Warlock Centaurs and Berserkers being afraid of someone was very different than was the case for humans. It was not easy to make them feel fear. They didn't even fear to die in battle. However, if they feared someone because of his tremendous power, it was considered a praise, one of the highest praises a Berserker, or Warlock Centaur could give. Most humans couldn't understand this because they had different traditional values, but it was a sign of respect and a stamp of approval of your might if a Berserkers, or Warlock Centaur acknowledged that they were afraid of you. And Michael could sense their fear. Their Links of Loyalty shoved their feelings into his face. It was near-impossible not to sense how they felt about him, and it confused him. The Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs' Links of Loyalty grew stronger even though they sensed fear. If Michael didn't know much about the war-loving races, he would be wondering if he was about to turn insane.
Well, even without the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs, Michael felt like he was slowly turning insane. The events of the last few weeks continued to torment his mind, and they made him feel like he had already gone crazy.
But instead of letting the events of the past affect him, Michael focused on the most important aspect. "I have one year before our family's curse devours my brother's Living Soul. That means, I have one year to find a solution, and upgrade both Soul Grimoire and Extraction," He figured.
The next thing he did was to push Soul Grimoire to the next level. He spent 7,500 SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Soul Grimoire to a 5-Star Soultrait. The upgrade cost was astronomical but Michael had already considered this possibility. Soul Grimoire was located in the outer area of the Sphere of Light where he had to spend more than twice the usual price to upgrade his Soultraits. Soul Grimoire was tightly locked in place and couldn't be moved around.
If upgrading Soul Grimoire had been any cheaper, he would have considered upgrading it to a 6-Star Soultrait right away. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough SoulStar Fragments despite having more than 45,000 SoulStar Fragments to distribute freely. Michael waited patiently for the influx of information, his eyes shut tightly so as to not miss even a single piece of information. 'Please be the right one!' He pleaded in his heart.
Even if Soul Grimoire was not the perfect Soultrait to rescue his brother's Living Soul, Michael hoped that Soul Grimoire would be helpful to overcome his future ordeals.
Fortunately, it didn't take long before the influx of information arrived.
He channeled a considerable amount of energy through his brain and used Enhancement on his brain. The result was great. The influx of information was digested immediately and a slow smile formed on his lips.
"I can store and preserve souls. It's possible to nourish Souls as well…That's great!" Michael exclaimed, only to feel a bad headache creeping up from the back of his head. More information flooded his already overworked brain without a warning.
"Living Souls, especially Cursed Souls are too potent…Soul Grimoire cannot even hold a single Living Soul right now, let alone a Cursed Soul. It won't be able to nourish a Cursed Soul either. Not at 5-Stars, at least." Michael found out that he could store and preserve Souls with Soul Grimoire. Soul Grimoire could also harvest Souls from the deceased. The probability was extremely low, but it was possible. As for what he could do with these Souls…Michael wasn't sure about that. He could sense that Soul Grimoire could consume the souls it stored, but Michael had no clue what would happen after the Soul Grimoire did that. Was Soul Grimoire a growth-type Soultrait that consumed Souls to grow stronger? Could he use the Soul Grimoire to do something other than harvesting, storing, preserving, and nourishing Souls?
Because he was not certain about Soul Grimoire's pool of abilities, and the potential danger it could pose to Daniel's Living Soul, Michael had to postpone transferring his brother's Living Soul into the Soul Grimoire for the time being. It was not large enough to store a Cursed Soul, either way. He would have to experiment a lot with Soul Grimoire before he could use it to store his brother's Soul. He would have to harvest a few souls, preserve them and attempt nourishing them. If possible, it would be best if he experimented with other souls first before he would throw his brother's Living Soul into hellfire. He didn't want to harm his brother, after all.
'I should extract the Souls of my enemies. At least, I won't feel bad experimenting with them.' Michael thought, somehow hoping that more idiots would try to kidnap him. He could punish them again. This time, however, he would take their Souls instead of just beating them into a pulp.
