Chapter 642: Master of Awakening & Light of Enlightenment
Now that Michael bought some of the necessary resources to fortify and expand his territory and used his remaining fortune to create the Awakened Agency, all he had to do was wait until the seedlings in the Agency would sprout and transform into potential future powerhouses.
Others might be worried about Lords stealing their seedlings, but Michael didn't mind. Not many Lords would be willing to get out of their way to turn someone who didn't fit their requirements into their subordinates.
Most Descendants wouldn't even bother to glance at the weaker Awakened whose Soultraits were of no use for their territories. Instead, the Descendants would focus on nourishing the strongest Awakened, who owned useful Soultraits and powerful Artifacts, but had been unfortunate to encounter even stronger enemies in the Origin Expanse.
The group Michael targeted was different. His targets were not that easy to handle for ordinary Lords. He was the only one who could give them what they desired.
The Awakened Agency wouldn't produce good seedlings in high quantities quickly. It would take a while. Therefore, Michael decided that it was time to get back into the Origin Expanse.
He manifested the Runic Gate and was about to step through when he halted in his tracks. He channeled some energy into Spirit Eyes and looked around to find his mother's energy fluctuations, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Evalynn Fang avoided her son. She didn't seem to want to talk to him anymore.
'Weird.'
It was not that Michael would be happy to talk to his mother. Instead, he was not sure how he would react once they conversed. However, his mother did avoid him earlier. That confused him more than it should have.
He shook his head and stepped through the Runic Gate to emerge in his little territory.
A fresh breeze brushed through his hair the moment he arrived, filling his nostrils with the fragrance of the Untamed Jungle.
The rich energy in the surroundings felt pleasant on his skin, and Michael found himself breaking into a smile.
The Untamed Jungle felt more like home to him than the concrete jungles outside the Origin Expanse. It was pleasant to have nature all around him and to adapt to the surrounding environment rather than destroying everything to expand his territory.
Michael stretched his body a little bit before he returned to the wooden manor where he received the daily report from one of his attendants. He read through the daily report and broke into a bright smile.
The construction of the Hunter Academy progressed swiftly. The situation of the Intermediate Sacred Knight Temple was similar. If there were no further complications the construction of both structures would finish in a few weeks. From then onward, Michael could train thousands of Archers, Hunters, Blessed Squires, Holy Knights, and maybe even some Sacred Knights.
Unfortunately, a few weeks didn't fit perfectly into Michael's plan. He doubted that the Council of Xylon would be willing to wait a few months before his Archers, Blessed Squires, and higher-ranked Summons received their promotions, high-quality armaments, and additional training to improve their strategic thinking and teamwork.
But that was fine. Michael had 730,850 Ordinary Summoning Scrolls to experiment with.
If that was not enough to create some powerful Summons to make up for the casualties they'd suffered in the battle against the Heart of the Blazing Lion army, Michael would barge into the enemy rows alone.
He procured a lovely Pseudo-Legendary Artifact for that purpose, in the first place.
The Pseudo-Legendary Artifact was a bracelet called Eneagis. It was a bracelet capable of storing a tremendous amount of energy. The downside of the Pseudo-Legendary Tier-3 Artifact was that it required a considerable amount of concentration to access and drain its energy. That was also why it would never be considered a Legendary Tier-3 Artifact. In fact, even calling it a Pseudo-Legendary Artifact was mostly due to the incredibly large energy storage.
Fortunately, Michael didn't have a problem with that kind of problem. For him, Eneagis was a Legendary Artifact. Why? He had Extraction to ignore Eneagis' downside. His Soultrait outplayed the Pseudo-Legendary Artifact's only flaw.
Binding Eneagis to his War Rune wasn't further difficult. The Pseudo-Legendary Artifact was the only Tier-3 Artifact in his possession. The Dragon Might ring might be a Legendary Artifact, but it was only a Tier-2 Artifact, whereas the Spirit Armor Set was a creation of the Relic of Draka. It wasn't even an Artifact.
Aethyr was...Aethyr. It was not an Artifact, but it wasn't nothing either. Aethyr was incredibly powerful, which was also why Michael had considered investing the remaining SoulStar Fragments in his War Rune to strengthen it. There was no way he could make a mistake by nourishing Aethyr. As long as he invested enough SoulStar Fragments, Michael could increase the amount of Aether within the Aethyr, therefore, granting it various new functions.
