Michael had no idea what happened in the post-Flag War meeting, but he figured that he would find out soon enough. He ended up talking to Kaleb and the rest for a while before he decided to enter the Origin Expanse for the first time in the last two weeks.
The Runic Gate opened in front of him and he stepped through it without hesitation. A mere second later, Michael appeared in the wooden manor inside his territory. The dense purified energy that permeated the air in the Untamed Jungle swirled around him, filling his body. Superior Constitution absorbed it naturally, annexing the energy that entered his body instantaneously.
Even if Michael wouldn't focus on his War Rune's refinement degree, staying in the Untamed Jungle for two weeks while working hard ought to be enough to advance to Tier-3. Of course, it was all thanks to Superior Constitution.
Michael decided to take a quick bath before he left his room. He hadn't been able to relax at all within the isolated dimension. It was time that he spent some of his free time releasing the tension within his body. Michael had no idea when he would receive some free time again. After all, his troubles with the High Society, Dark Heaven and the Supreme Human Alliance were still waiting for him. There was also the fact that he was Maria's Primal Amplifier. Michael was not sure what was going to happen about that either.
He thought about extracting the Mark of Fate once, but Michael was not sure if it would do more harm than good. He did not want to risk hurting Maria by removing the Archangel's Grace Shard in his War Rune. Furthermore, Archangel's Grace was extremely powerful. Even the weakened version Michael could manifest with the Shard was quite powerful. He didn't possess a Soultrait just yet, but Michael was also not planning to create an 11th Soul Socket just to bind a Healing Soultrait to his body – not if the Shard of Archangel's Grace was as powerful as a Pseudo 6-Star Soultrait at full power.
As long as being Maria's Primal Amplifier wouldn't pose a big problem, Michael was fine keeping things as they were. It was not that he hated Maria, after all. She was beautiful, her personality was great, and she was not like most Descendants. If anything, Maria was like Lincoln, and Zeke, both of whom were down to earth. It was difficult not to like Maria.
Once Michael was done bathing, he dried his body with a wave of energy and put on some comfortable clothes. It was refreshing. He felt like he was reborn. It was amazing.
Nature's scent wafted in the air, filling every inch around Michael as he stepped out of the wooden manor. Only two weeks passed outside the Origin Expanse since he last returned to the Origin Expanse, but that was equivalent to an entire month in the Origin Expanse. Many things must have happened in the time he spent fighting the Tekur and human traitors.
"Master, you're back!!" An overly familiar voice rang through his ears.
He heard someone approach with quick steps and it didn't take long before a furball pounced on Michael's back, hugging him tightly from behind. All Michael could see was a silver tail swishing around frantically. But he didn't have to see more to know who'd jumped on his back.
It was Tiara or an overly excited version of Tiara.
The young woman from the Silverfang Tigerfolk couldn't contain her joy upon seeing Michael and jumped at her Master. Michael let her be. In fact, he didn't have anything against such a greeting. It made him feel nice that at least someone missed him, and that he would always be welcome in his territory.
"Welcome back, my Lord!" Michael heard another voice from behind where he perceived a handful of energy fluctuations.
He turned around with Tiara still clinging onto him, just to see the Immortal Knight, and the Forest Elven Adventurers. Lilica and the others smiled brightly upon seeing him and they strode to his side.
"We were worried that you would never come back. Well, we knew that you would spend some time in this Flag War, or whatever it was, but you were due a week ago. Everyone was worried that something happened to you. You couldn't be dead because we would have sensed that through the Links of Loyalty, but we didn't know what happened," Lilica said, her expression souring for a moment.
Her expression brightened in an instant after she discarded the worries that had plagued her during the last week, "But you're back, so everything is fine. In fact, you glance stronger than ever. That's great!"
It was not difficult to observe that his eyes had changed, however, far more impressive was the tremendous presence that radiated naturally from Michael's body. Michael could not yet fully control the presence that oozed out of his body due to Superior Constitution. It was quite difficult to control, and certainly not one of the things Michael was adept at. On the contrary, he could easily control the power level of his eyes.
