Healing System

Chapter 260 Turning Point

"Where exactly are we going right now?" Michael asked, feeling a bit skeptical.

After all, they had been flying in one direction for the last 8 hours, with Xylo and his brother trailing not too far behind.

For some reason, the Pegasus decided to follow along too.

"I need to fulfill my end of the agreement," Pardoth replied, now in his humanoid form. "But I feel like I have to ask—how did you even get to this world in the first place?"

"Opened a door, I guess?" Michael shrugged. "There was some door in another world that led me here, and Xylo picked me up, you could say."

Pardoth turned to Xylo. "Is that true?"

"Yes!" Xylo immediately replied, nodding aggressively. "It's because of an ancient contract I made with the people of his world. He was the one to fulfill it, so I took him here."

"I assume it was approved by the elders, correct?" Pardoth said with narrowed eyes. "Even ancient contracts have an expiration date."

"Yes, sir, it's a permanent contract... I made it when I was young." Xylo replied. "But I've changed my ways; I no longer make stupid contracts!"

"That's good to hear, but still, why are you all tagging along?" Pardoth asked. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"If I don't fulfill my role in the contract, I will die, so I need to stay close," Xylo affirmed, spewing bullshit.

If he really cared that much, then he wouldn't have fought his brother in the skies, nearly killing Michael in the process.

Twice.

"I need mana," the Pegasus said.

"I'm bored," Xylo's brother added, and with a facepalm, Pardoth began leading the way forward.

Surprisingly, Michael could feel the atmosphere growing denser, and if he went any further, it might even crush him.

But perhaps because of the people around him, the pressure was greatly reduced.

Nonetheless, they traveled for several more hours until eventually, they stumbled upon some kind of fissure.

Yet this one looked certainly more ominous than the one Xylo and his brother had formed.

It was oozing out green mana into the skies, and frankly, Michael could feel his breaths stagnating with each passing moment.

Nonetheless, since Pardoth wasn't stopping, and neither were any of the people around him, he decided to go through it.

Yet as he did, the only thing that greeted him was pure darkness everywhere he looked.

The only indicator that he wasn't lost were the outlines of everyone present, although they were swiftly dimming.

In the end, he had to speed up, and once he did, Michael finally saw something different.

Each one of them was moving at some sort of frequency, and if he matched it, he could actually see them.

Therefore, he sped up even more, until eventually, Pardoth's surprised expression appeared before his eyes.

But before he could question what was wrong, Michael took one good look around, spotting something interesting.

There was a miniature platform ahead, and surrounding it, was some sort of green fog.

Michael's senses were spiraling out of control at the amount of mana present.

"Is that...?"

"Yes, that is where your part of the agreement lies. I will bring you a person each day, and in turn, you may stay here for as long as you'd like," Pardoth affirmed, narrowing his eyes. "But how were you able to recognize the pattern back there? I thought no one but the eldritch beings are capable of something like that."

"I just figured it out, I guess," Michael shrugged, before pointing down to the platform. "May I go?"

Pardoth slowly nodded. "You may. I will see you tomorrow; don't get carried away."

With a small smile, Michael hovered down, turning around just to see every single person scatter, even the Pegasus.

Nonetheless, he finally made his way down and stood on the platform.

In an instant, his Mana Purity began going up, followed by an interesting set of messages.

<ERROR!> Read latest chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

<If you proceed further, the system will malfunction!>

Really. So if I remain weak, then it won't? Is that it? Michael asked with amusement, beginning to ignore it.

However, another notification made him halt in his tracks.

<No>

...Is that you, system?

<If the user decides to abandon the system, their progress shall be exponential, but the beings who implemented such restrictions will quickly catch wind of your progress.>

So it's not you, but why should that matter? Also, who are these beings? Michael asked.

<The system is designed to safely restore your power, and a sudden surge of it will alert->

Okay, now you're just repeating yourself. Michael sighed, before opening his status screen.

+---+

Name: Michael

Age: ######## years old

Race: ####

Affinity: Light [Supreme]; Darkness [Supreme] (LOCKED); Origin [???] (LOCKED) ###

Mana Purity: 1322% ? 1#3#

Mana Core (1): Flow

Mana Core Rank (1): Tier 3

-:- ### Progress to next Tier -:-

Mana Core (2): Speech

Mana Core Rank (2): Tier 6

-:- ### Progress to next Tier -:-

Seraphim Progress: 1/7

Titles:

#####

- Stats:

###

- Skills / [Skill Merging] / [Skill Sacrifice] / [Skill Synthesis]

########

+---+

Huh? Michael's eyes widened in panic. What did you do?

