"Alright, the two of you should stay outside for the night" Only Heinberg understood the meaning of his words considering he spent some time in the guest room on the lower deck. Heinberg saw nicer prisons than their guest room. He almost wished he received a knockout drug to lose consciousness like Logan and Jonah.
"Make yourself at home, Maxine"
"I'm home, Lord Lucifer '' her eyes welled up again. Even Gaya who didn't have the system to show Maxine's loyalty level could see the devotion in her eyes.
With Maxine, they took the first step in building a loyal army, a powerful loyal army. After Maxine exited the room Michael looked around at his empty room.. There were still some dust spots, cobwebs, and dirt on the walls as well as the floor, especially on the places where the book racks and statues were before.
"You know," Gaya slowly walked towards him speaking in a husky voice,
"I wanted to show you something" She wrapped her hand around his chest,
he could feel her hot breath near his ear.
"I have a bad feeling about this," the white head complained. When Michael turned to face her, they were stuck between them. Luckily for the hydra, Gaya put them on the table beside her before wrapping her both arms around Michael's neck.
"Why don't we take your mask off?" he pulled Gaya closer by her waist. His intentions were obvious at this point.
"Hmkm" she gently shook her head, while closing his lips with her fingers.
"Come with me"
She wiggled herself out of his hold. Then she scooped off the hydra from the table before walking towards the door as Michael followed her behind.
When he opened the door, the first person standing outside was Gibson with a couple of pirates behind him.
Maxine was lying on the ship's far end with the hat covering her face. By the looks of it, she seemed deep in sleep.
"I want my room spotless when I come back" As he said, he took off from the ship to the sky with Gaya.
"Looking at them fly gives me chills every time" Shorty looked up at them disappearing into the clouds. Until the pirates met Michael, they wished nothing but freedom from the curse. Now after witnessing the cools they did, many including Shorty wanted to become cultivators.
They would have asked them if it wasn't for Gibson. The old man warned them that if they want to become cultivators, they should first quit drinking like animals. He also said the captain will ask you to quit drinking first before starting training them. For many pirates, quitting drinking was a deal-breaker. But not for Shorty.
*****************************************
"Where are you taking me?" Michael broke his silence after flying higher and higher into the sky.
"Be patient dear" she chuckled. Her focus was on flying higher. She could see the clouds getting closer and closer. While leading Michael to her destination, she failed to notice him slowing down.
"I like the view from here"
Michael's gaze was fixed on Gaya's body. The beautiful moon or the sparkling stars didn't get his attention as much as she got. As far as he was concerned, he would be happier staring at her perfect hourglass structure than appreciating nature's beauty. Since he was too deeply focused on her body, he failed to notice the hydra climbing on her body to reach her shoulders.
"He's checking out your butt" Not only the white head betrayed him but it also stuck its tongue out to tease him.
"What?!" Gaya immediately turned back to see his eyes were on her instead of the beautiful night sky. When he first told her that he's liking the view, she really thought he was appreciating the night sky. Only now she realized that he was checking out her instead of enjoying what nature has to offer.
"Hey don't blame me, it was you who chose to fly before me" he didn't act like he wasn't checking her out, instead, he just spoke his mind. After all, they had both accepted each other as their better halves.
Staring at each other like they were in a Mexican stand-off, they flew past the clouds which spread across the blue sky like a blanket of snow. The moment they flew through the snow like clouds, the vibrant light of the moon drew both their gazes like a magnet.
Michael's jaw almost dropped, looking at the view in front of him. He felt like he was inside a painting. Millions of sparkling stars decorated the bluish sky like gems. The moonlight shone platinum-gold amid the starlight heaven.
The last couple of weeks were tense, especially to Michael. When he first came to this world, his goal was to use the system to get rich and powerful enough to enjoy his life to the fullest. Never in a million years had he thought someone put him in this world to save it. But he wasn't going to change into a complete good guy on a savior drug. No matter what, he wouldn't change his plans of ruling this world from the shadows, getting filthy rich, and living a long long life enjoying everything this world has to offer. The moonlight calmed his mind by making him forget everything for a moment.
