Chapter 749: Mission

Curses were sealed and grew with the Soul. As the Soul grew stronger, the Curse slowly loosened one restraint after another until it finally awoke. That way, it was possible for Cursed Children to survive the immense pressure exuded by Curses.

If Michael inserted a Curse into Alice's body, she would be torn apart. The Curse would merge with her soul and awaken instantaneously without giving Alice - her soul - the time she needed to adapt to the Curse's power and pressure. Even if Alice refined her Soul to the peak of Tier-5, she was unlikely to survive.

Of course, there were exceptions. Alice's soul could be much stronger than the norm and, therefore, resilient enough to endure fusing with a Curse, but the rewards weren't worth the reward.

It took Michael a few minutes to explain the situation to Alice without making it seem like he didn't want to see her. The last thing he wanted was for Alice to misinterpret his words. He would love to see her all day, but that didn't mean Michael was also willing to risk her life to bring her to the Nest.

Fortunately, they had a few months to spend with Alice and his friends before Michael would go to the Nest with his mother and Eren. He was still not 100% sure if he would actually go, but the odds were in favor of the Nest right now. The Supreme Human Alliance was bound to trouble the Tritan Alliance in the future. Michael wanted to help out, ensuring that his friends and everyone else would be safe and sound.

To protect everyone, Michael needed to grow stronger. Fast.

That was also why he upgraded the Soul Grimoire to 7-Star. Upgrading the Soultrait Symbol cost exactly 765,000 SoulStar Fragments, which was within the range he'd calculated. The Soul Grimoire's upgrade to 7-Star didn't change his physique. It didn't alter his mind either. Instead, Soul Grimoire's upgrade expanded and amplified his Soul.

A Soul Socket formed in his Soul Sphere, which expanded to create more space for additional Soultrait Symbols. Interestingly enough, Michael wasn't forced to use the Soul Socket immediately. It was sealed and required one SoulStar Fragment to unlock.

The Soul Sphere was only one of the changes that occurred to his Soul. The World Serpent notified him that multiple Serpent Seals and Cursed Seals could be unlocked without harming his vessel. That was a great advantage since he didn't know if he'd needed more Seals before ascending to a Higher Lifeform.

The most crucial change in Soul Grimoire was that Danny's Living Soul had enough space to be nourished to the peak. The last task to finish Danny's resurrection was to create a suitable vessel to implant his Living Soul. Michael was not sure how long that would take, but he believed that the resources and knowledge of the Nest would help him in that regard.

He was satisfied with Soul Grimoire's upgrade even if the Soul Tear ability didn't change a lot. The potency of the Soul Tears improved, but the improvement was not significant for a major star-rating upgrade. It didn't matter much.

Eren witnessed the changes in Michael's soul as Soul Grimoire was upgraded to 7-Star. He was more than just a little bit surprised.

Eren sensed that Michael's Soul grew more prominent. He didn't interfere in Michael's business with the Lesser Humans. Instead, he watched Michael from afar to learn more about the youthful Cursed Child. Eren had to understand more about Michael Fang before he made a final decision. He had to know whether Michael was a good kid or if his past records indicated him as a troublemaker.

Nonetheless, seeing Michael's soul grow more prominent is far from ordinary. It wasn't common among the members of the Nest, either. It was rare for something like that to happen under normal circumstances, yet Michael made it look so easy...so effortless.

'Is that how he managed to awaken his Curses without dying? Two Curses and a Living Soul are lying inside him, yet he doesn't seem to have a problem. His condition is excellent.'

It hadn't been long since Eren focused on Michael. However, he spent enough time with Michael and researched enough about the young man to understand the type of person he was and what he would be in the future.

'That kid is talented. He learns fast, and he works tirelessly. But why does it feel like he's obsessed with working until he's about to collapse? Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard, but it's not like Michael is untalented. So why do I feel like I'm observing someone who works day and night, grinding his bones to dust to achieve his goals?'

Eren recalled the way Michael fought against Bloodhound, and a smile crept up on his face.

The future was going to be fun.

