?Michael didn’t want to enter the Origin Expanse for too long because he would be busy for a long time, but he had to talk to his brother.
He found Danny fighting a bunch of Tier-1 Monsters near Arx and thought about interrupting him to tell him what happened, yet Michael hesitated, seeing how exhilarated Daniel was. Michael had never seen his brother smile this brightly, and he was not going to interrupt this moment.
He could only hope his brother would be fine and that his excitement would never leave him.
Thus, instead of interrupting his brother, Michael released his emotions on the surrounding plant life. He unleashed the Extraction Aura outside the Pentagon Fort, stretching the aura incredibly thin to spread it as far as possible. The surrounding energy was consumed to maintain and expand the Extraction Aura, which uprooted trees that had been obstructing the surrounding plant life from growing.
The harmful plant life of the Untamed Jungle was also removed, along with a wide variety of other substances Michael found in some bushes and the ground.
He was getting closer to the home of the Chaos Ants, which could be sensed easily through the Extraction Aura. Michael removed the chaos threads in the trees and the ground, only to discover that more chaos filled the trees and soil. Yet, instead of breaking down and decaying, the plant life and soil converted the chaos to accelerate their natural growth.
‘Mutations.’ Michael concluded, ‘The plant life around the Chaos Ants’ territory mutated to transform chaos into non-harmful substances aiding their growth. That is pretty useful. If we use that, we can keep the Chaos Ants as livestock for their Chaos Blood. If we can control and navigate the chaos they exude, I wouldn’t have to exterminate them.’
Michael had considered exterminating the Chaos Ants for a while now. As he expanded his territory, Michael and his people would reach the Chaos Ants’ territory. Chaos Ants and the environmental changes their existence caused weren’t something Michael’s subordinates could easily remove. And leaving them behind like this was no option either. If a hunting group encountered Chaos Ants, they would – most likely – die or kill them and release the chaos accumulated within the Chaos Ants.
Establishing settlements near the Chaos Ants’ territory wasn’t feasible either. Michael didn’t plan to send anyone on suicide missions if he could prevent it.
Michael accessed the True Link of Loyalty with Tiara and called her over. She was happy to see him when she arrived near the border to the Chaos Ants’ territory, but Michael wasn’t there for small talk. He wasn’t in a good mood.
“Tell the researchers to analyze the mutation of those trees. I also extracted a soil sample for research purposes,” Michael ordered Tiara, “Make sure to tell them to be careful. Traces of chaos can be found in the trees and the samples.”
Tiara nodded slowly, her vibrant smile cracking slowly.
“Could you tell my brother to come see me when he returns from hunting? I need to talk to him.”
“I will do as you say, Master,” Tiara bowed lightly toward Michael, who could see the expansive cracks on her smile. She could tell that something was wrong with him.
The Silverfang retrieved the sample from Michael and disappeared into the thicket of the Untamed Jungle again. She left Michael alone to fend off the plant life of the Untamed Jungle. That was exactly what Michael did. But this time, he used a few Cursed Seals to empower the Extraction Aura. Thinking back to what Selena told him, Michael couldn’t help but be more agitated.
**
Upon seeing the dead-serious expression on the Nest Leader’s face, Michael dissolved the Runic Gate. He stared intently at her and waited for Selena to say something.
“What’s wrong?” Michael asked when she didn’t say anything for a minute.
“We – or maybe it would be better to say I – lied to you when we said the bridge to your galaxy would take a while to complete. The bridge was complete and ready to be used without any problems the day before we departed for your training – and Daniel’s resurrection, of course.”
Michael didn’t expect to hear something like that but nodded slowly. Various thoughts flashed through his mind, but he only managed to ask one of the questions tormenting him.
“Why?”
“There are many reasons. Daniel needed the Spring of Abundant Life to create a perfect vessel for two major reasons. You had to bring him to the spring and be present at all times to make sure to be able to store him in your Soul Grimoire if something had gone wrong. That didn’t happen, but it could have happened. Even I wouldn’t have been able to rescue him if something went wrong. The other reason you needed to be there was to train. You are strong, but your control over your Curses is…weird.”
The Nest Leader stared at Michael and scoffed lightly.
“Honestly, I cannot tell if you’re friends with your Curses or if they play with you. Of course, it could also be possible that you have full control over them, but I kind of doubt that. There might be more, but your connection to these two Curses is weird. Your Curses are also very powerful, too powerful to be left unsupervised.”
“You had to learn about Curse Fusion to practice manifesting parts of your Curses and fusing them to increase your compatibility with them since you often rely on their prowess. Increasing your compatibility with your Curses makes it harder for them to control you in most cases. Of course, there are exceptions, but as far as I can tell, you won’t be one of them.”
Selena’s expression turned more serious.
“Either way, the Tritan Alliance was too dangerous for you. The Supreme Human Alliance’s infestation spread too far and too fast. Evee had a bad feeling about the Tritan Alliance, which meant a lot. Whenever she has a bad feeling about something – especially after using her Curse Arts and Soul Technique simultaneously – we know that something major will happen.”
