Micheal didn't really understand how their discussion about his past, his sister being the War Empress who disappeared a long time ago, and Frederik's territory being under attack turned into a lesson for Michael and Kaleb.
Alice criticized their strategy and attitude in the Team discipline for more than half an hour before she ordered them to write a detailed report about their thoughts before the battle, their tactic, and what they planned to do now that they obtained one Flag War Token.
Michael felt that Alice had gone a little bit over the top with her critique, but he understood her main focus. The Best Mix team would have died miserably facing the Blazing Sun Team as enemies. If they had been real enemies, who were after each other's life, Michael's plan would have failed miserably, and all of them would have died.
But Michael's plan was created with that in mind. He knew that the referee would interfere before anyone would be harmed. That was also why he chose to combine Enhancement with the Legendary Ice Staff while Lokai used most of her energy to overclock Burning Fury to strengthen Kaleb's Frozen Nova.
It would have been even better if Michael could use Enhancement on Frozen Nova directly, but it was not like Michael could touch Kaleb's Soultrait Symbol. Even then, Michael was very satisfied with the result of the battle against the Blazing Sun team.
They had been a lot stronger than them, yet the combined efforts of the Best Mix team eliminated most enemies. Alice feared that Michael and Kaleb would be under the impression that the same tactic would work well against the Tekur race, but that was something she didn't have to worry about. Michael didn't really plan to use the same tactic against the Tekur either way. Even if he did, he would apply more layers of Enhancement onto the Legendary Ice Staff to ensure that all Tekur in Frozen Nova's range would be frozen in an instant.
For that, Michael had to store more Power of Enhancement in his Legendary Ring Artifact, but that was quite easy. There were almost three months left before the Flag War started.
Except for Alice's critique, Michael was quite satisfied. The fight against the Blazing Sub team was exciting, which was mostly due to the result he achieved from combining the effect of multiple Soultraits. It was interesting to apply the tactics he came up with in real battles and combine Soultraits to create miraculous effects and unleash their full power.
"What are we going to do now?" Kaleb asked him, looking at Michael with dead-tired eyes.
It looked like Kaleb had fought against a wave of monsters for three days straight even though they had only been listening to his sister's nagging for half an hour.
"There is nothing much to do. Mekhaz, Thaor, and Lokai said that they don't want the Flag War Token. They want to continue fighting others to obtain their own Tokens. I guess they still don't like that they could only reach the top 100 of the Team discipline with your support. You were our team's MVP, after all. That means you can take the Token," Michael responded with a shrug, "As for the Battle Points for entering the top 100, they've already been distributed."
"How about you take the Token? I will fight others to get my own token," Kaleb said, but Michael shook his head.
"I'll join the Survival of the Fittest discipline later. If I cannot enter the top 200 there, I will enter the Origin Expanse for a few weeks. I can buy some resources with the Battle Points from the Team discipline. I can grow stronger in the Origin Expanse with more time to use, and then get my own Token. You deserve this token since your contribution was the highest in the Team discipline," He said, patting his friend on the back.
Michael could have taken the Flag War Token, but he didn't want to take Kaleb's coin. Furthermore, he secretly hoped that he wouldn't make it to the top 200 in the Survival of the Fittest discipline because that meant he would have to stay out of the Origin Expanse most of the time. According to the rules, every Token Holder would have to leave the Origin Expanse once every day to receive challenges. Their schedule would be filled with challengers trying to take their Tokens, which meant that they had less time to spend in the Origin Expanse.
Michael would rather spend most of his time in the Origin Expanse and obtain his token at the end of the Battle Exchange than stay in Piloq fighting dozens of battles a day – even if that was also very helpful to gain experience.
"Hmm…okay, if you say so," Kaleb responded and accepted the Flag War Token.
"It's almost time for the Survival of the Fittest discipline. Are you ready?" He asked, trying to change the topic a little.
Kaleb was still tired, but too many things happened today. He felt like distracting himself a little bit.
"Of course, I'm read—...." Michael was about to agree when he stopped in his tracks.
Kaleb nearly ran into his friend, who looked at the back of his right hand, his brows furrowed.
"What's wrong?"
"I think my territory is under attack…probably?" Michael responded slowly.
The Links of Loyalty with his subjects told Michael quite clearly that some of his Summons had been injured.
Tiara and the EmeraldLeaf Adventurers were distressed. Their emotions were fluctuating wildly, confusion filling their connection with Michael.
Despite the injuries and chaotic Links of Loyalty, none of his Summons died…yet.
"First Frederik and now you? What the hell is going on here?" Kaleb cursed silently, staring at his own War Rune as if he was wondering if his territory was about to be attacked as well.
