Evolving My Undead Legion In A Game-Like World

Chapter 669: Preparation {Edited! Refresh to clear Duplicate!}

Like that, several days passed. Coincidentally, in both of his worlds, Michael was preparing to head out.

In the Land of Origin, the Michael who bore the title of Lord did not have much to pack. His greatest preparation was not weapons or supplies but people. He spent those days making sure the territory could function smoothly in his absence, finalizing instructions for Rohan and the others.

Once he left with a certain princess to explore the ruin of a so called strong man, he wanted Thornvale to keep running as if he had never stepped away.

On Aurora, the other Michael also did not have much to prepare on the surface. His destination, however, was very different. While one Michael was heading toward an ancient ruin, the other was preparing to follow his year mates into Hell.

There were no territories to manage here. His days remained almost deceptively ordinary. At most he quietly adjusted his schedule so his body and mind would be in their best state when the time came.

But in the Land of Origin, Michael used those same days for something else as well. He studied Wisdom. Not openly, of course. After all, he had lied. To a certain princess no less. He had already told her that the owl her family gifted him had died for no reason.

He even blamed it on the creature’s strange mutation, using Wisdom’s earlier transformation to solidify the story.

It was the perfect excuse. No one could ever be fully certain about a miracle mutation in such a weak animal. Sometimes they lived. Sometimes they died.

Sometimes they became something else entirely. And the princess had believed him. So Michael made sure Wisdom was kept hidden.

Michael’s private observations during those quiet days confirmed something important. As long as Wisdom’s actions remained within the gentle lines of space, sliding through it, folding it, slipping between its seams without disturbing its balance, the bird used little to no mana.

It was almost effortless, as if space itself welcomed him. But the moment Wisdom tried to corrupt that space like he had with Singularity Pulse, everything changed. The burden shifted back onto Wisdom. He was forced to use his own mana, and even that was not enough.

He exhausted himself because he was still weak, not because the skill was too heavy, but because he was too small to bear even a fraction of the cost. The greater cost, the true cost, was being paid by the Void.

Every time Wisdom bent space without damaging it, the Void flowed through him freely, supporting the action like a gentle tide. But the moment Wisdom ruptured space or forced it to collapse, the Void demanded a price he could not afford.

This strange relationship pushed Michael into what could only be described as a research frenzy in Aurora. While the lord of Thornvale quietly observed Wisdom in hidden corners of the mansion and the coffin space, the student Michael buried himself in texts, visiting the library during every spare hour.

It took days, but he eventually found a hint of an answer.

There are times in the universe when children of elements are born. It explained everything.

Children of elements were not ordinary creatures. They were beings naturally aligned with the primal forces of existence. Some were born like that from the moment their consciousness sparked.

Others were forged over countless years, tempering themselves until the world itself acknowledged them. The ones born with it were the most famous.

Creatures like the Phoenix and the Qilin. Creatures like Dragons, living sovereigns who carried the laws of the world in their breath.

These were beings so deeply in tune with their element that they were part of the world itself.

Fire was not something a Phoenix used. Fire was what it was.

The same went for the others. They existed at the boundary between creature and natural force, neither fully one nor the other. Their bodies were perfect vessels for their element, and the element in turn treated them as kin.

But these beings were rare. Far more often, supernaturals had to earn that connection. They needed to climb high, so high that their existence reached a point where the world accepted them as part of its fabric. It was not the same as drawing mana from the air. That was basic.

This was something deeper, something like borrowing the strength of the world itself. If one grew strong enough, they could begin tapping into that force. The world would stop resisting them. It would start feeding them instead.

However, that was the part that confused Michael. By all standards, at the moment he was something close to a pseudo god. So why was he not like that yet?

Why was the world not feeding him? Was it because he was fake, an imitation god without roots? Or was it the opposite?

Perhaps he needed to become something much more than just a god in order for the world to acknowledge him as its own.

The thoughts circled a few times, each possibility leading to more questions. Even without answers, he knew they were things that belonged to a future version of himself. For now, he pushed them aside and returned his focus to Wisdom.

After digging further, he finally came to a conclusion.

Wisdom was in an awkward situation. Painfully awkward. It reminded Michael of the very first day he found the little bird, fragile, yet possessing a power far beyond what it should have held.

Now, after evolving, the situation was almost the same, only more complicated.

The more Michael pieced things together, the clearer the truth became. Wisdom had not become a true Voidfeather bird.

Far from it. The merge had not been fully successful. It was a failed merge, a miracle failure, but a failure nonetheless.

According to Michael’s estimates, a true Voidfeather bird was not something that crawled at Rank 2. A real one should be born at Rank 3 or close to it, a creature of space, a child of the Void.

But Wisdom was far from that.

Oh, he had the traits. Fold Blink, Dimensional Shroud, Singularity Pulse. He had Void affinity. But his body was weak, fragile, and underdeveloped. He was a Rank 2 creature wearing the skin of something born to dominate.

Michael’s talent had forcefully changed him. So Wisdom was not a proper Voidfeather but a defective one.

Still, Michael was satisfied. Defective or not, with his talents and with time, Wisdom would eventually become a true Voidfeather, or even something greater than that. His current state was simply incomplete.

The foundation was unstable, but the potential was frightening.

In any case, research was not the only thing Michael had done during those days. He also tested Wisdom’s speed. With the amplification from the Void, the bird’s speed surpassed anything a Rank 2 creature should possess.

After repeating the test dozens of times, Michael reached a simple conclusion.

"At least Rank 3 and below, if they cannot trap him, they cannot catch him."

This was not arrogance. It was fact. One moment Wisdom was there. The next he was gone. If one could not imprison space itself, they would never lay a hand on Wisdom.

Against an opponent that fought purely with speed, the Voidfeather would slip away again and again. That alone placed Wisdom far above his current rank.

Michael had also tested the range of Fold Blink properly. He tested it in the Everlong Forest, where there was real distance to work with and no curious eyes watching. The results shocked even him. Fifty thousand meters. That was the maximum range Wisdom could reach in one blink.

And the cooldown was ten seconds. That was all. All of this with no significant mana cost.

Michael had also taken a risk. He let Wisdom carry him. He had been hesitant at first. Fold Blink was effortless when Wisdom only moved himself. But adding another person raised questions. Would the Void still support it? Would the space around them destabilize? There was only one way to find out.

So he tried. And it worked. Except this time, there were significant costs. Wisdom could only carry one person and teleport three times at maximum range.

It was still good. Better than good. Michael still liked it. For escaping, it was gold. Escape, repositioning, ambush, retreat. It was perfection. And Michael knew it.

That was why Michael attempted to use his skill, Taming, and used Copy on Wisdom. He went with the random route. In any case, any of the skills were good for him, but there were particular ones he preferred. Dimensional Shroud and Fold Blink. The third skill was also not bad, but the possibility that the skill could fail to copy anything at all had made Michael nervous.

Adding everything together, the chances of failure were higher than the chances of success.

The final results was that Michael.....

***

Sorry for the previous mishap.