CHAPTER 205: 205

After cultivating in Riptide City for over half a year, both Ivona and Kieran broke through a few levels. Ivona reached the level of a Spirit Lord and Kieran a Spirit Master.

Anastasia’s cultivation was a bit different, but she reached the power equivalent to a Spirit Master as well.

In the first place, ranks in Soul Mastery were not Spirit, Divina, Monarch, Paragon, God, and God of Gods. They were Mortal, Soul, Ethereal, Celestial, Mythic, Abyss, and Void. But it was known like that deep in the past. At the moment, they were numbered from one to seven, with seven being the lowest rank and one the highest.

As for the levels within the ranks, they were completely the same: starting off with Junior, then Apprentice, Warrior, Knight, Master, Lord, Overlord, King, and Saint, up to Paragon.

At the moment, Anastasia was a Mortal Master—in other words, a rank seven Master.

While Ivona, Kieran, and Anastasia were within Riptide City, Michelle was in the snowy field, her purple eyes closed calmly. She was basically unrecognizable. Not a centimeter of her skin could be seen, as everywhere possible, bloodsuckers were stuck to her, sucking away the residual spirit energy.

In half a year, she had already broken through twice, becoming a Spirit Overlord. With each level, the spirit energy needed for a breakthrough was greater, so she only advanced two levels while the rest advanced more. But she was still at a higher level than them.

Over the half year, Alexander left every now and then to do something in the heavenly realm, always leaving either Noctis or Unlucien behind to guard Michelle.

At the moment, Alexander was in front of her. For half a year, she hadn’t moved an inch, so he was expecting her to finally wake up. Even though she had no real need to eat or drink as a cultivator, going half a year with an empty stomach was something someone of her level wouldn’t be able to bear any longer.

Just as he thought, Michelle opened her eyes—slowly. Her gaze was glazed over with spirit energy. "Ugh—" she frowned a bit, not liking the sensation of the bloodsuckers’ mouths stuck to her skin. Shaking her body a bit, she made them let go.

They didn’t show any signs of protest as they could feel that Michelle was no longer cultivating. The long, red, slim worms quickly crawled under the snow, hiding away.

With a slight frown, Michelle stretched her body, trying to get rid of the feeling of the worms all over her. It was fairly disgusting.

"So what are your plans now?" Alexander walked over with his signature careless smile.

Throwing herself back into the snow, Michelle thought about it for a moment. "I keep hearing things about the Black God’s sect..." she mumbled. "I feel like checking it."

"How does the Black God’s sect affect you?" Alexander’s expression remained the same, but it wasn’t hard to notice the shift in his tone. It was clear he wasn’t on good terms with Mavreth.

Michelle summoned Tenether. "This one was locked up by the sect..."

It wasn’t hard for Alexander to recognize Tenether, even though he was in the form of a small kitten. "You have a bond with the monster the Black God locked up?" he lifted a brow. "How did that come to be?"

Michelle lifted her head and glanced toward Noctis. "You had him follow me, but you don’t receive reports from him?" she asked, a slight smile forming on her lips.

Michelle’s answer made it clear to Alexander that she wouldn’t tell him anything more. She was the kind of person who didn’t like explaining things. And since there was someone else who could explain it in her place, she would leave the work to him.

So Alexander didn’t ask anything more and tore a rift in space. "Back to Riptide City?"

Michelle stood up and followed Alexander into the rift. Before going to the Black God’s sect, she needed to discuss it with her friends. Since he was an almighty creature, she didn’t want to just drag them there and endanger them. If they didn’t want to go, she wouldn’t take them and would go alone.

The other side of the rift opened in Michelle’s room in the tavern.

"You won’t leave, even if I ask you to, right?" she glanced at Alexander.

Without even answering, he sat on her bed, resting his head on the wall.

Rolling her eyes, Michelle summoned her dark-element spirit energy to cover herself while she changed her clothes. After staying in one set of clothes for half a year, it felt disgusting, even though her spirit energy was keeping it clean.

After changing her clothes, Michelle ignored Alexander and went downstairs. There she saw Ivona, Anastasia, and Kieran sitting by a table, eating breakfast. They, too, had decided to put their cultivation to rest for a while and focus on something else.

When they saw Michelle, it wasn’t hard to notice the change in her aura because she wasn’t concealing it as usual. "Already a Spirit Overlord?" Ivona was resting her head on the palm of her hand, clearly carefree.

Michelle sat down among the three, noticing their improvements too. "You did some jumping too. Spirit Master and Lord, and a Mortal Master."

There was nothing surprising about the fact that Michelle could see Ivona and Kieran’s levels. She had a higher level than them. But as for how she knew Anastasia’s level, that was a mystery. Michelle’s level in Soul Mastery was a bit lower than Anastasia’s, as she didn’t focus on it.

The only improvements she got were from when she cured Alexander and David of the Void Plague, or when she absorbed the soul energy from the Void Obsidian. That brought her up to the rank of a Mortal Warrior—in other words, two levels below Anastasia.

If she was just a level below Anastasia, it wouldn’t have been surprising if she could see Anastasia’s level. But with the power difference of two levels, it was shocking.

"How could you tell?" Anastasia asked, narrowing her eyes curiously.

At first, Michelle didn’t understand what she was asking about, but when she thought about it for a moment, she realized the problem. "I don’t know..." she shook her head. She was clueless too.

But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t think about it. There were quite a few things that set her apart from Anastasia.

For example, the fact that she could use both soul and spirit energy. Or that she had Spirit Soul Blood. Or that her soul energy was completely black, basically void. Or that she had absorbed literal void. Or that she had a contract with Tenether, who could use soul energy and whose power was of a much higher rank than Anastasia’s.

Whichever was the case, it wasn’t something that could be figured out right away, so Michelle decided to forget about it. Instead, she brought up the subject of the Black God’s sect.

Though she didn’t like lengthy explanations, she couldn’t avoid it if she wanted the three to understand what was going on.

Not caring that they were in the middle of a tavern with people, she told them about all her encounters with Mavreth, which even included the fact that he had brought her to the world after she had died in her past life.

Finally, she told them about the existence of the Black God’s sect and that she was planning to go there. "If I go, I’m fairly certain I won’t die since Mavreth basically said he needs me, but I can’t be sure about you. If you go with me, all three of you could be killed with a sweep of his hand."

Ivona, Anastasia, and Kieran were overloaded by all the information Michelle had given them, so they needed time to process it. Naturally, they had many questions for her, but none of them felt like asking at the moment. In the end, they decided it was best to let all the information rest in their heads and talk about it again in three days.

The group of four left the tavern, leaving behind the chatter there. Some people exchanged glances, but most minded their own business. Even though everyone heard what Michelle had told Ivona and the rest.

It was strange for a tavern full of drunkards, but it wasn’t an ordinary tavern. The tavern lady of an ordinary tavern wouldn’t know Alexander. And the drunkards wouldn’t show unparalleled respect and fear upon seeing him.

So even though they heard Michelle’s words, since she was someone they had seen with Alexander a few times, no one dared to gossip about her.

Meanwhile, Alexander was still in Michelle’s room in the tavern, listening to Noctis’ explanation about how Michelle came to have a bond with Tenether.

A smile was tucking on his lips, making Noctis shudder in dread.

Alexander was thinking about how Michelle could have immobilized Noctis so easily. Every time he came to know something more about her, he couldn’t help but marvell at her potential.