?Two days later, Michael was still undecided about what to do. However, he learned more about the bridge Eren had been talking about and how it worked. The galaxies were connected through a portal that worked similarly to the isolated dimension of the Interdimensional Flag War.
One had to enter an isolated dimension, where one could step through one of countless portals resembling Runic Gates. One of the portals would lead to the galaxy where the Nest was hiding.
Eren didn’t tell Michael specific details about the Nest’s hideout anymore, but that was unnecessary. Michael didn’t have to know everything about the Nest just yet.
Other than the bridge, Eren and Michael also talked about other stuff. Michael told Eren a bunch of things about his powers, and Eren would learn some news about him through research, either way. It was only a matter of minutes to find out that Michael sold Soultraits and that he could also upgrade them. Thus, Michael went with the flow and revealed some things about his powers.
Eren deserved to be trusted, to a certain extent, either way. He protected Michael from Bloodhound and didn’t kidnap him, so there was no reason not to trust him at this point.
Eren wasn’t an idiot, either. He’d witnessed Michael’s power and what the young Lesser Lifeform was capable of. It was obvious that Michael had multiple extremely powerful Soultraits. That wasn’t something he could hide.
Obviously, Eren was surprised when he found out about Michael’s power. He reacted more positively than Michael had expected and told Michael that he was hoping to purchase a bunch of Soultrait Symbols and Upgrades as well. In fact, he requested his service as the Nest’s representative.
[You can ask for favors from the Nest. They’ll owe you big favors if you create a perfectly compatible Soultrait for them. Don’t be mistaken about this guy’s kindness. He might be nice, but business is business. There is a reason they sent Eren to this place rather than someone with an iron grip. If you fall into his honey trap, I will eat you alive!] The World Serpent warned Michael, who could only frown deeply.
Eren had already said they would generously compensate him for suitable Soultrait Symbols and Soultrait Upgrades. It wasn’t like Eren was trying to scam him.
The Curse hibernating inside Michael seemed to agree. It growled loudly, sensing Michael’s displeasure with the World Serpent’s warning. That was a bit surprising.
‘Should I not trust him? I thought we were grateful for him protecting us and the Tritan Alliance.’ He thought, only for Danny to sigh deeply.
[It is totally okay to trust him, but you shouldn’t trust him blindly. Trust is okay, but depending on someone or thinking that someone is 100% on your side is foolish. You don’t know much about Eren and the Nest. Everything they said might be a lie. Just remember to be vigilant. Every Soultrait you give the Nest could be used against you in the future. The Nest might merely be the lesser evil than the Supreme Human Alliance.]
‘That’s dark…’ Michael thought, but he trusted the voices in his head. It was one thing if the World Serpent said anything alone, but neither his Curse nor Danny voiced concern about his trust under normal circumstances.
“I’m currently in a bind about Soultrait Symbols and Soultrait Upgrades. We can talk about that later,” Michael explained to Eren, who nodded understandingly. “In that case, I can teach you a little bit about Curse Techniques. Since you have already awakened your Curses, you can already learn how to use Curse Techniques.”
Eren didn’t seem bothered about his rejection at all. He acted like he’d expected this response in the first place.
“Some people call Curse Techniques, Cursed Techniques, or Curse Arts, but the terminology doesn’t matter. What matters is that there are only a few universal Curse Techniques and that you’ll have to learn the essence of your Curse – Curses in your case – to create your series of Curse Techniques,” Eren explained, conjuring a blade of silver energy in his hand. The blade manifested before him in one second and split into four in the next second.
Michael thought that the demonstration would be over when he sensed that the silver energy within the blades compressed. A trace of energy released the blades into the air, transforming them into beams as they shot high into the air. Michael couldn’t follow the breathtaking velocity of the silver blade beams. The blades reached a height of several kilometers in no time. They exploded, the energy amassed within them, erupting in all directions.
The starry sky was suddenly dyed silver. A shockwave passed through the air, spreading the silver energy even further. The attack looked beautiful rather than deadly, but Michael knew better. Spirit Eyes determined that the explosions had been fatal. It was even more lethal than some of Bloodhound’s attacks.
‘A single explosion would have been enough to destroy more than my True Extraction Globe destroyed. He wasn’t lying when he said that he can destroy the planet easily…’
“My Soultrait is Weaponry. It allows me to create a wide variety of weapons from energy. By studying my Soultrait and Curse in-depth, I managed to create these simple yet deadly Curse Techniques. It doesn’t require much energy as most energy is substituted with my Curse’s power, but the damage that can be inflicted with a single Moon Blade is enough to kill thousands of enemies. Even Divine Lifeforms have to be careful not to underestimate the Moon Blade, otherwise, they will sustain severe wounds as well.”
Michael imprinted Eren’s words deep into his mind. He’d always known that he needed to study his Soultraits more in-depth. However, that was even more crucial now that he could combine his Soultrait’s power with his Curse. If he could combine Sacred Constitution with the World Serpent’s power…how powerful would he become? What if he properly combined his Curse’s power with Extraction once he studied both his Curse and Extraction? How strong would the True Extraction Globe be at that point?
