After leaving the Sun Rise sect, Michael returned to the dark ocean. He spent almost two hours with ire. At first, they just talked about sha and the Mortero family. Then, their topic turned toward the sect, personal life, and even marriage. To Michael''s surprise, ire asked him toe to the Dark ocean leaving everything behind. However, Michael refused the idea. Instead, Michael wanted her to stay in Elon and continue to lead the Sun Rise sect to prosperity. The Sun Rise sect and the River town were something he was so proud of. When the war with the Eight great ns and the SKyhall was over, he even nned to settle down in the river town. Hence, he wanted ire to keep ruling till it''s over.


    He appeared right on top of the waterfall, where he met Elidyr.


    "My Lord," Elidyr slightly bent his back to show respect. The ground around Elidyr glimmered in the darkness. Before the Dark Lord arrived, Elidyr created this array to let the Dark Lord absorb the elven rune. Because it was just a simple array, Elidyr created it in a few minutes. When the Dark Lord appeared, he stood in the array''s center.


    "Pleasee to the center, my lord," Elidyr gestured at Michael to step into the array. Upon reaching the center, Michael noticed the runes in the array glow brighter. He felt a strange sensation throughout his body. He took out the golden te with the elven rune engraved in it. The array flickered as soon as the elven rune appeared in Michael''s hand.


    The elven rune responded to the array by radiating a crimson-red light. The two lights glowed brighter and brighter as the golden te trembled in Michael''s hand.


    "Focus on the rune and try to absorb it, my lord," Elidyr instructed Michael. He did as he was told. First, Michael closed his eyes. He tried to feel the energy radiating from the rune. While focusing on the rune, he started to feel a strange connection with the rune. Warm energy washed over him. Elidyr saw the red rune slowly floating toward the Dark Lord. Inch by inch, it moved closer to the Dark Lord''s forehead. The rune disappeared into the Dark Lord''s head a few secondster. Michael felt a bolt of electricity running down his spine.


    [The host has absorbed the Elven Rune]


    [Fire Mastery has increased by 10%]


    [Current Fire Mastery is 40%]


    [The Host has fulfilled the requirements needed to be a 6-Star Alchemist]


    [Does the host wish to upgrade to the 6-Star Alchemist level?]


    Michael saw his vision being filled with system notifications. Finally, after such a long time, he was able to reach the 6-Star alchemist level.


    "Yes," Michael willed the system to upgrade his alchemy skill. As usual, he felt an acute pain in his brain. Fortunately, the pain onlysted for several seconds.


    [Congrattions to the host for bing the 6-Star Alchemist]


    [The host can now refine pills and potions with 100% purity] said the system.


    The array around Michael slowly lost its glow. Michael raised his hand, conjuring his alchemy mes. Unlike before, purplish mes appeared above Michael''s palm instead of emerald green mes. This me burned hotter and brighter. Granted, it was nowhere close to the Dark mes but still, it was several times hotter and more powerful than the emerald green mes.


    "Now you are a 6-Star alchemist, my lord," said Elidyr. He couldn''t help admiring the Dark Lord''s talents. But Elidyr never felt any jealousy. He knew there was a struggle and hard work behind everything the Dark Lord had. He spent a year pretending to be Elmer in the Genric family to get the elven rune. Many with his power and resources, wouldn''t go through such a struggle.


    With a flick of his wrist, Michael took out several ingredients from the system store. Now that he had reached the 6-Star alchemist level, Michael decided to brew a potion that had been in his mind for so long. Under Elidyr''s curious gaze, Michael tossed the ingredients into the purple me. To brew the potion with 100% purity, Michael either needed a Legendary cauldron or a 100% fire master. Since he had neither, he could only hope for 97% pure pills and potions.


    As far as Michael was concerned, buying a cauldron from the system was a waste of badass points. Instead, he opted to buy it locally. Gold coins were much cheaper and easier to get than the badass points. One by one, ingredients melted into globs of colorful essence. These beads of essence slowly merged, forming a murky brown glob. Soon, the purple mes faded away as the brown liquid flew into a ss vial.


    "What is it, my lord?" asked Elidyr. The potion sparked in Michael''s hands. Even standing a few meters away from the potions, Elidry was able to feel the energy radiation from the potion. His curiosity made him ask the Dark Lord without wasting a second.


    "You will see soon," said Michael without breaking the surprise. An hourter, Michael finally returned to his room. Nightmare and Vedora were nowhere to be found in his room. The two of them went flying around the mountain to pass the time. Cain did not like wasting his time flying around, but Sarba and Ayag outvoted him. Since they weren''t in the room, Michael hoped to have some alone time with Gaya.


