CHAPTER 287: 287

After Alexander got out of the chains, Michelle was forced to finally confront what she found out through the pendant. Alexander didn’t yet say a single thing about his feelings, but it would be stupid to assume he would continue to remain silent.

He was the kind of persistently annoying person who would pester Michelle until she told him what he wanted to hear. So she needed to think about what to do before that happened.

Alexander stared at Michelle for a good while, letting her think. But after a few minutes, he extended his hands and pulled her into his embrace, fairly surprising her.

Michelle stared up at him, her brows slightly furrowed. There were quite a few times he had pulled her into his embrace, but this time it felt different.

"You know..." Alexander had his casual smile on, but he also was no longer concealing the gentle light in his eyes.

Michelle felt like covering his mouth. She didn’t know how to respond if Alexander confessed to her. She didn’t like him, but she didn’t even dislike him. Still, her view of him was far from neutral.

But she couldn’t exactly avoid it. He had basically already done so by giving the pendant to her.

Alexander noticed a crack in Michelle’s usual calmness, causing his smile to deepen.

If she didn’t show any reaction, that would hurt. It would mean she didn’t care. But her reaction meant there was something growing inside her.

Whether it was a flower or a poisonous vine, it was growing, and that allowed the reaction.

Taking a hold of Michelle’s hands, Alexander started fiddling with her fingers. He didn’t feel the need to rush his confession. Seeing Michelle on pins and needles like that was quite enjoyable.

Michelle realized that Alexander was toying with her, making her eyes narrow. She didn’t like being manipulated, but it felt like she was playing right into Alexander’s cards.

It made her blood boil.

Nearly instantly, Michelle threw her worries to the back of her head. Maybe it was her pride as a schemer, or something completely different, but something didn’t let her act like Alexander wanted.

"You..." She narrowed her eyes, her gaze locking on Alexander’s face. "Do you like me?" she showed a bright smile as she asked that, but there was unconcealed anger in her eyes. And her right eye was even taking a red tint.

Alexander nearly burst out laughing. That angry expression completely made his day.

"And? If I do?" He lowered his head to Michelle’s eye level.

Michelle’s eyes narrowed into two crescents, reflecting Alexander’s face. "But I don’t like you!" she grinned.

She said the truth. Whatever her feelings for Alexander were, it definitely wasn’t liking.

Alexander might have understood Michelle better than she understood herself. "So you dislike me?"

"No," Michelle shook her head. Considering what turmoil her head was in just a while ago, she was quite calm.

"Then you like me!" Alexander rested his head on Michelle’s shoulder, his lips moving against her neck.

Michelle nearly hit him. "I said I don’t."

Alexander’s smile didn’t disappear. "Then..." It seemed like he would laugh any moment. "Do you love me?"

Michelle blinked twice one after the other, clearly not expecting that. Something in her stomach twisted.

She wanted to say she didn’t, but something was stopping her.

Seeing that, Alexander grinned like a child. He knew Michelle’s silence didn’t necessarily mean she was in love with him, but if the question was such a blow to her, she was at least halfway there.

Michelle felt like her brain stopped working for a moment. She couldn’t process the simple question.

When she finally came to her senses, her answer was completely unlike her usual self. "Think as you like..."

If Alexander wanted an answer she couldn’t give it to him. She didn’t have it. Giving something she didn’t have just wasn’t possible.

For Alexander, what Michelle said was fairly enough. His grip around her waist tightened, a smile playing on his lips. "Since I can think what I like, can I assume you do like me?"

Michelle frowned. Arguing with that guy really led to nowhere. "I won’t stop you from being delusional," she finally said.

"Well..." Alexander’s black eyes narrowed. He had already given Michelle the black pendant, so even if she didn’t view it as such, others would take her as his lover.

Michelle decided to ignore Alexander. It was time to explore the volcano.

Kieran, Ivona, Anastasia, and Michelle all got together and started exploring the area around the volcano’s opening. The closer they got to it, the hotter the area got.

