Time continued passing as Michael started his busy schedule to train himself and execute his plan. Meanwhile, the winds created across Aterna from his debut seemed to have settled down as well. According to the rules of the light tower, any of the children once admitted, would have to do a mission after the first 3 years of admission. These missions were generally extremely hard to accomplish and would take a long time for them to finish even with the support form their families. This could be said to be the tower's form of tuition as the tower collected resources for completing these missions. All in all, it was not wrong to say that in the 5 years given to the students to prepare for the final test of the tower, only three years were spent in the grooming of tower. Thus, it was generally in these two years that students would return to their families and use external forces to finish off these missions. Also, most of the families of considerable power would keep heavenly treasures for their children to rapidly increase their cultivation before taking the final test.
Michael, even with the support of the entire human race would not be able to show a considerable performance in the final test. After all, the test would be held when he would be 12. Increasing the cultivation of a child before the age of 13 when the body's natural growth started was extremely difficult even with heavenly treasures. There was also the fact that humans were a poor race.
Without the threat of devils, it would not have mattered much to Michael even if he could not take a powerful expert as his teacher. He had enough confidence in himself that he could develop into a powerhouse on his own. But, he needed to get an influential teacher to begin the preparations for the upcoming war in advance. The only person who could actually make the light empire begin preparations seriously was Karslon Dumbledore. Due to his eccentric nature, his hardly ever intervened in the workings of the empire but whenever he did, the entire empire would listen. Thus, Michael had already decided to take Karslon as his master. For this, he needed to show a talent that had never appeared in the light empire. Everyone knew that Karslon favoured young geniuses and helped them in their growing years. Many experts of the empire had been helped by him in their childhood including Emperor Atrexia.
Michael had formed a rough plan in mind on how to truly reap benefits from the forbidden forest. As long as he could succeed, he would be able to create waves the likes of which Aterna had never seen before! Thus, he practised all his arts and cultivation extremely seriously.
His training with Demitrus lasted almost an entire year. Through the year, Michael practised the disguise technique to its limit. At the end of his year-long practise, he could change all aspects of his appearance and presence such that perhaps only immortal experts would be able to find anything wrong, that too if they observed carefully. While it was still some distance from Demitrus' own level, it was sufficient for executing his future plans. Needless to say that Demitrus had long since considered Michael a freak. This kid was inhuman in the speed he improved!
After mastering the disguise technique, Michael started focussing on other applications of illusions in battle. Learning illusions with Demitrus had made him realize the practicality of this technique in battles. Thus, he started learning the other methods of illusion combat under Demitrus.
Meanwhile, he had been practising his unique fighting style for a long time and he had achieved major success in that. Now, he could move soul energy inside his body and transfer momentum from his body to soul energy without any stance. Thus, his any single punch carried a mix of physical force and soul energy making even his normal attacks devastating for normal experts. Thus, after the first one and a half years in the tower, Michael had created his close combat soul art, learned the disguising technique and was in the process of learning illusion combat techniques. His cultivation was also constantly increasing. He had reached the peak of knight realm and was collecting energy in his body to push for a breakthrough in the king realm. He had also reached the fourth chapter of viscous soul realm of the Styx Soul Incarnation Scripture. This had brought Michael's soul force to the first stage of solid soul realm of normal experts. It was easy to imagine that any attack from him could kill anyone below the saint realm. But while he was consistently growing stronger, it was not reflected in his results.
Michael had started hiding more and more of his strength in the past years. No one except Demitrus knew of his proficiency in illusion techniques. And no one knew of his close combat soul art. In the yearly exams at the reflection gorge, Michael kept his performance constant - maintained at rank 2. From the perspective of outsiders, this was already quite well since the others had entered their formative years. The humans already considered Michael as their pride and glory. It could be said that he was extremely famous in the Atrexia kingdom.
