contemporary romance
"So I can see you've reached Soul Refining stage level 2," Michael commented on her cultivation level. Thanks to the resources Mazeroth gave all their staff, Gaya was able to reach the Soul Refining stage pretty quickly. Besides, she still had the 40% cultivation speed boost from the system.
"It's still not enough. I have to get stronger. What cultivation stage are you at?"
"You are looking at a Fusion Stage cultivator, my dear snake," Michael smirked.
Gaya was completely startled by his words. She thought he could not surprise her anymore, but she was proven wrong at that moment. To be honest, she was speechless after hearing him. Thus, for a few moments, she just stared at him without blinking an eye.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? It's not fair," she stomped the ground, snarling.
"Every time I think I'm getting close to you, you just jump from one stage to another like crossing a puddle,"
Michael quickly wrapped his hand around her shoulder and pecked her on the cheek.
"Don't be angry, my dear queenie. I'll make you just as strong as I am,"
"You better. I can't be weaker than any of our subordinates. Let's go to that fucking Aqua auction and buy something that could make me stronger,"
"And we will go to the treacherous ocean and clean the place out,"
Gaya's eyes went wide, but soon a grin emerged on her face,
"That sounds like a fucking dangerous yet my kind of plan," Gaya playfully bit his cheek,
"The last time I went there, I was pretty weak. Now I will see who's gonna stop us. But before that, we have to go to the auction and knock out a few other things,"
"Like what?"
"Like meeting Dular and seeing the state of our undead army," Michael answered.
"Let's go," Michael then willed the system to activate the runic teleportation. In a blink of an eye, they appeared in the dimly lit halls of the Crypt, where Jonah and Dular were busy dissecting an undead on an oak table.
"What the fuck are you two doing?"' Gaya's voice echoed through the empty hall, startling Dular and Jonah. The previously clean, shiny hall now looked bloody and dirty as Michael felt like he had entered a slaughterhouse.
The place was a horror house, and Michael did not like it.
"My lord, my lady," Jonah and Dular shivered, looking at the anger within the Dark Queen's tone. Her crimson red eyes glistened behind the skull mask.
"Is this how you two keep our base?" she clenched her fist. Luckily for Dular and Jonah, Michael grabbed her hands before she blasted them away with a spell.
The two of hrm quickly dropped to their knees. Unfortunately, due to their unwavering focus on unveiling the mystery behind the undead, they failed to notice the miserable state of the Crypt. While Gaya was murderously looking at the two of them, Jonah looked around to see the golden walls of the crypt stained with blood and gore.
The air reeked of a nauseating rotten smell.
"Well, despite the obvious sad state of the Crypt, what have you two found?" Michael sighed inside and asked them.
"You two better have some fucking results," Gaya was on the verge of breaking their arms for making the crypt a slaughterhouse.
Sensing the anger in her tone, Dular quickly opened his mouth, fearing that even a second of silence could result in their demise.
"We may have found a way to make the make undead army stronger my lady,"
As soon as Gaya heard the words, her anger vanished into thin air.
"All thanks to this my lord," with a flick of his wrist, Dular took out a stormville mountain crystal.
The pink crystal dimly glowed from within on Dular's palm. Before Michael departed, he handed over a few prototypes that could enable his subordinates in the Southern continent to use arch energy. These prototypes were obviously powered by the arch energy crystals.
Dular was one of the subordinates who received the device. At that time, when Michael built the device, he was only a 4-star inventor. But now, he could perfect the device thanks to his 5-star Inventor level.
"The crystal mixed with human blood activates the energy veins in their bodies again my lord,"
Michael was truly surprised. If what Dular said was correct, he could power up his entire undead army. The reason why the undead couldn't use arch energy or cultivate was that they lacked a functioning brain and the decayed energy veins in their bodies. The alpha undead kinda replaced the undeads' brain because the alphas functioned as the brains by controlling them.
Therefore, if Dular could revive the energy veins in their bodies, Michael could theoretically make the undead cultivate.
But something told Michael, it wouldn't be as easy as Dular made it sound.
"Human blood? How much human blood are we talking about, and can you permanently revive their energy veins?"
"If we get the blood of a powerful being, I have confidence we can permanently revive their energy veins my lord,"
unexpectedly, Dular's confident tone surprised Michael.
