Less than half an hour after everyone entered the spaceship, they departed. Their departure was smooth and you could barely feel the spaceship ascend high into the air until the Tuar-type spaceship accelerated to leave the harbor with a burst of energy.
Micheal expected their departure to be a little uncomfortable considering that the Tuar-type spaceship was extremely fast, but he had been so focused on a few messages on the crystal watch, and Kraft Viton's words ringing through his ears that he didn't even realize when they entered space.
Kraft Viton was trying to teach him how to send messages through origin energy. The principle was simple. A wisp of energy would be filled with words that were sent to the recipient's ears where the wisp of energy would disperse, releasing the words it contained.
However, turning the 'simple' principle into reality was extremely hard. It required high mastery of origin energy, and the ability to control energy precisely over a long distance.
Michael's mastery of origin energy was already quite decent. Given the information engraved on his mind every single time his War Rune fused with a Soultrait, Michael learned numerous ways to use and alter origin energy. Adding the experiences and memories he obtained from extracting Memory Orbs from his enemies, it was only natural that Michael's mastery of origin energy reached a high level.
Others would require years to be as proficient at controlling energy as Michael. But Michael still struggled to envelop his words in a wisp of energy, so sending it to Kraft Viton across the spaceship was a far cry right now.
Michael failed to do so several times, which was also why he ended up using the crystal watch to send Kraft Viton a few messages. He didn't ask the old man why he was trying to teach him Whispering Energy. Instead, Michael asked the old man about doubts he had related to Whispering Energy.
At first, Michael didn't really want to have Kraft Viton around him. He didn't want a babysitter of the Bartholomew Corporation observing his every action. However, his view of the situation changed quickly.
Whispering Energy was quite useful. Not only was learning Whispering Energy a way to further refine his mastery of origin energy, but Michael could think of countless ways to use Whispering Energy in combat. As long as he learned how to use Whispering Energy subconsciously, Michael would be able to communicate with his allies without alerting his enemies.
Not only would that benefit him greatly in the Origin Expanse, but it would also be quite useful during the Battle Exchange, and the Interdimensional Flag War. As long as he used it properly, it might actually benefit him in a one on one battle as well. Using Whispering Energy to whisper into his enemy's ears to distract him might seem like a petty trick, but Michael was a petty human being, so it was fine to use tricks like that.
In a life-and-death battle victory is all that matters. Survival was the way, no matter how dirty you fought!
Growing increasingly interested in Whispering Energy, Michael spent a while chatting with Kraft Viton, and attempted to replicate the old man's technique. It didn't work well, but Michael could tell that he was slowly getting somewhere – even if it was at snail's pace.
He didn't know how much time passed but Michael grew a little tired after continuously trying to replicate the old man's technique. It was a lot more complicated than he first presumed.
Thus, he ended up taking a look at something else; the infrastructure of the spaceship!
Since they had to spend three days in the spaceship to reach Kelta, Michael thought he might as well spend some time analyzing the Tuar-type spaceship's structure. His interest in spaceships was quite high, yet he had never been able to get his hands on detailed information about the Tuar-Type spaceship.
This one was one of the newer models as well!
The first thing Michael noticed was that the inside of the Tuar-type spaceship was extremely spacious.
Everyone had a tiny room to sleep and manifest their Runic Gate on the highest floor, then there was a spacious cafeteria, a large living room where everyone could meet up to play games, or simply talk about the Battle Exchange, or some other mundane things on the third floor.
Meanwhile, the second floor was fully occupied by the training ground that could also be used as an arena to spar with each other.
Last but not least, the ground floor of the Tuar-type spaceship was occupied by the personnel, and most of the spaceship's machinery.
It didn't take Michael a long time to finish reading through the guide provided in the information channel of the Tuar-type spaceship. The infrastructure was interesting, and so was the technique used. It was only a little bit unfortunate that the minute details about the materials used to construct the spaceship, the technology and pilot training couldn't be found.
All those pieces of information were what Michael was looking forward to reading. He wanted to visualize how the spaceship had been constructed, and how the captain controlled it.
Michael even requested to take a look at the machine room to learn more about the structure and technology used to move the spaceship through space, but the staff declined his request immediately. Michael was a little bit sad about that, but there was nothing he could do about the crew's decision.
If they thought that it was too dangerous to allow an ignorant young Lord to enter their machine room while they were mid-space, there must be a reason. Michael didn't even want to think about the reason but he presumed that some idiot must have pressed buttons that shouldn't have been touched in the middle of space.
