After stepping inside the Colosseum, Michael’s attention was pulled to the young woman surrounded by close to two dozen Awakened.
The Awakened were participants of the Battle Exchange and so was the young woman wearing white linen clothing. She had silky golden hair that cascaded down her back and ocean-blue eyes. Her presence commanded attention and praises – and that was something she was getting more than enough.
Michael could only see the two dozen Awakened fawning over her as if she was a precious treasure. But then again, Michael had to agree that the young woman was beautiful. Her beauty was on par with Alice’s.
“Who is that?” He asked the Zenovia siblings out of curiosity, wondering what was up with this young woman.
“Who? Do you mean Maria Seraph?” Kaleb asked, pointing at the woman Michael had been talking about. Michael gave it a short nod, which rewarded him with confused gazes from both Kaleb and Alice.
“You really don’t know her?” Alice asked, not quite believing what she heard just now.
“I know that you don’t really care about politics and such, but you are very interested in Soultraits usually. You are one of the people who researched Soultraits the most, but you don’t know the Seraph family, and their precious diamond, Maria Seraph?”
Michael could only smile as a response. Should he know the Seraph family? Well. He was pretty sure that he had heard about the Seraph family, but that was it. Michael didn’t care about the nobility, large families and clans enough to start researching them and their family tree for hours together. He didn’t have that much time to waste on such nonsense.
“As if…” Kaleb mumbled, shaking his head. Thankfully, Alice regained her composure faster than Kaleb. She realized that Michael was truly ignorant of the Seraph family, and Maria Seraph.
“To put it in very simple terms, the Seraph family is known for their healing Soultraits. They’re among the best of the human race, and the Tritan Alliance. Maria Seraph is on a different level though. She is a Heavenly Chosen just like Kaleb,” Alice explained.
“So…she has a 7-Star Soultrait like Kaleb?” Michael asked, only for Alice to lift her fingers and correct him.
“Maria has a 7-Star Soultrait but the Soultrait is far from ordinary. She has a healing-type Soultrait. The only 7-Star healing Soultrait all over the Tritan Alliance. If that’s not enough for you to understand the importance of her Soultrait, I know of only two Lords with 6-Star Healing Soultraits. There are only two of them as far as I know, and both belong to the Seraph family!”
Kaleb listened intently and added, “Maria once said that she doesn’t know the true extent of her own power. She mentioned that she might be able to bring someone back from the dead provided they didn’t die more than 3 seconds ago. If her powers grow stronger – which they will – Maria might be able to go beyond that time constraint and resurrect someone several minutes after they died. That will change everything. Her potential and value is immeasurable. Thus, everyone is trying to get almost her.”
Michael was quite surprised to see Kaleb praising someone else that much. He always thought that Kaleb had a hard time praising others because that might mean he accepted that others were better than him. Thus, it was even more surprising that Kaleb praised Maria Seraph to the stars and beyond.
Then again, Maria Seraph’s Soultrait seemed far more special than any other 7-Star Soultrait of mankind’s Heavenly Chosen.
‘Healing Soultraits are that rare? Not that it affects me. In the future I will get my hands on a healing Soultrait, no matter the star rating.’ Michael thought, not giving in to all the hype around the healer girl.
“Are you interested in her as well?” Alice asked, a faint frown appearing on her face. Michael smiled teasingly and responded, “If her Soultrait can regrow hair, maybe. If not, probably not.”
Maria Seraph was beautiful, young, and extremely talented given that she was in possession of a 7-Star Soultrait with healing properties, but all Michael could think about when he heard about the uniqueness and rarity of her Soultrait was that he had yet to get hold of his own healing-type Soultrait.
“Hair? Well…I don’t know if she can do that,” Alice mumbled, suppressing a laugh as she looked at Michael’s bald head once again.
“You don’t know? So there is a possibility…Well, okay then. I can just ask her,” Michael said right before walking over to Maria Seraph and the small group of people surrounding her.
Michael suppressed his presence and gave them a friendly smile as he approached them. He wasn’t noticed until he moved two Awakened to the side. They were standing in his way, so they were removed on the spot.
