Meanwhile, back in the Brownblood Werewolf Tribe, Chief Lupan paced back and forth in his private quarters, his eyebrows filled with worry.
"Dammit, we’re falling behind."
He had just come from the annual meeting between the different Tribal Chiefs, and what he saw wasn’t good.
Almost every single one of them were getting ready for the Lunar Celebrations with great success.
Of course, during the meeting, everyone was acting all humble and low-key as they prepared for the festivals. The Tribal Chiefs behaved like they were great friends with each other, offering help to those tribes who were in need.
However, Chief Lupan knew that those words were nothing but a way for them to establish their superiority over others. It was a way to boast without actually sounding arrogant.
They were mentioning their allies within the humans. Some were even able to snag cooperation with the famous Legacies from Metropolis, which caused a lot of envy from the tribes.
That was the culture of Werewolves. Meetings like these were all in good fun, with a little bit of bragging to entice competition between each other.
Chief Lupan would be enjoying it as well, if it weren’t for the fact that he didn’t have anything to brag about.
At least, not yet. They were still trying to find that demi-human, to no avail.
They were trying to search for his company called ’Reborn’, but no one seemed to have heard of them before. It was quite strange, and became the cause for Chief Lupan’s sleepless nights.
That demi-human Maugnetic wasn’t just talented and one-of-a-kind, there was also a high chance that he had the legendary ’Ancient Roar’, thought to be something only found from Mythical Beasts!
He was going to be their secret weapon in the Lunar Celebrations. But that wouldn’t matter at all if they couldn’t find him!
Just then, he heard the sounds of hurried footsteps coming in his direction.
A couple of seconds later, a disheveled Werewolf barged into his room.
"Chief! We found them!"
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...
"Boss, are you really sure I have to be here?" Jaku asked, trudging his feet against the brick stone floor of New Sparta.
"Yeah, I’ll need someone to accompany me, or have you already forgotten about your role as my guardian?"
Jaku couldn’t say anything after that. Of course, Michael was only joking. He only made an excuse for Jaku to come with him because he wanted to see that strange voice power of his personally.
He’d heard about the Aubility Power-stopping effect that Jaku created during the tournament. But he hasn’t been able to recreate it since then.
He was hoping that if he had Jaku follow him around everywhere, that strange voice ability would activate again and he’d be able to analyze exactly what it was.
So, both he and Jaku walked towards the boundary between the quadrants, making their way towards the Mermen lake.
First, he wanted to visit Serena and exchange some of his money for Soo drops.
But just as they arrived at the entrance to the lake, they both realized that there were a lot of people crowding the scene. It looked like there was a confrontation happening between one person and a whole group altogether.
Urged by his excitement to get more Soo drops, Michael wanted nothing more than to just slip past them and enter the lake. But on the corner of his eyes, he recognized someone from the crowd.
On one side was a group of aggressive-looking people wearing a distinct attire he had never seen before. It was baggy and made with materials not usually found in Metropolis or anywhere near it.
Michael could see the look on their faces. It showed arrogance and entitlement.
He recognized none from that crowd, but on the other side of this argument, there was a tan-skinned youth in his early twenties standing his ground.
It was Tenzing from the Mountain Movers company, one of the Rising Six from Metropolis.
Michael hadn’t interacted much with the guy after the auction, but they were quite friendly during it.
Of course, he couldn’t just stand by and let Tenzing get harassed by these strange groups of people. The Duchess already explained to him the importance of everyone in Metropolis banding together in New Sparta, so it was doubly important that he stepped up during this fight.
He approached the conflict with a friendly, "Hey Tenzing!", causing the aggressors to turn towards him.
Tenzing squinted his eyes at Michael, before showing relief.
"Michael! It’s been too long!" he greeted.
But then, Tenzing noticed that Michael was getting caught between the crossfires of the conflict. Their leader was obviously shooting a glare at Michael.
"We gotta catch up later. Now’s not a good time," Tenzing said, gesturing with his eyes for Michael to go away.
Michael continued to walk forward, ignoring him.
"What’s happening?" he asked Tenzing.
This time, the obviously angry youth answered for him.
"The problem here is with Tenzing. He has no honor! We’ve already struck a deal that allows our group to approach the Mermen!"
"There’s no such rule about that. It’s not first come first serve. It’s about whoever is worthy enough to get their attention," Tenzing replied. "This guy here is from a no-name company in Zenthaven City," he said, pointing to his aggressor.
"A no-name?! We’re called the mighty—"
"You don’t need to entertain him," Tenzing interrupted. "He’s just mad because he thinks I took his spot. After all, the Mermen are only taking in a select group of people everyday, and they happened to bump up my meeting after I requested it from them.
But it’s not my problem the Mermen chose me. It’s because of my credentials. I’m from the Rising Six of Metropolis!" Tenzing said proudly.
The other guy scoffed. "So? I heard that Metropolis is on the decline. The Duchess is nowhere to be found! She’s probably dead already—"
A heavy feeling in the air caused the guy to stop speaking. He felt something grabbing at his throat, the pressure almost crushing it.
"Take that back," Michael muttered coldly. His eyes were unblinking, and showing a sense of danger unbefitting of someone his age.
The guy mumbled for a few seconds, clearly taken aback by the sudden change in the air.
"Ahem... Anyway, alive or not alive, it doesn’t matter," the guy said, trying to backtrack.
This was a good decision. Unbeknownst to him, there was an invisible Drone behind him, ready to shoot a single shot of [Unity Gun] if he continued to spout such words about the Duchess.
"Who are you anyway?! What makes you think you can speak to me like that?"
Tenzing almost laughed out loud after hearing that. "This is Michael. And he’s like me. He’s from Metropolis."
The guy didn’t seem to perceive the hidden sense of respect in Tenzing’s words.
"Hah! How the mighty has fallen. It seems that Metropolis really is going through hard times if they’re willing to allow a kid like him inside."
Tenzing was explicitly told by Alaric and the others not to tell anyone about Michael’s true powers, but he just couldn’t take that guy’s arrogant words. It was an ant trying to insult a lion!
"Michael could sweep—"
But just as he was about to finish his words, they all suddenly felt the ground underneath shake, followed by a cacophony of howls in the distance.
AWOOO!