With a gloomy face, he dropped the guidebook and wondered what to do next. And a moment later, he received a notification on the crystal watch
[Dear students of the Saphirelake Military Academy, please proceed to meet up on the first floor in 30 minutes.]
The message was not really detailed, but it came from the academy's official account. Thus, Michael got up from the bed and went to the first floor without delay.
He found Lincoln and Zeke talking to a few students after he entered the training ground, probably 3rd or 4th graders. But instead of walking over to them, Michael kept his distance. Even though he was quite open-minded, he knew that most descendants participating in the Battle Exchange didn't like people such as Michael – people who didn't have a noteworthy background.
Instead of putting Lincoln and Zeke in an awkward position by forcing them to introduce him to others, who were likely to frown upon him, Michael felt much better observing his surroundings.
He used his Eagle Eyes to take in as much information as possible. Instead of standing around idly, Michael observed the other students. He looked at their War Runes, imprinted their faces and facial expressions into his mind all while trying to determine what type of body refinement they underwent.
By observing the overall physique of the Awakened around him, Michael could roughly determine what type of Soultrait they possessed. It was not perfect, but a rough indicator of their Soultrait.
For example, Zeke had an athletic build focusing on his dexterity and agility while Lincoln's physique was rugged with well-trained, bulging muscles. Lincoln required physical strength to exhibit his Soultrait's strongest form. Zeke, on the other hand, was better off moving around nimbly. He could use his Eye of Illusion to trick his enemies and evade attacks before attacking his enemies with fast strides.
Michael could also make out some specific details about the other students such as sparks passing through Killian Zeus' arms, and a tinge of coldness radiating from Kaleb naturally. The coldness permeated the air around Kaleb, turning the air around him slightly chilly. Even if it was barely visible, Michael could clearly see it thanks to his Eagle Eyes.
Other than that, there were also some students whose presence altered the origin energy around them. Michael could see that quite clearly.
All-in-all, Michael spent most of his time on the first floor of the spaceship to analyze his potential allies in the Interdimensional Flag War, or his future enemies. It was intriguing and definitely worth the time and energy he spent imprinting all the bits of information he could store deep into his mind.
A loud snap rang through the training ground exactly 30 minutes after the students received the notification. Alice Zenovia and a few more Professors of the academy stepped into the center of the training ground, with half-serious, half-smiling expressions on their faces. Only Alice was ice-cold as usual, which highlighted the small smiles on the faces of the other Professors.
"Hello everyone. I presume that everyone knows me already, so I won't introduce myself again," Alice Zenovia started off, her voice as sharp as a blade of ice, "Everyone here knows why we're on our way to Meku, and how we're supposed to interact with the Berserkers and the Warlock Centaurs. Thus, I won't go into detail about that."
As Alice spoke, the young man next to her stepped forward, "Of course, we'll be forwarding guides to everyone about the basics you should know. Read through them to ensure that you won't accidentally be rude to the Berserkers. Otherwise, you might end up in a Blood Ritual, facing the Berserkers' wrath. That's not what anyone here wants to happen, believe me!" The young man said, his gaze moving across the crowd of students.
His gaze lingered on Killian a little longer than the others before he stepped back once again. He motioned to Alice, who continued speaking.
"Since everyone present will be representing the Saphirelake Military Academy, a part of mankind with the students of other academies and universities who'll be present at the Battle Exchange, the Dean decided to give everyone some Saphire Points, and the opportunity to purchase some of the rare goods that have been stored in the academy's treasury," Alice revealed, her gaze shifting to Michael for a second.
However, Michael was a little bit confused about some things Alice had just noticed.
'Wasn't it just the Saphirelake Military Academy that was participating in the Battle Exchange? When did that change?' He wondered, unsure how many humans would participate in the Battle Exchange this time around.
'Is winning three rounds in the Battle Exchange really enough to participate in the Interdimensional Flag War?'
Despite the confusion, Michael continued to listen to Alice. Her short speech ended within a few minutes and as stated earlier, a few Saphire Points were credited to every student account.
Saphire Points were hard to procure. Most of them could be earned by completing missions, completing unique assignments, or passing final exams with high scores. They were valuable, and one could do a wide variety of things with them. This included purchasing unique techniques, recipes, Mythic Summoning Scrolls, and so on.
However, Michael didn't even think about using his Saphire Points for something like that.
A much better plan was already forming in his mind!
