Chapter 1299 Awakening

Unfortunately, the Spirit Taming book had not given him the answer he wanted. Michael had not consumed the skill book, since it had been far too expensive for him to casually destroy when he still wanted to give another copy to Lily.

Instead, he had read it normally. It took considerably more effort than simply consuming the book, but with his Intelligence and comprehension ability, reading and understanding its contents had hardly been impossible.

By the time he finished, Michael had gained a much deeper understanding of Spirit Taming and even successfully acquired a related Skill through his own comprehension. Unfortunately, its methods could not simply be transferred.

But the purchase had certainly not been a loss. If anything, it had filled Michael's mind with ideas.

Perhaps the solution he wanted did not exist yet. That was fine.

The Spirit Taming book had at least shown him several directions in which he could begin looking.

As for trying to see if evolving the skill book was possible, Michael didn't know why, but he felt a foreboding the moment the thought surfaced, as though attempting such a thing before advancing further would end badly. He kept the idea at the back of his mind and trusted his instincts. In any case, he could always try again in the future.

Time passed quickly after that. Michael first brought Bok, Rina, Ace, Lia, and Lyra over and formally introduced them to Lily. He made their responsibilities clear: the five of them would be among those assisting Lily and Arianne with whatever the two needed.

Mentally, Michael's real bets were on Arianne, Ace, Lia and Lyra. Bok and Rina were just there to add numbers and gain experience helping him.

He also introduced the seven to the two thousand plus Awakeners, which also revealed to many that the Emperor actually had a family member by his side all this time.

Along with Bok, Rina, the strong trio, and the thousands of youths gathered nearby, they respectfully greeted Lily.

The sight of more than two thousand people simultaneously showing her respect was something Lily had obviously never experienced before. She immediately became bashful. The attention made her visibly uncomfortable, but for her cousin's sake she tried her best to look the part.

Fortunately, Michael did not leave her standing before the enormous gathering for long. Michael first sent Lily and Arianne back to the Zeroth Layer before he began sending the others in batches.

Bok, Rina, and the trio went among the earliest groups, allowing them to help organize the new arrivals on the other side.

The remaining native Awakeners followed group by group.

At the same time, Lily's previously quiet Zeroth Layer territory experienced the opposite transformation. For the first time since its establishment, it was becoming populated. What had once been little more than a Universal Cornerstone surrounded by largely undeveloped land was beginning to resemble the earliest stage of an actual settlement.

Michael watched the final batch disappear before releasing a long sigh.

"Finally... things are starting to move. Hopefully everything will proceed relatively smoothly."

Michael's expression remained calm as he thought this, although even he knew the hope was somewhat insincere. He pushed the thought aside. There was no point worrying about problems that had yet to appear.

Michael glanced around and immediately noticed that many of the Rank Two mages were staring at him. More accurately, they had been staring at him for quite some time. Between the appearance of thousands of young people, the repeated activation of the subsidiary station, and everything else that had happened, Michael had become something of an exhibit.

The gazes reminded him of people observing a strange animal through the barriers of a zoo.

Michael ignored them, and his figure disappeared from the outer territory. A moment later, he reappeared within the core region of the Eternal Crown, where the main Universal Cornerstone stood.

Things were finally quiet.

Michael had originally intended to use the opportunity to relax for a while and properly organize his thoughts. However, before he could properly settle down, his expression suddenly changed as he sensed something happening inside the Mausoleum, and his figure disappeared again.

A moment later, Michael emerged within the Mausoleum of Endless Dominion. He appeared high above a familiar island. This was the same island he had used several days ago when evolving Lily, Prince, Blue, Purple, Gale, Ghost, Fade, and Spartan.

[A/N: Many readers might have missed the edit but I added Gale later on to the initial seven, making it eight.]

Out of the eight undead, only Spartan was still evolving. In the distance, an intense light continued glowing from Spartan's location. Compared to several days ago, the light had only grown stronger.

Waves of energy continuously gathered around him, pouring into whatever transformation was occurring within.

Fortunately, this was the Mausoleum. If Michael had attempted so many high-level evolutions simultaneously somewhere else, supplying the necessary environmental energy alone might have become troublesome, if he could even have avoided detection at all.

The Mausoleum possessed more than enough.

As for the others, their evolutions had already ended. Prince, Blue, Purple, Gale, Ghost, and Fade had all successfully reached Epic ★★★. Their races had not changed, but their overall strength had undergone enormous improvements, and each had reached Level 100, the Peak of Rank Four.

Every one of them now stood only a single major Rank away from becoming a Demigod.

Lily was the exception. A few days ago, her evolution had only taken her from Extraordinary Grade into Epic ★, changing her race into an Ancient Giant.

On the surface, the racial evolution had almost seemed disappointingly simple. Only a single word had been added to her race. But the difference between Lily before and after becoming an Ancient Giant had been enormous.

Even at only Epic ★, Michael believed that if Beginning fought her without relying on the ridiculous extremes of Brutal Rebirth, Lily could beat him senseless. Her new foundation was simply that terrifying.

This made Michael curious about how much further she could go, so he had continued and evolved her from Epic ★ to Epic ★★★. He wondered if this would immediately give him a Demigod, or at least a stronger Rank Four undead, but after reaching three stars, Lily had fallen unconscious.

The situation was concerning, but the condition was not completely unfamiliar. Lily had once devoured a large amount of things, an incident that to this day still made Michael's heart ache, and had fallen into a deep unconscious state while her body slowly processed everything she had consumed.

Once the digestion was completed, she had awakened stronger and successfully advanced. Because of that previous experience, Michael had not panicked much and decided to wait and observe.

He had expected it to take considerably longer. Only a few days had passed since then, but contrary to all expectations, Lily had awakened.

More importantly, accompanying her awakening was a familiar heavenly tribulation.