Thanks to Olivia's connection, Aragoth academy permitted Michael to use the portal for no charge. But unlike the Holy Church's portal, Michael was teleported to the Sil Alari's border. From there, Michael used the runic teleportation to reach Eve's castle. When Michael reached his room in Eve's castle, he saw Gaya on the bed covered in a golden light. She was breaking through to the Soul Refining Stage level 3. Without making any sound, Michael sat beside her on the bed as Nightmare slowly crawled onto his lap.
"Shhhh," Michael shushed Nightmare when he was about to ask about the wound on his arm. Michael slowly removed his dark robes, letting Nightmare see the deep scar on his upper right arm. The APD healed the wound yet it couldn't remedy the scar. Hunter's energy whip was powerful enough to leave a deep scar despite Michael's APD. Although Michael could remove the scar with some special potions, he chose not to. He considered the scars as lessons and markers of his past.
While Gaya was absorbing the energy in the atmosphere, Michael put his robes on the hanger and made his way to the table. Nightmare jumped onto the oak table.
"She was about to leave the castle when she suddenly entered the breaking through phase," Nightmare said in a low pitched voice, only loud enough for Michael to hear.
"What just happened? Where is Vedora?" Nightmare asked. After seeing the scar on his arm, it was evident to Nightmare Michael went through a battle.
"They are in the dark forest,"
Nightmare noticed the slight graveness in Michael's voice. He was concerned.
"What happened?" Nightmare asked Michael again.
Michael took a deep breath looking at the gloomy city before him. Considering there was no point in hiding what had happened from Nightmare, Michael decided to tell Nightmare everything. But just when he was about to open his mouth, sudden energy pulsated in the room. Michael and Nightmare quickly turned their heads in Gaya's direction because they sensed the energy pulse coming from her.
The golden light enveloping Gaya glowed brighter and brighter to the point Nightmare and Michael closed their eyes for a moment. Moreover, they both heard a low pitched whistling sound resonating in the room. After that, the golden light glowed brighter for another five minutes. During these five minutes, Michale and Nightmare peeked through the gap in their hands at Gaya.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtEventually the golden light slowly lost its radiance, letting Michael and Nightmare open their eyes. When they saw Gaya, she slowly opened her eyes with a grin on her face.
"Finally, level 3. Not bad, not bad at all," She cracked her neck which she picked from Michael.
Her grin froze when Gaya saw the deep scar on his arm. She realized the scar might be connected to what he asked her to do. Before entering the breakthrough phase, Michael asked her to spread a rumor throughout Elon and Ozer. Thus, she was about to leave for the adventurers guild in each continent. To spread rumors, the adventurers' guild was the best place.
"What the hell is that?" Gaya jumped from the bed and made her way to him. Without even asking a question, she took out a healing potion and began to pour it onto the scar, hoping it would heal the scar.
"You know the Hydra in the stormville mountain,"
"What of it?" Nightmare asked.
"I had a brief terrifying meeting with him," As soon as Michael uttered these words, Gaya's body went rigid and Nightmare opened his eyes as wide as he could in utter shock. For a few moments, neither of them couldn't ask Michael anything. They were completely flabbergasted.
Taking a deep breath, Michael began to recount everything that happened from the moment he went to the abandoned castle to meeting Mutrad without leaving a detail. Nightmare and Gaya listened to Michael in silence because they were too shocked to ask any question. Hearing Michael's description of the hydra alone sent shivers running through their spines.
After Michael finished telling them what had happened, Gaya couldn't know whether to be shocked or furious. On the one hand, General Quintus killed one of their subordinates. But, on the other hand, Michael met the hydra with another worlder and was given a task to find some mysterious energy balls.
"I will let Vedora handle Quintus. After everything that happened, they need something to take their minds off," Michael said.
"Yes." Gaya sympathized with Vedora, especially Ayag who bragged about meeting her own kind and exploring her homeworld. However, after hearing that Vedora and Mugashuku were the last of their kind, Gaya couldn't help but pity Ayag.
"I don't know what to say human. At Least I feel relieved that you put the blame on the otherworlder. Now no one will think you might be the Dark Lord. it would give us the breathing room we desperately need," Gaya paused for a moment and went on,
"I heard very little about the Sea Folk. But one thing I can tell you for sure, we must be cautious of them. They are the most powerful race in this world for a reason," Gaya said with a grave voice.
