Michael was sitting in his private chamber with Ambrose and Ramsus. In the trip to the land of god-beasts, he had only come to congratulate Astang and his family on this joyous occasion. But even before the banquet could start, Igor had come over to his resting chamber and discussed many troublesome things.
(A few minutes earlier)
> Igor : Lord Michael, this is the proposal from the ancient alliance. We will join under your rule as well. But there are several conditions that I have clarified before. You should consider this carefully.
>
> Michael : Lord Igor, you are too much. Clearly, the wealth that you have is humongous and the new races combined can not compare to you. To strengthen the plane, it would be better to use these resources for nurturing the elites from different races so that we can have as many experts as we can. But you want to hold a monopoly on all these resources. This is already angering the heavens. If I was not afraid of the upcoming invasion, I would have attacked the ancients myself!
>
> Igor : Lord Michael, you are indeed the heavens right now. But not everything can be as you wish. The theory of invasion is sound and it is definitely possible. Since someone as powerful as yourself believes in it, the remaining plane has no choice but to believe as well. But truly speaking, there is no guarantee. Except from the vision or information from the outside world that you had, there are no other evidences as well. We are agreeing to come under your rule dispite this. Thus, you need to accept some of our conditions as well. It is indeed true that you are very strong already and in the future, when you ascend, the entire ancient alliance with all the counteless years of foundations will not be your match. But currently, you can not destroy us. We are giving you a way to become the sole emperor of Aterna - only you deserve this. But we can not give away all our benefits. If you protect our interests, we will come under your rule.
>
> Michael : Lord Igor, this is definitely not a small issue. Besides this, marriage is another thing that is very complicated. Lady Maria has no flaws but we have no interactions together. It is very hard to develop intimacy in this marriage.
>
> Igor : Lord Michael, marriage is a method of declaring our alliance together to the plane and nothing else. Maria is my junior and I know for a fact that she is ready to support you wholeheartedly. Lord Astang is my dear friend and his ancestor in slumber is also an overlord level character. Through this marriage, you will be an in-law of dragons and phoenixes. Also, it will make up for your lacking foundations. I do see that you are very interested in uplifting the different races of the plane. But the resources that we have are insufficient for that. It has to be known that in the war, people will have to be sacrificied, whether from the light races or the dark or neutral. While the races with sufficient foundations will not have too big of a problem, humans will face huge casualties. Due to superior reproductive abilities, the race will get back to their feet in time, it will still affect their vitality. But if you align with us, we will give you enough resources to uplift the entire race. During the battle, we will be sending many races to their deaths but our races will emerge superior. It is even possible that humans will become the overlords of the plane in future. Our offer is based on your requirements. Thus, do think for yourself if you will agree to this request.
(At the present moment)
Michael sat pondering about the ancient's offer. This was indeed something that had moved him. Michael was not a saint that was out to help all the races. He was not even a qualified ruler. He was just a powerful expert who wanted his family and people to live better lives. Of course, he still needed to unify the plane but this was to fight the devils. It was not like he was even considering the equality of races. He was only bothered about if taking the resources and strengthening his race would be better in the long run.
Truthfully, he was still not confident about beating the devils. While his power had touched the same realm as the devil experts who had appeared in the later stages, there were more than one such experts. Also, Michael had a guess that the might of devils was far greater than what he had seen in his previous life. While he was uncertain about how strong they were, it was definitely not something that Aterna stood a chance against. In fact, in this life, Michael had never considered the possibility of winning against the devils. What he wanted was to ensure the survival of his family and race. Even if he was to fail in the end, he wanted to die protecting his loved ones. He wanted to do everything that he could to atone for his past life's mistakes, irrespective of the consequences. Death was already not scary.
Igor's offer had given him enough to think about. But while Michael was the sole voice in the new race empires, he would not take such decisions casually. Thus, he had asked some time to consider the offer.
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The banquet was held and many people came to greet the newly ascended immortal. Michael and Igor were seated on the main seat but Michael's seat was a bit higher than Igor's. This was obviously due to his strength.
Following that, many seats were placed to the side and were filled with other immortals. Astang and his wife were not in the guest seats but were the hosts of the event. Maria came to the banquet wearing a fiery red dress that was in accordance with her personality and the laws she cultivated. The Dragon Emperor and Pheonix Empress were also present. All in all, this was an extremely powerful lineup that was gathered there.
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Maria was frank and chatted with all the immortals that had come. She specifically asked Michael for a dance. Michael could only oblige in courtesy. But to the observer's eyes, this was like a couple made in heaven. While Maria originally was not as breathtakingly beautiful as Ashley, she had higher cultivation that gradually increased her physical attractiveness. Her laws gave her a unique fiery aura that would cause mortals to lose themselves. Her talent was nothing less than heaven-defying. And her power was also at the top of the plane - except for her dance partner. He was also quite handsome though his presence was not showing much. His sea-green eyes seemed to shine with intelligence but had the ability to draw anyone in who looked into them. His aura was weaker but inside his body was a life force that was comparable to an astral beast! It was an undying life force that contained the hint of dao. To the onlookers, it was indeed a celestial couple. Even immortals were moved at the sight.
