Healing System

'Is it here?' Michael thought with a small smile.

While he was fending off the worm and protecting the other disciples, he had been actively looking for some secret openings.

And after just a few hours, he managed to spot one that was a bit less ordinary than the others.

A hollow wall, which, once he made contact with it, crumbled to dust, revealing a far-reaching tunnel whose end he could not quite see.

'Hm...' Michael hummed while stretching out his mana, and after roughly five seconds, he felt the end of the tunnel.

'13 kilometers. It's pretty far.'

[So? You can control the swords of mana from this distance anyway,] the system commented with a scoff.

'Be that as it may, if that worm thing gets too strong, I'll have to... never mind, I'll just summon more swords of light.' Michael swiftly gave in, without barely any argument, and did just that.

At a targeted location affected by his mana, hundreds of golden swords appeared, circling around the safe room he had made for his group, while at the same time, he created several miniature umbrellas of light.

Even if the Flashbang of Light skill was a joke at first, it worked surprisingly well against the evolving worm. Therefore, he wouldn't shy away from using it.

And soon, Michael made his way into the secret tunnel, sealing the entrance behind him.

Since he did not want to waste too much time, he sped up his pace, appearing at the end in just a few seconds.

But the sight was not quite what he was expecting.

'A skeleton. So worthwhile,' he grumbled, unamused.

However, as he prepared to walk away with seemingly no gains, he spotted some weird patterns on the skeleton's bones.

They seemed like runes—ones carved deeply enough to be seen—but due to the mana disappearing from the skeleton's body after it died, they were hard to see.

Despite that, with Eyes of the Great Sage, he could clearly see what was written.

And what he could gather from this was...

'Nothing. I can't read shit.' He let out an even deeper sigh than before.

'Can you store these texts? Or better yet, translate them directly to me.'

[No.] The system firmly rejected. [I won't be giving you many handouts, but at the very least, I can save this text for future use, since from the looks of things, it does seem pretty worthwhile.]

Michael noticed something strange, and that was the faint tremble in the system's voice—a tremble he had not heard before, ever since first getting to know it.

'I hate when you do this. If you don't tell me what it is, I'm sticking your halo into the evolving worm's mouth.'

[You wouldn't dare,] the system warily stated, but Michael had made up his mind already.

Therefore, he sped up his pace, zipping out of the secret entrance, and quickly reappearing in the tunnels.

Not even a second later, he spotted the evolving monster, currently battling with the Cloudflower sect.

'Last chance,' Michael warned as he began heading over at a steady pace.

[Look, I don't necessarily hog this information because I want to. I do this because it's a bit early for you to know a few things,] the system attempted to convince him.

But sadly, it failed, as Michael sped through the tunnels, killing all the nearby worm monsters in the way, until finally, he was right behind the evolving worm.

And before the system could even say another word, Michael tugged hard at the halo, taking it off his head with a large amount of force, and tossed it into the worm's mouth.

Its single eye seemed to be giving off subtle interest, and as it began absorbing the halo's mana at a rapid pace, the system had enough.

Green blood shot out to all sides, scattering all over the other disciples—with the exception of Michael himself—as he stared at the now, Mikhail, towering over the regenerating worm.

"You are shameless. Why don't you ever try finding something out yourself? Why do you always seek me for answers?" Mikhail questioned in a rather calm voice.

And Michael replied in kind. "You have the information I am looking for, that's why. I could either get it from you or spend weeks—or maybe even years—trying to find whatever I'm looking for. Now why would I do that?"

"Experience," Mikhail answered matter-of-factly, making Michael's brow rise.

"The same experience that has traveled over how many years exactly? How many eons has it been since your death? And yet here you are, on possibly your last turn, making the same mistakes you had in the past."

Those words seemed to finally upset Mikhail, as he began showing a hint of emotion.

Irritation.

"If I tell you everything, you won't learn. If I tell you everything, then you'll grow complacent," he stated in a cold voice before continuing, "For your information, I have tried multiple times to make my previous incarnations as knowledgeable as possible. Heck, I even had a genius who awakened a mana core right after he was born."

"And yet here you are. Standing in front of me, still dead as ever," Michael added, earning a fierce glare in response.

"Luck, accidents. All different kinds of factors played a part in my long travels to search for the one who would restore heaven to its former self."

"You really just love repeating yourself, don't you?" Michael shot back. "How do you expect me to believe you've not even gotten close to heaven yet? Let alone ruling over it again. Can't your soldiers make you a new body or something of the sort?"

"My soul is tied to the system now, and the only way to release it would be to destroy the system itself. How many times do you think I've helped other Michaels reach the top, just for them to be too weak to defend themselves against the actual strong rulers of heaven?" Mikhail replied, and as he did, he suddenly halted.

This reaction, as well as what he had said, did not slip by Michael's ears.

"Defend against the heaven pricks, eh? I guess your stories were bullshit after all, am I right?"

"Not exactly... It's more of a welcoming test. Yet as time went on, it grew surprisingly stronger with each new incarnation that came. The one overseeing this test was no pushover either, so I could not bend the rules of heaven as I pleased," Mikhail replied with a sour look, adding, "No one could."

"I see," Michael nodded in response, feeling a variety of emotions currently.

Nonetheless, none of that was important, as what he truly needed to do was get the answers to his questions.

Each and every single one of them.

And preferably? He would rather do it as soon as possible.

However, despite the apparent issues, he could see it being plausible. The Third Trial should be up soon, and with that, he could request an increase in difficulty.

Which, after further thinking, he decided to do.

But as he was lost in his thoughts—as well as in the conversation with Mikhail—he failed to account for the sect members who stared at him with both hate and envy.

Hate because he killed their friends.

Envy, simply because he was much, much stronger than them.

Nonetheless, he flicked his head over to Mikhail. "Get back for now. We will talk later."

And as those words fell, Mikhail reluctantly traveled inside the halo, before floating over to him.

However, that left him in a bit of a peculiar situation.

These three people, with whom he had no past qualms, had now seen a bit of a secret of his.

Clearly, letting them go just like that would not be in his greatest interest.

Therefore, Michael prepared to kill all of them but halted upon realizing there was a much better solution—one that preserved the integrity of the games, as well as didn't put that much of a burden on him.

Michael put on a warm smile, locking eyes with each of the women, and soon, used his Charm skill.

Immediately, all three of the women were enveloped in his golden mana, which dissipated not long after.

But that was enough, as with the extra time he had managed to buy by extending the skill's duration and effect, he now had much greater leeway.

"You three. Forget everything you saw. Also, if people do end up raising questions, forget my name, face, and everything related to me," Michael stated, before walking closer. "But do remember one thing, and one thing in particular. My orders are absolute."

"Yes, sir." Their dull, feminine voices rang out in unison, and with a satisfied nod, he walked back to his group, which, from the looks of things, were merely playing around, with Kai being the most energetic out of the lot.

From the talks, he could also overhear some interesting things.

'Master Mujin is great. Mhm. I know,' he nodded to himself inwardly.

However, before he could revel in those kind words, a much deeper topic was brought up—one he did not expect to hear.

'Do you guys think Mujin is from the demonic faction?' Michael raised his brow in disbelief. 'Are they serious?'

[Why would they be? You run around like a maniac killing everyone. That's what someone from the demonic faction would do as well. Do keep in mind, you are in the orthodox faction as of now, so make sure to keep your reputation steady, at the very least,] the system explained, but that brought him back on topic.

'Speaking about running like a maniac... Tell me about those runes carved into the bones.'

[You are so persistent,] the system stated with annoyance, but after a long pause of seemingly nothing happening, it let out a sigh.

[Very well... Listen closely...]