Michael had difficulty imagining the damage he could cause, but he felt nice.
“It seems like my demonstration was enough to motivate you to try it, too. How about it? Are you ready to give it a try?” Eren asked.
Michael nodded without a second of hesitation, and they got started.
Eren taught him for the next few days. His training was harsh, but Michael noticed some quick improvements. He quickly realized the difference between the teachings of a Divine Lifeform and the teaching he’d obtained from Kraft Viton.
Michael felt a little bit bad about Kraft Viton, but Eren was several hundred years old, and he had the knowledge of the entire Nest up to his sleeves. At the end of the day, Michael still conversed to Kraft Viton to ensure he was fine. Surprisingly enough, the old man asked Michael to be taught some tips and tricks instead of throwing a fit. He understood that Michael needed a better teacher than him. A Divine Lifeform was perfect for Michael, especially since Eren was from another galaxy where the powerhouses were already far more advanced.
The Tritan Alliance lacked knowledge severely compared to them. Their resources and techniques were insignificant compared to the snippets Eren shared with Michael. But maybe that was only a matter of time as well. Michael had Foundation Break, the Soullife Arts, to share with the Tritan Alliance for monetary benefits, of course, and Superior Class Soul Techniques to analyze.
Eren didn’t provide him any unique techniques or his first Neutral Curse Technique that might be used with any type of Curse, but the Curse User’s ocean of knowledge and his disciplined teachings assisted Michael understand his Soultraits better. But that was only a tiny fraction of what he learned.
Until this point, Michael had already consumed thousands of Memory Orbs, but he never managed to reach profound mastery with any weapon. He was a master of none but was capable enough to wield any weapon more than decently. That changed with Eren’s teachings. Weaponry, his Soultrait, did not only allow him to create all weapons. It granted him increased proficiency with any type of weapon. To study his Soultrait, Eren had to study all weapons and become master of all.
That assisted Michael improve a lot. They fought a lot if one could refer it that. A massacre was probably more feasible, with Michael being the poor punching bag that was being broken until a new one was needed, which meant that Michael had to use Archangel’s Grace on his body to heal before he was punched until broken once again.
It was painful, but he learned a lot, mostly thanks to Spirit Eyes analyzing Eren’s movements and the corresponding actions.
Only a few days had passed, days that felt like months, but Michael’s control of all weapons had improved drastically. Eren had been slightly shocked about his Aethyr and the amount of Aether infused into the alloy, but he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, the Curse User assisted Michael even more eagerly after getting to understand about Michael’s Aethyr.
It felt like Eren wanted to transform Michael into a killing machine – a worse killing machine than he was to begin with. Michael was fine with that. It assisted him progress and rely less on his Soultraits. The switch-up to relying on weapons was pretty interesting, and it made the Soultrait, Qi, a lot more enjoyable to use as well. Qi allowed him to unleash any weapon’s full potential or create the weapons from scratch.
It wasn’t the same as Weaponry. Despite that, Michael felt that it was better when combined with Aethyr.
At the end of their daily training session, Michael met up with his friends, Alice and the Matriarch of the Zenovia house. Michael thought it would be a little awkward but was surprised to see that the Matriarch’s attitude was nothing like it used to be. Katharina Zenovia explained her reasoning for acting like a bitch in a very straightforward way. She wanted to see what Michael would do if she threatened him to take Alice away and have her marry someone else.
She wanted to see whether he actually loved her little baby girl and how much he valued her. Alice was a little – very – uncomfortable because she wanted to take care of herself as the independent woman she had been raised to be, but she was also glad that her mother and her boyfriend were on friendly terms now.
Calling them friends would be over the top, but they were on a good path to accepting one another. But that wasn’t Alice’s issue. She thought her mother would be the biggest problem for the time being, only to forget that Michael’s mother was a powerhouse who had disappeared a long time ago.
Michael’s entire family was full of powerful Awakened, and the reason for their power was unraveled not too long ago. Their family’s bloodline was ‘Cursed’, and they were recruited into a mysterious organization where their Curse would transform into a deadly weapon.
Michael would have to leave her.
Alice never thought she would worry about something like that. Everyone knew her as the Frozen Duchess, yet Alice felt like a little my-little-pony girl. Alice found herself thinking about Michael more often as time passed. She wanted to cling to him and never let go of him.
That frustrated her. She had never been the clingy type, yet she turned out to be even worse than those she’d loathed before.
Putting the frustration about herself aside, Alice couldn’t see herself seeing Michael even less than she already did.
“Do you ponder it’s possible for me to go to the Nest as well, or do I have to implant a Curse into my body?” Alice murmured, lost in thoughts, only to have Michael and her mother stare at her in shock.
“Alice?!” Michael blurted aloud, only for the Matriarch to exclaim.
“Darling!”
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