'There is something wrong with this old man…' Michael cursed in his mind as he left the Bartholomew Shop.
He didn't say much after Kraft Viton arrived in the room, but it was quite obvious that Helen Ascaln sent the old man after him to ensure that he wouldn't do anything stupid. Rather than being a babysitter to Kraft as he had assumed earlier, Michael felt like he was the baby, and Kraft Viton was his nanny.
That was already quite annoying, but it was even worse that both Helen Ascaln and Kraft Viton told him repeatedly that he shouldn't do something stupid.
It was obvious that they were mostly worried about the continuation of their trade with blueprints, however, Michael wasn't really sure why they thought it was important to keep reminding him that doing something stupid would be….stupid. Wasn't that obvious?
However, even more annoying than their constant reminders was the fact that Kraft Viton followed him wherever he went, tailing him like a shadow. He didn't say anything and his steps were eerily silent. Michael had to focus on the sounds around him to sense the old man behind him.
Now that his business with the Bartholomew Corporation had been completed – somewhat –, Michael could divert his attention to other things. He calmed his nerves by participating in the Limit Breaker Course and met up with the Professors of the Old Languages, and Ancient Ruins courses. He talked with them and received their contact details so that he could ask questions and continue studying for his courses even when he was busy in Meku.
The Battle Exchange and the Interdimensional Flag War might be related to the Saphirelake Military Academy, but that didn't mean Michael would receive an exemption from being required to achieve the passing grades for his courses. He had to continue working on his Memory Lane technique, train his physique to pass the Limit Breaker Course's test in the future, and study more to pass the Ancient Ruins and Old Languages test.
Michael was not too worried about the knowledge exams. Given the information he had obtained in the Laxarta Library, Michel was confident to pass the tests right now. The Ancient Ruins and Old Language exams for freshmen were not too difficult, after all.
Nonetheless, Michael wanted to stay in contact with his professors. He knew that he could pass their exams, but he didn't apply to their courses merely to obtain some merit points for his graduation. Michael opted for their courses to broaden his horizon and learn more about Ancient Ruins and the Old Languages to raid the Temple of the Forgotten in the future.
Last but not least, Michael entered the Origin Expanse and his territory. He received the daily report where he saw that a few Starless Summons had been praised several times. It was only a matter of days before they would obtain the first batch of Warrior Enlightenment Potions. At that time, the efficiency of the Warrior Enlightenment Potion would be revealed, hopefully awakening the adventurous spirits of some Starless Summons.
Afterward, he entered the basement of the Wooden Manor where the Relic of Draka was located. He visited the Underground Forging Hall, the Enchanter's Lair, and the Alchemy House to witness their rapid progress first-hand. Everyone worked extremely hard, much harder than Michael expected from his Summons.
However, he understood their excitement to work even harder than before. One of the 1-Star Blacksmith Apprentices seemed to have recently attained enlightenment, promoting him from a 1-Star Blacksmith Apprentice to a 2-Star Blacksmith. Roughly at the same time, a 1-Star Enchanter Apprentice attained enlightenment as well, promoting him to a 2-Star Enchanter.
Both apprentices attained enlightenment thanks to the memory crystals that Michael had filled with the memories of the Laxarta Library's knowledge. He separated the memories accordingly to ensure that each memory crystal had specific knowledge. This made it much easier for the Summons to see the memories of the knowledge they were interested in. After gaining some understanding of certain things that had been hard to comprehend before, the Alchemist Apprentice ended up concocting a few Energy Nourishing Pills, and Body Strengthening Pills, which had been impossible before.
He attained enlightenment from the concocting process and the additional knowledge and became a 2-Star Summon.
Meanwhile, the 1-Star Blacksmith Apprentice had been visiting the Relic of Draka whenever he had some time to spare. He studied the memory crystals' knowledge related to blacksmithing and attained enlightenment by watching the Magical Smithy working tirelessly on the Artifact-like Armaments. Using the enlightenment, the Apprentice forged a weapon beyond the limit of a 1-Star Apprentice, promoting him to a 2-Star Blacksmith.
Given the high efficiency of the memory crystals, Michael had to put some restrictions on them. Too many Summons wanted to use the memory crystals, and Michael didn't have the means to provide them to everyone. Thus, only the Summons who worked the hardest were given permission to use the memory crystals for a few days.
Lilica was the one who came up with the idea of putting restrictions, and conditions on the memory crystals usage. The restrictions fueled ambitious Summons with motivation, just like the Warrior Enlightenment Potion fueled Starless Summons with longing and desire.
Michael wished to procure more enlightenment potions, or more memory crystals to share his Archery knowledge and every other mastery he had obtained from the hundreds of Memory Orbs he had absorbed in the last half a year. Unfortunately, memory crystals were extremely hard to procure. Even the Bartholomew Shop in the academy was out of stock after his purchase. It would take quite a while until they would be restocked even though Michael was number one on their priority list.