<Some limits to keep you in line. If you do decide to abandon the system, we will take away everything you own.>

Hmm, is that so. Michael frowned, however, deep down, he knew this was the only option.

The option of breaking the system.

He had been feeling limits in his skills even before the system left, and for him to easily kill Tier 5's and Tier 6's as a Tier 3 himself simply did not make sense.

Therefore, he needed a reevaluation, an actual one.

And since the system, Mikhail, was nowhere to be seen, no one could stop him.

Besides, even if he lost the skills, he had spent way too much time using them to not remember how to cast them.

But he could admit, the lack of seeing his stats and everything else would be a bit of a pity.

However, if that's what he had to do, then so be it.

Michael sat down on the platform, mana funneling all around him.

The amount was so massive that whatever he had absorbed years ago meant jack shit.

Soon, the messages which he was hoping not to see had come pouring in.

<Inheritance Revoked, Locking status>

His strength felt limited for just a mere moment, however, as though a dam, it suddenly burst forth, destroying the barrier that was locking his strength.

However, Michael felt like he could do more, become more.

It was not greed, but merely certainty.

But not even a few moments later, another familiar message rolled out.

<Situation Critical!!!>

<Calling Archangels!>

<...>

<You are being hunted!>

Am I now? Michael smirked.

<Location: ???>

<Unreachable... Calling Seraphim-ERROR>

Pfft... Michael laughed at the system's attempts to halt him, but he did not let up, continuing to absorb the mana at an incredibly rapid rate.

Even his body began changing.

His shoulder-length black hair soon turned golden, expanding down to his knees, and even further below.

But that was not over, as the system messages kept flashing before his eyes.

However, they soon stopped, replaced by only a single one.

<Situation Assessment: Eliminate>

As it fell, Michael suddenly felt a chill run down his back, and as he turned around, a familiar figure greeted his sight.

"Mikhail?" he asked, shocked.

But the figure did not respond, and after taking one good look at it, Michael was able to determine that this wasn't actually Mikhail.

It was merely some sort of clone, yet its strength was undeniable.

Tier 10, at least, and the halo it had on its head was even more ominous.

It was emitting an extremely potent light magic aura, which made a shiver go down Michael's back.

But that did not matter, as soon, he made up his mind, before mimicking a certain skill he had used a dozen times during the years.

[Sanctuary]

Enveloping himself, before stretching out the mana, a massive barrier was soon formed, covering the entire mana-absorbing grounds.

However, that was not all, as due to the amount of mana, Michael was able to enhance his [Sanctuary] further.

Now, he felt like the only one who could stop him was Pardoth, or even the real Mikhail himself.

"I suppose you don't want to chat before you die?" Michael teased.

<We underestimated you.>

"You did, and I still have no clue who you are, so we can say it's even, yeah?" Michael said before sending a Sword of Light toward Mikhail.

But it seemed like he had underestimated his strength, as after he abandoned the system, he had gained a bit more strength than he was expecting.

Even more so, Michael couldn't feel his own mana core anymore.

In the end, however, it did not matter, as the Sword of Light flew right at Mikhail's clone, and pierced straight through his head, shattering the Halo in an instant.

Uhh... What the fuck? Michael's eyes widened.

He knew the sanctuary was strong, but was it truly that strong?

<...You have become an enemy of ours, just you wait until you come within our grasp.>

Who's "our," also, where did you put the original Mikhail? Michael asked, as it seemed like the system was about to disappear.

<Hahahaha, original Mikhail, huh? I guess you'll find out soon enough.>

At those words, the voice suddenly cut out.

But before Michael could wonder what it meant, he suddenly got a massive headache, forcing him to fall down to the ground.

Images began appearing inside his mind—tens, hundreds, thousands—until eventually, he had seen nearly a billion possible outcomes.

Yet they did not stop coming; each life he had lived, each situation he had gone through, everything was being replayed at the same time, and all within the same second.

Michael felt overwhelmed, clutching his head as he rolled on the ground.

Yet in the midst of the pain, he managed to catch a glimpse of a certain memory—one that faded between the rest of them.

It was a golden-haired man fighting a horde of demons, before suddenly being pushed into some sort of black vortex-like object.

A black hole, the same one Mikhail had mentioned.

...Just what is going on?