Chapter 1021 More Time to Spend
Chapter 1021 More Time to Spend
Michael could spend more time with Alice and Lucia through his secondary body. It allowed him to make up for all the time he had missed out on. Of course, the situation wasn't that simple because Michael missed various of his daughter's events while fighting the Supreme Human Alliance, but he was glad Lucia didn't hold him accountable for that.
She wasn't angry at Michael and bombarded him with questions instead.
"Why did you decide to call this body 'Mike'?" Alice asked in-between some of their daughter's questions.
"I don't know. It felt like a good name that wasn't too different from my real name. Do you not like it?" Michael looked at Alice, whose entire body seemed to be writhing in discomfort. Something didn't sit right with Alice Zenovia.
"I…don't know. I – just like everyone – know Mike is Michael and vice versa. You are the same even though this body is still weaker and not influenced by the God Curses… Still, it feels like I'm cheating on you with yourself if I start calling you Mike. I know that is a stupid thought, but can we do something about that? I don't want to feel like I am feeling right now." After their earlier kiss, Alice had been a little uncomfortable, but Michael had been certain Alice was embarrassed for kissing him in front of everyone, but that wasn't the case. Evidently, Alice was challenged by a whole different problem.
"I didn't know you would feel like this," Michael responded quietly, gathering his thoughts. But I can tell everyone to call me Michael. Maybe it was a mistake to pick another name for the secondary body. After all, we are the same consciousness and soul."
"And don't call this a stupid thought. You can always talk to me when something makes you feel uncomfortable, and I will do my utmost to make you feel better. Remember, we are not fighting each other in this relationship. No, it's quite the opposite. We, as a couple, fight our problems together."
Michael tilted his head, looking lovingly at Alice, "How about you tell me everything that has been bothering you? We can solve those issues together."
"I want to help, too~!" Lucia exclaimed, charging to her parents with a vibrant smile.
Michael scooped her up and responded with an equally vibrant smile, "Look at this. Sherlock Lucia is here to solve all our problems!" Lucia giggled, and even the corners of Alice's lips curled upward. She looked at Michael momentarily and reached out for one of his hands. "Alright, let's do that. How about I tell you everything?" Alice asked with a mischievous smile on her lips.
Michael nodded, and the family of three returned to their room in the Wooden Manor, where they talked about their struggles – emotional and physical. It didn't matter whether their struggles were rational, logical, or irrational and as far from logical as possible. If it bothered them, they had to talk about it…and talk it through until they found a solution or a compromise.
At first, the little family of three talked about all kinds of things, including Michael's tiresome actions against the Supreme Human Alliance for the last few years. It was interesting to listen to Michael, but Alice slowly changed the topic to the things she wanted to talk about.
"I don't like the name 'Mike'. I mean, the name itself is okay, but not if you use it for your secondary body. I'd feel alienated or like I am about to cheat on you with this 'Mike' whenever I think about kissing you."
"So you think about kissing me a lot?" Michael teased. Alice blushed and was about to throw something at him, but Michael nodded quickly, "That was a joke! I understand what you're talking about. I will tell everyone to call me Michael. It doesn't matter if my main body and secondary body use the same name. I doubt they will ever meet up." Alice already had a cushion in her hands, ready to hurl them in Michael's face, but decided against it when he agreed to her request.
"Spend more time with Mom!" Sherlock Lucia declared, pointing accusingly at Michael.
Alice blushed again and was about to pull Lucia away when Michael leaned forward to ruffle through Lucia's hair.
"You want me to spend more time with your mother? Do you think she is lonely without me?" Michael asked while glancing in Alice's direction.
Alice huffed and puffed but didn't say anything, fearing her voice could expose her. Michael grinned at that.
"Whenever she feels lonely, she searches for me to play and hang out. I love Mom, but…I want to be more independent and be with my friends, too. I cannot be with Mom all day." Lucia looked down at her boots. She didn't dare to look at her mother, knowing her words might hurt.
"So, you want me to step in and spend lots of time with your mother?" Michael asked, ignoring Alice's deadly glare.
"Can you do that?" Lucia asked, her eyes twinkling like the stars.
