"Can't you believe that I'm a good guy?" He laughed it off as she rolled her eyes.
"You're far from a good guy, human. I know your kind, the kind who do good here and there when there's no harm but wouldn't raise a finger if you have to lose something or face serious consequences. You're just a borderline villain, human, not a good guy as you made those old bastards believe" Gaya said without a doubt and accurately identified his personality. She and he had more similarities than they like to admit.
"Why do you care anyway?"
"Although I hate to admit it, my survival depends on you and the pills you have. Therefore I don't want you to get killed trying to play hero"
"You really want to know the answer?" He laid back on the couch and asked.
"Yes"
"First, answer my question, what do you really want in your life?" She was slightly taken back by surprise but she knew that she had to answer him if she wants an answer from him.
"Me? I want the throne of Nagaland"
"Let's just say, you will get the throne, then what?" She didn't know where he's going with this but she decided to play along with him.
"Then I will rule Nagaland for a couple of decades and head to the lonely mountains to reach higher levels in cultivation"
The lonely mountain was a place where cultivators head towards to enter secluded cultivation for decades or even centuries. The harsh cold environment of the mountain would push the cultivators to their limit and make them break through to the higher levels of cultivation. Of course many would die in the cold mountains and only cold-hearted, as well as talented cultivators, would choose to go to the mountain leaving all the ties to the outside world such as wealth, social status, etc.
In the world of cultivation, the higher one's cultivation level, the higher the life span. Hence many powerful cultivators had seen their loved ones die with time but they will continue to live because of their cultivation level. This often made them severe ties with the outside world and lose their interest in mortal pleasures such as sex, money, and power after a point and would fully focus on reaching immortality to explore the universe outside.
"Do you know what I want to do with my life? I want to rule this world, control everything, enjoy everything that this world has to offer" His words expressed his ambition and startled Gaya.
"Don't be a silly human, you have talent. If you enter the lonely mountain and cultivate for a couple of centuries, you will reach immortality"
Micheal snickered, "what's the point of immortality if I can't even enjoy simple pleasures. I'd rather live fifty years enjoying my life than sitting in a cold cave cultivating in the hope of reaching immortality"
With the system as his secret companion, Michael had the resolution in his mind to reach immortality but unlike typical cultivators, he was neither going to sever his ties to the outside world nor stop enjoying the worldly pleasures.
"So I would need a place suitable for a man like me, that place is the Sunrise sect. You can think of this place as a place from where I would start to control the rest of the world"
"You are serious?" she asked with a shaky voice in shock. If these words had been spoken by someone else, she would have laughed her ass off but when it came to him, she couldn't neglect anything. Yet, she now had more questions than answers,
"Tell me this, why choose this place?"
"In the big sects, I'd just been another prodigy, another feather in their hat but here" he didn't finish his sentence but laid back and put his leg on the other and sat like a king.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 200 badass points]
"If you help me achieve my dreams, I'll not only heal you and get you the Nagaland throne you long for but also assist you to reach immortality"
"Big words coming from a guy who's just at the Body refining stage "
"A few days ago, you thought you had no chance of reviving your broken meridians but I proved you wrong. A few minutes ago, you thought there isn't anyone who could reach 90% purity in Alchemy, again I proved you wrong, so tell me Gaya, you really think I can't do everything that I said I can" She knew he was right about everything and deep down, she had already started to believe that he's going to turn this world upside down.
Therefore she decided to stick with him and help him along while reaping some sweet rewards like the pills that can heal her meridians as well as pills and potions he would brew with 90% purity which would help her in cultivation.
"First you have to help me out here human, give me some pills to get my cultivation back, then I can really help you. You know get my juice back" she clenched her fist and punched the air frantically. Her actions however not surprised him the least as he expected her to ask for more healing pills.
He wanted her to ask for more pills so he could put his plan of making her loyal to him in motion.
"First, I need to check your meridians" He lied with a straight face and controlled his urge to laugh.
"How are you going to do that?" seeing him stand up and coming closer to her, she moved back on the couch and asked. Her face had a mix of skepticism and doubt.
"Turn back and cough"
"Huh?"
"Do as I say, turn back and cough" she stared at him for a couple of seconds confused at the point why is he asking her to do that but she turned around and coughed as he said.
(cough) (cough)
"Now breathe in and breathe out"
"Hey!" she wiggled and shouted when she felt his hand on her back
"Don't be a baby, do you want me to check your meridians or what?" He chuckled inside and said.
"Just get it over with quickly, and FYI, the last fucker who tried to touch me ended up being burned alive" He ignored her and ran his hand around her back for a few more seconds before letting it go.
"System, how many pills do I have to give her to heal her meridians?"
[50 pills]
"Do you have a less effective pill? I want her to believe that I can heal her but I don't want to heal her before she becomes more loyal to me"
[Cheap tier Revitalizing pills]
"Great, how much?"
[500 pill bottle is 500badass points. The pill would temporarily enable her to feel her meridians and create an illusion of repairing the meridians]
"That should do the trick. The system I'll buy the bottle"
Exiting the system, he sighed as Gaya's face quickly turned gloomy
"What is it? I can still be cured right?" he also put his serious face and said
"Yes, but your meridians are still in bad shape. We need to carefully treat your meridians, any small error would permanently destroy them and kill you"
"Fuck! Tell me you and your pills can fix this" her hands shivered and her face lost all its color in terror. This was the first time he had seen her this much terrified.
"I thought my pills alone can cure you eventually but now that I took a closer look, I realized that I have to concoct another batch of pills, a different one than what I previously gave you. it's very difficult to concoct the new pills" he made his voice sound worried and when she looked at his face, her fear grew even more as she tightly clenched his hands.
"Human, please heal me! I don't want to be crippled forever" she pleaded with him.
"Don't worry I'll do my best to heal you, after all, you're my assistant aren't you?"
"Yes, I am! You can't let your assistant die" she vigorously shook her head up and down and let out a wide smile.
"Alright, I have to check you every week and give you the newly concocted pills. Remember, you must only take two pills a week, so I will only give you two pills. If you do everything I say, you will be able to cultivate in a year, try to do anything behind my back, I will throw your ass out and you'll stay a cripple for all your life, do you understand?"