Just like Elder Silram thought, Michael was not in a bad mood. He was a little excited and felt that it was good to know that the Kitsun were treacherous and merciless.
Elder Silram's knowledge meant that Michael could fight the Kitsun without the need to hold back. There was no need for further questions, let alone considering approaching the Kitsun with peace and business prospects in mind.
Nonetheless, Michael decided to wait for Tiara and the Awakened she had promised to capture alive. It wasn't bad to wait for more information before taking action.
He returned home and waited for Tiara and the Forest Elves back in the wooden manor. At the same time, he met up with Blaire and several scouting teams to redistribute a handful of missions. They would focus on the western part of the Untamed Jungle now, their main focus being the outer ring and the middle area.
'Maybe I should send a few scouts to the eastern part as well. Maybe there are also a few surprises waiting for me,' Michael thought before he sent one of the smaller scouting teams to the eastern part of the Untamed Jungle's outer ring and middle area.
Since the Untamed Jungle was ginormous, it was already hard to gain control of the southern part. Michael had been focusing on the southern outer ring since it bordered the Zentika Empire, which resulted in missing out on the Kitsun Lord in the western area. If the Kitsun Lord had found him earlier, he would have probably attacked Michael already. But then again, Michael wasn't even sure whether the Kitsun Lord had found him by now, or if the Kitsun Lord was still oblivious to his existence. After all, the Lesser Elementals and Summons who clashed with his Warriors and Knights were dead.
Blaire and the others said that there hadn't been any communication crystals, special signals, or scouts either.
'Let's wait for Tiara before jumping to conclusions.' Michael told himself while reading through the daily reports.
"I missed so many things…and I don't even have the time to focus on them now that I found out. How annoying," Michael grumbled, his eyes scanning through quickly as he finished the daily reports. Too many interesting events happened while he spent his time outside the Origin Expanse to grow stronger and get to know the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs.
Unfortunately, he had to deal with the Kitsun Lord first before he would have some more time to focus on the happenings in his territory. He was too busy for his own good, which was both amusing and frustrating at the same time.
Michael finished reading the daily reports that were pending for the last few days when Tiara came back with her prey. It was an unconscious Kitsun with a sturdy upper body and a large War Rune on the back of his right hand.
"You captured a Mid Tier-2 Awakened. Good job," Michael praised as he left the wooden manor to welcome Tiara.
Other than her disheveled hair and dirty clothes, Tiara was unscathed. She smiled brightly, flashing her white teeth as she threw the unconscious body in front of Michael.
"It's a small bonus. I caught him quite easily. He didn't expect someone to appear behind him," She bragged.
Michael bent down and pressed his palm against the unconscious Kitsun's forehead. He closed his eyes and used Mind Reader to read the Kitsun's memories.
All of a sudden, just as Michael breached past the Kitsun's mental defense, severe pain spread through his head. It felt like an electricity current wreaked havoc inside his head, making him unable to focus on anything.
He wasn't able to read the Kitsun's memories like that.
"Should I use Extraction? No, the Memory Orbs don't contain nearly as many memories as Mind Reader," Michael mumbled.
As long as the target was unconscious, Mind Reader could be used to read the memories hidden deeper inside the target's mind. Subconscious thoughts, even dreams could be read using Mind Reader – at least theoretically.
Michael started to use Extraction in an attempt to break through the Kitsun's natural mental defense against mind attacks. He used Mind Reader after that once again.
This time, he could read some of the Kitsun's thoughts without feeling any pain. Unfortunately, Mind Reader wasn't advanced enough to read everything in the Kitsun's mind while the target was still unconscious.
"In that case, I will upgrade you a little bit," He murmured, accessing the SoulStar Fragments that were waiting patiently to be used.
Michael had a total of 816 SoulStar Fragments, and Mind Reader was a 1-Star Soultrait. Upgrading it to 4-Star didn't even require 250 SoulStar Fragments, under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, Mind Reader was at the outermost area of the Sphere of Light. Advancing Mind Reader to the next level costs 2.5 times the price.
Despite the heavy price, Michael decided to follow his gut feeling. He spent 606 SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Mind Reader to a 4-Star Soultrait. Even though he cursed the expensive upgrade in his mind, Michael remained calm on the outside as he used Mind Reader once again.