"Of course. I can bother you and your Mother with my presence all day now. Doesn't that sound like a hassle?" Michael joked, only for his daughter to shake her head vigorously.
"Noo. That's not a hassle at all. I love it!!" Lucia was adamant about Michael staying with them, not even realizing that her father made a little joke. Alice looked at Michael for a while and smiled.
"I'm glad you're back," She revealed in all honesty.
"I am glad to be back as well!"
**
Michael spend more time with Alice and Lucia, but that didn't mean he could avoid all responsibility. He had to grow a little bit stronger and siphon the SoulStar Fragments and Soultrait Symbols from the foes the Super Awakened, Untamed Awakened, and Divine Subordinates had eliminated.
It had been a while since Michael had checked on the warehouses and the storage devices where all Awakened corpses were usually stored. That was also why he was surprised to find close to 100,000 Awakened corpses in the storage devices. Most corpses belonged to High Awakened, but there were also some precious DIvine Lifeforms stored within.
Michael retrieved the corpses in batches while using the Extraction Seed to drain the surrounding energy to supply the Seed with enough power to siphon the Soultrait Symbols and SoulStar Fragments of the Dead.
Of course, Michael procured the Awakened's storaged goods as well. He wasn't going to leave the War Rune storages untouched!
He was at it for a while, but the Extraction Seed helped Michael accelerate the extraction process. If it had been the same old Michael – Michael as a Rookie Lord with 2-Star Extraction – he would have wasted weeks extracting all of this. Fortunately, that wasn't the case now.
Michael procured mountains of resources from the deceased's War Rune storages. He stored everything in the massive Mythical-grade Storage Artifact since his War Rune storage was too small to carry everything. Then he stored the Soultrait Symbols in a small box, which he gave an attendant to hand over to the Jungle Shop before storing all SoulStar Fragments away.
The massive volume of SoulStar Fragments in his possession exceeded two hundred million. To be precise, Michael reached the threshold of a quarter of a billion SoulStar Fragments.
That wasn't enough to upgrade the main body's Extraction Soultrait to 10-Star, but 250 million SoulStar Fragments was enough to start the outlines of the 10th Star. Not everything of the 10th Star's outlines were completed with a quarter of a billion SoulStar Fragments, yet it was enough to do something. As long as Michael continued providing SoulStar Fragments for the main body, he would soon acquire his first 10-Star Soultrait. Starting from that moment, Michael would grow even stronger, which would then be used to acquire even more SoulStar Fragments. It was an infinite loop, with Michael being the main benefactor.
However, the secondary body didn't benefit a lot from it. He didn't use any of the acquired Soultrait Symbols for himself because he didn't want to slow down his War Rune progression. Strong Soultrait Symbols might push Michael's combat prowess to a higher level, but they increased the energy requirements to rank up drastically as well.
It was no surprise to Michael when he reached Tier-1 shortly after finishing his business with the 100,000ish Awakened corpses. The Energy Vortex continued working while he was busy with the Extraction Seed, which pushed him to Tier-1. His strength skyrocketed, and the Energy Vortex expanded. It absorbed more energy as it expanded, accelerating several functions of Michael's perfectly purified body.
First, Michael could refine his War Rune even faster now that the Energy Vortex expanded. He didn't have to do anything and could rely on the Energy Vortex's benefits.
Second, the energy entering his body could be used to refine his body, which was what Michael did next. Refining his body with a Primordial-grade Body Refinement Technique up to the rank of his Tier wasn't particularly difficult. He had enough resources and could tap into the lifeforce and nutrients of the Untamed Jungle as well. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
The Nature Divinity gave him full access to everything. Therefore, Michael acquired everything he needed to refine his body perfectly, yet he didn't waste any energy. He surrendered the 100,000 Awakened Carcasses to the Untamed Jungle, allowing it to devour the bodies to transform them into energy and nutrients.
The absorbed nutrients and energy didn't accelerate the Untamed Jungle's growth, but it ensured everything would continue flourishing.
Life filled the Untamed Jungle, fueling Michael with excitement of the upcoming future.