Chapter 1316 Mischievous Youths

Michael allowed the matter of the exchange to settle before asking another question.

"When would you like to use the substation to enter the Land of Origin?"

Timi's black eyes seemed to brighten despite possessing neither visible pupils nor irises.

"Anytime is fine."

His answer came a little too quickly. Timi realized this and quickly restrained himself.

"I mean, whenever it's convenient for you. There's no rush."

Michael noticed the tiny flash of excitement that had appeared on Timi's face but didn't call him out on it.

Lily was somewhat of a chatterbox and had told him a lot about this fellow. If he wasn't wrong, he was probably trying to look for a safe place for his sisters.

Perhaps after this was done, the lad's strength would begin growing explosively.

For this kind of kindred soul, Michael could only feel respect.

"Are you in a hurry to enter?" Michael asked, going with the flow.

"No." Timi hesitantly shook his head. "You don't have to bother yourself because of me. Whenever you're free is fine."

He was indeed in a hurry but didn't want to show it.

One reason was that he disliked showing his emotions to others, as part of him considered it a weakness. The other was that he didn't want to get on Michael's bad side.

The latter was partly because he feared for his life, even if things seemed quite good now, and partly because he felt maintaining a good relationship with Michael couldn't hurt.

Even if he never needed Michael's help, being on good terms with someone like him couldn't be bad.

Michael considered Timi's words for a moment.

Technically, arranging access wouldn't take much effort. If he was truly looking for access because of his sisters, all the other party had to do was claim a Cornerstone, make a substation on Earth, bring his sisters to him, then use his own Cornerstone to enter Earth, where he could then create another substation for his own access without needing to come to him again.

However, another idea soon entered Michael's mind.

"Do you have enough Cornerstone fragments outside the ones you want to exchange to create a whole set?"

"Yeah."

"Then you can reconstruct them into a Deployment Core and claim a Universal Cornerstone yourself. After you claim it, you can submit your Cornerstone under mine."

This was the plan Michael had. Rather than turn this deal into a one-time event, he wanted to cultivate a bit more of a relationship.

Regardless of what he might do regarding Earth in the future, whether to visit or not visit, whether to help it or not help it, he first needed to have a link to Earth, and for now his only option was Timi.

Of course, Michael wasn't solely thinking from the sentimental angle, as this could also bring him a deal of benefits.

Not only would this increase the reach of his influence, he could perhaps also claim Earth for himself. As far as he was concerned, Earth was ownerless. Bringing it under his control would only bring benefits.

While his empire was far superior to the current Earth in many ways, there were still many things Earth's people could potentially offer that the natives of his empire couldn't. Especially after surviving an apocalypse for more than a year, even Earth's weaker survivors likely had their own uses.

Timi's expression became slightly strange upon hearing Michael's words.

The term "submit" made his body subconsciously tense.

Michael noticed his reaction and quickly explained his plan, keeping his true thoughts to himself while including some reasons for the need to link their territories together, which relieved some of Timi's caution.

Michael concluded his explanation.

Timi finally nodded.

"Then I'll do that."

Michael smiled in approval.

A short while later, after exchanging a few more words and collecting the sixteen fragment pieces from Timi, Michael decided there was nothing else that needed to be settled immediately.

Wisdom brought Lily and Timi back down from the enormous wall.

Michael remained behind as he watched the two make their way back to the substation platform.

Their first interaction had gone relatively well, despite the strange incident at the beginning.

There was no need to rush.

For now, Michael was satisfied.

The moment Timi was out of Michael's sight, however, his shoulders visibly relaxed.

He released a long breath.

Some of the tension that had remained in his body finally faded.

Regardless of how friendly Michael had eventually acted, Timi hadn't forgotten what had happened during the first few moments of their meeting.

Along with the weight of his name, the experience alone made it difficult to completely relax around him.

Timi turned toward Lily.

There was now considerably more envy in his gaze than before.

He still knew very little about Michael Norman, but Timi knew enough to know that if he had a cousin like that, he would probably brag about him all the time too.

Lily's behavior wasn't as ridiculous as he'd previously thought.

His eyes roamed briefly around the outer territory before settling on Lily.

In the end, he couldn't hold back.

"Lily, tell me the truth."

"About what?"

Timi's black eyes narrowed.

"Are you from a royal family?"

Lily almost stumbled.

"What?! No!"

Her denial made Timi become even more suspicious.

"...Right."

Lily's cheeks puffed slightly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

"No, say it."

"I didn't say anything."

"You snorted!"

Timi gave another disdainful snort.

Lily's eyes widened.

Timi turned his head away and continued walking.

There was nothing left to discuss.

Fake poor girl.

After a little more back and forth, Timi's mood noticeably improved.

Perhaps it was because a burden that had weighed on him for so long finally seemed a little lighter.

Lily noticed the change.

She looked sideways at Timi as they walked and couldn't help smiling herself.

She had an idea of what was making him happy.

Even if his improved mood wasn't because of what she thought, she was still happy.

Helping a friend felt good.

Lily's steps became slightly lighter as well.

She had only taken a few more when Timi suddenly spoke.

"Lily."

"Hm?"

Timi was silent for a moment.

The question had actually entered his mind only recently.

If everything went according to plan, he would eventually establish his own Cornerstone. Michael had already agreed to let him connect it to the larger network. The only condition was that he should have his own territory far from Lily's own and in a very resource-rich area.

The reason Michael did this wasn't because he was trying to separate the two. He simply thought it would be too much of a waste if their starting villages were too close to each other.

The further, the better, especially since one could always use the Cornerstone to cross large distances rapidly.

