“Thank your friend for helping out please,” Michael said after he put the pieces together.
The investor Alice mentioned was definitely one of her friends. Maybe she just wanted to help Alice to ensure that she wouldn’t be affected in any way, but her intervention helped Michael quite a bit.
“That bitch is not my friend!” Alice scoffed, which caused a smile to blossom on Michael’s lips.
Michael was pretty sure that Alice and the investor were best friends if Alice cursed her openly like this. After all, nobody could really get close to Alice. She wouldn’t pay attention to people she didn’t like, forget about cursing them with a smile.
“I am sorry that you’ve been given such an annoying task. A punishment would have been a lot less dangerous than participating in the Interdimensional Flag War. I think, no… I know that I caused you lots of trouble,” Alice said, subtly changing the topic, “Under ordinary circumstances, you would have been expelled at best, or you could have ended in detention for a few months if the nobles pressed on a few more charges. But because of me…”
She trailed off and only looked at the floor with a sad expression. However, Michael didn’t think like Alice. It was not Alice’s fault. Even if it would have been, Michael knew that he would have been involved in the schemes of more powerful organizations, families, and households sooner or later. It was better to be pulled in earlier with badly planned traps like Mr. Klein and the Zan Twins ‘set up’ to learn from instead of immediately ending up getting involved with the big powerhouse’s dirty schemes.
He was still slightly confused about the punishment he had received, but he accepted it regardless. Maybe getting expelled from the Saphirelake Military Academy would have been a lot less dangerous than being told to join the Interdimensional Flag War, but Michael didn’t really want to be separated from the friends he got to know.
Furthermore, the Interdimensional Flag War seemed like a good opportunity to grow stronger. He was not sure about the rules applying to the Lesser Dimension Gate, but he knew that the Gate had similar restrictions as the Lord Rift in terms of strength. Thus, even though the Tekur were strong, they should definitely not be as powerful as the Red Dragon.
Of course, Michael didn’t want to die in the Interdimensional Flag War, but that could be taken care of easily. That only meant Michael had to strive harder than anyone else to get back to his peak form and grow stronger until the Interdimensional Flag War, which would start in three months. Three months were half a year in the Origin Expanse, which was more than enough to make use of the resources he had obtained in the Lord Rift to increase his strength by leaps and bounds.
If he could study his Soultraits more in-depth, and upgrade them a little, his combat prowess would definitely be high enough to fight some weaker Tekur. That was something Michael was certain about. After all, he had nine Soultraits out of which six could be used in battle – seven if Taming was included.
Thinking about the Interdimensional Flag War gave Michael a goal to strive for. It allowed him to get his act together and fueled his motivation to grow stronger instead of staying idle in his territory – thinking about Danny all day.
“I am allowed to enter the Origin Expanse again, right?” Michael asked, the sparks of life shining brightly in his eyes again.
Alice didn’t expect to see Michael like this. It was almost like his personality changed suddenly.
But it was a good change.
“Yes, you’re allowed to enter the Origin Expanse again,” She answered with a nod.
“And we’ll depart to meet up with the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs in two weeks, is that right?” Michael added another question to make sure that he didn’t hear it wrong earlier.
His mind was still a mess from the information he had obtained earlier, but he didn’t want to overthink anything anymore. He was tired of thinking too much, which was also why he jumped into action rather than sitting idle.
“No. The Battle Exchange starts in two weeks. We’ll have to depart in three days. That means you will have to reach the top of the freshman ranking as soon as possible,” Alice answered with a smile, even though she didn’t look that confident.
Michael’s Soultraits may be powerful, but his physical condition wasn’t that great right now. His body had suffered a lot while fighting Mr. Klein, and she was unsure how much more his body could endure before breaking down.
However, Michael just nodded his head. His eyes regained their former vigor, and a tinge of excitement filled him – which was a little surprising even for himself. He took a deep breath before he got up and charged out of his room.
“I will be back in three days then.”