"Looks like I have to skip the Survival discipline," Michael said, trying to calm his emotions as he manifested the Runic Gate leading to the Untamed Jungle in front of him, "Maybe it's something minor. Nobody died yet."
"If you have some spare time, please inform Alice. I doubt that it's anything major but I might have to stay in the Origin Expanse for a while," Michael added before stepping into the Runic Gate.
Michael disappeared, leaving Kaleb alone in the hallway.
He reappeared in his room inside the wooden manor and rushed outside immediately. When he was back in the Origin Expanse and closer to his subjects, Michael felt the pulling force from the Links of Loyalty much stronger than before. At that moment he realized that he might have underestimated the severity of the situation.
Trouble awaited him.
The first subjects Michael found was a group of injured Warriors. Their armor was burned and burn marks covered their bodies. Michael kicked the ground and crossed 20 meters in an instant, emerging in front of the warriors.
"What happened to you guys?" He asked, ignoring their surprise.
Two Warriors wanted to kneel down in front of him to pay respect to their Lord, but Michael pulled them back up.
"My Lord, you're back!"
"My Lord!"
"You've finally returned!"
Michael rolled his eyes and pointed at the Warrior who had yet to say something, "Tell me what's going on!"
Nobody had died yet, but the situation felt urgent. Tiara and the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team's Links of Loyalty were filled with irritation, anger, and killing intent.
"M-Me?... My L-Lord…I am not sure myself," The young Warrior said hesitatingly before he revealed everything he knew, "We were training the whole morning when Commander Tiara and Captain Lilica received reports about Elementals wreaking havoc near our territory. We have never encountered Elementals before so Commander Tiara sent Blaire and the others to investigate the situation. I don't know what they found out but we were ordered to eliminate the Lesser Elementals, while Commander Tiara, Captain Lilica, and many others left in the direction the Elementals came from. While fighting the Lesser Elementals, we realized too late that the Fire Elementals explode once their Monster Cores are on the verge of drying up…"
Despite being intimidated by Michael and rather shy, the young Warrior recalled everything that had happened since this morning with enough details to give his lord a rough idea of the situation. Nodding his head grimly, Michael retrieved a handful of potions which he handed the Warriors.
"Take these and rest for today. You did a great job protecting the territory," Michael said and was about to step away when he recalled something. "In which direction did Tiara and the others leave?"
"T-Thank you, my lord! They left for the western part of the middle area, my lord!" The young Warrior exclaimed, saluting Michael as his lord left with a nod.
Michael channeled energy through his lower body to accelerate. He retrieved a small crystal and infused some origin energy into it to call Tiara via the messaging crystal.
'There haven't been any reports about Elementals. The Untamed Jungle shouldn't have any Elementals. If any, there should be Nature Elementals, Wood Elementals, and maybe Water Elementals…but what's that about Fire Elementals?'
Just as Michael was trying to figure out what was going on while rushing to the western part of the Untamed Jungle's middle area, the communication crystal glowed up.
Michael's focus split up as he continued to move nimbly through the forest while paying attention to the communication crystal.
"I heard that Elementals appeared. Tell me about your situation. Is everyone fine?" Michael asked loudly.
"Master, you're back!" Tiara's excited voice rang through the communication crystal.
The excitement in her voice calmed Michael immediately. Tiara wouldn't sound excited and full of vigor if she or anyone around her was injured. That was a good sign.
"We're perfectly fine…though the situation is a little bit confusing," Tiara began but was interrupted by a rustling noise beside her. Tiara squealed out, "That's mine! Let me talk with Master! It's not your turn yet!!"
Tiara groaned in the next moment and Lilica's voice rang through Tiara's communication crystal.
"Welcome back, Michael. You must have noticed that something was wrong with our Links of Loyalty…" Lilica said, sounding both excited and confused at the same time.
"It's uncommon for Tiara, and the entire EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team to create strong ripples in the Links of Loyalty. Furthermore, two dozen Summons sustained injuries almost at the same time. I was worried that the territory was under attack, so I came back," Michael revealed his worries though hearing their voices diminished some of those thoughts.
"The Lesser Elementals must have injured the Warriors. I hope nobody died," Lilica responded, but Michael reassured her, "They were only injured. But tell me about the situation. I'm already on my way."
"Well…actually, it is pretty simple, yet also confusing. We found a cave full of Elementals a few days ago. But the cave is not normal. Or should I say, the Elementals are not normal. They have been subdued and are enslaved…"
Lilica's voice rang out from the communication crystal, her words causing the cogs in his mind to work tirelessly.
"Enslaved…do you mean there is another Lord in the middle area?" Michael asked, a mix of confusion and excitement flashing through his eyes.
"Yes…"
And that was when Michael found out about the second Lord in the Untamed Jungle.