Michael felt like a mad scientist to devise such a plan, but after the last incident, it was quite obvious what would happen to those who were foolish enough to attack him. If they tried to kidnap him despite knowing what might possibly happen to them, then they didn't deserve any mercy.
Why should he be merciful to those who want to harm him? There was no need.
"I'm sorry to bother you when you've just returned from the depths of the Untamed Jungle, but is it possible for you to leave the Origin Expanse for a few hours?" Rebecca Zauber asked hesitantly. Michael eyed her for a moment until Rebecca realized that she should explain the situation, "Everything for our return has been prepared. We've been waiting for you to return from the Origin Expanse to pick up the new students and return to the Saphirelake Military Academy. All you have to do is anchor your Runic Gate to the spaceship. After that, you can return to the territory right away."
"Oh! I forgot that we wanted to leave the ancient city a while ago," Michael recalled that Kraft Viton said something like that earlier, "Sorry for the delay. I'll return right away."
Michael wanted to hide in the Origin Expanse but he returned to the ancient city nonetheless. He contacted Alice and inquired her about the spaceship's location and began to walk over right away.
"You might not like this, but your mother is still around. She made it clear that she would come to the Saphirelake Military Academy as well. If we could do something to stop her we would give it a try, but she is a Peak Tier-6 Lord who is stronger than the Chieftain and the War Priestess combined. It's…quite difficult to order her around. I'm sorry," Alice informed Michael. She was apologetic toward him but there was hardly anything she could do about it. Michael's mother was probably closer to ascending to a Divine Lifeform than any other Awakened in the Tritan Alliance. "It's fine. I can ignore her if she bothers me," Michael responded, but Alice was silent for a while.
"I understand that it's not my business to intervene in your private matters for I know too little about the history between you and your family, but I don't think the situation in your family is that simple," She said hesitatingly, "Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe, it's wrong of me to even say something, in the first place. But your mother has been silent for the last few days and she is crying all day." when Michael did not reply, Alice continued,
"I know what she did to you and Danny. I am fully aware of every single detail you told me about your past, but something is bothering me. I don't think your mother will annoy you while she stays in the Saphirelake Military Academy. I doubt that she will approach you in the spaceship either. But…I hope that you can talk to her once you're ready. You should ask her the questions that have been bothering you for the last ten years. You deserve to receive your mother's honest answers. Maybe, her answers will hurt you, but at least you will receive the answers you were longing for."
Michael had opened up to Alice and Kaleb and told them everything about his family matters. He felt good talking to them about the time his family abandoned them and what happened afterward. The Zenovia siblings knew about the possibility of their family being cursed as well. Daniel could always try to ease Michael's mind by saying that the curse didn't exist and that they were just incredibly unfortunate, but the truth was that their family had been cursed for a while. Michael also told the Zenovia siblings that he didn't understand where the curse came from and that he had numerous questions that had yet to be answered. Now that his mother returned, Michael could ask the questions.
He could ask about the Cursed Children, the Cursed Seals, why his mother was so powerful, what happened to Danny's Soul, what the Hellbound Cataclysm was, and what exactly she meant with "our families". Were there more families that had been cursed just like them? If so, did they gather in a small group to find a way out? If not, why was his mother always talking in plural? However, Michael had been telling himself that he wouldn't speak to his mother at any cost. That she didn't deserve to talk to him. She was dead to him.
"I…" Michael hesitated. He didn't like that Alice was butting into his private matters, but he could also tell that she genuinely cared for him. Would it really help him if he talked to his mother? Would he feel better after obtaining the answers to all the questions he had? Michael was not sure about that. However, he could tell that leaving the questions unanswered forever could torment him until death. Maybe, it was better to talk to her no matter how devastating her answers could be. At least, he could hear the truth from his mother directly.
'Fuck this shit!'
