"Will it be enough if I purchase a bunch of monster corpses and soil to fill in the holes after I extract the chaos essence from the corrupted land?" Michael asked himself quietly.
The ethereal voice had only instructed him to fix the destroyed part of the Untamed Jungle, but the real question was how to do that.
He knew that the Untamed Jungle devoured carcasses and that it digested them to accelerate the growth of its flora and fauna. Thus, purchasing a bunch of monster corpses should do the trick.
"I cannot return to Xiltra to purchase monster corpses either. Seems like I have to return home to place a big order."
After the battle against the Jungle Expedition, it was obvious that he couldn't return to Xiltra. Michael was certain that his identity had been exposed by now.
While that was a little annoying, it wasn't too bad. His territory was self-sufficient and didn't need the help of the border city.
Unfortunately, a small problem occurred; the aftermath of the Chaos Pills' explosions had destroyed most parts of his territory. The vast majority of his treehouse complexes had been destroyed, the canopy bridges had been torn apart, and the small farms spread all over his territory didn't look any better either.
After listening to Tiara's report from earlier, Michael was certain that more than three-quarters of the territory had been destroyed due to the Chaos Pills, and the shockwaves they unleashed. It was quite troublesome.
'The Chaos Pills are even stronger than ballistic missiles. Chaos essence is truly terrifying…'
Michael was fully aware that he would have never dared to use Chaos Pills if he didn't possess Extraction. Even with Extraction upgraded to a 6-Star Soultrait, using the Chaos Pills was dangerous enough to make him and everyone else feel worried. That also showed how desperate he had been to use Chaos Pills even though they were frail and dangerous for both the user and the target.
He could barely kill 10 Tier-3 Paladins by using more than 100 Chaos Pills, which caused the destruction of half the Untamed Jungle's outer ring. As a matter of fact, if not for the mythical serpent burning down the silver inferno, the entire outer ring would have been destroyed, turning into corrupted land, long before Michael regained his consciousness.
In the worst case, the silver inferno would have reached his territory, and infested his subjects with chaos essence, killing them slowly and painfully.
"Chaos Pills are not considered Forbidden items for no reason…If the Master Alchemist had failed, the entire territory would have blown up long before the Paladins reached the Untamed Jungle," Michael mumbled with a deep sigh.
'But it was worth it. If not for the Chaos Pills, I would have never been able to eliminate the Paladins…why the hell are they so strong, in the first place? 100 Chaos Pills were barely enough to kill 10 of them…'
Michael was glad that they survived, but it was still a nuisance that they had to resort to such a dangerous product, in the first place. Everything could have gone wrong and Michael was fully aware that he and his people had been extremely fortunate.
'Whatever. The most important thing is that we survived. The method is secondary!'
With that in mind, Michael diverted his focus to the reconstruction of the territory. At least, that was what he planned.
Doubts filled his mind, and he felt a bit dejected knowing that more problems awaited him in the future. He doubted that the Zentika Empire would leave the Untamed Jungle alone now that Michael had been discovered as a Lord in the Untamed Jungle.
Other than that, there was still Senator Keltos, who was bound to change his plan and leave no stone unturned to infiltrate the Untamed Jungle.
'They will attack the Untamed Jungle eventually. But next time their attack will be more lethal than before…I am certain…'
Michael was not sure how much time he had before they would attack again, but he could tell that fear had been instilled into the citizens of the Zentika Empire. That should give him some extra time to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
'I doubt that ordinary Adventurers will dare to attack the Untamed Jungle after everything that happened. Even Tier-3 Adventurers will hesitate to attack since the Paladins were not ordinary Tier-3 Adventurers. I defeated them in an unorthodox way as well. No sane person who realized that I'm crazy would be willing to take the risk.'
Fighting an enemy who was crazy enough to destroy his own land to kill less than a dozen enemies was definitely not someone most would dare to fight.
That meant stronger enemies had to come to conquer the Untamed Jungle.
However, Higher Lifeforms such as TIer-4 Adventurers were not easy to find. Most couldn't spare them since there was always work for them to do as well.
Only prodigies could become Higher Lifeforms. Most were either Lords, or they worked for other Lords and couldn't be spared easily.
That gave Michael another reason to believe that he had some time to prepare for the next battle. And time was something Michael needed badly.
"I should expand my territory deeper into the Untamed Jungle," Michael mused quietly.
Tiara heard him and joined his monologue, "Can't you relocate your territory? I heard that it's possible to move the Summoning Gate and wooden manor to change the location of your territory as long as you're still in control of the vicinity you're relocating to."
The wooden manor and the Summoning Gate were considered the core components of a territory. If the wooden manor was destroyed, the Summoning Gate would malfunction. Meanwhile, if the Summoning Gate would be destroyed all Links of Loyalties would be destroyed in the following 24 hours.
Repairing a Summoning Gate was possible, but it was much better to protect it by all means. Ideally, if both the wooden manor and the Summoning Gate were located in the center of the territory, they would receive the best protection.
