In the first year Michael spent as the personal disciple of Karslon at the tower, several changes occurred all around Aterna. All the three empires had begun preparations to confront the invasion - albeit with different intensity. Karslon's warning was that influential.
Michael too found out about the happenings of the world from his family. This caused him to feel quite happy and smug with himself. Starting from a toddler, he had come to the stage where he could call the winds and rain in Aterna. It took him a few days to calm down.
Karslon again invited to teach Michael almost after a full month. Michael did not know what he was busy with the entire time, he chose not to bother too much about it. He would naturally know when he grew stronger. In the remaining time, Michael sparred with Kandrif every week. These were not practice sessions but true battles. Kandrif's teacher acted as their referee.
Michael had a powerful body and soul. Kandrif was the same. With his soul guard, he could barely hold Michael back to a certain extent. But that was only if Michael did not use his entire power. Even with the soul guard, Kandrif would be badly injured if Michael was to use his full soul energy. Also, the soul guard was a device that actually stopped the soul energy from the opponent from entering inside one's body.
But the death energy was law energy!
Soul guard would not work in such cases. But Michael did not use his soul arts against Kandrif. He looked at Kandrif as a challenge. Both were in the early emperor realm so Michael thought that he should be able to defeat Kandrif in body cultivation. But, he had been too optimistic.
Kandrif could use partial-transformation blessing that brought his strength to peak emperor realm. His reflexes also were at the same level. He was also well versed in many martial arts and most importantly, he was a natural battle maniac like his uncle. His battle sense was very sharp.
Michael could match Kandrif in strength and reflexes through prediction, he was not as good as him when it came to battle. Thus, Michael did not win once!
They practised battles every week as Kandrif needed 3 to 4 days to heal from his injuries. Michael was much better and could heal in a few hours. The rest of the week, Michael spent on his cultivation, forming the disorientation technique and learning more about illusions with Demitrus. He spent the entire month in training himself.
Michael also interacted with Omar and Ramsus for practice sessions. Omar was quite surprised at Michael's martial talent and also gave him pointers. Ramsus also challenged Michael repeatedly but never once won. After all, Michael was no longer weak in body cultivation.
Remeus too slowly opened up to Michael. They were of comparable age but the way Michael conducted himself made him feel stifled. He felt as if Michael was treating him as if an adult would treat a child. This became evident to Omar and Ramsus as well. They just attributed it to Michael having matured before his age.
The other important thing that happened during the month was that Ashley came up to him to ask for pointers in martial arts. Initially, Michael was quite wary of her intentions but he still had a soft corner in his heart for his previous life's crush. Thus, he spent some time with her as well. Though he constantly reminded himself that he could not foolishly fall in love with her again!
Karslon called him again after a month. In his study:
> Karslon : Michael, I am sorry I was not able to guide you for the past month. There were many things to settle. We have already drafted a policy for the empire to handle the threat. We have also alerted the other empires and most likely, the alliance with the neutral empire would go through. The dark empire, being the imbeciles that they are refused to stop the hundred-year war! As for the ancients, they are hiding currently but they assured us that if the invasion actually occurrs, they will show themselves to the world to fight for Aterna.
Michael was very relieved to know all this. The plane was warned beforehand. Now, he just had to prepare for himself and his family.
> Michael : Teacher, I am happy to find that you all have taken my warning seriously. I may not have any proof of knowing the future but I believe that it will come to happen.
>
> Karslon : Don't worry, child. You should focus on your growth now. I have seen you use the power of laws. Why don't we start from there.
>
> Michael : Yes teacher. I can use elementary death laws and life laws. I obtained a law inheritence. I was guided by the revelation in my mind and obtained it. I have not made a lot of progress but I have grasped their elementary levels.
Karslon was quite shocked at Michael's response. But, he could confirm that Michael had caught the eye of a powerful otherworldly being. As he thought about this, he felt hope. Most likely, the otherworldly expert had seen potential in Michael and thus had decided to guide him. It might be possible that they were still looking after him from afar. To not incur the wrath of the otherworldly being, Karslon decided to teach Michael to the best of his ability.
Michael would not have told Karslon about his inheritance if he had not run into a problem - stagnation. His analysis of laws had stagnated and he could not take a single step further. To keep his comprehension growing was extremely important. He needed to finish the third chapter before he was 50 if he was to finish the second part of his plan. Thus, he decided it was best to ask Karslon. Michael was confident in his character.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
> Karslon : Michael. I will now tell you the plan for your future cultivaiton. First of all, you need to keep going at the Styx Scripture. You can not put that aside even for a bit. I analysed that method thoroughly. It allows one to grasp death laws and is very formidable. But, it would yield greater results the faster it is finished. You should know that the scripture ends at the solid soul stage. The later parts have nothing to do with death laws and just tell the things that are already known to us. Thus, you need to reach the sublime soul stage as soon as possible.
>
> Since you have already begun walking this path, I hope that you would bear through the pain and finish it once and for all.
