Michael emerged in his office in the wooden manor. He was back in the Origin Expanse, the Untamed Jungle’s rich energy swirling around him.
He walked over to the window and opened it, allowing the flowery and earthy smell of the densely grown nature into his room. He took a deep breath and smiled.
At last, he was back in the Origin Expanse.
[Let’s go. We have lots of things to do!] Danny exclaimed when he sensed Michael’s happiness. It was contagious and invigorated the Living Soul.
‘One thing at a time.’
Michael smiled, but he knew rushing wouldn’t help him. If anything, it would create endless chaos.
He retrieved the Expanse Prism and infused enough energy to activate it. The Expanse Prism lit up and manifested a holographic screen before him.
Michael waited patiently for Alice’s familiar face to appear on the holographic screen to appear, but there was nothing. She didn’t appear.
“Is she busy?” He wondered when the Expanse Prism’s light dimmed.
‘She should have been notified. There shouldn’t been an issue if I called her again in a few minutes. That should be enough, right?’ Michael asked in his mind, but nobody answered.
He closed his eyes and reached for the Links of Loyalty connected to his War Rune. The number of Links of Loyalty had increased exponentially over the last six months. That was to be expected, but the number surprised him nonetheless. It looked like Rebecca, Hiraku, and the others did a great job summoning and expanding the territory.
The Links of Loyalty were also quite firm, considering that the newest additions to the territory have never met their Lord. That spoke volumes about his people’s hard work. They did their best to ensure that the territory would expand properly.
‘I should reward them later.’ Michael nodded slowly.
He spent the next few minutes with his Links of Loyalty, trying to figure out how many high-ranked Summons he’d summoned in the last six months and how much everyone had progressed. There were a few things he could do with the Links of Loyalty that had been considerably more challenging before. Everyone’s progress, star rating, occupation, and happiness were much easier to perceive now.
It wasn’t necessary for him to be in a close relationship with the Summons or physically close to them to sense everything. Michael could sense everything instinctively. It was almost like he was given stats for every Summons and Awakened connected to him. That was new, but it could come in handy. Once he found out how to use the information efficiently, of course. For now, it was just some neat pieces of information.
He pulled some strings and called Lilica, Tiara, and the others to him. The attendants with the daily reports were probably enough to tell him about everything that happened in the last few months, but Michael wanted to hear the news and reports from his trusted allies.
As he waited for them to arrive, Michael tried calling Alice again. He supplied the Expanse Prism with enough energy to use it for ten minutes straight. This time, Michael had to wait only a minute before something in the holographic screen changed.
Alice’s face appeared on the holographic screen.
“Michael!” Alice exclaimed, her eyes twinkling, “You’re back!”
Michael smiled, but guilt spread through him, “Hey Alice. I’m sorry for calling only now. I finished my ascension not too long ago and could not call you. The Nest’s security is tight, and I couldn’t return to the Origin Expanse for a while. Sorry about that.”
“Why are you apologizing? I knew that you wouldn’t be calling for a while. It’s only obvious that the Nest has tight security. Otherwise, the Supreme Human Alliance would have long since found them. If not for their tight security, the Nest would have been annihilated long ago,” Alice exclaimed lightly. She shrugged and added, “But I’m glad you’re back. You look great!”
Alice went on and praised Michael for a little longer, but she wasn’t smiling from one ear to another. It wasn’t like Michael expected something grand, but something felt off.
“How have you been?” Michael asked instead of reacting to Alice’s praises. She never praised him that much, but he thought she might have missed him. But even then, Alice wouldn’t praise him that much. Alice never did that.
‘What is going on?’ Michael asked, using Spirit Eyes to detect something, but there was nothing. He couldn’t see energies through the holographic screen. However, Spirit Eyes could do much more than that. It detected the faintest movements and details through the holographic screen.
“Nothing is going on. The Tritan Alliance is prospering after we united our forces. Everyone has been a little scared since the War Priestess died, but how your friend overpowered Bloodhound was enough to calm the masses. We’ve focused on widening our forces in the Origin Expanse in the last three months. Everyone is growing stronger. The government determined to support the smaller Lords in the Origin Expanse more. Kraft Viton devised a great plan to prevent disasters like the Undead carnage in the Sacred Desert. He’s doing a great job. That is probably because of your connection to him and the Bartholomew Corporation.”
Michael attempted hard to hide a frown. Alice was not that talkative, and she would have known that he wasn’t asking about the Tritan Alliance. Or did she think that he talked about the Tritan Alliance? Surely not, right?
[She is acting weird today.] Danny agreed in his mind. His brother didn’t know Alice as much as Michael, but he was with Michael whenever they met. Danny was more aware of Alice’s attitude than most.
“Fortunately, nothing bad happened since you left. Bloodhound never returned, but who knows how long it will stay like that? We never know what will happen once the Supreme Human Alliance comes back. I hope they don’t split the Tritan Alliance. Or do you think they will attack us for siding with other races? They value purity, after all.”
Michael was unsure if it was possible to frown even deeper than before. He forced his expression to ease up when he sensed something through Spirit Eyes. He saw something in the reflection of Alice’s eyes.
“How are the others doing? Are you still close to Oliver and Olivia? I’ve been wondering how Killian is doing. Didn’t you mention that Killian entered the Sacred Desert to clear the mess?”
“Everyone is doing fine. Oliver has been training a lot. Your spar with Oliver must have shocked him. I guess he doesn’t want to lose against you when you return. Killian is the same. He is more resolute to defeat you than ever. You did a great job igniting their battle spirit. I hope you return soon. I miss you,” Alice said, smiling at Michael through the holographic screen. She stopped for a second and glanced somewhere. That way, Michael got a second glance at Olivia’s reflection. Only Olivia Blaze was in the room with Alice.
“As for Olivia. She is doing fine as well. I’ve gotten a lot closer to Olivia in the last few months. She helped me a lot. We’re sparing a lot as well. She is stronger than ever. I need to get stronger, otherwise, she will defeat me soon. Her new techniques are amazing. She created them on her own, and I must say. They’re even better than your Soul Techniques.”
‘New techniques? Better than my Soul Techniques… Okay…’
Even though only three months passed outside the Origin Expanse, many things must have happened. At first glance, it looked like everything was fine, but he’d forgotten one major thing. He had been so busy with the Tekur, Bloodhound, the Supreme Human Alliance’s powerhouses, the Nest, the Undead Pharaoh, and his High Ascension that he forgot the traitors.
It was a bit difficult to put the puzzle pieces together, but upon recalling the attack of the exploration spaceship before the Flag War, the betrayal of Descendants and their families during the Interdimensional Flag War, and the massacre in the Sacred Desert, which killed Daniel Fang, the Supreme Human Alliance didn’t arrive only now.
The SHA had always been there. They were ever-present. It was just that their presence was more apparent than before.
‘How did I not notice anything?’ Michael queried himself, recalling the reflection in Alice’s eyes.
It was Olivia from the Blaze household.
However, she was completely different from before.In the first place, why was Olivia there?
The puzzle pieces were arriving together. Everything started to make sense.
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