"We still need more crystals and blood to determine how much blood we need my lord," Jonah opened his mouth. Despite the fact Jonah was actually asking for human blood, he felt excited rather than disgusted or nauseated.
"We can give you blood and crystals. But I expect solid results," Gaya exclaimed,
"Also, I want the two of you to build a sick house for your slaughterings outside. We are on a huge island, for god sake. Use your brains, or I will carve it out of you,"
"She is right. Build something for yourself out there. I have big plans for this place," Michael nodded,
"How many undead do we have right now?"
"Two thousand and five hundred my lord. The angels harvested all the powerful netherels and hunted down the rest,"
Michae clenched his fist,
"Does that mean you can't summon netherels anymore?" Gaya asked as Dular hesitantly nodded,
"Shit," Gaya cussed and looked at Michael to know his thoughts on the matter.
"It's just a minor setback. We can still make more undead,"
Gaya did not need Michael to explain further as she had already grasped his plans.
"We don't need any more undead now. You two focus on building yourselves a workshop outside and find a way to make my army cultivate,"
After giving Dular and Jonah their orders, Michael did not linger around in the Crypt anymore. Instead, he teleported back to the Dark Forest and flew towards Bradford.
*************************************
Ever since Ghost separated Bradford from Bredia and declared the barony as a kingdom, Bradford had gone through countless struggles. However, after Ghost's visit to Bredia, things took a turn for the better. Kingdom Bredia had released all the prisoners and stopped harassing the travelers and merchants.
Although their King Ghost was not there with them to govern the kingdom, the elders and the sunrise sect ruled the kingdom in his stead. As a result, Bradford finally began to thrive under the leadership of Sect Leader Claire and the talented elders who managed Bradford's various ministries.
When Michael and Gaya saw River town appear on the horizon, they stopped flying to bask in the sight's beauty. The setting sun painted the kingdom with its dimming golden light. Under its warm light, the farmlands surrounding the town glimmered like a jade stone blanket. The river crisscrossed throughout the town contained countless fishing boats and merchant ships. Even though the dawn was approaching, the river town didn't stop buzzing with crowds and carriages. Most of the carriages followed the main paved path and all shared a common destination; the Hades.
The green lush mountain chain surrounding the town competed with the farmlands and the river to see who added extra charm to the town. Even from a distance, Michael could now see the buildings of the sect in the mountains, especially the majestic manor of Sect leader Claire.
Before stopping at Hades, Michael decided to stop by the sect so he could meet Olivia and reassure her that nothing had happened to him. Besides, it was time Gaya had returned to the sect.
"So you told me Ricky and Olivia are in love. What do we gonna do about it?" asked Gaya while slowly flying towards the sect.
"I think I should talk to Reginald about his daughter's future. Ricky is a good guy, and if Olivia married him, she'd always be close to us,"
"That is advantageous to us. After all, we need Olivia to be our head of the majestic chain. Speaking of the Majestic chain, don't you think it's better if we opened several branches across the continent? Now that most of the alchemists are dead and rotten, your market value would have gone through the roof. We can press this opportunity and make millions,"
"You speak my mind Gaya,"
"The only problem is, can you refine pills and potions for all the branches?" Gaya questioned Michael. Not that she doubted his ability, but rather, she doubted he would have enough time to sit around and refine pills and potions instead of focusing on dismantling their enemies.
"I already have a plan in mind,"
But fortunately, Michael had a solution for the alchemy problem.
Since Michael upgraded the Inventor level to 5-star, it was only a matter of time before he built a contraption that could brew pills and potions automatically without his intervention. After building it, Michael just had to teach Olivia how to operate the contraption, and it could pump out a hundred pills and potions a day.
However, he must find a suitable place to build such a contraption if he doesn't want rogue cultivators or powerful families to rob him blind.
"Does it involve Olivia?" asked Gaya,
"Yes. And also our allies. I think its time we paid a visit to the holy church," Michae grinned,
"Holy Church? Why?" Gaya was confused as she couldn't guess why he suddenly wanted to visit the Holy Church. As far as she was concerned, they had to stay as far as possible from the Holy Church.
"Hitting two birds with one stone Gaya," Michael said, smiling, and sped up towards the sect.
done.co