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Beast prince Kandriff knew his ability pretty well. He was already at the cusp of a breakthrough to the middle king realm. He had a supreme blessing - transformation. When he transformed, he would get beastly features added to his humanoid appearance and obtained a boost in his realm. Beasts were naturally much stronger than humans. Thus, currently, the beast prince after transformation could barely fight early emperor experts of humans. Adding on the fact that he had a soul guard as well, he was quite confident in his ability to beat Michael. Thus, he believed that his first place among the students was well deserved. The result of their battle that would come out during the final test would prove him wrong.
Elven princess Ashley enjoyed her days as a chosen of the tower. A number of students fawned on her. In fact, as she grew older, her feminine features were highlighted even more! If the earlier version of her was breathtakingly beautiful and innocent, the current her was turning into a country toppling beauty that would cause men of all races to lose their reason and act like animals in the heat. Even older experts had trouble keeping themselves in check and even Kandriff had expressed his interest in courting her. If there was one notable student who was uninterested in her, it would be Michael Rageberg. The crown prince of humans had been extremely low key in his years in the tower. He was hardly seen in the past years with almost no one catching his glimpse for many months. The last time she saw him was the day of the yearly test. It was extremely frustrating that such a kid was much more talented than her. While Kandriff was also more talented than her, he was still infatuated by her appearance. To her, beauty was another powerful tool! Thus, Michael's disinterest made her feel uneasy. She believed, the reason for his disinterest must be that he had not hit puberty yet.
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It was not that Michael did not go out but that whenever he went out, he would use his disguise technique to hide his traces. On one hand, it allowed him to practise the technique and on the other, it allowed him to know the opinion of others inside the tower without any schemes involved. Also, while Ashley behaved in an extremely kind and gentle way in front of others, Michael knew from his past life just how cunning this girl was. While even he found her beautiful, he would not make the same mistakes twice.
As Michael started making concrete plans for the forbidden forest, he sent a letter to Paul Miller. This was an extremely secret letter so Michael asked Demitrus to take the letter himself.
> Demitrus : Kid, since when is this old man your lackey? You dare to order me to do things! Do you think that I would not spank you in front of your entire class?
>
> Michael : Senior, it is not that I consider you beneath me but that this letter is extremely confidential. We already have a promise between us. You should know that this letter might decide my future and perhaps the Moonflower race's future as well.
>
> Demitrus : Don't worry! I will do this task for you. But, this shall be the first and last time. Also, you need to show me the contents of the letter.
>
> Michael : You can check the letter if you want.
When Demitrus checked the letter, his eyes went wide. He could not believe the words! Then, he whispered:
> Demitrus : Michael, this letter is no joke! Where did you even get this information?
>
> Michael : Senior, I cannot keep all my secrets in the same basket. Do forgive me for not sharing with you the source of my information. What you must do is to place this letter in Senior Paul's hands and get away without being caught.
>
> Demitrus : Okay. This old man has never been caught! I will do this for you.
>
> Demitrus (to himself) : This kid is scary. Have I made the right right choice to teach him the disguise technique? I might have just added wings to a tiger!
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After this, Michael went back to learning illusion arts. He also consolidated his energy for the next few months. Later, he went into seclusion to break into the king realm. It was at the same time that both Michael and Kandriff made their breakthroughs.
Michael's breakthrough was actually much more controlled and no one noticed that he stepped into the king realm! On the other hand, Kandriff's breakthrough caused thunderous booms to emerge from his meditation chamber for a long while. Even the chamber reinforced with formations developed cracks. While Kandriff's reputation increased in the group, Michael remained low key and rarely emerged. Even when he did, he kept his cultivation hidden.
Michael knew his strengths and weaknesses very well. While his body was as strong as an early emperor realm expert and his soul force sufficient to destroy any king - even the beast prince with his soul guard, he could still improve a lot in martial arts. As long as he possessed a formidable martial art, he would be able to truly bring out the power of his body and soul in close combat. Then, he would truly be unrivalled below the saints. Perhaps even saints would be injured. Of course, all this was under the assumption that these experts did not have soul guards. But, considering the rarity of soul guards, it was unlikely to be with someone below the perfect body realm.
Thus, Michael decided to spend the remaining time practising martial arts and cultivating his body and soul. After this, he truly would become a nightmare in close combat.