?[A territory for me~?] Zeroa exclaimed in Michael’s mind. Her excitement was overflowing, spreading through Michael like wildfire.
It was not like Michael planned to give the Elemental Empress his territory, but he had the heart to say anything. Zeroa was not entirely wrong with her assumption. He did indeed plan to share Paradise Valley with the Elementals. Paradise Valley felt much more suitable for Elementals than the Untamed Jungle. Of course, some Elementals were a better fit for the Untamed Jungle, but it was not like they couldn’t split up.
Both territories under Michael’s control accepted the Elementals. He wasn’t going to exile them in any way.
Instead of crushing Zeroa’s excitement, Michael experimented with the Portal Attachment. He triggered the metal disk and activated the portal. The activation cost was relatively high, as expected. However, the maintenance wasn’t too high.
Michael ordered Tiara to step through the portal and Hulas and the Starheaven Pharaoh to follow. They stepped through the portal and returned a minute later, each training with a fraction of the energy from the small energy battery.
Tiara’s teleportation was the most expensive. Meanwhile, both Starheaven Pharaoh and Hulas’ teleportation barely drained anything. Their strength was too insignificant, though the Starheaven Pharaoh managed to advance to Tier-1. He was pretty fast.
Despite that, Tiara’s teleportation was the most expensive.
Michael nodded in understanding and traveled through the Summoning Gate as well, returning to the Untamed Jungle.
He emerged from the Intermediate Summoning Gate and sensed how much energy it consumed.
‘The stronger the individual, the higher the energy consumption. That makes sense, I guess.’ He guessed, ‘Maintaining the portal is not expensive. Teleporting is also not that expensive. Upgrading the Portal Attachment to allow mass teleportation should also decrease energy consumption. That leaves only the activation cost. Activating and deactivating the portal after every use would be a waste.’
Keeping the portal active at all times was undoubtedly the best choice. There wouldn’t be a major issue since he had only two Summoning Gates. The only time Michael would have to deactivate the portal was for the summoning sessions since Summoning Gates couldn’t multitask. Focusing only on one task at a time with Summoning Gates was possible.
But that wasn’t a problem.
Michael kept the Portal active and gathered some of his people. His advisors and attendants rushed up to him, handing him several reports. The daily reports were a nuisance to read. Thus, Michael extracted the written word, transforming it into tiny Knowledge Wisps, which he consumed simultaneously.
Some reports were old and didn’t matter much to him. He thrashed the outdated intel and focused on the most recent reports and the information that interested him.
‘The Savannah Region is doing perfectly fine. They shoved a bunch of Higher Lifeforms into my little prison and hoped to receive my help. It looks like the Valyrs are getting impatient. That’s fine, though. Let’s give Zira a 5-Star Soultrait to use. Giving them a taste of my Soultrait Symbols, influence, and the future potential of our trades should be enough to pull them closer to me.’
Michael hadn’t prepared a Soultrait for Zira, but it was impossible to go wrong with a Soultrait that improved the Awakened’s physique in every aspect. Sacred Constitution was the perfect example. It allowed him to grow stronger due to the heightened energy absorption it granted. Of course, there were many other benefits as well.
He retrieved a Soultrait Symbol from his War Rune and the small emerald box he’d kept for a long time. 2850 SoulStar Fragments were drained from his pile of SoulStar Fragments to upgrade the 1-Star Soultrait Body of Minor Elements to a 5-Star Elemental Physique. The Soultrait Symbol’s upgrade was exactly what Michael had envisioned. It upgraded the Awakened’s understanding and compatibility with its innate elements drastically.
The Soultrait Symbol would have been perfect for Frederik, if Frederik’s affinity was innately, and not granted from Aeroan. But since that was not the case, Elemental Physique was almost useless to Frederik.
Showing off to the Valyrs would help him a lot. Therefore, he didn’t think twice when he put Elemental Physique into the emerald box. The emerald box was given to Icarus, who would bring the box to Zira in the next few hours.
The Forest Elves had already been granted more tiny bites of his power. They’d greatly helped him over the last few months and were rewarded with a few low-ranked Soultraits. The Soultrait Symbols impressed the Elves enough to triple their support in his territory. That wasn’t necessary, but Michael would accept additional help. That would be not very smart. He was not that filthy rich to deny help.
