Michael’s clothes were drenched in sweat and he was breathing heavily, standing next to the Relic of Draka.
The forge of the Magical Smithy was fully empowered, releasing a blazing heat that spread through every nook and cranny in the basement. Standing next to the forge, Michael felt tendrils of smoke rise up from the tips of his hair, and he even began to wonder how much longer it would take before his blood would start boiling.
Sweat poured down his cheeks, and the discomfort of the blazing heat began to wear him down, yet Michael never took his eyes away from the forge.
He stayed focused and kept watching intently as the Zention Ore was slowly reduced to metal.
After talking to Kaleb for a while, Michael finished his purchase in the academy shop. He used all of his Saphire points to buy Zention Ore and a wide variety of forging blueprints before returning to the Origin Expanse.
Now that he was back in the Origin Expanse, Michael focused on the creation of his Artifact-like Armor Set.
Michael began to utilize Extraction once the Zention Ore had been reduced to its metal. He engulfed the dark glowing metal inside the forge with the power of Extraction and started extracting the impurities within it.
The Relic of Draka used a specific forging technique that released some impurities within the metal it processed, however, Michael’s 6-Star Extraction Soultrait was a lot more potent.
Applying layers of Enhancement on top of Extraction further increased the Soultrait’s potency, allowing Michael to extract more impurities from within the dark glowing metal.
At first glance, extracting the impurities within Zention metal seemed quite easy. However, Michael had to pay attention not to extract the energy veins alongside the impurities. Most of the impurities were attached to energy veins, or even clogged them, restricting proper energy circulating. Extracting the impurities would solve those issues, and allow the Relic of Draka to unleash more of the Zention metal’s hidden potential. But extraction required lots of focus and time, especially when it had to be detailed.
Michael’s control of Extraction was quite high, but he rarely used Extraction for detailed extractions. Most of the time he would either throw the golden streams of extraction toward his enemies, extract entire behemoth trees, or dissect bodies – which didn’t really require him to control Extraction with extreme focus.
Slowly but steadily, Michael applied more layers of Enhancement onto the Power of Extraction. His golden streams invaded the Zention metal from all sides, carefully working through every inch of the metal to extract the impurities within.
More than half an hour passed before Michael retrieved the third Energy Nourishing Pill. He consumed it to replenish his used-up energy to keep extracting more impurities within the Zention metal.
By now, Michael had already extracted most of the impurities within the Zention metal. However, Michael was not yet satisfied. He wanted to ensure that the Relic of Draka could use the best materials to forge his Armor Set. Therefore, he began to use the Power of Enhancement he had stored in the Legendary Ring Artifact to add more layers of Enhancement on top of his Power of Extraction.
Extraction ended up with 10 layers of Enhancement for a short period. It was just enough time to remove some more impurities within the Zention metal. Michael slumped to the ground afterward, mentally drained, covered in sweat, and dead-tired.
He lay down on the ground, not caring about the searing heat that filled the entire room. Too tired to move, Michael waited until bits of his origin energy had been refilled before he conjured a few Glacicles. He put them down next to him so as to cool his surroundings for a few minutes and regulate his body temperature.
Once the Glacicles had molten, Michael forced himself to get up. He was still sweating but he was satisfied with the result.
The Relic of Draka had already begun to move, using the purified Zention metal to start processing it.
After Zention metal had been purified, its black surface shimmered royal blue. It looked magnificent, and a vibrant smile blossomed on Michael’s lips.
He had to use up the Power of Enhancement he had painstakingly hoarded and stored in the Legendary Ring Artifact after his battle with the Blood Witch, but he was certain that it would be worth it. The Relic of Draka was most likely proficient enough to turn the purified Zention metal into a natural Epic Tier-2 Artifact without the restriction of having to bind it to his body.
If he had a Grandmaster Enchanter at his disposal, he could even add enchantments on top of the Armor Set. But even without one, the Zention Armor Set was bound to be exceptional – all thanks to him extracting more than 80% of its impurities!
Staring at the crimson ring on his right index finger, Michael fell deep in thoughts.
“I wonder if the Relic can recreate Artifact-like accessories like Dragon Might as well…If that’s possible, even my Summons could use the Power of Soultraits stored within these accessories…”
Theoretically, it should be possible to mass-produce accessories with the same effects of artifacts. However, practically it was extremely difficult. In the first place, Michael would have to procure a blueprint for an Artifact that could store the Power of Soultraits like the Legendary Dragon Might Ring Artifact. Without a blueprint, the Relic of Draka wouldn’t be able to produce the Artifact. Other than that, Michael would have to procure the materials required to forge such a unique artifact like Dragon Might.
