He was having quite the problem.
On the one hand, he could be on the verge of unraveling a mystery that plagued the entire world. And on the other, he could open himself up to an entirely new source of Sand Dollar revenue!
Both were extremely important. He wasn't willing to give up on either one of them.
"What are you doing Michael? We have to go write our names in the tournament!"
Brock urged Michael to line up alongside the other humans waiting to show their swordsmanship to the Werewolves.
There were only limited slots, which meant that Michael could very well miss this opportunity if he kept on hesitating.
After a few seconds of deliberating, he made his choice.
He turned around, intending to catch up on the professor.
"You're not going to join the tournament?" Brock asked him, disappointed.
Michael looked back at him. "I am going to join," he replied.
"But how?"
"It's just not going to be me who's participating."
This was a competition meant for swordsmen.
Michael was a little bit familiar with the sword, given that he frequently used his Unity Saber to fight. However, it would be a disservice to all swordsmen if he were to proclaim himself as one of them. Just because he used a sword didn't mean he had mastery over it.
Now, if he were forced to fight as a swordsman, there's always the choice of using ChatJK5's enormous database containing martial arts like kendo, arnis, or fencing.
However, he'd still lag behind against a true talent of the sword.
So, it would be best to have someone actually proficient with swordsmanship to enter the tournament instead of him.
He just had the person in mind.
The shadow underneath his feet extended outwards, forming a giant half-dome that devoured the mana in the air.
Then a second later, the shadow subsided and out came Jaku, the eldest of the Dragonborns.
The dark blue-scaled Rebornian was still laying down on his side, his eyes closed, and a comical bubble coming out of his nose.
"POP! Huh? Yawn... Where am I?"
Jaku looked around, grasping for the comfortable bed and pillows around. Except, he felt nothing but cold hard ground underneath him.
"Get up, Jaku. I have a task for you," Michael said, grinning.
...
After leaving Jaku in charge of the swordsman tournament, Michael immediately ran off to catch up with Professor Lichtenstein.
Despite looking frail and old, the professor moved spryly, almost running as he charged towards his destination.
Thankfully, Michael had the foresight of having his Drone follow the professor from behind, or else he would have lost him in the enormous territory of New Sparta.
The space in between the quadrants for the beastfolks was massive.
There were inner walls and watchtowers separating the boundary and the territory inside the quadrant itself.
And in between these walls, there were some fortunate humans who were able to set up their own stalls and shops along the path.
Many humans were shouting to the passerbys, luring them to try out their unique products.
"Werewolf Cologne here! Just one spray and Werewolves will find you more pleasing to the nose! You can have it now for just 10 Sand Dollars!"
"I got a map of the Vampire quadrant! You won't get lost in the darkness and accidentally find yourself buried in tombs! It's just 5 Sand Dollars!"
Those were just two of many merchants shouting their offers out in the path, making the boundary between the quadrants quite lively. Michael squeezed his way through crowded streets, with humans and carriages alike moving through the path cramped up like sardines. After following the direction of his Drone, he eventually caught up to the professor, seeing him look around him anxiously before running towards a corner.
He ran after him, finally pushing past the crowd and into the isolated corner.
As soon as he turned the corner, Professor Lichtenstein suddenly jumped out in front of him with a crazed look on his face.
"Who are you?! Who sent you?!"
Michael immediately raised his hands and tried to portray that he had no harmful intentions.
"No one sent me," he assured the professor, but it didn't seem to work. The man was too paranoid to believe anything right now.
"Tell me now or else I'll destroy what you value the most!"
Professor Lichtenstein took out a knife from his pockets.
Then, he pointed it towards his own head.
"If you don't confess now, I'll destroy my own brain!" Lichtenstein threatened.
Michael underestimated how crazy the professor would be. He didn't think that following him would lead him to be suicidal.
One would think that he'd use the knife to try and kill his oppressors. But instead, his first thought was to destroy his own brain. How crazy would one have to be for that to be their line of thinking?
"I'm not here because someone sent me. I'm only here because I'm curious about what you said earlier."
The professor still pointed the knife in his own head, just a mere inch away from penetrating his temple.
But thankfully though, the craziness in his eyes lessened. He seemed to be starting to believe in Michael's words.
The professor looked behind Michael. "Looks like you really are alone.
But I'm still not convinced. How would you even know what I'm talking about?"
"I have my ways," Michael said. "But does that even matter? Why are you so paranoid anyway?"
The Professor stared at Michael before he paced back and forth, biting on his nails. "I'm so close! I can feel it. It's going to be the discovery of a lifetime and will change the world as we know it. I've spent my whole life searching for this answer, and you can be damn sure that I'm going to protect it for myself!"
Michael was starting to understand what kind of person the professor was.
Lichtenstein was akin to a person holding a winning lotto number. Anyone would feel anxious holding that ticket.
After all, if he was the one who solved the lifelong mystery about the Ancient Era, then his name would be hailed in the history books as one of the most influential figures of the world.
For a historian and a professor like Lichtenstein, that would be the greatest honor one could have in their profession.
So, it made sense why the professor acted like this, thinking that he was mere moments away from a breakthrough.
"It's fine if you don't believe me," the professor said somberly. "Everybody thinks I'm crazy. But I know it. If I could get the last piece of the puzzle, then I'll finally know why we lost the power to wield all eight elemental mana, the one called-"
"...Unity," Michael muttered, finishing the professor's words for him.
And as soon as he said that, the professor backed away from him in utter shock.
"How... how do you know that?!"
Michael looked at the professor. "Unity is what happens when all
eight elements are combined. And it's what allowed the Ancient Humans to wield the immense power that they had."
The Professor stood there, speechless. He didn't think anyone other than him would know about that.
But just as the professor was about to speak, the door behind them opened.