Three months passed in the Origin Expanse since the Regional War ended, but Michael had yet to return to the Saphirelake Military Academy once.
He was too focused on his progress and Arx's development that he forgot the time.
But Michael was not the only one who improved. Everyone's pace and progress were rapid at first. The energy influxes from the grand finale of the Savannah Regional War skyrocketed the progress of the entire Untamed Army. The overflowing energy influxes granted a unique effect. They stimulated the body, mind, and soul, accelerating their refinement drastically.
The stimulation lasted three months for Awakened like Frederik, Hiraku, and everyone else who'd wreaked havoc during the Regional War.
Fortunately, Michael and his subjects harvested enough resources from the settlements of the 106 Lords to supply everyone with everything they needed to grow stronger. Frederik advanced to Tier-3, and Hiraku was a hair breadth away from ascending to a Higher Lifeform. All Hiraku needed was a slight push, and he would metamorph into a Higher Lifeform.
The resources hoarded in Arx's warehouses were enough to rebuild the Untamed Army. To be precise, the Untamed Army grew stronger than it used to be.
But there was more to it.
Michael managed to procure the Summoning Cores of all 106 Lords. Simultaneously, the trading cycle with his business partners earned him a fortune. It was possible to expand the trading cycle using the surplus resources. No matter how Michael looked at it, he was sure to earn a vast fortune every month at this point. He wouldn't have to participate in territorial battles to earn a fortune. His connections and business contracts earned him more than most ordinary Lords could earn in years – if not decades.
Unfortunately, not everything was excellent. Michael had been forced to practice Sanctum of Life daily for three months to strengthen his soul. He had to ensure that the Cursed Seals wouldn't overwhelm him again.
Simultaneously, he was practicing Sanctum of Life, expanding his soul, creating a larger foundation to store Soul Power and fuse Soul Traits.
Michael could use the Cursed Souls once again because of his tireless efforts and the use of mountains of resources over the last three months.
They affected him slightly, but he barely noticed them while he was in an emotional-neutral state. Even when he was emotional, Michael could control them better than three months ago. It was far from perfect, but Michael knew he had to use his advantages to make the most out of his circumstances.
The Zentika Empire hadn't stirred any trouble in recent months, and the Savannah had been silenced, yet Michael didn't feel comfortable. He knew his 'luck' better than anyone. It was only a matter of time before someone in the Origin Expanse or High Society would stir trouble. Michael had to grow stronger by all means to overcome the ordeals.
He didn't have the luxury to take it slow.
Thus, Michael went all out—using the Soul Tears, Enhancement, and all Cursed Seals—to extract the massive mountain range of corpses that had accumulated in his spatial rings.
He began extracting the bodies of the Summons, Awakened, and Lords, who had once reigned over the Savannah Region. It took him a while to get started as he wasted months before he could use his Cursed Seals again, but Michael knew that True Extraction would produce far better results than Extraction used without the four Cursed Seals.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye. Michael didn't leave the main warehouse yet. All one could see were hundreds of workers entering and leaving the warehouse with spatial satchels and other storage devices.
They entered with empty storage devices and left the warehouse with thousands of lifeless bodies stored away. The bodies were spread throughout the Untamed Jungle's outer ring to repay Michael's debts to the Untamed Jungle.
It took ten days before Michael was done extracting 8,000,000 Summons. Almost 3.5 million Summons had been killed by Michael and his people, which played a major role in the extraction of the Will's loot.
However, the most important gains came from the Awakened corpses, like always. Unfortunately, there had only been 6500ish Awakened, including the Lords of the Savannah Region. There were fewer Awakened corpses than Michael had been hoping for, but his hope had been wishful thinking.
Michael and his people had already killed close to 4,000 Awakened before the grand finale. Adding the reinforcement they received, every Lord had an average of 100 Awakened under their control. That was a lot more than most average Lords could handle. It showed clearly that the higher-ups of the 106 Lords thought highly of the Savannah Region.
The 6,500ish Awakened corpses paled in comparison to the eight million Summons, but both sides were essential for Michael. He needed the loot generated by the Awakened corpses and the Summons.
"How much did we get?" Michael asked the attendants who calculated his gains.
Michael could count them on his own, but that would take eons. That was how much he gained from the Regional War.
