The closer he got to the campsite, he finally understood where the disciples of Aragoth went after he met them at the sky garden. They were spending their time waiting for the portal to appear.
"Stay inside," he said calmly looking at the baby dragon. The baby dragon let out a reluctant shrill before making its way into its dark home, Michael's coat pocket.
Having a perfect way to keep the dragon safe didn't mean he could be careless. Many prying eyes of those rogue cultivators and of those who desire to have a dragon at their disposal might try to get their hands on the baby dragon.
Obviously, he was not planning to keep the baby dragon hidden forever, what's the point of having a dragon if he couldn't show off to increase the badass points?
But for now, he decided to keep the baby dragon hidden. He was positive that prominent figures he met before entering the Nether realm would come again, those people were ruthless, dangerous, and powerful enough to make him disappear overnight.
Despite the system's nagging to explore this world, adventure out of Bredia, he was ignoring the system as his full focus was on getting stronger, stronger to the point where he doesn't need to worry about someone taking the things he loves and cherishes. At the present moment, he might have seemed overpowered, undefeatable even but he only fought with inexperienced snotty kids like Maisy or Celina. The world was vast, there would be people who are cunning, strong yet deceitful, these people would overwhelm his advantage of having a system with their brain and actions. He was indeed the number one hitman/assassin back on earth but that certainly didn't mean he's the number one genius evil mastermind.
To face people of that caliber, the only foolproof way he found is becoming powerful enough to defeat their tricks with overwhelming strength. This wasn't a novel he used to read, this was his life, a life he planned to live like a god. Unlike those main characters in the novels, he self-evaluated him to find his weaknesses as well as his strengths, relying on luck or even on the system would not be one of his weaknesses.
When he approached the campgrounds, he stopped using the Lightning dash, by walking, he drew the attention of fewer eyes. One by one, the youngsters dismantled their tents, some of them were fancy, some of them were makeshift and the tent Michael was walking towards was not the latter.
The flag with a large greatsword drawn on it waved in the wind majestically. Outside of the tent, a reddish-haired youngster calmly watched over his friends doing all the dirty work.
There was a hint of surprise in Nathen's eyes when he laid his eyes on Ghost. Soon, he twitched his nose because Ghost didn't exactly smell like jasmines, he reeked blood and dust.
"Ghost"
"Nathen" Each gave a short nod, "it's fortunate I met you here, when we go outside, come with me to get your coins," said Nathen, making Michael grin in delight.
Renovating the sect, building the restaurant cost them more than he expected. Even as he speaks, Gaya was taking money from the Majestic and spending it on the construction works. After Nathen settles his debt, he would be a 1.7million richer.
"I didn't see you after the sky garden, any luck finding treasures?" he probed Nathen to see him shake his head, "Our sole purpose to come here was getting rare herbs, fortunately, we got those on the very first day. So we didn't roam around the place looking for more treasures, besides, I heard there weren't any treasures after the sky garden" those brown eyes of Nathen contained a hint of suspicion within them. When he first met Ghost, he didn't reek blood and now he is, which meant, he battled something and chances were, he was trying to get a treasure.
"I was fortunate enough to come across few" Michael answered, showing his lack of interest in discussing this further. Nathen was nice enough not to ask further questions which Michael appreciated very much.
"About that contract I promised, you have to come to Aragoth and ask for me"
"Will do as soon as I break through to the Body Strengthening stage" he intentionally let these words out to milk some badass points through impressing these youngsters.
Just as he expected, he began to hear the ringing sounds of the system notification in his mind. Nathan's mouth slightly opened in sudden surprise, he was speechless. A few moments after, he regained his previous composure, "very well then, meet me whenever you can" he said with a short nod.
"Nathan, are you an Alchemist as well?" Michael asked the question in his mind ever since he met Nathan.
Nathen seemed like he was expecting this question from him, "Yes, I'm a level 2 Alchemist, what gave me away?" for the first time, the serious expression on Nathen faded away, and instead, a small chuckle occupied his face.
