The ocean breathed, her surface rising and falling with rhythmic ease. The waves became her pulse that day, the echo of the souls she kept safe in her cradle of brine. Unlike the ocean he just left, the ocean in front of Michael was calm. The ocean breeze wrapped around him as the warmest of soft towels. The wind had become the orchestral conductor of the sea, sending waves into their crescendos' all through the ballad that was the night. All about us was the perfume of the salty water and the fine spray that came as boldly as any viola flurry. It was as if the life of one's had entered the water and the energy was so great that this great pulse came upward to form a steady rhythm.? The sea is infinite blue in infinite weather patterns, yet in all this, she is the prettiest color Michael ever saw.

On the calm, the silent reaper floated like it was dancing with the ocean in a beautiful rhythm. The thrones which were previously placed in the captain's cabin were moved to the upper deck as Michael and Gaya rested on their thrones staring at the crew and the thing that was covered in greyish cloth. No one knew what's behind the cloth, they could only guess that whatever behind the cloth was at least six feet tall.

Since Heinberg had been working with Senator Caius to reform the senate and Tiberius was helping his people settle down in Gisal, Michael only brought Maxine to the ship to witness what he was about to do. In addition to Maxine, Sadie stood beside Maxine. Her eyes were red, her face was pale and tears kept trickling out of her eyes.

Except for Gibson who stood behind Michael's throne, the crew members gathered around them keeping a distance. Among them, Shorty was shivering, not due to the coldness of the night but because of alcohol withdrawal. The cloudless sky let the abundance of moonlight that brighten the ship with its glimmering blue light.

Michael rested his head on his fist, reliving the battle he just fought in his mind.? By reliving the battle, he gained more knowledge about his weaknesses as well as strengths.

System version 3.0

Host: Michael

Cultivation Level: Core Formation stage, level 10

Experience Points: 400000/400000 (1,300,000 points remaining to be consumed)

Badass Points: 125000

Skills & Spells:

Wind Blast - LVL 3

Responsive Shield - LVL 4

Environment Scanning - LVL 3

Ignitia - LVL 3

Lightning Dash - LVL 3

Energy Devouver - LVL 1

Death Range - LVL 3

Eyes of Darkness (normal) - Can sense the cultivation level of others

Eyes of Darkness (Lucifer) - Can sense the cultivation level of others, Can see through illusions

Cloud of Darkness (Lucifer) - Weak-willed enemies will lose their courage completely and surrender, Death Range will be 50% more powerful, if activated in darkness, the host's cultivation level will be boosted 4 levels up regardless of the stage barrier.

Wordless Spell Caster(Lucifer) - In full Lucifer form, the host just has to think of the spell to cast it.

Techniques: Swords of Destiny - 93% Mastery

Ring of Fire - 69% Mastery

Serpent-Maga - 90% Mastery

Occupation:? ? Core Disciple of Sunrise Sect

The Guardian of Sunrise Sect

Lord Lucifer of the Abyssal

The Dark Lord

Status: Healthy

Goals: Control the world

Rebuild the Order of Death

Utility Function:

Banker - LVL 3 (Ratio - 1000 gold coins: 10 badass point(s))

Runic Teleportation

X-Ray Vision (Also integrated with Eyes of Darkness)

Wealth: 1,900,000 Gold

Special Trait: 5-Star Alchemist

3-Star Inventor

Subordinates: Gaya - Warrior (loyalty level 100%)

Raylene -? 5-star Chef (loyalty level 99%)

Aria - Assassin (loyalty level 38%)

Heinberg - Warrior (loyalty level 35%)

Maxine - Warrior (loyalty level 98%)

Tiberius - Warrior (loyalty level 45%)

Sadie (loyalty level 30%)

The Silent Reaper Crew - Pirates (loyalty level 85%)

Base of Operation: Sunrise Sect

The Abyssal

The Crypt

The Silent Reaper

Familiars: Nightmare (Forest Dragon)

Vedora (Three Headed Hydra)

After willing the system to show his status, he just stared at the status for a few moments.

"System, show me how powerful my spells are. It's becoming hard to perceive who can or cannot be killed with my spells"

[Reforming the status window will cost the host 1000 badass points]

"Take it"

[Reforming the status window]

[Showing host the spells with more information]

Skills & Spells:

Wind Blast (LVL 3) -? [It's pretty self-explanatory. You can blast people and mess with Celestial Energy flow]

Michael sighed seeing the system's information about the Wind Blast. It was right though, he had no confusion or questions about the Wind blast. The more he used the spell, the more control he achieved over the air element. In the beginning, he could only send a couple of blasts of wind from one hand. Now he could send several wind blasts from both of his hands. In addition, he could reshape the blasts into crescent-shaped wind blades. Although the crescent blades were not powerful enough to cut a person in half, it was powerful enough to leave a nasty cut, especially if he attacked anyone below the Body Strengthening stage.

