Chapter 44: 44

For the next few days, Michelle played around with her three beasts and relaxed, deciding not to send anyone to the middle realm just yet, because if the Thomas Hillberg she crippled was just a double, the real one in the middle realm would pretend to be crippled for a while, so that if Michael Grayson came to check it, he would be fooled.

After playing around for a few days with her beasts, Michelle went to have a meal with the Archduke. “Michelle, I thought about your request to go to the Academy…” he had a bit of a troubled expression.

“Yes, father?” Michelle tilted her head a bit.

“Well…” The Archduke sighed before speaking: “If you go into the Academy in the upper realm, you will be quickly found out to have Spirit Soul Blood and…” he didn’t finish his sentence, but Michelle understood what he meant.

“There’s also the possibility that you would take private tests to enter the Academy with someone who will keep your secret, but someone like that is only the Headmaster, and if you get accepted by him, you will be seen as having been accepted under protection. Also, you will have to never condensate your spirit energy so, they will think you are a useless trash who got in because I’m the headmaster’s friend.”

Listening to that, Michelle wasn’t that surprised. But she didn’t want to go into the Academy to study. She just felt like she had to go. “Father, what do you suggest?” she decided to ask, as it seemed that the Archduke had a solution in mind.

And she was right, as he quickly spoke: “The second ranked Academy in the upper realm has a special treasure which alters the spiritual energy surrounding it. If you cultivate that special spirit energy, you will be able to conceal your Spirit Soul Blood even if you condensate your spirit energy. And you will also learn to control the color of your eyes to some extent. Now it only reacts to intense emotions, but after cultivating that spirit energy, it could change if you push your spirit energy into your eyes.”

Listening to that, Michelle raised a brow. “Do you want me to enroll in the Academy?” she asked lazily.

“Yes!” the Archduke nodded. “But I won’t go with you…” he added after a while.

That didn’t surprise Michelle much. “Father, why were you sent down here? And why can’t the people from the middle realm know about it?” she asked what had been bothering her for a long while already.

When her question fell, the Archduke sighed. “It was because of the enmity between the middle and higher realms. Around twenty or so years ago, the scouts, Academy has them in all realms except the heavenly realm, discovered a huge movement in the spirit energy here, in the Land of Exile. The spirit energy here was so disturbed that no one with their level of cultivation higher than the average here, which was basically nothing, could survive because the erratic spirit energy would get inside their bodies and tear them apart from inside.”

Hearing that, Michelle lifted a brow, but let the Archduke continue speaking: “That lasted for about five years, and the Land of Exile was untouchable the whole time. After five years, the erratic spirit energy calmed down and cultivators could finally come down to check it. A scout discovered that the erratic energy was still present in a cave in the forest by the capital city, but he couldn’t explore the cave as it would have killed him, so I was sent down here with your mother. Shortly after, you were born, and your mother died.”

Michelle could clearly hear the grief in the Archduke’s voice when he spoke about his wife. “Then, why are you still here, father? Were you unable to explore the cave?” she asked.

And the Archduke nodded. “I tried a few times. Each time I got deeper as the spirit energy had always calmed down a bit more, but I was never able to discover anything. Where I could reach were always only stone walls and nothing else.”

Michelle went silent for a moment. “How close do you think you are to reaching something?” she finally asked.

The Archduke shook his head as he spoke: “I don’t really know. Lately, I’ve been feeling some changes in the spirit energy but not enough to understand it.”

Hearing that Michelle lifted a brow. “What changes?”

But the Archduke shrugged. “I don’t really know, but something just feels different,” he said with a frown. But then, he remembered something and looked at Michelle. “When are you planning to send someone to the middle realm to check if Thomas was really the one you crippled? And who do you want to send? If you want, I could teach the person a few things that might be useful in the middle realm,” he offered.

Michelle thought about it for a moment before answering: “I’ll send Mare and Snow in a month or two. They both can be stealthy, and have some skills to save themselves if needed.”

“Then…” The Archduke glanced at the window for a moment. “Let me train them until you send them. They are indeed talented, but their power is basically nothing in the middle realm.”

Michelle nodded to that. “I’ll leave them in your care then.”

After finishing her meal with the Archduke, she took Mare and Snow to see him. The Archduke then took them out of the Archduchy to train them for two months.