The unconscious Kitsun was just about to regain consciousness when a powerful force infiltrated his head.
"Who is your Lord? How many combatants does the Kitsun Lord have? Does he know about any other Lords? What is his plan? How many Awakened are working for the Lord? How strong is your combat force? Provide me with as many details as possible!" An indomitable voice swept through the Kitsun's ears, one question after another. The Kitsun groaned in pain, and his entire being tried to retreat instinctively.
His mind tried to shut off and restrain the invasion of any kind of force. However, before the mind could shut off, Michael's Extraction tore down every little bit of resistance that was built. The Kitsun thought about the answers to Michael's questions subconsciously. It was only natural. He didn't want to answer the questions but he still thought about everything questioned as a reflex.
That was exactly what Michael had hoped for. He read the Kitsun's mind using Mind Reader, imprinting every bit of information in his mind while continuing to ask more questions. The Kitsun couldn't even resist as his mental defense was torn down the moment it was raised.
Almost an entire hour passed before Michael released the Kitsun, who crashed to the ground motionless.
Michael was not sure if the Kitsun was dead or not, but he couldn't care less about that right now. A sadistic bastard, who received pleasure from inflicting pain on innocent young girls and children was not someone who deserved to stay alive. Thus, Michael moved subconsciously, manifesting a Qi Sword that pierced through the unmoving Kitsun's head, eliminating the sadistic piece of shit at once.
An energy influx entered Michael's body, and he used Extraction to extract a few dozen SoulStar Fragments, a Tier-2 Artifact, a few more goods that were stored in the Kitsun's storage space, and a Memory Orb.
Michael stared at the Memory Orb in hatred and crushed it. He had seen enough through Mind Reader to know what the Memory Orb would show him…and that was more than enough to know that he had to eliminate the Kitsun Lord – the sooner the better.
One of the most important facts Michael found out while reading the Kitsun's memories and thoughts was that Elder Silram's information had been correct. The Kitsun Lord and his subordinates were all bastards and assholes.
The Kitsun caught by Tiara had been one of the oldest Awakened working for the Kitsun Lord. But he was not the strongest, which was something he compensated by torturing young and innocent children. He didn't even care whether the children belonged to other races, or if they were also Kitsun. The more thoughts Michael read and the more memories he saw the more disgusted he felt. It was definitely not enjoyable to read the thoughts of a jackass, sadistic bastard such as the dead Kistun lying in front of him.
Either way, the Kitsun didn't have any real power even though he had been working for the Kitsun Lord for a decade already. According to the memories and thoughts of the Kitsun the Lord had tricked him and made him sign a tight Soul Contract holding him back from abandoning, or betraying the Kitsun Lord.
A Soul Contract was a more binding version of a Link of Loyalty. It was expensive to establish a Soul Contract between two parties, and it was usually used for important business deals between two parties rather than strengthening a Link of Loyalty to ensure that the Lord's subordinates wouldn't betray him.
However, the Kitsun Lord did exactly that. All Awakened working for him were under a Soul Contract in addition to the Link of Loyalty. That was also how the Kitsun Lord ensured that nobody betrayed him even after he became a Lord in the Untamed Jungle a decade ago.
The Kitsun was a rather old Lord in the Untamed Jungle. However, according to the Kitsun's memories the Kitsun Lord had been focusing on expanding his territory outside the Untamed Jungle because the inner area was way too dangerous for him and his people. Furthermore, the Kitsun preferred the savannah region adjacent to the Untamed Jungle's western side. The Untamed Jungle was the place he hated the most.
"So now he wants to expand his territory in the Untamed Jungle? So he wants to fight us…I see…" Michael mumbled, the corner of his lips curling upward.
He didn't have anything against a challenging battle. Defeating a Lord and many Awakened would allow him to grow much stronger in a short period. Tiara and the other Awakened in his territory would benefit a lot from the battles as well, just like his Warriors, who would earn experience and energy influx from every enemy they slayed.
But the most satisfying would be to get rid of a pest like the Kitsun Lord.
Being able to survive for a decade in the Origin Expanse might have been possible until now.
Now it was about time that the Kitsun Lord got a taste of his own medicine.