Responsive Shield (LVL 4) - Absorb any spell attacks from anyone on or below the stage Body Strengthening stage.

Environment Scanning (LVL 30 - The spell would detect hostiles and friendlies in a 20m radius.

Ignitia (LVL 3) - The spell can kill anyone on or below Core Formation level 3 ignoring the defensive spells belonging to the class Rare or below. The spell's power would be decreased by 50%, 75%? by defensive spells belonging to the class Epic and Legendary respectively.

** After casting Death Range, Ignitia can kill anyone on or below Core Formation level 6 ignoring the defensive spells belonging to the class Rare or below **

Lightning Dash (LVL 3) - Anyone on or under the Body Strengthening stage wouldn't be able to spot the host but bolts of lightning. Cultivators below Core Formation 4 could make out the host's figure in a blurry vision. To the eyes of cultivators above Core Formation 4, the host will move 30% faster.

**After casting Death Range, Anyone on or under the Core Formation level 6 stage wouldn't be able to spot the host but bolts of lightning**

Energy Devouver (LVL 1) - Specific types of Arch energy could be absorbed and transformed into Experience points. (System level is too low to give more information)

Death Range (LVL 3) - The host's power will rise by 30%.

Eyes of Darkness (normal) - Can sense the cultivation level of others

Eyes of Darkness (Lucifer) - Can sense the cultivation level of others, Can see through illusions

Cloud of Darkness (Lucifer) - Weak-willed enemies will lose their courage completely and surrender, Death Range will be 50% more powerful, if activated in darkness, the host's cultivation level will be boosted 4 levels up regardless of the stage barrier.

Wordless Spell Caster(Lucifer) - In full Lucifer form, the host just has to think of the spell to cast it.

A while after pondering, Michael decided to upgrade a few of the existing ones before buying new spells.

"Okay, I think I should first upgrade the Responsive Shield"

[Level 5 Responsive Shield will be able to absorb any spell attacks from anyone on or below the stage Core Formation level 2]

"Cost?"

[10,000 badass points for upgrading it to level 5. 15,000 badass points for upgrading it to level 6 which would? absorb any spell attacks from anyone at or below the stage Core Formation level 4]

"I'm confused, do I have to spend 25,000 to upgrade it to level 6? Or I can give you 15,000 points to jump from level 4 to level 6?"

[Yeah you wish. You need to spend 10,000 badass points to upgrade the spell from level 4 to level 5 and 15,000 points to upgrade it from level 5 to level 6]

[The system recommends the host upgrade the spell instead of being stingy with points. You have no other defense spells in your arsenal and who knows how many freaks would compete in the tournament]

The system was right. He couldn't be cocky or half-prepared, especially when he knew that prodigies from all over the Elon continent would come to the tournament. If he didn't upgrade the spell to at least level 6, any Core Formation prodigy with Epic or Legendary spell could easily kill him.

"Upgrade the spell"

[Good decision]

The system appreciated Michael's decision. The next moment the number of badass points decreased from 125,000 to 100,000.

"Next one should be Lightning Dash"

[In Level 4, Anyone at or under the Core Formation stage level 5 wouldn't be able to spot the host but bolts of lightning. Cultivators from Core Formation level 6 to level 8 could make out the host's figure in a blurry vision. To the eyes of cultivators above Core Formation 8, the host will move 40% faster]

[Upgrading it to level 4 would cost the host 20,000 badass points]

"Upgrade it," Michael said without any hesitation. After upgrading, the Responsive shield could protect him from anyone at or below Core Formation level 4. When dealing with anyone above this level, he could use Lightning Dash that would give him enough speed to escape from their offensive spell and kill them using his swords or spells.

"Next spell, Ignitia"

[In Level 4 - Ignitia can kill anyone at or below Core Formation level 5 ignoring the defensive spells belonging to the class Rare or below. The spell's power would be decreased by 40%, 70%? by defensive spells belonging to the class Epic and Legendary respectively]

[The upgrade will cost you 30,000 badass points]

"I need to ask, what about people above Core Formation level 6?"

[There's no direct answer whether you could kill them with one lightning bolt or many. It depends on the target's defensive spell. Basically, if you're attacking anyone above Core Formation level 6 who did not cast any defensive spell, Ignitia can wound them severely or even take their life if you aim for the vital parts. However, if they cast any defensive spells, you won't be able to kill them with one shot]

"So what's the point in leveling up when I can just upgrade the spells using badass points?"

[You can't upgrade the spells if you are not strong enough. Don't forget that your cultivation stage will affect the power of your spells. The more you level up, the more powerful your spells would become]

"Alright, upgrade Ignitia to level 4"

As he was leveling up and upgrading the spells, he realized one thing, everything had become much more complicated than before. Moving forward, he knew he must be cautious and plan everything as he did on earth.

************************** contemporary romance

Discord link : https://discord.gg/2db5uub4yE

I have posted the character image of Harriet Hunt with her theme music. Come check it out!!

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