When the Archduke left with the two, Michelle took Cold Flame with her and went into the forest near the capital city. Since she woke up in the world, she was going to the forest strangely often. “Flamie, can you help me search for a cave with erratic spirit energy?” Michelle asked Cold Flame, who was sitting on her shoulder. In the few days Michelle was playing around with her three beasts, he had grown a lot, being much bigger than an eagle.

Sitting on Michelle’s shoulder, he was quite heavy, but she didn’t really mind since he switched between her two shoulders. “Michelle…” Cold Flame frowned. “I feel something disgusting deep in the forest…” he mumbled. That was the first time he was in the forest, and his instincts were warning him of something nasty.

“Do you think it could be the erratic spirit energy father talked about?” Michelle asked. She didn’t even explain about the erratic spirit energy to Cold Flame since he had access to her memories and could understand it from them.

Cold Flame stared towards the depths of the forest and nodded. “That’s it… And I don’t like it! Michelle… Let’s get out of here…” he whined.

But Michelle smiled and started walking towards the depths of the forest. “Come on, Flamie. We need to check it, so my father can leave this place.”

“Fine…” Cold Flame flapped his wings and flew in front of Michelle, leading her towards the place where he felt the disgusting energy. Michelle ran after him and soon, they reached a cave.

There, even Michelle could feel something nasty, making her skin crawl. “Flamie, do you think my father could feel this…?” she asked with a frown.

Cold Flame shook his head. “He would have told you that since he knew that you would definitely come to explore this place. This is something that either only appeared recently or something only some could feel. And as I don’t feel any beasts and monsters around, it’s clear that they all can feel it, and they don’t like it.”

To that, Michelle could only nod. “Are we going in?” she asked with a frown. She didn’t like the idea of going inside, but since the Archduke had been in a few times already, she had to go in too.

“Not right away!” Cold Flame shook his head. “Let’s give it a day or two to see if there are any changes. Who knows, maybe we will discover something.”

“Sounds good.” Michelle nodded and led Cold Flame to sit on a huge boulder. There, they stayed for two days, observing the cave entrance. Michelle tried to cultivate at night, but the nasty feeling was disturbing her.

During the two days, they didn’t feel any changes, so they decided to go in. “Let’s get this over with, Flamie…” Michelle said as Cold Flame lit a small fire to illuminate the cave as they walked in.

“Ugh-!” Michelle groaned, as the further they went in, the more nasty and disgusted she felt. Cold Flame was already so disgusted that he refused to fly and just sat on Michelle’s shoulder. He was clearly more sensitive to the nasty energy.

“Flamie… I just thought of something…” Michelle spoke as she walked deeper in. “Father said that for five years, no cultivator could survive in the Land of Exile because of the spirit energy coming from this cave, so how come beasts and monsters who, too, can cultivate spirit energy could live here. The few times I was in the forest, I saw spirit beasts that were clearly older than twenty years.”

Cold Flame thought about it for a moment. “Maybe, only humans could die under the effect of the erratic spirit energy. And maybe that’s also why all the beasts and monsters evade this cave. They can probably feel what’s here and don’t like it, while humans can’t feel it, but it can kill them.”

Michelle frowned a bit. “Then, how come I can feel the nasty energy?” she asked as she walked deeper into the cave, her skin crawling in disgust. She felt like hurling.

“It’s either because of your Spirit Soul Blood, or because you have a contract with three beasts, making you more sensitive than other humans,” Cold Flame explained his thoughts. “But that’s only a guess. We will find out if we reach the end of this cave.”

After a while, Michelle could no longer walk any deeper, as her eyes were blackish red in disgust, her breath ragged, and her fists clenched and trembling. Cold Flame was nearly unconscious. Michelle gently lifted him off her shoulders and gently petted him. “Flamie, can you fly out?” she asked gently. Cold Flame screeched a bit before forcing himself to spread his wings. “Go out, I’ll try to go deeper!” Michelle said, and Cold Flame flapped his wings and flew towards the exit.

With Cold Flame gone, Michelle lost her light, but because she had a contract with him, she could borrow his power, so she lit a small white flame herself and let it float next to her as she gritted her teeth and started walking deeper into the cave.

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