Timi looked at Lily and, after a brief hesitation, spoke again.

"Do you want to visit my realm?"

Lily stopped and turned to look at Timi in surprise.

"Your realm?"

"Yeah."

"Earth?"

Timi nodded.

Lily's green eyes widened slightly. A thoughtful look appeared on her face. After hesitating for a few seconds, she sneaked a glance at the outer territory wall to see if her cousin was watching before turning to Timi with a grin.

"Why wouldn't I want to come with you?"

Timi's mouth twitched.

Considering the things he'd told her about Earth, he could think of several reasons.

But looking at the excitement already appearing on her face, Timi suspected explaining any of them would be pointless.

Before Timi could think of much, Lily grabbed his hand and led him to the platform, where their figures immediately disappeared a moment later.

Though she couldn't feel her cousin's gaze on her, Lily decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Knowing her cousin well enough, she was certain he'd never agree to let her visit Earth if she asked.

Although Earth didn't sound like a particularly pleasant place from Timi's descriptions, that did little to dampen her curiosity. She also wanted to visit a civilization completely different from the one she had known all her life.

The fact that it was currently going through an apocalypse only made her more curious.

Lily, however, was worrying too much. From the moment the two had landed in the outer territory, Michael's attention was no longer on her, as he had rushed back into the Mausoleum.

After three long days of waiting, his undead Ancient Giant had awakened and was about to start her tribulation.

"Such a sight..."

Michael muttered under his breath, disbelief coloring his voice.

He hovered high in the sky above a massive island within the Mausoleum of Endless Dominion.

The island itself was enormous, large enough that mountains, forests, lakes, and rivers covered its surface. Yet almost all of that scenery had become insignificant compared to what was happening in two different locations below.

Spartan occupied one side of the island.

From where Michael floated, that entire region appeared to have been dyed crimson.

A brilliant red light rose from the ground like an enormous pillar, illuminating the surrounding mountains and painting even the clouds above them scarlet. Waves of energy continuously spread outward from its center, causing the atmosphere around the region to distort.

But Michael only spared Spartan's location a brief glance.

His attention was quickly drawn elsewhere.

Several hundred kilometers away sat Lily.

Not his cousin, of course.

His undead Ancient Giant.

Michael's green eyes narrowed slightly as he looked down at her.

Lily had already turned to her complete giant form.

Even while sitting cross-legged, she stood more than a hundred meters tall.

Her enormous body resembled a mountain planted firmly upon the island, and every breath she took seemed to cause the surrounding air to fluctuate.

Seeing her like this once again reminded Michael why he believed that if Lily and Beginning fought purely with their base physical abilities, without either side using their more troublesome powers, Lily could probably beat Beginning senseless.

Michael slowly raised his head.

Above Lily was a sea of darkness.

Clouds had gathered across an enormous stretch of the sky, so dense and dark that they seemed almost solid. Layer after layer rolled across one another, swallowing the usual colors illuminating the Mausoleum until the entire region beneath them had fallen into shadow.

They continued expanding.

Michael could feel the Mausoleum itself responding to their presence.

The clouds weren't ordinary.

This was the heavenly tribulation Lily had spent the last three days drawing toward herself.

It had finally arrived.

Rumble!

The first peal of thunder rolled through the Mausoleum.

The sound was so immense that the air itself seemed to vibrate.

Lightning moved within the dark clouds.

But it wasn't merely white or blue. Streaks of countless colors moved through the clouds, including strands that appeared almost black.

Different colors twisted through the clouds like enormous serpents, occasionally colliding before separating again.

Each collision released another deafening rumble.

Seems the path of having all my undead advance before I do might need to end soon.

That was how helpless the scene in front of Michael made him.

He wasn't even sure that Lily, one of his best undead, would survive it, so how could he be confident about the others?

Perhaps his earlier suspicion was right. Starting from Rank 5, he might only be able to focus his resources on a select few undead while leaving the others to rely more heavily on their own opportunities and accumulation.

Rumble!

Michael's thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

His green eyes snapped upward.

The countless streaks of multicolored lightning moving through the clouds suddenly converged.

The entire dark sea seemed to contract for a moment.

Then the first bolt descended.

BOOOOM!

The world flashed.

A massive pillar of multicolored lightning tore through the sky and struck Lily directly.

For an instant, Michael couldn't see anything.

The explosion swallowed the Ancient Giant entirely as lightning spread across the surrounding land in countless branching arcs.

Mountains shattered.

Trees were reduced to frozen fragments before being obliterated by the residual lightning.

The ground surrounding Lily collapsed beneath the impact, sending enormous chunks of earth and stone flying outward.

Several nearby rivers were instantly frozen before the violent shockwave shattered the ice covering them.

Even from high above, Michael felt the blast.

Fortunately, the worst didn't happen.

Lily was fine.

As the overwhelming light gradually faded, her enormous seated figure was revealed again.

She hadn't even moved.

Her gigantic body remained cross-legged at the center of the devastated landscape, surrounded by branching cracks that stretched for kilometers.

Faint remnants of multicolored lightning crawled across her body.

But her defenses hadn't been broken.

There wasn't even a visible wound.

Michael let out a sigh of relief, but the worry on his face didn't disappear.

After all, this was only the first round. The next rounds would only become stronger.

More multicolored lightning began gathering within the enormous black sea.

Meanwhile, in the Zeroth Layer of the Origin Battlefield, Lily and Timi had already traveled far from Evergreen Haven.

The two had followed Michael's earlier advice.

After searching and comparing several possible areas, they had finally chosen one.

_Drakon