"Wow, this is" Even the hydra was at a loss of words in front of mother nature's beauty.
"Come here" She looked divine in the moonlight. He just pulled her closer before locking his lips with hers. She ran her fingers through his shoulder-length hair, pulling him closer and closer. Right at this moment, he didn't want anything else other than a lover's embrace. He savored her lips as well as this moment as much as he could.
"Don't mind us, we just close our eyes"
***********************************************
Meanwhile back on the Elon continent, six elderly figures were seated around a round table. They looked like they were in their late exiting or early seventies.
"Have the Guardians or the church found the reason for what happened?" one of the elderly people who was a man asked the others.
"They are still investigating. Apparently, only Elon and Ozer are experiencing this issue"
"My contact in the Guardians said it's not permanent, that's good news"
"The tournament is in three weeks and we have yet to find a way to see someone's cultivation level" an old woman rubbed her temples. The wrinkles on her forehead increased due to recent complications.
"Well until now, you just focus on the Arch energy radiation coming from someone to know their cultivation level. Who would have known that something would mask the radiation suddenly?
Not only these old people who were responsible for organizing the two championship tournaments but no one in the world knew that it was Michael who started this mess. When the hostile Hydra became mad, it let out a pulse that was hiding a cultivator's energy radiation. In other words, the cultivators lost their ability to perceive one's cultivation level just by looking at them. For anyone living in the Southern Continent, they felt the pulse as an earthquake but for Elon and Ozer, the pulse resulted in more than an earthquake.
"The Guardians are working with the dwarven kingdom and the elven kingdom to design a device that might solve this problem. But since the competition is in three weeks, we might get just a rushed product"
"At this point, anything would do"
"Let the Guardians and the Church handle it. If they can't, they should ask the Skyhall. I heard the Guardians has someone whose sister is the Skyhall's next holy maiden"
"Noah, Noah Winston. It's a pity that we can't let guardians compete in the tournament" one of the old men said.
"He has the most potential to win the main tournament" an old lady with golden hair spoke.
"What about the 5-star alchemist of River town?"
"You mean Ghost? You just answered your own question Anon. He's an alchemist, not a fighter. This is a stage for big-time warriors who have trained themselves in combat arts for years. Honestly, i don't think he stands a chance"
"I agree with lovely Gilda here. There's a reason the alchemist guild has a tournament of their own. They are not fighters, they are just book worms "
"Enough of your predictions, let's talk about the prizes for each championship" another old man stopped their conversation as the old woman called Gilda said,
"About that," Gildra retrieved a parchment tied using a golden ribbon from her space ring before sliding it towards the old man who asked about the prizes.
The old man picked up the parchment, opening it carefully. The others stared at him reading what's written on the parchment. His old eyes started to get wide. Except for Gildra who had already read the parchment, the others wondered what's on the parchment that made the old man Morgan react this way,
"Well, what is it?"
The old man put the parchment on the table before him,
"King of Bradia wants to offer Bradford barony to the main championship tournament winner"
Their eyes went wide in surprise. Not even once in the tournament's history did they offer something such as a barony as a final prize.
"Why in the hell would he do that?" the same old man who commented about the alchemy guild asked,
"Well, there were rumors that Baron Totonk has gone mad after his daughter's death. This parchment seems to prove the rumors were indeed true. Why else would the King consider giving up the barony to someone else?"
"Yeah, I heard about that, nasty business. I just wish the guardians and the church finds that Lucifer before someone else gets murdered"
"Even if the Baron went mad, what about his sons? The king can make one of Totonk's sons the next baron"
"Something's smell fishy indeed, I" the old man who read the parchment frowned. He was old enough to sense there's a scheme hatchery in the motion here.