**

Two days later, Eren returned from a short meeting with Kraft Viton. He was slightly disappointed with Kraft Viton's expertise, mainly because he'd expected the old-looking man to be wise and powerful. Michael had been praising Kraft Viton a lot. He proclaimed Kraft Viton, his master, and was proud to be close to him.

Unfortunately, besides being a good businessman, Kraft Viton wasn't all that great. Eren expected more from someone Michael praised to the moons and beyond.

But that was how Michael was. Eren understood enough about Michael's persona to understand his actions and words better than ever.

That was also why his talk with Kraft Viton had only been slightly disappointing. There were more than enough things that attracted his interest. Eren met with Michael to talk about something that had been tormenting Kraft Viton for a long time.

"What do you think about the Sacred Desert?" Eren asked Michael the moment they met.

Michael was sweating from all openings, breathing roughly since he was still in the middle of his training. He stared at Eren and inclined his head lightly.

"Do you mean the Undead force or the Undead Pharaoh? Are you curious about him because he talked about the Cursed Children?"

Eren lifted one eyebrow and inspected Michael for a few seconds.

"Now that's interesting. Either you know that he is a Curse, or your brother witnessed something interesting before his death. How about you let me in on your little secrets?" Eren asked, the corner of his lips curling into a faint smile.

[The Undead Pharaoh is a Curse?] Danny inquired Eren via Whispering Energy, only for Michael to frown deeply.

"Are the others also Curses then?" He murmured, recalling the Librarian in the Lord Rift and the unknown monstrosity hibernating deep underneath the Underground Forging Hall and the Elementals Empire.

Eren wanted to know what Michael meant, but he focused on one thing at a time.

"It's usually not that easy to determine what a Curse is. Sometimes, Curses are remnants of Mythical Creatures that have been sealed inside objects or people. Other times, Curses are living Mythical Creature that have also been sealed away, or creatures seeking a suitable vessel because their original body is breaking apart. The latter can have multiple reasons, such as reaching their body's natural limit or sustaining heavy injuries that are nearly impossible to heal. Either way that shouldn't be of any importance. The Fact is that most creatures capable of sensing Cursed Children are either incredibly powerful and familiar with Curses, or they're Curses."

Eren's explanation was a little lackluster, but Michael figured the Curse User wouldn't spill all the secrets before they returned to the Nest.

"Can you tell me about the Undead Pharaoh now?" Eren asked Danny, who complied.

Daniel Fang recapitulated everything he remembered about the Primedival Pyramid and the Undead Pharaoh. Michael frowned deeply whenever Danny reached the point when his allies betrayed him. If the traitors were still alive, Michael would have hunted them until the end of the Origin Expanse. Unfortunately, only the traitor's unknown benefactors were still alive. Michael had yet to find them.

Eren nodded slowly after Daniel finished summarizing his time in the Primedival Pyramid.

"The Undead Pharaoh might have been a Divine Lifeform while he was alive, but since the Sacred Desert seems to be a region that degraded to a Beginner Zone, the Will won't allow him to regain his entire strength. He shouldn't be stronger than Tier-5, especially since he takes so long to conquer the Sacred Desert.

"Hmm...There is something else I didn't take into consideration before. Now that I know what happened, it makes more sense. If Danny's blood was needed to bring him back to death, his corpse must have degraded quite a bit. He must be one of the Divine Lifeforms of the old era. Your brother's lifeforce would have been too little as a Lesser Lifeform, no matter how powerful his Curse was."

Eren's faint grin turned into a broad smile, "The Undead Pharaoh should be a higher-ranked Curse now. The thousands of years he'd been dormant should have compressed his cursed power. That is perfect."

Michael frowned. "Perfect? For what?"

Eren glanced at Michael as if the answer was obvious.

"I have a mission for you," Eren said slowly, anticipating for Michael to understand what was happening.

Michael comprehended perfectly fine, but he was about to reject Eren when he lifted his finger.

"If you kill the Undead Pharaoh before we leave, I will give you a Curse Technique and help you with your brother's vessel."

Michael swallowed, and a grin blossomed on his lips. He extended out his hand, his eyes set ablaze.

"We have a deal!"

[End of Volume 12]