The last sentence that Michael spoke sent even greater waves of shock through Leon. The existential crisis that had been suppressed within him ever since he had woken up in this strange world was forcefully brought to the forefront of his mind, sending him into a state of shock so strong that it was as if his soul had temporarily vacated his body. His entire body froze so stiff that it looked like had had suddenly become a statue.
Michael snapped his fingers, sending a wave of mana roiling through Leon’s body and bringing him back to his senses.
“Put aside the fact that I brought you to this world. I can see that you have adapted well so far. It has barely been a couple of months, and you are already this strong. This is still the third month since you were brought here.” Michael smiled at the black skeleton.
“You… You brought me here?” Leon was still hooked on Michael’s words from before, not even registering his new ones. His fingers trembled as he thought of his last moments in his past life, looking up at the worried face of Megan as he was being wheeled through the halls of a hospital.
Michael frowned as he noticed the direction Leon’s thoughts were beginning to lean toward. He snapped his fingers again, sending another wave of mana through Leon’s body.
“Snap out of it. I did not kill you. I only guided your soul here and gave you another chance.” Michael said with a tone of finality. He could forcefully take control of Leon’s mind and body with his divinity, but he decided against that, choosing to take a more subtle and friendly route in communicating with Leon.
Feeling the powerful waves of mana rolling through his body, Leon finally snapped out of his train of spiraling thoughts and turned to look at Michael who was frowning deeply at him.
“Sorry…” Leon clenched his fist and bowed his head. He had been coping relatively well with his death, but this had triggered him.
“That is fine. So little time has passed since your death, so it is only normal for you to still be attached. Give it a few more months, and your attachment to your past life will lessen.” Michael did not hold anything against him. After all, he had just blatantly lied to Leon…
“Ahem… Anyway, I should not have come into contact with you so soon, but because of certain matters, I am here. Since I am here, I might as well just handle some things now so I will not be bothered to do them later on.” He spoke to himself, and waved his finger. A small beam of white light shot out of the tip of his finger, and shot into Leon’s body, enveloping him with a bright, silver glow.
[You have received Michael’s Blessing! Your Strength and Dexterity stats have permanently been increased by 20%!]
[You have received the Title: God’s Disciple! You can now carry out the will of your God!]
A burning feeling spread over Leon’s entire body as the white glow sunk into his bones. He crumbled to his knees as he felt it difficult to control his body. There was quite a simple reason for that.
Most Gods were holy beings by nature, and Michael was no exception to that. On the other hand, Leon was an Undead, which was Unholy by nature, and had a weakness to anything of a holy status. Although Michael intentionally held back to prevent harming Leon, the damage was still unavoidable.
Cracks spread all over Leon’s trembling body and white light seeped out of them. If not for Michael’s active effort to prevent his divinity from overwhelming him, and Leon’s own high Durability, he would have surely buckled by now, and turned into a pile of ash!
Leon’s body held on for some more time, however, trembling and shaking for the next five minutes before the changes induced by Michael’s divinity came to a stop. When the bright light finally receded, his innate regeneration ability kicked in as he HP rose up steadily.
“Hu…” He heaved out a strained breath and raised his head to look up at Michael.
“Now that that is done,” Michael narrowed his eyes at Leon, “As I said before, I have been watching, and you have come pretty far in such little time. You are quite lucky to have been reborn here. A High Grade Mana Crystal mine under the town, as well as that miraculous Obsidian Pool that boosted your race advancements. You have grown so strong in so little time. Without those boosts, especially the pool, you would have at most been a Low D rank creature.”
Michael went over a few more things before stopping and looking at Leon with a complicated look that the latter could not understand.
“You are an important asset to me, so I will help you a little bit. Since this place holds a large amount of resources, I will help you rebuild it so that your minions can protect it in your absence.” Michael eventually said.
“A-absence?” Leon stuttered.
“Yes, I will take you away to a place you can grow stronger. There will be others chosen by other Gods there, and they will become your competitors. They will surely try to kill you in order to earn the favor of these Gods, so you will have to prepare yourself. Not everyone might be an enemy, but never let your guard down. While you are there, your minions can help you protect this area, while also building up around it. I am sure with my temple here, no one would dare look for trouble in this place.” Michael smirked at Leon who remained dumbfounded at all of this information
“B-but…”
“No buts. You will do as I say.” Michael’s tone turned steely, and a heavy pressure pressed down on Leon’s mind.
“Y-yes…” Leon weakly replied as he was forced into an unsightly posture, laying on the ground and out of breath.