Even though the Council of Xylon was dangerous, Michael felt that its existence could turn into a great opportunity. Defeating them would increase his prosperity significantly.
He and his people would grow much stronger, and wealthier. Simultaneously, they would have one enemy less to worry about.
'But before I beat the shit out of the Council of Xylon, I should pay more attention to the Soul Grimoire,' Michael figured.
The Council of Xylon hadn't attacked them since their last assassination attempt. They were probably afraid, or uncertain about their next move. That gave Michael enough time to figure out whether he had to upgrade Soul Grimoire to 7-Star or if it would be enough to upgrade Soul Grimoire to a 6-Star Soultrait after inserting dozens of useful sub-Soultraits into it.
The week of isolation was not only used on the 730,850 Ordinary Summoning Scrolls. Most of the time was spent on dissecting 200 Soultrait Symbols to procure various minor perks and unique traits that were later inserted into the Soul Grimoire with 7500 SoulStar Fragments.
The dissection and integration of various Soultrait Symbols and unique perks destroyed 200 Soultrait Symbols and wasted a massive amount of SoulStar Fragments, but Michael felt that the result was worth it. The Soul Grimoire's preservation and nourishing abilities improved alongside the capacity of its storage.
Michael could instinctively tell that 5-Star Soul Grimoire was strong enough to house a weak Living Soul.
It was not yet good enough to contain Danny's Living Soul and preserve it, but he was getting closer.
"Upgrading Soul Grimoire to 6-Star should be enough…I can rescue Danny then!"
Michael had left the week of isolation happy and satisfied with the results. Once the Council of Xylon was dead, he could get Danny back! No. Maybe even before…as long as he obliterated a few territories of the 106 members of the Council.
'Rushing into anything won't help me.' He slapped his cheeks and forcefully calmed down. Even if he attacked the Council of Xylon instead of waiting for their attack, Michael couldn't know for sure how long it was going to take before they initiated countermeasures. They could attack his territory while he was out.
Therefore, Michael had to strengthen his territory's defenses. Arx's military force had to increase. That was where the 730,850 Ordinary Summoning Scrolls came into use.
Initially, 730,000ish Summoning Scrolls felt like a lot, but that was not it. Combining 10 Ordinary Scrolls would form a random 1-Star Named Scroll. That was not a bad quote and it was enough to form 73,085 Named Scrolls. However, only half of them were combat Summons.
Michael considered forming a bunch of 2-Star Named Scrolls, but he didn't have enough Summoning Scroll Fragments to make good use of the 1-Star Named Scrolls. The next thing he considered was to combine the 1-Star Scrolls into 2-Star Named Scrolls. However, each 2-Star Named Scroll required 100 1-Star Named Scrolls.
The use of 2-Star Named Scrolls was extraordinary, but their quality was not equivalent to 100 1-Star Summons. Not at first, at least.
2-Star Summons were faster at adapting, had a higher comprehension rate, and their growth spurt was several times faster. However, Michael needed the numbers right now. He had the perfect environment and necessary resources to transform an army of 1-Star Summons into deadly little fighters. Their combat prowess and growth wouldn't be extraordinary and the solution was certainly not perfect, but it would be as close to perfection as possible.
As long as they were given a week or two to train and grow stronger, they should turn into a frightening defense against those who dared to invade the Untamed Jungle.
Therefore, Michael ended up using 36,542 1-Star Named Scrolls to expand his army rapidly.
He was lucky to summon many Berserker Summons and Warlock Centaur Summons through the 1-Star Named Scrolls. Their extraordinary physique transformed them into powerful combat units. Even though they were still 1-Star Summons with the same advantages as other 1-Star Summons, Berserkers, and Warlock Centaurs had great battle awareness and extraordinary physiques. The only downside was that they were hard to control and that they didn't have any self-preservation.
But that was something Michael and his people could take care of.
Suddenly summoning 36,000ish new Summons pressured the architects, construction workers, and laborers a little bit, but it was a good thing that they had already finished a bunch of treehouse complexes. There was just enough space to give them a small place to sleep and live somewhat comfortably until the remaining residences were completed.
Michael put the remaining non-combat Named Scrolls away. There was no living space for them right now.