    "Where is my gorgeous fiance?" Michael entered the room with a grin on his face. But his smile froze when he saw Gaya sitting on their bed with hundreds of scrolls around her. Her hair was messy, and she was still in her ck pajamas. She didn''t even notice Michael entering the room. She just scratched the back of her head with the quill.


    "Okay, what is happening here?" asked Michael. He removed his armor and put it on the armor stand. He willed the system to equip the sweatpants and a ck tank top. He slowly moved aside the scrolls and sat behind her. With full of love, he hugged her from behind and ced his head on her shoulder.


    "What''s bothering you?" asked Michael.


    "The financial state of our order. We are in trouble, Michael," Gaya said with a grave voice.


    "We need to generate more ie instead of solely relying on Gisel. The more we take from Gisel, the more attraction we draw from the world," Gaya sighed. Judging by the look in her eyes, Michael realized they were really in neck-deep trouble. To be honest, Michael had never meddled with the financial side of things. He let Gaya handle it because she had more experience managing than him.


    "We are running out of pirates to pige. They are joining our ranks instead of fighting. So every day, the number of mouths we have to feed and pay for increases. At this rate, we''d be bankrupt in few months,"


    "That bad huh,"


    "Hmm," Gaya nodded.


    "Let''s just hope Saber and his party return from the treacherous ocean with some treasures. It won''t solve anything but temporarily fix our situation till AH!" Suddenly Gaya shouted.


    "The fuck?" Gaya furiously turned around.


    "What part of our conversation made you think oh I should pinch her waist,"


    "The part where you being so pretty and cute," Michael kissed her on the cheek, pulling her down to the bed. He cuddled her so tight.


    "You are so annoying," Gaya giggled. Regardless of her tension and pressure, he made her smile. She got on top of Michael as he hugged her tight. The two of them could feel each other''s fragrance and hot warmth.


    "Guess who is the 6-Star alchemist in the dark ocean?" asked Michael with a sly grin.


    "Really? When did that happen? Why didn''t you tell me?" Gaya asked as Michael chuckled.


    "I did. You just forgot,"


    "Shit," Gaya smacked herself on the head.


    "I am chorry," Gaya rubbed her nose with Michael before kissing him on the forehead.


    "I should be the one to say sorry. I shouldn''t have put all the financial side of things on your head. After we return from Nelnathyr, I''ll find a way to generate more ie,"


    "Nelnathyr? Isn''t that the elven kingdom filled with racist assholes?"


    "Yes," Michael chuckled.


    "Why do we need to go there?" asked Gaya. Michael heaved a sigh as he began to tell her everything that ire had told him. After listening to Michael, Gaya felt pity for ire.


    "I almost forgot Christopher and sha. We did give them our word we''d help ire reunite with her family. When are we leaving?"


    Since Gaya lost her mother when she was little, she knew how ire felt. It made Gaya sympathize with her. Besides, ire was her friend. Hence, they decided to help her.


    "After I break through to the Immortal stage,"


    The moment she heard Michael''s words, her brows arched up. She couldn''t believe him.


    "What the fuck? You just became a Half Immortal," Gaya wanted to punch him in the face. Noah was his rival, yet he was still stuck at the Fusion stage. Meanwhile, Michael umted enough experience points to jump from Half Immortal level 10 to Immortal stage level 4. Gaya could only imagine how powerful he would be after reaching the Immortal stage. It was really difficult not to feel jealous of his cultivation speed.


    "What can I say? I am a god," Michael shrugged.


    "How long will be your heavenly tribtion this time?" Gaya asked.


    "Ten days," said Michael. ording to the system, his heavenly tribtion wouldst ten days, and it rmended Michael find a safe ce or make the dark ocean safe. Fortunately, Elidiry was working on creating a new array to prevent the lightning storm around the dark ocean from intervening in his heavenly tribtions. Michael had no interest in finding a new ce. The dark ocean was the only ce the Guardians wouldn''t dare toe to. Even if they tried, the lightning storm and the weather would take care of them. Michael wasn''t the same man he was a year before. He had a powerful army. Every day, they grew in number and power. The only problem was the current financial state. Although Michael vaguely had an idea for a new source of ie, hecked the necessary things.


    "Is it safe to trigger the tribtion here? Last time I almost died. Heavenly tribtion and the lightning storm do not make a good pair,"


    "Elidyr will take care of it," said Michael.