Michael felt even more attuned to his own body. Every fibre of his muscles were intertwined with Unity mana, allowing him full control over his own mobility. His bodily coordination shot through the roof.
[I have successfully integrated all the Physical Arts knowledge in the 13,532 scrolls and adjusted your mana gathering technique accordingly. It is now 83% more efficient, allowing you to exert more power with less effort.]
Is that why my body feel so good?
[The leftover consciousness from each scroll gave deepful insight into the mind of masters. All those knowledge are now stored into your body, whether you actively know it or not.]
In other words, Michael's muscle memory was probably even better than that of the Dragonborns, which was quite unfair for them since they were the ones who had been working hard to train.
Meanwhile, all he had to do was read ten thousand scrolls, and he was able to perfectly acclimate his body into the perfect vessel for Physical Art skill.
Michael did find it to be a bit of a letdown that he wasn't able to improve ChatJK3 to the next software. All he got was a half-step upgrade, which was good, but not better than he hoped.
[The capacity needed for the software to upgrade increases with each reform. The scrolls contain only basic information about physicality, which transformed your body into an athlete, but wasn't able to transform your mind into the next level.]
I knew that, he said to ChatJK3.5. Thankfully, there's a lot of other Knightly Courts here in the Queens region that I would someday be able to visit.
For now, Michael had to be content with the fact that he had a modicum of master over Physical Art spells. Just like last time, he was now able to completely create a new skill from pure imagination.
He could compose 5-star and below Physical Art spells in a matter of seconds. This would serve well with the Dragonborns and the Rebornians who severely needed a lot more firepower in their repertoire of skills.
With nothing left for him here, he walked back up to the main Court, where Sir Jon was caught unprepared for his arrival.
"You were only gone for half a candle. I'm sorry, did you not get what you were looking for?"
Michael shook his head. "I was able to learn it. I just need more," he said.
Of course, Sir Jon couldn't have possibly known that Michael learned every single scroll in their dungeon, nor would he even think that it was possible at all.
"Did you see where my friends went?"
Zion and the others completely went off on their own while he talked with Kruger, so Michael had no idea where they were now.
"I did see them go with the other Knights earlier. I think they went back up to the arena," Sir Jon said.
Knowing those three, Michael was sure that they were up to no good.
"You guys have healers here, right?"
He asked only because he was sure that Zion wouldn't be able to hold off his excitement and end up hurting one of the Knights.
"Why?" Sir Jon asked.
"I think they went to pick a fight with the Knights. You guys have healers here, right?"
If it was any other person, Sir Jon would have scoffed at the question. But since he saw what those Dragonborns were capable of with his own eyes, he knew that there could be trouble brewing.
"I'll get the bandages," Sir Jon said, worryingly.
…
…
…
As Sir Jon scurried off to warn the Knights about the monstrous genius called Zion, Michael was left all alone.
He was going to go to the arena, but all of a sudden, he saw the shadow of the walls morph and change in front of him, before two Shadow Orcs emerged.
It was Narito and Sasuki, the two leaders of the Orcanines and the Orcupines.
"Is something the matter?"
"We have observed an important conversation taking place so we decided that it was best to report directly to you," said Narito, bumping his chest as a sign of respect.
"Important conversation?" Michael asked, intrigued. He transported himself and the Orcs back to a more private location.
"We have spread our forces everywhere in and around the City. There is no corner in which we do not have our ears on them.
Usually, we hear plenty of nonsensical chatter spreading around that we ignore. But in matters of the Reborn company, we are always fully alert," said Sasuki, with the quills on his back shaking to produce a shrill sound.
"Ever since the tomb incident, there is one particular group that has caught our attention. The HammerStone company.
We have disturbed their plans for improving their ranking in the Golden 500, and they are not too happy about it."
Competition always brings some sort of friction. That was natural. He even heard that the HammerStone group was a sub company of the Hephaestus company, one of the largest conglomerates in the world just like his grandfather's business.
"What did you find out?"
"Nothing as of yet, boss Michael. It's happening as we speak."
Michael looked back at the Shadow Orcs, with an idea forming in his head.
…
…
…
Meanwhile, at the very center of Angora City, in the heart of the business district of the capital, was the headquarters of the HammerStone group.
Their armory was the premier store for everything made out of metal.
Every group, company, or guild needed armors and weapons for their security. And they were the ones to get it from.
At least, that was before a mysterious group came out of the jungle and showed off their new armor and weapon sets, completely setting a new standard in the City. They were slowly losing control of the flow of armor and weapons everywhere.
In response, the HammerStone company only had one choice left to do.
They had to ask help from their parent company, the Hepheasteus group.
Every HammerStone employee welcomed their arrival on this very day. Butch, the leader of the company's adventurers, made sure everything was perfect. After all, these visitors coming from far away were from the main Hephaestus company itself!
The double doors opened, as five individuals stepped foot into their building.
Maids and butlers laid out a red carpet for their arrival, but they didn't seem to care that much at all and continued to walk forward.
"I sincerely welcome you to our building…"
Butch's words tapered off as the fire hooded figures continued to walk past him, completely ignoring his attempt at establishing relations.
"There is no need for pleasantries. We are here for one thing only. Establish dominance."
One of the hooded figures picked up a sword from their large collection and bent its blade with no force required.
"Do you know why your company is losing revenue?" the hooded figure asked. "It's because they are losing faith. They don't believe that the HammerStone company is strong enough to deliver the best equipment."
Butch lowered his head.
"What shall we do?"
"You shall do nothing but continue to improve the quality of the swords and armors you make. That should be easy enough, seeing that you are all a part of the Hephaestus company.
But we have a different job. We shall show that our strength is even better than the Knights and the Wizards. That is how we build trust."
Meanwhile, in the shadows flickering in the chandeliers, there were three figures lurking above.
It was Michael and the two Orcs!