"It's better we stay as far as possible from them,"
Michael nodded. According to what he heard from Lailah, Sea Folks had never entered into any great wars like the other races living on the land which they sea folks named 'Upsiders'. As a result, the Sea Folks had never lost powerful cultivators like the upsiders. Lailah told him several Half Immortals and Immortals still living among the Sea Folks. Michael wondered whether they were in the Council of immortals or not.
"The otherworlder, where is he now?" Nightmare asked about Hunter.
"Returned to his world. I don't think he could ever come back to our world for quite some time. This is great because when we started a fake battle, I sensed something watching us,"
"Did you sense his cultivation level? If he was able to kill Soul Refiners with a snap of his fingers, I don't think he was just a Fusion stage cultivator. He must be stronger," Gaya creased her brows.
"Do you mean he was a half immortal?" Asked Nightmare.
"Maybe or maybe he was an Immortal," Gaya couldn't believe what she was saying. The humans had never seen an Immortal in a thousand years. As per the history books Nagaland had on humans, humans had the lowest chance to reach Immortality due to their life styles and shorter life spans.
For instance, a human at the Core Formation stage would live for two hundred years while the other races had a typical life span of four hundred years.
Moreover, the humans' cultivation was often interrupted by bottlenecks, unlike the other races. Since the council of immortals rarely appeared in public, only a handful of people knew about them.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSomething told Michael that Hunter was stronger than even an Immortal. Unfortunately, Hunter's power had been suppressed after he reached this universe. Hunter's system had to turn the Celestial energy into Astral energy, which Hunter used to cultivate. Due to the energy conversion, Hunter was operating with a limited amount of power.
Even with limited power, when Hunter cast his first spell, it created a massive ripple in the atmosphere, which freaked out the entire Council of Immortals. As Michael was speaking to Gaya, the Council of Immortals was preparing to meet the Skyhall elders.
"What if the Skyhall sent Half-Immortals and Immortals to chase down the Dark Lord?" Nightmare asked a question that's been in Michael and Gaya's minds.
"They might. That's why we need to be extra cautious from now on. If we don't leave any trail, they won't be able to find us," said Michael
"So what do we do next?" asked Gaya.
"We build our own teleporter," Michael cracked his neck. A few months ago, building a teleporter was an impossible task for him. However, with a 6-star runemaster like Elidyr, he could build his own teleportation array. Although he had the runic teleportation skill, it wouldn't work when he was in a battle. So if Michael had met a stronger enemy and wanted to teleport away to escape, the runic teleportation wouldn't be of any help. However, if he had built a teleportation array and connected the array to the system, Michael knew he could teleport whenever he wanted, despite the situation.
"I know you're thinking of letting Elidyr create the arrays but he won't be able to build one without special materials. Where do you think we should buy them? As you said, we cannot leave any trails that could lead our enemies to us," Gaya said.
"I will buy them and teleport here as someone else," Michael said. Buying the materials from the system store might cost him millions of badass points but a face mask not. So, he could simply transform into someone else, buy the needed materials from Aqua Palace or somewhere else and teleport back to the dark forest using runic teleportation.
Gaya thought about Michael's plan for a moment before nodding. Then, she finally put her focus on Heinberg's death. Just the thought that Quintus had killed Heinberg made Gaya's blood boil. She wanted to pay him a visit and rip him apart piece by piece.
"I don't want to rush Vedora, but I need Quintus dead within a week. We cannot let someone who killed our subordinate live for long. It makes us look weak," Gaya growled.
"Why don't we go somewhere else and let our pent-up anger out?" Michael asked with a devilish grin.
"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Gaya too grinned like a devil after hearing Michael, which confused Nightmare.
"What are you two talking about?"
With a flick of his wrist, Michael took out the golden parchment he got from the reaper before killing the reaper.
"The Grim Reaper headquarters in Awor," Michael said. It was time Michael had paid them a visit and made them pay for putting his life in danger on several occasions. If Michael left the Grim Reapers left alone, someone with enough coins would always put a bounty on his head. Therefore, Michael decided to either wipe them out or make them join the order of death.