"My Lord, s-starting from the gains produced by the Summons, we calculated that you gained 192,000,000 Summoning Scroll Fragments, 4,955,000 Ordinary Summoning Scrolls, 2,853,000 blueprints of varying quality, and 245,500 Artifacts ranging from 1-Star Tierless to 4-Star Tier-4…"
Michael couldn't suppress his emotions when he heard about the gains. His entire body shuddered wildly, and the Cursed Seals within him screamed as if they were trying to tell him that they were why Michael had gained so much. If that was what they wanted to convey…they were probably right. He would have never gained so much without the Cursed Seals activated alongside Soul Tear and several layers of Enhancement.
Michael's hair stood up to its end, filled with excitement. Combining all Summoning Scroll Fragments should be enough to create a new type of Scroll. It should be enough to find out if there was a Scroll that was even more valuable than LegendarySummoning Scrolls!
However, instead of jumping around and combining the Summoning Scroll Fragments immediately, Michael cleared his throat and tried his best to contain his emotions.
"That's great. What about the Awakened?"
The attendant was just about to say something when Michael recalled something.
"Forget it. I forgot that I stored the Soultrait Symbols and SoulStar Fragments already."
Michael's mind was in a mess after hearing how much he had gained from the Regional War. He gestured for the attendants to leave and closed his eyes to examine the profits hoarded in his War Rune.
'6625 Memory Orbs, 509 Soultrait Symbols, and…553,539 SoulStar Fragments'
He shuddered when he realized how much he'd gained. The most significant profits came from Higher Lifeforms and the 'Elite' Awakened, who had been deployed to help the 106 Lords to suppress their enemies. Most Elite had decent Soultraits and were Late or Peak Tier-3 Awakened. Those factors combined transformed into a much better boon than Michael expected.
He didn't have any expectations when he compared the meager number of Awakened corpses with the massive pile of Summons, but that had been a misconception from his side.
550,000ish SoulStar Fragments, as well as 509 Soultrait Symbols, could change everything.
'What am I supposed to do now? Spend the SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Soul Grimoire? No. I can first use the Summoning Scrolls and Summoning Scroll Fragments to accumulate more Soul Power. If Soul Grimoire grows strong enough through the influx of Soul Power, I might not even have to invest too many SoulStar Fragments to rescue Danny!'
Even though Michael gained more SoulStar Fragments than ever, he was more excited about the Summoning Scroll Fragments.
He retrieved millions of Summoning Scroll Fragments from various storage devices. His heart began to beat wildly as the Scroll Fragments swirled around each other. At first, hundreds of Fragments swirled around each other, but it didn't take long before a small typhoon of Scroll Fragments formed. Hundreds of Scroll Fragments transformed into tens of thousands. Tens of thousands accumulated quickly to hundreds of thousands, which formed into millions.
A maelstrom of over a hundred million Summoning Scroll Fragments formed in the warehouse – or what was left. The surge of power created by the maelstrom tore the warehouse apart. Michael could barely warn his subjects to retreat while extending his energy to store the goods in the warehouse inside his War Rune storage.
Tens of minutes transpired before the maelstrom controlled every Summoning Scroll Fragment. 192,000,000 Summoning Scroll Fragments had turned into a deadly stream of energy and Fragments. They tore everything in their path apart.
'That's not enough?' Michael screamed in his mind. He retrieved the 4,955,000 Ordinary Summoning Scrolls, manifested the Soul Grimoire, and unleashed a Soul Tear, ten Extraction layers, and all Cursed Seals to rip the Summoning Scrolls apart with True Extraction.
Tens of millions of Summoning Scroll Fragments spurted out of the massive mountain of Ordinary Summoning Scrolls. They were pulled into the Maelstrom of Scroll Fragments until 250,000,000 Summoning Scroll Fragments were linked.
The maelstrom shrunk as the Summoning Scroll Fragments congregated.
Michael swallowed hard and waited patiently as the maelstrom shrunk further. He ignored the destruction caused by the massive pile of 250 million Summoning Scroll Fragments and initiated Spirit Eyes to witness the first of a Summoning Scroll ranked higher than the Legendary Summoning Scroll.
It seemed like hours transpired before Michael caught a glance of a pristine white Summoning Scroll.
The Summoning Scroll was flawless, unblemished.
It was a Divine Summoning Scroll.