The Awakened grumbled and were just about to start a fight with Michael when they noticed that Michael was already standing directly in front of Maria Seraph.
“I’m sorry for butting into your fan meeting, but I have a small question to ask you,” Michael said, clearing his throat right before he got straight to the point, “Can your Soultrait accelerate hair growth as well, or is that impossible?”
Maria Seraph hadn’t noticed Michael at first. But she sensed something from her right side that attracted her curiosity. First, Maria turned her head to look at Michael, only for her eyes to lock onto the crimson ring Michael wore.
Only after a second or two did her gaze move up to lock eyes with Michael. Maria tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. Michael’s question didn’t sound like the usual requests she received. His words weren’t filled with the usual heaps of acclaim and flattery either.
“Is it possible to some extent at least, or not?” Michael repeated, but Maria Seraph didn’t answer immediately.
“Who the hell are you to crash our lovely discussion?” Some hoodlum interfered in Michael’s chat with Maria. It was a Descendant at the 3rd Tier, a second-year student from one of the Great Academies.
“You filthy brick. How dare you speak to our Saintess?!” Another Descendant joined the hoodlum’s side.
However, Michael couldn’t even hear him. He locked eyes with the vibrant ocean-blue eyes of Maria Seraph, the young woman whom many called Saintess, and smiled, waiting for her to answer.
Maria spent several seconds trying to escape the enchantment of Michael’s dark – nearly black – eyes that seemed to trap her. However, once she regained her senses, Maria answered Michael’s question at last.
“Even if it’s possible, I wouldn’t want to waste my power to regenerate hair,” She said, gently touching one of her ears.
Her ears were oddly warm and they had a faint pinkish tint.
Michael could only concede with her reasoning. If Maria Seraph would use her power to regrow his hair many powerhouses would feel betrayed. First of all, the powerhouses would think she used her powers on trivial things. Meanwhile, others would demand her to use her powers to heal their small injuries as well. Therefore, it was only logical that Maria used her healing trait only for wounds nobody else could tend to.
But it was a shame for Michael. It would be great if he could use Maria as his personal hair growth expert.
“Alright then. Thanks for answering my question. Have a nice day,” Michael said, not bothering to stay in Maria’s circle of fans anymore. He ignored the two Descendants who were still staring at him and walked away.
Maria’s eyes followed him, and she noticed that two people were already waiting for him a few meters ahead.
‘Isn’t that Alice Zenovia, and her brother? Weird.’
“Oi. Where do you think you are going?!” One of the Descendants who had been angered by Michael’s interruption. He stepped forward, only for a young girl standing next to him to stop him from doing something stupid.
“Don’t bother about him. He must like his hair, otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked such a stupid question. He is not worth it.” She said, right before seeing that Kaleb Zenovia patted Michael’s shoulder and began laughing aloud.
The others noticed that as well, but only the Descendant, who had been ready to fight Michael, retaliated to the scenario in front of him.
“He belongs to the Zenovias?” He asked, looking at the girl next to him, who responded, “I don’t know. Either way, it’s a good thing that you didn’t hurt him. Alice is way too overprotective of her people. Some even say that she is obsessed with their well-being and that she is willing to kill even Descendants if they do something to her people.”
Kaleb continued to laugh at Michael and he said something that the group surrounding Maria didn’t hear. Michael gave Kaleb a shrug and didn’t bother about Maria Seraph anymore.
Meanwhile, Alice looked over to the group, staring straight at Maria Seraph.
‘Hmm? What was that?’
Maria didn’t shy away. She stared shoulders at Alice Zenovia, who locked eyes with the young healer for a few seconds before she turned around. Alice followed Michael and Kaleb, who walked away a little bit further before they sat down to talk and watch some official battles in the Colosseum.
Maria was confused, unsure if her eye contact with Alice had a deeper meaning. Her eye contact with Michael had been a little bit different. It had been more intense but less stressful and tense. Her eye contact with Alice on the other hand was extremely stressful.
‘I must be imagining things,’ Maria thought, the pinkish tint of her ears intensifying as she recalled her eye contact with the unknown Awakened, who strolled around Kaleb and Alice.
‘What was his name again?’