Simultaneously, if the Summoning Gate was destroyed despite being in the center of your territory, you would have bigger problems to face than the repair of the Summoning Gate. Your biggest issue would be to survive the invasion of the enemy, who was strong enough to barge into your territory and infiltrate its heart to destroy the Summoning Gate!
"The Untamed Jungle feels more secure than the Zentika Empire. By relocating the territory's center to the middle zone I can prepare for the battle against the empire, while simultaneously upgrading the hunting grounds," Michael mumbled after he gave Tiara's idea some thought.
He was in control of a small area in the middle zone. Relocating the wooden manor and the Summoning Gate might take a few days, but it would provide considerable benefits.
"Alright. Forward the order. We're moving to the middle zone," Michael declared after he finalized his decision. He then moved out of the medical hall to walk over to the Nature Spirit.
The timid nature spirit had already grown into a small Tree Spirit with a height of close to ten meters. Thus, relocating the Nature Spirit was likely to be the most difficult task.
"Hey little buddy. I have good and bad news for you. Which one do you want to hear first?" Michael asked lightly, trying to smile through the pain that continued to bother him whenever he moved an inch.
The Nature Spirit communicated with the use of emotions. Taking the firmness of their Link of Loyalty into account, Michael and the Nature Spirit could communicate with each other without problems.
A sad emotion reached Michael, indicating that the Nature Spirit wanted to hear the bad news first.
"The bad news it is? Well, it's pretty simple actually. We're going to relocate the territory, which means that you have to uproot yourself," Michael said as a matter of fact without showing too many emotions.
"The good news, however, is that the Heavy Armored Elephant can carry you and that we'll be moving to the middle zone. That means you can absorb more nutrition from the middle zone. After all, the middle zone's flora and fauna is even more dense than in the outer ring, and the origin energy's density is much higher as well!"
The Nature Spirit was at first disappointed when it heard that they had to relocate. It had just grown accustomed to staying in the center of the clearing. However, hearing that they would be moving closer to the center of the Untamed Jungle, the Nature Spirit released immense joy.
A flood of joy swept through Michael, influencing him enough to make him chuckle.
Despite the pain and exhaustion sweeping through him, Michael couldn't feel unhappy when the Nature Spirit's joy spread through him.
It felt great to be alive and to know that his territory had overcome another ordeal. No matter how much they lost and how dangerous it had been, they had survived and made the attackers retreat after defeating them humiliatingly. That was all that mattered.
Moving to the middle zone might be a little troublesome at first, but most of the Tier-2 habitats at the border to the middle zone had been eliminated or affected by the invasion of the Jungle Expedition. Michael was not too worried about encountering Tier-2 Monster habitats.
"If you're happy about the relocation, that's good. Be ready to move as soon as possible. We're not going to waste time idling around!" Michael ordered, which resulted in another burst of joy sweeping through him.
The Nature Spirit was eager to move!
Michael smiled at that before he went ahead. He found Blaire, Lilica, and others, to whom he forwarded the details of the relocation.
Afterward, Michael found himself in a weird situation.
His entire being felt drained of all its power and he began to vomit blood again.
Breathing grew increasingly more difficult, and his sight blurred. After a while, Michael started to lose the feeling in his arms and legs as well.
'What is going on? Is it the Chaos Essence? Did I use Extraction too much while I was still injured?' Michael began to panic.
His breathing grew labored, and he stumbled through his territory, holding onto the tree trunks for support. His mind was a mess, and full of chaos that couldn't be organized no matter how hard Michael tried.
The only thought Michael could gather was that something was terribly wrong with his body, and that the young Priestess in the territory was far too weak to tend to his issues.
Instinctively, Michael manifested the Runic Gate in front of him. He stumbled through the Runic Gate and emerged in the training hall within the Saphirelake Military Camp.
Alice Zenovia and Kaleb Zenovia had been diligently training in the training hall every day, including today.
They had been worried about Michael for a while now, but they didn't expect him to return so soon. Alice predicted that Michael wouldn't return for another week. He had to deal with tens of thousands of enemies, which included a few Tier-3 Adventurers. That wasn't easy and would take quite a while.
Thus, seeing the Runic Gate manifest in the center of the training hall, the siblings stopped training at once. They walked over to the Runic Gate, only to freeze in their tracks when they saw a figure swaying through the Runic Gate.
The swaying figure was Michael, it had to be. However, Michael's appearance was nowhere close to how he usually looked.
His bald head was silverish, and his swollen veins were straining against his skin, looking as black as the darkness. Most parts of Michael's body were covered in bandages, but the only bleeding areas were his nose and eyes. Silver blood trickled out of his nose and eyes.
"Oh fuck…" Kaleb blurted out, staring at his friend, his eyes shot wide open.
Alice, on the other hand, frowned deeply before she burst forward. The ground beneath her feet cracked open due to the strength she unleashed with a single burst, and she appeared in front of Michael the next instant.
Michael was not even able to fully grasp that someone had appeared in front of him. He only felt a soothing cold embracing him tightly. Michael felt extremely comfortable all of a suddenly. His body grew heavier, and his mind turned hazier.
'I should be fine now… right?'
He could only utter a few words before the world around him turned dark once again.
"I did it."
The next moment he fell into Alice's embrace.