The Untamed Army expanded rapidly to more than 40,000 members. The stored weapons and other armaments were retrieved to equip the newcomers and Siegfried, Master Tigris, and Legion stepped forward to train them right away. Everyone could tell what Michael was trying to do. It was not a complex plan, after all.
He created an army of 1-Star Summons, hoping that a few hundred would attain enlightenment from the Sacred Knight Temple's presence, or the Silverfangs' Soultraits. The best result would be that a bunch of 1-Star Summons would be promoted to 2-Star within the following week, however, Michael was not sure if he expected too much or not.
The Sacred Knight Temple and the Hunter Academy were still under construction, but all Instructors in Arx, and everyone Awakened who wasn't too busy training decided to help train the newcomers.
The training program worked out decently fine. It didn't generate any extraordinary results, but the improvements of the 1-Star Summons were more or less above average. But then again, Michael had to deal with some displeased combatants as well. They didn't like that they were thrown into a full-scale training program right after getting summoned.
It was not helpful that a large-scale war approached them with breathtaking speed either. Various Forest Elves and Human Summons voiced their concerns and displeasure. However, there was not much they could do. They were combat Summons and it was their purpose to fight.
Nonetheless, Michael was glad that most new Summons were Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs. They were much easier to handle since they were happy about the upcoming battles against the Council of Xylon.
Another week passed in the blink of an eye and the first 1-Star Summons from the most recent batch advanced to Tier-1. Hiraku showed signs of breaking down the last barriers that separated him from ascending to a Higher Lifeform, while the other Untamed Awakened finished consolidating the energy they'd procured from the large-scale battle against the Heart of the Blazing Lion army.
Everyone improved slightly faster than anticipated, but Michael couldn't be happy. He didn't have the luxury to be happy. The Origin Expanse never gave him that grace.
News reached him from the Savannah Region. The movements in the Savannah Region intensified and a shocking – or not-so- shocking – piece of news reached Michael.
The Council of Xylon destroyed the settlements of the Zynur Lord, forcing the Zynur Lord and his people to retreat into the main settlement of the Valyr Lordess. The Valyr Lordess, still certain that the Zynur Lord was on her side, didn't suspect anything. Unfortunately, her trust in the Zynur Lord was the reason she ended up losing everything.
The Zynur Lord and his subordinates turned against the Valyr Lordess. They struck at night and slaughtered the Valyr mercilessly.
Michael didn't know everything that had happened, but the Scouts reported the death of the Zynur Lord and the destruction of the Valyr Lordess' main settlement.
The Valyr Lordess was not dead, but nobody had seen her leave the main settlement either. She just disappeared, even though the space around the main settlement had been sealed. The Council of Xylon charged into the main settlement, killing the remaining survivors. They didn't care whether the survivors were their enemies or their new allies. They slaughtered the Valyr and Zynur alongside.
However, Michael felt that it became too easy. The main settlement fell too easily, too suddenly.
Something felt wrong.
Unsurprisingly, his gut feeling became correct.
The Greater Nature Spirit informed Michael that he might want to take a look at the Pillar of Territorial Awareness. Michael rushed over to take a look at the map where he saw more than a hundred yellow dots stalking toward the Untamed Jungle…from underground.
"Oh. Please not," Michael grunted, "Just leave me alone."
The Valyr Lordess and the strongest Valyr following her were fleeing…toward the Untamed Jungle…toward Arx.
Michael had no idea if their direction was a coincidence or if they knew Arx's coordinates, but both options were suboptimal. He sighed heavily and utilized Cosmic Stride a few times to move to the border of the Untamed Jungle. He was right above the Valyr Lordess and the others and looked down with Spirit Eyes actively utilized to see their energy fluctuations through the ground.
'At least, you guys are traveling underground,' He mumbled in his head before using Cosmic Stride once more to appear in the underground tunnel.
It was dark and murky, and Michael had to ignite some flames to see the severity of the Valyr Lordess and her followers' condition.
"Looks like you were betrayed," Michael mumbled as a matter of fact, his eyes lingering on the half-dead Valyr Lordess for a mere moment.
Zira and the other followers were surprised at the sudden appearance of Michael and readied their weapons to fight, only to see the Valyr Lordess smile lightly.
Her lips parted but Michael lifted his hand before she might say anything.
"I can already inform what you guys want." He hated himself for what he became moving to do and sighed heavily.
"...follow me."