Other than the Forest Elves and the Valyrs, Michael had to deal with the Zentika Empire. The accounts from the Zentika Empire were…unique…to put it in simple terms. Hardly any news reached Michael, and the news he received were mostly contradictory. Michael had no idea what the truth was and which reports contained lies and misinformation.
He put aside the news about the Zentika Empire and focused on his territory. Many things attracted his interest, but he didn’t go into detail. An excellent summary of the accounts was that everything went according to plan. His settlements expanded rapidly; the monsters of the Untamed Jungle stopped bothering him after Hiraku beat up some High Beasts, and everyone was satisfied primarily. There were only a few complaints, mainly from Starless Summons, whose hearts were filled with envy and regrets.
Michael gave everyone various opportunities to change their future, but not everyone was ambitious and determined enough to grasp the opportunities. Some were scared to fail again and in the aftermath. They feared that they would never be able to get up again.
Michael would love to tell these Summons to try it and that it was worth trying repeatedly. He wanted to tell everyone that hard work paid off. However, some people were helpless. Their ambition was incredibly low, and they would rather spend hours cursing others for their ‘great fortune’ than putting the same hours into weapon training or learning a new craft.
Michael couldn’t force everyone to grow bodily and mentally. All he could do as Lord of an expanding territory was to keep giving everyone opportunities and to encourage his subjects to become better selves. It didn’t matter how slow they improved. If they tried, anyone would become a better person today than they were yesterday.
He shook his head and took a few deep breaths. Michael could tell that his emotions were taking over again. It had been a while since the Wicked Spear Arts intensified his feelings, but controlling them was as challenging as ever. He was still having a hard time, but that was fine. Michael knew that he would have to live with the intensified emotions. He had to adapt to them and learn to control his emotions better.
How else was he supposed to use the Wicked Spear Arts again when he was in a dire situation? Was he supposed to stay idle and die, or would it be better to give his utmost and take care of the aftermath once he survived?
The Wolf Curse might have helped Michael by devouring some of the intensity at which his emotions were amplified, but all it did was aid him adapt more smoothly to the Wicked Spear Art’s aftereffects. That was great, but Michael wondered if it might have been better for him to undergo shock therapy instead. Maybe he would have an easier time being forced to adapt to his intensified emotions over a few hours rather than having his feelings forcefully drained.
At the end of the day, Michael was not sure what was better. All he knew was that he was getting somewhere. That he was improving slowly and steadily. That things were getting better. Or so he hoped, at least.
The Wolf Curse and the World Serpent were his allies and mysterious beings whose true intentions Michael had yet to discover. Fortunately, he was not in a rush. Otherwise, he would have struggled when he learned that the Wolf Curse and World Serpent had finished digesting the curse power they’d absorbed from the Undead Pharaoh.
The curse power they’d absorbed was almost enough to crack the World Serpent’s 4th Serpent Seal, and it cracked all Cursed Seals. It would take a while before the Cursed Seals would break, but Michael feared that the Wolf Curse attempted to break all Cursed Seals simultaneously. That was somewhat problematic since Michael had no idea how to prevent that.
Each Cursed Seal strengthened Extraction drastically, but it also granted the Wolf Curse more access to his body and emotions.
Furthermore, Extraction was already at its limit with five Cursed Seals. Anymore active Cursed Seals and Extraction may kill Michael – so long he remained a Lesser Lifeform.
Fortunately, that wouldn’t be an issue much longer. He could ascend soon. Michael felt that his ascension would be much sooner than scheduled.
He shook his head and dismissed all thoughts that impeded him. It was important to start expanding his territory into Paradise Valley. However, he needed various resources to get started. The resources had to be purchased, just like the blueprints, so he called Rebecca. She was intelligent and had incredible comprehension. Her talent in martial arts was low, for lack of a better word, but she was the perfect manager.
Michael gave her a few Soultrait Symbols, the treasures he’d procured within Paradise Valley – except the Imperial Coins and Summoning Scrolls – and told her to get started with the construction in the Sacred Desert.
Then, Michael started acting as the Untamed Jungle’s Gardener. It was time to extract a few intrusive trees!