That was all Alice could hear from Michael as he rushed across the hallway, her piercing ocean-blue eyes staring at his departing figure.
She knew that Michael would have a hard time regaining his former physique in merely three days. However, Alice also knew that Michael had entered a Lord Rift a few weeks ago. It was possible that Michael made some useful gains other than the new powers he seemed to have obtained in the Lord Rift.
Alice had many questions about Michael’s powers but it was hard to ask him about them – especially since the secrets of one’s Soultraits were usually confidential. Most powerful Lords, including herself, wouldn’t unleash their full power in front of other Lords if it was not necessary. Forget about revealing the secrets of their Soultraits, they didn’t even want others to know how strong their Soultraits were.
All they revealed was their Soultrait’s star rating on the day of their awakening, but that was already it.
But Michael didn’t seem to be interested in keeping his Soultraits a secret. He exposed them whenever it was necessary… but that was exactly what caused all this trouble.
Alice’s eyes darted to her vibrating crystal watch, and a holographic screen appeared in front of her.
“What am I supposed to do with you, Michael?” She sighed deeply, opening starnet messenger where dozens of new messages had appeared.
“I should have tried to delete the video footage. Too many people are interested in you now… Your life will definitely not be as quiet and peaceful as before…sorry…”
Silence encompassed Michael’s room after Alice’s words resounded. She scrolled through her past chats for a few minutes before getting up to leave as well. The concern in her eyes disappeared and was replaced by an eerily cold expression – the expression everyone was used to seeing on the Frozen Duchess’ face. Alice Zenovia had a lot to do, and both concern and worry were not suitable emotions for those tasks.
Instead, being her cold and unapproachable self was much more suitable for her upcoming tasks.
She left Michael’s room and promptly returned to her office where she manifested her Runic Gate.
“Let’s take a look at how far the Daemons advanced,” Alice murmured before she disappeared in the Runic Gate. A trace of her Soultrait’s power had subconsciously leaked from her body, freezing everything in the office instantly.
While Alice had already returned to the Origin Expanse, Michael was still busy looking through the catalogs of the Bartholomew Shop. He had already used his Diamond membership to order a wide variety of high-quality herbs, concoction tools, medicinal serums, recipes, and other goods.
Most of the goods were useful to tend to his body and stimulate his body’s natural healing process. Michael wanted to practice the Sacred Rectification body refinement technique from the beginning to the second stage in the next three days.
That would have been impossible if Michael hadn’t reached the second stage with the Sacred Rectification body refinement technique already. His physique may not be great right now. However, his constitution was still refined to near perfection. 𝑛𝑜𝗏𝖊𝒍𝓝𝖾xt.𝗇𝓔t
Re-refining his body a second time could be considered both a stimulation for his muscles and a workout – which was all he needed to regain his former physical strength within three days…alongside nutrients, origin energy, and Body Strengthening Pills.
Michael wouldn’t have been confident to regain his former physique within three days without the recipe of the Body Strengthening Pill. But that changed since he had the recipe, a Master Alchemist, and the ingredients to produce several batches of the required pill.
He used most of his funds to purchase various goods in the Bartholomew Shop. Afterward, he rejected the shop manager’s offer to have an afternoon tea with him and talk about the Agriculture Project.
Instead of taking a break, Michael rushed back to his room where he willed his War Rune to manifest the Runic Gate. He stepped through it and returned to the Untamed Jungle where his people were already waiting for him.
Tiara and the Forest Elves of the Adventurer team sensed through their Link of Loyalty with their Lord that Michael had returned with a newfound motivation. They could immediately tell that a different man was walking towards them as Michael reappeared in front of them.
His physique may be weak but the bright sheen in his eyes didn’t belong to a weak man, that was for sure.
“I’m glad you’re back,” Tiara said, a vibrant smile blossoming on her lips.
“You guys did a good job handling the territory while I was … out of it,” Michael praised.
He took a deep breath of fresh air and looked high up into the canopy of ginormous trees above him.
“I’m back.”