Maria obviously did not leave any chances to flirt with Michael and constantly managed to catch him off-guard. Her methods of seduction were quite subtle and they aroused Michael's lust thoroughly. Michael was definitely not someone without experience and had been quite the womanizer himself. But, in front of Maria who was a thousand years old and had the blood of dragons and phoenixes, how could he compare? Her methods had really caused him to be aroused and looking forward to their future relationship! In his second life, only Ashley had managed to do so. After Michael enjoyed the dance and other formalities, he left.
While Michael could indeed have physical relationships if he wanted to, it was not the time yet. Of course, Michael was saving himself till the coming of age ceremony. According to the ancestral customs, only after coming of age could people engage in sexual activities. While it was not a law, ancestral teachings were widespread in Aterna. Michael's reputation currently was very important to him. This was the reason he had not done the deed with Ashley even though they were engaged.
But how could the experienced eyes in the party not see what was going on? Many people could feel that this attraction would change the structure of the plane permanently. Indeed, Michael had reached a stage where his fucking would shake the plane!
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After discussing thoroughly with his parents, his teachers and the other human ancestors, Michael formed a contract and sent it over to the god-beasts.
He agreed to let the god-beasts keep their lands and resources and promised to protect them for a hundred years in his name. This was because he was confident that the war would definitely start before then. This could be said to be Michael's gift to his in-laws. As the time period was very small, the immortals who had lived for thousands of years would definitely wait instead of risking some of Michael's calibre.
In return, however, Michael had asked for a significant dowry. First was the permanent ownership of Light of Dawn completely removing the secret inscriptions of god-beast race. The second was a stabilizing treasure with power even greater than the light of dawn. After all, the light of dawn could only be used by one person and could not stabilize an entire territory. But the god-beasts had something that could - the flame of hope. It was a fixed treasure that once set would form a sanctuary. It would boost all allies and weaken all enemies in a certain range. Also, it would create a selective barrier around the territory. It would allow the marked allies to pass through but prevent others from entering. The buff was sufficient to increase one's power by a small realm. And the barrier was so strong that even Michael would need many days to break it forcefully from the outside! It could be said to be the best treasure that the ancients had except - the breath of life which was placed in the ancestral lands of ancients. Michael only knew of this treasure due to his past life memories.
But this was far from over. He also asked for the exclusive use of law lake for the next ten years. Also, he asked for suitable law inheritances for his parents to step into the perfect realm. All this was in addition to the massive amount of less valuable resources that would help the general human experts. The conditions asked for were extremely harsh but Michael refused to budge.
The two defining treasures were a must to stabilize the human base in the devil war. The ownership of law was needed to help Jerome Miller and Reez Zenid to step into the immortal realm. The humans needed to have someone apart from him to hold the fort. Of course, Michael had already discussed it with them and they had to serve the Ragebergs for life. With Michael's methods, it was extremely easy for him to bind the souls of two perfect realm experts.
While it was slavery in a way, both Reez and Jerome did not have any hesitation in deciding. After all, many immortals were ready to become Michael's slaves if he just wished for it. Who would not want the protection of the lord of the plane?
Michael's parents were extremely compatible with the method of dual cultivation. This was the reason why they always had the same cultivation as they made their breakthroughs together. If they could cultivate a dual law, their progress would be akin to flying. This was because dual laws coupled together and reinforced each other! This was a secret known only to the ancients and not even Michael knew. Thus while it was rare to find compatible couples which could bring out true might of dual laws, dual law inheritance was also very rare. But the ancients had one. While it was only an immortal level inheritance, it was better than nothing.
Thus, Michael's demands were pretty much ripping off the ancients. But surprisingly, they agreed wholeheartedly for all his demands. This was completely out of Michael's expectations. He could not help but be flabbergasted at the result. He was prepared to negotiate but how could he know that Maria had lobbied all elders by hook and crook.
She had planned the entire thing and finally obtained what she wanted - Michael.
Even though Michael was the strongest expert in the plane, he had still been taken into her tempo falling under her hands by her scheming. She was indeed a terrifying woman.
The announcement of Michael's and Maria's marriage caused another huge disturbance in the plane. But it was customary for powerful experts to have a harem so no one found it unexpected. Michael was going to come of age soon and he would step into adulthood. It was normal for him to take wives and concubines. In fact, many people wanted him to take more and more partners. After all, the more Michael became involved in these matters, the more bounded he would be by his own emotions. A young hot blooded man with all the power in the world was much more dangerous than a man with a family with the same amount of power.
As the different races and immortals tried to get Michael's attention, his coming of age came nearer.
It was going to be the beginning of a new era.