Spirit Eyes would, under normal circumstances, intimidate everyone with weaker willpower than Michael. That was one of the effects his eyes gained naturally from the transmutation Spirit Eyes initiated. However, most people around him wouldn't even notice the effect because Michael restrained it naturally. It was barely noticeable to Unawakened existences.
"I've grown a bit stronger, and it won't take long before I advance to Tier-3, either. If you want to know more about what happened in the Interdimensional Flag War, we can talk about that later," Michael said with a thin smile on his lips. It was great to be among the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team and Tiara. No. It was great to be home, "But I would like to find out what happened in my territory first. Almost a month passed. A lot must have changed."
Lilica and the others nodded their heads. It was true. Many things had changed.
Lilica gestured to Tiara, forcing her to get down from Michael's behind before she cleared her throat, "Do you want to read the daily reports first, or should we tell you about everything instead?"
"Prepare the daily report for me to read through later. I want to inspect the changes in the territory with my own eyes and hear what my people have to say first. However, I believe that most subjects will come to me to complain about the lack of materials, tools, and blueprints that I'd promised to bring when I come back."
Michae was still in possession of the notes and everything else his subjects had asked for. Kraft Viton had made sure that Michael was given most of the materials and items his subjects had requested, but it was not appreciate Kraft Viton was an omnipotent magician. He couldn't snap his fingers to make all the materials requested by Michael and his subjects appear out of nowhere.
Michael recalled that a bunch of items had been missing when Kraft Viton procured the materials and items from his territory's 'shopping list'. That was also why Michael was quite curious to find out how much his territory had developed. Did the development stagnate because of the missing items, or were his subjects innovative and ambitious enough to exit out the missing materials if possible, replace them with other substitutes, or simply put the construction aside to pursue another project?
If it was any of those three options, Michael would be fine with it. However, if his subjects turned out to have grown lazy while he was absent, he wouldn't be happy.
"You don't have to be worried. We finished everything you asked for. The list of projects has been completed. All we're missing are the unique materials you'd promised, and the livestock – though Opars has a pretty easy solution for that." Pheli explained upon seeing the subtle change in Michael's expression.
"Opars? Do you have a solution to the livestock issue?" Michael asked, his eyes traveling to Opars, whose long, pointed ears twitched.
"I…do have a solution. But I might have done something you don't like. Maybe, you won't have anything against it though," Opars responded reluctantly.
"What did you do?"
"You understand about the Trilance, the alliance between the Zynur, Laprix, and Valyr, right? The Zynur Lord created a settlement at the border to the Untamed Jungle because he was hoping to contact you for a potential trading opportunity. I might have been interested in his settlement and the development of the Savannah region and found out that they have some of the livestock the Tamers need for their Ranches. Their prices are also fairly decent, especially given the issues in the Savannah Region."
Michael had nothing against his subordinates traveling around. As long as they didn't cause trouble to his subjects and territory they could do as they pleased…mostly, at least.
"A business relationship with the Trilance seems appreciate a good idea. I have no idea where the Valyr, Zaynur, and Laprix have their usual spawn points spread across the Origin Expanse, but it never hurts to create more trading routes," Michael remarked, praising Opars for his quick thinking, "You did a great job. If you have already established a good relationship with the Trilance, how about you travel to the settlement near the border and request a list of things they need and items, materials and other goods they can provide? Make sure to also ask them about goods their races possess in surplus. If there is anything we need, we can create a few more sources of income by trading with them and selling the items to our own people, the Forest Elven Tribe, or the Tritan Alliance. We should be able to expand our money-making businesses slowly."
Michael was glad that his subjects acted on their own. He had been worried that everyone would only do what he ordered them to do. Fortunately, that was not the case.
"But what is going on in the Savannah Region?" He asked at last.
Opars smiled wryly.
"It's not only the Savannah Region. Apparently, there are also some issues in the Zentika Empire."