>
> The second thing is that you need to stop your body cltivation for this entire year. Your body may be fine right now but it is under constant burden. The higher your cultivation is before your growth period, the more burden you will face. Thus, do not cultivate for now. Once you hit the growth spurt, you can begin your cultivation again.
>
> As for the third thing - cultivate your laws with the highest priority. You might not know this but the power of laws grows exponentially with each stage. And the grand laws would have even higher power levels. Laws are the source of power for everything and they transcend everything including racial boundaries. So, give more time on law comprehension. Even if it does not show immediate results, as soon as you make a breakthrough, your strength will increase by leaps and bounds.
Michael indeed was a novice when it came to laws and thus did not know this. But as Karslon was the best teacher he could possibly have, he decided to heed his advice. He also put forward his own problems.
> Michael : Teacher. I am stuck in my comprehension. What is the way to increase my law comprehension?
>
> Karslon : Hmm. This is indeed a problem. Before reaching the perfect realm, people can not sense the laws by themselves. But there are secret areas where one can sense the laws before the perfect realm as well. Unfortunately, there is a single such area and that too is under the control of god-beasts. It will be difficult to go there. But, since you have an inheritance, I can look into ways. There are some methods to help you. It will need some time to prepare but, I will get it done. You can ask me about anything else that you want to. I know that you are learning illusions from that Moonflower kid. He is quite the prodigy in his art. Learn well from him. I will call you again once I manage to find a method to solve your problem. Till then, focus on martial arts, soul cultivation and illusion techniques. And keep on trying to infer the laws even if you are unsuccessful.
Michael thanked Karslon and left. He then began his routine training. He stopped his body cultivation and delved into illusions. Michael was already planning to build a base in the forbidden forest. He had gained quite a bit of mastery and was researching with Demitrus on a way to upgrade the formation there.
As all this continued, his relationship with Kandrif improved over time. After about six months had passed, Michael was already quite close to him. Kandrif too treated Michael as a valuable friend and thus they were able to develop trust for each other.
Michael's time with Ashley also increased. Even if Michael did not want to get too involved with her, he found himself unable to send her back when she came to interact. This frustrated him quite a bit.
But there was nothing he could do. He may have gone through a lot but his heart was not dead. Thus, he accepted it and let things take their natural course.
Ashley was not all that interested in Michael but as she interacted with the kid, she found him more and more charming. He was much younger than her but the way he conducted himself was as if he was the older one!
His sea-green eyes and fair face was quite handsome even from elven standards. And while he had yet to reach his growth spurt, it was not difficult to see that he would grow up to become quite handsome. But her feelings were limited to friendliness. There were no deeper motives as Michael was not all someone who could be used. He did not have the power to help her in any way.
Kandrif naturally knew about this but decided to mind his business initially. After his relationship with Michael grew closer, he decided to tell Michael to stop.
> Kandrif : Michael, I am only telling you this because you are my friend. You shoul not get too involved with Ashley. She is too beautiful for her own good. If you get closer to her, you will enrage many elven youths.
>
> Michael : Kandrif, you are not the type to get back from a fight. Why would you say such things? This is not like you.
>
> Kandrif : If it would have been the junior generation of dumb elves, I would not have worried. But, you may not know that her own ancestor, Ragnar wants to obtain her. That old coot is too possessive. No one wants to infuriate him as he is quite insufferable.
Michael's expression grew sombre as he learned of Ashley's circumstances. But inside his mind, he felt as if heavenly thunder had struck him repeatedly!
In his past life, Ashley had come up to him quite a bit. They had grown quite close as well. Michael had thought that she was interested when she suddenly stopped seeing him. Ragnar at that time and afterwards had always been against Michael and tried to harm him in different ways. Michael had thought that Ashley was not loyal and serious about relationships. But now, he understood! As he pondered, he became more and more frustrated.
> Michael : Thanks friend for telling me. I will keep that in mind.
>
> Kandrif : Michael, I know you are quite intelligent as well. I will respect your judgement.
Michael worried about this for a long time. But, he was unable to make a decision. He did not push Ashley back but did not chase after her either. He was having a hard time deciding this matter.
If this was his previous life, he would have backed off. But now, his dao would not let him! He felt that if he did back out, he would lose something very important to himself! It was like going against his nature.
Thus, he decided to remain passive.
But while he was passive in his love affairs, his progress in illusions went above and beyond. Before the end of the year, he had already completed the illusion array that was needed. In between the year, Karslon had come up with the idea of a medicine that helped one calm one's mind and perceive the laws. It was quite helpful to Michael and his stagnant law comprehension again sped up.
Thus, the entire year came to an end with Michael learning more profound illusions and his soul cultivation progressing as well.
As the time for vacations came, Michael left with Ramsus, Remeus, Demitrus and Omar on his way back to Redster. It was now time to establish a base in the forbidden forest. There was also a spy organization to set up.