“That is also why I had to make sure you wouldn’t rush to the Tritan Alliance no matter what happens. The Rift was a perfect excuse. After all, you had to go there, whether you wanted or not. You wanted your sibling to create a perfect vessel, didn’t you?”
Michael nodded slowly the whole time Selena spoke. It was annoying that the Nest Leader deprived him of the choice, but Michael knew he would have gone to the Rift to resurrect his brother. Making a decision would have broken his heart, but he could return to the Tritan Alliance now that his brother was back. If he had gone there instead of the Rift, Daniel would have never gotten the chance to undergo a perfect resurrection.
Other than that, Michael was also aware that he wasn’t strong enough to battle Tier-6 powerhouses. Even now that he could smoothly enter the Curse Fusion state with the Wolf Curse and the World Serpent, Michael couldn’t say he was confident fighting a Tier-6 powerhouse. Maybe with some external help of items from the Nest, it would be possible, but the goods wouldn’t be enough to be confident about fighting someone two Tiers above him.
Then again, Tiers didn’t matter as much as Michael had always presumed. They were only a rough measurement of someone’s power. Every Tier indicated how strong someone’s mind, soul, and physique were, at the very least. There was no limitation to the increment of someone’s struggle prowess, but being at a specific Tier determined that you were, at least, this powerful.
That was also why the Nest’s training room used a different ranking. It pointed out one’s realm as a lifeform, and the actual combat prowess one could unleash in that realm.
Michael shook his head, trying to clear his mind from the myriad of thoughts tormenting him.
“So….nobody was at the Tritan Alliance for the last six weeks? There is no news either?” He thus asked, only to see Selena’s expression turn grim.
“Eren went there,” Selena sighed deeply, “The Blaze Patriarch, or whatever you call him, used the Vylraen Seal and a Carnage Portal, obliterating a mid-scale city on Elyra and killing close to a million innocent children – draining their blood and such – to summon Eren’s brothers.”
“I won’t go into detail because the Long family’s dramas are not for me to inform anyone. Nonetheless, we discovered that one of Eren’s brothers found the Blaze Patriarch’s territory in the Origin Expanse. They got in contact and learned about the Tritan Alliance. As devout members of the Supreme Human Alliance, Eren’s brothers decided to support the Blaze Patriarch–….” Selena could have uttered a lot more, explaining the entire situation, but she noticed the impatience in Michael’s eyes.
“One step leads to another. The Tritan Alliance is about to be overthrown. The Blaze Patriarch summoned Eren’s brothers, who fought Eren. They lost the battle but ended up taking Eren by surprise. He was careless for a moment, not ready to kill his brothers, and nearly died.”
Michael swallowed hard but nodded.
“I didn’t expect Eren to be injured that badly, but I agreed with Evee, who warned everyone about something big happening in the Tritan Alliance,” Selena pointed out, “Fortunately, he had the Last Tear to protect him on the verge of death. It’s similar to the Bloodhound’s Mythical Artifact if you can remember that piece of shit. Either way, Last Tear protected Eren and saved his life while his brothers died.”
“Doesn’t that mean the Tritan Alliance is free from the Supreme Human Alliance’s influence now? The Blaze Patriarch’s connection to the SHA has been cut with the death of Eren’s brothers, or am I missing something?” Michael asked. For now, the Tritan Alliance should be safe and sound from the SHA’s attacks.
The Nest Leader nodded, “Yes…and no.”
Michael tilted his head in confusion.
“There shouldn’t be anymore Divine Lifeforms from the SHA in the Tritan Alliance, and…there won’t be anymore Divine Lifeforms in the cloud of stellar systems around the Tritan Alliance’s lands for several hundred years either.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Michael didn’t quite understand.
“The last bout between Eren and his brothers destroyed the firmament of space. It will take a long time – at least a few centuries – to recuperate naturally. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the Tritan Alliance was closer to the origin or infused with more origin energy. The firmament wouldn’t have torn either. It would have never been this fragile in the first place.” Selena shrugged.
“The firmament stabilized itself, fortunately, but I don’t think that matters much to you. Just understand that a destabilized firmament is no fun. Entire galaxies ceased to exist because of destabilized firmaments in the past. It has been a taboo to play with them for a long time. If you don’t want to be hunted by the Primal and the Oldest among us, you better don’t start playing with torn firmaments either.” She lectured Michael on a serious note.
“Either way, no Divine Lifeform can force their way through the firmament…not without attracting the ire and wrath of the Primal and the Oldest.”
Michael’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits.
“Doesn’t that mean the Supreme Human Alliance won’t be able to throw Divine Lifeforms like Bloodhound at the Tritan Alliance? It also means that I can go there and help out, right? If only Divine Lifeforms threaten the stability of the firmament, I can go there and help remove the infestation caused by the Supreme Human Alliance!”
The corner of Michael’s lips curled upward. He had been worried about the Tritan Alliance, but the situation was not as bad as he had feared. At least no Divine Lifeform was there to eradicate the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs.
The clanking of heels hitting polished stone resounded through the halls, and it wasn’t long before someone barged into the Nest Leader’s room.
“You can’t go there. You shouldn’t!” Evee exclaimed, her eyes teary from crying.