugging at his consciousness.
The golden piece of paper, which he had procured from the deep pit where he'd killed the 10 Paladins, appeared in front of him.
It glowed dimly as it levitated in front of Michael's eyes.
"What is that?" Michael mumbled, lifting his hand to touch the levitating golden paper.
However, the piece of paper evaded his hand. It revolved around Michael three times until it slowed down to hover in front of Michael's forehead.
All of a sudden, the golden paper burst forward. It shot toward Michael's forehead where it was supposed to collide.
Yet, instead of colliding with his forehead, the golden paper passed through his forehead.
The paper's solid form changed suddenly, turning gaseous as it entered Michael's head, where it infiltrated his mind.
Once inside his mind, the golden paper dispersed in all directions, leaving behind a golden strand and a flood of information that swept through his entire mind, occupying every corner.
'Why does this look like a golden gate?' Michael wondered in shock as he visualized the golden strand that looked just like a golden version of the Runic Gate.
"What the hell is going on?" He blurted aloud just before the flood of information almost knocked him out.
[A/N: What do you think will happen now? Where is the novel going? The warfare with the Jungle Expedition is over, but his confrontation with the Zentika Empire has just begun.
How will Michael fight his enemies? Will he back off and stall time, or will he change his approach?]