"You" Michael pointed at him, "you said your sole purpose of coming to Nether Realm was to find rare herbs, who else would do that except Alchemists?" Besides, Nathen didn't exactly radiate a warrior vibe, in fact, he seemed like a person who grew up like a greenhouse flower in Michael's eyes.
Boom!
As he finished speaking, a thunderous clap could be heard. They looked at the light beam to see at the bottom, on the ground level, a greyish hole big enough to let in a group of five appear.
"The portal has opened!"
"Finally!"
"Heck yeah!"
"I'm going to drink myself to death!"
the rather silent atmosphere, the appearance of this portal instantly elevated the mood of these youngsters. They cheered, clapped, and bounced in joy while a few who barely survived this place sighed in relief.
"Shall we?" Michael gestured at Nathen to lead the way as he followed them behind to the portal, controlling the excitement of returning to his sect, his friend.
The groups with either one of the three big sects symbol on their chest entered through the portal first while everyone made way for them. Nathen and his group could have taken the first place but Nathen just let them pass through for some reason.
"Finally" with one last look back at the Nether Realm, he stepped into the darkness letting the portal surround him.
***********************
"Surprise sucker!" The very next moment Michael stepped out of the portal, he felt a sharp pain in his hand, he turned around with a wide grin to see Gaya was standing in front of him, showing her white row of teeth.
"What are you doing here?" he didn't expect her to come over here to welcome him personally. This gesture of her truly surprised him,
"Making sure you reach our home safely" she defined the house in the sect as 'our' with no hesitation.
"Yeah right," he rolled his eyes, turning his gaze at the crowd to locate Nathen. As time passed, the ground became more and more crowded,
"Come on, let's find those Aragoth people and get our money"
"Wait a minute" she pulled his sleeve, she then stared at him, from his top to bottom frowning.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Another surprise hit Michael's core. Apparently, she was great at reading faces, even Michael's. The baby dragon might have sensed the change in the surroundings and stopped moving, but she knew he was hiding something just by looking at the slight upcurve on the corner of his mouth.
"Nope, just keep your damn mouth shut and follow me"
Plop!
He playfully slapped the back of her neck, gesturing her to follow him. She would have ripped the hands-off before even someone tries to slap her but when it comes to him, she loved interactions like this.
Wiggling through the crowd, he found the same flag as he did before.
Nathen was surrounded by a bunch of youngsters of his age as well as a couple of older guys who wore distinctive crimson-colored clothes.
"House of Bradley" She immediately recognized those crimson-robed people as the members of House Bradley.
Seeing him and Gaya approaching them, they whispered something into Nathen's ear as he turned around, "Uncle, he is the one I was talking about'' From the crowd, a study-looking man stepped forward with two guards at each side. He was a level 10, Core Formation stage warrior, Michael could sense he was just a couple of months of cultivation from reaching the next stage.
"I heard you did good back there, young man" His hazel black eyes scanned Michael from head to toe while letting out a burst of wild laughter,
"It's an honor to meet you, Sir" Michael said in return grinning ear to ear,
"Cut the Sir Crap, call me Lord Malan"
"As you wish, Lord Malan"
"Here you go" the very next moment, Malan threw him a space ring with a horse etched onto it, this was the symbol of House Bradley.
Michael did not even check inside the ring as he put the ring inside his system storage. This was a gesture to show them that he trusts them as well as to be in their good gracious. If he wanted to survive in this world full of powerful men, he had to be under the shade of powerful men like House Bradley, until he himself reached the point of being the superpower.
"I heard you are also a 5-star Alchemist, how about visit us sometime and let us pick your brain a little?"
"Of course, Lord Malan, as soon as I finish dealing with some things back at my sect, I will come to visit you" Michael was not an idiot not to notice the ulterior motive behind Malan's invitation. Malan's voice betrayed him, showing Michael that this man needs something from him.
"Wonderful and trust me, young man, it will be worth your time"