Michael didn't rush the Bartholomew Shop to procure the items he needed. He would receive a notification on the crystal watch once the goods he had pre-ordered would arrive. By then, he would have to send the old man to the Origin Expanse to exchange the blueprints with the goods he had ordered. That was the easiest way to ensure that the Bartholomew Corporation obtained their blueprints and Michael could mindlessly order goods and get them delivered wherever he was located.
Looking at it from this point of view, Michael could exploit the fact that Kraft Viton's anchor in the Origin Expanse was located in the Bartholomew Corporation's headquarters. That was also one of the few reasons he decided to accept the old man's company.
He swore to himself to make use of the old man's presence as much as possible.
Putting aside his thoughts about Helen Ascaln and the old man, Michael focused on the Relic of Draka. The Weaponsmiths and Tiara had been researching the Relic for a while now, and they had no idea how it worked.
Michael could access it and sense how to control it, but that was something only he was capable of. The Relic didn't even use the ores provided by the Weaponsmiths. It just stopped moving once the ores Michael put in its storage had been used up.
It was almost like the Relic was sentient, and that it considered Michael as its master. When Michael read that in the report he was intrigued – of course.
He decided to spend a few hours researching the Relic of Draka and trying to configure it. After all, he was in need of the Relic's magical powers.
"An Artifact-like Armor would be great," Michael mumbled to himself, scratching the back of his head as he tried to figure out how to give the Relic precise commands.
After losing the Typhern Leather Armor Set, Michael had been a little bit at a loss. He could bind a new Artifact to his War Rune, but given Dragon Might's influence, Michael was not certain whether he should try to purchase a 4-Star Tier-2 Armor Artifact, or if it might be better to focus on other Artifacts instead.
The Dark Orb of William Black had been quite intriguing, and so were Lincoln's Gauntlets. Everyone had customized Epic Tier-2 Weapons that enhanced their Soultrait's power. That way, they could exhibit more strength.
Earlier, Michael didn't think that it was necessary to possess another Epic Artifact as long as he purchased high-ranked Tier-2 Artifacts. But since he realized how powerful the Legendary Tier-2 Ring Artifact was, Michael's opinion changed completely.
If he could replicate his Artifacts with products of the Relic of Draka, Michael would be free to focus on 2-3 high-ranked Epic, and Legendary Artifacts to further increase his strength, while still obtaining the external enhancement from the Artifact-like products of the Relic of Draka. That way, Michael would make tremendous gains and hold an advantage over everyone else.
Hours of research revealed that Michael knew a lot less about the Relic than he expected. First, he found out that he was the only one with full authority of the Relic of Draka, and that he could give others specific permissions as well. Other than that, Michael also learned that he could easily configure the Relic of Draka. The easiest way to change the Armament it created was by providing forging blueprints.
Michael provided a forging blueprint for War-axes, which he had purchased not too long ago. Initially, the blueprint was for the Weaponsmiths to forge better weapons for his Berserkers, but given that the Relic of Draka's products had additional enhancements, Michael decided to make some changes.
The Relic of Draka began producing war axes instead of thin-bladed longswords.
'Now I only need a proper forging blueprint for armor, and suitable material,' Michael thought, 'I wonder if the Relic can create an armor with similar enhancements to a Natural Epic Tier-2 Armor Artifact. Maybe with the right materials that's possible.'
Michael felt a little excited at the thought of creating Natural Epic Artifacts that could be worn and used by Summons as well. His excitement didn't die down even after he left the Origin Expanse.
Kraft Viton was patiently waiting at the same spot Michael had left him at. However, Michael didn't care about that. He was just excited at this point.
"Let's go. It's about time we travel through space!" He said in excitement, feeling that researching the Relic and the opportunity to travel through space once again were an exceptional combination to boost his happiness and vigor.
It was almost time for their departure. Thus, Michael left the academy grounds to hail a space shuttle that brought him and Kraft Viton to Kelta's spaceship harbor.
Once again, Michael was caught off-guard by the sheer grandeur of his surroundings. He could only stare when he saw the majestic, behemoth-sized spaceship harbor. His heart began to beat wildly as they made their way inside.
By utilizing Eagle Eyes with several layers of Enhancement, Michael did a thorough inspection of every single detail in the spaceship harbor.
He didn't want to miss anything.
Once inside the spaceship harbor, the shuttle reached the destination not long after. Michael and Kraft Viton stepped out and walked toward the group of students and teachers that had arrived ahead of time.
However, Michael didn't even notice them. His eyes were drawn to the spaceship behind the students, his eyes gleaming in excitement.
"That's pretty neat!"