While the materials might be easier to procure, Michael had never heard of a blueprint for accessory Artifacts such as Dragon Might. But Michael didn’t really have high hopes, in the first place. Dragon Might was considered a Legendary Artifact for a reason.
Despite all of that, Michael felt that it would be great if he could make use of the Relic of Draka a little bit more. Using it to forge Artifact-like Armaments for his Summons was great, but it was rather slow, which meant that he could only equip some of his Summons with those Spirit Armaments, which Michael decided to call the Relic of Draka’s products.
Unsure how much time the Relic of Draka required to complete the Spirit Armor Set, Michael decided to leave the basement. The Magical Smithy would complete forging the Spirit Armor Set without him as well.
Hence, he returned to his room and took a quick bath. While sitting in the wooden bathtub, he thought about the development of his territory once again.
After he spent some time in a room with 150 powerful Lords, Michael’s thoughts about the future changed a little bit. He got to know dozens of people with various unique Soultraits, and the number of unique Awakened from influential families would increase further. Michael was about to meet 1500 of the strongest Awakened and Lords of the youngest generation. If he took the strongest Lords of the Berserker and Warlock Centaur’s youngest generation into account, Michael was about to meet nearly 5,000 Awakened who were bound to become powerhouses in the future – as long as none of them died, that is.
Each of them had been nurtured meticulously. They were trained from a young age and had been facing the dangers of the Origin Expanse for years. Fighting them would certainly grant him far more benefits than staying in the academy where he would have to waste his time attending courses that were more or less useless to him at this point.
A spark of determination ignited within Michael’s heart at that thought. Facing thousands of geniuses in the near future excited him. Even the thought of watching their fights and analyzing their combat prowess, ways to deal with their unique Soultraits, and their special Inheritance techniques, was more than enough to bring a smile to his face.
This spark of desire influenced Michael’s train of thought. He stepped out of the bathtub and put on one of his combat suits.
Not even a minute later, Michael found himself standing in the center of the training ground, surrounded by the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team and Tiara.𝗇𝗈𝑣𝖊𝐥𝑛𝖾xt.𝗇𝓔t
“Are you sure that you want to fight all of us at the same time, Master?” Tiara asked, not sure if she should be happy that Michael wanted to spar with her, or if she should feel insulted that Michael thought he could defeat six Tier-2 Adventurers simultaneously, including herself.
The Forest Elven Adventurers were in possession of two 4-Star Soultraits each, and Tiara had even better Soultraits. Wasn’t Michael taking them too lightly?
“I won’t hold back, so make sure that you guys won’t sustain any heavy injuries,” Michael retorted, his attention focused on Tiara.
In the worst case, Lilica and the other Forest Elven Adventurers could leave the Origin Expanse to rush to their tribe’s healers. Their healers should be as powerful – if not more powerful – than the Medic team in the Saphirelake Military Academy. However, Tiara couldn’t leave the Origin Expanse. She had to rely on their Priests to be healed.
“I am the toughest here. My natural regeneration is several times faster than the Forest Elves’ natural regeneration combined!” Tiara grumbled for the first time, showing a sign of frustration toward her master.
She was already feeling bad for being of little to no use to her master. All she could do to help his territory prosper was train the Summons and go out hunting. But Michael started to treat her as if she wasn’t even a combatant right now.
Her pride as a Silverfang Tigerfolk, and a Warrior took a hit just from hearing that.
Lilica and the Forest Elven Adventurers were also dissatisfied with Michael’s comment. They stared at him and manifested their Artifacts one after another and prepared to give him a tough time.
Meanwhile, Michael had to suppress a vibrant smile seeing how seriously his subordinates reacted. He was fully aware that his comment was a little bit unfair, especially toward Tiara, but he wanted to ensure that Tiara and the Forest Elven Adventurers would give their best while sparring with him.
Michael was also fully aware that Tiara’s natural regeneration was in a different league than his. She didn’t even need constant supervision from several Medics with healing-type Soultraits to tend to her after the Dragon breath burned her. Tiara healed naturally while Michael was bedridden in the infirmary under constant supervision and influence of healing Soultraits.
Nonetheless, Michael had to provoke Tiara and the others. He ought to tell them to pay attention to their surroundings. After all, he wanted to go all out in order to see how strong he actually was.
Unleashing his full power in front of the entire Tritan Alliance for the first time was not something Michael wished to do. He would rather practice and perfect his skills until he passed out before showcasing his talent in front of such a huge audience.
He wanted to control his powers to refine them during the Battle Exchange to be prepared for all kinds of situations that awaited him during the Interdimensional Flag War.
After all, the Flag War was where both the dangers and the treasures were waiting for him!