Kieran was fine since he was a fire element Spirit Master. Michelle wasn’t bothered too much either because she had her Everfrost Mantle on. But Ivona and Anastasia were sweating buckets.

"What do we do now?" Kieran could feel that there were no more creatures around. Usually, when an area was so rich in one element, even creatures of that element avoided it. The Elemental Giant Scorpions were the ones who lived in the highest density. At least in the middle realm.

Michelle glanced around a bit. "Do you want to cultivate here?" she finally asked.

Kieran frowned a bit, considering it seriously. It was clear his cultivation speed would go up, but it was way too dreamy to assume it would be without any side effects, especially the negative ones.

Unnaturally fast cultivation could harm the cultivator if they weren’t used to it.

"You could cultivate a bit further from the volcano. Then, you should be safe," Michelle suddenly spoke.

Hearing that, Kieran nodded. It made sense. The spirit energy a bit further from the volcano’s opening was still extremely rich, but denser than right on the opening.

"And what will you do while I stay here?" Kieran looked at Anastasia and Ivona next to Michelle.

Anastasia gave it a momentary thought. She didn’t like that she couldn’t stay long in hot environments. Her body couldn’t bear it. Where they were at the moment, she could still push through it, but if they went closer, she would most probably collapse.

"What if we stayed around to temper our bodies?" she looked at Ivona. She was probably in a similar state to herself.

Ivona found the idea quite interesting. She was also annoyed by the fact that she couldn’t stay in such a hot area for too long. But she also knew that tempering would feel even worse.

"Let’s try!" she finally decided. Even if tempering would be uncomfortable, it would bring many benefits.

"And how exactly do you want to do it?" Michelle looked at them with a tilted head. She didn’t think an environment as extreme as the one they were in was suitable for tempering one’s body. A milder place would be better.

Ivona and Anastasia didn’t give it that much thought. Kieran would probably cultivate in the area for a while, so they had enough time to research some tempering methods before starting.

Hearing that, Michelle didn’t say anything more and the group split up. Kieran found a good spot to cultivate, and Ivona and Anastasia went towards the nearest city. Since it was so close to the volcanic mountain, the two were guessing that people there had some tempering methods suitable for the area.

Michelle went her own way. Since she was alone, she decided it was finally time to experiment with Life Stones. But she was a bit bothered that Alexander kept following her. There was a high chance that once he found out what she was planning, he wouldn’t let her.

As Alexander followed Michelle, at first, he didn’t think much about what she was doing. She just went around, killing creatures and collecting resources. She dissected every monster and stored away parts that could be used or sold. The rest was burned using her Soul Fire.

But after a while, Alexander realized that Michelle hadn’t killed a single beast. Even when a beast ambushed her, she only fought it to the point when it turned tail. She only killed monsters.

And she didn’t go for the easiest possible kill. She didn’t try to shatter their Life Stones. It was clear she wanted Life Stones intact.

Realizing that, Alexander remembered the dream he had, probably induced by Lavreth. What was Michelle planning with the monsters’ Life Stones? He had a bad feeling about it.

Just as Alexander realized that, Michelle was fighting a huge monster towering over her. It looked somewhat like a praying mantis, but not exactly. It had a different head.

And on that head lay a shimmering gray gem. The mantis possessed ground element spirit energy.

Watching Michelle fight the mantis, Alexander’s worries grew deeper.

If Michelle wanted, she could easily shatter the mantis’ Life Stone. It was huge, an easy target. But she didn’t and instead kept fighting.

It could partially be excused that she was bored from not fighting for a long time, but not after she had spent days hunting monsters.

With a slight frown, Alexander summoned his shadow essence. The next moment, a small black speck flew above Michelle and hit the mantis right into its Life Stone.

The speck was tiny, but the Life Stone still shattered upon impact.

The huge bug fell to the ground, its head landing next to Michelle.

Seeing the forehead with a hole instead of a Life Stone, Michelle frowned. Turning around, she stared at Alexander. "What was that for?"