Evolving My Undead Legion In A Game-Like World

Chapter 823: Power Politics

Caelum’s impression of Michael was quite peculiar.

Aside from his strength, which left the greatest mark on him, Caelum saw the seemingly innocent looking youth as a very witty individual.

Witty, not in the sense of being sly, cunning, or scheming, but in the sense that he was remarkably slippery.

Slippery did not make Michael a bad person. Far from it. But it did show that Michael was not simple. He was not someone who could be read at a glance or cornered easily.

One could see this clearly from how Michael had survived not just one near death experience in Hell, but multiple. Each time he was pushed to the brink, left with barely a sliver of life, yet he always managed to escape. Not only escape, but somehow twist the situation to his own advantage.

Caelum had personally experienced this himself.

He, together with Arven, another Rank Four superpower who was even stronger than him under normal circumstances, had pursued a mere Rank Two youth. And yet, not only had Michael escaped their encirclement, he had vanished from their perception entirely afterward.

That point alone left a deep impression.

After losing him and failing to find any trace of Michael on the Fifteenth Floor, Caelum already knew there was a high chance the youth had moved to another floor through one of the gateways scattered across Hell.

However, he also had a fairly solid guess about what Michael might do next.

He was certain there was no way Michael would allow him to get close again, especially after the incident where he had knocked the boy unconscious. And since Michael did not strike him as stupid, Caelum believed there were only two logical paths the youth would take.

One was to hide somewhere within Hell for a period of time, waiting until the situation cooled before attempting to leave.

The other was to leave immediately.

Either way, both options revolved around the same conclusion. Leaving.

However, based on Michael’s past actions, the old man did not believe it would be easy to capture him even if one anticipated his departure. Michael did not seem like the type to walk into a net simply because others expected him to flee.

And he was right.

Before the command to reopen portal access had even been issued, the soldiers stationed in Hell had already reported that they could not find a single trace of Michael anywhere on the floor.

Yet somehow, despite that, that same youth had passed through the portal during evacuation.

Caelum was not surprised in the slightest.

Caelum felt a faint headache coming on as he processed the entire situation.

Unfortunately, even if he wanted to, ignoring a youth like Michael was not something he could do.

Because Michael was not just a talented youth.

He was a future God Seed.

In great realms, or realms on the level Aurora stood upon, the definition of a Holy Child was very strict.

It was not a title given lightly.

The only existences acknowledged as Holy Children were those who possessed the potential to become Gods. At the very least, they had to possess the unmistakable destiny of stepping into the Demigod realm.

The same realm Caelum himself was pursuing.

But if he was being honest with himself, he did not truly see himself entering it.

That realization did not come with bitterness. Only clarity born from experience.

He knew his ceiling.

Which was precisely why individuals like Michael could not be ignored.

In Aurora, there was currently only one acknowledged Holy Child.

If Michael was added to that count, it would make two.

Two Holy Children existing within the same realm was already rare on a universal scale.

But if one considered their individual potentials, Caelum could not help but admit something uncomfortable.

It might still be counted as one Holy Child.

And Michael looked like he held the greater edge.

Of course, the other party had their own advantage. Their power was concentrated entirely within themselves.

Michael, on the other hand, was a Necromancer.

Though calling him a conventional Necromancer did not feel accurate either.

He was... odd.

In any case, regardless of comparative evaluation, one conclusion remained unchanged.

He could not leave Michael alone.

Not only from his personal standpoint, but from the Federation’s standpoint as well.

Aurora was a massive realm.

But the number of Gods it possessed was pitifully small relative to its size.

Every potential God Seed was a strategic pillar.

And when such individuals appeared, power blocs inevitably formed around them.

If someone like Michael was allowed to grow freely under the academies, an organization that fundamentally opposed Federation governance, the future balance of Aurora would tilt.

The Federation would never feel at ease allowing that.

If Michael were an ordinary talented student, it would not matter. The Federation had many such individuals. It did not lack Awakeners either.

But just like the Awakener Academies’ ideology when it came to their entrance examinations, having one uniquely special individual was better than having a hundred merely special individuals.

In the supernatural universe, numbers only mattered to a certain point.

If they couldn’t have Michael or control him to benefit from him, then the best possible action is to limit his growth.

As for why the academies were against the Federation, the answer again was layered.

For one, it was not all academies.

Only the Awakener Academies stood in quiet opposition.

The Cultivation Academies were a different matter entirely.

Those institutions were, in many ways, extensions of Federation authority. They were funded, regulated, and overseen directly by Federation governance. Their teaching systems, resource allocation, and advancement pipelines all ultimately fed into the Federation’s military structure.

That was how the Federation produced its warriors.

The Awakener Academies operated under a fundamentally different philosophy.

Their power system was difficult to standardize.

Because of this, the academies that trained them valued autonomy far more than centralized control.

They did not like the Federation dictating how Awakeners should be used.

And more importantly, after forming unified institutions, they did not like the idea of their strongest talents being absorbed into Federation command chains after graduation. Especially since it was never the Federation that created them. They only answered to the Federation and registered under it for convenience and respect toward the governing body of the realm.