Michael didn’t talk about the finest details of his life, but he had more than enough to talk about nonetheless. He ended up chatting about his life and answering some questions for hours. Seeing everything awestruck and having difficulty believing the words escaping Michael’s lips was satisfying. Their reactions were exaggerated in his opinion, but once he visualized some of his memories using a Memory Crystal, Michael rewatched some of the most intense moments of his life with the audience.
Reminiscing about certain events was not unusual for Michael, but it was vastly different to do so with people watching. They had known Michael was strong, but observing his fight against the Dragys in the Origin Expanse, or bits and pieces from his fight against the Blaze Patriarch, was terrifying. Michael also mentioned the Temple of the Forgotten, including the Curses that were now residing within him.
“Is that the ancient ruin you questioned me about?” The Berserker Chieftain asked around that time. In the past, Michael had questioned the Berserker Chieftain in the library about ancient ruins, how to determine their difficulty level according to their age, and so forth. Michael was glad about the answers he’d received then and smiled back at the Berserker Chieftain.
“It is. The Temple of the Forgotten was a…unique inheritance trial, which the Primordial Tree Spirit of the Untamed Jungle had altered. But maybe that was for the best. I wouldn’t have survived the ordinary trials if the Temple of the Forgotten had been created for Divine Lifeforms.” Michael chuckled, but everyone looked at him with complex emotions.
“So, you went through an ancient ruin designed for Divine Lifeforms alone because the Dragys Lordess, a Tier-8 Lord with a following of more than 20 Divine Lifeforms, would threaten your territory soon. They discovered you, and you said, ‘I need a power-up.’ Is that how it went?” one of the younger members of the Tritan council asked.
“I…guess?” Michael responded with a shrug.
“Then you succeeded, jumped from Tier-5 to Tier-6, formed your Divine Shell while not even being a Divine Lifeform, and acquired another Curse, the sister of the brother duo already inside you, and a Divine Fragment of the Untamed Jungle, which turned you into the Untamed Jungle’s one and only True Lord. You also gained control of all jungle monsters and plant life, forming Links of Loyalty and…”
Michael intercepted the excited yet flabbergasted man with a wave, “That is literally what I said. I don’t think you have to repeat what I’ve already explained in detail.”
The man paled and nodded, “I a-apologize. But it sounds so…hard to believe. I wouldn’t have believed you if I hadn’t seen your memories.”
“Even if you didn’t believe me, it doesn’t really matter, “Michael shrugged, “It happened and I’m stronger than ever. The latter is all that matters.”
He needed strength to prevail against the imminent threats and would have to grow even stronger – the faster, the better – to fight the Supreme Human Alliance. That the powerhouses of the Tritan Alliance couldn’t understand him was understandable. Michael would probably feel the same. To them, Divine Lifeforms were already the cream of the crop, the strongest entities they would face in their lifetime.
Some of them had seen ordinary Divine Lifeforms fight, but they couldn’t fathom what it would look like to fight a Tier-8 Lord. It might have happened in the memories they had seen, but most Higher Lifeforms watching the battle could not see most of their moves after they reached top speed. All they could see were some flashes of light, blood splattering, and the last moment of the Dragys Lordess’ life. They saw her pierce Michael’s heart and how Michael retaliated.
A lot has happened to Michael in the last few years, and one event was more shocking. Even Alice had difficulty comprehending what she’d just watched when Michael’s story-telling ended. She stared at Michael, who smiled lightly for a long time.
Katharina had to nudge her daughter to stop her from staring holes into Michael. Alice regained her senses and blushed when she realized she had been discovered. Several powerhouses grinned knowingly at her, but Alice wanted nothing but to disappear.
Michael noticed the attention lingering on Alice, and his smile widened.
‘Maybe it was a good idea to come here with Alice. I’m glad she asked me to join them.’
Staring at Alice and seeing how she reacted to him and his stories was nice. She was much cuter like that—not that she wasn’t cute before. It was just a different type of cute, and Michael couldn’t help but adore her even more than before. Still, though, Alice was a bit chilly at times, but that was how the Frozen Duchess had always been. That was her persona: looking cold from the outside, with a big, kind-hearted, and warm inside.
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“Will you accept more Awakened into your territory, or do you want me to close the Awakened Agency?” Kraft Viton asked at some point. Michael looked at the old man and tilted his head.
“I think the Awakened Agency is a nice place for the poor and unfortunate to grow stronger. Didn’t you say that the Tritan Alliance works together more than ever? How about you integrate the Awakened Agency into your plans? If you do that, you can ensure that the Awakened of the Awakened Agency find a suitable Lord to work with and that they’re treated nicely. At the same time, you can easily ensure that your Lords will have enough Subordinates to help them fight and control their territories.” “I had the same idea, but the problem is that investing too much into Awakened with weak Soultraits is rather problematic for our Lords. It wouldn’t be an issue to support the Awakened via the Awakened Agency like we’re doing, but the whole purpose of creating the Awakened Agency was to pick out determined and ambitious Awakened with weak Soultraits and poor standing for you to transform into proper powerhouses. Without your Soultrait Symbols, transforming them into powerful High Awakened is several times harder and much less efficient.”
That was indeed a problem. Granting unfortunate Awakened, who had either not manifested a Soultrait in the first place or manifested a weak Soultrait Symbol that didn’t suit their persona and desired, an opportunity to show that they had the means to do something great was nice. It was part of the reason the Awakened Agency had been created.
However, without Michael’s active support, the Awakened Agency’s biggest advantage disappeared: the advantage of possibly removing their ‘useless’ Soultrait, which might as well be a treasure for someone who had always wanted such a Soultrait or to gain more Soultrait.
“I should have enough space to establish a few hundred Links of Loyalty with more Awakened—probably more than a thousand, if I’m honest—but accepting 1,000 Awakened won’t solve the problem long-term. I don’t think I should constantly supply the Awakened Agency with Soultrait Symbols. While it might be nice to strengthen the Tritan Alliance to the point where the Alliance turns into a superpower, I have to be careful as well.
At this point, too many powerful beings know about my power, and if they think that the Tritan Alliance is hoarding hundreds of Soultrait Symbols, or maybe only dozens—it doesn’t matter how many—they might attack the Tritan Alliance, eradicate the entire alliance before it transforms into a problem, and steal the Soultrait Symbols.
I have seen what my Soultrait Symbols can do when they fall into the hands of my enemies, and I do not wish for this to repeat itself.”
Michael recalled Lincoln destroying so many lives with the power he had given his friend and shuddered. Even if Lincoln wasn’t his enemy, the Blood Incursion transformed him into a ruthless murderer. Lincoln still used his power to cause harm and end innocent lives. Too many to count.
“So…we have to reform the Awakened Agency once you picked some suitable Awakened to become your Subordinates. This is…their last chance to become Super Awakened.”
‘Super Awakened? That sounds…fun.’
[A/N: This is the author with a small side-note. The Family Arc is only a small arc to connect a few dots and push forward to the next arc. But don’t be afraid that there will be no more romantic scenes, or no more chatties in the story like there have been in the last few chapters. The Main Story of SL might be complete in half a year up to nine months but there will be extra volumes. -> You can recommend story parts to write once the main story is done – about different characters and how Michael influenced them and such.]