'Before I increase the amount of Aether within it, I should upgrade it to Tier-3 properly. Cutting through the hide of a Higher Lifeform with Aethyr at its current level isn't exactly easy,' Michael reminded himself before returning into isolation inside his office. He prepared enough Energy Stones to supply Aethyr with purified origin energy to upgrade it. It was about time that the upgrade happened.
The last thing Michael did before disappearing into his office for a week was to throw a spatial satchel toward Tiara, whom he encountered on the way. She was a little baffled but understood what Michael wanted her to do once she sent a trace of energy into the spatial satchel to find out what was hidden inside.
Tiara, who wanted to return to training, changed her mission. She rushed past the training grounds, ignored Legion and Master Tigris who greeted their princess with the honor she deserved, and distributed the resources Michael had given to her.
After spending the first few days in the Untamed Jungle by getting used to everything, Legion, Master Tigris, and the remaining four members of the Silverfang Tigerfolk decided that it was time to help their princess and Michael Fang.
They heard enough about their new Lord from the princess to understand the situation. It was still a little bit difficult to comprehend the true extent of their new Lord's power, but it was quite obvious that Michael was the reason they had been summoned so soon. He managed to establish Legendary Summoning Scrolls rather swiftly, therefore, creating an opening for six Silverfangs to escape the eternal nothingness of the Will.
The Silverfangs desired to resurrect their Clan, but they knew that they couldn't achieve such a grand goal alone. They learned enough about Michael and the changes of the Will to understand that Michael was their grand ticket toward the resurrection of the Silverfang Tigerfolk.
It was time for them to use their Soultraits, wisdom, and manpower to support Michael and his territory.
Legion and Master Tigris were the most useful. Legion used his Soultrait [Master of Awakening], a 1-Star Soultrait, together with Master Tigris' [Light of Enlightenment], a 3-
Star Soultrait to create a great synergy on the mentoring grounds.
Since Michael didn't plan to increase the amount of Aether in Aethyr yet, he'd decided to invest his SoulStar Fragments into upgrading Master of Awakening and Light of Enlightenment to 5-Star Soultraits. Michael didn't even demand anything.
The reason was simple.
Master of Awakening increased the chances of Summons to receive an occupational promotion and awaken unique powers. At the same time, Master of Awakening stimulated advantageous mutations within monsters and the surrounding nature. It was a multi-purpose Soultrait that could come in handy if used properly.
Of course, it was rather useless as a 1-Star Soultrait. Master or Awakening's probability to awaken was incredibly low at 1-
Star.
Using it properly was Legion's goal. It was also why he stood in the center of the mentoring ground with Master Tigris, whose entire body radiated dazzling light. Light of Enlightenment was not a multi-purpose Soultrait, but it was still quite powerful. It provided everyone with enlightenment as long as the Soultrait's dazzling light reached them while training.
Combined, the two Soultraits were perfect for instructions, especially with the Sacred Knight Temple, the Hunter Academy, and Siegfried Dracoon aiding the whole process as well.
Michael would have to lie if he were to say that he understood everything about the Will of the Origin Expanse, or why the Legendary Summoning Scrolls turned out to summon the Silverfang Tigerfolk, but he was quite satisfied with Master Tigris and Legion's powers and Soultraits.
It was difficult to find Soultraits like theirs, especially so if the Soultraits had a high star rating, which was the case thanks to Michael's SoulStar Fragments.
The Silverfangs were perfect to expand the Untamed Army and stimulate the combatants to receive more occupational promotions as they continued to train.
Master Tigris began to share his vast knowledge about the Origin Expanse and the history of the Silverfang Tigerfolk. He even shared the reason the Silverfang Tigerfolk scared the other Demi races.
The Primal Silverfang Body Constellation Arts and the Legacy of the White Tiger martial arts were two reasons for the short-lived supremacy of the Silverfang Tigerfolk. They were techniques that strengthened the mind, and energy control, and allowed the body to develop a lot stronger, transcending the limits of the mortal body.
However, even more importantly, Summons could use those techniques to develop more resilient and enhance their comprehension, therefore, increasing the probability of attaining enlightenment.
Awakened, who were not part of the Silverfang Tigerfolk had a difficult time practicing the Primal Silverfang Body Constellation Arts and the Legacy of the White Tiger, but it worked for Summons of all races - to a certain degree.
The peak compatibility of those techniques was with the Silverfang Tigerfolk and other Demis, but it worked for ordinary Summons as well.
Michael's Summons would develop much stronger than ever!